'Vale' the print version of 'The Herbert River Express'

Herbert River Express Office 1908. Source:
HSC Library Photograph Collection.

In 2020 as it looks as if we are being forced by News Corp to abandon the print version of the local newspaper 'The Herbert River Express' there has been an outpouring of shock and sadness that an accessible means of community communication is being lost forever. The answer may be in an entrepreneurial individual starting an independent newspaper as was undertaken in Ingham in 1894.

Originally there were two newspapers in the Herbert River Valley. The first edition of Ingham’s first newspaper, the ‘Ingham Planter’, came out in 1894, printed on a plant brought to Ingham by M.P. Fitzgerald from Ravenswood. The Ingham Printing Press which produced the ‘Ingham Planter’ was owned by Alston Rowland Simpson and was situated in the main street of Ingham in the vicinity of the present-day Lee’s Hotel. Associated with this first newspaper was H.J. Hoffensetz who described that first paper as a “demi-folio sheet” format. Some years later Halifax’s ‘The Northern Age’, with Captain Alfred Henry as editor, provided a little short-lived opposition. 

The ‘Ingham Planter and 'The Northern Age' amalgamated after less than a year in 1900, when 'The Northern Age' was bought by A.R. Simpson from Onslow Waller (a first planter of the district). The new publication was given the name the ‘Northern Planter’. The paper was then sold to Mr. Nolan and Mr. Russell. Around this time H.J. Hoffensetz resigned from the ‘Northern Planter’ with the intention to go out on his own. As a result, the first edition of ‘The Herbert River Express’ owned by the brothers-in-law A.C. Cockrell and H.J. Hoffensetz came out in February 1904. This paper was a twelve-page demi-folio weekly, which later was increased to eighteen pages. The name for the paper was presumably chosen because the new newspaper was to service the entire Herbert River Valley. From 1904 until 1906 the ‘Northern Planter’ and ‘The Herbert River Express’ published concurrently and in opposition. IN 1906, the ‘Northern Planter’ was absorbed into ‘The Herbert River Express’. H.J. Hoffensetz ran the general printing section while A.C. Cockrell was the editor of the newspaper.

Cyclone damage to printing press of the 'Northern Age' and 'Ingham Planter' 1890. Source: HSC Shire Library Photograph collection.

‘The Herbert River Express’ and its predecessors have withstood trials and tribulations before. There was the devastating cyclone destruction of 1890.  In World War 1 machinery parts for the printing press were unavailable and with a temporary shortage of paper, the paper was printed on brown paper and displayed in the shopfront window for passers-by to read. Changes in the ownership occurred during those war years with full ownership of ‘The Herbert River Express’ being acquired by A.C. Cockrell in 1915 effectively dissolving the partnership with H.J. Hoffensetz who then continued to run the printing and stationary business.

Herbert River Express Registered Printer Office and H.J. Hoffensetz General Printer, 1919. Source: HSC Library Photograph Collection.

During World War 2 the editorial “was even-handed in its treatment of the Italian issue, while quick to denounce excessive anti-Italian statements, whatever their source.” (W.A. Douglass, From Italy to Ingham, 160) It would also publish Italian language advertisements.

In 1968 the printing business, still being run at the time by a Hoffensetz, was ought back by the Cockrells. The combined business (United Press and ‘The Herbert River Express’) continued to be run by a Cockrell until it was sold to the North Queensland Newspaper Company Limited (a branch of New Limited owned by Mr. Rupert Murdoch) in 1986 ending an 82 year history of family-ownership. Robert “Bob” L. Shepherd who had become editor in around 1954  stayed on as Managing Editor and was optimistic about the sale saying that it was “a progressive step for the newspaper and of the strongest expressions of faith in the future of this district in very many years.” He was there to oversee the change from ‘hot metal’ printing methods to the installation of high-speed web offset press, computer and other related equipment which revolutionized not only the printing process but the appearance of the newspaper. However, the newspaper and district suffered a great loss only three years after the sale when in March 1989 Bob died, aged only 60 years. He was the editor of ‘The Herbert River Express’ for 35 years. He wasn’t a local ‘boy’ but nevertheless had a passionate interest in the history of what he clearly regarded as his valley. From his position as newspaper editor, and friend of the Cockrell family, he collected information about the district for what came to be known as ‘The Herbert River Story’ which is now housed in the Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Local History Collection.

In the flood of 2009 the staff of ‘The Herbert River Express’ was selfless. The paper normally had a staff of ten, but had to operate with five after the rest became stranded by the floods. Of those five who made it to work, four had homes damaged by water but nevertheless reported for work. The paper had to be delivered by helicopter and boat.

There was time when the newspaper included international news but now international news it accessed via the ‘Townsville Bulletin’, television or the internet. ‘The Herbert River Express kept to a narrow brief of keeping locals informed of local happenings. Despite being criticized by locals for its content, the emphasis of its content or even for lack of content it is a much appreciated and essential service and its delivery is sorely missed when it doesn’t happen, as in flood times. As of 2020 this ‘essential’ service is to end.

Once printed locally it was by this time printed in tabloid format in Townsville and in 2009 returned to a bi-weekly publication (Thursday and Saturday) and in recent times was reduced to one edition a week on a Wednesday with online availability.

‘The Herbert River Express’ has seen many editors come and go in recent times. However, in earlier times the newspaper editor was a highly valued and prominent member of local society. Such was Robert L. Shepherd. When he died there was such an outpouring of grief that his funeral – an ecumenical service – was held at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church because it was the largest church building. In a ‘Vale’ to Bob, it was said that “He was an intrinsic part of the district he loved- a veritable walking history of this community and his death leaves a gap that no one will entirely fill”. In retrospect, I believe we will find that the abandoning of the print version of ‘The Herbert River Express’ will not only leave a gap but a chasm.

Source:

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

The intrepid midwife: Nurse Louisa Anderssen/Anderson

Probably few people know of Nurse Louisa Anderssen/Anderson (née Buchanan). This is not surprising given that records of midwives, either official or personal, in the period that Louisa was practising are scant, and as birthing children was considered women’s business.

Louisa was a local midwife. According to a lengthy obituary published on her death Louisa was the daughter of Dr William John/John William Buchanan and nurse, Susan/Susanah O’Neill. On Louisa’s wedding certificate it is recorded that her father was John Buchanan, farmer.  The obituary records that Buchanan had migrated from Scotland to Australia because of ill health. According to descendants still living in the district, he was born in Carlton, Jamaica where the family had a sugar plantation while Susan was born in Ireland.  John studied medicine but did not complete his studies. However apparently, he knew enough to offer valuable assistance to the doctor on the Herbert.  Louisa was born in the Rockhampton district, possibly in Clermont in 1862.  The family then made the move to the Herbert perhaps because at that time there was an opportunity for small selectors to take up land there. He started out helping to clear F C Gardener’s holding, ‘Bushfield’.  Hopeful selectors would first work for other selectors or planters until they had saved enough money to go out on their own. On Louisa’s death certificate it is recorded that her father was a sugar boiler. Sugar boilers were vital to the processing of sugar from cane and perhaps this role was more suited to his abilities than farming. However, on his own death certificate he was recorded as a labourer.
When Mrs Millar opened the lower Herbert Provisional School in July 1875 Louisa and her siblings, Mary, Bella and Florence all attended. Louisa and Florence then both married Scandinavians.  There was a sizable community of Scandinavians on the Herbert from the earliest days of European settlement. Louisa was 17 years old when she married 37 years old Scandinavian Christian Anderssen (Anderson) on 23 May, 1879 in Cardwell.   He was a blacksmith employed at the Bemerside Plantation. Her profession was domestic duties. Following their marriage he conducted his own business at Wickham’s Landing on the Herbert River in a former Gairloch structure which he had purchased together with fittings and tools. The family then moved to Ingham around 1882 whereupon Christian went into business with M Connors until 1886.  The family then relocated to Cordelia to 'Homebush', the property of William Johnson (Wilhelm Sorensen), a fellow Scandinavian. What may have precipitated that move was an accident shoeing a horse which left Christian an invalid for 17 years.

They would have seven children.   Of the seven children, two would die in infancy and another two by the age of ten. All but one predeceased her.  Four died under heartbreaking circumstances. One of snake bite and another from convulsions after eating soap. Kenneth Christian (5) and daughter Emelia  Mary (10) died under particularly tragic circumstances  — they and two other children drowned in the Herbert River during a school lunch break.  Without refrigerated mortuary facilities bodies had to be buried soon after death, and often on the selectors’ properties. Emelia and Kenneth were buried on Johnson’s property ‘Homebush’.  At the time Louisa was caring for a critically ill child and Christian was in hospital having suffered a stroke. These, of course, were not travails unique to her. The Herbert was a frontier settlement and the dangers of life there were many. Infant and maternal fatality rates were high and work accidents frequent and often fatal because of lack of access to appropriate medical treatment.

Nurse Louisa Anderssen/Anderson. Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Library Photograph Collection.

Forced to support her family after her husband became incapacitated, Louisa acted as midwife for the women on the Herbert.  Trisha Fielding, author of Neither Mischievous nor meddlesome: the remarkable lives of north Queensland’s independent midwives 1890-1940 identifies why women turned to midwifery. A significant reason was a need to earn a living after being widowed. In rural areas, what Fielding calls ‘Granny midwives’ assisted expectant mothers in their homes or conducted small lying-in hospitals. These women often did not have formal training but assumed the title of Nurse.   Louisa delivered Finlay Skinner in 1897, and 25 years later his son.  Skinner recalls that she was a self-taught midwife and came to the profession after her husband’s accident. Like many rural midwives Louisa probably acquired her knowledge through birthing her own children. Though it is suggested she acquired some of her medical knowledge from her mother and father.  She described herself as a lady’s nurse.  She traveled on horseback to attend to isolated women responding to calls for assistance at any hour of day or nights. She was not unknown to swim a river to attend to a woman in labour. Skinner asserts that her services were in great demand and that she was very highly regarded.  After her husband’s death Louisa continued to live at ‘Homebush’. She outlived her husband by 40 years dying on 14 November, 1948 at the age of 84 at the Eventide Home, Charters Towers and is buried in the Halifax cemetery.
Her's in many ways could be described as a tragic life. But her indomitable spirit, life-giving profession and dedication to her family enabled her to rise above and stoically endure those losses.

Sources:

Christopher Hart, family records.
Australia, Electoral Ross, 1903-1980, Division of Herbert 1903, National Library of Australia.

‘Family Notices’,  Northern Miner, 15 November, 1948, p.  2.

Fielding, Trisha.  Neither Mischievous nor meddlesome: the remarkable live of north Queensland’s independent midwives 1890-1940, Townsville, North Queensland History Press, 2019.

Barrie, Douglas R. Minding My Business: The History of Bemerside and the Lower Herbert River District of North Queensland Australia, Douglas R. Barrie, Ingham, 2003.

Carl (Charles) Feldt. Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces, https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/, Registration details: 1885/C/251.

Hinchinbrook Cemetery Register of Burials as at 27th April 2018, https://www.hinchinbrook.qld.gov.au/community-environment/cemeteries/deceased-search/

Kemp, A. S. The Kemp report: history of the Herbert, ‘The old pioneers’, Ingham, unpublished manuscript, 1956.  Instalment 2, p. 6.

Skinner, Finlay, Memories of a First World War digger, Nambour, Finlay Skinner, ?1981.

Obituary, Mrs Louisa Anderson, Herbert River Express, 9 December 1948, p. 4.

Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces, https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/, Registration details: 1879/C/108.

Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces, https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/, Registration details: 1948/C/4709.