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--- gaining_colonial_experience_early_properties [2025/07/28 15:43] – old revision restored (2024/07/22 17:32) judith
+++ gaining_colonial_experience_early_properties [2026/01/25 10:22] (current) – judith
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 The combined result was that, almost immediately, TLM-P planned to leave //Rosewood//. When he wrote to the Ludwig Leichhardt in September 1843, he mentioned that he intended 'selling my station and believe I have already got a purchaser'. He had stocked it with sheep and horses.((TLM-P to L. Leichhardt, 27 September 1843, MLMSS683, pp.105-08)) TLM-P still saw opportunity to the north of what was then the colony of NSW. From his time at //Rosewood// onwards, TLM-P lived in what became, from 6 June 1859, the colony of Queensland. It was very much a frontier settlement. Moreton Bay had just ceased to be a penal colony, so had no new convicts, but a significant proportion of the small white population remained 'unfree'. It is estimated that in 1846, 15 percent of the population of County of Stanley (which included the major centres of Brisbane and Ipswich) were convicts.((Ross Fitzgerald, //From the Dreaming to 1915: A History of Queensland//, Vol.1, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1982.)) \\
-An account book for Rosewood Station for 24 June 1843-1844 survives((MLMSS 3117/Box 6/Item 4. A microfilm copy is in the Fryer Library, University of Queensland, MIC8952. Though it is catalogued as from 24 June, the first entry is for the 23rd)). For more see [[employees_stores|Employees, Stores]].\\
+An account book for Rosewood Station for 24 June 1843-1844 survives((MLMSS 3117/Box 6/Item 4. A microfilm copy is in the Fryer Library, University of Queensland, MIC8952. Though it is catalogued as from 24 June, the first entry is for the 23rd)). For more context see [[employees_stores|Employees, Stores]].\\
+\\
+==== Rosewood Station Accounts 1843-44 ====
+TLM-P started an account book (ledger) for //Rosewood// on 23 June 1843 ((MLMSS3117/box 6/item 4. Though it is catalogued as from 24 June, the first entry is for the 23rd)). On its first page he recorded items he bought at a Brisbane sale on 23 June. These items include necessities such as fustian trousers, blankets, guns and knives, but also indicates that he aspired to gentility with silk handkerchiefs and two tablecloths.\\
+\\
+One page of his accounts reveals the co-dependence of neighbouring squatters. The 2-page spread lists items borrowed and lent from and to other stations, particularly from a neighbour E.B. Uhr. As well, among his list of expenses for August 1843, TLM-P notes he paid Uhr £20 'for his run [land] at Laidley Creek'. This was Edmund Blucher Uhr who features in David Marr's chilling book, //Killing For Country// (Black Inc., 2023). The co-dependence does not mean lack of conflict. Another entry in the Rosewood accounts is a payment of £26 to settle a boundary dispute with Uhr.\\
+\\
+Employees included current and former convicts as well as others:\\
+   **Robert Scolis**[?] was an assigned servant of J Bell Esq. but worked for TLM-P from April 1844.((list of cheques)) TLM-P increased his wage to £25 pa for ‘being a most excellent shepherd’. \\
+   **John Moore** had a ticket of leave and was employed as a general servant from 21 July 1843. His contract was for 12 months at £23pa. \\
+   **Patrick Flannery** was another former convict, 'free by servitude'. He was employed from 1 July 1843 as a shepherd at £26 pa but just for 3 months. \\
+   **Thomas Moore** (check p.16)\\
+   **Edward Walker** was also 'free by servitude'. On 1 July 1843, TLM-P hired him as a general servant for three months at 10/- per week for 3 months. Walker was then re-hired to shear sheep and kept on for a year less '2 days’. He was paid £43.13.1, but bought goods from TLM-P’s store so received £18.10.6½ as the balance of his wages. TLM-P noted that the “Agreement & wages cancelled by the Court.” \\
+   **James Johnson** was another 'free by servitude'. He was employed on 18 August 1843 as a general servant at 10/- per week but discharged on 1 Oct 1843. He had luxurious tastes as the stores he bought from TLM-P included 3 silk handkerchiefs. It is possible he was the same James Johnson who Tom de M. M-P paid by cheque £1 to in May 1868 for shoeing horses on //Maroon//.\\
+   **Timothy Shea** employed in February 1844 to take change of sheep at £104 a year. He bought a large number of goods then was paid out 'to settle a dispute' in July 1845. A later entry (pp32-33) has him employed for 14 weeks and 1 day at £2 per week. Shea was an unsatisfactory employee though he was given a number of chances. TLM-P apparently deducted money from Shea's wages for not mixing flocks (£4); allowing rams to be with flock and presumably mucking up the breeding program (£5); and losing a Carbine rifle (£3.10.0). \\
+   **John Townsend** was hired on 4 May 1843 to use his own horse to ride to Moreton Bay to look after stock. He was paid £30pa but just for 3 months. He was later employed as a hut keeper until 28 February 1844. The rate of pay is unclear, perhaps £9 per month. When he was on leave in 1844 he apparently decided he needed a new horse, but was convicted 'for horse stealing by Captain Wickham' who was the police magistrate at Moreton Bay. See [[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wickham-john-clements-2790|ADB entry]].\\
+   **Dennis Kahill** was hired on 23 December 1844 at £20 a year and later paid an extra 10/- for shepherding.\\
+,11  **James Stanley and his wife**. It was seen as worth noting that the couple were 'free' emigrants rather than former convicts. They arrived in Sydney possibly on 6 January [the date is hard to decipher] and at //Rosewood// on 1 October 1843. He was hired as a general servant and his wife as a laundress and hut keeper at a combined wage of £20 a year. TLM-P agreed to pay their passage 'if they conduct themselves properly. One half to be deducted after 6 months the reminder at end of 12 months.' With such a low wage, it was difficult to save so in Sept 1844 TLM-P advanced them £7 to travel to Brisbane and for sundry expenses. Possibly this was the same James Stanley who was employed on //Maroon// in April 1865 as a stockman for £1 per week for 4 weeks, then re-engaged\\
+  **Cornelius? Hughes** hired as as shepherd, hut keeper and stockman at £10 a year. This amount was doubled to £20 a year due to 'good conduct', an indication of the market rate for a reliable stockman/hut keeper. \\
+  **Jeremiah? McCarthy** hired as general servant and possibly shepherd (the word is unclear) on 10 August 1843 at £18 a year. He was discharged in January 1844.\\
+  **Florence McCarthy** hired as general servant on 23 October 1842 for 2 years at £20 a yeara. This period was reduced to 1 year then in January 1844 she was discharged.\\
+  **John Clarke** in an unknown capacity from 10 December 1844 with wages of £25 a year. [check is this entry for Bromelton? p.31]\\
 \\
 TLM-P needed to be reasonably self-sufficient. That included not only medical books but at least one on the law.{{  :scan_20171014.jpg?250|}} The title page of his law book is shown in the next photo.((Provenance: Sarah Godden)) The book is inscribed, 'Thomas Lodge Murray Prior, Logan River Moreton Bay. January 1845'.\\
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 By 1854, TLM-P decided that he had to look to Brisbane and also further north for opportunities. He sold the lease to //Bromelton// and, as shown, bought considerable land in and around Brisbane((e.g. //New South Wales Government Gazette//, 4 August 1854, p.1679)). Also in 1854, he applied to select 640 acres on the west bank of the [[wp>Albert_River_(South_East_Queensland)|Albert River]].((Helen Gregory, 'Squatters, selectors and - dare I say it - speculators', //Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland//, XI:4, 1983, p.81.)) His most significant acquisition was a property called //Hawkwood// (its indigenous owners called it Naraigin) on the Auburn River, a tributary of the Burnett river (north of what is now the Sunshine Coast).\\
 \\
-In a later reminiscence, TLM-P recalled travelling there (or being guided by?) a young indigenous boy of about 13 years old. This unnamed boy told him about conflict in the area.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.98 citing Rosa Praed papers, Box 3, 8370, packet 3/1/1/.))\\
+TLM-P relied on Indigenous help while assuming he had a right to their land. Later in life, TLM-P's daughter Rosie asked him to provide information about Indigenous Australians. TLM-P wrote that, after buying Hawkwood, he rode out to inspect the area, travelling with a young indigenous boy about 13 years old, 'a nice smart lad, full of fun' who TLM-P called 'Johnny'. The journey included at least one day where they both rode over 35 miles, the last part at night. During the journey, both parties sustaining riding accidents.TLM-P noted that, on the return journey, 'Johnny' rode 'a headstrong station colt' while leading another horse - the horse bolted with him and 'Johnny' was knocked off the horse and 'a good deal hurt'.TLM-P's reaction was to appeal to the Indigenous sense of humour: 'get a laugh out of a black boy & he is all right'.((Rosa Praed papers,MSS 8370/Box 3, packet 3/1/1/.))\\
 \\
 The //Hawkwood// venture started ominously. A warning sign was that, since its first settler occupier in 1848, TLM-P was the fourth occupier in six years.((HS Bloxsome, 'The discovery, exploration and early settlement of the Upper Burnett', //Historical Society of Queensland Journal//, vol.III:5, December 1945, p.344.)) The bad luck began when moving his sheep to his new property, TLM-P had to destroy 8,000 of them after they became infected with scab.(({{https://www.farmhealthonline.com/disease-management/sheep-diseases/sheep-scab/}}; //Australia's Representative Men//, ed. T.W.H. Leavitt, Improved Edition, Melbourne: Wells and Leavitt, c.1889, entry for T.L. Murray-Prior. The book used is the one TLM-P owned, signed by him and dated 14th June 1889. It is likely that TLM-P provided the information.)) The family initially moved from //Bromelton// to Woogaroo (now Goodna) on the south bank of the Brisbane River, while (as described in Ernest Davies' memoirs above) TLM-P put his stock on a 'narrow neck of land opposite, then called the Pocket, now known as Prior's Pocket'. He and his stockmen overlanded his sheep and cattle to //Hawkwood//, then his family moved there early in 1856.((Patricia Clarke, 'The Murray-Priors at Bromelton 1844-1853' in Patricia Savage (compiled), //They came to Bromelton: a brief outline of the life and times of the early pioneers who came to Bromleton - from the pages of history, personal diaries, old letters and family recollections//, Patricia Savage, 2004, p.23.))\\