Joan and Jerry Allingham of Stoneleigh, talked about in my
last blog, would have passed a small outcrop called Rooney’s Pinch on their way
to and from their property. Unlike the Allinghams whose story we know, who was ‘Rooney’
and why did he have a hill named after him?
Being an historian is like being a detective. You spend most
of your time looking for clues and following leads. Many will be false leads
even though they may sound possible. Some will be heading in the right
direction and then peter out. Sometimes
you might build a convincing ‘case’ or story and stick by it only to find later
that you have it all wrong. Other times you strike gold and solve the mystery.
Recently I was asked about Rooney’s Pinch, west of Ingham,
adjacent to the Stone River Road in the upper Stone area. Did I know anything
about it? I did a little cursory digging and what I have come up with is purely
speculative but possible. See what you think.
Rooney’s Pinch is a small hill. Why was is called Pinch and
not Hill?
Now that word is a bit of a semantic mystery.
‘Pinch’ can be applied to small hills and hamlets:
English place name books suggest that similar names with the
pinch element could either be the Old English pinca which means finch or Later
English pink meaning minnow. http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/ephraim.htm)
Another theory suggests that the stinginess of the owner of
the land could be why an area was called a ‘pinch’:
There is also one opinion that considers that field names
with the pinch element refer to “derogatory names, ambiguously referring to
parsimony and torture.” (Paraphrased from: http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/ephraim.htm)
The Macquarie dictionary suggests that ‘Pinch’ means: a
hill, a rise as in - This hill is a bit of a pinch; a slatey pinch, a rocky
rise. (https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/resources/aus/word/map/search/word/pinch/Western%20District/
)
From that can be suggested then, is that Rooney’s Pinch was so
named because it is a ‘small hill’ or on the other hand it could be referring
to the thriftiness or meanness of the mystery ‘Rooney’.
So who was Rooney? That too, remains a mystery without
further extensive research. However, I have a theory. I speculate that Rooney
was Matthew Rooney of Rooney Bros. (a firm of architects, builders and
contractors) established in Townsville by Matthew and his brother John in 1882.
They went into partnership with James Harvey, establishing a timber-milling arm
of their business.
Now M. Rooney was not a rare moniker in Ingham and
Townsville as a search of old newspapers into the twentieth century show. There
are M. Rooneys (including Matthew Rooneys getting up to all sorts of good as
well as criminal behaviour).
So why do I speculate that Rooney’s Pinch could be taken
from Matthew Rooney, respected Townsville builder?
In 1882, in the same year that Matthew and Harvey paired to
go into business, a M Rooney and a J. Harvey take up neighbouring blocks in the
Parish of Berwick (aka Stone River) as attested by this newspaper reference
from the Queenslander, Saturday 30
September 1882, page 2 and consequent Parish of Berwick maps.
INGHAM. Before Commissioner Berwick, on the 30th August.
SELECTIONS.—Accepted: W. G. Ewan, 1280a.,
Newton, 1280 a., Lannercost; J. Cassady. 1280 a., Berwick;
W. C. Miller, 80a., Trebonne; H. B. Heaphy, 1000 a.. Trebonne; J. E. Palmer.
1000 a., Waterview; J. Harvey, 200 a.,
Berwick ; M. Rooney, 200 a., Berwick; A. Camp bell. 200 a., Cordelia; A. E.
Cummins, 158 a., Berwick ; H. Stone. D. M'Auslan, J. Olson, A. S. B. Sutton, R.
Hutchinson, T. Gibson, W. Harvey. J. Bonning. C. Bonning, each 160 a., Berwick.
Re jected : J. M. Parkes, 1280 a., Garrawalt; B. Lynn, 1280 a., Marathon; K. A.
Goldring, 1280a., Garra walt. Adjourned: W. L. Lynn, 160 a., Marathon.
It was not uncommon for people at that time to speculate on
sugar land in the Herbert as in 1881 the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR)
had arrived in the Valley and had started to build its mill (Victoria Mill)
while the Melbourne firm of Edward Fanning, Thomas NanKivell and Sons had also
arrived and was building the second Gairloch Mill (1881) and had bought other
defunct plantations. People had hopes of getting rich on sugar. While CSR,
which had the money to lay an extensive rail system and used steam locomotives,
would be anticipated to extend its line from Victoria Mill to the outlying
areas such as Stone River.
And indeed, that is just what the Company did, and the line
became an important one for the transport of not only sugar cane but goods and
people. An article in the Northern Miner
3 September 1908, page 6 entitled “On the Stone River: ‘Along the line’”
mentions M. Rooney’s landholding at the terminus of the CSR line. The area was
described as “magnificent pockets of the richest land” where you can “grow
anything on earth”. Even beyond the need for a terminus with storage shed, Rooney’s
Pinch remained a designated siding on the Mt. Fox CSR line.
 |
| Matthew Rooney. Source: https://www.historicyongala.com.au/about-us/ |
 |
| Map. Parish of Berwick, County of Cardwell, September 1923 |
Whether M. Rooney and J. Harvey ever made good of that rich
land I am not able to say. We do know however, that, unfortunately, Matthew's life ended prematurely and under tragic circumstances.
Matthew, his wife and daughter were among the 122 people,
passengers and crew on board the SS Yongala when it sank, on 23 March 1911. En
route from Melbourne to Cairns the Yongala encountered a cyclone and sank
without a trace south of Townsville, just off Cape Bowling Green. There were no
survivors.
Besides the mystery of the naming of Rooney’s Pinch is the
tale of an Afghan trader or hawker who is rumored to have been buried
somewhere on or around Rooney’s Pinch. FACT or FICTION? Look out for the next blog!
SOURCES:
Paraphrased from: http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/ephraim.htm
“Ingham,” Queenslander,
Saturday 30 September 1882, 2.
“On the Stone River: ‘Along the line’,” Northern Miner 3 September 1908, 6.
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