44 Maple Street Maleny, Queensland
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Maleny History
The information below has been compiled by Bill Johnston, Independent Researcher and Historian
History of the Blackall Ranges
Many are the views about who was the first white person to live on or who discovered the Blackall Range. It would seem, however, that maybe escaped convicts John Graham or either of David Bracefell of James Davis were the first white people to live on the range with the Aboriginal people around 1827 to 1831.
After this there are many claimants to the apogee. Squatters and settlers began arriving, particularly after the Moreton Bay penal settlement closed in 1842. Moreton Bay district at this stage was opened up to free settlement. Timber getters and pastoralists alike were encircling the area north of Moreton Bay, which was reserved for the Aborigines.
The Aboriginal people were being "pushed off" their traditional land. Andrew Petrie saw this infringement happening. The result was that Governor Gibbs, on Petrie's advice, made an order to reserve the area for the Aborigines. (The order of 18th April 1842 published in the New South Wales Government Gazette of Tuesday 19th April is quoted in Part 1 of the spring edition of ob-la-di page 17).
1859 saw Queensland annexed from New South Wales and one of the first Acts passed by the new Queensland Government was to introduce the Unoccupied Crown Lands Occupation Act in 1860. This Act rescinded and cancelled Governor Gibbs' Order of 1842, having the effect of opening up all the country between Brisbane (Moreton Bay) and the Maroochy River white settlement. This included the area we know today as the Blackall Range. There was a mad scramble to seize the best land.
What if the Queensland Government had retained Governor Gibbs' Order of 1842? Yes you are correct, we would not have the Blackall Range developed as it is today. The slopes would not have been cleared, the timber would be still there and Warwick F Willmott, Senior Geologist for the Queensland Government, would not have needed to undertake his study for the Department of Mines into "Slope Stability" (Landslips) on the Mapleton-Maleny plateaux in 1982. But history is history and here we are today. It's good to see organisations like Barung Landcare, along with the public, taking action to restore the trees and stabilise the creek banks. There was mad scramble to seize the best value land.
In 1853 William Pettigrew, a surveyor and assistant to Crown Lands Commissioner Dr Stephen Simpson, began his sawmill operation on the banks of the Brisbane River. He had travelled with Dr Simpson in the area north of Moreton Bay and was very impressed with the "fine stands of timber" he saw. By 1862 he and his partners James Low and William Grigor had established timber and sawmilling operations at the mouths of the Maroochy and Mooloolah rivers.
So where does the Blackall Range start and finish? There is a general view that the Blackall Range starts at Maleny and finishes at Mapleton where the road runs down to Nambour. The Blackall Range is much longer than this. In simple terms the Blackall Range starts from Cairncross Corner just south of Maleny and runs north parallel to the Coast all the way up to Cooran just past Mt Cooroora.
The other Ranges impinging on the Hinterland are Conondale and D'Aguilar. These ranges are also seen to merge at Cairncross Corner, it being the pivotal point for the three ranges. The Conondale Range generally runs west from Cairncross Corner along Mountain View Road and Stanley River Road out to Booroobin, on to Conondale and then out to the Jimna Range.
The D'Aguilar Range runs south from Cairncross Corner, slides past Peachester and on to Mt Nebo just West of Brisbane.
Federation in Maleny
What was happening in Maleny in 1901? Who lived here at the turn of the century? What was Maleny like when Federation took place? Here we are, 100 years on from Federation, so it's hard to imagine what Maleny was really like in those days. The oldest Maleny residents who would remember anything would now be eighty or ninety. They were not alive at Federation. Their knowledge is recollection of what their ancestors told them. Lots of these stories have already been documented by a number of people and the records are held in Landsborough Shire Historical Museum, Caloundra City Library or the John Oxley Library in Brisbane.
So who lived in Maleny in 1901? For this information I have turned to the Post Office records of 1900 and 1901. The list makes interesting reading and includes their occupation and some businesses. These are the people registered at the Post Office of the day. The directories tell us that Maleny was in the West Bay District, 61 miles North from Brisbane, rail to Landsborough and thence hire 10 miles. The directories do not tell us the mode of transport. This was either bullock wagon or horseback or "shanks pony" (by foot for the younger generation). Before 1899 the "mail route" left Landsborough, by horse to Coochin Creek, Peach Trees (Peachester) a distance of 4 miles, then via the old "Shute" road to McCARTHY'S (Mountain View Rd, later named Wootha) a distance of 11 miles, then a further 4 miles to Blackall Range (Maleny) the total distance being 19 miles. In 1899 the route went via McCarthy's to MALENY, a total of 14 miles. In 1901 this route was extended to TUETOBURG (Witta) a distance of 6 miles, making the total mail route 20 miles. There were unofficial mail carriers prior to these dates. The 1900 & 1901 lists for the above three localities on top of the range read like a who's who of the then Blackall Range communities. In alphabetical order they are:
Madeline Elizabeth Armanasco schoolteacher, John Barlow manager Qld plantation, Walter J Bartlett coffee plantation, Augusta Bergann, Carl Bobermien, William Bobermien farmers, Sampson Brown selector, Lillian Buckley teacher, Thomas Byrne, William Carnell, Thomas Cole, John Cookley, Timothy Donovan, John Dorandly selectors, Francis Dunlop selector/butcher, William Dunlop selector, Jim Fahey farmer, Christian Flesser, William Flesser, Fredrick Flesser farmers, Henry Fowler, David Gourly selectors, John Grigor selector/farmer, William A Grigor selector, Lewellyn Jones schoolteacher, James Laverick, Robert Laverick selectors, Edward Lawley diary, Henry Leffler farmer, William Hammond Lillingstone selector/schoolteacher, Joseph McCarthy timbergetter/farmer/postmaster/selector, John Somerville McKenzie schoolteacher, Rudolf Manitzky, Thomas McLaren, selectors Job Minchington, Noah Minchington farmers , Timothy Murphy selector/sawyer/farmer, Bernhardt Nothling, Carl M Nothling, Julius Nothling, Karl Nothling, Martin Nothling, Timothy O'Donovan farmers, Henry O Rees, Henry Rhabelz selectors, George Ruppert farmer, Peter Scott, William Simpson, William Sinclair selectors, William Skipper timbergetter/farmer, John Slack farmer, Alfred Smith, Ebenezer Smith, James Spark, John Sweeney ?, Ludwig Tesch selector, John Tinworth ?, George E Tucker farmer, Edward Tucker, Richard Tucker selectors, August Vandrieke farmer, Fredrick J Vandrieke, Henry Vandrieke, John J Walker selectors, Theodore Walter ?, Frank Warne selector/ grazier/timbergetter, Fred F Warne farmer/JP, John J Walker, Stephen W Walker, William H Wells selector.
From the list above we can obtain some insight on what was happening in Maleny 100 years ago. Farmers, Schoolteachers, Timbergetters, Sawyers, Butchers, Graziers, Postmasters are but a few. There were of course others in the area, not registered in Post Office records, plus any listing of women, who are sadly missing from the records. Pre 1900 records dating back to First Selectors of 1878 also show a number of other families, as do records post 1901. Old maps are a wonderful source of additional information. The earliest map of the area in my possession is dated 1875. (I am currently working on a total listing of Selectors from 1878 onwards).
The Post Office records of 1900 and 1901 show Maleny as a Post Office, whereas McCarthy's is listed as a postal district only. The first entry for Maleny and McCarthy's appears in the 1892/3 Directory. Before this date, Maleny post office was known as Blackall Range postal district, but no township. Mapleton first appears in the 1901 directory. Montville was established later. I have not included Mapleton, Flaxton and Montville in the above list, as time didn't permit me to do so. Teutoberg first appears in the 1896/97 Directory as being on the Blackall Range, 16 miles from Landsborough. The change from Teutoberg to Witta first appears in the 1916 directory.
"Black Belt" Pioneer Defeats Bear
William Sinclair (snr) and his wife Thomasina (nee Little) left Glasgow Scotland on Mar 4 1886 bound for Brisbane Australia. Accompanying them on the journey was Uncle Simon Sinclair. They came by the steamship Duke of Sutherland, arriving in Brisbane on May 7 1886. William and Thomasina were married on Feb 4 1886 one month before they embarked on their journey to Australia. William was about 26 yo and Thomasina only 21. This was the beginning of a new life in a new country. They selected land on the Blackall Range in 1886-9. William selected Portion 33V 160 acres, (Agricultural Farm) AF 476 and Simon; Portion 38V 160 acres AF 535, Parish of Bribie, on the coastal side of the now Maleny Montville Rd. Sinclairs Lane is named after the pioneer family. Sadly Simon was killed whilst felling a tree on his property on Jan 4 1894 and was buried on the property, later to be named "Alabama". William and Thomasina were to have 11 children. Sadly twins died at birth and are buried on the property. William was known as the "strongest man on the range" and could put a four bushel bag of corn (over 100 kilos) under each arm and carry them to his wagon. One day a travelling circus came to Landsborough. William agreed to wrestle a bear and to the amazement of the circus people he defeated the bear. Being a man of very few words, after he died the family found a "Black Belt" he won in Cumberland for wrestling. The strong man who "defeated the bear" died age 67 on Oct 19 1927. Thomasina his wife died age 70 on 13 Aug 1935. They are buried side by side in Mooloolah cemetery, a memorial to the strength and determination of our pioneers.
Teutoberg to Witta - 1916
The 1830's saw the beginnings of substantial immigration from other than the British Isles. Immigrants came from Italy, Greece, Germany, Malta and Scandinavia. They came to avoid poverty, famine, political and religious persecution. They came to work on goldfields, railroads, wheat fields and sugar-cane farms. By 1861 there were about 27,00 Germans in Australia and by 1890's, 40,000. Ludwig Leichhardt came from Berlin in 1842. In Dec 1843 he explored the Blackall Ranges with John Archer. In the1880's a number of Germans came to Teutoberg on the Blackall Range. Germans made a very significant contribution to the settlement of Australia. The Queensland government offered free and assisted passage to German settlers and by 1891 there were 15,000 in Queensland. Australia joined Great Britain and embraced the 1st World War 1914-18 against Germany with innocent ignorance. Of a population of less than five million more than 330,000 had volunteered to fight, one out of every two were wounded and one in five killed. An entire generation had been mutilated. During the war anti-German feeling became very high resulting in the Internment of German settlers. German place names were changed to English or Aboriginal. In South Australia alone 69 place names were changed by the Nomenclature act of 1917. In Queensland "Teutoberg" was changed to "Witta". The Queensland Government Gazette of 20th May 1916 records the official change. Department of Public Lands, Brisbane, 18th May, 1916. It is hereby notified, for general information, that the Governor in Council has approved of the name of the township, situated four miles north-westerly from Maleny, in the Brisbane Land Agent's distric, and referred to in official records as "Teutoberg," being altered to "Witta." Batch 512. J. M. HUNTER, Secretary for Public Lands.
Journey into Pioneer Settlement of the Blackall Ranges
Profile - Sampson Brown
Sampson Brown selected his portion on 21 Mar 1880. His selection 1322 ( not 1332 as most documents incorrectly state) of 330 acres. It was next to Joseph MCCarthy on (the now) Stanley River Rd. He was born in Cambridgeshire England. His soujourn before arriving on the Blackall Range was via Brisbane, Seedy Creek, Broadwater, Redland Bay (then Priests Gully), Eight Mile Plains, Blackall Range. He went to finally live in Woodford. He arrived in Brisbane by the ship "Callet" on 3rd March 1873 after a voyage of 90 days. He had only 1 pound ($2) in his pocket. Sampson married Lydia Potter, daughter of James Potter (not Patten) of West Wratting, England and they had two sons and five daughters. After Lydia died he remarried Fanny Jane Goodman by whom he had one daughter and two sons. He cut a path through the standing scrub with his own hands to his selection and built a 3 bedroom house of cherrywood. He was a very strong man who was able to hump a 200lb bag of flour from Bald Knob to his selection at Wootha, a distance of 7 miles (11+ kms). With sturdy spirit he wrested a livelihood from the virgin bush under extreme hardship to contribute to the establishment of Maleny. Tragedy stuck the Brown family as it did many of our pioneers. His daughter Louisa from his first marriage died 3 June 1883 age 2 years of inflammation of the lungs lasting 9 days. She was born at Eight Mile Plains. She was buried in Reserve 138 Gympie Rd, Mellum Creek (Landsborough), believed to be the first burial in this reserve. (Other records say Obi Park).
Journey into Pioneer Settlement of the Blackall Ranges
Profile - Charles William Walker
Charles William Walker was one of our first selectors. He was born in Lancashire England around 1852. After a string of child tradgies (six male and one female) Charles' mother Sarah Ann (nee Simpson) came by ship toAustralia with Charles and his four brothers around 1867. It would seem that Charles' father John did not come to Australia with them. Charles arrived on the Blackall Range in 1880, taking up his selection of 640 acres (a square mile) on Portion 1271. The selection was on what is now Mountain View Rd on the northern side, around McCarthy Rd. The selection ran all the way back to the Obi Obi creek but did not cross it. Only the Joseph McCarthy selection 1221 crossed Obi Obi Creek. The 1892 map and Moreton 40 chain map of 1913 show the location. Walkers Creek on the Landsborough/Maleny Rd is named after him, as also was Walkers Pinch (not named on the new road) The old road went through his property near where the Bryce Pioneer Cottage is to-day. Charles didn't spend all of his time on his selection because he worked on the railways in the Rockhampton area, the Kuranda line in North Queensland, the Ipswich Granchester line and the Roma St tunnels. To protect his selection Charles had a "baliff" live on it. Charles married Mary Ellen (Nellie) Wilkinson on 12 Sept 1888. Nellie's family lived in the Lockyer Valley and were also railway people. Probably how Charles met Nellie. (The writer is researching the Wilkinson family). Charles' brother Stephen William also took up selection of 160 acres Portion 61V on the escarpment side of Mountain View Rd opposite Charles. Charles and Nellie had six children: Sarah Ann (died of lead posioning), Maud (who married George McCarthy), Charlie (who died in the 1st world war), Doug (died in an accident), Wallie (married Beryl Crawley who still lives in Maleny) and Agnes May (who married Jack Harris). Charles died on 15 May 1923 and Nellie died 12 Sept 1925. They are buried in Section C of Toowong Cemetery (Brisbane) along with three of their children.
Inquest at Campbellville
In 1966 Forestry employees discovered a site containing 5 to 9 graves in the Coochin Creek area. Folklore has it that a man named CLANCY was a schoolteacher at Campbellville (Coochin Creek) in the saw milling days of the 1860's. It was believed his weekends were spent at the Mooloolah pub on the old Gympie Rd where he would forget it all. One Monday he didn't show up for work and after searching for him he was found dead in the bush. It is said he had become stuck in the branch of a tree whilst wending his way back and had attempted to cut off his leg with his pocketknife. The townsfolk buried him where they found him on the high creek bank and fenced the grave.
The truth is that CLANCY, first names Patrick Griffin, arrived at Coochin Creek on the little paddle wheeler "Mavis" from Brisbane. George Bartholemew the manager of Coochin Creek Sawmills in his disposition at the Official Inquest on 27 April 1886 stated "about 6 or 7 weeks ago, a man dressed in a grey tweed suit and helmet hat arrived here by the "Mavis" steamer from Brisbane. I enquired who he was and was told he had come up for Joseph McCarthy of the Blackall Range". Patrick Murphy a labourer at the sawmills who had known Clancy since 1885 said in his disposition "I saw the body now lying in the bush on the bank of Coochin Creek and by the clothes I identify it as the body of Patrick Clancey (sic) who came here by the Mavis on Friday about 6 or 7 weeks ago, I was talking to him on board the boat on that day, I have known him since 1865, he was at my house between 7 and 8 o'clock the same evening he arrived at the mill in company with the steward of the Mavis, he told me that Joseph McCarthy of the Blackall Range put him on board the steamer and that he was going up to McCarthy's place, and that he was to send a horse to take him up, he left my place in company with the Steward of the Steamer Richard Ormrod. Between 4 and 5 o'clock the next morning he came to my place and asked the way to Mellum (Landsborough) and went away again in the direction of the wharf. I saw nothing more of him after that. He was sober but appeared to be suffering from heavy drinking". The inquest of death stated that "his profession was unknown, that he was wearing grey tweed sac coat and trousers, mock lace ES boots, about one mile from Coochin Creek saw mills, date of death unknown, cause exhaustion". The full text of the Inquest has been obtained by Lyn Bateman of Landsborough Shire Historical Museum. A very interesting bizarre story from the past.
Maps! Maps! Pioneer Maps
Our first settlers arrived on the Blackall Range in the 1870's. The first to apply for selection was Isaac Hudson Burgess. His selection was portion No.98 dated 12 November 1878, consisting of 790 acres. Its front bordered on Mountain View Rd and went all the way back to the Obi Obi creek. The 105 acre Mary Cairncross Park (Scenic Reserve) donated by the Thynne sisters to preserve the original "Big Scrub" in Mountain View Rd is part of the original selection. The first survey of the area was done in the name of Obi Obi Creek. Applications were for portions of land on Obi Obi Creek. The 1892 Map details the various selection portions, whereas the Moreton 40 chain map of 1913 adds the selectors names. Various Parish Maps through the years show details of Portion and Sub-division changes. The 1:25000 Department of Forestry Map series 9444 also show a lot of the original selectors portion numbers.
Joseph and Maria Mccarthy
I have purposely left off writing about this pioneer couple because the more I research the more I am intrigued with this family. I have decided to make this a series of articles on the McCarthy pioneer family. Streets like McCarthy Rd & McCarthy Shute Rd are named after them. Their residence was named Mountain View, so hence Mountain View Rd. Timber, butter, cheese, cream, dairying, building, sawyer, blacksmith and machinery are but few of their exploits. They ran a whole range of businesses of their own. John Ahern in his memoirs of August 1990 describes 'Joe' as "an ingenious bloke", and again "the spark plug of Maleny". Family anecdotes both the good and the not so good, reveal the humanity of this family. Maria was an O'Hare' or HEHIR, pronounced 'hair', a whole family story going back to County Clare Ireland, of itself. I have already spoken with a number of descendants of both sides of the family who live in various localities of SE Queensland. Then there's a possible link between my own step son Matthew McCarthy via New York, Boston, County Cavan and County Cork Ireland to follow up. There are pioneer links with Magill, South Australia and areas all over Queensland, viz: Logan, Ipswich, Dalby, Townsville and Cooktown in the far North. Newspaper cuttings make fascinating reading, if you have some I'd love a copy. If you're related in any way I'd like to hear from you. If you have some aspect or story to contribute I'd like to hear from you and I'll try and blend all of these into the ongoing story.
Joseph McCarthy of Maleny.
Armistice day wouldn't occur until 11 November 1918. South Australia was a fledgling Colony. Explorer Charles Sturt visited the site of Adelaide on his journey along the rivers of inland Australia. South Australia was founded privately as a utopian British Province in the antipodes, rather than as a penal colony like Tasmania & NSW. Governor Hindmarsh declared the Province of South Australia and the location of Adelaide on the 31st December 1836. The McCarthy's had arrived from Ireland around about this time. Joseph McCarthy was born at Moggill (Magill) South Australia (S.A.) on 11 November 1837. His parents were Michael and Mary (nee Donovan) McCarthy. How Joseph's parents got there is not really clear. One report says they came out on the "Utopia", but there is no record of the "Utopia" visiting S.A. before the 1850's. So how did they get to S.A.? There is one report of the "Utopia" being wrecked at Portland Victoria around this time. Further still how did Joseph get to Queensland? Perhaps there is someone reading this article that knows the answers to these questions. Further research as these articles unfold may reveal some of the mysteries of the origins and movements of this family. Married at age 28, Joseph McCarthy seemed to wander all over the eastern seaboard of Australia before settling in Maleny in his late 30's around 1875 to 1878. He must have had a great pioneering spirit considering the steep terrain of the southern slopes of the Blackall Range and the inaccessibility of the dense rainforest. Certainly Maleny owes much to this family along with other pioneer families for Maleny's origins and success.
McCarthy Shute Gum tree still there 34 years later
In 1966 Stan Tutt and Francis Dunlop visited McCarthy Shute, that linked Peachester and Maleny. This was one of the original roads up the range. Francis Dunlop was a grandson of Jane Dunlop who brought her family up to Bald Knob on August 15 1875 along the Landsborough Maleny road. This of course was three plus years before Isaac Burgess selected land on the Obi Obi in 1878. No doubt there were many timber cutters to and fro up to the range before 1878. One report says that Burgess squatted on his selection on 1st January 1872. There was also the Simpson brothers John and William camped on the 4000 ridges at Cedarton. William was a very early settler in the Maleny district around 1875. His brother John took up Bunya Aris in the Peachester (Peach Trees) district .Jim Page (jnr) explored the area also with Joseph McCarthy in 1877. Page claimed to be the first white man on the present site of Maleny Township. Many were those who made forays into the southern spurs of the Blackall Range. A photograph of Francis Dunlop standing next to a gum tree near the top of McCarthy Shut was taken by Stan Tutt on June 6 1966. I was very interested in this photograph and went exploring to see if the gum tree was still there. It had distinctive features so I felt it should be reasonably easy to find if it was still standing. The Shute road in the foreground of the 1966 photograph looks relatively unmade so it could have been anywhere along the Shute or even off to the side somewhere. So off I went exploring with a mental copy of what I was looking for. 'Presto' there it was, exactly the same tree but 34 years later. I could hardly believe that I'd found it. I rushed back home and relooked at the 1966 photograph and yes this gum tree was the one. So, on the next possible occasion along with my wife Kathryn and trusty camera off we went for another photograph. Yours truly standing in the same spot where Francis Dunlop stood 34 years ago.
Books, Newspapers about Maleny
Do you have a collection of books or booklets about Maleny or The Blackall Range. I would like to hear from you. I am interested in items like Reminiscences of Early Queensland by Tom Petrie through to recent publications such as In Company of Ghosts by Stan Tutt. Newspaper collections are also welcome. Series like The Maleny Herald through to The Range News would be great. Articles cut from other Newspapers or Magazines would also be of interest as are any personal writings, letters or correspondence. The item or article doesn't have to be "earth shattering," anything of interest on the area would be great. I am collecting and compliing a listing of books about The Blackall Ranges. I would like to include your book in my listing. I would also like to borrow or purchase any items of interest to me.
Please write to: Bill Johnston PO Box 29 Maleny 4552 or email: bjmaleny@bigpond.net.au