Community & Business
11 August, 2026
Historic home "Westmuir" sold
Following the recent sale of the eleven acre property Westmuir in Campbell Street, we’ve taken a deep dive into the history of one of Pittsworth’s historic homes.
Last week, Leisa Schaumberg sold Westmuir to Charles and Celia Boileau from New South Wales, who will take ownership later this month.
The selling agents were Tony Dever and Phoebe Young of Downs Property Agents.
Ms Schaumberg purchased the property from Matt Cleary in 2016.
Other owners throughout the years were Dr Jim and Pat Ingram, the Assembly of God Church, and Mr A. G. Symonds.
But where does the story of Westmuir really begin?
With John Joseph Daniel.
He was born in 1854 in West Maitland, New South Wales, and came to the Pittsworth district with his parents and siblings in March 1877.
Mr Daniel selected land just a few miles outside of town and established the property Glenarthur.
On New Year’s Day in 1884, he married Christina Muir, daughter of Mr and Mrs A. Muir of Allora.
They welcomed five children but only three of them, Ida Martha, John Archibald and Norman Wesley, would survive to adulthood.
Mr Daniel took on many roles within the newly established town of Beauaraba (now Pittsworth).
A devoted Christian, he founded the Methodist Church in 1889.
An article in the Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser said Mr Daniel was keenly interested in any movement for the advancement of the town and district, and never spared himself.
He was also a talented horse breeder and sheep grazier.
Mr Daniel was not afraid to express any concerns he had about the district and regularly sent letters to the editors of The Darling Downs Gazette and The Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser for publication.
In one letter dated October 1898, he questioned the unjust land valuations of the Jondaryan Divisional Board (at this time, Pittsworth was part of the Jondaryan Shire).
He was passionate about life on the land, and expressed himself strongly in favour of the establishment of a farmers and graziers association.
In one letter titled “A Farmer to Farmers”, Mr Daniel wrote, “...I hold that whether we produce horses, cattle, sheep, wheat, sugar, maize, butter or bacon, we find the producing power in the land. And whenever the foot of invasion is set upon our territory by man or measures we should, by organisation, be prepared to resist the foe; not disjointedly, but as one whole. Then would our voice be heard and our power felt... Let us, through our societies, find out how best to use our land, through our organisations find the power to remove or lessen the many difficulties that are strewn across our way to success even when our seasons are favourable”.
Mr Daniel became the inaugural Chairman of the Pittsworth Ploughing Match Association (now Pittsworth Show Society) in 1899.
His son Norman was later Secretary of the society for 15 years.
In consequence of Mr Daniel’s failing health, he sold Glenarthur in 1906 and the family moved into their new home Westmuir in Campbell Street.
A clearing sale was held on November 13 with the auction of 13 high-class dairy cows (mostly heifers), 12 poddies, six active farm horses, six cart and saddle horses and 25 well-bred pigs.
At Westmuir the family embraced a new chapter of life.
Around the time of the move, Mr Daniel relinquished his position as Chairman of the Ploughing Association (which by then had become Pittsworth Pastoral, Agricultural and Horticultural Association).
Tragically on 13 June 1914, at the age of 59, Mr Daniel died.
His obituary stated that he had been ailing for some time after an earlier attack of rheumatic fever having permanently affected his heart, but he bore his affliction with Christian fortitude.
His funeral was one of the largest that Pittsworth has witnessed, conducted by Rev. F. Caswell.
Mr Daniel was survived by his wife, daughter (Mrs C. Jutsum, Fiji) and sons (Messrs. Archie and Norman Daniel, Pittsworth).
His father, Mr Joseph Daniel of Brisbane was also still alive.
In more recent years, the property became known as Canaan when it was owned by the Assembly of God Church throughout the 1980s.
It’s likely that Mr Daniel, the man of faith that he was, would not have been bothered by this.
Throughout that time, Mr and Mrs D. Cattell lived there as caretakers.
The final minister Bob Henderson initiated the purchase of land in Short Street where the Harvest New Life Church was then built.
The Assembly of God Church subsequently sold Westmuir to the Ingrams.
