Booubyjan Homestead

This original slab homestead is located on the Burnett Highway about 32 km north of Murgon. It remains in the ownership of the Lawless family, whose ancestors occupied the property from 1847. Brothers Paul and Clement Lawless came to Moreton Bay in 1842, initially taking up Nindooinba near Beaudesert. The brothers travelled to the South Burnett, in search for sheep grazing land, where they took up ‘Booubyjan’, named after a nearby large rock. Their holdings comprised Booubyjan, Windera and Boonimba. They employed a large number of Chinese shepherds and labourers. Both brothers returned to Ireland to marry; Paul in 1858 and Clement in 1860. Paul died in 1865. His wife Ellen and three children returned to Booubyjan in late 1870, and Clement transferred the property to her in 1873. After Ellen’s death in 1922, her sons inherited the property. William Burnett Lawless and his wife were childless, and the property later went to his nephews. Booubyjan comprises a complex of timber buildings, linked by open verandas and covered walkways. The oldest structure on-site is the dining room, dating to approximately 1860. The cottage and the main house are thought to date to the 1870s. Booubyjan operates as a museum.