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--- matilda_s_children [2025/01/24 20:08] – judith
+++ matilda_s_children [2025/01/24 20:22] (current) – judith
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 |Lease  1968| 24 September 1873| Portion No. 26| Telemon parish |705 acres|\\
-A total of 5,928 acres (nearly 2,399 hectares). //The Queenslander// (9 November 1872) reported that he had selected 80 acres of first class and 2,320 acres of second class pastoral land at Telemon, then on 8 October 1873 made a conditional purchase of 640 acres of more 'second class' land at Telemon. Andrew Darbyshire notes that Thomas de M. was probably 'dummying' for his father, to get around restrictions any one person could acquire property. Darbyshire also outlines Thomas de M's purchases at Melcombe, Telemon and Mogill from March 1877 to January 1881.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, pp.75,123.))\\
+A total of 5,928 acres (nearly 2,399 hectares). //The Queenslander// (9 November 1872) reported that he had selected 80 acres of first class and 2,320 acres of second class pastoral land at Telemon, then on 8 October 1873 made a conditional purchase of 640 acres of more 'second class' land at //Telemon//. Andrew Darbyshire notes that Thomas de M. was probably 'dummying' for his father, to get around restrictions any one person could acquire property. Darbyshire also outlines Thomas de M's purchases at Melcombe, Telemon and Mogill from March 1877 to January 1881.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, pp.75,123.))\\
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-At Maroon, Thomas de M. M-P developed a strong reputation as a skilled breeder of [[wp>Shorthorn|shorthorn cattle]]: something his father had also done since his days at Bromelton station. Thomas de M. M-P  appears to have visited Scotland in 1894 where he was reported as a 'prominent Queensland cattle breeder' with plans to export cattle.((//Aberdeen Evening Express//, 27 September 1894.)) These plans were implemented with good results.((//New Zealand Mail//, 27 December 1900, p.51; //Otago Witness//, 14 March 1885, p.6.))\\
+At //Maroon//, Thomas de M. M-P developed a strong reputation as a skilled breeder of [[wp>Shorthorn|shorthorn cattle]]: something his father had also done since his days at Bromelton station. Thomas de M. M-P  appears to have visited Scotland in 1894 where he was reported as a 'prominent Queensland cattle breeder' with plans to export cattle.((//Aberdeen Evening Express//, 27 September 1894.)) These plans were implemented with good results.((//New Zealand Mail//, 27 December 1900, p.51; //Otago Witness//, 14 March 1885, p.6.))\\
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 Again like his father, Thomas de M. M-P had a passion for horses. He bred 'grade Arab horses', with some from Arab stallions imported 'direct from Arabia.'((//Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser//, 13 December 1902, p.4; A. Yarwood, //Walers. Australian Horses Abroad//, Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1989, p.154.)) During a visit to India, he 'canvassed the prospects for Queensland horses in the remount [army horses] trade'. He followed this up by bringing together a number of fellow horse breeders during the 1892 Brisbane Exhibition week, advocating that they become regular traders for remounts. Like his father, he deplored the emphasis on sprint events for horses, designed to maximise gambling, which meant a reduction in Queensland horses' stamina.((T. de M. Murray-Prior, 'The Horse in Australia - Breeding with Arabs', //The Australasian Pastoralists' review : a monthly journal and record of all matters affecting the pastoral and landed interests throughout Australasia//, 2:10, 15 December 1892; when at the races in England, TLM-P wrote in his diary: 'What can be the good of a horse even if it could fly a few hundred yards? now a horse that can go and has staying power is worth having; racing people do not agree with me.//', 24 May 1882)). Thomas de M. M-P also wrote advocating a tax on stallions in order to weed out weaker horses and improve the breed overall.((It was republished in //Waikato Times//, 24 November 1894, p.15, see https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18941124.2.55?page=2&phrase=2&query=Murray-Prior.)) He was a founding member of the Belyando Picnic Race Club's Committee of Management which organised the first race meeting at Lanark in 1884. He was also Chairman of the South Kennedy Picnic Race Club's Committee of Management from c.1887: his horses won prizes at the Club meetings. In 19-20 July 1892, the Belyando Picnic Race Club held its races on an unfenced course at their President's (T de M M-P) home Bulliwallah: they continued to race at Bulliwallah until at least 1896 before a permanent course was built.((ch 3 'Picnic Racing on the Belyando', from book? pp.9,10.)) Fox's History of Queensland summarised T. de M. M-P as having "enjoyed a wide reputation as a breeder of prize stock, his shorthorn cattle and Arab horses carrying off many of the most coveted honours of the day. He owned the Arab stallion "Pathfinder," at the time one of the best-known horses in Queensland, and also imported from India "Trojan," another noted Arab sire, both of which accounted for prize stock of the highest quality."((Matthew Fox, //The history of Queensland: its people and industries: an historical and commercial review descriptive and biographical facts, figures and illustrations: an epitome of progress//, Brisbane: States Publishing Company, 1919, vol.1, p.173))\ For details of sales etc of T de M M-P stock, see Andrew Darbyshire ((//A Fair Slice of St Lucia//. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, pp.76-79.))\\
 The Belyando Handicap, NLA.{{:belyando_handicap.jpg?300|}}(( for a photo of the 1898 Bulliwallah races, see Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.79.))
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-One of Thomas de Montmorenci M-P's claims to fame is that he and Peter Pears, a tutor at nearby Unumgar Station, were the first Europeans to climb [[wp>Mount_Lindesay_(Queensland)|Mt Lindesay]], in 1872.((e.g. N.C. Hewitt, 'Early History Recalled', //Northern Star// [Lismore], 9 January 1940; //The Brisbane Courier//, 18 May 1872, p.6.))  His wife Mary believed that the pair were actually the second, with the first ascent in the 1840s: that claim is uncertain. Thomas de M. M-P passed on his fascination with climbing Mt Lindesay to his son [[thomas_bertram_and_lizzie_m-p|Thomas Bertram]], who, with his cousin Standish Lightoller, climbed it in September 1902.((Robert Thomas, 'The First Ascent of Mt. Lindesay - A Climbing "Whodunit"', //Queensland Review//, 8:1, May 2001, pp.1-20.)) {{https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Mount_Lindesay_Queensland.jpg/280px-Mount_Lindesay_Queensland.jpg}}\\
+One of Thomas de Montmorenci M-P's claims to fame is that he and Peter Pears, a tutor at nearby Unumgar Station, were the first Europeans to climb [[wp>Mount_Lindesay_(Queensland)|Mt Lindesay]], in 1872.((e.g. N.C. Hewitt, 'Early History Recalled', //Northern Star// [Lismore], 9 January 1940; //The Brisbane Courier//, 18 May 1872, p.6.))  His second wife Mary believed that the pair were actually the second, with the first ascent in the 1840s: that claim is uncertain. Thomas de M. M-P passed on his fascination with climbing Mt Lindesay to his son [[thomas_bertram_and_lizzie_m-p|Thomas Bertram]], who, with his cousin Standish Lightoller, climbed it in September 1902.((Robert Thomas, 'The First Ascent of Mt. Lindesay - A Climbing "Whodunit"', //Queensland Review//, 8:1, May 2001, pp.1-20.)) {{https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Mount_Lindesay_Queensland.jpg/280px-Mount_Lindesay_Queensland.jpg}}\\
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-Thomas de M M-P presumably shared his fellow squatters' conviction that cheap labour was the answer and shut his eyes to how this was acquired. On 10 December 1872 he took two Polynesian contract labourers to court for refusing to work. Both were fined making it harder than ever for them to return home. It was highly likely that neither gave informed consent to any labour contract.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.75.))
+Thomas de M M-P shared his fellow squatters' conviction that cheap labour was essential for their prosperity. On 10 December 1872 he took two Polynesian contract labourers to court for refusing to work. Both were fined making it harder than ever for them to return home. It was highly likely that neither gave informed consent to any labour contract.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.75.))
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 Thomas de M. M-P contributed to numerous local organisations. He was active in local government - the Boonah Shire Council - being elected a member of the Goolman Divisional Board from 1889-92 and 1895-99, including Chairman in 1896-97.((Collin Pfeffer, //The Fassifern Story: a history of Boonah Shire and surroundings to 1989//, Boonah Shire Council, c.1991, p.148; [H. Krause], //The Story of Maroon. A Souvenir Review of its History and Development 1827-1961//, Maroon Centenary Celebrations Committee, 1961, p.40.)) He was also Vice-President of the Queensland Chamber of Agriculture.((D. Waterson, //A Biographical Register of the Queensland Parliament 1860-1929//, Canberra: ANU Press, 1972, p.135.)) He was the founding President of the Fassifern and Dugandan Agricultural and Pastoral Association; on the first Committee of the General Hospital at Boonah as well as the Boonah Literary and Debating Society. He donated the land for the first Maroon School which opened in 1891, mainly for the children of settlers taking advantage of the closer settlement acts.(([H. Krause], //The Story of Maroon. A Souvenir Review of its History and Development 1827-1961//, Maroon Centenary Celebrations Committee, 1961, pp.13,31.)) In addition, he was known to have a good relationship with the local German settlers.((Margaret Jenner, letter to J. Godden, 6 July [year?]))\\
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 {{:florence_enhanced.jpg?300|}} **For other photos of the beautiful Florence and her possessions, click [[painting, photos Florence]]**\\
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-Thomas and Florence had four daughters and one son.((Bernard Burke, //A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry//, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, pp.49-50; Robert M-P, //The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors//, p.14, NLA; [Thomas A. M-P], Murray-Prior Family, booklet, October 2014; Thomas Bertram M-P, //Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d.,p.7, NLA.)) See the sidebar entry for **Thomas Bertram M-P** and his sisters **Florette, Mabel, Ethel and Phyllis M-P**.((Queensland Death certificate 1902/C1918.))\\
+Thomas and Florence had four daughters and one son as shown in the next generation of this website.((Bernard Burke, //A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry//, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, pp.49-50; Robert M-P, //The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors//, p.14, NLA; [Thomas A. M-P], Murray-Prior Family, booklet, October 2014; Thomas Bertram M-P, //Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d.,p.7, NLA.)) See the sidebar entry for **Thomas Bertram M-P** and his sisters **Florette, Mabel, Ethel and Phyllis M-P**.((Queensland Death certificate 1902/C1918.))\\
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-On 30 August 1902, the year after Florence died, Thomas married 57-year-old Mary Bundock (1845-1924).((BDM, marriage registration no. 5779/1902)) Thomas' young stepbrother Robert was reportedly his best man at the wedding.((N.C. Hewitt, 'Early History Recalled', //Northern Star// [Lismore], 9 January 1940.)) The Bundocks and M-Ps were on visiting terms at least from 1880,((Praed papers, Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 1880, OM64-1, 4/2/1-4)) and Thomas de M. M-P had a connection to the area where Mary Bundock's family had a property, //Wyangarie//, on the Richmond River in northern NSW. Isabel McBryde states that Mary's father owned a property called //Kooralbyn// near Beaudesert (and thus //Maroon//) and also owned //Bulliwallah//, south of Charters Towers, which appears also as a M-P property. One bond between Thomas de M. and Mary was their love of horses. Mary was known as 'a fearless horsewoman, and would ride for miles to set a broken limb or succour a settler in distress in that then sparsely settled district'.((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 23April 1924,p.10)) Oral history recollections are frequently not-quite-right, and the former description particularly fitted her sister Alice,((Praed papers, Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 1880, OM64-1, 4/2/1-4)) but perhaps both sisters were that way inclined. Another recollection of Mary described her as 'the Florence Nightingale of the Upper Richmond, of whom all the early settlers still speak with affectionate regard. She was a wonderful woman, admired and remembered by all with gratitude.'((N.C. Hewitt, 'Early History Recalled', //Northern Star// [Lismore], 9 January 1940.)) \\
+On 30 August 1902, the year after Florence died, Thomas married 57-year-old Mary Bundock (1845-1924).((BDM, marriage registration no. 5779/1902)) Thomas' young stepbrother Robert was reportedly his best man at the wedding.((N.C. Hewitt, 'Early History Recalled', //Northern Star// [Lismore], 9 January 1940.)) The Bundocks and M-Ps were on visiting terms at least from 1880,((Praed papers, Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 1880, OM64-1, 4/2/1-4)) and Thomas de M. M-P had a connection to the area where Mary Bundock's family had a property, Wyangarie, on the Richmond River in northern NSW. Isabel McBryde states that Mary's father owned a property called Kooralbyn near Beaudesert (and thus Maroon) and also owned Bulliwallah, south of Charters Towers, which appears also as a M-P property. One bond between Thomas de M. and Mary was their love of horses. Mary was known as 'a fearless horsewoman, and would ride for miles to set a broken limb or succour a settler in distress in that then sparsely settled district'.((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 23April 1924,p.10)) Oral history recollections are frequently not-quite-right, and the former description particularly fitted her sister Alice,((Praed papers, Nora M-P to Rosa Praed, 1880, OM64-1, 4/2/1-4)) but perhaps both sisters were that way inclined. Another recollection of Mary described her as 'the Florence Nightingale of the Upper Richmond, of whom all the early settlers still speak with affectionate regard. She was a wonderful woman, admired and remembered by all with gratitude.'((N.C. Hewitt, 'Early History Recalled', //Northern Star// [Lismore], 9 January 1940.)) \\
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-The family story((T.A. M-P, pers comm.)) is that it was a marriage based on friendship and trust, to enable Mary to look after Thomas de M.'s soon-to-be orphaned children and //Maroon//. Thomas de M. was already suffering from the stomach cancer that would kill him four months after the wedding.((Queensland Death certificate 1902/C1918.)) Maroon was struggling due to the prolonged drought, and Thomas B. was only 19 years old, too young to effectively take on such a challenge. His four sisters ranged in age from 23 to 16 years old. Three months after he married Mary, Thomas de M. was described as an 'invalid'; his sister Lizzie and brother Egerton came to //Maroon// to say goodbye.((//The Telegraph//, 29 November 1902, p.13.)) A month later, on 11 December 1902, he died there.((//SMH// death notice, 16 December 1902; //The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser//, 17 December 1902, p.1614; Queensland Death certificate 1902/C1918.)) Like Florence, he was buried at //Maroon// but on 25 June 1920, re-interred in the family plot at [[family_burial_site_toowong_cemetery_brisbane|Toowong cemetery]].((Queensland Death certificate 1902/C1918.))\\
+The family story((T.A. M-P, pers comm.)) is that it was a marriage based on friendship and trust, to enable Mary to look after Thomas de M.'s soon-to-be orphaned children and Maroon. Thomas de M. was already suffering from the stomach cancer that would kill him four months after the wedding.((Queensland Death certificate 1902/C1918.)) Maroon was struggling due to the prolonged drought, and Thomas B. was only 19 years old, too young to effectively take on such a challenge. His four sisters ranged in age from 23 to 16 years old. Three months after he married Mary, Thomas de M. was described as an 'invalid'; his sister Lizzie and brother Egerton came to Maroon to say goodbye.((//The Telegraph//, 29 November 1902, p.13.)) A month later, on 11 December 1902, he died there.((//SMH// death notice, 16 December 1902; //The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser//, 17 December 1902, p.1614; Queensland Death certificate 1902/C1918.)) Like Florence, he was buried at Maroon but on 25 June 1920, re-interred in the family plot at [[family_burial_site_toowong_cemetery_brisbane|Toowong cemetery]].((Queensland Death certificate 1902/C1918.))\\
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-{{:maroon_t_bm-p_unknown_woman_cropped.jpeg?400|}} The man is reputedly Thomas B. M-P: is the woman Mary Bundock?((Provenance T.A. & M.T. M-P))\\
-\\//
-The newly-wed, newly-widowed Mary stayed at //Maroon// running the property for some time. In the// Wise Directory of 1907 she was listed as 'station owner' of //Maroon// and another nearby property[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugandan,_Queensland|Dugandan]].((accessed through Ancestry.com.au))
+{{:maroon_t_bm-p_unknown_woman_cropped.jpeg?400|}} The man is reputedly Thomas B. M-P: is the woman Mary Bundock?((Provenance T.A. & M.T. M-P))\\
+\\
+The newly-wed, newly-widowed Mary stayed at Maroon running the property for some time. In the Wise Directory of 1907 she was listed as 'station owner' of Maroon and another nearby property.[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugandan,_Queensland|Dugandan]]((accessed through Ancestry.com.au))\\
+\\
 Today Mary Bundock is renowned for her significant contribution to European knowledge of Aboriginal arts and crafts through her work as an artist and anthropologist-collector. During 1885-92, she collated two ethnographic collections, one which she gave to {{https://volkenkunde.nl/|Rijkmuseurn voor Volkenkunde, Leiden in the Netherlands}} where it was valued; the other to the Australian Museum in Sydney. The latter collection was first displayed in 1895 as a fund-raising exhibition for the Women's College at the University of Sydney. Archaeologist Isabel McBryde judged the collection in Leiden, the only one which survived, to be 'large, comprehensive and meticulously documented' in a highly professional manner. What remains unexplained was how Mary Bundock had the skills to do this despite 'few opportunities for scientific contacts and indeed little formal schooling'.((Isabel McBryde, 'A remarkable life - Mary Ellen Murray-Prior and her contribution to Australian ethnography', //Richmond River Historical Society Bulletin//, 16 March 1997, p.3.)) More recent questions have arisen regarding  informed consent by the original owners of such material.\\
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