Throughout history, those
that tell the story so well, are those who have lived it. Often those stories do not get told until
they themselves are well advanced along their life's journey.
In fact the name "Old
Timers", is often given to such people, so it becomes a bit of a shock to realise that eventually we earn
the right to wear that label ourselves, in relating the stories and memories of
those no longer here to tell the tale.
My mother-in-law, Ethel
Herron, was a product of the Depression years.
She kept little bits of paper, newspaper cuttings, and other items, all
which have helped tell the story of her life, and that of her German ancestors. She certainly was able to contribute to history as an "Old Timer".
After she passed, we
collected her vast quantity of tins, books and clippings. And put them in the "one day to do"
box. What a surprise to then find two
rather special booklets at such an opportune time, as collating the final
aspects relating to the research of the Bald Hills/Bracken Ridge area was being
done.
Ethel's two books are The
80th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine and Programme of the Sandgate State School,
1873 - 1953, and the July 1968 edition
of the Bracken Ridge Journal. A booklet
published by the Bracken Ridge Progress Association and containing photographs
regarding the Brisbane City Council's Tree Planting carried out in conjunction
with the Willmore and Randell Estate.
To discover these booklets,
led to more research about the facts that are contained within.
It is unknown whether any
local organisation holds a copy of these booklets, however there does not
appear to be any digitised version of the events of the time.
The Sandgate State School
edition is rather interesting, as it provides detail of the First 100 years of
Sandgate. Some of the content of the
booklet was presented to a Historical Society Meeting in 1956. The contents of that presentation are
included.
It would also appear that
the Brisbane City Council Archives, do not hold copies of the photos of
Alderman Clem Jones, the Lord Mayor at the Bracken Ridge tree planting.
Sandgate State School History
80th Anniversary Souvenir 1873
- 1953
From the Private Collection
of late Ethel Herron
School History
The State School at Sandgate
was opened in a temporary building on 15th September 1873. This building was the first Baptist Church
which was situated behind the Osbourne Hotel in Loudon Street. It had an opening enrolment of forty-seven
pupils, and certainly commenced its service to the community under difficult
conditions.
The report of the first inspection by District
Inspector J.G. Anderson makes interesting reading. "The school was opened in September an
depending the erection of a vested building has been held in a church belonging
to the Baptist communion, which has been gratuitously placed at the service of
the board by the trustees. The building
is quite new and in excellent order, but being crowded with church furniture it
is not a convenient school room. and there is no proper furniture of any kind
except a table and a form. Of books,
etc, there is enough. The attendance is
regular and punctual except in the case of children of German parentage.
The opening of the school is
looked upon as a great benefit to the district, and in the hands of an
experienced and earnest teacher it may be expected to prosper. Under the circumstances of unsuitable and
very imperfect furniture and apparatus, and a short existence of seven weeks,
the school was found to have made a good beginning."
In April, 1874, the school
was provided with its first permanent building on the present site, which
consisted of a main classroom capable of seating four classes. This was built facing eastward looking across
the present site of St. Margaret's Church of England. The first building cost £555/8/-, towards
which local subscriptions had been received amounting to £157/15/-.
The first School Committee
consisted of Mr Wm Deagon (Secretary), Capt. W Townsend (Treasurer), Rev B.G.
Wilson (Baptist Minister ), and Messrs. Cowsley, Cookesley and A. Slaughter. At the first triennial election thereafter
Mr. R. Board replaced Mr. Cookesley.
By 1875 the school was away
to a good start. The same District
Inspector reported, among other things, that "the buildings are in good
order. The ground has been enclosed with
a three rail fence, and an underground tank has been built. The teacher and pupils have cleared the
playground to a large extent, and a
small flower garden has been enclosed.
Swings are provided for the amusement of the scholars. The school is well furnished in all respects,
and as a whole this is one of the pleasantest school houses in the colony." Enrolments gradually increased so that in
1883 an infants' room had to be provided, followed six years later by two small
classrooms. Again in 1912, a further
addition was made to the block of buildings, all of which were situated on the
slope of land fronting Rainbow Street.
In 1917 there was erected a separate building described as an "open
air annexe", which accommodated four more classes. By 1912 expansion was so necessary that there
was erected the first of the more modern buildings - the five rooms now
adjoining the present Head Teacher's office.
In 1925 there was a
re-organisation whereby all buildings erected prior to 1917 were removed to
form the present layout. The original
classroom became Rooms 13 and 14, the 1883 additions became the present Room1. The 1912 building was joined to the original
and the 1889 building joined to that again, and the whole of this new wing
connected by a covered way with the row of rooms with which it now ran
parallel. In 1934 the "open air
annexe" was remodelled as an Infants' Section and served that purpose
until quite recently. The Domestic
Science and Manual Training Buildings were provided in 1940, while in 1950 and
1951 a new wing of five rooms was provided for the lower grades. The latest addition is that of the English
prefabricated building of two rooms, by which the Infants' Section was extended at the commencement of
the 1953 school year.
One Hundred Years Have
Passed Page 5
Sandgate 1853 - 1953
It is a happy coincidence
that the 80th anniversary of the opening of the State School at Sandgate should
coincide with the centenary of the establishment of Sandgate, as a
township. The first survey was completed
by Surveyor J.C. Burnett, and his plan of Sandgate was forwarded to Sydney on
9th September 1852. The first sale of
lands took place a year later on 9th and 10th November 1953. Sandgate was then part of the colony of New
South Wales, for Queensland was not separated until 1859, and until that time
the district was known only to the blacks who roamed there and called it
"Warra" meaning "an open sheet of water".
A peculiar incident led to
the establishment of a settlement in the Sandgate area. On 17th April, 1852 a barque, the
"Thomas King" was wrecked on Cato's Bank in the Torres Straits. With the aid of a ship's boat the survivors reached
a reef where most were left to be later picked up without loss of life. However, six others, including the Captain
decided to try to reach Brisbane in the ship's boat. They landed in the Wide Bay area and for some
reason they decided to continue the journey overland to Brisbane. Only two eventually arrived on 17th May.
Four others lost their lives in skirmishes
with blacks in the Caloundra-Bribie area.
According to the statement of Captain Walker he and the other survivor
had been hiding in the neighbourhood of Cabbage Tree Creek for several days,
and it was thought that had there been a settlement there the lives of at least
two of the seamen might possibly have been saved. An agitation was thereupon started for the
establishment of a village on the coast in the vicinity of the creek, and this
bore such good fruit that Surveyor Burnett was commissioned to carry out the
work previously referred to. In the
words of early historian, J.J. Knight (1895), "this village has since
developed into the fashionable watering place, Sandgate".
The first settlement
consisted of blocks lying roughly between the present Yundah Street and the
sea, and compared with the upset prices sold for average amounts which were
larger than in any other locality sold in Brisbane at the time.
Among the first purchasers
of land at Sandgate was "Old Tom" Dowse, who went there with his two
sons in November 1853, to reside on their property. On 3rd December, a party of about thirty
blacks made an effort to rob Mr Dowse's hut of tobacco and other supplies, but
were driving off. Knowing the
treacherous character of the natives Mr Dowse and his sons feared their return,
so immediately packed up, intending to leave by boat for Brisbane in the early
hours of the morning. Before they could
leave the aboriginals returned in large numbers and interrupted the
departure. Mr Dowse and his sons managed
to escape with their lives and in one boat with one oar reached the mouth of
the Brisbane River, from which they walked to Eagle Farm and gave the
alarm. "Old Tom" received a
head wound from a waddy, while a son was speared in the leg, but, although
their second boat was later recovered by a search party, the blacks were never
brought to justice.
Mr Dowse's experiences put a
damper on further settlement until about 1858, when further sales were made of
beach frontages extending from Signal Row towards Brighton.
In his reminiscences, early
historian Nehemiah Bartley tells of his first visit to Sandgate. "I first went there", he recalls,
"in September, 1858. The population
was then, I should estimate about twenty-five souls. The "hotel" was kept by one Charlie
F. Davie. Butchers and bakers and shops
there were none. So all the fare was
salt beef and damper/" He made
other visits through the years and was able to record the progress, he had
noted. "Cabbage Tree Creek was a
teazer to cross at high water, but after 1861 it got a bridge, so that a picnic
to Sandgate and back on the same day soon became a recognised institution in
Brisbane life - and the little town grew
and stores and hotels were run up, and cottages were built to be let for the
summer season, furnished." He must
have been favourable impressed by his visits for the continues his record in a
manner which present residents will read with interest and amusement.
According to him,
"Sandgate is chiefly remarkable for what is not there. There is no pier, no yachts, no German bands,
no shipping, no circulating libraries, no bathing machines, no society.... But
for all that Sandgate is not all a dreary waste. Oh, dear no!
There is God's pure breeze laid on daily in full force, and nothing to
pay for it; the quality never varies.
Many a sickly baby, and people of larger growth, marked for disease and death
in Brisbane, have revived under the doses of ozone which they must inhale at
Sandgate whether they like it or not for with all the force of ten thousand
punkahs the fresh sear air fattens you and is pumped into you to your great and
permanent benefit."
In the year
in which Queensland became a separate colony, 1859, only three families were
resident in Sandgate. There was, however
a police camp of native troopers under a Lieut Wheeler, who had barracks back
from Flinders Parade on a site opposite
to the present Roman Catholic Church in Brighton Road, which is still
remembered by many residents as the "police paddock."
Some years later, in 1865,
one Alexander Archer, then manager of the Bank of New South Wales in Brisbane,
wrote to his niece of a trip he made down the Brisbane River and across the
Bay. He remarked that "Sandgate is now one of the favourite watering
places to which Brisbane people go for a few days during the hottest part of
summer. It is still quite new, and there
is little comfort to be had there, but it has two or three inns and Mr John
McConnell has built a nice house and lives there with his wife. (Morven)."
When the
Sandgate State School opened i 1873,
there were only two cottages in Rainbow Street, which was very swampy. The Police Station occupied the site of the
present Town Hall and the Post Office was on Eagle Terrace near the present
Osbourne Hotel.
A coach service twice daily
linked Sandgate with Brisbane and its passengers broke their journey at German
Station (Nundah) for refreshments. This
Cobb and Co service terminated at the Sandgate Hotel on the Upper Esplanade.
Sandgate could be said to
have really started to grow up when on 29th April, 1880, it was proclaimed a
town, and Alderman Southerden was elected its first Mayor. Just a year later, on 5th April, 1881, Mr
Bashford's tender of £38,634 was accepted for the construction of the Sandgate
Railway. This was completed in a little
over twelve months and on 11th May 1882, a single line linked Sandgate with
Roma Street. Sandgate Station was then a
few hundred yards nearer Shorncliffe, and the line went through Mayne to Bowen
Park station (Exhibition) which then served the Valley and New Farm area.
It was not until 1890 that the rail link
between Roma Street and Mayne, via Central was completed. A single line had to serve these districts
until 1899 - 1902, during which years duplication was effected. Meantime, the Sandgate line had been extended
to Shorncliffe in 1897.
The more recent history of
Sandgate is well known to most of its residents. In its inclusion in 1925, in the City of
Brisbane, may have robbed it of its independence, and to some extent, too, of
the pride in its own achievements. Its
future can largely be influenced by the actions of its present citizens, who
will be well rewarded for their efforts if they display the same faith in their
district as was shown by those "Old Timers", who brought it to its
present state of advancement.
To the community of Sandgate
we offer our congratulations on having reached its centenary, and trust that
during the next century its advancement may be even more marked and successful.
The
new Baptist Church was built in 1887.
From the Booklet, some of the P&C and the school sporting teams.
The P & C Members 1953
************************
From the Council Archives:
Sandgate State School from Brisbane City Council 1926
****************************************************
Nehemiah Bartley was mentioned in the Information, so who was he?
Bartley, Nehemiah (1830–1894)
Nehemiah Bartley (1830-1894), merchant, was born on
10 May 1830 at New Cross, London, son of Nehemiah Bartley and his wife Mary
Ann, née Lucas. After his parents died he was brought up by his aunt and
educated at the City of London School, Cheapside. He then worked for a merchant
uncle and an accountant. In 1849 he sailed in the Calcutta for Hobart
Town, where his aunt who had married the brewer, Edwin Tooth, was
living; his cousin, Theodore Bartley, was a successful farmer and grazier near
Launceston. Unable to find suitable employment, in December 1849 Nehemiah
sailed in the Eudora in charge of a consignment of timber, prefabricated
houses, shopfronts, onions and potatoes for San Francisco. At Tahiti he met Benjamin Boyd and on
his advice sold part of his cargo at Honolulu and the rest at San Francisco.
While he stayed to dispose of a later shipment of potatoes from Hobart, he
helped to save the sails and stores of a ship in San Francisco Bay and saw the
city itself go up in flames.
Bartley returned to Hobart with gold doubloons from
his sales, then went to Melbourne and had two months from March 1851 of
'colonial experience' on a station near Geelong. Because his remittances from
England were stolen from the Melbourne Post Office, he had to visit Sydney
where his aunt was spending the winter. Deciding to try gold digging he walked
from Penrith to the new Turon field where he joined a party of Tasmanians and
Cornishmen, some of them from California. After meagre success he took over a
store and the first bakery on the field. After another unsuccessful mining
venture with his brother James he returned to Sydney in June 1852 and became a
teller in the Bank of New South Wales; among his duties was the arrangement of
overseas gold consignments. Long working hours and a bout of influenza
threatened his health and in 1853 he joined a party overlanding ten thousand
sheep from Dubbo to William Charles Wentworth's Paika station near the
Murray-Murrumbidgee junction. There he saw Captain Francis Cadell's Lady
Augusta on her first voyage up the Murray. Travelling overland to Melbourne
and by ship to Sydney, Bartley was encouraged by friends to establish
commercial agencies in Brisbane. He arrived there in the City of Melbourne
on 7 February 1854 and was soon representing Tooth, the Colonial Sugar Co. and
other Sydney interests as well as founding his own importing business. Said to
have been the first commercial traveller in Queensland, he combined business
with adventure by collecting orders on horseback in the Darling Downs and
Burnett districts where squatters became his friends as well as his clients.
Perhaps his most profitable enterprise was a franchise on Chilean flour which
he imported for £11 a ton and sold for as much as £50.
In 1856 medical advice to avoid a sedentary
occupation led Bartley to refuse Tooth's offer of the managership of the Kent
brewery in Sydney. However, his commercial connexions in Sydney brought him
into the Darling Point set where he met and on 5 January 1858 married Sarah
Sophia, daughter of William Barton and sister of Edmund; they had two sons and three daughters. A legacy
from his grandfather, sometime chief clerk in the Ordnance Department, enabled
him to buy land at Rockhampton, Maryborough, Toowoomba, Bowen and Cleveland as
well as on many hills around Brisbane. On one of these at Hamilton, overlooking
the Brisbane River, he had a house built to his own design with many doors and
rooms which ran into each other; because of its isolated position the house
became known as 'Bartley's Folly'. The failure of the Bank of Queensland in
1866 caused him heavy losses and after selling most of his land at deflated
prices he retired from business. From this time he seems to have occupied
himself in occasional journalism and in collecting from Australia, New Guinea
and New Caledonia gold ore and semi-precious stones which won him several
intercolonial and international prizes. His marriage was not happy and when his
wife refused to endure the 'snakes, centipedes and blacks' at Hamilton, he made
the house available to his brother James.
Bartley had become a member of the Union Club,
Sydney, in 1857 and in 1860 he joined the Queensland Club. His diaries for
1863, 1869 and 1888, at the Mitchell Library reveal the restlessness and
obsessive interest in women which characterized his life and reminiscences. In
the 1870s and 1880s he was one of Brisbane's best-known eccentrics and could
often be seen in Queen Street wearing a pith helmet or an old plaid shawl
according to the season, and riding an old roan mare who found her own pace. A
long quarrel with the Real Property Office led him many times to seek the
appointment of a select committee; one parliamentarian declared him a more
intolerable nuisance than 'the thistle or the Bathurst burr'. In 1892 at
Brisbane he published Opals and Agates, reminiscences and observations
based on his early life in Queensland. When he died suddenly in Sydney on 10
July 1894 he was preparing Australian Pioneers and Reminiscences; edited
by John Knight it was published in 1896. Bartley's wealth of
information, gifts as a raconteur and comments on contemporaries reveal a
powerful memory and a useful insight into the behaviour of others.
***************************************************************
NOTABLE
AUSTRALIAN EDITORS AND JOURNALISTS
Some Early
Sydney, Brisbane and Gympie Pressmen
PART 2
[By CLEM LACK, B.A., Dip.Jour.,
F.R.Hist.S.Q.,
F.R.G.S.A.]
(Read at a meeting of the Society
on 24 February 1972.)
Tonight I want to tell you about
some bygone Queensland Pressmen, and I do not think I can begin better than by referring
to a clever journalist and a colourful figure in Brisbane in the 'eighties and
'nineties of last century. His name was Nehemiah Bartley, and it is perpetuated
in Brisbane's geography in Bartley's Hill.
To Nehemiah Bartley, we owe a
graphic and drolly quaint picture of Brisbane in the latter half of the last
century. Nehemiah Bartley was a colourful, genial and kindly character.
Mounted on his ambling horse,
Nehemiah was a familiar sight in the streets of Brisbane, in the days when
Ascot and Clayfield still were more or less "bush" and when he built an
expensive and handsome house on the crest of Bartley's Hill, behind Toorak Hill.
LONELY BARTLEY'S FOLLY
The house was so lonely and
isolated that townspeople of the day dubbed it Bartley's Folly. The old house
has long since disappeared, but the name still clings to the neighbourhood.
The gorge between the hill and
Toorak Hill was said to be haunted and it was the resort of vagabonds and
doubtful characters. It was also reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a
convict escapee. Anyone courageous enough to build in the neighbourhood was
ridiculed by the town wiseacres as a fit companion for Bartley and his
"Folly".
But the old man, who was a clever
journalist and wrote biographical and topical articles for the Courier and
the Queenslander went on his way serenely, unperturbed by malicious
Gossip and "old wives' tales."
WROTE BOOK ON THE PIONEERS
Bartley was born in May 1830. He
was 64 years of age when he died on Tuesday, 10 July 1894, at Richmond House,
The Domain, Sydney. He had left Brisbane early in March for a visit to Sydney
on business associated with the production of his new book on the Pioneers
of Queensland.
Forty-five years earlier, in
1849, he had first landed in Tasmania. An active, adventurous young Englishman,
one of his earliest acts on reaching his new home in Tasmania was the ascent of
Mount Wellington (4,165 feet in Southern Tasmania). Mount Wellington lies
behind and to the west of Hobart, which spreads across its foothills. The
summit commands an extensive view of the valley and estuary of the Derwent, the
mountain ranges to the west, the Huon River area to the south and all the
south-east. Snow sometimes lies on Mount Wellington for six months of the year.
VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA
Before Bartley settled down to
Australian life, he made a voyage to California with a cargo of timber houses
and shop 1
fronts, pianos and pots, visiting
the island of Tahiti on the way. After completing his business in San
Francisco, he returned to Tasmania. In 1851 he crossed over to Melbourne.
He had not been there long, when
gold was discovered at Bathurst,^ and he was on the way thither to gain his first
experience of the Australian bush, which he loved so well.
Nehemiah Bartley was not one of
the lucky diggers—the best day's work of his party of nine yielded only £14. He
sold out and returned to Sydney to join his brother in a prospecting
expedition. He walked 300 miles there and back to the Turon in 10 days, with
his brother, but they made a bare living. He returned to Sydney to accept the position
of a teller in the Bank of New South Wales. That
was in 1852.
OVERLANDED WITH SHEEP
In the following year, he
undertook a long overlanding trip with sheep from Dubbo to Paika, on the
Murrumbidgee.
After spending some months at
Paika, he reached Sydney again at the close of 1853. Early in the following
year, Bartley first set foot in what in 1859 became the new Colony of
Queensland. He saw a great deal of the country, as he was employed as a
commercial traveller and agent in the region of Moreton Bay, doing the rounds
of the Darling Downs and Bumett districts every six weeks or so.
Bartley wrote a great deal for
the Courier and the Queenslander in the 1890's.
In one of his articles in the Queenslander
he recalled that in 1853 the Brisbane Courier was edited by William
Wilkes-Bartley, spelt the name without an "e". He described Wilkes as
"a racy writer who had a holy horror of High Church parsons, one of whom
refused to read the burial service over Wilkes's little girl (died of scarlet
fever) on the ground that he attended Wesleyan Chapel."
***************************************************
EARLY
BRIGHTON AND SANDGATE
(Read
at a meeting of the Society on August 23, 1956.)
L
The Brighton Hotel (Sandgate) and
Captain Townsend
[By
E. V. STEVENS, Hon. Life Member of the Historical Society of Queensland.
This
paper relates the story of the Brighton Hotel at Sandgate, Queensland, a
landmark in Brighton Terrace, and although the hotel licence has not been continuous,
the hotel site is one of the earliest reserved for that purpose in Queensland,
The site is included in
Portion
57, Parish of Nundah.
A
Proclamation in the New South Wales Government Gazette dated October 12, 1858,
lists land which was to be offered for sale at the Police Court, Brisbane, to
be held on December 14, 1858, County Stanley, Parish of Nundah. The land is described
as "Lying on and near the shores of Moreton Bay, and between the waters of
the Pine River and Sandgate."
Forty-four
lots were offered, the price ranging from £1 to £3 per acre. Lot No. 17 was
Portion
57,
Parish of Nundah.
The
first purchaser of Portion 57 was Daniel Rowntree Somerset of Brisbane, who was
given a Deed of Grant (No. 949) of 37 acres for £37. This original Deed of
Grant can be seen in the Titles Office, Brisbane, Vol. 2A, Folio 2. The land
was purchased on August 29, 1859. As a matter of interest, the next Deed of Grant,
for land adjacent to Portion 57, was issued to
Joshua
Jeays.
Nehemiah
Bartley in "Opals and Agates" (page 93) relates a story which shows
D. R. Somerset to be one of the most gullible of men. Near the Customs House,
Brisbane, was Richardson's (later Brights') wharf, where D. R. Somerset had the
upper floor. Bartley describes him as "a kindly honest simple hearted gentleman, all too easily imposed
upon," and relates this story. "Captain John Murphy, of the barque
'Bella Vista,' was a bluff, bold seaman, and never 'stood on repairs'" much
. . . One day Murphy brought the barque up the river, all sail set, with such a
vigorous rush, that her flying jibboom went through the roof of Somerset's wharf
shed.
Murphy
hauled off clear, anchored, and was ashore in his boat instanter, and in the
upper office. 'Come out on the wharf for a moment, Mr. Somerset,' said he, and
Mr. Somerset did so. 'Do you see those goats on the roof of the shed, and those
loose shingles?' said Murphy. 'Indeed, I do. Captain Murphy, and I had no idea,
till now, they were such destructive animals; I am much obliged to you for
telling me of it, and I will see that it does not happen again'."
The
Survey Office and the Titles Office possess plan 29109, showing a survey of
Portion 57, by L. LeGould on December 20, 1865. This plan records, between
Subdivisions
65
and 66, a "Reserve for Hotel Purposes" on the site where the Brighton
Hotel now stands. What appear to represent buildings are marked on this reserve.
The
first person to obtain a free-holding title to this site was Patrick
Dunne—Certificate of Title No. 10147, Book LXXXI, Folio 167. The memo of
request for a free-hold title was signed by Patrick Dunne on January 31, 1866,
for one acre, being Subdivision 66A of Portion 57. It will be noticed that when
this reserve, lying between Subdivisions 65 and 66, was free-holded,
the
number 66A was given to the subdivision.
The
property passed from Patrick Dunne to William Townsend on March 22, 1867, at a
purchase price of £1,154. This sale was registered at the Titles Office on
April 29, 1867. The next transfer is from William Townsend to William Williams
on May 8, 1882, and from Williams to Samuel Hamilton on September 4, 1882; on
November 24, 1888, a transfer was made to Tom Coward, and on the same day to
Boyd Morehead and John Stevenson.
The
Government Gazette for 1864 lists William Rae as Licensee of The Brighton
Hotel, Brisbane District.
The
same licensee is given in the Gazette for 1865, and also James John Tubbs. The
Gazette for 1866 gives the names of William Denver as transferring to James
Hartley. There is no reference to a hotel licence in the year 1867, which is
the year the property was bought by Captain Townsend. The next year in which a
hotel licence is listed is the year 1883 (Government Gazette page 472) when the
licensee of the Royal Hotel (Brighton) is given as S. Hamilton. The Titles' Office
records a sale on September 4, 1882, to Samuel Hamilton, who had previously
been the licensee of the Hamilton Hotel at Hamilton.
The
hotel building has had many occupants, but the most unusual were orphan
children. The "Week" for March 10, 1893, reports the following:
"In
view of the serious difficulties which have arisen at the Goodna Lunatic Asylum
through the floods, the Minister for Education arranged to transfer mild
lunatics to the Diamantina Orphanage Buildings.
It
was first intended to remove the orphans to Peel Island, but on Saturday, March
4, 1893, forty orphans were removed to the old Brighton Hotel, Sandgate. Mrs.
May, the Matron, was absent on leave, but was recalled to take part in the work
of removal."
The
Inspector of Orphanages in his report for the year 1893, referring to the
Receiving Depot at Brighton, states that "as the children are all
boarded-out the maintenance accounts are not a quarter what they used to
be." The Receiving Depot was termed, "A most useful and necessary
institution, and as it was at present situated at the seaside it comes in handy
as a sanatorium for sickly children who have been up country and need a
change."
What
was locally known as "Mrs. May's Orphanage" occupied the Brighton
Hotel until January 1910, when the orphanage was transferred to
"Rowallan" at Wooloowin. At this time, Mrs. May was still Matron, and
Mrs. Holmes Sub-Matron. After the removal of the orphan children, the first
hotel licence granted was to Charles E. Sauzier.
Captain
William Townsend, a retired sea captain left London, England, on March 31,
1866, for Moreton Bay in one of the Black Ball line of clipper packets—
the
"Netherby" of 944 tons, under the command of Captain Owens. During
the voyage, the day by day life of the ship was printed, and published later as
"The Netherby Gazette," a copy of which is in the Oxley Memorial
Library. The editors of this gazette were H. D. Vincent and Captain Townsend.
The
clipper was bound for Moreton Bay, but the passengers were not destined to
reach this district without being exposed to serious danger. The vessel become
a total wreck against the western side of King's Island, Bass Strait, on July
14, 1866. By good fortune, all the passengers and crew were saved and brought
to Melbourne by H.M.S. "Victoria" and "Pharos."
Some
idea of Captain Townsend can be gleaned when one reads in the Gazette: "It
was found that a few of the first-class passengers were still on shore, upon
which a message was sent requesting them to come aboard as quickly as possible,
to which an answer was returned by a Mr. Townsend to the effect that he had not
packed his luggage."
A
testimonial was given to Captain Owens by the passengers, published in the
"Netherby Gazette," and the list of signatures include Wm. Townsend,
T.R., G.R., M.C., and E. J. Townsend.
The
Moreton Bay District lost some settlers for the Gazette records that "the
majority of the passengers expressed a determination to take up their abode in
Victoria in preference to proceeding to their original destination in
Queensland." Captain Townsend, however, decided to come to Moreton Bay,
and according to information supplied by the Registrar-General
(Vol.
15/251) arrived in Brisbane by S.S. "City of Melbourne" on August 6,
1866.
The
same source gives the names of Captain Townsend's children as Isabella
4,
Victor 10, Mary 12, George 16, and Edwin 17.
After
a short residence in Brisbane, Captain Townsend, as previously stated,
purchased in 1867 the building known as the Brighton Hotel, where he and his
family resided for ten years (2), removing then to his villa at Shorncliffe,
where his death took place.
Captain
Townsend took a prominent part in public affairs, and it is evident that his
property occupied far more land than that now occupied by the Brighton Hotel.
As proof of this it is only necessary to quote
2.
"The Week," 11th August, 1893.
Victor
Drury, who in a series of articles published in the Brisbane "Telegraph,"
commencing in May 1939, has this to say of Captain Townsend.
"When
I first remember Sandgate, Captain Townsend occupied Brighton House—the grounds
running down to what is now Flinders Parade. It was a beautiful property
planted with fruit trees and flowering shrubs. When Captain Townsend left
Brighton to reside in Sandgate, the old house became an hotel, Mr. Samuel Hamilton
being the licensee. Mr. Hamilton for years had the Hamilton Hotel at the corner
of the river and Racecourse Roads, Brisbane."
In
Pugh's Almanac for 1870, recording up to December 1869, Brighton is listed as a
Station. The census of 1871, published in Votes and Proceedings, includes
Brighton in the census district of Caboolture.
Two
squatters at Brighton are recorded in this census.
The
Government Gazette of February 25, 1873, announces that "W. Townsend to be
a member of the Marine Board vice Alexander Raff." The Post Office Directory
of 1874 informs us that W. Townsend, Brighton, was a Justice of the Peace, and
a squatter. Pugh's Almanac for 1869 confirms the fact that W. Townsend was a
Justice of the Peace.
An
excellent booklet, commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the Sandgate
State School, 1873-1953, is in the possession of the Society.
This
booklet states that the "State School at Sandgate was opened in a temporary
building on September 15, 1873. The building was the first Baptist Church which
was situated behind the Osbourne Hotel in Loudon Street. It had an opening
enrolment of forty-seven pupils . . .
"The
first School Committee consisted of William Deagon (Secretary), Captain W.
Townsend (Treasurer), Rev, B. G. Wilson (Baptist Minister), and Messrs.
Cowsley, Cookesley, and A. Slaughter. At the first triennial election
thereafter, Mr. R. Board replaced Mr. Cookesley."
The
Queensland National Bank opened for business on June 3, 1872. Captain Townsend
was prominently connected with the initiation of this bank, and was one of
these who signed the prospectus for its establishment.
At
a meeting on February 27, 1873, F. 0. Darvall and Captain Townsend were elected
auditors of this bank.
The
"Week," June 5, 1880, contains this report on the first municipal
elections for Sandgate: "The election of six councillors for the new
Sandgate municipality took place on Tuesday at Sandgate. There were seven candidates
and the following is the result of the poll:
R.
Board 31, George Bott 31, Robert Kift 31, Edward B. Southerden 29, William
Townsend 28, William Deagon 25, William Feuerriegel 14.
The
first six-named were declared by the Returning Officer, Mr. W. T. Blakeney, duly
elected.
Captain
Townsend was forced to relinquish his public positions owing to a serious
affection of his eyes, which culminated in total blindness. His death occurred on
August 11, 1893, at the age of eighty-three years.
Sandgate
Despite
the fact that persons living at Sandgate, so close to Brisbane, must have had a
decided influence on the growth of Brisbane, very little has been published on
the early history of Sandgate. The Oxley Memorial Library have in their
possession the valuable Dowse papers. Nehemiah Bartley and Mr. Victor Drury
have mentioned Sandgate in their reminiscences, but a connected history has yet
to be published.
According
to the Sandgate State School booklet, the first survey of Sandgate was
completed by Surveyor J. C. Burnett, and his plan of Sandgate was forwarded to
Sydney on September 9, 1852. The first sale of land took place a year later on
November 9 and 10, 1853.
The
aboriginals called the district "Warra," meaning "An open sheet
of water."
Agitation
for a settlement at Sandgate is said to be due to the loss of lives after the
shipwreck "The Thomas King"^*). This ship was wrecked on Cato's Banks
in Torres Strait on April 17, 1852, and six persons, including the captain,
decided to try to reach Brisbane in the ship's boat. They landed in the Wide Bay
area, and decided to continue the journey overland
to
Brisbane. Only two eventually arrived on May 17. Four others lost their lives
in skirmishes with the aboriginals in the Caloundra-Bribie area. According to
the statement of Captain Walker he and the other survivor had been hiding in
the neighbourhood of Cabbage
Tree
Creek for several days, and it was thought that had there been a settlement
there, the lives of at least two of the seamen might possibly have been saved.
An
agitation was thereupon started for the establishment of a village on the coast
in the vicinity of Cabbage Tree Creek.
The
first settlement consisted of blocks lying roughly between the present Yundah
Street and the sea. One of the first purchasers of land at Sandgate was Tom
Dowse, who went there with his two sons in November 1853. On December 3 a party
of aboriginals tried to steal tobacco and other supplies from Mr. Dowse's hut,
but were driven off. Mr. Dowse determined to return to Brisbane by boat, but a
larger party of aboriginals attacked before they could leave.
Mr.
Dowse with his sons managed to escape with their lives, and in one boat reached
the mouth of the Brisbane River. Tom Dowse received a head wound and a son was
speared in the leg during the affray. Fortunately the Oxley Memorial Library
have acquired
the
Dowse papers.
Nehemiah
Bartley in his book "Australian Pioneers and Reminiscences" (edited
by J. J. Knight, pp. 262 et seq.) describes his first visit to Sandgate.
"I first went there in September 1858 in company with Dr. Hobbs and the
Reverend George Wight. I remember how Lieut. Williams, of the Native Police,
and I threw spears over the fork of a high gumtree near the EinBunpin Lagoon.
The population of Sandgate was then, I should estimate, about twenty-five
souls. The 'hotel' was kept by one, Charles F. Davie, who came there to try and
prolong his days on earth by the soft sea air.
Butchers
and bakers and shops there were none, so allthe fare was salt beef and damper;
bottled beer, wine and spirits were procurable." Bartley, however,
continues, "Months after this, again, the blacks from the north end of the
Bay (Bribie way) came down and made the place uncomfortable.
They
bailed Tom Dowse up in a slab hut, which, fortunately for him, had no glass
windows . . . This was spear-proof, and he escaped, and after this Lieut. Wheeler,
of the Native Police, cleared out the aboriginals, who never again troubled
Sandgate . . ."
Bartley
is apparently astray in assigning the year 1858 as the date of the attack on
Tom Dowse, for other references give the year as 1853. Further recollections of
Sandgate by Bartley state that "Cabbage Tree Creek was a 'teazer' to cross
at high water, but after 1861 it got a bridge . . . 'Jordan Cottage' was built
about 1860, Loudon's about the same time, McConnel's house ('Morven') (in 1896
D. L. Brown's) was put up in 1866." Bartley returned to
Sandgate
in 1872 and stayed at the "Sandgate" hotel kept by Frank Raymond.
Mr.
Victor Drury's articles in the "Telegraph" of 1939 contain further
references to Sandgate.
"Our
family went to Sandgate for the Christmas holidays. We travelled down in a
hired landau and the luggage was taken down by furniture van. After passing Newstead
we drove over the Albion Hill down the old Sandgate Road to the German Station
where Mrs. Schattling kept what we called the Halfway House.
There
the horses had a spell and a bucket of water . . ."After leaving German
Station we drove over the big hill on towards Sandgate. The first residence
after getting over the big hill and coming towards Cabbage Tree Creek was
occupied by an ex-officer of the Police Department, Mr. Stephenson. We then
crossed Cabbage Tree Creek Bridge and on to Sandgate.
The
lock-up was at the foot of the hill leading into Sandgate. On the rise we came
to the Osbourne Hotel, Dover Cottage, Bayswater Terrace, and then the Post
Office in charge of Mr. Charles Slaughter. Mr. Deagon had two cottages, Barnstable
and Devonshire Cottage. He also had a large hotel. The Sandgate, facing the
Upper Esplanade where Cobb and Co. coaches put up.
"
'Morven' in those days belonged to Mr. McConnel, later purchased by Mr. D. L.
Brown. Mr. Chancellor of the Customs had a cottage on the corner opposite where
the pier now is, and Mr. Thompson of the Union Bank occupied the opposite
corner. Messrs. Graham Hart and E. R. Drury built 'Saltwood' on the Shorncliffe
end of the town, and adjoining on the upper esplanade were the well-known
Shorncliffe cottages of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kift.
"Going
down to Cabbage Tree Creek you came to John Baxter's Oyster Saloon. The leading
tradespeople of Sandgate at the time were Messrs Buck, George Walker, and
George Mockridge. Mrs. Tempest was the draper. Later Mr. Griggs, a draper,
built a two-storied brick shop and dwelling.
The
hotels were the 'Osbourne' kept by Mr. L. Drouyn and 'Sandgate' by Mr. Tom Coward,
who was formerly in the native police. "Cobb and Co.'s coaches ran between
Brisbane and Sandgate meeting at the German Station (Nundah).
The
Sandgate pier was built about 1884, but as there was not sufficient water at
low tide, it was lengthened as at present.
"In
later years Mr. Robert J. Gray, Under Secretary of the Colonial Secretary's
Office, and later Commissioner for Railways, lived near Cabbage Tree Creek.
A
builder, Mr. Young, near Cabbage Tree Creek, prepared a wonderful mixture
called 'Young's Mineral Oil' which we used for cuts and scratches. Mr. Tom Persse
of the Lands Department had a house next to Mr. Gray's. Mr. George Wilkie Gray
(Quinlan Gray
and
Co.) also had a house near 'Saltwood.' William Street, of white-ant fame, also
lived in Sandgate, and was a builder and contractor. Dr. John Thomson built 'Clutha'
at Shorncliffe . . . .
"Another
well-known family I must not omit to mention was the Bests. One had a bus and
he used to drive us to the train . . ."
The
opening of the railway on May 11, 1882, undoubtedly led to a rapid expansion in
the growth of Sandgate. Legend has it that when the first sod was turned, a
high public official, in attempting to wheel away the first barrow-full of
earth, found to his dismay that a practical joker had wired the wheel to the barrow
so that he could not shift it.
A
sensation was caused in 1890 when it was learnt that Gervaise Dubroca, known as
the "French Basketmaker," was found murdered in the Brighton Paddock on
Good Friday, April 4. Dubroca was said to have been a jeweller, and to have
resided previously at Rockhampton,
but
lived a hermit-like existence at Brighton, earning a living by making baskets.
Captain
Townsend died in the year 1893, and a survey of Sandgate at that time, taken
from Pugh's Almanac for 1894, includes the names of many wellknown families.
The
Mayor of the Municipal Council was Alderman J. A. Hayes. Captain Townsend,
after leaving Brighton, lived at "Mango Cottage" adjacent to Moora
Park.
This
cottage was next to "Goonan Goonan," the home of Alderman J. A.
Hayes. It is worthy of mention that Alderman J. A. Hayes was a foundation
member of the Historical Society of Queensland. He presented to the Brisbane
City Council an excellent map of Brisbane
in
1861, which is now in the possession of this Society.
Other
Aldermen were G. Prentice, W. A. Field, J. W. Todd, R. W. Kingsford, J. Joyce,
M. Quinlan, G. T. Lightbody, and J. Potts. Overseer of Roads was H.Shepherd.
The Auditors were R. Board and W. R.Barfoot. Mr. W. Webber was the ganger. Mr.
E. B. Southerden was Chairman of Trustees of the cemetery.
The
clergy were represented by the Rev. Canon Matthews (Church of England), Rev. W.
P. Cairns (Wesleyan), Rev. J. B. Sneyd (Baptist), and Revs. J. P. M. Connolly
and J. Power (Roman Catholic).
The
Matron of the Convalescent Home was Mrs. Hutchinson, with Mrs. Nesbitt, the
Matron of the Lady Musgrave Sanatorium. Miss Darcy conducted a private boarding
school, and she and Miss Suter taught music. The Head Teacher of the State
School was William J. Bevington, and assistants were William G. Patterson, Miss
McDermott, Miss Frances C. Roper and one pupil teacher.
The average attendance at the school was 295.
The
President of the School of Arts was Mr. C. B. Fox. The trustees were G. Agnew,
W. Barham, the committee members being Dr. Girdlestone, J. A. Hayes, J. H.
Bean, W. H. Bell, T. Dinsdale, Dr. Paul, A. W. Field, and W. J. Bevington, with
W. Smellie as Treasurer and Miss Turbayne as Secretary.
In
the sporting field, M. Quinlan was Secretary of the Racing Club, G. Agnew was
President of the Cricket Club, of which E. S. Hale was Hon. Secretary and
Treasurer. Public positions were filled by Sergeant H. Primrose as Clerk of
Petty Sessions, W. Shapcott as Railway Stationmaster, and C. Slaughter as
Postmaster, Telegraph Officer, and Savings Bank Manager.
Drs.
Girdlestone and Paul have already been mentioned.
A.
W. Field is recorded as Chemist and Druggist.
Under
"Trades and Professions" are found S.Hale and H. Mahoupt,
Booksellers; G. Bott, P. H. Churton, James Gardner, Bakers; John Best, P.
Peppier, Coach Proprietors; M. Robinson, W. Street, and J. C. Thomson, Builders.
The
Banking profession was represented by Mr. F. E. Matthews, Acting Manager of the
Queensland National Bank. Other names mentioned are Prosser, Taylor and Coy.,
C. C. Braun, C. Cohrs, C. Prackart, H. Darragh, J. J. Spalding, J. Gilpin, and
W. Webber.
Last
but not least, the newspaper was the "Moreton Mail," published at
Nundah, and established on January 9, 1886.
Acknowledgement
is made for information supplied by
the Oxley Memorial Library.
3.
Additional notes on Sandgate compiled by C. G. Austin {Hon.
Librarian).
4.
See J. J. Knight, "In the
Early Days," pp. 314-5.
