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Sir James Ramsay, Governor of Queensland, planting a leopard tree at the memorial in honour of Mary Aileen Bell, Coochin Coochin, Scenic Rim, April 1980
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TitleSir James Ramsay, Governor of Queensland, planting a leopard tree at the memorial in honour of Mary Aileen Bell, Coochin Coochin, Scenic Rim, April 1980Date Created14th April 1980AcknowledgementThe Queensland Times
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DescriptionCoochin Coochin is a property in the suburb of Coochin in the traditional lands of the Yuggera Ugarapul people. Previously, Coochin Coochin was part of Moreton District until the boundaries were redrawn and it became part of Scenic Rim. The greater area of which Coochin Coochin is part was called Dalhunty and Dalhunty’s or Dulhunty’s Plains which was 120 000 acres spreading from South Boonah south to the New South Wales border and west to Mt Alford range. The name was taken from the Dalhunty or Dulhunty family of Sydney and the naming of the plain is attributed to Andrew Cunningham, who visited on the 5th of August 1828 and also to David Hunter who leased the area under a grazing lease in September 1842.
The homestead residence of Coochin Coochin is one of the oldest homes in the Scenic Rim and was Heritage listed on the 21st of August 1992. G. F. Burgoyne built the first homestead in the form of two long, low buildings, which were removed from their original position in 1871 by Thomas Alford, who owned and managed the property at the time. Alford moved the homestead to the top of a hill further from the perimeter of his lands in order to avoid floods and command an appealing view of the surrounds.
In 1883, James Thomas Marsh Bell and his financial partner Colville Hyde bought 22 000 acres of land which had been Dulhunty Plains. Bell moved his family to the homestead and began the generations-long residence of his descendants on the land. James and Gertude Bell expanded the homestead to accommodate their eight children and James’s mother. The Coochin Coochin homestead was heritage listed on the 21st of August 1992.
Gertrude Bell was fond of society and company and designed the flag of Coochin Coochin, two black swan emblems on a field of scarlet, to fly when she was home to signify that guests were welcome. The use of the flag evolved over time to be flown when guests were expected to arrive. Following James Bell’s death from stroke in 1903, Gertrude opened the property up to host many guests and invited notable or celebrity attendees to plant trees in her garden. Such guests include:
- Lord Chelmsford, Governor of Queensland and New South Wales, and Lady Chelmsford, who planted two jacaranda trees in 1907
- Edward, Prince of Wales, who would become King Edward VIII, visited in 1920 with his cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten, and planted a palm tree
- Agatha Christie, the best-selling novelist of all time, planted a leopard tree in 1922
- Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who planted a hoop tree in 1958
- Sir James Ramsay, Governor of Queensland, planted a leopard tree in 1980 in honour of the death in 1979 of Mary Aileen Bell, daughter of Gertude Bell and the last of the original Bell children living at Coochin Coochin
Sir Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivienne Leigh visited Coochin in 1948, but it is not known if they planted a tree.
It was Thomas Alford who rescinded the name ‘Dalhunty’s Plains in favour of resuming the name ‘Coohin Coohin’ which the Yuggera Ugarapul traditional owners used for the area. The meaning of the name Coochin Coochin is disputed. Documents from Enid Bell of the Bell Family reproduced in ‘The Bells and “Coochin Coochin’ – An Historic Queensland Family’ published by the University of Queensland record Bunjoey ‘Susan’, a Ugarapul woman, as saying:
“We calling this place Mooroo Coochin and we call it too Coochin Coochin, place of lots of red-nosed fellows.”
‘The Bells and “Coochin Coochin’ – An Historic Queensland Family’ give the meaning of Mooroo Coochin as ‘Red Nose’ where Mooroo means red and coochin means nose and notes that using a word twice denotes pluralisation of the subject.
Bonjoey, the spelling of which is also given as ‘Bunjoy’ by John Hardcastle who documented the Yugarabul language spoken in Boonah and Ipswich, was known as Queen Susan, according to the State Library of Queensland. The State Library of Queensland gives a non-exhaustive list of alternate forms of Yugarabul as Yackarabul, Yuggarabull, and Ugarabul. Queen Susan taught Enid Bell and John Hardcastle about the Yugarabul language as she spoke it as well as local stories. Enid Bell would collect and publish Queen Susan’s stories in articles in ‘The Queenslander’, a newspaper, and as a whole in ‘Legends of the Coochin Valley’. John Hardcastle would collate his ‘Vocabulary of the Language of the Aborigines of the Boonah District’ research document in 1930.
John Hardcastle’s interpretation of the meaning of Coochin was published in the ‘Queensland Times’ in 1933 as “a corruption of the [A]boriginal word ‘Coot-Yin’ the name of the Red Ridge near Wallace’s Creek, from which [the Yuggera people] obtained the red pigment used to smear their bodies during corroborees...”
Leo A. Meston, another researcher of Aboriginal languages, suggested in November 1930 that Coochin Coochin was the Anglicised version of the term ‘ga-jin ga-jin’ meaning ‘red stones.’
The meaning of Coochin Coochin was given as ‘Many Black Swans’ by ‘Visit Scenic Rim’ in an article interviewing Tim and Jane Bell. The waterholes on the Coochin Coochin property were breeding grounds for local native black swans. Black swans have extremely prominent bright red bills.References (offline)The Bells and "Coochin Coochin" an historic Queensland family, by Norman S. Pixley, 1969. Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, vol. 8 no.4, pp. 613-630References (online)The Bell Family – Scenic Rim – [archived copy accessed 21 September 2026]Fertile Fassifern – 29 April 1933 - Queensland Times [accessed 21 September 2026]2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages: Word of the Week - Week Eighteen – 13 May 2019 – State Library Queensland – [accessed 21 September 2026]Origin of Cainbabel – 6 November 1933 – L. A. Meston – The Brisbane Courier – [accessed 21 September 2026]Bell Family Collections – Marg Powell – 30 September 2024 – State Library Queensland – [accessed 21 September 2026]Agatha Christie’s Grand Adventure, 1922 – 15 November 2022 – The Home of Agatha Christie – [accessed 21 September 2026]Third Baron Chelmsford – Chris Cunneen – 1979 – Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7 – [accessed 21 September 2026]Sir James Maxwell Ramsay (1916–1986) – M. W. D. White – 2012 – Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 18 – [accessed 21 September 2026]Magandjin – the importance of language – Melissa Lucashenko – Workers Bush Telegraph – [accessed 21 September 2026]
The homestead residence of Coochin Coochin is one of the oldest homes in the Scenic Rim and was Heritage listed on the 21st of August 1992. G. F. Burgoyne built the first homestead in the form of two long, low buildings, which were removed from their original position in 1871 by Thomas Alford, who owned and managed the property at the time. Alford moved the homestead to the top of a hill further from the perimeter of his lands in order to avoid floods and command an appealing view of the surrounds.
In 1883, James Thomas Marsh Bell and his financial partner Colville Hyde bought 22 000 acres of land which had been Dulhunty Plains. Bell moved his family to the homestead and began the generations-long residence of his descendants on the land. James and Gertude Bell expanded the homestead to accommodate their eight children and James’s mother. The Coochin Coochin homestead was heritage listed on the 21st of August 1992.
Gertrude Bell was fond of society and company and designed the flag of Coochin Coochin, two black swan emblems on a field of scarlet, to fly when she was home to signify that guests were welcome. The use of the flag evolved over time to be flown when guests were expected to arrive. Following James Bell’s death from stroke in 1903, Gertrude opened the property up to host many guests and invited notable or celebrity attendees to plant trees in her garden. Such guests include:
- Lord Chelmsford, Governor of Queensland and New South Wales, and Lady Chelmsford, who planted two jacaranda trees in 1907
- Edward, Prince of Wales, who would become King Edward VIII, visited in 1920 with his cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten, and planted a palm tree
- Agatha Christie, the best-selling novelist of all time, planted a leopard tree in 1922
- Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who planted a hoop tree in 1958
- Sir James Ramsay, Governor of Queensland, planted a leopard tree in 1980 in honour of the death in 1979 of Mary Aileen Bell, daughter of Gertude Bell and the last of the original Bell children living at Coochin Coochin
Sir Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivienne Leigh visited Coochin in 1948, but it is not known if they planted a tree.
It was Thomas Alford who rescinded the name ‘Dalhunty’s Plains in favour of resuming the name ‘Coohin Coohin’ which the Yuggera Ugarapul traditional owners used for the area. The meaning of the name Coochin Coochin is disputed. Documents from Enid Bell of the Bell Family reproduced in ‘The Bells and “Coochin Coochin’ – An Historic Queensland Family’ published by the University of Queensland record Bunjoey ‘Susan’, a Ugarapul woman, as saying:
“We calling this place Mooroo Coochin and we call it too Coochin Coochin, place of lots of red-nosed fellows.”
‘The Bells and “Coochin Coochin’ – An Historic Queensland Family’ give the meaning of Mooroo Coochin as ‘Red Nose’ where Mooroo means red and coochin means nose and notes that using a word twice denotes pluralisation of the subject.
Bonjoey, the spelling of which is also given as ‘Bunjoy’ by John Hardcastle who documented the Yugarabul language spoken in Boonah and Ipswich, was known as Queen Susan, according to the State Library of Queensland. The State Library of Queensland gives a non-exhaustive list of alternate forms of Yugarabul as Yackarabul, Yuggarabull, and Ugarabul. Queen Susan taught Enid Bell and John Hardcastle about the Yugarabul language as she spoke it as well as local stories. Enid Bell would collect and publish Queen Susan’s stories in articles in ‘The Queenslander’, a newspaper, and as a whole in ‘Legends of the Coochin Valley’. John Hardcastle would collate his ‘Vocabulary of the Language of the Aborigines of the Boonah District’ research document in 1930.
John Hardcastle’s interpretation of the meaning of Coochin was published in the ‘Queensland Times’ in 1933 as “a corruption of the [A]boriginal word ‘Coot-Yin’ the name of the Red Ridge near Wallace’s Creek, from which [the Yuggera people] obtained the red pigment used to smear their bodies during corroborees...”
Leo A. Meston, another researcher of Aboriginal languages, suggested in November 1930 that Coochin Coochin was the Anglicised version of the term ‘ga-jin ga-jin’ meaning ‘red stones.’
The meaning of Coochin Coochin was given as ‘Many Black Swans’ by ‘Visit Scenic Rim’ in an article interviewing Tim and Jane Bell. The waterholes on the Coochin Coochin property were breeding grounds for local native black swans. Black swans have extremely prominent bright red bills.References (offline)The Bells and "Coochin Coochin" an historic Queensland family, by Norman S. Pixley, 1969. Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, vol. 8 no.4, pp. 613-630References (online)The Bell Family – Scenic Rim – [archived copy accessed 21 September 2026]Fertile Fassifern – 29 April 1933 - Queensland Times [accessed 21 September 2026]2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages: Word of the Week - Week Eighteen – 13 May 2019 – State Library Queensland – [accessed 21 September 2026]Origin of Cainbabel – 6 November 1933 – L. A. Meston – The Brisbane Courier – [accessed 21 September 2026]Bell Family Collections – Marg Powell – 30 September 2024 – State Library Queensland – [accessed 21 September 2026]Agatha Christie’s Grand Adventure, 1922 – 15 November 2022 – The Home of Agatha Christie – [accessed 21 September 2026]Third Baron Chelmsford – Chris Cunneen – 1979 – Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7 – [accessed 21 September 2026]Sir James Maxwell Ramsay (1916–1986) – M. W. D. White – 2012 – Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 18 – [accessed 21 September 2026]Magandjin – the importance of language – Melissa Lucashenko – Workers Bush Telegraph – [accessed 21 September 2026]
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Buildings & StructuresCoochin CoochinCurated CollectionsWho Do You Think I Am?Taxonomy20th Century | 1980s | 1980
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Queensland Times Collection
Queensland Times CollectionApril 1980 - Queensland TimesThe Queensland Times Collection
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Reference IDQT-1980-04-14-0025QT-1980-04-14-0024QT-1980-04-14-0026QT-1980-04-14-0029QT-1980-04-14-0033QT-1980-04-14-0034QT-1980-04-14-0035Asset TypeImage - JpegColour or Black & White ImageBlack & WhiteCopyright NoticeThis work is protected by the Copyright Act 1968.
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Sir James Ramsay, Governor of Queensland, planting a leopard tree at the memorial in honour of Mary Aileen Bell, Coochin Coochin, Scenic Rim, April 1980. Picture Ipswich, accessed 18/10/2026, https://www.pictureipswich.com.au/nodes/view/47148