Atkinson Family History

I have just received a copy of the impressive leather-bound, two-volume history of the Atkinson family to preview.  Researched and written by the well known local historian Mrs Marjorie Gilmore, the huge book tells the 150 years long story of this prominent pastural family and their involment in the northern cattle industry.  Entitled 'On Eagles Wings; the Atkinson Family of North Queensland 1862-2014', the first volume covers the early pioneering history of the family from when the newly arrived Irish immigrants, the young James and Kate Atkinson, set off from Victoria by bullock wagon for the North and on through to the cattle stations that they and their children worked to develop.  The second volume tells much of the family history of the later generations who are now scattered all over the North but with many still been involved in the grazing and agricultural industries.  The book can only be acquired through the family and is in limited numbers which makes in difficult to obtain.  But this well illustrated and valuable book would be a grand addition to any history library.

Search for Hells Gate

This eighth publication from local historian, Mr John Hay was released recently in a very low-key fashion.  The book entitled 'Beyond Hell's Gate, The Return Journey', is essential an up-dated rewrite of his earlier book 'Beyond Hell's Gate, The Journey' which was taken from a manuscript that John originally wrote back in 1980.  One part of the book tells the tale of the infamous Hell's Gate Track used by the gold diggers of old during their rush to the Palmer River Goldfield in 1874 and the journey to rediscover the notorious Hell's Gate pass a century after the great Palmer River gold rush.  The other part of the story tells of the effort and problems that John and a team of film-makers had to go through to film the story of the Gate for Bill Peach in 1982 for an episode of the 'Peach's Gold' television documentary series.  A book for anyone interested in the stories of the gold fields that helped to open up and build the North.  This new book also illustrates the maturing literary skill of the author who is developing into a fine story-teller of Far North Queensland history.  

Wartime Aircraft Crashes

Michael Musumeci's long-awaited new book on the local air crashes of World War Two has recently appeared in the bookstores.  This large book of over 570 pages entilted 'Aircraft Crashes of Northern Queensland 1942-1945', provides detailed accounts of fifty-two aircraft crashes, many forced landings and other aircraft mishaps that occurred in North Queensland during the later World War Two years.  The book also includes over 490 photographs, both in colour and black & white, along with official crash reports, telegrams, eye-witness stories, memories and documented research.  Michael's heavy volume will make a great textbook for those historians of the future who seek to study our local military history as it is packed with as much information that the research to date allows.  It pays due respect to all those in the Air Force who lost their lives in such tragic circumstances and it will have a place on the book shelf of anyone interested in northern military or aviation history.

Down Gunnawarra to Kirrama

I recently joined almost thirty fellow history buff friends with a dozen vehicles in front of the little school at Mount Garnet to begin a trip down the Gunnawarra Road to the Kirrama Range and out through the Kennedy Valley.  After a short discussion on the plans for the day, our line of cars headed out to the first heritage site of the trip which was the historic Mount Garnet Racecourse and Rodeo Grounds.  After a quick drive about the grounds and a short lesson on its history from one of the members of the party, our small convoy turned off the highway to drive down the Gunnawarra road.  I was quite surprised at how many small properties have been established at this end of the road and also just how far down the bitumen extends.  Our first stop of this trip was the historic Gunnawarra Station homestead.  Here we were met by the Atkinsons who took the time to show us about their heritage listed buildings and the little family cemetery.  They gave us a run-down on the drought conditions affecting the station and then gave our group a preview of the new two volume Atkinson family history written by local historian Margaret Gilmore which is just hot off the printing press.

Old Gunnawarra Station building

Then it was back on the road which was now gravel but in quite a good condition so we made good time passing many cattle stations with familiar names such as Tirrabella and Glen Ruth.  The next stop on this little adventure was at the historic Cashmere Crossing where morning tea was had.  While here, the lonely little cemetery was viewed as was the nearby site of the original Cashmere Station homestead.  The next section of the trip was the roughest with some steep climbs in and out of gullies before entering the Girringun National Park where we stopped to view the magnificent Blencoe Falls and gorge.  This was the first time I had ever been into this amazing waterfall and I was astonished that the road down through this location had not yet been promoted as a major tourist route.  Our party even had several conventional vehicles which made the trip with just a little care through the rough section.

Cashmere Crossing

Then we drove down to the camping area below the falls for a late picnic lunch beside the creek.  It was here that we left a number of our group who had decided to make this expedition into a camping trip.  So with a little light rain coming down, the rest of the vehicles headed down to the Kirrama Range area where a stop was made at the Society Flats boardwalk to wander around the rainforest path.  I was surprised to see the huge areas of young karri pine regrowth in the valleys we passed.  Having recently read Ed Healy's book on the vast amount of timber that had come out of this district, I now felt that I had a better idea of the extent of that timber-getting enterprise of olden days.  Many members of our party were also surprised to see the Shire boundary signs down here showing just how far south the Tableland Regional Council extends.

The last section of this expedition was down the Kirrama Range Road where several short stops were made at the lookouts along the way before our finale stop in the Kennedy Valley where members of our group said their goodbyes then made their own way back up the coast to home.  What a trip!  With many getting home after dark, it was a long twelve hour day but those who joined in the excursion were pleased with the adventure, as like me, many were travelling through country they had never seen before.  I can see this road trip becoming popular in the future.    

              Shire boundary signs                                Lunch beside the creek                                 The magnificent Blencoe Falls    

Yaramulla Station Story

A new self-published book has recently been launched by its author, Mr Don Pinwill.  The book entitled 'Whatever it Takes', tells the story of the Pinwill family and their efforts to develop the Yaramulla Cattle Station near Mount Surprise.  The tale begins when two young brothers, Don and Chas Pinwill find this undeveloped property in 1969 and decide to gamble their money on the dry block.  The adventures these two later-day pioneers had during their first few years on the station makes a great yarn with stories such as their experience with learning how to operate their own drilling rig which lead them, for a short time, into becoming professional drillers finding water all over the district.  Other experiences that Don and his young family had while on the land and with the local wildlife showed that even during the 1970's, it was still a pioneering life out there.  Don's story covers the twenty year period up to the end of the 1980's when he sold the station shortly before it was made into the Undara National Park which has become famous for its volcanic lava tubes.  Written in an easy reading style and sprinkled with a few of his bush poems, this book is a great read specially for those interested in the folk who made their lives living and working within the northern pastural industry.

Bamford Cemetery Mystery Solved

Eyes were strained to read the old cemetery records in the light of the campfire but it was clear enough, an enter titled 'Unknown'.  There was only a handful of burials in that small and almost forgotten cemetery at Bamford, the almost forgotten town where my Grandfather and his brothers and sister had grown up back in the early years of the Twentieth Century.  It seemed sad that some pioneer had been laid to rest there without anybody even knowing their real name.  The only information in the old records was that the grave contained a man of Irish decent who worked as a labourer and was approximately fifty years of age and had died of a fever in August 1904.  Not much to show for a lifetime but I might now be able to put a name to this forgotten burial.

This curious tale began with the discovery of a short article that had been published in a regular column featured in an old 1930's newspaper.  Written by someone using the pen-name of 'The Rover', the story tells of a old-time rogue who was known throughout the northern mining districts only by the nick-name of 'The Lamb o' God'.  This battler, wit, humorist and hard case was known in every North Queensland mining camp but very few knew his real name.  It was only when 'Rover' was acting as a electoral scrutineer in the old Griffith-McIlwraith days that he learned his name when he came in to vote, Bob Baylias.  He knew this man as on one occasion, when talking to Billy Shepherd and Jack Yeo outside Shepherd's hotel in Croydon, the Lamb came along.  "Well", he said, "here is the Shepherd, the Ewe and the Lamb and the Lamb wants a drink".  Those were the days of great prosperity in the North but the Lamb would still always advised a party to have their drinks before their ore crushing as they might not be able to have it after the crushing went through.  The Lamb was once threatened with a Law suit and as he had two young girls attending school, he settled some property on them which he feared he might lose.  But the case never came off and when he tried to get back the property, he couldn't.  He often said it was the only good turn he ever did and he did it unintentionally.

According to Rover, the Lamb died at Bamford and the last words he spoke was a joke.  He sat down on the verandah of the hotel with his back against one of the posts.  "I am going to have a sleep, boys," he said, "and if I die bury me near the beer casks".  When someone went to arouse him, he was dead.  Of couse they didn't bury him by the beer casks, but no body in town would have known his real name.  So on the official records he was a 'Unknown' and there is only one burial in the Bamford cemetery for a unknown and the details fit the Lamb.  A search of the Queensland records brings up only one person of that time that fits this mystery but the name is spelt as 'Bayliss' which could point to a simple mistake of memory on Rover's part.  So lets have a drink in his memory, be it Bob or Robert, Baylias or Bayliss, all the evidence points to the unknown grave of the Bamford cemetery being that of Mr Bob Baylias.

Wilesmith Family History

A new book was introduced to local history buffs at the recent Pioneer Women's Day event held at Watsonville.  The book, with its somewhat unfortunate title of 'Gold Expedition to Stannary Hills', (Stannary Hills is a tin mining town) tells the story of the epic life journey of Christina and Joseph Wilesmith.  The author, Mr Tom Freeman has woven much of the history of the Etheridge goldfields and the local Herberton tin mining district into the background of this story of the Wilesmith family who arrived in Gilberton during the gold rush of 1869, after having arrived in Australia from England five years earlier.  Mr Freeman has also added the story of many of the prominent identities of this time who became involved in the lives of the Wilesmiths while they mined gold about the Etheridge and later on the Hodgkinson goldfield before they moved to the tin fields where they found their prosperity and became known as the 'Wilesmiths of Watsonville'.  This book is a great read not just for the family history but also for the added general history of those mining days that have now long past out of living memory.