1880 - 1889

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (67193)

1881

Mary Beatrice Phillips Watson (1860 - 1881)

As the daughter of a poor English butcher, Mary Phillips and her family migrated to Maryborough in 1877. Mary later moved to Cooktown where she established a private school to help supplement her family’s income. It was there that she met and married Scots fisherman, Captain Robert E. Watson, and gave birth to their son, Thomas Ferrier, before the young family moved to Lizard Island. In October of 1881, while her husband was at sea, the island was invaded by tribal Aborigines who were angry that the Watsons lived on sacred land. Fearing for their lives, Mary gathered supplies, her young son and a wounded servant, and took to sea in the only vessel she could find - a square ship’s tank. They drifted at sea for days before landing on a small, waterless island where they all, sadly, perished of thirst. Their remains, along with Mary’s diary detailing their ordeal, were found several months later by the crew of a passing vessel and were returned to Cooktown. There, the town held a public funeral attended by more than 650 people moved by Mary’s heroism and suffering. A water-fountain memorial to her was erected in 1886 on Charlotte Street, inscribed ‘Memoria: Mrs Watson: The Heroine of Lizard Island ’.

Source: SE Stephens, ‘Watson, Mary Beatrice Phillips (1860 - 1881)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 2006, accessed 15 January 2009, <http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060391b.htm>.

Courtesy: Queensland Museum (177790)

1882

Janet Walker

Mrs Janet Walker was the leading costumiere during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Janet began her business in Queen Street in 1882. By 1896 her Ladies Emporium in Adelaide Street employed 120 young women. After WW1 she moved into the Courier Mail building, corner Queen and Edward Streets where she remained until her retirement in 1938 at the age of 88.

Source: Queensland Museum, The Janet Walker Collection, 2009.

Courtesy: M Nicol, Personal collection.

1883

Jane Thorn (nee Handcock) (1820 - 1883)

Jane Handcock was born in 1820 in Castletown, Ireland. After the death of her mother, she immigrated to Sydney in 1836, aged 16. It was a dreadful five month voyage with inclement weather, threatening pirates, inadequate food, too much wine, and deck and passageways crowded with excess cargo.

At the age of 17, Jane married George Thorn, aged 32. In 1839, Jane was rowed up the Bremer River with husband George and infant son George Jnr, to their new residence in Ipswich (known then as Limestone). Jane was the first female European resident of Ipswich.

Jane and George lived in the family home “Claremont” and had ten children together. Jane’s husband, George, was a member of the first Queensland Parliament. Four of Jane and George’s sons were members of the Queensland Parliament, with one (George Jnr) becoming Premier for a short time.

Source: M Nicol, 2009, family biography, 7 June.

Courtesy: Private collection

1883

Emily Caroline Creaghe (1860 - 1944)

Emily Creagh was born on 1 November 1860 aboard a British ship sailing through the Bay of Bengal. During her early years, she lived in India with her parents before moving to England in 1865 where she received her formal education. In 1876, her family migrated to Australia and took up residence in Sydney. On a trip to Goodna, Queensland to visit her sister and brother-in-law, Emily met her future husband, Harry Alington Creaghe. In 1883, at only 22 years of age, Emily travelled across a vast expanse of unmapped outback Australia on horseback, claiming the remarkable title of Australia's first female explorer. This extraordinary adventurer covered more than 2,000 km, travelling overland from Normanton in Far North Queensland to Darwin in the Northern Territory.

Source: Creaghe, E & Monteath, P 2004, The diary of Emily Caroline Creaghe: explorer, Corkwood Press, North Adelaide.

‘Breakfast Alpha’ painting. Courtesy: Queensland Art Gallery

1883

Harriet Jane Neville-Rolfe (1850 - 1928)

Born in England in 1850, Harriet Neville demonstrated a natural aptitude for drawing from a young age. She undertook formal art studies in London and Paris before arriving to join her brother at Alpha Station in Central Queensland in 1883. Over the next two years, she produced a large number of pencil and watercolour sketches intended for her family members in England and Europe. Her sketches typically captured aspects of everyday colonial Queensland life, such as gardening, meal times, horse-breaking and mail delivery. In 1964, almost 80 years after Harriet’s stay at Alpha Station, her son presented the Queensland Art Gallery with several watercolours painted during her visit which now serve as a record of Queensland’s pioneering era.

Source: MacAulay, B 1980, In Focus: Harriet Jane Neville-Rolfe in Queensland 1883-85, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane.

Members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, 1901. Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (108858)

1885

Women’s Christian Temperance Union

In September 1885, a Queensland branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was formed in the Academy of Music by Mrs MC Leavitt. The WCTU was founded upon principles of Christian truth and compassion and was comprised of a devoted group of Christian women. Their educational work helped address the problems of alcohol and hostility and their impact on individuals, families and the broader community. Led by President, Mrs W Steele, and officers Miss EL Carvosso and Mrs J Williams, weekly meetings were initially conducted in the YMCA lecture room, and later in the Temperance Hall on Edward Street, Brisbane. Following the success of the WCTU in Brisbane, branches were later formed at Rockhampton, Townsville, Maryborough, Ipswich, Gympie, Charters Towers, Laidley and Toowoomba.

Source: Lather, AE 1968, A glorious heritage, 1885 – 1965: history of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of Queensland, Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Queensland, Brisbane.

Courtesy: KM Smith Funeral Directors

1886

Kate Mary Smith (1847 - 1932)

Kate Mary Farrell arrived on Cape York Peninsula from Dublin in 1864. There she met and married Englishman, John Smith, and gave birth to their first child. The family soon moved to Brisbane, setting up a cabinet-making shop on Elizabeth Street, also constructing the occasional coffin. John passed away in 1886 leaving Kate Mary to raise their six children as well as running the business. Through hard work and dedication, she turned the business into a successful funeral firm, which has remained in the family till today with two of her great-grandchildren as firm Directors.

Source: KM Smith Funeral Directors, n.d., Our Family History, viewed 22 January 2009, <http://kmsmith.com.au/index.php?page=history.html>.

Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (177041)

1887

Ellen Thomson (1846 - 1887)

Ellen Thomson and John Harrison were hanged at Boggo Road Gaol in 1887 for the murder of Ellen’s husband, William. Her relationship with Harrison, a young marine, created conflict in her marriage and eventually led to the murder. On the eve of the executions, Harrison accepted sole responsibility for the crime but, despite this confession, the double execution went ahead and Ellen became the only woman to be hanged in Queensland’s history.

Suffrage poster “What We Want”. Courtesy: State Library of Queensland (194017)

1889

Leontine Cooper (1837 - 1903)

In her pursuit of equality for all women, Leontine Cooper worked as a journalist and short-story writer, as well as editor of Queensland’s Star, the only Australian newspaper focused on women’s suffrage. In 1889, Leontine headed the Queensland Women’s Suffrage League which fought to win women the vote. She was the first Queensland woman to publicly write and speak about these issues. She responded particularly to those opposed to giving women the vote:

“In supporting as you are doing, the contention that all women of Queensland should be kept disenfranchised because all are not asking for a privilege of which they know neither the value nor the need, you are aiding in the infliction of a cruel injustice and one of which it seems impossible you can have fully represented to yourself in the issues.”
- Leontine Cooper, 1 September 1900

Source: The State of Queensland (Office for Women), 2009, Leontine Cooper (1837 – 1903), viewed 16 January 2009, <http://www.women.qld.gov.au/leadership-and-community/centenary-of-suffrage/history/documents/leontine-cooper.pdf (PDF 110 KB)>.