'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 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 Rowland Simpson Alston in 1901 from Onslow Waller's widow. Waller was a first planter in 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.

VIOLET GROUNDWATER - one of the great ladies of the Herbert District

Violet Groundwater was born on 25 January 1931 and spent much of her early life growing up in Babinda.  She was the eldest of six children, with Tom, George, Cecil, Les and Ned making up the Day family. They grew up in Babinda, Mt Isa and Ingham.  When Vi was thirteen her mother died from tuberculosis and with her father not on the scene to raise them, all of the Day family were cared for by their grandparents who had already raised eleven children of their own. Vi assumed a lot of the responsibility of helping to raise her five brothers.  She viewed this time in her life as her very own work experience program in readiness for raising four boys and two girls of her own,  Peter, Paul, Mary, Ruth, George and Tim.

The Day family eventually moved to Ingham where Vi soon began work in the National Bank. She also spent time in Melbourne, Toowoomba and Innisfail. Vi was very well known in the banking circles of Ingham and for some time it looked as if she was going to make this her lifelong career and remain single.  One weekend, one of her very best friends, Josie Sheahan asked her to come along on a blind date. Up until this point, Vi had remained single for almost 32 years.  According to Day family legend, there were actually many male suitors that had taken a liking to Vi over the years, but unbeknown to her, her brothers had always taken it upon themselves to question, threaten and then show these young men the door! One man however, Don Groundwater, was able to pass this test and they became engaged and married in the space of six weeks.

Over the next twelve years Vi and Don were a team in everything they did and the farming life of Abergowrie became the centre of their lives.  In the 1967 flood, the cane farm suffered $100,000 worth of damage.  It would be much more in today’s terms.  With massive debt, they continued to work hard and ended up moving into cattle and developed 1000 acres of improved pastures.

In 1975, life changed for the Groundwater family with Don passing away from a massive heart attack. Vi described this as the worst time of her life. To add insult to injury, government death duty taxes were still in force and with no money, a big debt and death taxes to pay, Vi was forced to sell much of their land and her family’s livelihood.  She never gave in though and she always found a way to go on and to care for her children and their friends in the best possible way.  She employed a farm manager in Lyle McKell, and he and his family became trusted and loyal friends While her life was shaped by tragic events, she definitely didn’t let it define her. One of the things that Vi often said in recent years was, “you know, I have had such a good life”.

After Don passed away Vi took on a lot of roles in the community. She worked at St Teresa’s College in their bookshop, she sold Avon throughout Abergowrie, she grew gladiolas for local florists, she managed the cane farm and she raised her six children and her grandkids in the best possible environment.

Unlike her brothers, her children encouraged Vi to find a new partner, but as she told them some years later, “I made a decision early on that I wouldn’t let any other men into my life that might affect the lives of my kids, and besides it took me 32 years to find the right man the first time, why do I want go through that again.”

As her children all finally made their way out of the house and into their adult lives, Vi decided it was time to give back to her community.  She entered the local government election race and was elected to the Shire Council, a position she proudly held for 16 years. She always spoke fondly of her time in Council saying that it was very fulfilling and rewarding. Being the only woman on Council had its moments but Vi was not slow in admonishing the men if she felt it was warranted. She was her own woman and well able to stand her ground.

From her time in Council Vi was nominated for an Order of Australia Medal, which she proudly received in 2005.  One of the most ironic things that happened to Vi in her time in Council involved physical fitness. In all the years that her children were growing up she never once did any type of exercise or training.  In fact, when she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, doctors told her that she could either control it with exercise or take medication. She chose medication. So Vi thought it was the funniest thing she had ever heard when they made the decision to name an exercise track in the park after her, the Vi Groundwater Walking Track.

Over many years there were suggestions that the Hinchinbrook district should have a museum. Indeed, there were private museums maintained by individuals that the public could visit with the owner’s permission, such as Muralambeen, the historic home of the Allingham family, and Hec Master’s collection of agricultural artefacts at Abergowrie. Unfortunately neither of these is now maintained or open to the public. That the district was able to have a museum which is still functioning successfully today is due to the passion and drive of one person – Vi Groundwater.

When Vi ran for the council in 1988 one of the projects she put in her campaign was the establishment of a museum for the district. She was elected President of the Museum Committee. The process of obtaining a suitable venue was fraught with problems and while some councillors’ interest waned in the project Vi’s commitment always remained strong. She was the motivating force behind several major fundraising events over a period of years and the securing of government grants which enabled the council to buy premises in Halifax. The building was the old Shaw’s Emporium which was sold to the museum by Reno Lancini at a favourable price. Reno also made a large donation to the museum which was much appreciated.

Vi pushed for the venue for the museum to be Halifax as she had long held a vision of Halifax being developed into an historical village. By coincidence she had once worked at the National Bank in Halifax which was originally next door to Shaw’s Emporium. As the earliest township in the Herbert Valley it was a perfect location to house and preserve the historical evidence of the variety and richness of life in the district. She said: “that’s why I keep pushing for this Halifax bit. Halifax is the earliest settlement in the area and you’ve got the mango trees right down the centre, you’ve got the old wooden seats around them, I think the hitching place is still in front of the Post Office and there are ………..a couple of very old shops on the other side of the street, you’ve got that real old-worldie type look.”

After considerable effort the Herbert River Museum was officially opened in April 1993. Throughout the entire process Vi had the enthusiastic support of her great friend, Josie Sheahan who in her role as head librarian of the Ingham Library had worked tirelessly to collect and annotate a wealth of material housed in the Local History section of the library. The creation of the museum was a great satisfaction for both women.

Associated with her great interest in history was Vi’s belief in the benefits of a good education. She therefore threw herself whole-heartedly behind a push to build the Barrier Reef Institute of T.A.F.E. and the Hinchinbrook Shire Library complex which opened in 1999.

Vi Groundwater will always be remembered as a strong, compassionate, resourceful person who devoted her life to her family, her friends and her community. She will always be respected as one of the great ladies of the Herbert District. 

SOURCE: Text and photographs: Groundwater family, with thanks.

Vi Groundwater with her children Paul, Peter  Ruth, Mary, Tim and George 

Vi Groundwater with her brothers Cecil, George, Ned, Les and Tom

Cr. Vi Groundwater with her Order of Australia Medal 2005 pictured with fellow councillors: Sherry Kaurila, Lawrence Molachino, Shaun Sheahan, Mayor - G. (Pino) Giandomenico, Deputy Mayor - Arthur Bosworth, Sam Torrisi and Geoff Gianotti

The Walton's Hotel - a 'Home from Home'

In the years 1908 to 1927 where would the Halifax Progress Association, Halifax Racing Club and the Herbert River Motor Boat Club have their meetings? At Walton’s Hotel, Halifax of course. Where would 20 Masons visiting Halifax to celebrate the installation ceremony of the joint installation of Lodges, Hinchinbrook and Cordelia have supper? Naturally at Walton’s Hotel, Halifax. Where would Charles Muir McCarey and Emily Holland, daughter of Mr and Mrs A. Holland, of Stone River choose to have their wedding breakfast? It was of course, Walton’s Hotel!

In 1908 St. John Robinson negotiated with John Wilson Walton of Walton's Hotel, Cairns, to take over his new hotel at Halifax. Initially to be called the Grand Hotel (and certainly it was grand in structure), it was called Walton’s Hotel. It was located where the Frank X Rupp & Sons, Plumbers business stands today. For most of 1908 to 1927 the licence was held by Walton and he, together with his wife, managed what was “recognised as one of the most comfortable and best managed hotels in North Queensland.”

Cairns Post Monday 9 August 1915, p. 4.

WALTON'S HOTEL.

Walton's' Hotel, Halifax, is recognised as one of the most comfortable and best managed hotels in North Queensland- The house is built on ample lines with verandahs all round and large lofty cool rooms. The scenic surrounding of the hotel are simply delightful, and the views of the Herbert River and Hinchinbrook Island are something to think of, and talk about. The proprietor, Mr. J. W. Walton, with Mrs Walton, see that guests are comfortable and contented, in fact this is a feature of their management, which has made Walton's Hotel spoken of as Home from Home and this is a very, well deserved compliment. The grounds about the hotel with the poultry and dairy farms attached, at once ensure a liberality, which makes for a high class cuisine, and Walton's Hotel is renowned for its excellent table. The house throughout is lighted by gas and spacious bathrooms are on both floors. Good stabling and free paddocks well grassed are provided, the tariff is moderate and in short everything is so splendidly conducted that the hotel can be well recommended. Tourists, especially will find at Walton's Hotel every possible convenience.

After enduring the flood of 1927 when Halifax took on the aspect of Venice with boats moored to buildings, the hotel was sold to Samuel Allen & Sons in June 1927. The new licensee was Mrs M B Rogers.  Only five months later at midday on Sunday 20 November the building burnt to the ground. Windy conditions fuelled an inferno and little could be saved. Mrs Rogers conducted a temporary licensed bar for a time afterwards, but on expiration of the license retired from business. The Waltons retired to Bondi, Sydney. Mrs Rogers died in Halifax in February 1932. Descendants of both the Waltons (Blackburn) and Mrs Rogers (Skene, Lyon, Heard and Rogers) continued to live in the Herbert River district. 

(For a listing of other licensees of the Walton's Hotel, Halifax see Douglas R Barrie, Panorama of Pubs 1872-2017: Hotels Licensed by the Herbert River District Liquor Licensing Court, Bemerside, S & D Barrie, 2018, p.42). 

Source: Douglas R Barrie, Panorama of Pubs 1875-2017, p. 42.

Source: View of Walton's Hotel from Macrossan Street, 1927 flood. Hinchinbrook Shire Library Photograph Collection

Source: Walton's Hotel on fire. Townsville Daily Bulletin,  26 November 1927, p.  9.

Sources:   

Cairns Post Monday 9 August 1915, p. 4.

“Herbert River Notes,” The Northern Miner, 10 June 1912, p. 2.

“Sporting,” Northern Miner, 13 June 1913, p. 5.

“Gossip,” Townsville Daily Bulletin, 30 January 1914, p. 6.

“Herbert River Notes,” Townsville Daily Bulletin, 25 April 1914, p. 9.

"The Rifle," Cairns Post,  5 October 1917, p. 7.

“Herbert River Notes. Fire At Halifax,” Townsville Daily Bulletin,  24 June 1927, p. 9. 

“Fire at Halifax,” Telegraph 21 November 1927, p. 2.

 “Fire at Halifax,” Telegraph, 22 November 1927, p. 4.  

“To-Day's News In Brief,” Brisbane Courier, 22 November 1927, p. 12. 

 Townsville Daily Bulletin, 10 February 1932, p. 3.

Douglas R Barrie, Panorama of Pubs 1872-2017: Hotels Licensed by the Herbert River District Liquor Licensing Court, Bemerside, S & D Barrie, 2018

"Going over the hill" – Stone River State Farm 1944 -1962

I would hazard a guess that few Herbert River Valley locals know that once there was a prison farm at Stone River. Perhaps that is because it was relatively short-lived. Her Majesty’s State Farm, Stone River, located 21 kilometres south-west of Trebonne opened for ‘customers’ on 18 November 1944, though it was not officially proclaimed until 8 March 1945. It was the fifth prison farm to be established in Queensland. Its purpose was to provide: prisoner rehabilitation, punishment and prison administration. The prison was de-proclaimed in 1962, just 18 years after the first prisoners passed through its gates. The Stone River State Farm, was established explicitly for male long-termers and lifers though other types of prisoners were sent there soon after it was opened.

Though they were prisons, prison farms came to be called State Farms rather than prison farms. The premise was that these farms would provide the food stuffs for the prisons, engage in local industries, and that in rural surroundings, employed in productive employment prisoners might have a better chance of being rehabilitated. The Registers of male prisoners admitted is held at the Queensland State Archives. That registers record “a prisoner’s criminal history and physical descriptions. The type of information recorded was: prisoner's name and number, date of admission, offence, sentence, where and by whom committed, date of sentence, date of discharge, number of previous convictions, place of birth, trade, religion, age, height, colour of hair and eyes, make, complexion, education, weight, descriptive marks and how and when disposed of.”

The prisoners were paid a minimum wage and given rights that prisoners in walled prisoners were not. Prisoners could decorate their huts (long before prisoners in regular prisons were permitted to) and could freely engage in extra-curricular activities such as swimming and playing cards and chess, even watch movies in the recreation hall occasionally. There is something of an irony in this as with the decline in the death sentence, life sentences increased as a result. Yet, these often notorious, murderers and rapists were fast-tracked to prison farms.

The State Farms were essentially ‘prisons without walls’. They were low-security or ‘honour prisons’ employing no security measures and relying entirely on the prisoners’ honour not to abscond. They did not look like prisons and had an informal atmosphere. They generally consisted of temporary or permeable structures and made use of farm or other buildings that were already on the property. Prisoners were gainfully employed during their incarceration. Livestock was kept at the Stone River State Farm and detailed records were kept of cattle breeding, slaughtering habits, spraying for ticks, mustering, brandings, calving, etc. Entries were checked and signed monthly. It had a cane assignment and timber was logged from the property. Prisoners were entrusted with responsibility to conduct some of the work unsupervised.

This did not mean that prisoners did not continue to commit misdemeanours during their incarceration or attempt to escape. Often escapes occurred when the prisoners were inebriated on ‘moonshine’ produced on an illicit still. Prisoners did attempt to escape from the Stone River State Farm. At that farm prisoners referred to escaping as “going over the hill.” Several of the cases of escape form Stone River State Farm were forms of protest about conditions: shortage of tobacco or poor medical facilities. The two who escaped as a protest about tobacco supplies were emboldened by drinking a concoction made of “methylated spirits, water, lemon juice and sugar cane”. Most escapees were captured within days of their escape.

Stuff of local folklore is the one that got away! One of the few who were never captured was a prisoner in Stone River State Prison who never returned after going out to bring cattle in on wet-season evening in 1960. He had been a model and trusted prisoner and only had six months of a two year sentence for break and enter to serve. Another model prisoner who escaped from the Stone River State Farm in 1951 was recaptured after six and a half months. On escape he gave blood to the Red Cross in Brisbane and found work as a cattleman. He was handed in to the authorities by his employer.

Another story of absconding from Stone River State Farm is rather humorous and as the event could not be reliably corroborated from interviews with both prisoners and warders no charges were laid. Taylor describes it as “One of the more remarkable accounts”. The event occurred in May 1948.

A number of prisoners allegedly made an appearance at a dance at the Upper Stone River community hall, dressed in regulation Queensland prison service uniforms. One of the prisoners at the farm had been entrusted with the task of doing the guards’ laundry, and it was alleged that he ‘loaned’ the garments to his fellow prisoners for the purpose of attending the dance. Upon hearing about the matter, the UnderSecretary to the Attorney General, J. D. O’Hagen, wrote to his Minister, ‘one can imagine the resentment of parents in the Ingham district if they found that their daughters were dancing with prisoners from the State Farm’.

A bane for the Officers-in-charge was that they would never know how many prisoners they would have at any given time. As a result, they had to set the tasks to how many men they had rather than the other way around as you would on a regular farm where tasks determined the number of workers required. The OIC of Stone River State Farm in 1945 frequently lamented the lack of farming skills of the inmates, particularly in gardening or ploughing while he also commented that he needed a good cook as the prisoners he had available did not like cooking. Due to the poor siting of the prison farms most were relatively unproductive. The Stone River State Farm was “rocky, wet and unproductive.”

Taylor describes the difficult task of selection of suitable prisoners. It makes amusing reading:

In 1958, when a number of huts at Stone River became available for new prisoners, CGP William Kerr considered the candidates available for transfer, and the documents illustrate the difficulty of his task. A fair number of the best prospects had already been at the farm, and had either been transferred back to Townsville prison on account of some misconduct, or been released and reconvicted. Kerr had to choose from a list that included: one inmate who had been punished for fighting but was a good concreter; another was known to have an aversion to work; a ‘neurotic type’; ‘an agitator when it concerns others’; and an arsonist—‘he might be a risk on a Farm’. The list also included ‘a Bodgie type’ believed to be the ringleader of a gang of thieves, a ‘delicate type’, one ‘inclined to wander’, a ‘trouble maker’, one ‘subject to fits and blackouts’, and another who was ‘the greatest pest I have and is never out of trouble’. One prisoner was a skilled cane cutter and believed he would get the transfer as of right, based on his skills. Another wanted to go to the farm but had ‘sore feet and cannot wear boots’. The offences these inmates had committed included murder, rape, stealing, child molestation, and car theft.

Obviously as the prisoners engaged in farm work and lived in remote bush areas injuries were common but deaths on prison farms were rare. Records indicate that in the period 1913-1961 only three people died in prison farms in that period, one of those being a prisoner at Stone River in August 1956 of Leptospirosis. The dangers and hazards that State Farm prisoners faced that prisoners in regular penitentiaries did not is illustrated by this story of the Stone River State Farm:

During the wet season at Stone River State Farm in 1945, a prisoner was sent with one warder to collect meat and bread from the Ingham post office. Rising river levels forced the pair to take an alternative, mountainous route back to the farm. The route was too precipitous for their horses, so they had to be left behind to be collected later, when the waters receded. The route was so difficult, the warder reported, ‘that the prisoner narrowly escaped serious accident whilst crossing one of the flooded gorges, losing the bag of bread in the process of saving himself’.

The Stone River State Farm had an inauspicious start when it was discovered that the tents that were to house the prisoners and staff initially, lacked essential parts. Moreover, it was a difficult farm to staff. Contributing factors were the isolation, lack of accommodation for the families of married officers, lack of nearby amenities, and an OIC with a bad reputation made it very difficult to staff the farm at all. The turnover of staff was high, and replacements almost impossible to find. Its first OIC was Allan Whitney. Another officer to serve there was Bill Kearney. The first three OICs of the Stone River State farm were competent: men very suited for the work: fair, calm and able to diffuse conflict peaceably. They could even be regarded by the prisoners as friends rather than gaolers. However, the period 1949 to 1956 at Stone River State Farm illustrates what happens when staff that is employed is incompetent or unhappy in their role. The first three were followed by a cruel, mistrustful OIC who withheld appropriate medical treatment, made the prisoners work when they were ill or injured, and did not provide appropriate clothing or tools. He was also verbally abusive. He treated subordinate staff with disdain and argued with them in front of prisoners. As a result, prisoner morale plummeted. During this period, prisoners again escaped (anticipating to be recaptured) with the intent to draw attention to the conditions on the farm and the poor treatment of prisoners. The irony was that they were aided and abetted by a warder whose behaviour had transitioned from friendly to abusive and back again. He lent them his car to escape!  The number of escapes: seven between April and June in 1955 prompted the Comptroller General to investigate why there were so many escapes from the Stone River facility.

In a post WW2 period of plentiful employment opportunities, a warders’ wagers and conditions could not compete with that of other jobs available. Also, it was perceived that the personal attributes of prison staff had changed: “ before the war, ‘such was the type of man in the service … with few exceptions, they had that ingrained sense of responsibility and dedication to the job which made each man perform his duty when the going got rough.’“ Hence isolated prison farms like that at Stone River struggled to attract staff. Some of the problems for staff at Stone River were that it was so far from social amenities like hotels. The nearest school was located five miles and only accessible “through wild and snake-infested country.” In addition, the farm was too remote and too small to employ a medical officer. As a result of the changing times and conditions, and the difficulties of attracting staff to the remote Stone River State Farm site the prison was closed and de-proclaimed. Substantial structures were relocated to other properties and today it is a private cattle property.

SOURCES:

Chris Dawson,  “Stone walls do a prison make: law on the landscape,” in Queensland Historical Atlas, http://www.qhatlas.com.au/content/stone-walls-do-prison-make-law-landscape
Benedict Taylor, Prisons without walls: prison camps and penal change in Australia, c. 1913-1975. Phd thesis, University of New South Wales, 2010.

Roy Stephenson, Nor Iron Bars, 25 as quoted in Benedict Taylor, Prisons without walls: prison camps and penal change in Australia, c. 1913-1975. Phd thesis, University of New South Wales, 2010.

“No gaoler to this prison,” Herald 18 July 1936, 22.

“New prison farm to be at Upper Stone Riiver,” Townsville Daily Bulletin, 30 Oct 1944, 2.

“Investigate N.Q. prison farm,” Central Queensland Herald, 2 Jun 1955, 14.  

“Humanitarianism,” Worker, 12 April1954, 5. 

Queensland State Archives Series ID 18771.

Queensland State Archives Series ID 9109.

Bill Kearney, Boggo Road, 1941. Image source: http://www.boggoroadgaol.com.au/History%20pages/Staff%20Kearney.html

Main gate, Stone River State Farm, c.1960. Image Source: Benedict Taylor, Prisons without walls: prison camps and penal change in Australia, c. 1913-1975. Phd thesis, University of New South Wales, 2010, 245.

Owen John Oakes back to prison. Image source: “Back to prison,’ Morning Bulletin, 4 January 1952, 1.

Doctor Gordon Morrissey

Here is another blog written by Christopher and Vivienne Parry, and included here with thanks.

Doctor Gordon Morrissey

In the Ingham Botanical Garden is a fountain erected by public subscription which commemorates Doctor Gordon Morrissey for his services as a medical practitioner to the community for almost fifty years. The plaque reads:

“THIS FEATURE WAS ERECTED IN 1973 BY THE RESIDENTS OF THE HERBERT RIVER DISTRICT IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF DR. GORDON MORRISSEY, O.B.E.WHO, FOR A PERIOD OF ALMOST FIFTY YEARS PRIOR TO HIS DEATH IN INGHAM, ON 8TH. MARCH 1970 RENDERED OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE  SICK, TO CHARITY, AND TO THE COMMUNITY IN GENERAL, NOT ONLY IN HIS PROFESSION OF MEDICINE, BUT ALSO AS A GUIDE, PHILOSOPHER AND FRIEND”.

Born and trained in Melbourne, Gordon Morrissey came to Ingham in 1921 to enter into private practice, and in 1925 he became part-time superintendent of the Ingham hospital. He married Stella Lawrie in 1926. She was born in Herberton but went to high school in Townsville and completed her nursing training in Ayr. She started work at the Ingham hospital in the 1920s, where she met Gordon Morrissey. He retired as superintendent in 1962 but continued his private practice until he passed away in 1970. His funeral cortege was said to be the largest ever seen in Ingham. He was survived by his wife Stella who as resident in Canossa Home celebrated her one hundredth birthday in 2003. Doctor Morrissey was especially remembered for the role he played in assisting migrants, the great proportion who were Italian, to integrate into the society of Ingham during the 1920s and 1930s.

In 1933 and 1934 there were unusually heavy wet seasons and as a result grass and undergrowth flourished and Ingham and surrounding farms were invaded by a plague of rats. During the harvesting season cane cutters began arriving at the Ingham Hospital with fever. The numbers struck down grew at an alarming rate and some died excruciating deaths. Ninety percent of them were canecutters and most were Italian. It was clear that something had to be done and quickly. Dr Morrissey took a professional interest in aspects affecting health in the tropics and it was as a result of that interest that he contributed to the clinical diagnosis of Weil’s disease in the Herbert Valley.

The organisms responsible for Weil’s disease were leptospira carried by rats. Cane cutters contracted the virus when rats’ urine on the ground or on the cane stalks came in contact with cuts on their hands and legs. Dr Morrissey suggested that a solution would be to burn the cane which would effectively sterilize the ground and stalks. However there were objections by the cane farmers to burning the cane and there were also other doctors and scientists who argued that burning would not eliminate the virus.

The cane cutters of the Herbert River Valley went on strike in 1934 which resulted in an application by the A.W.U. to the industrial magistrate for an order for cane to be burned in both the Victoria and Macknade Mill areas. This put an end to the epidemic and justified Dr Morrissey’s solution.

The government decided that workers who suffered from Weil’s disease could get workers compensation, but it was difficult to get it. Angelo Cardillo, a canecutter from Ingham, was involved in a long dispute. Dr Morrissey certified him unfit to return to work, but the Insurance Commission relied on the evidence of Sir Raphael Cilento, the Queensland Director General of Health, who said that there would be no after affects from Weil’s disease. It seems that Cilento was prejudiced against Italian migrants and thought they were malingerers. Angelo lost the case, but in later years Cilento changed his mind and agreed that there should be a long period of convalescence after Weil’s disease. So Dr Morrissey was proven correct again. Dr Morrissey was awarded an OBE in 1962 for his work.

Dr Morrissey also encouraged and assisted Angiolina Borello with her work as a midwife on the far side of the Stone River. If there were complications with a birth she would send for Dr Morrissey, and if it was wet weather and the roads were bad, Angiolina’s two sons would push Dr Morrissey’s car out of the notorious bog just past Trebonne.

He was one of the submissions made by Ingham to the ‘Peoplescape’ exhibition hosted by the Commonwealth Government on the occasion of the centenary of Federation in 2001. In that display Doctor Morrissey was described as being ‘…SELFLESS. HE DEVOTED HIS ATTENTION TO SERVICE, WHICH WAS UNOBTRUSIVE AND NOT THE KIND WHICH SOUGHT RECOGNITION OR COMMENDATION. HIS INFLUENCE FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE COMMUNITY WAS ENORMOUS – ESPECIALLY SO DURING THE DISTRICT’S MOST TROUBLED TIMES.”

Source:

Herbert River Express clippings 1970 Hinchinbrook Shire Library local history room

Monument Australia (online)

http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/medicine/display/91632-doctor-gordon-morrissey-

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

Memorial Plaque - dedication to Dr Gordon Carey Morrissey, Ingham Botanical Gardens (Source: Christopher Parry)

Dr Gordon Morrissey with Sister Therza Marshall circa 1950 (Source: Ann Dumbledon and Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Photograph Collection)

John Coburn (1925 – 2006)

This is the second installment by Chris and Vivienne Parry on famous identities born in Ingham. I thank them for their contribution. This blog is on renowned artist John Coburn, born in Ingham, and for whom the tropical north always held a special place in his heart.

John Coburn was born in Ingham in 1925. His mother Alice Biggs had married Edgar Cockburn in Halifax in 1922. Edgar was a bank accountant and soon after the marriage he was transferred to the Darling Downs. Edgar passed away in 1936 and Alice returned to Halifax to live with her mother Christina Biggs (nee Beatts).

John attended Halifax Primary School and then went to All Souls School in Charters Towers as a boarder. Alice and her sister Jess opened a clothing store in Halifax and this business continued until Alice remarried. She married her cousin Walter Beatts in 1939. They had two sons, Geoffrey and Barry, who still live in the district.

Alice and Walter had a farm at Braemeadows and also a beach hut at Taylor’s Beach where the family spent weekends and holidays. In her later years Alice was a resident at Canossa Home at Trebonne where she passed away in 1981. Canossa Home has a beautiful work donated by John Coburn, the Tree of Life. 

John, known as Jack to friends and family, always said that much of his art was inspired by his childhood in tropical North Queensland. Later, although he lived in Sydney, he often went north for holidays, to relatives at Braemeadows, Taylors Beach, Halifax, Mona, and Mount Cordelia.

He showed an aptitude for art at an early age, but left school when he was 14 to work in a bank in Halifax, Ingham and then in Innisfail. Painting and drawing were hobbies, pursued on weekends and in the evenings. He bought his first set of oil paints in Townsville. He had been happy to escape from boarding school but he didn’t enjoy the work at the bank.

His life changed dramatically with the outbreak of World War II. At the age of 17 he volunteered for the navy and spent the next three years travelling around the Indian and Pacific Oceans, working as a radio operator, and drawing in his spare time. After demobilisation in 1946 he returned to the bank briefly, but soon resigned, and with the financial help of ex-servicemen’s rehabilitation aid he set out for Sydney, to study art full time.

He enrolled at the National Art School at East Sydney Technical College. This was where he met his future wife Barbara Woodward. She was a fellow artist and became one of Australia’s foremost silk screen printers. Barbara played an important role in John’s artistic career. A deeply spiritual man, he was born an Anglican, but converted to Catholicism before he married Barbara.

After graduating from art school he joined the ABC as a graphic designer and prepared titles and designs for television. During these years he also exhibited work in art competitions and group shows. A touring exhibition of modern French art had a great impact on his work and his paintings became more and more abstract. He had his first solo exhibition in 1958. He started teaching at the National Art School in 1959, and in 1960 he won the prestigious Blake Prize for Religious Art, for his painting Triptych of the Passion.

He painted this work while on a visit to his family in the Herbert Valley. He said that he suddenly decided to do a painting so he bought a sheet of masonite and house paints from the hardware store in Ingham. He painted it on the veranda of his parents’ house in Legge’s Road, Braemeadows. He completed it as a triptych because it was easier to transport back to Sydney. The painting is a powerful ensemble of religious symbols. It shows the crucifix and the crown of thorns, with blood-red spatters of paint and the black shadows of barbed wire. His religious art in later years though was less confronting and brighter. Another religious symbol which fascinated him, and of which he did many versions, was the Tree of Life.

He did a series of tapestries on religious themes which are among his most notable works. The series was titled The Spiritual Seasons, comprising individual tapestries named Paradise Garden, Tree of Life, Death and Transfiguration, Resurrection, and  finishing with Hozanna.     

The 1960s and 1970s were successful years for Coburn. Awards and honours flowed. His works began to enter public collections, and were regularly chosen to represent Australia in overseas touring exhibitions. Over these years he forged a distinctive style of his own, employing flat signs and silhouettes against bright fields of colour. In the 1960s he also taught at the National Art School and during this time one of his students was a young Barbara Saxton, now a well-known Ingham artist.

His painting style lent itself to tapestry, and he went to France over a period of years to supervise the weaving of his designs. His major achievements in this area were Curtain of the Sun and Curtain of the Moon, commissioned by the Sydney Opera House in 1970. It is a scandal however that these pieces have been so rarely seen over the past 50 years. Producers of opera and drama productions at the Opera House said that the curtains were too dominating and eye-catching and detracted from the performances on stage.

Other tapestries of Coburn have been on permanent exhibition such as a series of seven tapestries, The Seven Days of Creation, which hang in the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. The series of nine tapestries The Seasons is in the collection of the Art Gallery of NSW. Summer, the first of the series, has a connection to North Queensland. John said that some of the shapes in the work were inspired by seeing feathers of brolgas floating from the sky during a visit to the Town Common in Townsville. 

    

In 1972 Coburn was appointed head of the National Art School. He appreciated the honour of the position, but he was not happy with the amount of administrative work involved, so he resigned two years later which gave him the opportunity to paint full-time. In 1980 he was awarded the Order of Australia, and was firmly established as one of the country's leading artists. In 1991 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by James Cook University.

In 2006 James Cook University students also honoured him by doing a mosaic inspired by his tapestry Paradise Garden. The mosaic was placed in front of the counter of the Tourist Information Centre in Ingham.

The passing of Barbara Coburn in 1985 came as a crushing blow, but gradually John established new working habits, and began travelling again. It was a particular pleasure to him that one of his works, a Tree of Life, was accepted in La Collezione d'Arte Religiosa Moderna in the Vatican Museum in Rome, a collection of religious artworks by the most famous artists of the twentieth century.     

John Coburn’s works are housed in the National Gallery of Australia, every Australian State Art Gallery, many regional galleries and public buildings, and important Australian and overseas collections. The exhibition area of the Tyto Regional Art Gallery is officially named the John Coburn Gallery, and the Hinchinbrook Shire Council has a small collection of his works. In 2003 the gallery held an exhibition of Coburn’s work. The exhibition was attended by many relatives who still live in the Ingham area, and by John’s son Stephen Coburn who came from Sydney to attend.                

People who met him remember John Coburn as being quietly spoken, courteous and charming. He was also a reflective thinker, who had strong convictions and principles by which he lived.

While so many celebrated Australian painters of the 20th century have been figurative artists, that is painters of the human form, Coburn was an abstract artist. It has been said that perhaps his greatest achievement was to have reached large audiences with a form of abstract painting based on simple clear shapes and radiant colours. Most of his pictures have a joyous quality, and that may be why they exert such a broad appeal.

For a recent article about the story of the Opera House curtains designed by John Coburn, and what happened to them in what his son calls a "tragedy", go to this link:

https://amp.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/the-crazy-and-epic-story-of-john-coburn-s-opera-house-curtain-call-20190410-p51csz.html

Source: Curtain of the Sun. Art Gallery of New South Wales

Source: Night Scene. Art Gallery of New South Wales

Mosaic celebrating John Coburn - Visitor Information Hub, Tyto, Ingham

SOURCES:

Nadine Amadio, 1988, Coburn – The Seasons Tapestries, Christensen Fund, Perth

Nadine Amadio, 1988, John Coburn Paintings, Craftsman House, Roseville NSW

Lou Klepac, 2003, John Coburn, The Spirit of Colour, The Beagle Press, Roseville NSW

Alan Rozen, 1979, The Art of John Coburn, Ure Smith, Sydney