Stokes-Manager Homestead, Heritage building in Queensland, Australia
Leeke Homestead is a basic residence of timber and corrugated iron built on Great Keppel Island, near Yeppoon, around 1922–24. It stands on a new site chosen for the house, separate from the earlier shearing shed that Lizzie Leeke later used, and was home to Lizzie Leeke from 1922 until 1945.
Lizzie Leeke lived here from 1922 until 1945, running sheep on the island lease her husband Michael O'Neill took up in 1918; he died in early 1923. In October 1924 she married Ralph Leeke, a fisherman from Keppel Sands about 17 years her junior. Accounts differ on whether O'Neill or Ralph Leeke built the house, which was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000.
Lizzie Leeke lived here from 1922 to 1945, running merino sheep and later marrying fisherman Ralph Leeke, about 17 years her junior. The homestead kept the old shearing shed from earlier leaseholders, and Bill Leeke recalled sleeping on the verandah on a stretcher under a possum-skin rug.
The homestead stands on Great Keppel Island, reached by boat from Yeppoon; there is no road access from the mainland. The timber and corrugated iron house sits on a hill above the old shearing shed site, so the walk up is on foot. Visitors should bring water and sun protection, as the island has limited shade and services.
Family accounts say Ralph Leeke dismantled a house at Keppel Sands, barged the material to the island, landed at the old shearing shed and carried it uphill to rebuild it as the homestead; other accounts credit Lizzie's first husband, Michael O'Neill, who died in 1923.
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