History & our story
A century of country life.
A family farm shaped by the people who worked the land and the generations of travellers and holidaymakers welcomed here.
Mackenzie Creek · Queensland
A name rooted
in this place.
The McKenzie family were among the early settlers of the district. The watercourse through the farm is formally mapped today as Mackenzie Creek. The land at 75 Costelloe Road was first selected in 1889. Robert Vellnagel took up the selection in 1895 and, by the turn of the century, his family had established a mixed farm of dairy cattle, maize, sugar cane, fruit and grapes.
The mapped creek is why we chose the name Mackenzie Creek. It belongs to the landscape and connects the homestead, campsite and vineyard to the place they share. But the history here is not only a date or a name. It survives in family photographs and recollections of ordinary life along Costelloe Road.
Life on Costelloe Road
A family home,
farm and garden.
Family photographs place Aggie Mary Costelloe and John Cruice Kenman at the original Costelloe Road house around 1960. Known locally as Kenny and “Little Pat”, they raised four children here: Gordon, Valmai, Edward and Lester.
Kenny had worked as a teaching assistant at Lacey’s Creek School before her marriage. Little Pat returned from service in the First World War, having fought on the Somme and learned fluent French. Later family memories recall walks to the banana patches behind the house and Gordon’s cottage garden, roses and vegetables shared around the district.
The main house remains original to the property. It was built using timber cut on the farm and milled at the property’s own sawmill.
From the family album
The land and its people.
These photographs preserve glimpses of everyday life around Lacey’s Creek and Costelloe Road: the farms, homes and families that shaped the district before us.
The old Queenslander
Built in the 1920s.
Moved here in the 1970s.
The old Queenslander that guests stay in began its life elsewhere. Built in the 1920s, it was moved onto the property during the 1970s. It is separate from the original main house, which has always stood on the farm.
The moved Queenslander is not a museum or a polished resort. It remains a lived-in country house, carefully restored, comfortably furnished and shared with guests who value places with a little age and individuality.
A house in motion
A new home
on the ridge.
These family photographs record the guesthouse being shifted into position and raised on its new stumps in the 1970s. The building has changed since then, but its original form is still easy to recognise.
Our family
Restoring a place
and building a life.
We’re Ryan and Jess. Together with our children, we are caring for the houses, working the farm and shaping its next chapter.
Welcoming people here is not something we invented. The tradition reaches back to the early days of settlement, when swagmen and other travellers passed through the farm. By the 1970s, holidaymakers were staying on the property. Today, we continue that tradition by welcoming guests to the old Queenslander and private creek campsite. The small hillside vineyard is part of the farm’s next chapter.
We see ourselves as continuing that legacy. People still come here for country quiet, a place to pause and the simple pleasure of being welcomed onto a real family farm.
Your stay, your way
As much or as little
company as you like.
We live on the property and are always happy to share local knowledge, introduce you to the farm or help when needed. Equally, if you’re here for complete privacy and quiet, we’ll leave you to enjoy the place. The level of interaction is entirely up to you.
The vineyard · A developing story
A small vineyard.
A story still being written.
We planted our small hillside block of Fiano in 2021, adding vines to land that had supported mixed farming and grapes in earlier generations.
In 2026 we picked the first small harvest by hand and made a tiny trial vintage here on the farm. It was a beginning rather than a finished product—the vineyard is young, the volumes are small and there is plenty still to learn.
This is not currently a cellar door or a bookable wine-tasting experience. For now, guests see the vines as part of the working farm and can follow the vintage as the next chapter gradually takes shape.
Follow life on the farm
The next chapter
Homestead · Campsite · Vineyard
Experience it for yourself