What's in a name?

Does your property or house block have a name? Ours does. We call it Ninemile after the locomotive siding near our house: a name given to that siding by the then CSR Victoria Mill's administration over 100 years ago. All over the Herbert River Valley there are properties that have either retained or abandoned the names which their owners gave them.
In the early days, even when properties changed hands, the new owners retained the names. Romantic, fanciful or reminiscent of home country, they are glimpses into a past era. Pastoralist James Atkinson named his holding Farnham while James Cassady called his Mungalla. Planters, for instance, have bequeathed us Bemerside, Gairloch, Macknade and Hamleigh. Smaller property owners gave their properties names too.  So we had Antigua, the farm of Leonard Hartwell, Stone River and Mona and Eaglefarm of John Lely. Others, who were small farmers and founders of the Herbert River Farmers' Association similarly gave names to their farm holdings.  John Alm had Groseth, Francis Herron, Dumcree, Harald Hoffensetz, Rest Downs, James Herron, Emma Vale, Henry Faithfull, Hornsey , Niels Christian Rosendahl, Gumby, Arthur W. Carr, Oakleigh and August Anderssen, Riverview.
Passing through Cordelia, one property is still to this day clearly identified as Brooklands. Who owned that property?
The property has been owned by successive generations of the Pearson family who moved a former Gairloch Plantation house to the site. Today it remains as one of the oldest homes in the district. The Pearson men became synonymous with the Herbert River Farmers' League, the successor to the Herbert River Farmers' Association.
Daniel Pearson, an early supplier of Ripple Creek Mill, represented the Herbert River Farmers' League at the 1906 Sugar Industry Labour Royal Commission. His son Roy Villiers Garthorne Pearson, born in Ingham on 29 October 1891, was President of the Herbert River Farmers' League as was his son John Bartley Pearson. also born in Ingham on 25 March, 1920. He died at the age of 84 on the 25 September, 2004. As president of the League he was responsible for keeping it functioning through times of significant change in the Australian sugar industry. He told his story for a little publication: As We Were, Volume 1: Doorways to the Past published by the Herbert River Museum/Gallery.

Source: As We Were Volume 1: Doorways to the Past. Presented by the Herbert River Museum/Gallery Inc. n.d.

Walter John Milne, a forgotten Ingham identity

Have you ever given much thought to the building occupied by ROCKMANS? If you look up at the rather nondescript façade you will read WM Walter Milne Estd 1929. I always think it is a pity that current business owners feel it necessary to paint over or cover over the history of their buildings, rather than proudly displaying the rich heritage that tells Ingham’s unique history.

Who was Walter Milne? Walter John Milne was born on 9 April, 1891 to Jessie Sewell and Ernest Milne.  He was married to Bessie Crossman Clements on 8 December 1919. He served with 41^st Australian Infantry Battalion as a corporal and used that experience as a banner to advertise his business on Stokes Street, Townsville in 1920. Amongst the many roles he advertised was Auctioneer.  He then moved his business in December 1921 to the Bank of Queensland Chambers next door to Lennons Limited on Flinders Street. By 1929 he had moved to Ingham and had established his business at 65 Lannercost Street, while living with Bessie in Selby Estate.

In Ingham he acted as an auctioneer and commission agent. He also acted as an agent for firstly, the Australian Cooperative Fertilisers Ltd. (during his time in Townsville) and later for sulphate of ammonia for Fertilizer Distributors Pty. Ltd. He was also an agent for the insurance company, AMP. Other well-known auctioneers at the time in Ingham were George Groundwater and Felix Reitano (whose business survives to this day). Milne moved briefly away from Ingham during WW2 to Townsville to do contract work.

Like most businessmen he was public minded, holding positions on sporting bodies and the Ambulance committee. After the war when he auctioned ex-military horses and donkeys he donated his fee to the Red Cross.

In the early hours of Friday 29 May, 1942 he nearly lost his building to a fire which not only threatened his building, but the Hotel Central. Unfortunately, the fire destroyed Houng Yuen’s which was extensively stocked at the time, and the building occupied by F. J. Blackman, saddler. While Milne’s building was damaged by fire, the contents were saved. Significant to the saving of the other buildings in the main street, including not only the Hotel Central but the Shire Hall was a celotex (insulation) wall in Milne’s office. A hose was trained on the inside on it and as a result the fire would not ignite it. As well, several off-duty policemen came to the fire brigade’s assistance. Constable Blackford took the hose as a fireman ascended the balcony of the Central Hotel, training it against the encroaching fire. Fortunately, insurances covered the buildings and their stock.

While watching a cricket match in Townsville on Wednesday 31 October, 1951 Walter Milne collapsed as a result of a heart attack. He was rushed to hospital but could not to be saved. He was only 60 years of age. Bessie passed away on 16 June, 1960.

WM WALTER MILNE ESTD 1929

WALTER MILNE BUILDING, now ROCKMANS

 Group portrait of the NCOs of the 41st Battalion at Kemmel Hill. Walter John Milne: Corporal Of the 41^st Battalion AIF (second from end, right, back row)

 Source: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E01521

Australian War Memorial Australian 41^st Australian Infantry Battalion Image number: E01521

Date 22 January 1918.

Maker:Unknown Australian Official Photographer

Place made: Belgium: Flanders, West-Vlaanderen, Heuvelland, Kemmel, Kemmel Hill

Conflict First World War, 1914-1918

The Mafeking Tree and John (Jack) Simpson

Though isolated and few, the Herbert River Valley residents have never escaped being touched by major conflicts, being called upon often to play their part. The Valley provided volunteers, conscripts, machinery and horses for those conflicts. The Mafeking Tree, casting its shade where Lannercost Street divides to become Palm Terrace and Herbert Street, stands as a living reminder of not only a single conflict, but a local family and its contribution and sacrifice.

Stephen Simpson, a former Major in the British Army, arrived in Australia with his family in 1878. In 1882 he took the position of Post and Telegraph Master in Ingham. On his arrival in Australia in 1878 his son John (Jack) was only a baby. As Jack grew up he developed horse riding and bush skills that would stand him in good stead when in 1899 Britain found itself at war and it put out the call for Australian volunteers.

This war was the Boer War. What is now South Africa was formerly made up of the British held territory called Cape Colony and the Boer held Transvaal and Orange Free State. The Boers or Afrikaners were descendants of Dutch settlers. On 11 October, 1899 the Boers declared war on Britain after Britain raided the Boer’s territory in 1896 in order to obtain control of gold mines there.

Horses from the colonial Australia were in demand by the British military. Captain A. Henry, an entrepreneurial Valley resident, bred horses for use by the British Army. With the declaration of war both horses and men were called upon by Britain for the war effort. 16 000 Australians volunteered with 606 casualties in what was described as a “bloody guerrilla war.”

In the Boer War most Australians fought in the mounted units and they were held in great esteem by the British for their riding and shooting skills. Jack served in the Queensland Mounted Infantry and was reputed to be a fine horseman and a tough bushman. He was among those troops besieged in the Town of Mafeking for seven months from October 1899 to May 1900 and was wounded during the relief operations. The British emerged victorious and peace was declared on 31 May 1902. Thereafter the Boer held territory became British territory.

Jack’s father planted the Mafeking Tree, a blackbean tree, on Palm Terrace to commemorate the military relief of Mafeking. Celebrations of a similar sort were held right across Australia simultaneously. Jack returned to Ingham after the Boer War. He died in 1939. Compounding the family’s grief soon after his death his son John James Simpson was a casualty of WW 2.

Jim Simpson, brother of Jack was responsible for the installation of a plaque in 1972 detailing history and significance of the Mafeking Tree. A further installation was erected at the Mafeking Tree in 2000 as part of the Ingham Heritage Trail, on the 100 year anniversary of the planting. The Council has since removed all those signs and the Trail no longer exists. The tree is the only known Mafeking Tree (Boer War ) Memorial in Queensland.

Jack was buried with military honours in an unmarked grave. In 2003 his unmarked grave was finally given a headstone. This only resulted after RSL president Lloyd Greentree located the grave and initiated the construction of the headstone. He endeavoured to ensure that the story of Jack Simpson lives on. However, sadly, an interpretative signage installed over Jack’s grave is now (in 2019) unreadable.

When next you pass the Mafeking tree spare a thought for Stephen, first Telegraph Master, Jack, survivor of “bloody guerrilla war” and John James, a life cut short in the WW 2. While manufactured dedications to these men deteriorate the tree stands as a living reminder of not only past world conflicts, but a local family and its contribution and sacrifice.

Stephen Simpson's grave, Old Ingham Cemetery. Source: Iconicingham

John (Jack) Simpson's grave, Old Ingham Cemetery. (Source: Iconicingham)

Mafeking Tree with both memorial plaques in situe. Source: Monument Australia,http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/boer/display/91639-mafeking-tree  

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