Scartwater Scholarship Trust

Our History

The following is a brief history of the origins of the Scartwater Trust.

In 2020, the Scartwater Trust will celebrate the 100th year Anniversary. There has been many changes to the operation of the Trust throughout the years to present but one aspect remained firmly in place and that was the “Vision” by A.H.W. Cunningham, known as Harry in 1917, to put in place a scheme to provide financial support for those Soldiers and their families to help them have a more stable future.

The Great War of 1914-1918 saw many soldiers return from the battle fields to all States within Australia and try and take up where they left off. Many of these returned Servicemen were recovering from wounds both physical and mental. In Queensland more specifically, returned soldiers were offered land grants by the then Government however did not have the financial means to work the land. Others who wished go into business or seek studies at a university in order to gain a profession were also restricted by lack of finance.

Mr. Cunningham realised that the scheme set up by the then “War Council”  to allocate land parcels to Returned Soldiers, was not viable and therefore resigned his position on this council. He also expressed his views with the Queensland Minister of Lands that to continue this scheme would be disastrous.

The Repatriation Department of that time advised Mr. Cunningham that his Scheme of assisting Returned Soldiers by raising funds from the sale of cattle and or sheep, was out of their jurisdiction and he was given a free hand. He then returned to Brisbane and met with Minister of Lands once again and was offered 4 parcels of land in North Queensland which later became when combined, the property known as Scartwater.

Mr. Cunningham then enlisted the cooperation and assistance of a number local graziers and businessmen and formed a Trust as there needed to be some form of essential control.  He was appointed as Manager of the Scartwater Property and was authorised to raise funds as thought best.  He was well known in North Queensland by acquaintances and businessmen and quickly set about collecting cattle, horses and money.

Numerous improvements needed to be carried out and as there was little proceeds from the sale of cattle at that time, Mr. Cunningham personally financed the scheme.

For the first 10 years from 1920,  profits from the sale of cattle from Scartwater  were used in building up the stock and for improvements but in 1929 it was felt that the time had come to make a grant of 500 pounds ($1,000.00) to the NQ District Council to be used for certain defined reasons This continued annually up to 1932. The NQ District Council of the R.S.S.I.L.A (Returned Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen Imperial League of Australia) now known as the RSL,  then decided that a special Trust would need to be drawn up to deal with these donations.

The main function of the Trust was to administer the funds, to establish contact with the eligible Returned Men and their dependants and revise and review all applications for assistance.

Mr. Cunningham as the Founder of the scheme, desired that not only should the funds be available for educational purposes and for the alleviation of distress, but they should also be used to help a Digger to secure and or retain a means of livelihood.

Accordingly it was decided to establish two funds; the General and or Main Fund and The Educational Fund. Mr. Cunningham realised that the Trust could not afford to cover all returned Soldiers and dependants within Queensland, therefore the “Scartwater Area” was established. In 1936 Mr. Cunningham gave approval to establish a fund to assist in the higher education of the children of Returned Soldiers. Scholarships were established and were known as and still are, The Scartwater Scholarship and the A.H.W. Cunningham Scholarship.

Over the following years the Scartwater property provided the funds to maintain the station and also make grants to the NQ District Council. During this time the property known as Cunningham Villas was initially built in 1963 as a Single Men’s Hostel but later accommodation was built for married couples. The Trust had funds raised from the sale of Scartwater and these funds were administered by the Public Trustee of Brisbane.

Further on there were still the two Trusts, one the Management Trust which now incorporated the management of the Villas and the other the Education Trust for Scholarships. All Trustees formed the Management with some having a dual role as Trustees of the Education Trust. 

Eventually the Trustees with sizable grants from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, established an Aged Care Facility at Cunningham Villas, however management of this facility over the following years proved to be beyond the scope of the Trustees and reluctantly it was handed over to RSL Care who have a number of Aged Care Facilities within Queensland.

With the handing over of the Aged Care Facility, the Trustees now had only the Education Scholarships to administer and with that the Trust became a separate entity and the name was changed to the Scartwater Education Trust. Funds for the scholarships are still derived from returns on the capital that remained in the original Management Trust and invested through the Public Trustee.

There is a great more to the Scartwater Story, but as stated in the beginning this is a brief history to highlight the “Vision” of A.H.W Cunningham from 1920 onwards.

Times, Dates and factual information was gleaned from: A Dream Called Scartwater By Gertrude Kelly 1970, The Story of Scartwater 1956, The Story of Scartwater Trust, Anne Smith.