Dr John Markwell - a doctor of character and distinction

In a recent post on the Interpreting Ingham facebook page I posted a photograph of the former J.L. Kelly Memorial Public Library, now Ingham Picture Theatre and I was reminded by a reader that Dr. John Markwell leased a small room in the library building for his practice. He was one of several doctors of character and distinction that served in the district around the same time. Others of note were Doctors Giudice and Malone. During their lifetimes these doctors were community minded men and served on many committees and as members of service clubs.

Dr John Markwell is recalled very fondly for his willingness to go beyond the call of duty to attend his patients. He was a familiar sight with his little knitted wool cap on his head strenuously huffing and puffing on his bicycle popping in on a patient recuperating at home just to check that they were progressing well. His wife, Pam, was the radiographer as the Ingham General Hospital for many years while also serving as a councillor on the local Council. They purchased the famous Japanese House, which has been lovingly preserved by Dr. Markwell's son. It continues to be a significant built feature in the landscape of the Ingham township. For those interested to know more about the house The Japanese House Australia has a facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/The-Japanese-House-Australia-295522460617282/

Soon after the Herbert River Museum/ Gallery opened it published a little volume: As We were Volume 1 Doorways to the Past. It was a collection of memories shared by long-time residents of the Herbert River Valley. Amongst those was Dr. John Markwell. It is a valuable little collection, because unfortunately many of those who were interviewed have since passed away.

Dr. John Marwell's story told in his own words is shown here as it appears in  As We were Volume 1 Doorways to the Past.

The building in which Dr. John Markwell first practised: the J.L. Kelly Memorial Public Library. Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Collection.

I do not know whether copies of the volume are still able to be purchased but the Herbert River Museum Gallery has a facebook page and enquiries could be made there: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Herbert-River-Museum-Gallery/1072682732775133

Those interviewed were JOAN ALLINGHAM; MELBA BACKO; MARGARET BOARD; HONORIA COPLEY; ALEXANDER FRASER; WILLIAM HANSEN; ALAN HOBBS; GLEN HOBBS; JOHN MARKWELL; LINNEA ISOKANGAS; ALDO MORETTO; GINO PARIS; JOHN BARTLEY PEARSON; JOSEPHINE SARTORESI; MARY (MOLLY) SHANAHAN; LOUIE VALLE; JAMES WATT

MERCER LANE

Was Mercer Lane, like Mount Mercer now known as Warren’s Hill, named for John Mercer who is recorded as being the district’s first overland mail contractor? He was a pioneering homesteader who together with his wife Rebecca took up land on the south bank of the Herbert River.  Their first child, John, was born in 1870 and was the first European child born in the Lower Herbert, now Ingham area. 

It is possible that Mercer Lane was also named after John Mercer. Mercer Lane was once a laneway accessible for vehicles to the off street car park which is situated between Palm Creek and Lannercost Street. In 2009 a substantial amount of money was approved by Government to upgrade and improve Lannercost Street. The improvement included a closing of Mercer Land to vehicular traffic and construction of a 60 metre covered walkway the length of the Lane.

Today the laneway houses 42 metres of mosaic art panels depicting the history of the sugar cane industry of the Herbert River district. The concept was the brain child of local business woman Karen Venables and conceived by artist Kate Carr as an Artslink Queensland community public art project.  Community enthusiasm for the project is reflected in the funding provided by individuals, clubs, council and local businesses and the contribution of labour by over 2 000 locals and visitors. The medium of mosaics was used because it is an artistic form that can be quickly learned, and also because it is associated with the artwork of ancient Italy and Italians who to this day, make up a significant percentage of the local population.

The panels not only depict the sugar industry in all its phases, historically and industrially, but also the people who were affected by and contributed to the industry. The progression of the industry from hand held and horse drawn implements, to the mechanization of field work has been graphically detailed. The life style of a time long past when farmers could only attend meetings on a night when the full moon would light their way, to children dancing in a shower of cane fire ash or ‘black snow’, to a farmer’s wife carrying smoko to the paddock to a tired, dirty, hungry gang, all jump from the mosaic in life-like reality.

The representation of the historical events was drawn from research provided by historian, Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui and brought to life by the artistic interpretation rendered by Kate Carr. Interpretative story boards enable the viewer to appreciate the panels as both story and art work.    

Furthermore local families sponsored ‘tiles’ on which have been superimposed the story of their family’s contribution to the Herbert River sugar industry. In this way from cane cutter, to farmer, baker to shopkeeper, miller to inventor all those who have contributed to the industry that still sustains the Herbert River district are recalled.

 

Mercer Lane circa 1971. Source: http://www.cbcbank.com.au/images/Branches/QLD/QLD%20country%20I-L.htm

Mercer Lane 2019.

Dancing in the 'Black Snow'. Source: Photograph taken by Christopher Parry

Interpretative Plaque. Source: Photograph taken by Christopher Parry

Kelly's Brigade

Did you know that the Ingham Picture Theatre was the former J.L. Kelly Memorial Public Library building dedicated to James Lawrence Kelly?  Who was James Lawrence Kelly?

James Lawrence (Larry) Kelly was a very popular Shire Chairman who followed another popular chairman, Frank Cassady. He was only 26 years old when he was elected to the position.  Kelly’s terms were 1936 till 1943, and again from 1946 until his death in 1952 at the age of 42.  He was born in Ipswich and educated by the Christian Brothers. His first job was as an accountant with the Taxation Office. He came to Ingham and worked for Hardy and Venables. He had political pedigree being nephew of Edward Michael Hanlon, Premier of Queensland (1946-1952). As an executive member of the Ingham branch of the Labor Party (and President from 1944) he attempted to enter parliament at both the State and Federal levels without success. In his roles as Shire Chairman, citizen and parishioner of St. Patrick’s Catholic Parish he was popular, conscientious and active though his detractors accused him of dominating the Council. He served on many committees and boards.

Given recent flood events and discussions about low lying land a little story told in Janice Wegner’s thesis “Hinchinbrook: The Hinchinbrook Shire Council, 1879-1979” is worth recounting. Wegner shows Kelly to be fair-mined, compassionate and sensible. An example of his good sense was when there were plans to build a fountain. The site chosen for the fountain was criticized because it would be "in a semi-swamp below flood mark, confronting the remains of the old Ingham Chinatown" (Wegner, 444). Kelly pointed out, flood-prone areas were the most logical choices for parks! On a more serious note, his good sense and compassion were visible in his support of Councillors Frederick Hecht and Giuseppe Cantamessa in 1939 on the outbreak of WW2 when others doubted their loyalty. He reminded those doubters of how much Hecht and Cantamessa had contributed to the district.

Kelly is credited with many achievements despite having to work within wartime restrictions. Under his leadership the Council was able to construct a new aerodrome of a sufficient standard to attract services from the two airlines, A.N.A. and T.A.A.; take over the Showground and make substantial improvements; build a municipal library for Ingham and establish another in Halifax; construct with the Main Roads Commission, a new jetty at Dungeness; commission a town plan for Ingham and take over the picture theatre in the Hall. (Wegner, 470-1)

Dan Sheahan refers to those achievements (somewhat tongue in cheek) in his poem “Vote Kelly’s Brigade”:

            Now gaze around and think of what Labour has done

            The networks of roadways that shines in the sun.

            The fountains that sparkle, the concrete tower

            Symbols of beauty and progress and power” (Sheahan, 94)

Kelly died as the new library was being completed. Consequently, the J.L. Kelly Memorial Public Library was dedicated to him when it was opened on June 13, 1953. Prior to that library the School of Arts — established in Ingham in 1895 and another in Halifax in 1898 — conducted libraries.

The Library relocated to Lannercost Street when office space was needed pending the construction of a larger Hall and office complex to replace the then Shire Hall (opened in 1963). In 1987 the Shire Picture theatre, which had formerly been in the Shire Hall, was relocated to the J.L. Kelly Memorial Hall. Again the library was relocated to Lannercost Street. In 1999 it moved to the purpose-built building shared with TAFE. It then moved to its present location in the TYTO precinct.

Libraries are welcoming spaces whose value is measured not so much as economic capital but as social capital. James Lawrence Kelly would no doubt approve, that today the Ingham Picture Theatre, housed in his building, is a social venture of the Ingham Disability Support Services.

Opening of J.L. Kelly Memorial Public Library, 13 June 1953. Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Photograph Collection

James Lawrence Kelly, Ingham Shire Chairman. Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Photograph Collection

Dignitaries at the opening of the Ingham Aerodrome, 1939. 

Sources:

Sheahan, Dan. “Vote Kelly’s Brigade.” In Songs from the Canefields. Ingham: Josephine R. Sheahan, 1982 reprint.

Vidonja Balanzategui, Bianka. Portrait of a Parish: A History of Saint Patrick’s Church and Parish Ingham 1864-1996. Ingham: St Patrick’s Parish, 1998.

Vidonja Balanzategui, Bianka. The Herbert River Story. Ingham: Hinchinbrook Shire Council, 2011.

Wegner, Janice. “Hinchinbrook: The Hinchinbrook Shire Council, 1879-1979.” Master’s thesis, James Cook University, 1984.