The Texas Road passes through the locality from the east to the south-west. It has a junction with the Stanthorpe Inglewood Road which exits the locality to the north west. Pike Creek flows from the north-west to the south-west of the locality, becoming a tributary of the Dumaresq River.
History
The locality takes its name from a pastoral station named by John Pike in 1845.
Pikedale station
The Pikedale station was established by John in 1843 as a sheep station. In 1859 it was sold to W.B. Tooth and Cran who used it as a cattle station, selling it to Massie and Walker. In 1874 Donald Gunn purchased the property and established a sheep stub, which became famous for its wool quality, leading to the export of rams to the United States. Fred White and his son Charlie White operated the station until they sold it to James A. Rogerson in 1919. The Rogerson family owned the property until 1957. H. Vahl Rubin purchased the property in 1957. The homestead burned down on Sunday 3 August 1963. In March 1942 during World War II fearing a Japanese invasion, St Hilda's School evacuated 90 boarders from Southport to the Pikedale homestead. The school returned to Southport in December 1942.
Under the Discharged soldiers’ settlement Act, 1917 and associated legislation and regulations, every discharged member of the armed forces was entitled to apply for land and financial assistance. The important goals within this initiative were to open up new land for settlement as well as place willing and suitable settlers on this land. At the same time, it aimed to provide employment as well as the necessary support for the many discharged servicemen who had served their country. The Stanthorpe Shire was one such area selected for settlement and around 17,000 acres was set aside in the parishes of Pikedale and Marsh. Eventually, more than seven hundred returned soldiers were allocated blocks in what became known as the Pikedale Soldier Settlement. Within this wider settlement, a number of locations were named by those returning servicemen in honour of famous battlefields, no doubt including some where they had fought. Eventually supported by a branch railway line, they included the settlements of Amiens, Messines, Bapaume, Passchendaele, Bullecourt, Pozieres and Fleurbaix. This rail line, known as the Amiens railway line, was opened in June 1920, with construction costing around £40,000 and operated for some 54 years. The official opening was performed by Edward, Prince of Wales who was visiting Australia at the time. As with other soldier settlements, life was difficult due to the varying quality of the land, isolation, lack of farming or other agricultural experience, adverse climatic conditions and the general lack of financial and other government support. However, the branch railway line helped in terms of access and a number of Queensland Government enterprises were established.
Schools
Pikedale Road Provisional School opened on circa 1876 and closed on circa 1887.
Attribution
This Wikipedia article contains material from the by Brian Randall published by the State Library of Queensland under , accessed on 27 July 2017.
