BRS 5 Scottish Families of Bracken Ridge W.C. Whitehill and M.T. Hannah

The land map of c 1938 identifies an enormous portion of land held in the names of Whitehill, Norris and Barbour.

The Whitehills, arrived on the Helenslea.

Whitehill	WC
Whitehill	Elizabeth
Whitehill	Alexander
Wilson	William

Some other family or acquaintance of William Whitehill also arrived on the Helenslea, that was Matthew Thomsen Hannah and his wife Christina Noble and son Alexander.  They had a daughter born in 1864, Isabella McKenzie Hannah.

The Hannah family were from Glasgow.   MT. Hannah and WC Whitehill were allocated Por 102 either they were related or they had a business arrangement.

William Campbell Whitehill also had land holdings in partnership with Alexander Norris and John and William Barbour.   He had a business relationship with David Brown and Co.

William  Campbell  Whitehill

William Campbell Whitehill  (sometimes transcribed as Whitehall) was a pioneer of the settlement of Queensland.   Once again his death reveals considerable details of his life.

His obituary also indicates that he commenced work in Queensland in the gold mining community.

From the newspaper account of the day:

W. C. WHITEHILL.

P. C. Poulsen, Photo.

Passed away at his residence, Bowen Terrace, New Farm. On Tuesday, 25th September, Mr. Whitehill attended a meeting of the Brisbane Permanent Banking and Building Society, of which  directorate he has been a  member for thirteen years. However, he was unable to see the meeting completed, and about 3 p.m. returned to his home, where he had an apoplectic seizure. He lost his  

speech about 6 p.m., and gradually became worse until at 4.35 p.m. on Wednesday he peacefully  breathed his last. 

His four sons were communicated with, but only two of them were able to return to Brisbane. The  eldest son, Mr. A. F. Whitehill, is manager of the Bank of N.S.W. at Ipswich; the second son died some years ago; the ; third, Mr. George P.  Whitehill, is in Sydney;  the fourth son, Mr. W. J. C. Whitehill, is a member of the firm of Alexander, Whitehill, and Armour, wholesale merchants, of this city; and the fifth, Mr. R. D. Whitehill,  is manager of the Queensland National Bank at Thargomindah.

 The deceased gentleman also leaves a widow, for whom much sympathy has been expressed. The late Mr. Whitehill  was in his 71st year, and was a native of Renfrew. He  arrived in Brisbane in 1862 by the ship Helenslea, and was for many years associated with the firm of D. L. Brown and Co., but some years ago he retired from active business. 

The Commercial Travellers' Association was an institution in whose welfare he took the keenest interest. Indeed, he was the first president of the Queensland branch, and only a few weeks ago assisted at the ceremony at the association's new premises. The deceased led a very active life, and enjoyed excellent health until a month ago, when he had at severe attack of influenza, from which he never thoroughly recovered. Drs. John Thomson and Kerr Scott were in attendance on him.

William Campbell Whitehill married Elizabeth Fairlie, and they had 4 sons as per the newspaper article.

The family arrived in Queensland in 1862 and they had a son William James Whitehill in October 1862.

Unfortunately William died 1884.

In 1866 William and Elizabeth travelled to Sydney on the ship City of Brisbane.

Another obituary

MINING MEN I HAVE MET. 

By J. Y. MULLIGAN. 

WILLIAM CAMPBELL WHITEHILL. 

One of the pioneer Commercial travellers who went on business to Cooktown on the opening of the Palmer and immediately after the Leichhardt landed the first commissioner, Mr. Whitehill made his usual rounds among the mining storekeepers in Cooktown. Cairns, Port Douglas, and Herberton. where he was well and favourably known, and did an extensive trade for his firm, whom he represented for twenty- four years. He was born at Renfrew, Scotland, arrived in Queensland in 1862. 

When he retired from business he visited his native land. When the Commercial Travellers' Association was formed in 1884 Mr. Whltehill was unanimously elected the first president, which office he held for
two years. On retiring be was made the first life governor, and presented with a handsome testimonial by his commercial friends. One of his sons is manager of the Queensland National Bank at Thargomindah, another manages a local branch of the Bank of New South Wales, Brisbane; while a thlrd is a member of the firm of Whitehall and Armour, in Brisbane. As a magistrate of the territory, 

Mr. Whitehill is well known and respected.

Imagine leaving the rolling hills of Scotland, and then finding yourself amongst the heat and the conditions of the Palmer Goldfields!

When he returned to Brisbane he continued in Public Service.

In February 1888, he was sworn in as a Magistrate in Brisbane

.

The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947) Monday 13 February 1888 p 5 Article

... Miscellanea. William Campbell Whitehill was sworn in on Saturday as a magistrate for the colony of .

Over the time he was mentioned in several land transfers and estate matters.

One particular matter was in regard to a missing title of lands being transferred from Edward George Rosetta to William Campbell Whitehill, William Tracey Bennett and Mary Eliza Taylor.

The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) Monday 15 August 1898 p 8 Advertising

... of duplicate Bill <f Mortgage No. 297654, from Edward George Rosetta to William Camp-bell Whitehill ... , William Tracey Bennett, and Mary Eliza Taylor, over subdivision B of suburban portion 126 and of ..

A co-incidence?  Rosetta - could that be the very same place in Newstead where the Bridgeman family resided.  Mention was made that their home was at Rosetta Paddocks, and that Rosetta Street was also in the same vicinity as Light Street.  Another address given by Bridgemans.

Well coincidentally, Edward George Rosetta also lived in Light Street Bowen Hills.

*********************************************************************************

Another mention of the land transfers refers to the same three people.

The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939) Saturday 1 September 1883 p 349 Article

.. Thomas Taylor, Brisbane, to William Campbell ... Whitehill, William Tracy Bennett, and Maria Eliza Taylor, all of Brisbane—personalty, £18,000

Who was Thomas Taylor?  

There are hundreds of entries regarding Thomas Taylors, but one of interest was that Thomas Taylor was a passenger onboard the Royal Charter, a ship that sank in England after a voyage from Queenstown in 1860, with loss of life. Thomas Taylor was a jeweller in Rockhampton, and Mr Thomas Taylor was an architect in Brisbane.

Perhaps Thomas Taylor was the husband of Maria Eliza Taylor?

Also on the Royal Charter was another of the settlers, Mr Stirke

 From the articles Thomas Taylor undertook some
large design projects.

 He designed "Ballymore" for Lieut Seymour.

He must have had a bit of a hard time in 1866, which was when the financial crisis hit.

Classified Advertising

The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) Monday 18 June 1866 p 1 Advertising

... oblige by taking up his renewed cheque in favor of Geo. Slater. 7909 NOTICE.-If Mr. THOMAS TAYLOR ... , Architect to tho Hon. William Duckett White, of Lotta, does not pay HENRY WM. NEWMAN for Board, Washing, 

He was contracted by Hon William Duckett White to build this beautiful home, now a residential care home in Lota, Brisbane

     LOTA House stands on a hill between the village of Lota and the seaside township of Manly. Surrounded by tall old trees, the house,built of white-plastered brick, with green shutters, slate roof, and wide verandas, is a landmark that can be  for many miles round the Bay, and it was from the water that its site was chosen by the Hon. William Duckett White, who built it about 70 years ago. At this time the country on this part of the coast was all bush, and about 600 acres of it were taken up by three friends—Sir Robert Herbert, Sir John Bramston, and Mr. Duckett White. The first house to be built in the neighbourhood was Wyvernley, which still stands on the hill above Manly; and this house was occupied for a time by the White family while Lota was being built on the 200 acres which was Mr. White's share of the land. The other 400 acres were sold, and now are covered by a part of Manly

At this point the next co-incidence

William Tracey Bennett.

William Tracey Bennett was a sub-collector of Customs.

05 Sep 1896 - Classified Advertising

nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3634108

BENNETT William Tracey TAYLOR Mary Eliza TAYLOR Thomas

Lieutenant Seymour's home  -  Known as Ballymore. 

Unfortunately no photo of the original home can be sourced, however this information from wikipedia paints a picture of the area now home of the "Reds".

During the 1850s the land along Breakfast Creek (Enoggera Creek) in the Windsor area was surveyed into farms, but by the end of the decade, most had been alienated by property speculators, and in the 1860s these were sold to Brisbane gentlemen seeking a semi-rural domestic retreat. By 1860 Daniel Rowntree Somerset had built the first section of Rosemount (next to Skilmorlie) and the first Oakwal on the hill opposite, but an important early impetus to Windsor's development was the construction of Bowen Bridge across Breakfast Creek in 1861. In 1864 the Chief Justice of Queensland, Sir James Cockle, commissioned a grand new Oakwal on the site of the old, and in the area west of the main northern road (now Lutwyche Road) and south of what is now Newmarket Road down to Breakfast Creek, merchant David L Brown, colonial architect Charles Tiffin, and newspaper proprietor James Swan took up residence in the 1860s.

South of the creek, John Bramston had built his house Herston (which gives its name to the suburb of Herston) in 1861 and further upstream, Ballymore was constructed in 1864 for Lieutenant DJ Seymour.

 When Skilmorlie and its sister house Fernfield were erected in 1873, there appear to have been two other early residences to the south of them, on the eastern side of Bowen Bridge Road (now Lutwyche Road). Of these mid-19th century Windsor/Herston residences, only Oakwal and the two Bryden homes survive. (The present Rosemount was constructed in the 1890s.) In terms of surviving 1860s/1870s buildings in the Windsor district (and for that matter Brisbane), Skilmorlie and Fernfield are very significant.

In the mid-19th century, the Skilmorlie site was part of a block of just under 21 acres fronting Breakfast Creek to the east and the main northern road to the west, alienated in 1856 by Brisbane businessman George Byrne. In February 1873, surveyor, architect and civil engineer John Hall surveyed the land into three subdivisions, each with a frontage to Bowen Bridge Road. The northernmost allotment (sub 1 : 4 acres 3 roods 11 perches) was transferred to John Bryden in May 1873; the middle allotment (sub 2 : 4 acres 3 roods) was transferred at the same time to Bryden's younger brother James, a successful Brisbane cabinetmaker and upholsterer; and sub 3 (11 acres 1 rood), closest to Bowen Bridge, was retained by the Byrne family. The 1873 survey does not indicate any building extant on subdivisions 1 and 2 

On his Windsor land, James Bryden erected his new residence, Fernfield, designed by architect John Hall, who called tenders in March 1873. The residence was under construction by May 1873, and was to cost £700. Whether Skilmorlie also was designed by Hall is not known, but the materials and brickwork in the two buildings are remarkably similar, which suggests that the two residences were constructed about the same time. The skirting boards in both buildings are of the same profile, and the bricks used in both buildings are a dark reddish-brown, similar to those used in the 1874 Government Printing Office in William Street. The latter were supplied from William Williams' Lutwyche brickworks, and Williams could well have supplied the bricks for the Bryden residences at nearby Windsor. The Enoggera electoral roll dated 13 January 1875 records both John and James Bryden as resident on Bowen Bridge Road.

The Bryden brothers were the sons of an Irish Protestant cabinetmaker, James Bryden, of Newry, co Down. John, also a cabinetmaker by trade, had arrived in Sydney in March 1841, aged 30 years and single. He was still resident in Sydney in September 1842 when he purchased an allotment at South Brisbane, at an early sale of Brisbane Crown land held in Sydney, but is understood to have moved to Brisbane shortly after. During the 1840s and 1850s John Bryden acquired a number of allotments at north and south Brisbane, and appears to have been associated with contractor John Petrie. He married Susanna Trevethan in Brisbane in 1861, but there were no children from this marriage.

In the mid-1850s, James Bryden, his sister Isabella, and their niece Martha Jane Brennan, emigrated to the Australian colonies. They were in Victoria for about 3 years prior to joining John in Brisbane. By 1863 James had established a cabinetmaking and upholstery business on an allotment on the west side of Queen Street between Creek and Wharf Streets, Brisbane - probably that acquired by John Bryden at a sale of Crown land in 1852.

From the Queensland Archives, Queen Street c 1864.  There was a huge fire which destroyed buildings  

Pictures of Australia from 1864

www.bonzle.com