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| rural_life_and_tragedy [2019/01/30 21:36] – [Land dealing and selections in and around Brisbane] judith | rural_life_and_tragedy [2021/03/18 18:19] (current) – judith |
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| ==== Rosewood ==== | ==== Rosewood ==== |
| While he would later reminiscence about the sacrifice his mother had to make to give him a few sovereigns, in 1843, four years after his arrival in the colony, he thought he had saved enough capital to become a squatter and stock a property: Rosewood at Moreton Bay (between present day Ipswich and Laidley, located 'at the junction of Lockyer and Laidley Creeks'.((Prior, T L M, Rosewood, Moreton Bay, 18/09/1843, https://indexes.records.nsw.gov.au/searchhits_nocopy.aspxtable=Depasturing%20Licenses&id=67&frm=1&query=Surname:Prior; 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.18; [[http://www.medicalpioneers.com/|Medical Pioneers Index]])) Rosewood had been owned by Dr John Goodwin (c1800-59)((see [[http://www.medicalpioneers.com/|Medical Pioneers Index]])) but land records indicate that TLM-P bought the lease, presumably from Dr Goodwin.((Thomas A. Darragh and Roderick J. Fensham (eds), //The Leichhardt diaries. Early travels in Australia during 1842-1844//, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum| Culture, Volume 7, Part 1, Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 2013. Thanks to David Godden for this reference.)) \\ | While he would later reminiscence about the sacrifice his mother had to make to give him a few sovereigns, in 1843, four years after his arrival in the colony, he thought he had saved enough capital to become a squatter and stock a property: Rosewood at Moreton Bay (between present day Ipswich and Laidley, located 'at the junction of Lockyer and Laidley Creeks'.((Prior, T L M, Rosewood, Moreton Bay, 18/09/1843, __ BROKEN-LINK:https://indexes.records.nsw.gov.au/searchhits_nocopy.aspxtable=Depasturing%20Licenses&id=67&frm=1&query=Surname:Prior; LINK-BROKEN __ 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.18; [[http://www.medicalpioneers.com/|Medical Pioneers Index]])) Rosewood had been owned by Dr John Goodwin (c1800-59)((see [[http://www.medicalpioneers.com/|Medical Pioneers Index]])) but land records indicate that TLM-P bought the lease, presumably from Dr Goodwin.((Thomas A. Darragh and Roderick J. Fensham (eds), //The Leichhardt diaries. Early travels in Australia during 1842-1844//, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum| Culture, Volume 7, Part 1, Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 2013. Thanks to David Godden for this reference.)) \\ |
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| As Patricia Clarke points out, TLM-P stuck out on his own in largely uncharted country for Europeans, 'just three years after Patrick Leslie and his brothers had begun the wave of squatter settlement on the Darling Downs'.((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.17.)) It appears that TLM-P was overly optimistic about the capital needed to run a station, as he soon left 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, however, saw opportunity to the north of what was then the colony of NSW. From his time at Rosewood onwards, TLM-P had his home in what became, from 6 June 1859, the colony of Queensland. When TLM-P first arrived, it was very much a frontier settlement attracting settlers like him with military experience. Moreton Bay had just ceased to be a penal colony leaving a significant proportion of the small white population 'unfree'. It is estimated that 15 per cent of the population of County of Stanley (which included the major centres of Brisbane and Ipswich) in 1846 was in this category.((Ross Fitzgerald, //From the Dreaming to 1915: A History of Queensland//, Vol.1, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1982.)) \\ | As Patricia Clarke points out, TLM-P stuck out on his own in largely uncharted country for Europeans, 'just three years after Patrick Leslie and his brothers had begun the wave of squatter settlement on the Darling Downs'.((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.17.)) It appears that TLM-P was overly optimistic about the capital needed to run a station, as he soon left 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, however, saw opportunity to the north of what was then the colony of NSW. From his time at Rosewood onwards, TLM-P had his home in what became, from 6 June 1859, the colony of Queensland. When TLM-P first arrived, it was very much a frontier settlement attracting settlers like him with military experience. Moreton Bay had just ceased to be a penal colony leaving a significant proportion of the small white population 'unfree'. It is estimated that 15 per cent of the population of County of Stanley (which included the major centres of Brisbane and Ipswich) in 1846 was in this category.((Ross Fitzgerald, //From the Dreaming to 1915: A History of Queensland//, Vol.1, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1982.)) \\ |
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| Davies described Bromleton as having a 'very nice garden' next to a large, deep lagoon. The lagoon covered at least 2.5 hectares. It was the age where much of the native fauna was new, and TLM-P and Matilda's sister Elizabeth both were convinced that they had seen the water creature the Aborigines believed inhabited the lagoon: a [[wp>Bunyip|bunyip]]. TLM-P was so convinced that he wrote to the //Moreton Bay Courier// reporting the sighting of 'an aquatic monster'. It was a claim that meet with ridicule - at least amongst white Australians, not so indigenous ones. Later accounts suggest that what they (and others) fleetingly saw was likely to have been a crocodile.((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, pp.3,25.))\\ | Davies described Bromleton as having a 'very nice garden' next to a large, deep lagoon. The lagoon covered at least 2.5 hectares. It was the age where much of the native fauna was new, and TLM-P and Matilda's sister Elizabeth both were convinced that they had seen the water creature the Aborigines believed inhabited the lagoon: a [[wp>Bunyip|bunyip]]. TLM-P was so convinced that he wrote to the //Moreton Bay Courier// reporting the sighting of 'an aquatic monster'. It was a claim that meet with ridicule - at least amongst white Australians, not so indigenous ones. Later accounts suggest that what they (and others) fleetingly saw was likely to have been a crocodile.((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, pp.3,25.))\\ |
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| === Chinese Indentured Labourers === | === Chinese Indentured Labourers === |
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| Maxine Darnell has compiled a list of Chinese labourers who she has identified as having been brought to Australia to work on a fixed contract. She points out that only a minority of these men have been identified. Court records account for an over-representation of men who fell foul of the legal system. Her list is at {{https://arrow.latrobe.edu.au/store/3/4/5/5/1/public/pdf/indentured.pdf}}. TLM-P is given as the employer of 19 Chinese men between December 1848 and May 1857 at Bugrooperia and Hawkwood. For details, click on [[Darnell list]]. | Maxine Darnell has compiled a list of Chinese labourers who she has identified as having been brought to Australia to work on a fixed contract. She points out that only a minority of these men have been identified. Court records account for an over-representation of men who fell foul of the legal system. Her list is at {{https://arrow.latrobe.edu.au/store/3/4/5/5/1/public/pdf/indentured.pdf}}. TLM-P is given as the employer of 19 Chinese men between December 1848 and May 1857 at Bugrooperia and Hawkwood. For details, click on [[Darnell list]]. TLM-P's employment of these men is in keeping with his - and the squatter faction generally - desire for cheap labour, including his support for the renewal of the transportation of convicts.((Helen Gregory, 'Squatters, selectors and - dare I say it - speculators', //Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland//, XI:4, 1983, p.83.))\\ |
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| ==== Land dealing and selections in and around Brisbane ==== | ==== Land dealing and selections in and around Brisbane ==== |
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| ==== Ormiston ==== | ==== Ormiston ==== |
| After selling Hawkwood, TLM-P bought a banana plantation on the bay of the area now known as [[wp>Ormiston,_Queensland|Ormiston]], some 25km from central Brisbane.((Reid, A Nest of Hornets, Masters thesis, pp.215; Isobel Hannah, 'The Royal Descent of the First Postmaster-General of Queensland', //Queensland Geographical Journal//, vol. LV, 1953-54, p.12.)) One factor in TLM-P's decision to move closer to Brisbane was Matilda's deteriorating eyesight: at Hawkwood she apparently contacted trachoma: that disease was then known as 'sandy blight' because it felt like sand permanently and painfully in the eye. Now it is a disease largely confined to the third world.((https://www.hollows.org/au/eye-health/trachoma))\\ | After selling Hawkwood, TLM-P bought a banana plantation on the bay of the area now known as [[wp>Ormiston,_Queensland|Ormiston]], some 25km from central Brisbane.((Reid, A Nest of Hornets, Masters thesis, pp.215; Isobel Hannah, 'The Royal Descent of the First Postmaster-General of Queensland', //Queensland Geographical Journal//, vol. LV, 1953-54, p.12.)) One factor in TLM-P's decision to move closer to Brisbane was Matilda's deteriorating eyesight: at Hawkwood she apparently contacted trachoma: that disease was then known as 'sandy blight' because it felt like sand permanently and painfully in the eye. Now it is a disease largely confined to the third world.((__ BROKEN-LINK:https://www.hollows.org/au/eye-health/trachoma))\\ LINK-BROKEN __ |
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| ==== Creallagh, Cleveland ==== | ==== Creallagh, Cleveland ==== |
| As indicated, he manipulated the selection act. While he was sympathetic to the desire for people to own their own land, he was also aware that small holdings rarely provided a living for the selector. As he wrote in his 1888 [[tlm-p_s_diaries|diary]]: 'There seems to be a great land hunger. Now the more selections taken up the better but I can hardly see how they will make it pay - the labour and expenses of clearing is great; they deserve to succeed.'(entry for 5 July). | As indicated, he manipulated the selection act. While he was sympathetic to the desire for people to own their own land, he was also aware that small holdings rarely provided a living for the selector. As he wrote in his 1888 [[tlm-p_s_diaries|diary]]: 'There seems to be a great land hunger. Now the more selections taken up the better but I can hardly see how they will make it pay - the labour and expenses of clearing is great; they deserve to succeed.'(entry for 5 July). |
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| TO DO: the Beaudesert Museum has a number of holdings relating to the Murray-Prior family, see [[https://beaudesertmuseum.org.au/main/images/BEAUDESERT%20HISTORICAL%20MUSEUM.pdf]]\\ | TO DO: the Beaudesert Museum has a number of holdings relating to the Murray-Prior family, see __ BROKEN-LINK:[[https://beaudesertmuseum.org.au/main/images/BEAUDESERT%20HISTORICAL%20MUSEUM.pdf]] LINK-BROKEN __\\ |
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| ==== Murray Prior Range ==== | ==== Murray Prior Range ==== |