Lethbridge Family Papers; Forest Vale Station; Mitchell Downs Station
Collection
Included in this collection, most particularly in the diaries and station ledgers, are details of daily life on the properties, records of climate, stock movements and the people who lived and worked at the Station. They also make mention of employees who have been identified as being of Aboriginal and Asian heritage. Also in the collection are many letters from RC Lethbridge's son Harold, who served as a doctor with the Australian Medical Corps, in Egypt and France during the First World War.
Robert Copland Lethbridge (1838-1919) was educated at King's School, Paramatta and in his early days managed Ridges Station, Victoria. An experienced stockman, he settled at Forest Vale, a cattle station of almost 1400 square kms in 1870 the homeland of the Gunggari people. In 1877 it consisted of 18 runs: Saltbush, Boxwood, Terrarara, Myall Plains, Lagoon Station, Upper Possession [creek], Grassmere, Longreach, Gibburcolly, Acacia, Copland, Possession, Havilah, Hebron, Sharon, Simpson's Creek, Forest Vale, & Boxland. Lethbridge acquired the property in partnership with brothers Edward and Mark Elliott. In 1888 the station was divided and over half was resumed and broken into smaller lots.
Multiple copyright statuses.