'R' is for Reitano and Rupp...'V' is for Vella

 

Back to why the streets of Halifax were named. We will continue down the alphabet!

Beginning with:

R

REITANOS ROAD

Reitanos Road is named for Felice Filippo Carlo Gennaro Reitano (known also as Felix Reitano). He was married to Scottish born Sarah (née Livingstone) in 1911. Felice's grandson conducts Felix Reitano Real Estate, Ingham today.

Logo (Source: reitanofurniture.com.au)

RIFLE RANGE ROAD

Rifle Range Road is named because Halifax once had a very active rifle club: the Halifax Rifle Club established in 1894. This was a paramilitary organization, functioning as a reservist army corps when supplemented by the formation in 1901 of a force of the Queensland Mounted Infantry Corps.

Some of the members of the Halifax Rifle Club 1905. A.W. Carr, Captain (Source: North Queensland Register, October 30 1905, 33.

RIVER AVENUE

River Avenue runs parallel to the Herbert River, hence its name.

RIVERDOWNS DRIVE

The Drive is named for Riverdowns Estate - 2 stages of a housing development behind Halifax township.

ROSENDAHL STREET

Rosendahl Street is named for Niels Christian Rosedahl, Danish immigrant to Australia. He was amongst the first of the small farmers to acquire land in the Lower Herbert. His property, acquired in 1878 was named Gumby (sold to A.W. Carr in 1907 by  J. Rosendahl). Niels was also a founding member of the Herbert River Farmers' Association. He was married to Ane (née Mortensen). Son Christian Rosendahl, president of the Halifax Planters’ Club owned the farm Hornsby. Rosendahl Bros and Schnepel purchased a store in Halifax in 1907 on land including the Q.N. Bank.

The Rosendahl family, Halifax 1914 (Source: North Queensland Register, October 2 1914, 26)

RUPP STREET

Rupp Street is named for Franz Xaver (Xavier) Rupp who immigrated to Australia from Germany in 1928. He was married to Italian born Sylvia (née Tardiani) in 1937. Franz established the Frank X Rupp & Sons plumbing business in 1930, a business which is still conducted under the same name today. Franz, Sylvia and Oreste, all died tragically on the same day 9 January 1961. They were survived by Oreste's brothers Frank and Joey.

SCOTT STREET

Scott Street is named for David Greenhill Scott and Elizabeth (née Eddleston) and eight children who came to the district in 1887 when David was transferred by CSR from Chatsworth Island (Clarence River) to Victoria Mill as sugar boiler. Later, around 1915 he acquired a farm in the Halifax area. David died in 1935. When Elizabeth died in 1951 it was claimed that she was the oldest living resident of the district. She had 189 descendants at the time of her death. Their first child born in Ingham was Minnie Alice and she married into the Alm family. Her husband was Johannes Protorious Alm.

Alm family which Minnie Alice Scott married into (Source: Hinchinbrook Shhire Library photograph collection)

SHAWS AVENUE

Shaws Avenue is named for English immigrant Albert Arthur Shaw who was married to Sarah (née Abraham). Albert opened a shop at the northern end of Macrossan Street in 1910.  At the southern end was a store which had opened in 1884 and was conducted by Eugenio Regazzoli and Fredrickson Redman. When the Shaw store burnt down Albert bought the Regazzoli building and ran that store. Albert’s three sons took over the business which was known as 'Shaw's' - General Storekeepers. They built a larger concrete fronted building in 1936. There were also Shaw stores in Macknade, Cordelia and Lucinda. The brothers’ partnership dissolved in 1950 and the building was sold. Today the building houses the Herbert River Museum.

A.A. Shaw Merchant store, Halifax (Source: hinchinbrookchamber.com.au)

SKENE AVENUE

Skene Avenue is named for James Skene, boatman, who was hired by the Divisional Board in 1881 to conduct a public ferry and passenger river crossing service. Later in 1888 he would continue this service as Skene and Emanuel between Macknade and Halifax. He was married to Margaret (née Jensen).

STEPHENSEN AVENUE

Stephensen Avenue is named for Soren and Christian Stephensen, immigrants to Australia from Denmark. Soren married Prudence (née Dudley) in 1915. He died in 1963 aged 82. She died in 1974 aged 81. They had three children. Christian married Elsie Marie Pensine (née Nielsen) in 1908. Elsie was also born in Denmark. Christian died in 1968 aged 83. Elsie died in 1962 aged 79. They had six children. Christian and his family lived in Cordelia. One of his sons Ted married Adelaide (née Ellems), another old Ingham district family.

VELLAS ROAD

Vellas Road is named for Francesco Vella or Carmelo Vella, Maltese immigrants. The latter married to Zilpah Carolina (née Borello). Francesco married Mary Margaret (née Groves). Francesco is buried in Halifax Cemetery and Carmelo in the New Ingham Cemetery. Antonio (Tony) was the last Vella to own the farm.

HALIFAX/LUCINDA

LUCINDA ROAD

Lucinda Road leads to the  Lucinda township. Lucinda Road is named for the township Lucinda. Lucinda was named for either Jeannie Lucinda (née Field), of New York, wife of Queensland Governor, Sir Anthony Musgrave, 1884-9 after whom the Queensland Government named the Government steamer Lucinda OR for the steamer Lucinda itself which visited Dungeness twice.

Lucinda Steamer (Source: StateLibQld 1 109320 Lucinda (ship).jpg)

HALIFAX/MACKNADE

FARRELL DRIVE

According to HSC document Future Road Names - Hinchinbrook Shire Council the drive is named for WW2 casuality, Mannix Farrell, son of John and Margaret Farrell. L/CPL Mannix James Farrell was killed in action in New Guinea, 1942. He was the grandson of Thomas Joseph Farrell who immigrated to Australia from Ireland. He died in 1912 at the age of 56.  Thomas was married to Agnes (née May) in 1886. She died in 1931. They had seven children.  Their son John Patrick Farrell died in 1938 aged 49. He was married to Margaret Ellen O'Brien of Townsville. They had eight children some of whom attended St Theresa's Convent School, Halifax. 

Lance Corporal Mannix James Farrell (Source: Virtual War Memorial Australia)

 HALIFAX/TAYLORS BEACH

TAYLORS BEACH ROAD

This road leads to Taylors Beach. William Henry Taylor was an English immigrant and first European settler of Victoria Creek, later called Taylors Beach in recognition of his contribution to the Lower Herbert district. He cut a road through to Halifax from the area he had cleared at the beach. Hence the road's name. William married Bessy Gertrude (née Stoyel). When William first arrived in the district he worked for the Neame Bros. punting their sugar down the river. He also worked for butchers, Rosendahl and Regazzoli

And that is HALFAX and why its streets were named as they were.

Source: 

Street Naming Project, Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui for Hinchinbrook Shire Coucil

Felix Reitano Furniture and Real Estate History

'F' is for Filippi and Fudriga.......'M' is for Mambrini and Mombelli

Back to why the streets of Halifax were named as they were we will continue down the alphabet!

Begining with: 

'E' 

Echidna Street. The street name was approved in August 1974. the echidna is a quill-covered monotreme There are streets across the Shire named for flora and fauna. This is one of them.

Next we have:

'F'

Filippi Road. Albert Filippi. Filippi was born in Halifax in 1898 and attended the Halifax State School. He was only 17 years of age when he was one of the first Australians to volunteer for WW1 on December 21 1914. Army records show that he stated his age as 19. Private Filippi was killed sometime between August 16-23 1915. 

Fudriga Road. Francesco Fudriga was an Italian immigrant and farmer in Halifax. He bought his farm in 1932. He was married to Maria (nee Danieli).

'H'

Herron Street. Francis Herron and his brother James immigrated to Australia from Ireland and took up land on the Lower Herbert at the same time as August Anderssen. Their properties were adjacent and while Francis called his property Drumcree, James called his Emma Vale. Francis was also in the Herbert River Farmers' Association foundational group. Francis married Mary (nee Stout). James married Jane (nee Rowe). 

Hinchinbrook Court. Named for Hinchinbrook Island initially named Mount Hinchinbrook by Captain James Cook in June 1770 after the estate Hinchingbrooke of the Earl of Sandwich who was then the first lord of the Admiralty in 1763.

Hoffensetz Street. Harald Hoffensetz was a Norwegian immigrant to Australia. He was a cooper and farmer acquiring land in 1880. He called his property Rest Downs. He was a founding member of the Herbert River Farmers' Association. Harald married Augusta (nee Pedersen) who was a midwife and lady's nurse.

'J'

Jessup Avenue. According to a Hinchinbrook Shire Council document the street was named for WW2 casuality Robert William Jessup, son of Robert Eward and Katherine Jessup. He had four brothers also in active service. 

Many streets were named for past councillors. As that HSC document appears to be a retrospective suggestion as to why the street was named it could also have been named for Eric Robert Jessup who was a councillor 1940-3 and 1946-7. Like fellow Halifaxian Willliam Joseph Argaet, Jessup was a member of the ALP. He was a founding member of the River Trust and had special interest in river erosion. He was married to Ellen Margaret (nee Keegan). 

'M'

Macrossan Street. John Murtagh Macrossan was a Queensland politician. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Kennedy (1873-1878) and then Townsville 1879-1891). He visited Ingham in 1882 when Minister for Works. It is in a cluster of streets named for Queensland government ministers from the late 1800s.

John Murtagh Macrossan (Source: State Library of Queensland)

Mambrini Street. The street name approved in August 1974. Father Severino Mambrini, OFM arrived in the district in 1923 at the behest of the Apostolic Delegate to make a report on the Italian immigrants. He made a census over a period of two months and made contact with 1902 Italians. He remained in the district for 10 years and was much loved for his dedication and generosity.

Fathers Philip Murphy OFM and Severino Mambrini OFM, Auckland, New Zealand 1936. (Source: Archives, Franciscan Provincial Office, Waverley, NSW).

Mombelli Road.The road was named in 1991 for Giuseppe Mombelli. Mombelli was an Italian immigrant, married to Pierina (nee Marinoni). He farmed at Washaway Farm.

Mona Road. Mona was the name of the property selected by John Lely. Mona was down river from Hoffensetz's property, Rest Downs. Lely was an Oxford graduate who arrived in Townsville in 1879. He was a member of the Herbert River Farmers' Association and instigator of the formation of the Herbert River Farmers' League. 

Melanesian labourers chipping at Mona Vale, Halifax, 1899. (Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library, Photograph Collection).

Musgrave Street.The street was named for Sir Anthony Musgrave, Governor of Queensland 1883-8.

                                   Anthony Musgrave (Source: State Library of South Australia) 

More Halifax street name mysteries to be solved.....

Sources: Australian National Archives, Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Hinchinbrook Shire Council: Naming of Roads, Streets and Parks etc., Hinchinbrook Cemetery Register, Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui: Herbert River Story; Portrait of Parish; Small Sugar Farmer Agency; Janice Wegner: Hinchinbrook.

‘B’ is for Badila, Barnes and Berwick – naming the streets of Ingham town

 

Switching to Ingham town for the 'Bs' we have:

Badila Street. The variety of cane named Badila is characterized by its deep purple colour. It is a famous cultivar that was transported around the New World in the early plantation days, including to Australia and planted in the Herbert River district where it was one of predominant canes in the early decades of sugar cane cultivation.

Barnes Street. According to the HSC document Future Road Names - Hinchinbrook Shire Council the street could be named for local WW1 casualty, Frederick John Barnes, son of Jane Heard and Jesse Barnes. However, as the Council street naming records are so patchy and inconsistent there are a number of other candidates. A common practice was to name streets for councillors so the street could as easily be named for Alfred Barnes, Councillor 1919 (son of Alfred Barnes and Mary Harris) and a farmer at Macknade or Charles Grafton Barnes Councillor 1912-3, 1918 who was a grazier, owning Bronte and Blackrock. He retired to Southport.

Frederick and William Barnes. (Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Library photograph collection)

Berwick Street. The street is named for Fraser Berwick, surveyor, who surveyed west Ingham (west side of Palm Creek), which was government land and formerly known as the Camping Ground. He also surveyed the town of Halifax in 1885. He was replaced in 1885 by William Stanley Warren after whom Warren Street is named.

Bird Street. It is common for the district’s streets to be named for members of parliament. The street is most likely named for Valmond (Val) James Bird, born in Ingham. His parents were Walter James and Ruth Elizabeth Bird (née Thornton). Walter James was the son of Walter and Frances Bird (original European settlers in the district).  Val was a member of the Queensland Parliament (1969–1983). The record, Herbert District: Street, Road and Place Names-Origins, Hinchinbrook Shire Library, suggests that the street is named for the Mrs Bird who was resident owner of land that was subdivided for residential purposes. Like Swarbrick Street in which several generations of the Swarbrick family resided, Bird Street was once occupied by a number of Bird families and so simply could be named Bird Street for that reason as believed by a descendant.

Valmond (Val) James Bird (Source: Queensland Parliament: Former Member Details)

Blackburn Street. The street is named for Roy Blackburn, Councillor 1930-2, 1943.   His father was John Spence Blackburn, Scottish immigrant, who came to Australia in 1884. John was first a sugar boiler/ganger/overseer at Macknade Mill for the Neame brothers then a farmer at Macknade on his property of Burnside (a farm which he acquired from the Neames and which the family consequently worked).

Blackrock Road. The road is named for John Hull's property Blackrock. Blackrock was named for a large black rock which was visible on the adjacent low hills. John Hull and his family arrived in the district in 1872, where he attempted to grow tobacco and then took up cattle and dairying. Other names associated with the property are Alston and Barnes.

Blamey Street. Blamey Street is named for Field Marshall Sir Thomas Blamey, General of both the First and Second World Wars. He was the only Australian to attain Field Marshall rank.

Borello Street. The street was named for Ernesto Borello, Councillor continuously from 1946-1976. He was the Ingham born son of immigrant Italian parents. His mother was renowned midwife Angiolina Borello (nee Ruffiningo) who conducted a lying-in home at Lannercost. His father Avventino was an immigrant on the Jumna in 1891. Ernesto was married to Margaret Elizabeth (née Dennis).

Boyd Street. The street is named for Robert Mitchell Boyd, Councillor 1882-91, 1895-9. He was the owner of Ripple Creek Plantation and Mill (1883 -1908) with Wood Bros. He was married to Eliza Agnes (née Brown). When Eliza died in childbirth she was buried in the Ripple Creek Graveyard. The graveyard was obliterated when it was ploughed under for cane land.

Robert and Eliza Boyd (Source: Connor History ROBERT MITCHELL, ELIZA AGNES and EMILY BURTON BOYD  

Brown Lane. Brown Lane is one of those mystery ones. It is said to be named after a person named Brown who served in World War 2. If that is so it is Englishman Arthur Egerton Hall BROWNE living in Cordelia at the time of enlistment. He was a war casualty (May 1941). That would make it one of those streets that Council needs to rectify the spelling of.

Bruce Highway North/South. The Bruce Highway is named for former Queensland and federal politician, Henry Adam (Harry) Bruce. Bruce was the state minister for Works in the mid-1930s when the highway was named after him.

Burke Street. The street is named for Edward Lawrence Burke, Councillor, 1938-43 and 1946-55. He was a farmer and chairman of the Herbert River District Canegrowers' Executive for 20 years. He was on the organizing committee for Abergowrie College, involved in a campaign to develop the Abergowrie area and open it to solder settlement.

Sources:

A.S. Kemp, The Kemp Report

Australian War Memorial, personal service records

Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui. The Herbert River Story Emma Arthurs

Department of Veteran Affairs: World War Two Service Veteran Details

Family History of the District

Janice Wegner. Hinchinbrook: Hinchinbrook Shire Council 1879-1979.

John Alm. Early History

Les Pearson, The Hulls of "Cressbrook", Evelyn, Nort Queensland

Neale Brown

Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

Reflections of Our Century 1901-2001

The 'Town of Ingham’ notes in Roads and Place Names and Origins, Hinchinbrook Shire, Queensland (vertical file, Local History Room, Hinchinbrook Shire Library

TROVE

Wikipedia

 

"A" is for Alice, Alma and Anderssen - street naming in the Hinchinbrook Shire

 

In the Hinchinbrook Shire there are 608 roads/lanes/streets. When I started out on the project to discover the reason why each of those were named I didn’t anticipate the scale of the task I was taking on. While the reason for the naming of some were obvious, many were not and there were those that could only be guessed at or at worst not able to be explained at all.

Let’s take a look at those streets of HALIFAX that begin with the letter A.

The first land taken up for agricultural crops, including sugar, was in the low coastal reaches of the Herbert River. Because of the river’s length it was demarcated into two areas, upper and lower. The Lower Herbert’s major business centre became Halifax. Land along the lower Herbert that had been surveyed for a town selection was sold off in the 1881 ‘land rush’ for agriculture to small selectors who hoped to grow sugar cane. The few remaining blocks were later sold as township blocks but unfortunately in a flood the riverbank gave way and these blocks were washed into the river.

After that catastrophe, one of those who had purchased land in the ‘rush’ was August Anderssen who offered some of his land for sale as township allotments. Anderssen engaged a surveyor and auctioneer and a Government land auction was held in 1886 and so the town of Halifax was born, taking its name from the neighbouring Halifax Bay, which Captain Janes Cook had named in 1770. 

So, starting with A.

Firstly, we first have ACACIA ROAD. There are many roads and streets named for flora or fauna in the district and this is one of them. Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. More commonly this genus is known as acacia, mimosa, thorn tree or wattle.

ALICE STREET. The street was named for the mother of artist John Coburn. His mother Alice Biggs married Edgar Cockburn in Halifax in 1922. John was born in Ingham in 1925. Edgar was a bank accountant and so with his transfer to the Darling Downs, the family moved there. Edgar passed away in 1936, so Alice returned to Halifax to live with her mother Christina Biggs (nee Beatts).

Alice and her sister Jess opened a clothing store in Halifax and this business continued until Alice remarried in 1939 to Walter Beatts. They had two sons, Geoffrey and Barry.

Source: Herbert River Express September 1973

ALMA STREET was possibly named for Alma Uliana Anderssen, eighth child of August and Eva Anderssen (nee Johannesdotter). Alma married Charles Otto Randell in 1906 in Halifax. She died in Tully in 1928. Her parents, August and Eva, were pioneering small farmers.

ANDERSSEN STREET is named for August and Eva Anderssen who are variously described as Swedish or Norwegian because when they immigrated to Australia Sweden and Norway were a single political entity known as the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway (1814–1905). Foreign nations categorized Swedish and Norwegian citizens together, commonly referring to them in immigration records as Scandinavians. August was a carpenter and wheelwright who first worked for Arthur and Frank Neame of Macknade Plantation. He took up land in 1880 in lower Herbert.  His family home was called Riverview (the original house was relocated to become the Halifax Hotel). He was the inaugural chairman of the Herbert River Farmers' Association which was founded in 1882 to negotiate for small farmers to supply cane to Victoria Plantation Mill for crushing.

Terry Lyons, A little of the story of August Anderssen “The Father of Halifax”.

ARGAET STREET. Many streets are named for former Hinchinbrook Shire Councillors. Argaet Street was named for Joseph William Argaet who was a Hinchinbrook Shire Councillor from 1947 to 1955. He was born in Charters Towers and served in World War 1 on the Western Front as a Private with the 1st Australian Machine Gun Battalion. He returned to Australia in 1919 and came to the Hinchinbrook district in1920 as a locomotive driver at Macknade Mill. He was the President of the Halifax Australian Labour Party until he left the party and joined the Democratic Labour Party after the split in 1955. In that same year he took up farming at Abergowrie. The street name was approved in 1974.

Another instalment of Halifax streets and the origins of their names to follow!

Sources include:

‘John Coburn (1925 – 2006)’. Blog entry researched by Christopher and Vivienne Parry for blog Interpreting Ingham History.

HSC Box 195 Naming of Roads, Streets and Parks etc.

Terry Lyons, A little of the story of August Anderssen “The Father of Halifax”.

Janice Wegner, Hinchinbrook: A History of local government in the Hinchinbrook Shire, M.A. thesis, James Cook University of North Queensland, 1984.

Wikipedia

100 YEARS OLD AND STILL GOING STRONG

 

It’s time for celebration! Did you know that two buildings in the township of Ingham are 100 years old this year: The Farmers’ League Building (now Ingham Travel) and the Station Hotel?

The Herbert River Farmers’ League (HRFL) is now no longer a farmers’ representative body but provides a scholarship fund for tertiary students. The HRFL had its Lannercost Street building constructed in heady times when its activities mirrored both the prosperous times the sugar industry was enjoying and the growing dynamism of the sugar towns.

Facade of Herbert River Farmers League Limited building (Source: http://www.rgsq.org.au/19-146c Royal Geographical Society of Queensland)

Developments beyond Ingham set in motion the idea of the HRFL having a building of its own. In 1922 The Primary Producers’ Organization Act provided for any association or body of not fewer than 15 primary producers residing in a district to register as a Local Producers’ Association.  While there is no explicit evidence that the HRFL planned to register as the representative Primary Producers’ Association, nevertheless, on August 21, 1923, it became incorporated as the Herbert River Farmers’ League Ltd. in order to give it “wider scope.”  

Following incorporation in 1923, the HRFL began trading as a cooperative.  It also acted as a fertilizer agency. In 1925 the league tendered for a builder to construct a building on Lannercost Street, in Ingham’s central business district. The building was to include two brick shops and offices. After a civic reception in the Shire Hall on Friday 9 October 1925, the Governor of Queensland, Sir Matthew Nathan, laid the foundation stone. He was presented with a miniature silver cane knife as a gift by the farmers.

The construction cost of the two-storey reinforced concrete building was around £3,000. When the building was completed, it was described as adding “considerably to the attractiveness of the main street”. Soon after farmer bodies, for example, the Queensland Producers’ Association (Q.P.A.) Mill Suppliers’ Committee and Executives, were holding their meetings in the building and negotiating to rent space.

Herbert River Farmers' League Building, Lannercost Street (Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Library Photograph Collection)

Even before it was officially opened the building narrowly avoided disaster when the galvanized iron and wooden building next door, the London Café, went up in flames at 2am on Christmas Eve 1925. Considerable difficulty was experienced in saving the HRFL building, “the fascla window sashes being burnt out, but with a dousing of water assisted by the wind blowlng against the fire, eventually the League office was saved.”

Officiating at the opening ceremony on Tuesday 24 August 1926 was Dr Lewis Nott, federal member for Herbert and the Post-Master General, William Gibson. Clearly Dr Nott did not have a premonition of what the imminent creation of a district executive—Herbert River Cane Growers Association (HCGA)—of the Queensland Cane Growers Association (QCGA) would mean for the HRFL when he expressed the hope that “their membership would extend to every farmer in the district.”  A reception followed the official opening.

The steps that brought the district executive (later HRCGA) into existence are unknown. In February 1932, following negotiations, a merger was achieved with the HRFL which created the HRCGA. There were no records kept until 1933 and after the district executive became the Herbert River Cane Growers (HRCGA).  When the local district executive came into existence it not only began to hold meetings in the HRFL building but negotiated to rent office space in which to carry out the extensive administrative tasks required of it as a statutory body. The first President, George Geeson, and Secretary, Alfred Louden Musgrave, were both HRFL members.

The roles of the district executive not only duplicated those of the HRFL but transcended them with the inclusion of all matters pertaining to production and marketing.  The district executive was authorized by legislation to assume the roles that had being carried out by the league to that date.

From that point on the HRFL was no longer directly responsible for carrying out farmers’ business, though it continued to provide office space and meeting rooms for the “combined” body and shared a secretary. While at the time the HRCGA’s formation was described as “tantamount to an amalgamation with the Herbert River Farmers’ League Ltd.”, it was really its death knell as a growers’ representative body.    

The transition was not easy. From thereon in the HRFL assumed a watchdog role, “carefully observing the actions and operations of the other organization with a view where necessary, to counteract any actions that we consider were detrimental to the Industry as a whole.”

The HRFL continued to be invited by the mills, Chamber of Commerce, HRCGA and other community groups to be included in both political discussions and social events and there were many roles the HRFL did not immediately relinquish. Though the HRCGA deferred to the HRFL in some matters, the HRFL executive continued to be unhappy with the arrangement, feeling that its role as an industrial organization had been restricted, while the HRCGA had not adhered to the principles of the amalgamation.

The final break with a pretense of unity came about when the HRCGA decided that it was no longer appropriate to use another organization’s premises, and that its “status and dignity” warranted its own building.  The HRCGA obtained a perpetual lease of an allotment on the opposite side of Lannercost Street, defiantly facing the HRFL building. It was constructed in conjunction with the Capitol Building to a common design by Mr. V. A. Pidgeon under the supervision of Messrs W. and M. Hunt, architects. The new farmers' building was officially opened on Saturday 29 September 1934. The opening ceremony was performed by Mr. G. Johnson (President of the Q.C.G. A.). Mr. G. Cantamessa (President of the Herbert River Cane Growers' Association) presided. The original HRCG’s building no longer stands but the Capitol Building does.

Herbert River Canegrowers’ Association' FArmers Building, opened in 1934. Site of present

CANEGROWERS building (Source: State Library of Queensland. Image number: 96364)

From that point on, the HRFL building served as the distict office of the Australian Sugar Producers Association (ASPA). A room was reserved to be used as a boardroom for meetings of the HRFL, while the rest of the building was rented out to various tenants. With the reduction of its responsibilities and income, the HRFL became preoccupied with the maintenance and improvement of the building while keeping full rental occupancy.

In 2010, a far from unanimous decision was reached to sell the building. With the building sold, the money was invested and the scholarship scheme secured for the future.  With the identity of the building covered over by an Ingham Travel sign, nobody today would know that the building was once a proud and vital farmer organization’s headquarters.

Herbert River Farmers League building 2025 (Source: Felix Reitano Real Estate)

OFF TO THE SEASIDE EVERYBODY! DANCE FROLIC AND SPORTS

London’s underground and crossrail developments unearthed significant archeological finds dating back to prehistoric times. As they dug, layer after layer of London’s intriguing past was revealed. Have you ever looked at a landscape or a building and wondered what was there before? 

Did you know that where the Forrest Beach Surf Life Saving Club House now stands, was also the site of the Dance Hall or Dance Pavilion? The site is a gathering place as it must have been for thousands of years, for Forrest Beach is located in the traditional lands of the Nywaigi people. 

Barbara Horsely wrote in Sea, Sand and Swamp. A history of the township of Allingham and Forrest Beach, of the Dance Hall or Dance Pavilion. When she wrote the book she provided a sketch of the Hall, as, as far as she knew, there was no existing photograph. However, in the way things go, of course somebody must have had a photograph in their family photograph collections. And they did! 

People had been finding their way to the beach and enjoying the sea and sand since the early 1900s, but it was not until 1925 that the area was surveyed and gazette as a township: Allingham with the beach area still called Forrest Beach. It was originally written Forrest’s Beach for G.B. Forrest, manager of Victoria Mill, who cut a track through to the beach to encourage his mill workers to visit the beach for recreation. 

Vince Corbett, builder and entrepreneur, saw the potential of Forrest Beach and applied for the lease of an acre of Council Reserve in 1925. By April 1925 he had built and opened a refreshment room. By May 1926 he had constructed two dressing sheds, two toilets and a dance hall/pavilion. The first dance held there was a fundraiser for the Valley’s Football Club on 9 April 1926. Over 20 couples attended. The Hall/Pavilion became known as the Forrest Beach Dance Hall. It was extensively renovated in 1938. 

Dane Pavilion (Source: Leila Muller)

The photograph shows the Hall before or during its renovation. Barbara’s sketch shows the renovated building with its baton walls. You can see in the photograph that the dance floor was one metre above the ground and was reputedly a very good dance floor. Once renovated there was a two foot (61 centimetres) gap between the floor and the baton walls. That gap is clear in the photograph (the baton walls were yet to come). Because of this construction the hall stayed quite cool even in summer. The hall and its extensions became part of the Surf Life Savers complex. Electric light was provided by a 5.6 Ruston Hornsby engine dynamo that required refueling several times during the evening.

Barbara Horsley's sketch of renovated Dance Pavilion (Source Sea, Sand and Swamp, p.48)

 

The dances held there were very informal because those attending had usually been at the beach for the day. But not only dances, but engagement and birthday parties were held there and the hall was used by the Surf Life Savers Club for socials and as a dining hall when visiting clubs came for carnivals. Other clubs that used the hall included the Cardinal Basketball Club, Pony and Tennis Clubs, Ranges Soccer Club and Nurses Welfare Committee.

By the late 1960s the hall was becoming worse for wear, with the floor being very uneven. Parts of the floor even gave away once during a very vigorous and enthusiastic crowd danced ‘the stomp’, a dance that was popular at the time. In 1973 the hall was destroyed by fire. The remnants were bulldozed into a large hole. 

Barbara Horsley lists some of the musicians who played at the dances. I am sure some of these names will bring back great memories: Bands: The Varsity Boys Orchestra The Chook King Orchestra The New Breed The Thunderbirds The Psychedelics The Silhouettes The Melody Makers The Evans Orchestra 

The Evans Orchestra (Source: D. Harvey in Sea, Sand and Swamp, p.50)

Musicians: Eileen Bird (nee Corbett) – piano George Stagg-piano Lou Castorina Syd Stannard Romano Olivero ‘Snooky’ Angus-trumpet/saxophone Lurlie Wickens-piano, Arthur Wickens-drums Jim Smithwick-drums Gordon Peebles-saxophone Lance Andrews-trumpet/saxophone Thelma Woodman-violin Marion Evans-piano Robert Evans-drums Daphne Evans (Harvey) piano and violin Syd Stannard.

I have quoted from Sea, Sand and Swamp pages 12-15 and 48-51 for this blog and I recommend you read the book for a detailed history of Forrest Beach and the Dance Pavilion. It’s a great read.

What? No Caterina Cordelia? Folklore debunked

 

As I research and write history, I always feel that I should add a disclaimer: this is the story, until further research proves otherwise!

THE FOLKLORE

I have oft repeated the story of the enigmatic Caterina Cordelia as given us by history buff and newspaper editor Robert Shepherd who may have got it from Alec S Kemp, The Kemp Report. According to local lore an Italian woman, Caterina Cordelia, arrived on the Herbert as the housekeeper for licenced surveyor Maurice Geoffrey O’Connell who along with his brother John Geoffrey O’Connell and William McDowall (McDowell) are attributed with the first planting of sugar cane in the Herbert River Valley.

 It has always been thought that a number of landscape features eg: creek and hill, were named for her. What happened to the O’Connells and McDowall can be tracked through newspaper reports and documents, but the fate of Caterina Cordelia has remained a mystery.

Until now…………….

FOLKLORE DEBUNKED

Bill Kitson, Retired Senior Curator, Museum of Lands Mapping and Surveying and coauthor of works such as Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, A Pictorial History and With Great Zeal. Charting of the Queensland Coast by the Royal Navy 1861-1913 appears to have solved the mystery and in so doing debunked the folklore.

This is what Bill writes and I quote:

In 1866 Maurice, who was at that time the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the North Kennedy Pastoral District, carried out a feature survey between Saltwater Creek just to the north of Townsville, up to and along the south bank of the Herbert River from Long Pocket to Halifax. On his plan of survey he names several features including a Mt Catherina where Mt Cordelia is today. At the base of it there was a small creek flowing into the Herbert River, which he leaves unnamed. Surveyor George Phillips would in May 1872 call this Katharina Creek. In September that year he also gives O’Connell’s Mt Catherina the name Mt Katharina.

It appears that Maurice was unaware that in 1866 George Strong Nares RN had given the feature the name of Cordelia hill. Nares had carried out a hydrographic survey between Gould   and Rattlesnake Islands (Ref D9482/1 G S Nares, Salamander1866), during which he named several features in the Palm Island group after Royal Naval vessels, that had served on the Australia Station, eg, Pioneer Bay, Pelorus Island, Orpheus Island, Hazard Bay, Harrier Point and on the mainland opposite the islands, Cordelia hill.

 SO!

(1)          Mt Cordelia was named after a vessel of the Royal Navy, not a person.

(2)          Yes, a feature was called Mt Catherina by O’Connell on his 1866 survey.

(3)          The creek at the base was not named Katharina creek by O’Connell on his 1866 survey.  

NOW!

In relation to a mysterious “Italian Lady” named K/Catherina, I offer the following information.

After Maurice’s death in December 1868, his younger brother John Geoffrey O’Connell, who had been his assistant since 1865, got married in April 1869 at Cardwell. On the Marriage certificate it showed that John was a farmer at Katherina Plains Herbert River (O’Connell Bros sugar selection). John would not become an Authorised surveyor until June 1869. His bride was listed as Maria Katherina Louise Cesar (Caesar) age 20 years. She was in fact christened at St Andrew’s Church Sydney in October 1848 as Catharine Lewis (Louis?) Caesar.  Her father was Alfred Louis Cesar (Caesar) and mother Marion Lockhart. Alfred was a linguist working with the New south Wales Police Department. It appears that he may have been born in Mauritius, as his father was Julius Cesar (Caesar), assistant port master at Port Louis for thirty five years. Her mother Marion (Mary) died in 1850, her father remarried in 1853 but died a few years later in 1857.

It is possible that a young woman losing both parents at such an early age might be capable of heading to the wilds of north Queensland while still a teenager?

If the O’Connell brothers named their sugar selection [first taken up in 1868] after her when she was 19 years of age, then there is a chance that she may have been with them in 1866 at age 17 years, when O’Connell carried out his original survey??????.

So, there you have it.  There was no Caterina Cordelia but there may have been a Maria Katherina Louise Cesar (Caesar).  What is so gratifying about the solving of this mystery is that Bill has made an invisible woman visible, and corrected some inaccuracies in the historical record of our district.

Source:

Kemp, Alec S. The Kemp Report, unpublished text, n.d.

Kitson, Bill. The Mysterious “Catherina Cordelia”.

Vidonja Balanzategui, The mysterious Caterina Cordelia. Interpreting Ingham History Blog, 24 July 2022.

StateLibQld 2 239314 Herbert River with Mount Cordelia in the background

                            StateLibQld 1 235334 Lagoon with lilies at Mount Cordelia, near Ingham, ca. 1881

StateLibQld 1 235358 Looking through the garden towards Mount Cordelia, near Ingham, ca. 1881.