Past Remembering

by Lyn Denison

  I eagerly await the mail to hear news of my family, for I admit to being most lonely. John Carson found his brother Davie and cast in his lot with him. They do well on their claim and are able to send money home to their dear mother. I see them when they have need of supplies. We share news of home.

  Just this week I received a letter from Richard with the joyous news Susannah has been delivered of a son. Richard has named him Michael for our father. I am so thankful all went well. Richard and Susannah were so distraught when they lost their baby, Susannah, at barely twelve months. Two months after this great loss, Susannah bore a daughter, who they named Georgina for me, then another daughter named Eliza, for Susannah’s mother. Now Richard has the son he so desired.

  Last year, John Petrie won the contract to build the Supreme Court, and as Richard works with him, Richard too had a most successful year.

  Richard also tells me he attended the first Exhibition to be held in the city on the 22nd of August. Susannah was too heavy with child to attend, but Richard tells me a speech was made by the Governor declaring the Exhibition open, and a band played “God Save the Queen.” In Victoria Park an artillery salute made the ground tremble, steam engines whistled, and the crowd of some 15,000 cheered. Richard related it has been unseasonably hot and this heat caused much fainting at the spectacle.

  Another memorable moment, he relates, was the completion of the Albert Railway Bridge at Indooroopilly. It is built of steel to ensure it is flood proof, and Richard tells me it will open up new suburbs along the rail line which now links Brisbane with Ipswich.

  I read in the newspaper of a discovery in the center of this great land some three years past. An explorer, Mr. William Grosse, came upon a great mass of rock reaching 1,000 feet high and two miles long. He has named it Ayers Rock. This must be a magnificent sight to see. I must ask Richard if he knows of this.

  28th of December, 1876. It was a lonely Christmas for me. My thoughts went to my brother and his family. I have such a yearning to see the babies, but my work is here. I read Richard’s latest letter many times till I all but could recite it by heart. He tells me all children in the state are required now by law to attend school and that they are to receive their tuition free of charge. It is a most welcome law to be passed, for all of us have need of reading and writing.

  On Boxing Day the Carson boys came into town and we ventured to McKinly’s Hotel to drink to family and friends who are far from us. With memories from Rockhampton still so fresh in my mind, I was careful not to over-imbibe. I must be much aware of my position in the town. Not so John and Davie. They spent the night on my back veranda and awoke nursing sore heads.

  On the Eve of the New Year, I have been invited to attend a party at the Phillips home.

  Mr. Phillips owns the most successful bakery in town. He and his wife have been only just married, and I greatly enjoy being in their company. They are good friends to me. I am wont to wonder what the year of 1877 will bring.

  ***

  8th of October, 1879. I have been remiss with my journal once again. My business continues to grow. I can say with all honesty that it is most successful. As is Richard’s business in Brisbane. Our Mam and Pa would surely have been monstrous proud of us. I am ever thankful our Mam sent us to The Hall so we could learn our letters and numbers with Enoch and his sisters when the Bolams kindly offered this to our family. All this came about when Pa saved the youngest Bolam girl from drowning in the brook.

  Charters Towers was declared a Municipality in 1877, and Mr. John McDonald was made the town’s first mayor. There was much concern in the town with the tin rush in Herberton, but most of the miners hereabouts have set their hearts on finding the mother lode. It would seem everyone journeys to town on Friday nights still, and Gill Street is but a sea of people. Even the buses are made to go around other streets.

  The Fire Brigade Band was established this past year, and on a Sunday afternoon it is most pleasant to hear the music as the bands play in Lissner Park. This is quite a social occasion for families. The last time I ventured there to hear the band, they played the popular patriotic song, “Advance Australia Fair,” accompanied by the ladies’ choir from the church. It was most delightful.

  I am most partial to the social gatherings in the homes of my friends where we partake of games of cards.

  This past month St. Columba’s Church in Gill Street, just a short distance from my store, was torn down by a violent storm, but work has already begun on a new building. My own building, by some divine good providence, escaped damage.

  News of this example of Nature’s fury reached Brisbane, and Richard’s letter, filled with concern, came to enquire how I had fared in this occurrence. I hastily informed him of my safety.

  There is more to be read in the newspapers concerning a notorious gang of bushrangers in the south, named the Kelly Gang. This gang has robbed banks and shot and killed policemen. The Government has increased the reward to 2,000 pounds per head for these scoundrels.

  I read also of the wreck of the clipper ship,Loch Ard, in Victoria, and the heroics of a young seaman who rescued a young girl floating on a piece of wreckage. They were the sole survivors of this terrible tragedy, of which there have been many in the waters surrounding this land. I recall a brave young girl, but sixteen years, who rode her horse into the raging waters so survivors could cling to her saddle and stirrups as the horse dragged them to safety. The young girl spent four hours of hardship in doing this and then rode homeward to raise the alarm. There are many stories of courage in this new land.

  21st of January, 1880. I am most pleased with my business investments. At my instigation, Richard and I were fortunate enough to invest in Victory Company, and our outlay was repaid within three months. The Day Dawn Mining Company, Ltd. has paid a dividend much higher than was expected. The town has changed since reef gold was discovered, although many men still seek to dig their fortune on their own.

  3rd of September,1880. Early this year, Richard was deeply concerned for Susannah’s health, for she suffered so much with an infection in her lungs. She was most poorly, and Richard feared she would not survive, but his letter this week tells me Susannah is much improved. The children continue to grow and I treasure the photograph he has sent to me of his most comely family. Young Georgina puts me in mind of our Mam and our sister Mary, and Michael is the image of his father. Eliza is a sweet child with fair curls like her mother. She is a frail and tiny child, and I know Richard and Susannah despair of raising her. Maryann, the baby, born this past year, is as dark as Eliza is fair, but shares her features.

  Richard tells me wide verandas are being added to Parliament House at last. The many complaints by the members about the stifling heat during the summer months have finally encouraged some action.

  News is come concerning the notorious bushrangers, the Kelly Gang, who many think to be innocent. Their leader, Ned Kelly, who protected himself in a steel armor, was wounded, and the rest of the gang killed after a three-day siege at Glenrowan. Ned Kelly is to be hanged.

  3rd of January, 1883. More years have passed, and our town continues to grow. Richard’s letters have been full of his purchase of land about the city. My brother has become a successful businessman. He has added large verandas on all sides of his home, and he tells me the view is magnificent displaying the wide Brisbane River to the city and around to the mountains. One day I hope to see it. Work is beginning on the extensions Richard plans. He feels the need to add a residence for the servants.

  I am much amazed by his latest story. It was such an unusual occurrence that Richard related it to me. He believes it almost started a war in Brisbane. The Captain of the SS Gayundah, a gun boat, perceived he had been unfairly treated and brought the ship up river and trained the ship’s guns on Parliament House. Battles, verbal and physical, broke out between the crew and some townspeople and continued until the Captain was persuaded to abandon his intentions.

  This last year Mr. Phillips purchased a piano, an
d it was brought into town on the back of a wagon. I am unable to believe he has paid one hundred guineas for the instrument, and it has caused him much worry as it was conveyed here. Since this event, we enjoy much singing together at the Phillips’s home, as Mrs. Phillips is a most passable pianist. It was unfortunate he did not wait but three months, for the railway has now opened, linking Townsville and Charters Towers. The Premier of Queensland and seventy invited guests arrived in the Towers on the 4th of December last for the official opening of the Great Northern Railway link between Townsville and our town.

  Tomorrow on the train I expect a load of tinned food that has become most popular with my customers.

  ***

  8th of March, 1883. Sad news I have received this morn. Richard’s dear, sweet Eliza passed this life of the whooping cough. She was just turned eight years, and Richard is sorely hurt. I suspect sweet little Eliza was a favorite, although he would not admit to this. He was so brokenhearted he was unable to put his pen to paper, and the sad news was conveyed by Susannah.

  12th of November, 1884. The heat is becoming most disagreeable and I fear we will have a most uncomfortable summer. Drought continues to plague the country.

  Some most comely buildings in the Victorian style have been erected, which surely is a sign of the town’s continuing wealth. St. Paul’s Church of England Church was erected last year, and the sound of hammers and saws is only just drowned out by the sound of the ore batteries. The town continues to grow. The School of Arts has a Lending Library boasting some two thousand and five hundred volumes. I am so pleased to spend some of my leisure time reading books on many and knowledgeable subjects.

  A story as interesting as that found in a book was told to me just recently. A woman who calls herself Mrs. Kingsley came into the store to purchase provisions. I had made her acquaintance on previous occasions. She and her husband and family had traveled in a covered cart over twelve hundred miles from a town by the name of Cobar in New South Wales. They suffered many privations and on one occasion they were attacked by hostile aborigines. Another time, when her husband was taken ill, this stoic lady went in search of their horse, only to become quite lost. Friendly aborigines showed her back to her camp and found her horse. Her husband has been working in the mines and has the desire to move on to the Woolgar goldfields. It is most obvious the woman is again with child, and I must have great admiration for her courage to attempt such an undertaking in her delicate condition.

  ***

  30th of December, 1886. This year the Miners’ Union was established amid mixed feelings. I am in agreement that the miners need to improve working conditions and fight to raise their poor wages.

  After a period of ten months in the construction, the courthouse is now open. The cost for the building was 4,565 pounds.

  Richard relates that this past August, horse-drawn trams began operation between Woolloongabba and Breakfast Creek. He finds them most convenient.

  There is often talk for North Queensland to become a separate colony. Many feel the north more than earns its way, more so than the south.

  28th of February, 1887. The news we received from Brisbane is not good. It appears the rains have caused much tragedy. Floods have swamped families in the low areas. Many have lost jobs, Richard’s letter relates, and are being weighed down by debt. Richard knows of families who are becoming destitute. There is much illness and misery. He considered bringing Susannah and the children north, but the weather has been so dreadful, even though we expect it this season, that he could not trust his family to such inclement seas. It is a great pity, as I still yearn to see the children.

  We had here a storm of great magnitude this past Friday night. There was no drop of rain, only fierce lightning and thunder like to render one deaf. A stockman on Kilarney Downs was struck by lightning and did not recover. A large tree fell on the cottage of my delivery boy, and the family barely escaped with their lives.

  10th of October, 1888. This year, this past January saw scenes of great celebration in the town, for it was the 100th Anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet. Thus, our new land is 100 years old. Richard told me also of parades in Brisbane and fireworks, which they all watched from the safety of their veranda.

  ***

  11th of October, 1888. I was much tired last evening, so I continue my journal tonight. A letter from home arrived this day full of news. Richard recounts to me his business has been so busy such is the need for new buildings in the city. He fears I will scarce recognize Brisbane when I return. All vacant sites in Queen Street have been taken up, and the street is very much a showpiece. New immigrants may stay free of charge in the Government Store and in the Kangaroo Point Immigrant Barracks. Richard has sent to me Mr. William Clarson’s magnificent panorama view of the city which has appeared in theIllustrated Sydney News, and it shows a fine and expanding city.

  Susannah and the children keep well, thanks to Providence. I became most desperately homesick when Richard told me they all thought of me last night when they were fortunate enough to partake of a rosella pie the new cook baked. Knowing how much I was partial to these native fruits, they spoke of me and my photograph was fetched for all to look at me. Richard promises when I return Susannah intends to have Cook bake a rosella pie for me at the first opportunity.

  Our town continues to grow and change. The Royal Arcade on the corner of Mossman and Gill streets is most agreeable and many people stroll through the shops. We had news that a test bore in Winton gushed artesian water. This water from beneath the ground was much welcomed, for the country is ever in the grip of terrible drought.

  6th of February, 1889. The weather continues to be monstrous hot. We must pity the poor souls in Cloncurry where the temperature last month recorded 127°. This is the highest temperature since such measurements began in this land.

  Richard posted me a collection of the newspaperThe Bulletin, which has given me much reading pleasure. I am taken with the two young poets Andrew Barton Paterson, who writes as “The Banjo,” and Henry Lawson.

  ***

  29th of October, 1889. Richard relates that the capital city continues to rapidly expand with increased shipping. The new Customs House is now completed after three years. The copper-clad dome is especially pleasing. He tells me he has business in Townsville and will journey north within the month. He will make the trip out here to the Towers to assure himself of my welfare. It fills me with great joy that I am to see him at last, and I scarce can settle.

  10th of December, 1889. What a week of emotions. Richard has made the journey north to visit at last. He brought with him young Georgina. She is turned fifteen now and so like our Mam I almost cried. She is a beauty to be sure and has much sense like our Mam. She set to and helped me in the store, and when it came time for them to return to Brisbane, she begged her father to be allowed to stay behind. Richard would hear none of it, which reduced Georgina to tears. Richard appealed to me for assistance, much upset by his daughter’s distress. I quickly assured Georgina I would visit the family as soon as I was able. I have made a promise to Georgina I will attend her sixteenth birthday party the next year.

  12th of April, 1890. There has been another tragedy at sea. The Royal Mail steamerQuetta was lost in Torres Strait, drowning nearly half of those on board. Men have lost their whole families. A young girl floated for thirty-six hours in waters frequented by sharks. Another young girl swam to Aconeih Isle and by some miracle was saved. Survivors recount horrible tales of the incident.

  I cannot say I am a comfortable traveler when on the seas, and I was much pleased to read of the report that the steamer, Arawatta, made a record of twenty-five and a half hours to journey between Rockhampton and Brisbane. My memories of the much longer journey these seventeen years past stay with me, along with our long and difficult journey out to this land.

  6th of June, 1890. I am returned from my visit to Richard and Susannah. It was as Richard said. I did not recognize the town I left behind seventeen years ago. It
is a bustling place with much to recommend it. And when I speak of that I must include Richard’s magnificent house he has named Tyneholme. The house has many outstanding appointments, and Susannah is rightly proud of it. As Richard has told me, the views from the wide verandas sweep along the magnificent river to the town and out to the mountains. Richard has surely made a success of himself.

  However, by far the most pleasure I had was in making the acquaintance of the children. Of course, I had made the acquaintance of Georgina last year, and I was filled with amazement at the change in her. At sixteen, she is quite a little lady and a favorite of the young men who flock around her. This causes my brother to frown so, which in turn, amuses Susannah. Michael is fourteen years old and a serious boy who has begun to work with his father when he is not studying at the prestigious Brisbane Grammar School. Maryann is twelve and Susannah worries so about her. She is a pretty little minx without a deal of sense. Susannah hopes she will settle as she grows older.

  Susannah showed to me the musical box that Richard purchased for her birthday from one of the Chinese hawkers when he visited the Towers. She is much taken with it, and it has pride of place in the drawing room. Her delight in this gift turns her eyes lovingly toward my brother. Richard is surely a fortunate man.

  Now I am home in the north, and my rooms over the store seem empty after the fullness of Tyneholme. I feel the need to think seriously of selling up my business and joining my family. Richard has agreed to assist me to find another business in Brisbane as soon as I need to do so.

  I have carried back with me as much reading matter as I could find. This last evening I was entertained by a wonderful poem entitled, “The Man From Snowy River,” written by “The Banjo.” I found it to be such a rollicking yarn.

  10th of August, 1890. Today I felt as though my heart was filled to bursting. I was arranging an order of senna tea and blue bottles of castor oil behind my counter when I heard a step on the floor. I turned to see a young woman of such beauty I was totally robbed of speech. I had thought my heartbeats would be heard, and I felt my face grow excessive hot. She was gazing at a new bonnet I had placed on a stand. It was festooned with trails of ribbons, and I had the great need to place it upon her fine dark curls.