Edward Malone, Joseph Wilson and The White Swan

Edward Malone (pictured) and Joseph Thomas Wilson were rival publicans and bush poets in Swan Creek in the 19th century.

These two colourful characters began as pioneer farmers in the Swan Creek district. In May 1868, Wilson was granted 18 acres (portion 284) of the farming land excised from Canning Downs as the Warwick Agricultural Reserve; in 1876, Malone owned 75 acres of land on which he built a two-storey sandstone house.

But both Wilson and Malone decided to become publicans.

When the second Country Publican's General License in the growing town of Swan Creek was issued to Wilson, he opened the Cottage Inn, later (1875) opening the eponymous Wilson's Hotel.  In May 1878, Malone successfully applied for a license to operate The White Swan from his sandstone home. 

Rivalry between the publicans was always inevitable, but Wilson's attitude to alcohol took a sudden unexpected turn.

The story goes that he was inebriated after celebrating the birth of his youngest child and mistook the swaddled infant in a basket near the fire for firewood! The baby was rescued from the fire by the midwife but the penitent father immediately swore off the grog, named the child Temperance*, and set up a new, temperance hotel in Jack Smith’s Gully (Swan Creek).

While very appealing, the story may well be apocryphal because Temperance was born on 23 December 1882, long after her father had set up his hotel. 

However, the rivalry between Wilson and Malone was real. 

In March 1882, Wilson placed a 'pro-water' sign on a post near The White Swan, Malone (an Irishman known locally as a wit) responded in verse, publishing the following in the advertising pages of The Warwick Argus on 11 March 1882. 

The dispute became personal when Wilson responded with his own advertisement, 10 days later, calling Malone a 'lazy, short, fat, maligning publican'.

To the amusement of the populace (and no doubt the economic benefit of both publicans) the exchange continued, Malone later publishing the 'advertisements' in a book entitled 'Rhymes', together with other verse he had written. The review below appeared in The Worker in August 1912.

Malone sold The White Swan Inn in 1884, after which it continued to operate under successive licensees until December 1887 when the then owner (Bernard Hughes) returned the building to its former use as a private residence. The house remained in the Hughes family until May 1972 when it was transferred to Colin and Edna Tyson who had discovered the derelict building on a weekend drive. 

The derelict White Swan, 1972

Extensive restoration and renovation was conducted, including demolition of the detached wooden kitchen in 1976 and construction of a modern annexe utilising some demolition materials from Warwick's Bank of New South Wales, including bricks for the fireplace. 

Bank of New South Wales, cnr Palmerin and Fitzroy Sts, c. 1905 (SLQ Collection)

The Tysons had also intended to use some of the sandstone and while this proved unviable, some of the larger sandstone blocks were subsequently used in the 2001 restoration of Glengallan, and carved sandstone architectural features from the Bank building now feature in the Locke Street (Warwick) garden of one-time White Swan owners, Donna and Ross Fraser.

In January 1989 the property was transferred to Neil and Donna Lomas and in March 1992, to Donna Lomas solely. 

On 1 November 1983, the restored White Swan was registered on the Australian Heritage Database maintained by the Australian Government's Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment as "a representative of the sandstone building tradition of the Warwick district" and as "a relic of a now outdated mode of transport, namely coaching". As at December 2021, the Commission notes that it is "in the process of developing and/or upgrading official statements for places listed prior to 1991" and that "the above data was mainly provided by the nominator and has not yet been revised by the Commission".

The building was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 and is included in the local Southern Downs register.

The restored White Swan today is a private residence

(Department of Environment and Heritage photograph, 2017)

The Swan Creek district, situated 13 km from Warwick, was one of the first areas in the south-eastern Downs to be occupied by a farming community. In 1827, Allan Cunningham traversed the valley which later became known as Jack Smith's Gully, after an early pioneer in that locality. It is thought that the district was named Swan Creek because swans were among the many species of birds found there in the early days of settlement.

Swan Creek 1899

(This blog includes information and photographs from the history of the Malone family and The White Swan in Donna Fraser's posts on Lost Faces of Warwick Facebook page. It also contains information from the Queensland Heritage Register: https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=600523#)

*Temperance (Queenie) Wilson grew up to be a teacher and, according to family sources, is believed to have been the first woman Inspector of Schools in Queensland.

 Nellie Bowley - Killarney's Dingo Lady

She was a crack shot with a 10-gauge shot gun, paid for her second husband’s divorce so they could marry, and hunted dingoes until she was 101. 

Nellie Bowley, affectionately known as 'The Dingo Lady', died in August 2009, just a month short of her 109th birthday, after a life of shooting and trapping dingoes and wild dogs on her mountain property, 'The Falls', near Killarney in the rugged border ranges between Queensland and NSW. 

Nellie was born on 15 September 1900 to Bertha and Daniel Watts. She was the eldest in her family and outlived her seven siblings and her two husbands. At the age of five she wandered off into the scrub. Her frantic mother and father finally found her safe and sound, but her father thought he had the remedy to stop such a thing happening again: "Don't put the damn shoes on her, and she won’t go far" he told her mother. Nellie became accustomed to not wearing shoes and didn't put on a pair again until she was 14. Prior to this she would round up the cows bare-footed, even when there was frost on the ground.

 
Nellie left school at age 12 to help work the farm; by the age of 15 she and her mother were hand milking 100 cows a day.

When dingoes and wild dogs were doing great damage to the family's cows, goats and geese (one night alone they took 13 calves), Nellie convinced her father to invest in a dingo trap and started trapping dingoes in the high country. Just 12 years old at the time, she soon became known as 'The Dingo Girl' – and was still setting traps 88 years later. At the age of 18, she bought a 10-gauge shotgun from a neighbour for ten shillings and became a dingo trapper and shooter.

Nellie married her first husband in 1938, but he died of cancer 12 years later. In 1952 Nellie married Lynn Bowley who had pursued her for two years before she agreed to marry him. Lynn, a returned soldier, was poor and could not afford to divorce his then wife, so Nellie paid for his divorce so they could marry. Six years later, Lynn also died of cancer and from then on Nellie ran the farm on her own.

Nellie gained nationwide attention due to her ability to call, trap and shoot dingoes on her property. She is reputed to have caught 30 dingoes in 30 nights at one point - and, at a pound a scalp, it was a good little income. (See note re the Dingo and Marsupial Destruction Act of 1918 below)

While Nellie would drive to Killarney on occasion, she rarely travelled into Warwick and only made a couple of trips to Brisbane during her lifetime.

It was not until her mid-90s that Nellie finally put down her rifle, frustrated by her failing eyesight because it made it difficult for her to take aim. She did however continue to set traps. She set her last dingo trap at the age of 101, when family stepped in and told her that it needed to end. It is thought that during her lifetime Nellie would have culled more than a thousand dingoes and wild dogs.

Aged 101, Nellie finally left her home and the 100-acre holding her father had gifted her when she first married. She then moved to Killarney's aged care facility. She attributed her long life to "good, clean country living and home-cooked meals". At each birthday party, Nellie would always say 'See you next year!'.

Nellie died in August 2009 and was farewelled in a simple country service at Killarney. She is buried in the shadow of her beloved Spring Creek Mountain.

This story was posted by David Owens on the Lost Faces of Warwick Facebook page on 24 June 2020.

Nissen hut in which Nellie lived. Source: J Explores via Flickr (31 January 2018)

Controlling Dingos

Efforts to control dingos in Australia began with European settlement and intensified as pastoralists occupied land west of the Great Dividing Range. The first dog fence was constructed in the 1880s, but by 1919, Queensland had a Dingo and Marsupial Destruction Act which came into force on 31 December that year. The Darling Downs Dingo Board was one of the Boards established throughout the State to administer the Act.

In April 1919, the price per scalp was £1.0.0 (one pound). According to the Reserve Bank of Australia's online inflation calculator, this is the equivalent in 2020 of $81.15.

In December 1922, the Warwick Daily News reported the total destruction of various species of animals since 1877 (45 years).

The scalp price remained unchanged until the 1950s when Parliament announced the construction of the Queensland section of the dingo-proof fence. (The report below appeared in The Northern Miner, Charters Towers, on Saturday, 10 July 1954.) 

The northernmost end of the Wild Dog Barrier Fence is between the centres of Jimbour and Jandowae on the Western Downs. From there it extends westerly, then southerly to connect with the NSW Border Fence and then to the South Australian Dog Fence which ends in the Great Australian Bight, 5,400 km away. The fence is the longest man-made structure in the world - longer than the Great Wall of China.

The fence can be seen from the roadside near Jandowae, but the town itself boasts a steel sculpture of the Dingo (Canis lupus dingo) and a model of the fence. The sculpture by Andy Scott was cast in Glasgow (Scotland) and unveiled on 6 March 2008. (Photograph: Judith Anderson, March 2021)

 

 

WARWICK'S FIRST PEOPLES

This brief overview is based principally on the research of Professor Maurice French (University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba) and David Parsons' 2003 history, Waringh Waringh: a history of Aboriginal People in the Warwick Area and their Land. The challenges of writing about Indigenous history are addressed in the August 2018 essay by Anna Clark (UTS) at this link: https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-great-australian-silence-50-years-on-100737.

In the 1960s, radiocarbon dating of a human skull* found in 1886 at Talgai, near Allora, provided the first definitive proof that there had been a settled population of Aboriginal people in the Warwick district for at least 11,000 years, dating back to the time when megafauna such as giant kangaroos and wombats grazed on the Downs. 

When the botanist explorer Alan Cunningham arrived on the Downs in 1827, there was an estimated Aboriginal population of 3,000, sustained by plentiful sources of plant and animal food and reliable rivers and waterholes. 

Unfortunately for both the Gidhabal people and the native animals, the area soon proved irresistible to European pastoralists and graziers. The Leslie brothers were the first to establish their station, Canning Downs, on the outskirts of modern Warwick in 1840, and within a decade, some 2,000 white men (and some women) had established 50 pastoral stations, stocked by 1,400 horses, 43,000 cattle and 600,000 sheep. As Maurice French says, "the environment – human and natural – was traumatised".

The Homestead, Canning Downs by Conrad Martens, 1854 (Image courtesy of QAGOMA).

The Gidhabal people initially retreated to the security of the mountains and scrub, but then began to resist. "Between 1842 and 1845, a ‘great fear’ descended on the frontier: shepherds were speared, stock were hamstrung or run off; squatters mounted hunting parties in search of the Indigenous guerillas" (French). 

Area occupied by the Gidhabal people, the traditional owners of the area around Warwick 

(Sharpe, M. (1995). Dictionary of Western Bunjalung. UNE.) 

Despite the conflict, some European settlers were genuinely interested in the culture and language of the Gidhabal. A German settler, Dr Hermann Beckler, observed "a grand corroboree" in 1858 which involved hundreds of participants. He wrote down the music he heard, noting that it "moved me more than any other music I have ever heard in Australia". In the same year, another sympathetic early settler, Thomas Hall, observed the last bora ceremony ever held by people in Killarney, leaving us a detailed description of both the ring and the three-day ceremony. 

'A Corrobbory', one of six drawings of the Darling Downs by Thomas John Domville Taylor (sketched from life, 1844).

There were many such positive stories from both sides of the conflict, and the Indigenous people were not without their advocates as can be seen in this excerpt from a lengthy editorial in The Queenslander on 1 May 1880:

Ultimately, the Indigenous people were defeated and demoralised, and their numbers drastically reduced through conflict, removal of food sources, and European diseases such as smallpox, influenza and syphilis. The survivors, estimated by some to be as few as 500, became casual station hands, domestic servants or fringe dwellers. By 1870, there were very few full-blood Aboriginal people still alive in the district; by the turn of the century, there were none. 

The first 70 years of the 20th century were years when Aboriginal people were no longer regularly needed as workers on properties and were often forcibly moved to reserves and missions. There was a great deal of mistreatment of Aboriginal people at this time but, as early as the 1920s, public opinion had begun to change, leading ultimately to the 21st century moves towards reconciliation and redress.  

In the Warwick district, some traces of the original Indigenous people can still be found. Parsons' history includes the photograph below of a tree on the Condamine River with a typical 'canoe scar'; a rocky creek bed west of Warwick still bears the marks of many years of shaping and sharpening stone weapons; the collection of the Warwick Historical Society's museum, Pringle Cottage, includes indigenous axe heads found by settlers in Emu Vale, Tannymorel, Yangan and other places; the Indigenous pathways from the Downs to the coast are followed today by our highways; and the disappearance of the the Pleiades constellation from Southern skies continues to mark the beginning of winter as it has since the ancestors of  today's Indigenous people lived on the Downs, 11,000 years ago. 

* Talgai skull: https://www.archaeologybulletin.org/articles/10.5334/bha.20202/)

FLOODS

Warwick has flooded many times, but until the flood of 1976, the event of January 1887 held the record as the highest in the entire recorded history of Warwick*.

The 1887 flood provided one of the most famous historic photographs of the town in flood. Now in the collection of the State Library of Queensland, it shows Albion St, looking north from the intersection with Fitzroy St. 

1887 flood (from cnr Albion & Fitzroy Sts)

The flood caused a great deal of damage and loss of life. On 26 January, The Warwick Examiner and Times reported: 'From the junction of the Albion and Fitzroy Streets and thence eastward ... the whole country was nothing but one mass of turbulent water, threatening destruction in every roar which in itself was unpleasant to hear...'

Men on horseback riding along Albion St during the 1893 flood. 

Buildings on the right are the Post and Telegraph Building and J.E.Conley's store.

The store was established by Russell Wilkins in 1875 as the Telegraph Stores 

then extended and renamed Telegraph Row in 1878.

OFFICIAL BUILDINGS in ALBION STREET

Land in Albion St was set aside for Warwick's first Post and Telegraph Office and Court House when the township was first surveyed. 

Albion St, looking northwards, in 1875, showing (from foreground) the Court House and Land Court, 

the first Post and Telegraph Office, and Russell Wilkins's Telegraph Stores.

POST OFFICE

The Post and Telegraph Office opened in 1870, but in 1891, following repeated floods, land on the corner of Palmerin and Grafton Sts was purchased by the government as a new site. 

Warwick Post and Telegraph Office, Albion St in 1875

 The relocation came after many years of public discussion and debate about other possible sites, including the old Court House - a very unpopular proposal, as can be seen from the 1896 article below.

 

The new Post Office building in Saracenic** style, was built of sandstone quarried at Yangan and was completed in 1898. It opened for business in March 1899. Stone from the old Post and Telegraph Office in Albion St was used in constructing additions to the Warwick Hospital in 1934.

New Warwick Post and Telegraph Office, cnr Palmerin & Grafton Sts, 1899

COURT HOUSE

The original Warwick Court House and Land Court was built in 1862-1863 on the corner of Albion and Fitzroy Sts. It had verandas on all four sides until 1875-6, when the front veranda was removed and a sandstone extension was added, facing Albion St, to provide rooms for the jury, the land agent, map storage and drafting, and a new veranda. (See below.) The building remained in use until it was condemned in 1924 but a new Court House was built in 1886 at the corner of Fitzroy and Guy Streets.

The extended Court House in 1875, cnr Albion & Fitzroy Sts

In 1887, the newspaper did not hold back in its assessment of the significance of the relocation to higher ground.   

The 1886 Court House, cnr Fitzroy & Guy Sts

* Flood records for Warwick extend back as far as 1887 and indicate that the city has a long history of flooding from the Condamine River. The highest recorded flood occurred in February 1976 when the river rose to a height of 9.10 metres on the Warwick flood gauge located at McCahon Bridge. The flood caused widespread flooding in the Warwick area with newspapers at the time reporting damage to over 100 homes and over 1000 people left homeless during the flood. The most recent major flood events occurred two weeks apart in December 2010 and January 2011. (http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/brochures/condamine_warwick/condamine_warwick.shtml#PreviousFlooding)

** 'Saracenic' refers to Islamic architecture consisting chiefly of mosques and tombs and characterized by decorated surfaces, bulbous domes, and horseshoe, pointed, and multifoil arches (Mirriam-Webster). The Post Office was designed by Alfred Barton Brady, the Queensland Government Architect at the time. It is not known why he chose this style.

POULSEN AND WHITE

Portrait of unidentified young women by Mads Poulsen

Mads Hansen Poulsen was the youngest of four Poulsen brothers who immigrated from Denmark  in the late 19th century. All four became photographers.

One brother established a studio in Maryborough, another set up his business in Gympie, while the eldest brother, Poul (Paul), was a photographer in northern NSW before establishing a highly reputed studio in Brisbane's Queen Street. 

Mads worked for his brother in Brisbane before marrying Agnes White, the daughter of prominent Brisbane resident, Silvanus White, in April 1900. 

Poul had been exploring the potential of Warwick as a location for a studio and Mads established his own studio there within four months of his marriage. 

Mads went into partnership with his brother-in-law, Silvanus Hill White, in 1908 and Poulsen and White continued to operate until 1949, making it one of the longest surviving photography businesses in Warwick. 

The closure of the business was prompted by Mads's deteriorating health. He moved to Kelvin Grove in Brisbane in 1949 and, within a few months, Silvanus Hill White sold his interest in the business. Mads died in Brisbane in 1951 at the age of 82; Silvanus Hill White died in May 1967.

Aside from producing views for the local postcard market, Poulsen and White were responsible for many wedding photographs and many of the fine enlarged portraits of Warwick's residents. 

Like many couples, Dulcie Fischer and Leonard Bradford were photographed 

at Poulsen and White's Studio after their wedding on 8 January 1946 

Part of the success of Poulsen and White was due to their skill at identifying opportunities to promote their business. The solar eclipse in 1922 was just one example.

BATTLE OF THE QUEENS

Fundraisers such as this were popular in Warwick in the 1920s. The Warwick Daily News on 22 September 1926 carried this detailed report of the Battle of the Queens.

Impressive Crowning Ceremony. Effort Realises £1028

The Country Queen Carnival was successfully held in the Town Hall last night, when a very large crowd witnessed the impressive crowning ceremony. The hall was tastefully decorated in blue and white (St. Mary's Church colours) which were intertwined with greenery. The stage was most effectively ornamented with greenery, and in the centre was arranged the throne draped in scarlet and purple. The Ideal Orchestra supplied excellent dance music. A delicious sit-down supper was arranged at long tables beautified with pink and dark purple sweet peas, tied with streamers of white and green.

The chief event of the evening, the crowning of the winning queen, took place at 10 o'clock. At the sound of the bugle call the four queens (Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western) marched through the hall to the stage with their attendants. 

The greatest excitement prevailed when it was found that the Northern Queen, Miss Vera O'Dempsey, had secured the highest number of votes, 13,460, which brought in the amount of £336/10/, contributed by Maryvale with the sum of £29/11/; Sladevale £49/14/6; Gladfield £51/12/6; Clinton Vale £86/18/6; Freestone £118/13/6. 

The Eastern queen, Miss Annie Smyth, came second with 12,606 votes equal to £315/3/5; Wiyarra contributed £23/2/3; Junabee £32/13/3; Emu Vale £34/6/6; Swan Creek £63/11/11; Yangan £159/9/6.

The Western queen, Miss Rita Collins, secured 6,440 votes, making the sum of £161/0/1. Thane's Creek collected £8/18/; Milmerran £10; Karrara £ 17/19/; Sandy Creek £21/5/; Pratten £23/1/6; Leyburn £37/6/6; Greymare £42/10/1. 

The Southern queen, Miss. B. Roach, won 6,300 votes, equal to £157/13/10. Dereen contributed £16, Jew's Retreat £17, Elbow Valley £24/9/3, Killarney £29/10/6, Loch Lomond £32, Tannymorel £88/14/1. The grand total for four queens amounted to £970/7/4.

Monsignor Byrne, P.P., V.G., Ipswich, in an appropriate speech, crowned the Northern Queen, and expressed his great pleasure of being present to take part in such a brilliant function. He spoke in glowing terms of the hard work done by the queens and their supporters to raise such a splendid sum in aid of their magnificent St. Mary's Church. Monsignor Potter also expressed his appreciation of the loyal support given to him by the country districts.

The frocking of the queens was smart and pretty. The winner, Miss O'Dempsey, was in white crepe de chine and lace. Her maids of honour frocked in crepe de chine and carrying posies of flowers, were the Misses. M. Peters, M. Ryan, D, Doran, and N. Booth. Miss M. Nolan was train-bearer and the page was Master G. Booth. 

Miss Annie Smyth (eastern queen) was in cream brocaded satin, with gold spangled purple briar, bordered with ermine. Her maids of honour, Misses B. Mahoney and K. Morrissy were frocked alike in cream silk marocain with train of pale blue satin, and tulle caps, finished with ostrich plumes. The pages, Masters E. Smyth and M. Henry, wore pale blue satin. The flower girls, little Doreen O'Connor and Monica Brennan, wore dainty frocks of French voile inlet with filet lace and tulle cans. 

The western queen (Miss Rita Collins) was prettily frocked in white mariette with guipure lace forming petals on skirt. She wore a band of royal blue and her cIoak and train were of scarlet velvet edged with ermine. Her attendants were Miss M. Cleary and Miss E. Collins, who wore cream crepe de chene frocks, inlet with lace. Misses Blaire Allan and Monlea Cleary were maids of honour and were dressed alike in dainty frocks of pink crepe de chine and carried baskets of flowers. Master Ronnie Arnold, as the herald, was in cream with kingfisher blue cloak, and the page, Master Jack Cleary, was in cream.

The southern queen, Miss B. Roach, was in white satin and lace, beaded in silver, and worn with cloak of scarlet. Misses Kathleen and Mary Wallace were maids of honour in frocks of white voile. The pages, Masters D'Arcy Baker and Aubrey Baker, were in white satin with plumed hats.

The sum of £58 was taken at the door. The clever organiser of the function, Mrs. Brosnan, is to be congratulated on the success of the carnival. Mr. Coman was in charge of the ticket office. The stage and the supper tables were decorated by Mrs. J. Kidner.

The photograph above is of the Western Queen, Kathleen (Rita) Collins who was born on 16 November 1906 to Cornelius Joseph Collins (1873-1959) and Bridget Mary Casey (1873-1953). She married Francis (Frank) Angland on 20 October 1937 and died on 28 April 1984 in Warwick at the age of 77.

WORLD WAR I: WHITE - MARSHALL

Elsie Winnifred Marshall was born on 17 November 1893 in Warwick to John Marshall (1873-1955) and Elizabeth Maria Mitchell (1871-1953). On 1 November 1916, in Warwick, she married William Stephen White who was born in NSW in 1884 to William Castle White (1851-1900) and Eliza Strain (1856-1938).

Elsie and William had two sons - John Castle White (1917-1970) and Graham Marshall White (1925-1996).

William died in Brisbane on 3 October 1926 at the age of 42 and Elsie on 6 September 1985 in Brighton, at the age of 91.

The Warwick Examiner and Times on Saturday, 11 November 1916, reported in detail on the wedding:

A wedding which created considerable interest was celebrated in the Presbyterian Church, Warwick, on Wednesday, 1st November, when Elsie, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Marshall, of Warwick and late of Toolburra, was united in the holy bonds of matrimony to Mr. Stephen White, of Clayfield, Brisbane, the Rev. A. MacKillop officiating.

As the pretty and youthful bride entered the church on the arm of her father, who subsequently gave her away, ''The Voice that Breathed over Eden" was sung. The church had been prettily decorated with ferns and pale pink peach blossoms, and in the centre of the archway was suspended a handsome floral wedding bell. The bride was attired in a handsome bridal robe of ivory crepe-de-chene mounted over silk. The skirt was panniered and caught below the hips with orange blossoms and finished with silk tassels. The high waisted bodice was composed of ninon, over beautiful Belgium bridal lace, and had the new cape and pinafore elect of crepe-de-chIne. Some beautiful handwork was introduced on the bodice, which was finished with folded sash and splash bow of crepe-de-chene at back. From the shoulders was suspended a handsome court train of white satin lined with palest pink and beautifully embroidered with true-lover's knots in crystal and pearl heads. The bridal veil was of silk net richly hand-embroidered and arranged cap fashion with wreath of orange blossoms. A shower bouquet composed of eucharist lilies, watsonias and asparagus ferns completed the pretty toilet.

The bridegroom's gift to the bride was a cluster diamond ring, to the bridesmaid a pearl necklet, and to the two little train-bearers gold curb bangles. The bride's gilt to the bridegroom was a pair of gold sleeve links.

Miss May White (sister of the bridegroom) attended as chief bridesmaid, and wore a dainty frock of white organdy, white leghorn hat trimmed with pale pink roses, and carried a posy of pink and white roses. The two little cousins of the bride, Clarice and Joan Marshall, acted as train-bearers., and were prettily attired in white silk frocks, mop caps of silk and lace, and carried baskets of pink flowers. Mr. Percy Marshall (cousin of the bride) acted as best man.

During the signing of the register, Miss Amy Mitchell sang the beautiful "Ave Maria". Miss Gillam presiding at the organ, played the Wedding March as the bridal party left the church amidst showers of rose leaves and confetti.

Subsequently the wedding party motored to the Café Victoria, where the guests were received by Mr. and Mrs. J. Marshall and the wedding breakfast was admirably served by Mr. Johnson. The table decorations were carried out in pink and white roses and sweet peas, the centre attraction being the handsome three-tier bridal cake.

Mr. and Mrs. White left by mail train for Coolangatta, the bride travelling in a coat and skirt of grey crepe-de-chine trimmed with pale pink chinon. Pretty white hat trimmed with pink roses. The bridal costume was supplied by Miss Brosnan. The happy couple were recipients of many valuable presents including a number of cheques.

SHADDOCK & WOODS JOINERY WORKS

Shaddock and Woods Joinery Works in Percy Street (opposite the Baptist Church) still stands today, and, although other businesses have used the premises, the original company name remained until 2016.

Three generations of Shaddocks worked there as joiners/cabinet makers as well as numerous local skilled tradesmen who served their apprenticeship there.

The founder of Shaddock and Woods Joinery Works was James Shaddock, a master craftsman dedicated to the quality of his carpentry, joinery and cabinet making. James migrated to Australia in 1885 and settled in Toowong where he married Elizabeth Standring in 1888.

James and Elizabeth Shaddock 1888

James’s trade took him to many towns, including Toowoomba and Killarney, before finally settling in Warwick c. 1906. He practised his craft in various locations in the town until 1923 when his wife purchased Allotment 14 of Section 49 in Percy Street, including machinery and improvements.

The Warwick Machine Joinery Company Ltd

The Warwick Machine Joinery Company Ltd became Shaddock and Woods Joinery Works in 1932 when Thomas (Tom) Woods bought a half-share in the business.

When James died in Warwick in 1935 at the age of 73, his son, William, followed in his father’s footsteps. In the same year, James’s grandson, Gordon, also began his apprenticeship as a joiner with the family company, followed by his brother, Ray.

In the late 1940s, Tom Woods branched out into making. small, wooden caravans but in 1950, he sold his shares to Eric Myers and he and his family moved to Sydney - towing one of the Shaddock and Woods caravans! Eric Myers managed the business until Gordon Shaddock took over in 1961.

In 1964, the business was incorporated and traded as Shaddock and Woods Pty Ltd. Eric Myers sold his shares to The Decorative Glass Company owned by Charlie Ronalds while Gordon continued as managing director.

In 1965, the business acquired the Killarney Joinery Works owned by Norm McArthur. In 1968, a mini tornado devastated parts of Killarney, including the Joinery Works. Only the machinery was salvaged.

At this time, the traditional business of joiners and cabinet makers was being radically affected by the use of aluminium window frames and mass-produced furniture. Gordon read the signs and, in 1969, unveiled a new $15 000 showroom and office block to provide an advisory service for contractors and home builders.

In 1974, Gordon resigned as manager of the business and Norm McArthur, formerly of the Killarney Joinery Works, took over. In 1985, Roy Barsby bought the whole company. With the help of long-term employees Ken Hawes and Reg Freak, Roy managed the company until 1992 when Wayne Pfingst took over as manager. In 2007, Roy Barsby put the business on the market. At this point it ceased to operate as a joinery works.

While the interior has been refurbished, some features of the original building have been preserved. In 2018, it was still possible to see original supports as well as dried glue on the floor-boards near where William Shaddock worked as a glazier.

Information and photographs supplied by Margaret Hornsey (nee Shaddock), daughter of Gordon Shaddock

and great granddaughter of founder, James Shaddock.

CHARLES ('PLUM') JOHANSON

'Plum' with his camera, thought to be a Dallmeyer. (Date unknown.)

Charles Edward ('Plum') Johanson was born at Farm Creek near Warwick on 1 February 1887, the first of nine children of pioneering Scandinavian immigrants, Eric Hendrick ('Red'*) Johanson (1856-1931) and Anna Andersson (1858-1939).

Anna and 'Red' met and married in Australia and were pioneer farmers at Emu Vale near Warwick and later in the Swanfels Valley. They lived with their four sons and five daughters in a small farmhouse with a dirt floor while they farmed, supplementing their food supply by shooting and fishing in the local hills and water holes.

'Plum' attended school at Emu Vale and Swanfels, before leaving school at the age of 12 to work on the family farm with his father. He later worked as a timber-getter but eventually became a farmer, acquiring his own selection where he built a shed to use as his darkroom. He grew crops and developed a fascination for bees and honey, later operating the Woodbine Apiaries. He died on 13 January 1969, at the age of 82. 

Young 'Plum' Johansen (date unknown)

'Plum' is thought to have been introduced to photography by a travelling portrait photographer when he was 21. His first darkroom was his bedroom, lit only by a kerosene lamp, where he learnt about exposure and processing techniques by trial and error. The superb quality of his photographs is testimony to his creative efforts, both technically and artistically.

More than 400 of his half-plate glass negatives have survived and today are part of David Glasgow's photographic collection. They reveal much about the life of local families, farming, housing, dress, transport, recreation and life in general in the Swanfels Valley in the first half of the 20th century.

'Plum' took this photograph of his cousins, the Zackerison brothers, at Top Creek Camp on Bauer's Mountain at Swanfels, probably in 1909. The message written on the tent flap is reproduced below - with their original spelling. Charles (L) and Oscar evidently had a lively sense of humour!

Blowies Rest

NOTICE

To hums and lofers. The owners of this establishment wants it distinctly understood that this is no harbour for hums ore lofers and any one found sleeping, dining ore otherwise trespassing on the above premises without a written permit from the owners will be prosecuted and libel to a heavy penalty which we will very severely deal to them. By order. Blowies Rest. July 4th 1909. Chas. E. Johansen. Chas. F. Zackerisen.

Wanted known.

Two young men. One with a cork eye. The other with a glass leg. Want a young woman to house keep. They don't smoke or drink and are pretty good looking. Apply inside.

Zacherison family members and their neighbours, the Smiths.

Oscar Zackerison is using a 'Forest Devil' tree puller in 1911. The advertisement below was published in that year.

Albert Evans and Rupert Binny who worked a team of horses on the Johanson farm in 1912.

Swanfels Valley early 1900s (colorised 2021)

NOTE: The Queensland Department of Primary Industries published a video: Charles 'Plum' Johansen: a Looking Glass into Our Rural Past on 31 Dec 2002. ISBN10 0734502079. It is available from the State Library of Queensland.

*Eric Johanson may have been given the nickname 'Red' because of the famous Norse explorer, Erik Thorvaldsson (c. 950 – c. 1003). He was known as Erik the Red and in Medieval sagas is credited with founding the first settlement in Greenland. He was probably called "the Red" because of the color of his hair and beard.