| Both sides previous revision Previous revision Next revision | Previous revision |
| rural_life_tragedy [2020/05/09 22:20] – [Murray Prior Range] judith | rural_life_tragedy [2021/03/18 16:20] (current) – judith |
|---|
| alienation of Crown lands. These leases were for 14 years and enthusiastically taken up.((Ross Fitzgerald, //From the Dreaming to 1915: A History of Queensland//, Vol.1, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1982, p.125)) One provision was for 'squatting licences ... a sort of trial of the squatter prior to granting him a lease over his run. If he failed to stock the land for which he had obtained a licence within nine months, he became ineligible to claim a lease and the land was forfeit.' \\ | alienation of Crown lands. These leases were for 14 years and enthusiastically taken up.((Ross Fitzgerald, //From the Dreaming to 1915: A History of Queensland//, Vol.1, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1982, p.125)) One provision was for 'squatting licences ... a sort of trial of the squatter prior to granting him a lease over his run. If he failed to stock the land for which he had obtained a licence within nine months, he became ineligible to claim a lease and the land was forfeit.' \\ |
| |
| For more on the complexities of colonial land ownership, and the huge benefits reaped by squatters acquiring Crown/indigenous land, see Beverley Kingston, 'The Origins of Queensland's "Comprehensive" Land Policy', //Queensland Heritage//, 1:2, 1965.((accessed online September 2018.)) For an online overview of Queensland history, see [[https://qhatlas.com.au/|the Queensland Historical Atlas]], and for an online view of Brisbane history, see [[https://mappingbrisbanehistory.com.au/|Mapping Brisbane History]]. | For more on the complexities of colonial land ownership, and the huge benefits reaped by squatters acquiring Crown/indigenous land, see Beverley Kingston, 'The Origins of Queensland's "Comprehensive" Land Policy', //Queensland Heritage//, 1:2, 1965.((accessed online September 2018.)) The properties mentioned below are not the only ones in which TLM-P had an interest, as he appeared to assist his sons and sons-in-law establish themselves by helping them buy property. In this, he was very like his contemporary in Sydney, his father-in-law, Edward Darvall.((J. Godden, //The matriarch of Rockend: Emily Mary Barton, more than Banjo Paterson's grandmother//, Ryde History Series, Ryde District Historical Society, in press for 2020.))\\ |
| |
| ===== Dalwood ===== | ===== Dalwood ===== |
| |
| ==== Belford ==== | ==== Belford ==== |
| TLM-P then gained more colonial experience at a property called Belford. It was in the upper Hunter Valley and owned by Robert Dawson((see www.jenwilletts.com/robertdawson2.htm)) and Mr Samuda.((//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.)) Its indigenous name was //Goorangoola//.((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.)) \\ | TLM-P then gained more colonial experience at a property called Belford. It was in the upper Hunter Valley and owned by Robert Dawson((see www.jenwilletts.com/robertdawson2.htm)) and Mr Samuda.((//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.)) Its indigenous name was //Goorangoola//.((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.)) TLM-P impressed his employers: in 1880, his second wife Nora described 'Mr Dawson' as TLM-P's 'old friend and "Master"'.((Nora to Rosie, 17 October 1880, Praed papers, JOL)\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| |
| ==== Rocky Creek ==== | ==== Rocky Creek ==== |
| Having gained some colonial experience, TLM-P was appointed manager of Rocky Creek Station in the Northern Tablelands of NSW, south-east of what is now the town of Moree.((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.)) He was just 21-years old. The station was on Rocky Creek, which flows into the Horton River, which in turn flows into the Gwydir River in the [[wp>Nandewar_Range|Nandewar Ranges]].((//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; location information with thanks to David Godden/Ross Drynan.))\\ | Having gained some colonial experience, TLM-P was appointed manager of Rocky Creek Station in the Northern Tablelands of NSW, south-east of what is now the town of Moree.((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.)) He was just 21-years old. The station was on Rocky Creek, which flows into the Horton River, which in turn flows into the Gwydir River in the [[wp>Nandewar_Range|Nandewar Ranges]].((//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; location information with thanks to David Godden and Ross Drynan.))\\ |
| {{https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0crDQ5lNqNg/VRecfAy2nGI/AAAAAAAABoA/8cyBEZ6AI-E/s640/22.Rocky%2BCreek%2BPastoral_small.jpg?300}} A contemporary view of Rocky Street Station by artist Mick Pospischil.\\ | {{https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0crDQ5lNqNg/VRecfAy2nGI/AAAAAAAABoA/8cyBEZ6AI-E/s640/22.Rocky%2BCreek%2BPastoral_small.jpg?300}} A contemporary view of Rocky Street Station by artist Mick Pospischil.\\ |
| The station was owned firstly by John Harley Pagan until his death in May 1846, aged 32; then by Robert Pringle.((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.)) Colin Roderick, in his biography of TLM-P's daughter Rosa, states that Jacob Low, the Head Stockman at the time, had worked as a clerk in Edinburgh and was a friend of TLM-P. However, there is no information whether the friendship caused TLM-P to go to the station, or was a result of their work together there. Roderick also states that TLM-P stayed at Rocky Creek for two years. It was during this time that he made trips to Sydney, stopping on the way at Cecil Plains, a station owned by the Harpurs: the attraction was young [[matilda_m-p_and_her_children|Matilda Harpur]], his future wife.((Colin Roderick, //In Mortal Bondage. The Strange Life of Rosa Praed//, Sydney, London: Angus and Robertson, 1948, pp.7-8.))\\ | The station was owned firstly by John Harley Pagan until his death in May 1846, aged 32; then by Robert Pringle.((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.)) Colin Roderick, in his biography of TLM-P's daughter Rosa, states that Jacob Low, the Head Stockman at the time, had worked as a clerk in Edinburgh and was a friend of TLM-P. However, there is no information whether the friendship caused TLM-P to go to the station, or was a result of their work together there. Roderick also states that TLM-P stayed at Rocky Creek for two years. It was during this time that he made trips to Sydney, stopping on the way at Cecil Plains, a station owned by the Harpurs: the attraction was young [[matilda_m-p_and_her_children|Matilda Harpur]], his future wife.((Colin Roderick, //In Mortal Bondage. The Strange Life of Rosa Praed//, Sydney, London: Angus and Robertson, 1948, pp.7-8.))\\ |
| |
| ==== Rosewood ==== | ==== Rosewood ==== |
| In 1843, four years after his arrival in the colony, TLM-P optimistically judged he had enough money to lease 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]])) TLM-P bought the lease from Dr John Goodwin (c1800-59).((see [[http://www.medicalpioneers.com/|Medical Pioneers Index]]; 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.)) \\ | In 1843, four years after his arrival in the colony, TLM-P optimistically judged he had enough money to lease 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]])) TLM-P bought the lease from Dr John Goodwin (c1800-59).((see [[http://www.medicalpioneers.com/|Medical Pioneers Index]]; 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.)) \\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| 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 [[wp>Darling_Downs|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 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 attracting settlers like him with military experience. 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 per cent 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.)) \\ | 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 [[wp>Darling_Downs|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 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 attracting settlers like him with military experience. 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 per cent 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.)) \\ |
| |
| Note: An account book for Rosewood, Lockiers Creek, for 1843 was donated to ML with TLM-P's diaries. This should reveal more information. \\ | Note: An account book for Rosewood, Lockiers Creek, for 1843 was donated to ML with TLM-P's diaries. This should reveal more information. \\ |
| In 1844, Hugh Aikman co-inherited his brother's estate in Scotland and soon after returned there.((https://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/2013/08/60-robertson-aikman-of-ross-house.html)) TLM-P subsequently bought out Aikman's share of Bromelton.((//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. While //Australia's Representative Men// states he bought out his partner in 1853 this is likely a mistake and it was actually 1850, with the process starting a year earlier when Aikman returned to Scotland.[[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murray-prior-thomas-lodge-4282]]; 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 Bromelton - from the pages of history, personal diaries, old letters and family recollections//, Patricia Savage, 2004, p.18; [[hhttps://www.geni.com/people/Major-Hugh-Henry-Robertson-Aikman/6000000032693354118]])) The partnership had been a happy one. When TLM-P was in England in 1882, he received a 'nice' letter from Hugh Aikman's son revealing that his late father had died but, 'that he had often heard him talking of me and ... looked upon his Australian life as the happiest'. The son invited TLM-P to visit if he was in the locality.((TLM-P, Diary, 27 July 1882, ML.))\\ | In 1844, Hugh Aikman co-inherited his brother's estate in Scotland and soon after returned there.((https://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/2013/08/60-robertson-aikman-of-ross-house.html)) TLM-P subsequently bought out Aikman's share of Bromelton.((//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. While //Australia's Representative Men// states he bought out his partner in 1853 this is likely a mistake and it was actually 1850, with the process starting a year earlier when Aikman returned to Scotland.[[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murray-prior-thomas-lodge-4282]]; 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 Bromelton - from the pages of history, personal diaries, old letters and family recollections//, Patricia Savage, 2004, p.18; [[hhttps://www.geni.com/people/Major-Hugh-Henry-Robertson-Aikman/6000000032693354118]])) The partnership had been a happy one. When TLM-P was in England in 1882, he received a 'nice' letter from Hugh Aikman's son revealing that his late father had died but, 'that he had often heard him talking of me and ... looked upon his Australian life as the happiest'. The son invited TLM-P to visit if he was in the locality.((TLM-P, Diary, 27 July 1882, ML.))\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| Despite personal happiness, Bromelton was not a success. TLM-P's (not necessarily completely accurate) Annual Returns of Depasturing tells the story. The return for 30 June 1851 states that the property was 60 square miles (15,539.9 hectares) and carried 6 horses and 2,200 cattle. The annual licence fee was £31. A year later, the run had expanded to 98 square miles (25,381.9 hectares) but had only one more horse and less (2,120) cattle, while the license fee had increased to £41.\\ | Despite personal happiness, Bromelton was not a success. TLM-P's (not necessarily completely accurate) Annual Returns of Depasturing tells the story. The return for 30 June 1851 states that the property was 60 square miles (15,539.9 hectares) and carried 6 horses and 2,200 cattle. The annual licence fee was £31. A year later, the run had expanded to 98 square miles (25,381.9 hectares) but had only one more horse and less (2,120) cattle, while the license fee had increased to £41. Part of the problem was that the invading Europeans had no idea that the land had been carefully managed by its indigenous owners. The introduced cattle and sheep quickly ate Aboriginal crops and compacted the light soils; once fertile soil was quickly and unwittingly destroyed.((Bruce Pascoe, //Dark Emu//, Broome: Magabala Books, 2018, pp.10-11; Eric Rolls, //A Million Wild Acres//, Nelson, Melbourne, 1981, p.84.)) \\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| With profits from live cattle decreasing for all squatters in the region,((Patricia Savage, p.11)) TLM-P sold the lease to 6,181 hectares of his land so that, by 30 June 1853, Bromelton was 19,200 acres (7,770 hectares). The annual licence fee was accordingly reduced to £10/2/0. Disastrously, he supplemented his cattle and horses with 4,000 sheep. As Patricia Savage wryly comments, this was 'before it was fully realised that sheep don't exactly thrive on coastal Queensland'. TLM-P was not the only Britisher to assume sheep would thrive in what is now seen as cattle country: Robert Campbell owned Maroon in 1846-50, and estimated that it could carry 5,000 sheep.((Collin Pfeffer, //The Fassifern Story: a history of Boonah Shire and surroundings to 1989//, Boonah Shire Council, c.1991, p.20.)) Fluke, foot-rot and scab all infected TLM-P's sheep.((Colin Roderick, //In Mortal Bondage. The Strange Life of Rosa Praed//, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1948, p.11)) When the sheep failed to boost profitability, TLM-P tried a 'boiling-down establishment' - boiling animal carcasses for tallow and other by-products. That also proved unprofitable.((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 Bromelton - from the pages of history, personal diaries, old letters and family recollections//, Patricia Savage, 2004, p.22.)) The fluctuations revealed in TLM-P's Annual Returns are a reminder that much of the squatters' early efforts were trial and error, due both to their own limited experience in agriculture and ignorance of their new country.\\ | With profits from live cattle decreasing for all squatters in the region,((Patricia Savage, p.11)) TLM-P sold the lease to 6,181 hectares of his land so that, by 30 June 1853, Bromelton was 19,200 acres (7,770 hectares). The annual licence fee was accordingly reduced to £10/2/0. Disastrously, he supplemented his cattle and horses with 4,000 sheep. As Patricia Savage wryly comments, this was 'before it was fully realised that sheep don't exactly thrive on coastal Queensland'. TLM-P was not the only Britisher to assume sheep would thrive in what is now seen as cattle country: Robert Campbell owned Maroon in 1846-50, and estimated that it could carry 5,000 sheep.((Collin Pfeffer, //The Fassifern Story: a history of Boonah Shire and surroundings to 1989//, Boonah Shire Council, c.1991, p.20.)) Fluke, foot-rot and scab all infected TLM-P's sheep.((Colin Roderick, //In Mortal Bondage. The Strange Life of Rosa Praed//, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1948, p.11)) When the sheep failed to boost profitability, TLM-P tried a 'boiling-down establishment' - boiling animal carcasses for tallow and other by-products. That also proved unprofitable.((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 Bromelton - from the pages of history, personal diaries, old letters and family recollections//, Patricia Savage, 2004, p.22.)) The fluctuations revealed in TLM-P's Annual Returns are a reminder that much of the squatters' early efforts were trial and error, due both to their own limited experience in agriculture and ignorance of their new country.\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| Among the diaries donated to ML was a 13-page ledger for May 1848 to 1849 for this station.((MLMSS 3117/Box 6/Item 5 | Among the diaries donated to ML was a 13-page ledger for May 1848 to 1849 for this station.((MLMSS 3117/Box 6/Item 5 |
| Ledger for Bugrooperia station, Logan River, Queensland, May 1848-1849 (Request microfilm: CY 1248, frames 317-381)) \\ | Ledger for Bugrooperia station, Logan River, Queensland, May 1848-1849 (Request microfilm: CY 1248, frames 317-381)) In 1859 Bromelton was acquired by Campbell McDonald whose family also owned Dugandan, a neighbouring property to TLM-P's latter property, Maroon.(([[https://www.fassifernguardian.com/the-men-who-named-dugandan-wyaralong?amp=1]])) The world of the squatters in colonial Queensland was a very small one.\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| === A Memoir of Bromelton and Hawkwood === | === A Memoir of Bromelton and Hawkwood === |
| More about TLM-P and his properties can be found in reminiscence of Ernest Davies(('Some Reminiscences of Early Queensland', //Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland//, 6:1, 1959, pp.29-50.)), who acquired his colonial experience as a jackeroo for TLM-P. His brother Henry had migrated a 'couple of years' earlier than Ernest and was the manager of TLM-P's new property, Hawkwood. There is no information how the Davies brothers and TLM-P met, but one connection was Belgium. Ernest Davies was born at Ostend in Belgium in 1836, which may have resulted in mutual acquaintances. Around 1855, he migrated to Australia and met TLM-P in Sydney shortly afterwards. He recalled that, aside from Bromelton, TLM-P owned a property called //Woogaroo// 'halfway up the river between Brisbane and Ipswich' (Woogaroo was later renamed Goodna, now an outer eastern suburb of Ipswich) as well as 'considerable ... land on the Brisbane River' in an area called the Pocket (later Prior's Pocket). Davies describes how, at Bromelton, TLM-P had been 'for some years been building up a fine herd of [[wp>Shorthorn|short-horned Durham cattle]] and importing thorough-bred bulls from England.' He kept this stud herd safe near his town home on the Brisbane River. By the time TLM-P employed Davies, he had sold the Bromelton lease with a provision being that the buyers would deliver 'certain drafts of cattle year by year for a stated period in payment for the station and stock'. Ernest Davies' first task was to assist in the delivery of 'some 300 or 400'((reminiscences are notoriously unreliable when it comes to precise detail, so we should not be too surprised that, a few pages later, the number has jumped to 'about 400 or 500 head')) stock from Bromelton to TLM-P's new station 'Hawkwood', where his brother Henry was 'in charge'. Ernest Davies worked for some years for TLM-P, noting that 'eventually for a year of so [he] took charge of Hawkwood when Mr. Prior was away.'\\ | More about TLM-P and his properties can be found in reminiscence of Ernest Davies(('Some Reminiscences of Early Queensland', //Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland//, 6:1, 1959, pp.29-50.)), who acquired his colonial experience as a jackeroo for TLM-P. His brother Henry had migrated a 'couple of years' earlier than Ernest and was the manager of TLM-P's new property, Hawkwood. There is no information how the Davies brothers and TLM-P met, but one connection was Belgium. Ernest Davies was born at Ostend in Belgium in 1836, which may have resulted in mutual acquaintances. Around 1855, he migrated to Australia and met TLM-P in Sydney shortly afterwards. He recalled that, aside from Bromelton, TLM-P owned a property called //Woogaroo// 'halfway up the river between Brisbane and Ipswich' (Woogaroo was later renamed Goodna, now an outer eastern suburb of Ipswich) as well as 'considerable ... land on the Brisbane River' in an area called the Pocket (later Prior's Pocket). Davies describes how, at Bromelton, TLM-P had been 'for some years been building up a fine herd of [[wp>Shorthorn|short-horned Durham cattle]] and importing thorough-bred bulls from England.' He kept this stud herd safe near his town home on the Brisbane River. Confirmation of TLM-P's reputation as a cattle breeder comes from an advertisement in 1860, advertising cattle originally from his 'celebrated' herd.((//The Sydney Morning Herald//, 3 February 1860, p.7.)) By the time TLM-P employed Davies, he had sold the Bromelton lease with a provision being that the buyers would deliver 'certain drafts of cattle year by year for a stated period in payment for the station and stock'. Ernest Davies' first task was to assist in the delivery of 'some 300 or 400'((reminiscences are notoriously unreliable when it comes to precise detail, so we should not be too surprised that, a few pages later, the number has jumped to 'about 400 or 500 head')) stock from Bromelton to TLM-P's new station 'Hawkwood', where his brother Henry was 'in charge'. Ernest Davies worked for some years for TLM-P, noting that 'eventually for a year of so [he] took charge of Hawkwood when Mr. Prior was away.'\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| Davies described Bromelton as having a 'very nice garden' next to a large, deep lagoon of 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 Bromelton - from the pages of history, personal diaries, old letters and family recollections//, Patricia Savage, 2004, pp.3,25.))\\ | Davies described Bromelton as having a 'very nice garden' next to a large, deep lagoon of 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 Bromelton - from the pages of history, personal diaries, old letters and family recollections//, Patricia Savage, 2004, pp.3,25.))\\ |
| ==== Land dealing and selections in and around Brisbane ==== | ==== Land dealing and selections in and around Brisbane ==== |
| |
| Despite TLM-P's problems with Bromelton, Helen Gregory found that, during 1852-54, he spent just over £1,364 on land in and around Brisbane. That sum was around $92,619 in 2017 values. {{:p81_gregory_table.jpg?400|}}((Helen Gregory, 'Squatters, selectors and - dare I say it - speculators', //Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland//, XI:4, 1983, p.81.)) Half the land (in terms of value) was bought in 1854. That year TLM-P bought 11 lots of land in Brisbane worth £752.11.6.((//New South Wales Government Gazette//, 4 August 1854, p.1679. In 2017 values, that is roughly $59,000, Thom Blake currency conversion.)) As the next map indicates, by 1887 he owned a considerable part of Kangaroo Point. The last known selection he made was at Toocoohah (Moggill) which became known as Prior's Pocket: it was the area that, Ernest Davies recalled, TLM-P used to fatten cattle.\\ | Despite TLM-P's problems with Bromelton, Helen Gregory found that, during 1852-54, he spent just over £1,364 on land in and around Brisbane. That sum was around $92,619 in 2017 values. {{:p81_gregory_table.jpg?400|}}((Helen Gregory, 'Squatters, selectors and - dare I say it - speculators', //Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland//, XI:4, 1983, p.81.)) Half the land (in terms of value) was bought in 1854. That year TLM-P bought 11 lots of land in Brisbane worth £752.11.6.((//New South Wales Government Gazette//, 4 August 1854, p.1679. In 2017 values, that is roughly $59,000, Thom Blake currency conversion.)) As the next map indicates, by 1887 he owned a considerable part of Kangaroo Point. The last known selection he made was at Toocoohah (Moggill) which became known as Prior's Pocket: it was the area that, Ernest Davies recalled, TLM-P used to fatten cattle. In 1860 he advertised two Mogill farms, 400 and 800 acres respectively, for lease.((//The Moreton Bay Courier//, 8 December 1860, p.3.))\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| {{:1927_1887_map_showing_tlmprior_s_and_louis_hope_s_land_holdings_2.png?500|}}((https://format-com-cld-res.cloudinary.com/image/private/s--gNHb8sxb--/c_crop,h_748,w_1488,x_0,y_0/c_fill,g_center,h_573,w_1140/a_auto,fl_keep_iptc.progressive.apng/v1/b2afeb2d0ff913f0ecb573187153d66d/1927_1887_map_showing_TLMPrior_s_and_Louis_Hope_s_land_holdings_2.png)) \\ | {{:1927_1887_map_showing_tlmprior_s_and_louis_hope_s_land_holdings_2.png?500|}}((https://format-com-cld-res.cloudinary.com/image/private/s--gNHb8sxb--/c_crop,h_748,w_1488,x_0,y_0/c_fill,g_center,h_573,w_1140/a_auto,fl_keep_iptc.progressive.apng/v1/b2afeb2d0ff913f0ecb573187153d66d/1927_1887_map_showing_TLMPrior_s_and_Louis_Hope_s_land_holdings_2.png)) \\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| The context to these purchases is important. As Helen Gregory points out, they were a gamble on the future prosperity of the Brisbane region 'at a stage in its development when the future was by no means assured.'((Helen Gregory, 'Squatters, selectors and - dare I say it - speculators', //Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland//, XI:4, 1983, p.85.)) It appears that both TLM-P and his first wife Matilda were optimistic about the future of their new country. Rosa Praed claimed that Matilda wrote to her mother-in-law Eliza M-P, that 'Some day this will be a flourishing country; its capabilities are greater than any of us know, and our descendants may be building towns on this wild land which we have reclaimed from the wilderness.'((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.19-20.)) \\ | The context to these purchases is important. As Helen Gregory points out, they were a gamble on the future prosperity of the Brisbane region 'at a stage in its development when the future was by no means assured.'((Helen Gregory, 'Squatters, selectors and - dare I say it - speculators', //Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland//, XI:4, 1983, p.85.)) It appears that both TLM-P and his first wife Matilda were optimistic about the future of their new country. Rosa Praed claimed that Matilda wrote to her mother-in-law Eliza M-P, that 'Some day this will be a flourishing country; its capabilities are greater than any of us know, and our descendants may be building towns on this wild land which we have reclaimed from the wilderness.'((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.19-20.)) \\ |
| ==== Hawkwood and massacres ==== | ==== Hawkwood ==== |
| 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).\\ | 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).\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| For TLM-P and his growing family, living conditions at Hawkwood were primitive. Rosa Praed's reminiscences always need to be read with caution, and she left Hawkwood when she was 7 years old, but described their home as a hut made of wooden slabs with gaps between them, windows without glass and mostly earthen floors. She recalled that, in this primitive dwelling, TLM-P hung his collection of paintings which were later donated to the [[brisbane_art_gallery|Queensland Art Gallery]].((Kerry Heckenberg, 'A taste for art in colonial Queensland: The Queensland Art Gallery Foundational Bequest of Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior', //Queensland Review//, 25:1, June 2018, pp.119-136; Rosa Praed, //Australian Life, Black and White//, 1885, pp.31-32; Rosa Praed, //My Australian Girlhood//, pp.60-61.)) The four years they stayed at Hawkwood were marked by 'great anxiety and hard work'.((//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.))\\ | For TLM-P and his growing family, living conditions at Hawkwood were primitive. Rosa Praed's reminiscences always need to be read with caution, and she left Hawkwood when she was 7 years old, but described their home as a hut made of wooden slabs with gaps between them, windows without glass and mostly earthen floors. She recalled that, in this primitive dwelling, TLM-P hung his collection of paintings which were later donated to the [[brisbane_art_gallery|Queensland Art Gallery]].((Kerry Heckenberg, 'A taste for art in colonial Queensland: The Queensland Art Gallery Foundational Bequest of Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior', //Queensland Review//, 25:1, June 2018, pp.119-136; Rosa Praed, //Australian Life, Black and White//, 1885, pp.31-32; Rosa Praed, //My Australian Girlhood//, pp.60-61.)) The four years they stayed at Hawkwood were marked by 'great anxiety and hard work'.((//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.))\\ |
| |
| Hawkwood was relatively isolated and the 1850s was a time of bitter war between the white settlers and the Aboriginal people who had lived there for some 50,000 years. A flashpoint occurred in 1857, in what is now known as the [[wp>Hornet_Bank_massacre|Hornet Bank massacre]]. The definitive research into this massacre is a thesis and subsequent book by Gordon Reid.((The thesis is available at {{https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/110512}}; the book is Gordon Reid, //A Nest of Hornets: The Massacre of the Fraser Family at Hornet Bank Station, Central Queensland, 1857, and Related Events//, Oxford University Press, 1982. Among the numerous other studies of this massacre, see A. Laurie, 'Hornet Bank Massacre October 27, 1857', //Royal Historical Society of Queensland Journal//, 5:5, 1957.)) A succinct summary is at [[https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1516|Colonial massacres - Hornet Bank aftermath]]. The Hornet Bank massacre was the murder of 11 members of the Fraser family and staff who lived on Hornet Bank station; the women were also raped. The murders were by Yiman (variously Jiman or Iman) language group as well as some men who had belonged to the notorious [[wp>Australian_native_police|Native Police]]. The massacre was reputedly in retaliation not just for the seizure of Aboriginal land, but also for the rape of Yiman women by the young men of the Fraser family - which took place despite the pleas of their widowed mother.\\ | |
| \\ | |
| One of the most unusual things about this massacre is that its aftermath was recorded: it was just one of the ways that TLM-P supported his daughter's [[rosa_praed|Rosa Praed]]'s desire for Australian material for her novels.((Patricia Clarke, 'A Paradox of Exile: Rosa Praed's Lifelines to her Australian Past', in //Landscapes of Exile: Once Perilous, Now Safe//, eds. Anna Haebich and Baden Offord, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2008.)) When he dictated his memory of this time to his second wife Nora to send to Rosa,((Introduction to Praed papers, JOLQ, p.3.)) TLM-P justified his actions by stating the Hornet Bank murders were part of an Aboriginal conspiracy to exterminate the whites. Other settler families were threatened when there was a gathering of Aboriginal people some six weeks after the Hornet Bank tragedy. Hawkwood employed three unnamed Aboriginal men and one woman (from the coast, not from the local area), as well as Ernest Davies, Sydney Ling, a German doctor, and 'one or two others'. They had 'plenty of arms and ammunition'.((Reid, //A Nest of Hornets//, Masters thesis, p.134)) TLM-P states that a group decided on a preemptive strike against the local Aboriginal people. Leaving shearing to others, a vigilante troop of 13 or 14, including TLM-P and two of his Aboriginal employees, set off. He claimed that the Aboriginal men in the party wanted to kill women and children as well, but he prevented that by stating he would withdraw the Hawkwood group if he saw any woman or child hurt. In his reminiscences, Ernest Davies stated that in their six-week 'hunting' expedition, in the name of 'rough justice', they killed as many men of the Upper Dawson 'tribes' as they could.((Reid, a Nest of Hornets, Masters thesis, pp.136-39 provides more details.)) According to TLM-P, 'The war was kept up for 18 months, during which there were continually one or two parties out, and gradually a good many of the ringleaders were accounted for [killed] ... These 18 months of warfare were an anxious time for us. Business often took me then a good deal from the station. When I came home I used to canter pretty sharply to the top of the ridge from which the place was visible with my heart in my mouth, for there was always the fear that all hands might have been massacred.'((TLM-P, memoir, pp.37,41)). For sample pages of TLM-P's description of the massacre, click on [[Hornet Bank]].\\ | |
| |
| TLM-P and the rest of the vigilante group returned to their properties after the Redbank murders.((TLM-P memoir, p.41)) Eventually, their actions are believed to have resulted in the deaths of some 150 Aboriginal people: some 80 shot by the original vigilante group; 70 by the Native Police. Later retaliations are thought to have added another 150 to the overall number killed. Queensland at the time was very much a frontier settlement, with minimal consequences for taking Aboriginal lives.((Mark Finnane and Jonathon Richards,'"You'll get nothing out of it"? The Inquest, Police and Aboriginal Deaths in Colonial Queensland', //Australian Historical Studies//, 123, April 2004, pp.84-105.)) Going to a magistrate would have been of little use: TLM-P was not only a magistrate, he and three other magistrates wrote to the Colonial Secretary demanding harsher penalties for Aboriginal resistance.((Reid, //A Nest of Hornets//, Masters thesis, pp.117-18.)) In his memoirs, TLM-P shared the common view that it was reasonable that William Fraser, who had survived the massacre of his family, embarked on a lifetime of indiscriminate murder of Aboriginal people. William Fraser became a folk hero among whites despite being 'one of the greatest mass murderers in Australian history'.(([[wp>Hornet_Bank_massacre]])) He subsequently died of old age without facing prosecution.\\ | |
| \\ | \\ |
| Information about the Hornet Bank massacre has been complicated not only by an unwillingness to acknowledge that it was a result of a war between white and black for the possession of land, but also by the unreliable memory of Rosa Praed when later writing //Australian Life: Black and White//, London, 1885 and //My Australian Girlhood//, London, 1904. As Reid (pp.iv,77) comments, Rosa was a novelist rather than an accurate recorder. As well, Rosa was only 7 years old when she left Hawkwood, and she wrote about that time 27 years later.\\ | Hawkwood was relatively isolated and the 1850s was a time of bitter war between the white settlers and the Aboriginal people who had lived there for some 50,000 years. A flashpoint occurred in 1857, in what is now known as the [[wp>Hornet_Bank_massacre|Hornet Bank massacre]]. The definitive research into this massacre is a thesis and subsequent book by Gordon Reid.((The thesis is available at {{https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/110512}}; the book is Gordon Reid, //A Nest of Hornets: The Massacre of the Fraser Family at Hornet Bank Station, Central Queensland, 1857, and Related Events//, Oxford University Press, 1982. Among the numerous other studies of this massacre, see A. Laurie, 'Hornet Bank Massacre October 27, 1857', //Royal Historical Society of Queensland Journal//, 5:5, 1957.)) A succinct summary is at [[https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/detail.php?r=1516|Colonial massacres - Hornet Bank aftermath]]. The Hornet Bank massacre was the murder of 11 members of the Fraser family and staff who lived on Hornet Bank station; the women were also raped. The murders were by Yiman (variously Jiman or Iman) language group as well as some men who had belonged to the notorious [[wp>Australian_native_police|Native Police]]. The massacre was reputedly in retaliation not just for the seizure of Aboriginal land, but also for the rape of Yiman women by the young men of the Fraser family - which took place despite the pleas of their widowed mother. More information about this massacre is in the family section of this website.\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| TLM-P sold Hawkwood in the year after the Hornet Bank massacre. The property had not been a financial or any other success. It appears the final straw was another outbreak of scab among his sheep. The family was apparently popular with his neighbours as they are said to have gifted him some 900 sheep to help replenish his flock.((Reid, A Nest of Hornets, Masters thesis, pp.214-15. It is possible that this is a confusion with the initial scab outbreak, or vice versa - or that scab was endemic.)) For TLM-P's next venture, he tried to leave behind the problems of livestock.\\ | TLM-P sold Hawkwood in the year after the Hornet Bank massacre. The property had not been a financial or any other success. It appears the final straw was another outbreak of scab among his sheep. The family was apparently popular with his neighbours as they are said to have gifted him some 900 sheep to help replenish his flock.((Reid, A Nest of Hornets, Masters thesis, pp.214-15. It is possible that this is a confusion with the initial scab outbreak, or vice versa - or that scab was endemic.)) For TLM-P's next venture, he tried to leave behind the problems of livestock.\\ |
| |
| ==== 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. She had contacted trachoma while at Hawkwood: it was a disease then known as 'sandy blight' because it feels like sand permanently and painfully in the eye. ((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. She had contacted trachoma while at Hawkwood: it was a disease then known as 'sandy blight' because it feels like sand permanently and painfully in the eye. ((__ BROKEN-LINK:https://www.hollows.org/au/eye-health/trachoma))\\ LINK-BROKEN __ |
| \\ | \\ |
| ==== Creallagh, Cleveland ==== | ==== Creallagh ==== |
| Colin Roderick states that in 1859, after a year at Ormiston, TLM-P moved to a mixed farm at nearby Cleveland, 'on the shores of Morton Bay, opposite Stradbroke Island. The farm was called Creallagh and grew maize, cotton and sugar-cane.((Roderick, //In Mortal Bondage//, p.32; //The Australian Encyclopaedia//p.205))\\ | In 1859, after a year at Ormiston, TLM-P moved to a mixed farm at nearby Cleveland, on the shores of Morton Bay, opposite Stradbroke Island. The farm was called Creallagh and grew maize, cotton and sugar-cane.((Roderick, //In Mortal Bondage//, p.32; //The Australian Encyclopaedia//p.205)) In 1861, he offered it with its 700 acres of land, for sale, but apparently did not get a buyer.((//The Courier//, 9 November 1861, p.1)) By February 1863 he was offering Creallagh for sale or lease, situated on the Shores of Raby Bay, near Cleveland, and adjoining the property and sugar plantation of the Hon. L. Hope, with 700 acres of land. It was described as the 'late' residence of TLM-P, and currently occupied by his brother-in-law, C. R. Haly, Esq. It was, the advertisement stated, 'in one of the most |
| | beautiful and healthy localities in Queensland, admirably adapted for the Cultivation of Sugar or Cotton, with Water Carriage, and only 18 |
| | miles' from Brisbane.((//The Courier//, 9 February 1863, p.1.))\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| TLM-P, like other squatters, firmly identified with the gentry ideal of living off a rural property with an impressive home and often a house in a town or city as well. TLM-P never found a property that could fund such an attractive lifestyle. What he found instead was a career in the public service, as Postmaster-General. For more on his career as Postmaster-General, see [[politics_and_the_post_office|TLM-P's Career in Politics and the Post Office]]\\ | TLM-P loved the rural lifestyle, but now he turned to a career in the public service, as Postmaster-General. For more on his time as Postmaster-General, see [[politics_and_the_post_office|TLM-P's Career in Politics and the Post Office]]\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| ==== Maroon ==== | ==== Maroon ==== |
| TLM-P's stockman John Worrall didn't just act as witness, but himself selected 320 acres to the north of the Rathdowney property. His two witnesses who swore that he had lived there permanently, and thus was entitled to own the land, were John Endersby (the other of TLM-P's employees/witnesses) and Thomas de M. M-P. In August 1879 when the selection process was completed, John Worrall immediately transferred the land to TLM-P.((in Angella Collyer, //Rathdowney: federation history of an Australian rural border community// Rathdowney, Qld.: Rathdowney Area Development and Historical Association, 2001, pp.18-19.)) \\ | TLM-P's stockman John Worrall didn't just act as witness, but himself selected 320 acres to the north of the Rathdowney property. His two witnesses who swore that he had lived there permanently, and thus was entitled to own the land, were John Endersby (the other of TLM-P's employees/witnesses) and Thomas de M. M-P. In August 1879 when the selection process was completed, John Worrall immediately transferred the land to TLM-P.((in Angella Collyer, //Rathdowney: federation history of an Australian rural border community// Rathdowney, Qld.: Rathdowney Area Development and Historical Association, 2001, pp.18-19.)) \\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| By 1880, the local council's rate book valued Rathdowney's buildings at £30.((Collin Pfeffer, //The Fassifern Story: a history of Boonah Shire and surroundings to 1989//Boonah Shire Council, c.1991, p.23.)) In November 1884, TLM-P sold Rathdowney to William Collins and Sons.((Angella Collyer, //Rathdowney: federation history of an Australian rural border community// Rathdowney, Qld.: Rathdowney Area Development and Historical Association, 2001, p.18.)) Nora wrote to Rosa Praed that, if TLM-P were '20 years younger it would be madness to sell it yet the constant strain of hard labour is too much for him.'((in Angella Collyer, //Rathdowney: federation history of an Australian rural border community// Rathdowney, Qld.: Rathdowney Area Development and Historical Association, 2001, p.19.)) Rathdowney was subsequently subdivided and [[wp>Rathdowney,_Queensland| Rathdowney]] town developed there.((H. J. Gibbney, 'Murray-Prior, Thomas Lodge (1819–1892)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murray-prior-thomas-lodge-4282/text6927, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 14 August 2018; Patricia Clarke, //Rosa! Rosa!// p.22; Angella Collyer, //Rathdowney: federation history of an Australian rural border community// Rathdowney, Qld.: Rathdowney Area Development and Historical Association, 2001; Collin Pfeffer, //The Fassifern Story: a history of Boonah Shire and surroundings to 1989//Boonah Shire Council, c.1991, p.27.)) | By 1880, the local council's rate book valued Rathdowney's buildings at £30.((Collin Pfeffer, //The Fassifern Story: a history of Boonah Shire and surroundings to 1989//Boonah Shire Council, c.1991, p.23.))\\ |
| | \\ |
| | In November 1884, TLM-P sold Rathdowney to William Collins and Sons.((Angella Collyer, //Rathdowney: federation history of an Australian rural border community// Rathdowney, Qld.: Rathdowney Area Development and Historical Association, 2001, p.18.)) Nora wrote to Rosa Praed on 3 November 1884, that it was sold cheaply but a necessity: 27/6 per acre for 18,000 acres; £4 per head for 800 stores bullocks and £23 a head for 750 cows.'((Nora to Rosa, 3 November 1884 JOQ)) As Nora told Rosa Praed, if TLM-P were '20 years younger it would be madness to sell it yet the constant strain of hard labour is too much for him.'((27 September [1884].)) Rathdowney was subsequently subdivided and [[wp>Rathdowney,_Queensland| Rathdowney]] town developed there.((H. J. Gibbney, 'Murray-Prior, Thomas Lodge (1819–1892)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murray-prior-thomas-lodge-4282/text6927, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 14 August 2018; Patricia Clarke, //Rosa! Rosa!// p.22; Angella Collyer, //Rathdowney: federation history of an Australian rural border community// Rathdowney, Qld.: Rathdowney Area Development and Historical Association, 2001; Collin Pfeffer, //The Fassifern Story: a history of Boonah Shire and surroundings to 1989//Boonah Shire Council, c.1991, p.27.)) |
| \\ | \\ |
| ==== Land dealing and selections ==== | ==== Land dealing and selections ==== |
| \\ | \\ |
| |
| Note: the Beaudesert Museum has numerous holdings relating to the Murray-Prior family, see [[https://beaudesertmuseum.org.au/main/images/BEAUDESERT%20HISTORICAL%20MUSEUM.pdf]]\\ | Note: the Beaudesert Museum has numerous holdings relating to the Murray-Prior family, see __ BROKEN-LINK:[[https://beaudesertmuseum.org.au/main/images/BEAUDESERT%20HISTORICAL%20MUSEUM.pdf]] LINK-BROKEN __\\ |
| \\ | \\ |
| ==== Murray Prior Range ==== | ==== Murray Prior Range ==== |