From the Ethel Herron Private Collection The 80th Anniversary of Sandgate State School

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

  

  

 

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From the Council Archives:

Sandgate State School from Brisbane City Council 1926

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Nehemiah Bartley was mentioned in the Information, so who was he?

Bartley, Nehemiah (1830–1894)

by R. H. W. Reece

This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, (MUP), 1969

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.

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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."

http://www.librarything.com/author/bartleynehemiah

 

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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.