The early history of Macknade Plantation and Mill

Neame’s Macknade Mill acquired as a working concern by CSR, 1896. (Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Photographic Collection)

Macknade Mill reached its 150^th year anniversary in August 2023. The sugar industry of the Herbert River district has much to thank its founders for. The founders were English gentlemen Arthur and his younger brother Frank of Macknade Estate, Faversham.

The enduring legacy of the Neames is:

1.      Successful sugar cultivation on the Herbert

2.      The establishment of cultivation of sugar by small farmers

3.      Small farmer representative body (the predecessor of today’s Herbert River Canegrowers)

4.      Italian immigration and small farming

Of course, this must be balanced with two other less laudable consequences of colonization:

1.      The dispersal of the Indigenous owners from the land on which the Neame brothers would grow cane

2.      The importation of Melanesian indentured labourers to cultivate that land

The legacy and consequences of the Neames' incursion into the Valley would change the landscape and demographics irreversibly.

We know so much about Macknade Plantation and Mill, founded on the Traditional Lands of the Warrgamay, Nywaigi and Bandjin/ Biyaygiri peoples, because of a diary written by Arthur, The Diary of Arthur Neame, 1870-1897 and official correspondence and records held in the Queensland and National Archives and the CSR Archives held at the Noel Butlin Archives ANU, Canberra. I took a deep dive into the story of Macknade Plantation and Mill when I researched my doctoral thesis: Small sugar farmer agency in the tropics 1872 -1914 and the anomalous Herbert River Farmers’ Association

Frank, who was two years younger than Arthur, seemed to hold onto his sense of class privilege more strongly than Arthur who despite his strong fraternity with fellow planters was very much at home in the Valley and was not above calling in on small farmers on his journeys from one plantation to another.^[1] As the older brother he was also more hands on when it came to the work on the plantation and he was of more robust health than Frank. Reading his diary, it’s hard not to like Arthur and it is hard to reconcile him with the prevailing attitudes which found him considering the local Indigenous people “treacherous and cunning” and the indiscriminate retribution exacted of those Indigenous people who killed the Conn couple as having a “wonderful effect”.[2]  

We first meet the brothers shepherding on a sheep station in western Queensland.^[3] Shepherding on a pastoral station belonging to an acquaintance of the family was the accepted way of gaining colonial experience for new-chums.

They travelled to Australia on the same ship as brothers Edwin Sheppard and Onslow Frederick Waller whom they had known previously because the Wallers had lived near Faversham. Unlike many absentee and speculative selectors who took up land in the Herbert Valley, the Neames came and explored the Valley first. On their second visit to the Valley in May 1871 (after their first visit to the Valley earlier in the same year accompanied by James Mackenzie of Gairloch Plantation Mill, had been unsuccessful^[4]) they selected their initial 1 280 acre block after climbing a tree in order to better survey a suitable piece of land.^[5] Their selections taken up in partnership with the Waller brothers were on the north side of the river which was bounded by two watercourses, the Herbert River and the Anabranch, and the ocean.

The Neames named their selection after Macknade from where they originated. Macknade Plantation and Mill was the third planation and mill established. The first was Gairloch by the Scottish Mackenzie family. The second was Bemerside by Ferrand Haig, together with Henry Robert William Miles. In his memoirs, planter Arthur talked primarily of Haig with whom he seemed to have had a genuine friendship which continued after Haig had to relinquish Bemerside. Aristocratic Miles married Frank and Arthur’s younger sister Mary in 1882.

Arthur recorded that:

I have laid out the plantation so that each block measures ten acres, the road around each being 15ft. in width, a block on the river bank is reserved for the mill house, and most of the buildings for the men, the overseers and the staff, and cottages for the married people will be around this block.^[6]

This arrangement was customarily determined by status with different ethnic groups housed separately and designated specific roles. The housing of different Melanesian groups discretely was necessary given inter-tribal violence which was not infrequent on the plantations of the Herbert River. ^[7]

Neame's residence on Macknade Plantation, Ingham Queensland, circa 1881. (Source: State Library of Queensland. Unidentified. (2004). APO-22 Album of Views of Townsville and Herbert River. Image number: 100170)

The erection of the mill and all the requisite buildings, the clearing of the land, and the initial plantings and cultivation on Macknade Plantation provided employment for both white and Melanesian labourers. White workers helped Arthur construct the buildings and erect the machinery but he found drunkenness a recurrent problem. The arrival of the sober Scandinavians was welcomed. One of the immigrants who worked for him and of whom he spoke in glowing terms was Swedish immigrant, August Anderssen. As Arthur recorded, Anderssen claimed that he owed all his later good fortune to the start Arthur gave him, but Arthur demurred saying that August “really owed it to his own hard work & intelligence.”^[8] 

The willingness of the Neames and others to allow new immigrants to work their holdings was to an extent self-serving. They cleared the land and planted food crops required by the plantations while also providing the white, skilled labour required by the planters. Nevertheless, this was an opportunity that gave the new arrivals the wherewithal to take up selections of their own. The open-handed treatment given to these immigrants—providing equipment, often even a rudimentary hut to live in—led them to regard the Neames favourably.

The mill first crushed in 1873 and made 140 tons of sugar from 70 acres of cane.^[9] The mill, imported from Glasgow, had a 20-horsepower capacity and was described as “a first-class plant and mill replete with all the modern improvements.”^[10] It had larger and heavier rollers than either the Bemerside or Gairloch Mills which gave it a much greater capacity to crush heavier crops. ^[11] The installation of an electric plant in the mill house enabled crushing around the clock. By 1875 there were 210 acres under cane and the capacity of the mill had been upgraded. The prospects for both planters and settlers in the Valley in that year were forecast as being “exceedingly bright.”^[12]

A significant feat achieved by Haig and Arthur was the construction of a large sugar store shed on a sand bank at the mouth of the Herbert River. The pair named it Dungeness after Dungeness in the Strait of Dover, England.^[13] From there, their bagged raw sugar was transported by steamers to southern markets and refineries.

Dungeness, described as “a miserable, low-lying dead-and-alive-place,” circa 1881. (Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Photographic Collection) 

The Neame brothers were not only hard workers but also prudent. They invested in improved facilities for their mill and employed good cultivation techniques. They also divided the plantation work according to their skills. Arthur by his own admission was not good at the bookwork and so Frank took responsibility for correspondence and the accounts. Onslow Waller looked after the stock and did the butchering. Edwin Waller was responsible for the cultivation, while Arthur superintended fieldwork and work in the mill house and much else. In the absence of a reliable doctor he did all the doctoring on the plantation with the aid of a medical manual. They considered themselves benevolent and enlightened employers. Arthur recorded that he “took a lot of trouble to see that the boys (Kanakas) were well cared for, and knew every boy by name, even when there were nearly 150 on the place.”^[14] Later, on their return to the Valley in 1886, the Neames were proactive in the face of the dearth of Melanesian labour. They procured Chinese, Malays (Malaysians and Indonesians) and Japanese labourers and offered tenancy arrangements.

Melanesian workers at Macknade and overseer Mr E.L. MacDonald. Their daily regime was ruled by the clock and the bell, n.d. (Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Photographic Collection)

The financial arrangement with the Wallers dissolved in 1879. That the Wallers had not been able to contribute any funds further than their original investment of £4 000 was one of several issues that caused the relationship to break down. Despite new, powerful machinery, a reliable, sober labour force, and the latest technology, Arthur admitted candidly that “had it not been for father’s help we should have become bankrupt and lost everything.”^[15] By 1878 their father had advanced them £12 000. The Neames kept the mill and all the plantation lands on the north side of the river while the Wallers took land on the southern side of the river. ^[16] The Wallers did not leave the Valley but transferred a former Gairloch plantation house to their property, Cordelia Vale, and from there invested in cattle, established a butchery, and farmed sugar cane which they supplied to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company’s Victoria Mill.^[17]

All did not go well for the Wallers, and in 1889 though still identifying as ‘sugar planters’, both were declared insolvent.^[18] Onslow remained in the Valley until his death, aged 51, in 1898.^[19] Edwin transitioned to small farming and continued to grow cane on his property, Maragen, as a contractor supplying to Ripple Creek. He continued farming for at least another decade and then left the Valley to retire in Brisbane where he died in 1935, identified as a retired sugar grower rather than planter.^[20]

Both Neame brothers went back and forth to England several times and even had their parents and siblings visit them. The brothers married in England. Arthur left Frank to manage Macknade on his own when he went home to England in April 1882. During that visit he married Jessie (nee Harrison) and together they returned to Macknade three months later. Both of Arthur and Jesse’s children, Godfrey (1886) and Arthur (1888), were born in England. Two of Frank and Louisa (nee Bennet)’s children, Harold and Marjorie, were born at Macknade while Gerard was born in Surrey in 1885.^[21]

When the first local government, the divisional board, was created in 1879 the economy was controlled by the plantations. Frank was elected chairman of the divisional board while Arthur was a founding councillor as was Edwin Waller. ^[22] Frank Neame was honorary secretary, Queensland Planters’ Association.^[23]

Still looking for labour solutions to ward off the demise of the plantation system the association proposed that Italians and Germans could be encouraged to immigrate as an alternative labour supply and that its members would guarantee to provide work to Piedmontese immigrants who would arrive in 1891 on the Jumna. ^[24] Later Neames leased out land to Italians who took up 150 acres while around another 200 acres were taken up by other small farmers.^[25] They were reputed to be on good terms with their tenants, acquiescing to all reasonable requests.^[26]

The Neames were early supporters of the concept of farming by smallholders and of smallholders’ empowerment through association. founded in 1882. On the Herbert River Farmers’ Association (HRFA)’s foundation in 1882 an unsolicited letter of support was received from Frank, accompanied by a donation of five guineas.

The HRFA invited him to become president, an honour he accepted.^[27] It was not uncommon for agricultural associations to ask somebody of some community standing to preside. This would be especially useful where the formation of such an association by smaller farmers was regarded by others as audacious and ridiculous. Founding secretary Johan (John) Alm made much of Neame championing the HRFA. He wrote that as a long-time resident of the Herbert River district, a successful planter and chairman of the Hinchinbrook Divisional Board, Frank’s approval of the association and the small grower ideals dampened criticisms, for he “was so universally admired and respected by all sections of the public that they would not adversely criticise anything in which he took a leading part.”^[28] His and his brother’s patronage was valued for the weight it gave to the association’s petitions to CSR, the divisional board and governments. Alm recalled that as president, Neame pledged to do all he could to advance the causes of the association. Neame opined that cooperation amongst farmers was much needed in the Valley.^[29]

While Neame wrote a letter of support, gave a donation and accepted the honour of being patron, he may not have been able to do much else for the HRFA. Moreover, Neame and his wife left for England in late 1882 and did not return to the Herbert until 1886. In poor health, Frank returned ‘home’ at the end of 1890, dying in the autumn of 1891.^[30]  On Neame’s death his brother Arthur assumed the presidency and was president until 1893. After that W.T. White, government surveyor and dairy farmer, was the president until the HRFA handed over its objects to the Herbert River Farmers’ League (HRFL), which in turn would hand over its responsibilities to the Herbert River Farmers’ Association (today’s CANEGROWERS).^[31]

Macknade was affected by ‘rust’ disease (disease of sugar cane caused by a mite which allows infection by the fungus red rot) in 1875 and 1876 but survived due to astute management and the planting of a more rust-resistant variety.^[32] Edward Fanning, Thomas NanKivell and Sons, a company with a Melbourne business base of ships and warehouses^[33]  made their speculative advance into the district in 1880, buying Gairloch Plantation Mill which had been resumed from the Mackenzie family by the Bank of New South Wales. The company also acquired Macknade Plantation Mill (for £60 000, £30 000 to be paid up front, the rest to remain on mortgage), trading as the Macknade Sugar Company. This came about because the Neame brothers had decided to return to England in 1883.^[34] J.E. Hammick was installed as resident manager. ^[35]

Fanning, NanKivell and Sons monopolised the Herbert River Valley for a time acquiring as well as Gairloch and Macknade, Hamleigh Plantation Mill and Farnham Estate. The concentrated ownership streamlined administration and afforded the potential of efficiency through economies of scale.^[36] But their valley-wide reach was unsustainable, given that its properties were 80 percent mortgaged. Moreover, as Neame found on his return to Macknade, extravagance both in what the company had spent on the Valley plantations and the NanKivell sons on their planter lifestyle, had negated that potential.

While figures vary, the company’s properties were inarguably huge, but the ratio of land put under cane compared to unproductive land was small. In 1882 Macknade was 6 000 acres with 400 acres ready for harvesting; Knowing that all of Fanning, NanKivell and Sons’ plantations had been running at huge losses, and that the company was still heavily in debt, Frank Neame returned in 1886 to assess the situation. When negotiations to enter into a partnership failed because Fanning, Nankivell and Sons were so far in debt, the company relinquished Macknade to the Neames in lieu of the large part of the purchase money still owed. Arthur also came back to the Valley and in 1887 the Neame brothers resumed management of their plantation. Arthur attributed the debacle to over-extension on the part of Fanning, Nankivell and Sons.^[37]

The Neames were shocked with what they found on their return. Arthur recorded that cattle were camping in the cane fields which were ruined and overgrown with weeds. The mill, while equipped with good machinery, was badly laid out and the buildings in need of repair. He wrote that “no one would have believed that place had been occupied for the last two years.”^[38]

On their return to the Valley in 1887, the Neames began leasing land, and persisted with it despite the reluctance of white selectors to commit to cane growing on tenancy arrangements, preferring to own their own land. The only growers to take up their offer were Chinese.^[39] As an incentive the Neames contracted to cart the cane and, as more growers came on board, they began to lay down tramlines and provide portable horse-line for the fields. Robert M. Boyd, of Ripple Creek Plantation and Mill, also leased to tenants, and both he and the Neames would have liked to have purchased cane from more contractors but needed the divisional board to put in the infrastructure on the northern side of the river, as they could not afford to do it themselves. Unfortunately, even though a survey was carried out for a tramway on the northern side of the river in 1889 and an application made by the Divisional Board for a government loan, supported by Robert Boyd the proposal was rejected. It would not be until two decades later that CSR would install a tramway from Macknade to Elma Grove on the northern side of the river that the concept became reality.^[40]

It took them several years to get the plantation and mill back to making money. Arthur stated in his memoires that he had hoped to stay in the Valley and that his and Frank’s sons would carry on the enterprise. On Frank’s death in 1891 Arthur continued on at Macknade for another five years but then decided to sell up and return to England. His own health was deteriorating and he found that he could not find a manager whom he could trust while absent from the plantation. ^[41] Only the Neames had managed to span the two plantation phases (represented by themselves and Fanning and NanKivell), returning reluctantly to England when it was clear that the plantation mode of production had come to an end in the Valley.

The Neames sold to The Victoria Plantation and Mill, which had first crushed in 1883, and which was a venture of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) and its subsidiary, the Victoria Sugar Company. Notwithstanding the period when the plantation mill was assumed by Fanning, NanKivell and Sons, this enterprise was a successful one, outlasting Gairloch and Bemerside, and surviving to be purchased as a still working mill by CSR two and half decades later.

With the sale of Macknade to CSR and the closure of Ripple Creek Plantation and Mill, CSR became the dominant miller on the Herbert, operating both of its mills as central mills. Victoria Mill and Macknade Mill, under CSR management, would survive all the travails that brought the other enterprises to their knees though CSR did threaten to abandon its activities on the Herbert several times.

 

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[1] Neame, Arthur. The Diary of Arthur Neame, 1870-1897 (Edited by Sydney May. Aitkenvale: Terry Lyons, 2003).78.

[2] Ibid., 48.

[3] Ibid., 4-15.

[4] Ibid., 17-23.

[5] Ibid., 17-18, 22-23.

[6] Ibid., 39.

[7] Ibid., 91.

[8] Ibid., 53.

[9] Ibid, 42-43.

[10] “The Herbert,” Mackay Mercury and South Kennedy Advertiser, April 3, 1875, 3; “The Herbert,” Brisbane Courier, October 19, 1872, 6. 

[11] Neame, 57.

[12] “The Herbert,” Mackay Mercury and South Kennedy Advertiser, April 3, 1875, 3. 

[13] Douglas R. Barrie, Minding My Business: The History of Bemerside and the Lower Herbert River District of Queensland Australia (Ingham: Douglas R. Barrie, 2003), 42-43

[14] Neame, 91, see note.

[15] Neame., 45, 92, passim; Janice Wegner, “Hinchinbrook: The Hinchinbrook Shire Council, 1879-1979” (Master’s thesis, James Cook University, 1984), 104.

[16] Neame, 86, 92.

[17] Barrie, 47, 49; “Some Northern Sugar Plantations.” Queenslander, December 31, 1887, 1071. 

[18]  “Current News,” Queenslander, March 2, 1889, 389; and Pugh, Pugh’s Almanac 1889, 100, 145, 138.

[19] “Family Notices,” Northern Miner, August 2, 1898, 2. 

[20] “Family Notices,” Courier-Mail, July 3, 1935, 1. 

[21] “Arthur Neame” and “Frank Neame,” Neame Family, accessed June 22, 2017, http://www.neamefamily.com/tree/getperson.php?personID=I1354&tree=neame; Neame, passim.

[22]  Wegner, 594.

[23] Correspondence from Frank Neame to the colonial secretary, March 29, 1889, Correspondence- inwards, Letter number 3073 of 1889, Series ID 5253, Item ID 847306, Queensland State Archives, Brisbane. 

[24] “Indented Foreign Labor,” Daily Northern Argus, July 16, 1891, 2.  The Jumna immigrants were brought to Australia under a scheme to replace Melanesian labour with European labour. See F. Galassi, Sotto La Croce del Sud Under the Southern Cross: The Jumna Immigrants of 1891 (James Cook University: Townsville, 1991).

[25] “Herbert River,” Sugar Journal and Tropical Cultivator, April 15, 1892, 50.

[26] “Herbert River,” Sugar Journal and Tropical Cultivator, March 15, 1894, 32.

[27] John Alm, Early History of the Herbert River District being "The Memoirs of the Early Settlement of the Lower Herbert and the Start and Progress of the Sugar Industry in the District, 1932/33/35” (Aitkenvale: Terry Lyons, 2002, original edition published in Herbert River Express, 11th October 1932 to 20th January 1934).39-40.

[28] Alm, 40.

[29] Alm, 40.

[30] Neame, 108, 127.

[31] “Herbert River Farmers Upon Mr. Cowley as a Representative,” Queenslander, January 19, 1889, 108; Pugh, Pugh’s Almanac and Queensland Directory 1892, 105, 108, 1893; Wegner, 627.

[32] ‘Lower Herbert,” Week, August 24, 1878, 21; Peter Griggs, “‘Rust’ Disease Outbreaks and Their Impact on the Queensland Sugar Industry, 1870-1880.” Agricultural History 69 (1995):428.

[33]  “The Gairloch Partnership Dispute,” Queenslander, June 10, 1882, 1; “Supreme Court” Brisbane Courier, May 30, 1882, 3. 

[34] Neame, 100, 108.

[35] “Supreme Court,” Telegraph, June 1, 1882, 2; Neame, 100.

[36] Peter Griggs, “Sugar Plantations in Queensland, 1864-1912: Origins, Characteristics, Distribution, and Decline.” Agricultural History 74 (2000): 609-47, 633.

[37] Neame, 108.

[38] Neame, 108.

[39] Jan Wegner, Jan, and Sandi Robb. “Chinese in the Sugar: A Case Study of Ingham and Halifax in the Lower Herbert District.” In Rediscovered Past: Chinese Tropical Australia, edited by Sandi Robb and Kevin Rains, (East Ipswich: Chinese Heritage in North Australia Incorporated, 2014),124; evidence of Frank Neame, Sugar Industry Commission, “Report of the Royal Commission, 1889,” 113; evidence of Robert Mitchell Boyd, Sugar Industry Commission, “Report of the Royal Commission, 1889,” 118.

[40] Wegner, "Hinchinbrook," The Tramways, 472-516.

[41] Neame, 114-15, 120.

[42] Consequently referred to as Fanning, NanKivell and Sons. The spelling of the NanKivell name varies. See de Vries, Blue Ribbons, Bitter Bread, 343 endnotes Chapter 1, fn1.

THE DARING MRS CONN

On the Herbert in the early 20th century memories of the Indigenous people vacillated between gentle or savage encounters. Benign curiosity changed to violent opposition as it became clear that Europeans intended to plant sugar cane on traditional lands, vital for Indigenous people’s very substance. In turn they were massacred as James Cassady of Mungalla would attest. Once enough had been ‘subdued’ they were ‘let-in’ to live on the outskirts of the townships in camps. Planters and pastoralists, like James Cassady, who harboured both Indigenous peoples and Melanesian labourers whose indenture terms had expired, were criticised by their neighbours in whose minds was still vivid memories of an episode that had occurred 23 years earlier and involved small farmer, Elizabeth Conn. Both innocent Indigenous people and Europeans were caught up in this episode with tragic consequences. 

Elizabeth Conn is an enigma. But what we can glean from newspapers accounts of the episode we learn that she was plucky and hardworking and committed to her husband and the lifestyle he wanted to carve out on the then frontier of European settlement in north Queensland. In 1875, loneliness and the want of other women’s company and help were by far the greater drawbacks of living on the Herbert for women than attacks by the Indigenous peoples. On the day Elizabeth died she was so unwell that she had agreed that Sub-inspector Robert Johnstone take her back to Gairloch Plantation to be cared for by women there. 

Many marriages on the frontier were between older men and much younger women. Some of those had lost wives and looked for a new wife to look after the children, others, perhaps wanted a young woman who could work physically beside them to achieve their dreams of landholding independence. We will never know whether Elizabeth was with William Conn for love or opportunity. She was 20 years younger and proved herself prepared and agile enough to take on the hard, physical work typical of small settlers and their families. Her tasks included field work, building, preparing refreshments for travellers as well the usual tasks of domestic life. She was plucky and prepared to use a gun to defend her husband and property. She was brave, prepared to live in an isolated location, despite the warnings from fellow settlers that she was courting danger. 

William George Conn was a Scottish immigrant and Elizabeth Burrows was purported to be his second wife. However, there is no marriage record for William and Elizabeth in Victoria where they were supposed to have married, as recorded on William’s death certificate. Neither is there a marriage record in New South Wales or Queensland. Elizabeth’s origins are unknown and no parents’ names were recorded on her death certificate. There is however, a birth and death certificate for a baby Henry George Conn. He died 19 days after birth at Capeville on the upper Cape River, his parents being William George Conn and his mother Elizabeth Henderson. They may have been there for the gold diggings on Cape River which were on the wane by 1869 and could explain a move to the Herbert in 1870. However, there is no record of a child being born to Elizabeth and William on her death certificate. Moreover, on her death certificate names of parents and where she was born were information ‘to be obtained’ and which one of the signatories to the death certificate, William Conn son of William George, could not supply. 

William was around 51 years of age and she 31 when they came to the lower Herbert in 1870 were supposed to have come via the Darling Downs where the children of William’s first marriage lived. A newspaper report confirms that at the time of his death he had three sons living near Stanthorpe, Queensland and two daughters living in Sydney. He is described in that report as a pioneer of the Clarence River, NSW, and afterwards of the Western district, where he took up and stocked the Dillelah station, Warrego, Queensland. Conn Waterhole west of Winton bears his name. Described as ‘a brave and clever bushman and explorer’ another writer recognized that ‘Mrs Conn evidently had some of her husband's daring. For many months she would be left in the vast solitudes of the Australian bush; without a white person near’. 

By 1871 they had an established garden growing fruit, sweet potatoes and maize on land they appear to have squatted on, on the south bank of the Herbert, directly opposite Macknade Mill on the north side. William also secured fencing work at Macknade plantation in 1872. Their lasting contribution at that site was to carve a track from the south bank of the river, across a group of sand islands — identified in a survey may of 1871 as the Elizabeth Group (clearly a nod to Elizbeth Conn) — over to the north side, continuing on downriver. The locals found it made a good track for drays and the Conns took advantage of the passing traffic, selling refreshments to travellers. This track came to be called Conn’s Crossing. Once a bridle path was cut from the Crossing to Cardwell in 1872 the previous track carved out by George Elphinstone Dalrymple and his party over the Seaview Range became obsolete as the new track put Cardwell only 30 miles away. 

The Herbert River is prone to regular and destructive flooding and a large flood in 1873 may have precipitated their move to a picturesque but isolated selection 14 miles south of Cardwell. They named their selection the Hermitage and whimsically, the nearby creek Williams Brook (later called Conn Creek). William was paid a small salary by the Government to keep the bridle track open to traffic. Meanwhile once again they established gardens, producing produce for which there was a ready market for in Cardwell and offered refreshments to travellers on the new track. The creek also provided an access point between mainland and Hinchinbrook Island for the Indigenous people. 

Elizabeth was clearly an equal partner in their working relationship. Arthur Neame travelling on that track observed the Conn’s building a hut with William on the ground and Elizabeth on the roof putting on the thatch. Such laborious work was not uncommon for small farmers’ wives. Local A.S. Kemp describes how some small farmers had their own saw-pits and both husband and wife would man the cross-cut saw. 

That already by the end of 1873 the Conn’s selection could be described as well-established meant that both Elizabeth and William had both worked hard, after all apart from the government stipend there were no planters in the immediate vicinity who could employ either of them, so there was an imperative to make their selection pay. 

Planter Arthur Neame observed that he and fellow settlers thought that the Conns were very foolish to settle where they had, given that there were no other white settlers nearby. In fact, so concerned were they that were invited to work for William Bairstow Ingham on his plantation, Ings but they refused. Conn countered that ‘he did not mind the blacks. He would not interfere with them, and they would not interfere with him’. This is consistent with his general attitude to the Indigenous people. Many years before he is recorded as saying that ‘whatever part of the country you go to treat the blacks kindly; you will find in cases of extreme need they can render you great service.' Moreover, undoubtedly, he and Elizabeth were loath to give up their selection and the independence it offered them. Elizabeth had good reason to have faith in her husband’s decision, after all, he was older, more experienced and had spent some years in western Queensland where he would have had frequent encounters with Indigenous people, and prior to 1875 there had been few violent confrontations between settlers and the Indigenous people on the lower Herbert. So trusting was his relationship with them that he traded vegetables for fish with those who paddled their canoes up Conn Creek to their property. 

However, misunderstandings began when the Indigenous people began to take vegetables rather than offering an exchange of goods. So in early 1875 as his potatoes were getting close to being ready for harvest Conn requested Sub-Inspector Johnstone to maintain his patrols so that ‘the blacks might know that he was not lost sight of’. Robert Johnstone and his Native Police detachment usually did boat patrols of the area. Johnstone records that he was so concerned for their welfare that he made a special patrol on horseback on 5 April, 1875. When he expressed his concerns to Conn, Conn replied that he had just got his supplies in for the wet season and his wife was sick and he did not want to leave her. He also did not want Johnstone to ‘molest’ the Aboriginals as it would make more trouble for Conn and his wife. As Elizabeth was too sick to travel back with Johnstone on his horse he promised to return the next day in a boat to take her to Gairloch where there were ladies who could provide some nursing care (he was possibly referring to Isabella Stewart and Isabella Wickham of Gairloch Plantation). Unfortunately, due to bad weather and tidal conditions they did not reach the Conn’s farm until sunrise on the morning of 7 April 1875. In which time William and Elizabeth Conn had been massacred. There are numerous conjectures as to why this happened. Whether it was that Conn had chased them off on the times when they raided his garden, or that they were raided for blankets and food for the wet season, or in retaliation for when the Conns had refused to give them second-hand clothes that they had drying on the clothesline and had threatened them of the property with a gun. 

On the morning of 7 April Elizabeth had got up early and was dressed and ready to leave with the boat patrol for Gairloch. As she was preparing breakfast Conn had been wheeling manure to his garden. He was attacked from behind and bludgeoned to death and his body mutilated. Elizabeth too was captured and dragged some distance before escaping. Arming herself with a gun she began to run towards Cardwell. On being pursued again she fired the gun but it misfired. She too was bludgeoned and mutilated. They were buried near their cottage and a tree marked with the date and their names. A group was located with items taken from the cottage and body parts of the victims. 

Retribution was immediate and merciless and included many who had nothing to do with the massacre, including women and children. Arthur Neame believed that the actual perpetrators may have actually got away. 

SOURCES: Barrie, Douglas. Minding my Business, p. 66. Cassady, James. Jas Cassady for F A O’C Cassady, JC/1 Original notebook. Johnstone, Robert Arthur. Reminiscences of Pioneering in north Queensland Kemp, A.S. The Kemp Report. Neame, Arthur. Diary of Arthur Neame. Newspapers reports Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces. Vidonja Balanzategui, Bianka. Herbert River Story. 

IMAGE SOURCE:HInchinbrook Shire Library, Conns Crossing, Lower Herbert, 1880

WHAT’S IN A NAME- MACAUSLAND OR MCAUSLAN- AND WHO WAS HE ANYWAY?

As you go about your daily life in this district do you ever wonder why places or streets get their names? Take for instance BLACKROCK! Did you know that it was named for a large black rock which was visible on the low hills adjacent to the selection taken up by John Hull (Snr) who came to the Herbert River district in 1871? He named his selection Blackrock. So have you ever wondered about Macausland Creek? I live between it and Stone River. It is not surprising that these two waterways, so named, run adjacent to each other because Henry Stone and Duncan McAuslan (the creek name is incorrectly spelt) after whom they are named, were on more than nodding acquaintanceship. They not only both worked for the Scott brothers of Valley of Lagoons, were business partners but also, in time, Stone would marry McAuslan’s daughter Anna.

Image: Duncan McAuslan and Henry Stone. Source: Les Pearson, Henry Stone. A Pioneer with Dalrymple Henry Worsley Stone is a well-known figure. He is acknowledged to be the first white settler in the Valley, establishing Vale of Herbert station, a half-way house on the road from the Valley of Lagoons to Cardwell, on behalf of the Scott brothers of the Valley of Lagoons, and then the heifer farm, Stone Hut, on Trebonne Creek. But who was Duncan McAuslan? He was born in Scotland to Humphrey and Mary McAuslan (nee McFarlane). He migrated to New Zealand in 1859 as a 20-year-old to manage a station property owned by George Steele. There in 1864 he married Maria Evered, the sister of his employer’s wife. They were English, and their parents were Robert Evered and Ann Smith. Duncan and Maria had two daughters born in Otago, NZ, Anna Maria, born 3 December 1864 and Mary born 6 September 1866. In 1868, five years after Stone, McAuslan and his family arrived at the Vale of Herbert. They travelled by ship to Bowen and then overland, first to the Valley of Lagoons and then down over the Seaview Range to the Vale of Herbert. Duncan had been engaged to be the head stockman on that property. Maria McAuslan was to keep house and cooked for Henry Stone and Walter Scott. McAuslan was described as a fine horseman and stockman and he and his wife as good people. It appears that Mary was brought up working with her father and learned all the skills usually acquired by boys, riding and breaking in horses, mustering stock, driving a buggy, killing and butchering beasts, treating animals for injury, leather work, chopping wood and so forth. Anna too was a capable horsewoman and did a range of farm work. Both women were skilled seamstresses. The whole family was known for its integrity and high standards of behaviour. In 1869 the McAuslan family moved from the Vale of Herbert to the Trebonne area where McAuslan worked for Stone. McAuslan was a skilled thatcher and he assisted in building Stone Hut (so named not because it was made of stone but for Henry Stone). Coming from Cardwell Stone Hut was the first European built and inhabited dwelling. Stone Hut, first owned by the Scott brothers, served as an outstation to the Vale of Herbert. It was acquired by Stone in 1873 and he called the 1 000-acre property Ashstone. The hut stood somewhere between Trebonne Post Office and the flats at 10 Meyer Street.

Image: Stone Hut. Source: Queensland State Library McAuslan’s employment for the Scott brothers ended on 26 February 1879. His 16-year-old daughter, Anna Maria, became engaged to Stone in 1880 when Stone was 44 years old, the same year that he resigned from his position at the Valley of Lagoons. He was then already living at Ashstone on the Herbert. McAuslan also went into partnership with Stone around this time in a property called Wairuna on the Tablelands. Maria and Mary meanwhile, were still at the Valley of Lagoons until 17 June 1880. Wairuna was later sold to James Atkinson. After selling Ashstone to A.J. Traill to grow sugar cane (Trebonne Plantation), Stone settled in 1883 at the Grange, Stone River with his wife Anna. The Grange was a grand house sitting atop a slight rise.

Image: The Grange. Source: Queensland State Library The McAuslans were happy with the match as Stone was well regarded. Little did they know he was addicted to laudanum which he had been prescribed when he lived in the Herbert River district for the treatment of coastal fevers. The marriage, officiated by the First Bishop of north Queensland, Bishop G.H. Stanton, took place at Greenfields on 1 May 1883. It was the only marriage performed by the Bishop in the district. Greenfields was the selection McAuslan had taken up in 1881 adjacent to Stone’s Grange on the Stone River.

Image: Samuel Griffith with farmers, Lower Herbert. Henry Stone and Duncan McAuslan are in the group. Source: Queensland State Library Around the time of Anna’s marriage her father began complaining of chest pains which extended to his left arm and experienced choking fits which were so severe, he had to lie down. He sought medical advice in Townsville. On 22 July, McAuslan and his other daughter Mary set off together from Greenfields for a Sunday afternoon ride. Some time after crossing Lannercost Creek, and around five o’clock her father sent her home, exhorting her to not forget to round the bullocks up. At four o’clock the next morning his horse appeared at the stockyard with its saddle and bridle on but no rider. Stone was called and after sending a messenger to alert the police of the situation, together with an Aboriginal tracker he started searching around where Mary led them to – the last place she had seen her father. Two and half hours later they found McAuslan’s dog and then unfortunately, McAuslan dead. He was lying on his left side with his head resting on his left arm. The right hand was extended holding a white handkerchief and his stock whip was under his right hand. When the constable arrived, he examined the body and found that there was no indication of foul play so Stone as Magistrate authorized McAuslan to be interred where he was found. The Constable and Stone agreed that the time required to negotiate the rough terrain, and needing to cross Lannercost Creek, in addition to the deterioration of the body it was not possible to bring McAuslan back to Greenfields. A cast iron headstone inscribed: “Sacred to the memory of Duncan McAuslan who died on this spot. This tablet was erected by his affectionate wife and children” still stands to this day. After her husband’s death Maria acted as housekeeper for her daughter and Stone. disposing of Greenfields to William Thomas White who stocked it with Jersey cows and ran a large dairy there for some years. Mary married John Hull on 31 July 1887. Hull and his brother Robert had 28 sq miles of land at Mt Fox and were breeding horses. Sadly, on 2 January 1892 Maria was killed in a buggy accident when travelling from The Grange to Ingham. The path was still a rough track and when the buggy hit a stump she and the driver were both thrown. Maria sustained a fractured skull and died half an hour later. She was buried at the Grange as were babies that Anna referred to as her “little mites” which she had miscarried or who had died at birth. Those graves with concrete headstones are no longer there having been consumed by farmland by a later owner of the property. The grave site is thought to be a short distance east of the Johnson graveyard reserve which is located on former Grange land. Maria left £100 to Anna but the bulk of her estate to Mary who purchased a property which she called Cressbrook, at Evelyn on the Atherton Tablelands. In 1904 Stone sold The Grange to the Johnstone family and moved to Evelyn taking up land close to his sister-in-law Mary. He called the house on the property Mantacute. Just months before Anna died they moved to Cressbrook. She died on 12 July 1913. On her death Mary Hull looked after Stone at Cressbrook as he became infirm and blind. When he died he left his Evelyn property and some allotments in Cardwell to her. Mary Hull died on 31 October 1940. McAuslan as a surname died with Duncan but some descendants continued association with the name by giving it as a second Christian name. SOURCES: This content has been drawn from works by: Douglas R. Barrie, The Grave Situation. Recording Herbert River District Graves, Bemerside: Douglas R. Barrie, 2021. Les Pearson, The Hulls of “Cressbrook”, Evelyn, North Queensland. The Story of a Pioneering Family in the Herbert River Catchment, Brinsmead: L. M. Pearson, 1998 Les Pearson, Henry Stone. A Pioneer with Dalrymple, Brinsmead: L. M. Pearson, 2007.

Alexandros (Lex) KANAKIS - a dedicated life

 

In the space of barely a year we have sadly lost two stalwarts of our community – Alexandros (Lex) and Matina Kanakis. They were highly visible for the prominent businesses they ran in the Ingham district and for their out-going personalities and engagement with the wider community. They were also of Greek nationality. Lex was born in Ingham to Greek immigrants. Matina immigrated as a young woman from Greece. Greek immigrants have contributed much to Australia’s multi-cultural way of life.

I have been given permission to share the eulogy given by family at Lex’s funeral. For those who would like to read on there is also a little about Greek migration to Australia and to Ingham.

Alexandros (Lex) Kanakis was born 28th June 1933 to Emmanuel and Koulla Kanakis at the Italian Hospital in Ingham. Lex's parents had migrated to Ingham from the Greek Island Crete. Emmanuel had established multiple businesses in North Qld, including the Majestic Cafe. Lex grew up at 36 Atkinson Street in the Kanakis family home which is an architecturally designed Queenslander with art nourveau influences.

Lex's younger siblings Harry and Mary had a Scottish nanny. Even in his later years, Lex could still recite the Scottish nursery rhyme taught to him as a baby. The children were boisterous, competitive, and playful. Tragedy struck when Lex's father died suddenly. It was 1941 and Lex was eight years old. Lex's mother Koulla was left to raise the three children on her own. Life changed quickly but Lex was loved and cared for by his mother.

Lex's best friends growing up were Adrian Keyes and Tommy Martin. Tommy remained a close friend until the end with regular phone calls. Growing up Tommy and Lex would ride wild horses and ride their bikes to the top of the Cardwell Range. Later, Lex went to All Souls Boarding School in Charters Towers. His mother would prepare care packages filled wiht homemade goodies and take the train to Charters Towers to visit him and his brother Harry.

At 17, Lex bought a new car it was his pride and joy as he was the first of his friends to buy a car. Cars played a large part of Lex's life from the International Truck to the 1964 EH Holden station wagon to the Ford Fairlanes, Lex loved his cars and was known for his lead foot. As a young man, Lex enjoyed fishing and crabbing with the Girgenti brothers at Mungabulla and would speak of how they would cook mudcrabs and drink whisky from the nippers. In 1953, Lex was dispatched to the Brisbane Oxley Barracks for National Service Training. Lex enjoyed his time in National Service. It was a time of great growth.

During the fifties, Lex and his family would drive to Innisfail for the Greek dances. It was there he met his future wife, the beautiful Matina. Matina had arrived form Greece to be with her friend Voulla. Lex and Matina married in 1959 and moved into the Kanakis family home. Three children Manole, Van and Kerry quickly followed. A granny flat was built onto the house for his mother Koulla who lived there for 50 years.

After leaving school, Lex took up a plumbing apprenticehip with Stephensons. After completing his apprenticeship and at the age of 21, Lex set up his own plumbing business with all the bravo and confidence of youth. Looking back over that time Lex could not believe he took such a big step without any idea of how to run a business. Over the years numerous apprecitices owuld come through the business. Including David Hogan, Peter Glover, Louie Sossai and his sons Manole and Van. In 1970, while repairing the gutters at the Noorla Hotel, Lex had a life changing accident when he fell over 7 metres from the roof. Lex had serious injuries which required a long period of rehabilitation. The business continued operating with Lex's staff while Matina had to learn to write English to do the books.

Lex's forte was installing Southern Cross Windmills across the district and many farms to this day have the three-legged 7 to 16 metre windmills towering over their fields. Back in those days, farmers' wives would supply lunches, morning and afternoon teas to tradsmen or a shot of brandy if you were hurt. In his later yers, Lex couldn't believe he had outlived many of the windmills.

Lex was a dedicated Rotarian. Together with his Rotarian friends, Sam La Spina and Noel McClintock, Lex would volunteer at many events. Including the Ingham Toy Factory, food stalls at the Ingham Show, Maraka and Ingham driver reviver. Lex was the proud recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowhsip for his voluntary work and dedication to Rotary.

In 1983, Lex and Matina bought back the Majestic cafe. They worked in the cafe for 30 years with Lex in charge of public relationships. Matina was an exceptional and creative cook and Lex would often say he had married the best cook this side of the black stump. Lex would be seen talking, regaling stories, or gossiping out the front of the cafe in his signature unbuttoned open tropical shirt and white singlet. Lex loved his food and was a true foodie. When Lex spoke of his travels it was always in terms of food he ate. Together with Matina they would travel to food and wine shows.

Lex continued to keep busy in his retirement. When asked what he was doing now, Lex would reply, "running around after Kerry's kids". Which was true. Lex was extremely proud of his children and grandchildren's achievements.

In his later years, Lex cared for Matina as her memory failed. Lex continued to adore Matina and at the age of 85, finally learnt to cook to care for his bride. As they aged, many wonderful individuals came into their lives for support. His carer John Alappatt was a faithful companion and support worker. The family would like to sincerely thank John Alappatt, the Rondoletti neighbours, Tracey Trecco, Livia Monahan and Susan Barret for their care and support.

Lex and Matina were often seen holding hands and Lex remained besotted with her until the end. The loss of Matina last year saw Lex's health decline. He died after a short illness with his grandson Jack Russo by his side. The family would like to thank you all for sharing your lives with Lex. They are grateful to have had him as a father and grandfather. Lex's quick wit, storytelling, and support will be greatly missed. They were lucky to have him in our [sic] lives.

Photographs from funeral booklet provided by Kanakis family 

Besides Italians, Greek, Spanish and Spanish-Basque, and Maltese people immigrated to this district in significant numbers beginning in the late 1800s, early 1900s. They worked in the cane fields, replacing the Melanesian indentured and time-expired labourers, and the Chinese workers. The Greeks and the other Southern Europeans were considered to be more ‘racially’ suited to working in the tropics than Northern Europeans. Though the migration of Finnish people here who also cut cane proved that to be a nonsense!

The first Greeks to arrive in Australia may have come as convicts in the late 1820s. By the 1850s other were arriving: sailors and deckhands of sailing ships who jumped ship and who found work in Australia on coastal shipping boats and as wharf labourers. Others were drawn to the gold fields. By 1900 only about 1 000 people of Greek nationality resided in Australia, but these were scattered across the country and engaged in a variety of occupations. There were graziers, farmers and small-business operators and cafes owners. Preceding World War 1 the numbers increased greatly with 1 000 In Sydney alone and 400 in Queensland.

From a census taken in 1916 there was a significant number of Greek males living in Ingham and Halifax either working as cane cutters, cooks or as restaurant keepers in their own right. Initially, few women arrived from Greece.

Continued political unrest in Greece drove up emigrant numbers but by the 1920s a quota on migration had closed off a favored destination, the USA. Australia became the alternative destination. Greek immigrants took up residence not only in capital, but provincial cities and in small towns in rural areas, including the sugar towns of north Queensland. Conducting cafes was a particular business they were identified with and so everywhere, it seemed, there sprang up Busy Bee or Blue Bird Cafes, Paragon and Majestic Cafes and Bellevue Cafes! And so in Ingham, true to the trend, Greek immigrants opened the White Rose and the Majestic Cafes.  

Once Greeks took up residence in Townsville informal social, cultural, and religious activities were arranged which the Ingham Greeks would attend. In nearby Innisfail, the second Greek Orthodox Church in Queensland was built in 1935. Until the Saints Theodores Church was opened in Townsville (after World War 2) a visiting priest from Innisfail would conduct services in the Anglican St James’ Cathedral. It was there or in Innisfail that Ingham Greeks would go if they wished to observe the ritual observances according to the Orthodox rites.

After World War 2 thousands of Greeks came to Australia and the Commonwealth Government conducted an Australian Migration Office in Athens in the 1950s to facilitate the passage of those wishing to migrate to Australia. In the years 1961 to 1966 alone, 140 000 Greeks migrated to Australia. Ingham was one of the few northern towns that continued to receive small numbers of Greek immigrants in that time.

(Source: Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui, Herbert River Story (Ingham: Hinchinbrook Shire Council, 2011)