Archer brothers

The Archer brothers were among the earliest European settlers in Queensland, Australia. They were explorers and pastoralists. Seven sons of William Archer, a Scottish timber merchant, they spent varying amounts of time in the colony of New South Wales, mainly in parts of what later became Queensland. A substantial number of locations in Queensland were either named by or for them. They were, in order of birth: Brisbane River valley The first of the Archer brothers to settle in Australia was David, who arrived in Sydney in 1834. He was joined by William and Thomas in 1838. Together, they planned to seek pastoral land on the Darling Downs. Delays meant they would be too late to secure good land, so this venture did not proceed. In 1841 David and Thomas, joined by their brother John, travelled to the upper reaches of the Stanley River, an eastern tributary of the Brisbane River. There, near present-day Woodford, they established Durundur Station, a holding of , which is equal to . Durundur is an aboriginal name for the Moreton Bay Ash (Eucalyptus tessellaris) The Archer name is seen in the main street of Woodford, and in Mount Archer about to the west. Charles Archer arrived in Australia in 1841, and joined his brothers at Durundur in 1843. He was accompanied by the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, who stayed at Durundur for several months until early 1844. The country at Durundur proved unsuitable for sheep, leading the brothers to take up two runs further west in 1845. One of these was Cooyar, a holding of on Cooyar Creek, a western tributary of the Brisbane River, near present-day Cooyar, north of Toowoomba, on the New England Highway. The other was Emu Creek, a holding of on Emu Creek, another western tributary of the Brisbane River. Burnett region In 1847, Thomas Archer travelled west to the area called Fitzroy Downs by the explorer Thomas Mitchell, near present-day Roma, but did not take up any land. In 1848 he travelled north to the Burnett region, which led to two runs being taken up on the Burnett River in the names of David and Thomas Archer. One of these was named Eidsvold, after Eidsvoll, Norway, where the Archer family had land holdings. The present day town of Eidsvold was named for the nearby property. The other, named Coonambula, was south of Eidsvold on St John Creek, a tributary of the Burnett River.