Dorothy Ivy Struck Oil HEISER

News reaches me to-day from a member of the HEISER family who reliably informs me on how Dorothy was endowed with her unusual name.

I am informed that Dorothy was the first white child born in a small town called Struck Oil, which is approximately seven kilometres north east of Mt Morgan in Queensland.

In the original post about Dorothy I thought her parents were a bit excited about something, which I'm sure they were.

JPs in Queensland

In 'The Queenslander' on 3rd of May, 1890

The following gentlemen have been appointed justices of the peace:—

George ADAMS, Brisbane
John Shillito ALLEN, Charters Towers
John BARBELER, Maryborough
William BARRY, Eidsvold
Andrew BELL, North Pine
Hugh Percy Hamilton BENWELL, Townsville
Michael BREWER, Swan Creek, Warwick
Edward BYTHEWAY, mayor of Gympie
Frederick CASELEY, Charters Towers
William Stirling DONALD, Manuka, Winton
John Clement DOVE, Rockhampton
John Gilbert FEARNLEY, Cairns
Robert George Dundas FITZGERALD, Scone, N.S.W.
Alexander GORDON, Cairns
Thomas Roderick GRAY, Brisbane
William HAMILTON, Eidsvold
James HANLEY, Back Plains, Clifton
Alfred Ernest HARDAKER, Rockhampton
Ralph Albert Edward HARRISON, Boyne Island, Gladstone
William HODGEN, Toowoomba
Alexander Henry HUDSON, Brisbane
David Philip JAMES, F.R.C.P., Lon., Croydon
John LEAHY, Cloncurry
John LEAHY, Thargomindah
Robert LEITCH, Strath Pine
Robert Rutherford MacPHEREON, Dagworth, Winton
Charles Clewley MARTINDALE, Corinda, Brisbane
Henry MILLER, South Brisbane
John MITCHELL, Bundaberg
Thomas NICHOLSON, Esk
George NOAKES, Bundaberg
George William Frederic PAUL, M.R.C.S., Edin., Sandgate
Philip Dudley PERCEVAL, Glenelg, Stanthorpe
Edward Creber PUTT, Carrington, Herberton
Walter Vardon RALSTON, Townsvllle
Arthur Anthony ROBINSON, Mackinlay
Walter TAYLOR, Brisbane
William Frederick Augustus THIELE, Dalesford, Bundaberg
Alexander TRIMBLE, Brisbane
William Frederick WARE, Winton
John Francis WOODLOCK, Goondiwindi

The resignation of Mr. B. SPARKS, J.P., has been accepted.

A Wonderful Way of Expression

The following article was posted by Michael Coomber on [KENT-ENG] mailing list and shows a wonderful way of expressing things in days gone by.

>From Public Advertiser ( London,  England ), Tuesday, October 5, 1790;  Issue 17550.  A few days since the  following shocking accident happened at Farnborough,  in Kent:    -  As Mr. TIBBS , master of the George Inn, at that place, was  taking five  of his children to school at Orpington, in a post-chaise, the  door accidentally  flew open, and two of the children fell out, when one of  the wheels went over  the head of a fine boy, ( who was breeched but the day  before ) and killed him  almost instantly; the other escaped unhurt.

Elizabeth GORMAN

A notice that appeared in The Courier on the 9th of February in 1864

Lunacy. - Eliza Gorman was charged with being a dangerous lunatic. William Talford, warden at the South Brisbane depot, deposed that she was in the habit of behaving in a violent and unaccountable manner. Morey Seymour, a passenger by the Wansfell, deposed that Gorman came out in the same ship, and that from her exceedingly violent behaviour it had been found necessary to place her under restraint during the last part of the voyage. Drs. Hobbs and Gunn deposed that she was unfit to be at large, and she was sent to the lunatic asylum.

On the Wansfell was another passenger named Jane GORMAN aged 17. Elizabeth was listed as being 30 years old. Could this have been mother and daughter ?

The voyage of the Wansfell mentioned here was that which arrived at Port Denison on 30th of December in 1863. Morey SEYMOUR is Charles Morley SEYMOUR whose wife Hannah (nee JACKSON) had died on the 2nd of February 1864, five days before this notice appeared in the paper.

PILES HENDLE CHEW Day

223 years ago today the first of my family arrived in Australia.

Mary PILES arrived on the ship 'Lady Penrhyn' along with a few friends while across the bay Ottiwell INGLE was on board the 'Alexander' with a few of his mates.

Naturally if you are going to send all of these nice young people on a holliday cruise around the other side of the big blue ball you had better send along a chaperone to keep an eye on them, so their sponsor George William Frederick sent a chap by the name of John CHEW.

Now Mary and Ottiwell enjoyed themselves so much they decided to get married in September that year and at about the same time Mary was getting herself a little extra enjoyment with that chaperone (everyone knows that chaperones can't be trusted) and my great great great grandfather, John HENDLE, was born the following June.

My mother would have loved to have known about the criminals in her family, but I'm not finished here just yet

Samuel and Amelia GILL

To-day whilst searching through an immigration index I came across an entry for Samuel and Amelia GILL; nothing too out of the ordinary about that, you say.

The ship they arrived on was the Western Monarch which arrived in Brisbane on the 27th of March in 1876.

Now Samuel was the younger of the two at 65 years of age and his wife, Amelia, was only 72 years old.

Now I haven't done any research on these two people but there is a Samuel GILL who has died on the 3rd of October in 1886 and his parents were George GILL and Elizabeth (unknown). And there is an Amelia GILL who died on the 27th of July in 1891 and her parents were George HUTCHINSON and Mary WOOD. Both Samuel and Amelia died somewhere in country Queensland.

There is no other mention of Samuel and Amelia together in Qld bdm index, ie. not asoicated with any other birth or death.

Looking in Trove there is a death notice in 'The Queenslander' on the 8th of August in 1891 which reads, "GILL, On the 27th July, at the residence of her son-in-law, Thomas Pownall, Cambridge Street, South Brisbane, Amelia Gill, relict of the late Samuel Gill, in her 90th year."

The same notice also appeared in The Brisbane Courier on the 5th of August 1891.

They obviously came to Australia to see or be with their son Thomas, but that is surely some trip to make at their age.

QUINN - WILLIAMS

I am looking for any information about John Noel QUINN and Hilda WILLIAMS.

John at one time lived in New Farm in Brisbane with his wife and three daughters. Sometime after 1969 John and his wife Imelda parted company. Later in retirement John was living with a woman named Hilda WILLIAMS and they spent some time touring around parts of Australia.

John died sometime prior to 2005 but I don't know where. The last known address I know for Hilda WILLIAMS was at the Pottsville Beach North caravan park and Hasting's Point, both small towns on the north coast of New South Wales. I'm not sure that either of these addresses are still current.

I would like to make contact with anyone who may know either of these people or anyone in their families. You can write to me any time with any snippet of information.