Reading time 10 minutes

We recently took the plunge and purchased an electric vehicle (EV), specifically the BYD Atto 3. There’s currently much debate surrounding EVs, with many eager to share their opinions on the pros and cons of this emerging technology.

There are numerous misconceptions about the initial costs of purchasing an electric vehicle (EV). While it’s true that EVs generally cost more upfront than most internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, the long-term financial benefits can be significant. We are not wealthy and never have been, but investing in an EV made practical financial sense for us. It’s only the second brand-new car we’ve ever owned, yet it has allowed us to drastically reduce our vehicle operating costs. These savings more than offset the running costs of our previous ICE cars, one of which we still own. For instance, compared to the $150-plus we used to spend on weekly fuel expenses, the EV has proven far more economical, even with the slight increase in electricity usage.

EV enthusiasts are excited about the innovative features that often enhance the driving experience. These individuals are drawn to the cutting-edge technology and the overall novelty of EVs.

On the other hand, there’s the group that views cars as simple tools for getting from point A to point B—commuters who prioritize functionality and cost-effectiveness. Here in Brisbane, Queensland’s capital, the combination of capped $0.50 public transport network fares and the low operating costs of EVs complement each other perfectly, offering locals the best of both worlds. EV drivers who also use public transport enjoy exceptional commuting deals, including free parking at rail stations and the cheap fares on trains, buses, and CityCats (river ferries). This has led to significantly fewer vehicles on the road, resulting in much less pollution and reduced congestion.

Another notable group includes those who are fed up with skyrocketing fuel prices imposed by oil companies. Many people simply want a car that’s affordable to run, easy to maintain, and doesn’t require constant upkeep like regular oil changes and other expensive maintenance associated with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

Since before buying the new car, we’ve been keen to learn as much as possible about EVs. Prior to purchasing, we researched extensively about running costs, available charging locations for travel, and strategies for minimizing charging expenses at home.

While EVs aren’t entirely free from environmental concerns—such as the carbon footprint associated with battery production and manufacturing processes—they produce significantly fewer pollutants during operation. EVs also face the familiar criticism of electricity generation: much of it still originates from coal, which produces substantial pollutants and is often cited as negating the environmental benefits of electric vehicles.

However, with a growing portion of electricity now being generated from renewable sources, the reliance on coal is gradually decreasing. This shift is steadily transforming electricity production into a more sustainable process, reducing its environmental impact. Although EVs are not a perfect solution, they represent a meaningful step forward in reducing carbon emissions, which is critical for addressing climate change.

It is interesting to note that when we first became interested in buying an EV about two years ago, we noticed that many car dealer networks showed little enthusiasm for promoting even their own range of electric vehicles. At the time, post Covid, these EVs were available only in strictly limited quantities in Australia.

Since those early days of considering an EV, we’ve observed a significant shift. Dealers now demonstrate a much higher level of interest and knowledge about their EV offerings.

One thing that has bothered me for years about the Australian new vehicle industry is the attitude of dealers and manufacturers. They often seem more focused on selling the cars they want to sell rather than helping customers find the cars they actually want to buy. Initially, when we inquired about EVs, we were told in no uncertain terms that the dealers weren’t particularly interested in discussing them. Even though EVs were listed in their product range, they kept steering us back toward ICE vehicles.

More recently, when we were ready to place an order, I spoke with a young car salesman about this trend among the older sales staff. He pointed out that many of the older salespeople lacked knowledge about the new EV models. When offered training on these vehicles, many were simply uninterested, reflecting an old-school mentality of selling what they were accustomed to rather than embracing the shift toward EVs & Hybrids.

CHARGING YOUR EV

We’ve equipped our home with solar panels, and while we feed all the power we generate back into the grid, the feed-in tariff allows us to charge our EV at no cost. If you’re up for a challenge, you could spend an hour talking to a representative from any power supplier, though they might leave you feeling bewildered with their jargon and convoluted explanations.

When it comes to choosing a power provider, I strongly recommend reviewing the information on their websites to determine which one offers the best deal for your needs. Most providers advertise specific discounts or power arrangements, but in reality, there’s often little difference between them. What one provider offers in savings, another compensates for elsewhere—and vice versa.

The availability of multiple electricity providers has created an environment ripe for legal yet ethically questionable practices. Providers often seem to modify offers and arrangements at will, frequently shifting the goalposts to suit their interests. This has turned the electricity supply market into a competitive comparison game or a form of tacit collusion between providers. Given that electricity is an essential service, consumers are often left choosing the provider with the most persuasive pitch at the time.

We installed a 15-amp charger that adequately meets our needs. The setup included having a 15-amp power point installed by an electrician for $300. 15 amp power points have a slightly bigger earth point than a 10 amp & can safely support appliances that require more power without overloading the circuit. We also purchased a 15-amp portable charger for $400. Various charging systems are available, ranging from the basic 10-amp “granny” charger—which typically comes with the car and costs around $200 if purchased separately—to advanced three-phase fast chargers, which can exceed $2,000.

Our 15-amp system can charge the car from half to full capacity overnight. Fully charging the battery from 10% to 100% would cost approximately $16 in electricity without any solar power rebates. However, since we’ve had solar power with a favorable tariff rebate from the start, we currently pay nothing for electricity. In fact, we are well into credit.

I don’t mean to come across as arrogant or self-satisfied in saying this. We were simply fortunate to benefit from the solar rebate system when it was introduced. For us, this makes charging significantly more cost-effective compared to spending $120 per week on fuel for a similar distance range.

We initially chose to install a 15-amp power point to enable slightly faster vehicle charging. However, we’ve since found that the standard 10-amp “granny” charger supplied with the car would have been sufficient for our needs.

As a general guideline, charging for approximately eight hours provides around 80 km of range with the 10-amp charger, and roughly 160 km with the 15-amp charger.

For renters paying full electricity rates, EVs still offer a more economical operating option, especially if you can charge at or near your workplace. However, it’s crucial to conduct thorough research. If owning an EV and having reliable access to charging facilities doesn’t suit your circumstances, that’s perfectly fine—there’s always the option of returning to an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle.

Even using one of the most expensive and fastest public superchargers to fully charge your EV would cost about $30, reinforcing that home charging is the most economical and convenient option.

The reality is that most cars sit idle for 23 out of 24 hours in a day, so how and when you charge your EV typically depends on personal convenience—often overnight. In Queensland, where off-peak electricity isn’t available (to us), it’s convenient to plug in and charge at any time of the day.

There’s even a popular phrase emerging with the rise of EVs: “ABC—Always Be Charging.” This highlights the flexibility and convenience of keeping your EV ready to go whenever needed.

We have only used a public charger once since purchasing the car and found it to be a straightforward and easy experience. We primarily did this to familiarize ourselves with the process and to try out a fast charger. This took place at a BP Servo at Caboolture during a trip to the Sunshine Coast to visit a friend.

The entire process took just 20 minutes to fully charge the car from about half capacity. During this time, we went inside, had a coffee and a bite to eat, and received both an email and a text notification as soon as the car was fully charged. This allowed us to promptly remove the car from the charging bay and park in the regular car park.

As a tip, download as many charger apps as possible to avoid getting caught out. While you can set them up quickly on the go during a trip, being prepared in advance makes the process smoother.

THE VERDICT

As new EV owners, we’re still forming our opinions on the advantages and drawbacks of this transition. So far, the car has met our expectations. It’s a pleasure to drive—comfortable & efficient…………… & it’s quiet.

Unfortunately, Australia’s public charging infrastructure continues to lag behind EV uptake. Governments at all levels—local, state, and federal—still have work to do in improving the availability of public charging stations, particularly in rural and regional areas. However, progress is evident, with more stations being installed outside major cities and towns. While “charging anxiety” remains a valid concern for regional travel, the situation is steadily improving.

EDIT 3 Jan 2025 – We are taking a trip today to a location approximately 190 kilometers from home, where we own a small block of land near Killarney, Queensland. The journey takes us through one of the black spots in South East Queensland that still lacks public charging stations. For this reason, we are using our ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle. So yes, range anxiety remains an issue for us.

As previously mentioned, electric vehicles (EVs) are not the ultimate solution for efficient transportation. However, they represent a highly viable and cost-efficient alternative to gas-guzzling vehicles with heavy carbon footprints. Undoubtedly, as technology continues to advance, cleaner, greener, and more cost-effective transportation options will emerge, offering consumers even greater choices in the future.

New technologies are developing at a remarkable pace. Hydrogen-powered cars, increased battery range EVs, and other innovations often render this year’s models nearly obsolete before they even leave the showroom floor. This rapid advancement benefits consumers by providing more options. The more choices available, the better it is for the market, and it’s refreshing to see the auto industry finally catching up.

American and European auto manufacturers were initially unprepared for the rise of EVs and other innovative car technologies, particularly as Chinese manufacturers surged ahead. In response, the U.S. and European governments have threatened high import tariffs to curb the influx of Chinese vehicles. A suggestion for U.S. and European car makers: instead of attempting to stifle competition, focus on improving your offerings. Produce vehicles that consumers actually want to buy rather than relying on outdated technologies that have dominated for decades.

Even the historically slow-moving oil companies are beginning to adapt. Many are investing in the development of fast chargers, which are becoming increasingly available at service stations—a welcome change for consumers and the broader industry.

Finally, as previously mentioned, do thorough research if you are considering purchasing an EV or hybrid vehicle. Like any specialized topic, there are experts available, particularly on social media, where dedicated groups can provide valuable insights. Most members of these groups are ordinary individuals who have gone through the same process and are happy to share helpful information. While social media platforms have their drawbacks, they can be a great resource for getting real-world answers to your questions, as opposed to the jargon and corporate language often used by car salesmen.

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Edit/Update -15 Oct 2025

We’re now twelve months down the track since purchasing our BYD Atto 3, and so far, we’ve had nothing but praise for the vehicle. As someone who has always enjoyed the mechanical side of car ownership—particularly the servicing and maintenance aspect—I’ve noticed how little there is to do. Aside from a few minor checks, such as visually inspecting fluid levels (brake fluid, battery acid, and windscreen washer fluid), there’s almost no routine maintenance required. Even tyre pressures can be checked through the BYD app on your phone. Everything seems to be taken care of for you, which makes me wonder what the BYD service team actually does during scheduled servicing.

That said, we’re completely satisfied with the car. It’s an excellent vehicle to drive—smooth, easy to operate, and very intuitive.

Additionally, with more charging stations becoming available, the initial range anxiety that many EV owners have felt in the past is easing. There is, however, still a black spot along the Cunningham Highway west of Brisbane that hasn’t been resolved yet—but here’s hoping that will change soon.

Overall, we’re extremely happy with the Atto 3 and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone considering an electric vehicle.

Reading time 3 minutes

Ah, social media… isn’t it great!

As a reader more than a poster, I love how it connects people. Through my various hobbies, I’ve met many like-minded individuals who share my interests. Numerous Facebook groups bring together people who are passionate about gardening, motorsports, cricket, and football, offering a space for sharing information and connecting over shared pastimes. My other passion, ancestry tracking, has also been enriched through social media; it has allowed me to connect with distant relatives and uncover new details about our family history—our ancestors, their origins, and their lifestyles. Social media has even helped family members reconnect after years apart due to career moves and family commitments.

However, this article isn’t about the positive side of social media. It’s about the unfortunate individuals who seem intent on spreading negativity on platforms like Facebook. These people hide behind their keyboards and seem to spend their time denigrating others. So, I’m left with a question that genuinely intrigues me: why do they do it?

For all the good that social media has brought, it has also exposed a less admirable side of human nature. Why do people lose their composure on social media platforms? Why do strangers, who often don’t know each other, respond so quickly with anger, rudeness, or even outright hostility? Often, someone simply asks a question or offers advice in good faith, yet the response is hostile and wildly disproportionate. The time between a comment being posted and a hostile reaction seems almost instantaneous.

You can almost picture these “keyboard warriors” becoming red-faced, ready to burst with anger at people they’ve never met, all over a simple question or comment. Their posts often include numerous grammatical and spelling errors, as if their rage leaves no time for editing. As they type, it’s as if veins are popping as they rush to hurl insults at a stranger who may simply have asked for help or shared a suggestion. And when others try to keep the conversation civil, these angry respondents often seem unwilling to accept that someone else might have a different perspective. To them, only their opinion matters, and they feel personally slighted if anyone dares to disagree. They rarely yield or consider an alternative viewpoint, even when their perspective appears flawed. Heaven forbid anyone else should have an opinion. But in some cases, it does make for entertaining reading. While I feel sorry for the folk who are just trying to helpfully answer a question, offer advice or give direction, watching the story unfold as these phychotic people lose their minds over something relatively minor is like watching a reality TV show unfold.

It’s almost certain that most of these online aggressors would never dare to act this way face-to-face. So, what is it about online social media networks that bring out this behavior?

Social media platforms have existed in one form or another for about 20 years. During that time, they have evolved far beyond their original purpose. It seems we’ve always had loudmouth individuals who demand to be heard above everyone else in a room—often the loud, opinionated drunks in a pub or other public spaces who believe their opinions hold more weight than others. With the rise of social media, these platforms have become the new stage for the overly opinionated to broadcast their lack of knowledge to the world, frequently hiding behind pseudonyms to shield their ignorance and avoid accountability.

I don’t have an answer to my initial question. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that the world is full of diverse people, each with unique temperaments and personalities. I’ve often thought that wars may have been sparked by something that was said—or believed to have been said. People have lost their lives, and nations have been overrun, all due to words, actions, or even minor implications that seemed inconsequential at the time. Political views, religious beliefs, or even something as trivial as musical preferences can escalate into hostility. It’s often the little things that snowball into larger conflicts.

Let’s keep it together, people.

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Reading time 15 minutes

I’ll start by saying I grew up in Rocklea. While I don’t wish any harm or tragedy on the current residents, I think it’s important to share some observations based on my time there. I’m not aiming to turn this into a history lesson, but history offers valuable insights—especially regarding what has happened in Rocklea over the years.

Our family home was completely submerged in the 1974 floods, so I understand the trauma that people go through when disaster strikes. When the waters finally recede, the process of cleaning up is painful and exhausting. It’s truly devastating. Everything you own ends up covered in sticky chemical-laden mud, and no matter how much you wash, the stench seems to linger indefinitely. You live in dread with every approaching summer and wet season, fearing it could happen again.

I’m writing this to encourage people to make decisions that might at least reduce the impact of floods, so others don’t have to endure this trauma. I understand that residents are tired of being lectured on what they should or shouldn’t have done when choosing to live in the suburb of Rocklea. When your home is just beginning to recover from a devastating flood, the last thing you want is so-called experts offering unsolicited advice.

However, having been through it myself—and at the risk of facing criticism—I believe some hard truths need to be addressed. It’s clear that many people are becoming flood-weary, especially those whose homes have gone underwater multiple times. Trust me, I know the heartbreak and the toll it takes on families. The million-dollar question remains: will it happen again, and if so, when? Unfortunately, we all know the painfully obvious answer.

My own father never recovered from the stress of watching our home flood, and I firmly believe the trauma of the 1974 flood contributed to the dementia he later developed, ultimately leading to his death.

So, where do we go from here? This issue extends beyond Rocklea to other suburbs across Brisbane. Let’s be honest: if we know another flood is inevitable—whether this summer or sometime soon—what’s the long-term plan?

We can debate the role of climate change, write letters, and secure media coverage, but here we are, still worrying as the wet season approaches. The same issues resurface year after year. While some homes have been sold and replaced with parkland, creeks remain clogged and desperately need cleaning. Yet, nothing significant seems to change, and these problems will persist this year, next year, and the year after that.

Meanwhile, real estate agents continue selling properties at outrageous prices for homes that could be submerged during the next flood. While the situation isn’t the fault of real estate agents—they are merely intermediaries—it is exacerbated by the dire state of the housing market. This market forces buyers to take whatever they can get, especially in a suburb like Rocklea, which is so close to Brisbane’s CBD. If not for its precarious position on a floodplain, Rocklea would be considered premium real estate, given its proximity to the city, excellent public transport links via bus & rail corridors, and future Olympic venues.

Rocklea has a lot to offer. But then you’re reminded of its location on a floodplain and the devastation heavy rain can bring.

For me, as a kid growing up, life in Rocklea was wonderful—until the 1974 Australia Day floods.

Before the Brisbane Markets arrived, Rocklea had a quiet little village vibe. The Brisbane Golf Course was there, but we were surrounded by farmland and grazing areas, with Rocky Water Holes Creek, Stable Swamp Creek, and Oxley Creek flowing through and around the suburb. The Ipswich Highway, then a modest two-lane road, divided residential Rocklea in half.

Back then, kids and families enjoyed a unique blend of suburban life with almost endless open space. We had access to sprawling lands that few in Brisbane could imagine, offering a safe, semi-rural environment to explore, all within 12 klms from the Brisbane CBD. This was the Rocklea we knew as kids growing up there.

When the Brisbane Markets were relocated from Roma Street to Rocklea in 1964, it marked the beginning of significant change. Heavy trucks began moving up Sherwood Road, and the increased pollution and noise levels started driving people away. The Markets weren’t as large then, so we still had plenty of access to the sprawling paddocks and farmland. The heavy transport industry across Rocklea soon followed the fruit and vegetable markets, causing a dramatic increase in industrial traffic and pollution. As the traffic intensified, we had to adapt. That’s progress; nothing stays the same forever.

By 1974, I was 19, and Rocklea experienced a devastating flood, part of a widespread disaster that hit South East Queensland.

The flood opened my eyes to the impact of concentrated rainfall. Since then, with more floods hitting Rocklea, I’ve thought a lot about the changes that have increased the likelihood of future devastation in the suburb, issues that affect other low-lying areas around Southeast Queensland as well.

In the area where I grew up, Rocklea’s elevation was about 10 meters above sea level. The entire suburb was effectively built on a floodplain. The area shaded blue is all floodplain.

What amazes me is that, even after the 1974 flood, development along the creeks and waterways continued without restraint.

Many factors contribute to flooding: rainfall in the immediate area, the capacity for localized flooding to dissipate quickly, the condition of creeks and waterways (whether they are free of rubbish and overgrown vegetation), rain in distant catchments, the ability of dams to manage inflows, the influence of tides downstream during flooding, and the authorities’ responses to sudden weather events.

Weather patterns can change drastically from one event to the next. Sometimes catchment rainfall concentrated even a mere forty kilometers away from where the last major downpour occurred can drastically alter the flooding outcome for localities further downstream.

One of the most troubling issues is the continued building & infrastructure development along creeks and waterways in densely populated areas downstream. These developments obstruct natural drainage, making it harder for floodwaters to recede quickly.

Imagine Rocklea over a century ago: a floodplain with few buildings and only minimal farm structures. Heavy rains would come, the flat, low-lying plains would flood, and people would temporarily evacuate to higher ground before returning to clean up. It was an expected risk of living on a floodplain near waterways. Farmers accepted it as inevitable. This was long before dams like Somerset and Wivenhoe were constructed to mitigate flooding.

Today, when heavy rains hit Rocklea, nearby buildings and roads restrict local waterways, making it nearly impossible for floodwaters to dissipate quickly. Poor urban planning allows developers to construct buildings without follow-up assessments to monitor upstream and downstream flood risks. This issue affects other low-lying Brisbane suburbs as well, reducing the capacity of creeks and waterways to manage heavy rainfall, especially during intense storms. Sadly, these issues have been occurring since South Queensland was first settled, possibly due to prioritizing development over long-term planning. It’s hard to turn back time and make different choices now. But perhaps if planners had reserved more low-lying areas of Rocklea as parkland or nature reserves, the impact of flooding could have been reduced.

Add a major rain event in the upper Brisbane River catchments, and you have a double threat: massive inflows from upstream combined with slow-draining local waterways. Dam management is often mentioned as a potential solution to flooding, but it’s complicated. Imagine a bathtub filling with a tap that won’t shut off and a drain too small to keep up. Eventually, it will overflow—a scenario that played out in 2011 when Wivenhoe Dam reached capacity.

Following the 2011 flood, numerous cases were taken to court in which residents of heavily flooded areas sought compensation for damages and losses, alleging negligence by dam operators. However, the primary beneficiaries of these cases were the lawyers. Those who did receive compensation found it insufficient to fully restore their lives and homes.

Another issue arises as residents who have endured flood damage often decide to move to higher ground, vowing never to go through it again. Unfortunately, new residents unaware of the flood risks often take their place, leading to a cycle of repeated hardship. It’s easy for people to forget floods and other major weather events over time, and while some real estate agents offer honest information, others may not fully inform prospective buyers. I can’t stress this enough: anyone considering buying in Rocklea should thoroughly research the area’s flood history before making a decision. Do your due diligence. Ultimately, you are responsible for the decisions you make.

If you choose to elevate your house by six, eight, or more meters, be prepared: your property may still be vulnerable to future floods. You’ll face the ongoing challenge of transporting everything—groceries, sleeping children, furniture, and appliances—up to your raised living area. During floods, you’ll also need to manage isolation, power outages, and limited access to essential supplies. The area beneath your home, which now provides ample storage space, will inevitably accumulate belongings. However, when flooding strikes again, these possessions will need to be cleared out, or they risk being submerged and destroyed.

Remember, elevating your home does not guarantee that floodwaters will never reach your living space again.

During sudden floods, people frequently lose their vehicles to rising waters, forgetting to move them in the rush of the moment. News reports often show scenes of cars overtaken by floodwaters during heavy rains.

Insurance often provides people with a sense of security, a safety net for potential damage if another flood strikes their suburb. Unfortunately, insurance companies are now raising premiums to such high levels that some home & car owners can no longer afford coverage in flood-prone areas. Additionally, some insurers are outright refusing to cover properties in certain locations due to the high risk of flooding.

As a former resident who grew up on Sherwood Road, it’s great to see that some of the homes that went underwater in 1974 & following floods, have now been taken over in a buy back scheme and turned into parkland.

In the early days of Brisbane, when the town was founded in 1824, the Brisbane River served as the main transportation route. Later, when Ipswich was established, the river remained the primary method of transporting people, produce, and goods. Consequently, as the river became the transportation hub, nearly everyone settled along its banks.

The early floods took a terrible toll on the population. The original Indigenous people warned the new settlers to build on higher ground, but their advice was ignored. As a result, much of Brisbane is built close to the river, situated on the Brisbane River floodplain.

Hindsight is a marvelous thing! If you’ve ever lived in a flood-prone area, you’ll likely never buy property in a suburb susceptible to flooding again. Similarly, if you’ve lived near a motorway, an airport, or a busy rail corridor, you’ll avoid settling near one again, given the choice.

At the time of writing this article in November 2024, with another summer wet season quickly approaching, the usual stories and media reports are starting to surface, as they do every year, about local and state governments beginning efforts to clean up creeks and waterways to improve drainage. While this is helpful, the issue of flooding is far more complex than simply clearing creek banks.

The larger problem lies in the development that has taken place over the last century. To address the ongoing flooding issues—made worse by climate change, which is increasing the frequency and intensity of these events—major political changes will be required. Is it acceptable to allow these catastrophic events to continue wreaking havoc and heartache across the suburb on a now fairly regular basis? It’s not just families and homes that suffer; these floods also devastate local industries.

Is there a magic solution to this ongoing conundrum? Bulldozing the entire residential area of Rocklea and turning it into a nature reserve to mitigate flood risks could be one answer, but it would likely cost billions of dollars. While this solution may sound idealistic, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. So, we are left in the Groundhog Day scenario we currently face.

Another idea worth considering is my proposal to transform the residential area of Rocklea into a central venue for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. Repurposing the suburb’s existing residential sections into sporting facilities that can serve as long-term venues post-Olympics presents a practical and innovative solution.

Rocklea’s proximity to public transport makes it an ideal location. The area, spanning from Rocky Water Holes Creek in the north to Archerfield Airport in the south, and from Beaudesert Road in the east to Oxley Creek in the west, holds substantial potential. With some creative planning, the waterways in the region could even be adapted for Olympic water sports events.

While only eight years remain until the Brisbane Olympics, careful planning could address three significant challenges simultaneously: mitigating the long-standing flood risks, providing world-class Olympic venues, and creating beautiful recreational reserves and parklands on Brisbane’s Southside—still conveniently close to the CBD. Although venues in flood-prone areas might seem less than ideal, appropriately designed sporting facilities can often be cleaned and restored quickly and affordably after flooding.

This strategy is far preferable to allowing residents to continue enduring the devastation of repeated floods. With thoughtful design and execution, Brisbane could acquire outstanding sporting venues that are well-connected to transport, logistics, and accommodation—all while significantly reducing future flood damage.

Could this scenario happen? Not while my arse points to the ground. Too many politicians, minority interest groups, environmental organizations, and anyone else looking to throw a spanner in the works would undoubtedly slow the process to a crawl. With only eight years until the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, the already short timeframe leaves little room for prolonged debates or bureaucratic delays.

And where would the existing residents go? That question alone would spark significant debate. If my proposal were to be adopted, there wouldn’t be much time to waste. Action would need to start immediately to have any chance of success.

I’ll admit, this last proposal is so far out of left field that it could never get past the decision-makers, who—let’s face it—do everything at a snail’s pace. In some ways, it feels like admitting defeat, offering no real solutions for the residents facing the relentless cycle of flooding. Compounding this is the legacy of 200 years of development since Brisbane was first settled, which only adds to the complexity of the problem.

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In closing, I want to emphasize that there are countless opinions on why and how flooding occurs in Brisbane’s low-lying, flood-prone suburbs. This article reflects only my personal perspective, having lived in one such suburb, endured a flood, and faced the painful aftermath once the waters receded.

The loss of family records, photographs, and cherished possessions is perhaps the hardest part to bear after a flood. Beyond our own family home being inundated, my wife’s family home and my sister-in-law’s home were also affected. This has made us all too familiar with the ongoing impact of floods. Tragically, my father-in-law passed away the day after moving back into the family home following the 2011 flood.

Through our experiences, I can confidently say that the damage goes far beyond physical structures. It profoundly affects mental health and the overall well-being of flood victims. The scars—emotional and psychological—remain to this day; it is not something one quickly overcomes.

After years of repeated flooding and endless annual discussions about the issue in Rocklea, we seem no closer to a solution. The rains have started again, and this time they’ve arrived earlier than usual. It’s not even the wet season yet! Frankly, I’m exhausted by the constant complaints and lack of progress—and I don’t even live there anymore.

Some may wonder why I’m still interested, but I hold a deep affection for the place, the time, and the era where I grew up. I had many friends there, and both my wife’s family and mine lived just twelve houses apart. Like any suburb, Rocklea had its unique characters, whose names still come up when old friends gather. It was a place where reputations were forged and friendships cemented.

However, in my view, Rocklea should no longer be considered a residential area. While this may seem like a harsh and difficult decision, it is necessary for the well-being of everyone and for the area’s future viability, given its location on a floodplain.

Although this blog article is based on my experiences in Rocklea, it could apply to many other flood-prone areas around Brisbane. Every year, as the wet season approaches, I find myself tuning out from the endless flood discussions in the public arena. The place floods regularly, yet people seem blind to the reality.

Local residents continue lobbying politicians, calling radio and TV stations, trying to raise awareness among a flood-weary Brisbane population that has grown tired of the same conversations. Politicians aren’t gods—they can’t stop the floods, no matter how desperate or unrealistic some of the suggestions may seem. Media outlets, once again, are riding the wave of predictable flood coverage.

When the floods inevitably come, the same questions will be asked, and the same frustration will resurface: “Why wasn’t something done to prevent this?”

Tell me when you’ve found an answer to that question!

In some ways, a reasonable comparison could be made to a person arriving with a gun, pointing it at the local residents, ready to shoot. Do they just stand there and wait for it to happen, or do they duck for cover? I swear, some of them seem almost eager to take the inevitable bullet, adopting a victim mentality and demanding answers that don’t exist instead of getting out of the way.

It’s time to cut your losses, even if it means taking a financial hit. Your mental health will thank you.

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I urge others to consider the broader, long-term impacts of floods, which do not disappear as the water does.

Rocklea & many other Brisbane creek & riverside suburbs lie on a floodplain, making flooding inevitable. It’s not a question of if, but when.

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Reading time 30 minutes

When my great-grandfather, Nicholas Corcoran, was born on January 12, 1842, in Danesfort, Kilkenny, Ireland, his father, Michael, was 32, and his mother, Mary (née Walsh), was 33. He was the first of eight children:

• Nicholas (1842–1924)
• Ellen (1843–1876)
• Matthew (1844–1899)
• Patrick (1847– )
• Bridget (1849–1940)
• James (1850–1921)
• Margaret (1854–1924)
• Kate (1866–1928)

Michael and Mary Corcoran were tenant farmers. Until about 1900, approximately 97% of Irish land was owned by landlords and rented out to tenant farmers, who were required to pay rent to landlords as well as taxes to the Anglican-affiliated Church of Ireland and the ruling UK government. Most of the population had no access to land ownership. The exploitation of tenant farmers led to widespread emigration to the United States, Canada, South Africa, and Australia.

Nicholas would have been a young child growing up during the Great Famine in Ireland (1845–1849). As an Irish Catholic, he would have faced significant prejudice and discrimination under British rule. This likely intensified his desire—along with that of many others—to escape the persecution that the Irish had endured for centuries.

His sisters Bridget and Ellen also came to Australia, with a brother Patrick heading to America, where he became a policeman.

While researching my family’s history, I came to realize how much denial still exists regarding British persecution of the Irish, even in modern times. The Church of England, the British royal family, governments, and private institutions have all attempted to rewrite history, presenting their own version of events to downplay the harsh realities of British actions. This period of immense suffering in Irish history has, in many ways, left lasting scars that continue to the present day.

In 1649, during his invasion of Ireland, Oliver Cromwell carried out ethnic cleansing on a massive scale, with estimates of over 600,000 deaths. At the time, Ireland’s total population was approximately 1.5 million, meaning the country lost over one-third of its people to genocide. To make matters worse, famine and plague claimed even more lives.

In the mid-1800s, approximately one million people perished during the Great Irish Famine. Following this tragedy, two million more emigrated to the United States, Canada, Australia, and other parts of the world in search of a better life. Even today, I believe that many non-Irish Australians remain largely unaware of the extent of the mistreatment the Irish endured in their homeland. The scale of suffering over the centuries of Irish history is comparable to the Nazi Holocaust in its magnitude over the centuries of Irish history.

The British had prior form for this type of brutality, in other parts of the world with their colonization of countries across America, Africa and Asia. India was another country that the British raped & pillaged. The ruthless treatment that the British East India Company (under the auspices of the ruling British Government) carried out on the Indian population is one of the most shameful chapters of world history.

Looking back into the archives & records of the world, it’s plain to see many countries suffered at the hands of the ruling classes of the time. Ireland suffered terribly for centuries at the hands of the British government. The protestant, Church of England’s British Government, never really made any secret of the fact, that their intentions at the time of the potato famine, were to lower the Catholic population of Ireland by letting the Famine take its natural course of people starving to death. There were alternate food supplies available in Ireland, at the time. The Irish Catholic population just wasn’t given access to any of it.

While researching these unfortunate times in Ireland’s history, I often considered, from a modern perspective, what circumstances would be severe enough to make someone leave their home, family, and friends to travel to the other side of the world with almost nothing—relying only on the uncertain promises of a new country that may or may not welcome them upon arrival.

It was, in many ways, the equivalent of traveling to another planet today—setting out with little knowledge or confidence that you would even reach your destination safely. Perhaps the answer to that question lies in sheer desperation and the unwavering faith that life had to be far better than the misery left behind.

That being said, there seem to be no real attempts to make amends for the past atrocities committed against the Irish. The British government, the ruling classes, and the royal family were also guilty of terrible persecution against their own citizens.

I can completely understand why Northern Ireland’s Catholic population continues to feel uneasy about remaining part of the UK. Centuries of persecution do not simply fade away. Even today, the UK government refuses to grant Northern Ireland independence, despite Sinn Féin holding the most seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

I recognize that we cannot dwell endlessly on the wrongdoings of past generations. Governments of bygone eras ruled with an iron fist—whether in the UK, Germany, or colonial Australia. We have seen how history was shaped in Australia by the ruling classes of the time, and only now is the true history of the mistreatment of First Nations people becoming more widely acknowledged.

Even so, far too many Australians either refuse to believe that these atrocities took place or are too ignorant to accept the truth. The racist beliefs of past generations still persist in modern-day Australia.

Sidenote observation – As a descendant of Irish ancestors, I do not hold any deep-seated animosity toward the British people today. However, I would be more than happy to see Australia sever ties with the British royal family as our head of state. I view them as an antiquated, pompous institution that has long outlived its relevance.

Australia, as a nation, is long overdue for maturity—we must finally grow up and become a republic. It is time to shake off the shackles of this outdated monarchy, which contributes nothing to our trade, cultural identity, or national security.

………………………………

Nicholas Corcoran emigrated from Ireland on the Hannemore out of Liverpool 12th November 1864, with 335 fellow government sponsored immigrants on board.The ship arrived in Moreton Bay on the 9th March 1865. Coming from Kilkenny, he would have been fairly knowledgeable about horse breeding, as that part of Ireland had always been, and still is a major equine breeding area.

After arriving in Brisbane from Ireland, twenty-three-year-old Nicholas pursued various occupations across the Ipswich, West Moreton, and Darling Downs regions. From 1869 to 1885, he worked for the Wienholt Brothers, who held significant land across Queensland and were pioneers in cattle grazing and horse breeding during the early settlement and farming period of Southern Queensland.

When my Great Grandmother Johanna Bradbury was born in Laidley, Queensland on 31 August 1854, her father Robert Bradbury was 42, and her mother Catherine (Ryan) was 23. She was the first of three children, with a brother, Robert (Jnr) & a sister, Mary Ann. The Bradbury family lived around the Ipswich and Lockyer Valley districts. They moved on a regular basis, due to Robert’s work as a shepherd/farm labourer.

Nicholas Corcoran married Johanna Bradbury at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Ipswich, on 16th May 1872, when he was 30 years old. They had 11 children in 19 years – Michael Patrick born 11-12-1873, Catherine Mary 20-11-1876, Mary(died at birth), Robert 14-2-1879, Ellen 15-1-1881, Johanna 14-2-1883 (died 1885), Mary Ann 8-6-1884, Nicholas James 16-7-1886, Margaret May 15-5-1889, Patrick Joseph 29-3-1891 & Johanna Mary 21-3-1893. A nephew, Charles Patrick Gilday, son of Nicholas’ sister Ellen, & her husband Cornelius Gilday, was also raised by the family. Charles’s parents both died when he was young.

Having worked for the Wienholt Bros for about 16 years on their Fassifern Station, in May 1885 Nicholas shifted Johanna & the family (at that stage – 6 kids) to Moogerah, where he had selected land for farming & grazing. This section of land would have been originally part of Wienholt’s enormous “Fassifern Station”, which was then subdivided into land for selection by farming families. I’m guessing, that as Nicholas had worked for the Wienholts for many years and would have known how rich and fertile this land was, he probably would have had his eye on it for some time. It was located up behind (South West) the present-day Moogerah Dam, with permanent water for grazing & crop irrigation off Reynolds Creek & Nine Mile Creek. Nicholas’ original selection of land at Croftby was 160 acres.

In the 1890’s Nicholas also had a contract to deliver the mail, once a week, in the Croftby area.

All the following photographs of the farm – “Rockmount” were taken 1920-1933.

Johanna’s mother Catherine Bradbury also acquired land in 1886, which later become part of the Corcoran land holding at Croftby. She would have been residing in Toowoomba at the time. Her husband Robert Bradbury had died 24 years earlier. The Corcorans ultimately had just under a thousand acres of prime farming and grazing land in the Fassifern Valley, at Croftby.

Nicholas was a champion breeder of Clydesdale horses & won many awards around South East Qld & also at the RNA show in Brisbane. He became one of the best authorities in Queensland on draught horses, which were the main farming implement before they were replaced by farm tractors. He was a foundation member of the Fassifern Agriculture & Pastoral Association, & later became a life member for his services.

In researching ancestors, I always attempt to gain a perception of their lifestyles, political views, religious beliefs (if any), hobbies, sports, interests & just a general understanding of what their lives were like in those bygone eras. Most of the time, I have found that they were that busy just running a farm & raising a family, that there wasn’t that much spare time available, to engage in too many additional pastimes. We tend to take for granted these days, that we have time available for enjoyment of additional pursuits to enrich our lives. One hundred plus years ago, that was certainly not the case. Farmers & their families lives were full, in just running the farm, feeding, raising & educating the children & remaining fit & healthy. Another part of the lives of the Corcoran family that I found out, was their intense family values. Although having a full house at times, with nine children of their own to feed & raise, Nicholas & Johanna took in other kids who had lost their parents. Grandaughter, little May Madigan lost her mother at birth. Nephew Charlie Gilday also lost both his parents as a child & was raised on the farm. Another grandaughter, May Hoey who lost both parents at a young age grew up at Rockmount. My eldest brother John Francis Leslie Bermingham, was also raised by his grandparents & Uncles & Aunties on the farm at periods during his childhood. Handicapped grandsons – Kevin, Peter & Michael also spent time on the farm, under their care. Grandson, Edward Joseph Bermingham sadly died on the farm in 1922, aged 18 after being kicked by a horse. Many members of the extended family of that generation spent time at Rockmount during their childhood years. The Corcorans would never turn anyone away in their time of need & there was always a roof over their heads if they needed it.

The early settlers, most of whom came from hard times in their countries of origin (in my case Ireland & Germany), were never going to take any injustices they encountered, lying down. If they felt that they were being ripped off by councils & governments with increasing rates & taxes, they were not backward in coming forward, to appeal against a decision.

I noticed when researching the family history, the strong religious beliefs that most of the early settlers adhered to. Religion & churches were the pillars of most levels of society in Queensland at the time. The various religions and church factions didn’t always get along with each other. Some friction took place, mainly along the lines of faith & church administration. Nothing too serious! Whatever differences the local Churches had, certainly didn’t end up leading to fights, or wars breaking out. Some occasionally led to new congregations starting up. The reality was that they were not only meeting the spiritual needs of communities but also the social needs (which continue to this day). Farming, & life, in general, was pretty tough, so getting together the many farming families served more than one purpose. Sunday, traditionally the day of rest, was generally the only day people had off work, so the weekly church service gathered them all together to worship and catch up with what was happening in the community & around the district. It was certainly interesting to note that Catholics usually married Catholics and Protestants married Protestants. There were a few exceptions to the rule. The Churches and Religions had fairly strict codes of conduct.

Nicholas & Johanna Corcoran were devout Catholics, & brought their family up, to be the same. In the early days when Boonah and the Fassifern Valley were part of the Beaudesert Catholic parish, mass was often held at the Corcoran home at Rockmount. It may be worth acknowledging here, that as the writer of this article, I do not hold any religious beliefs whatsoever, but I do have the utmost respect for the people of these times & places, who did uphold the strict beliefs & teachings of their Catholic Church. It’s just a shame that the church that they held in such high esteam has slipped considerbly in its level of faith & moral structure, to the degree that in my opinion, I consider it to be a blight on modern society. The majority of the current day Catholic Church leadership should be behind bars.

Nicholas Corcoran died on 20th January 1924 at the age of 82 and was buried in Boonah Cemetery, Queensland.

Johanna Corcoran died on her 80th birthday, the 31st August 1934, at home on the farm “Rockmount” at Moogerah, near Croftby. She was buried beside her husband, Nicholas in Boonah cemetery.

Above shot of Mary Ann (Minnie) & Johanna Corcoran was probably taken shortly before Johanna’s death in 1934.

Uncle Bob Corcoran taken at the farm c1934. Rockmount was sold to Robert (Uncle Bob) & Mary Ann (Aunty Min) Corcoran who were the children of Nicholas and Johanna on the 4th Nov 1935 and it was valued at £960. Valuation on the “Rockmount” property in today’s (2024) currency would be somewhere in the vicinity of $15 million.

In 1948 Robert & his sister Minnie, Corcoran sold the property & moved to New Farm in Brisbane.

Nicholas & Johanna Corcoran’s oldest daughter – Catherine Mary, born 1876, grew up on the family farm at Moogerah in the Fassifern Valley & later married a local tradesman, carpenter/cabinet maker Edward Bermingham from Boonah. They lived at Dugandan, just on the southern outskirts of Boonah township. Edward & Catherine had six kids, one of whom was my father – John Francis (Jack) Bermingham.

See the following article I’ve also done on Peter Bermingham & his descendants https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/02/22/peter-bermingham/

With so many children (as did many of the original settler families), the Corcoran family desendancy trail branched out to all parts of the state of Queensland. They lived and raised families of their own in Brisbane, Gympie, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville & many of the inland regional districts. So, from the 1800’s, into the 1900’s & onwards to the 21st century those ongoing families & descendants have spread further afield & moved interstate, to live & have families who have now spread across Australia. The original Corcoran’s were a true Australian pioneer family, in every sense of the word.

Nicholas Corcoran’s identity didn’t stop with his passing. Current living descendents of Nicholas Corcoran who traveled over from Ireland in 1864 to start a new life here in Australia, would number well into the hundreds. Our own delightful little grandaughter, Samara is also a descendant of Nicholas & Johanna Corcoran, making her their Great/Great/Great Grandaughter.

With thanks to my cousin Mary who helped me with many of the photos & records of the Corcoran family history. Also, a special mention for the assistance from Sharon Racine who is a local historian from the Fassifern Valley area. Sharon found many old records from the Corcoran family. Greatly appreciated.

Geoff Bermingham – great-grandson of Nicholas & Johanna.

Reading time 18 minutes

Out of all my ancestors who came to Australia from Germany and Ireland or in this instance, England, Robert Bradbury would have been the very first to have arrived. Robert was a convict who had been charged with desertion from the British Army.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts on my Irish ancestors about the unbearable control the British government exerted over everything they did in their daily lives. Practicing their religion, the ability to own land in their own country and literally starving them to death through famines & epidemics were just touching the surface of the oppressive rule, the British employed over the population of Ireland.

However, the British were just as heavy-handed in the treatment of their own citizens in England, as well as in the way they treated the people of Ireland, Scotland & Wales.

This is the story of Robert Bradbury. We often interpret lives like his through a modern lens, revealing the history, background, and living conditions of the time. By these standards, we might view the events in Robert’s story as part of an adventurous life. But in reality, it was quite the opposite. During Robert’s young adulthood, Britain was undergoing massive transformations. The Victorian era brought sweeping engineering innovations, along with a harsh approach to crime and punishment by the government. This period marked some of England’s most brutal home rule under the British government.

When my Great Great Grandfather Robert BRADBURY was born in 1806 in Manchester Lancashire England, his father William Bradbury was 25 and his mother, Margaret Bridge was 21.

In the early eighteenth century when Robert was born, Manchester was booming, particularly on the back of the cotton industry. The story you will usually hear about Manchester is about the successful trade and commerce that made it the world’s leading industrial centre. Manchester experienced a population explosion, growing from a town of 60,000 inhabitants in 1800 to 142,000 by 1842. The working conditions in the mills were terrible. The air in the cotton mills had to be kept hot and humid (20 to 30 degrees Celcius) to prevent the thread breaking. Most millhands went to work early in the day and labored for twelve hours straight, amid deafening noise, choking dust and lint, and overwhelming heat and humidity. In such conditions it is not surprising that workers suffered from many illnesses. Manchester’s unplanned, unchecked growth led environmental conditions to rapidly degrade. Robert would not have had much of an education in early 19th century England & any chance to advance himself. So, one of his only opportunities as a teenager, other than working in the cotton mills, would have been to join the armed forces. Keep in mind, that back in the 1800’s, service life gave them a job, a wage (surprisingly good at one shilling/day), free clothing, three meals a day, a roof over their heads & a chance to see the world, albeit from behind a gun in a warzone or wherever Britain was trying to invade & conquer with its military might. But it also did teach them some skills, if they survived. Alongside his combat training in the army, Robert Bradbury also learned the trade of baking. Many young men chose to leave Manchester & the other industrial towns & cities of England since they had no chance to get ahead if they stayed. A career in the armed forces gave them a pathway, of sorts. The downside was that many older soldiers were debilitated after serving for years in harsh climates or disease-ridden areas. Many barracks were unsanitary and more overcrowded than prisons and the death rate among men in their prime in barracks in Britain was much higher than that among the general population of Britain. Long-term over-indulgence in alcohol also affected the health of many soldiers though this was rarely admitted in official records. It also was the cause of most disciplinary infractions. In Robert’s case, we’ll get to that subject shortly.

Since Britain had lost the American colonies in 1781, the British government had decided to prioritize interests in the Caribbean, maritime Europe, Canada, Africa and the Indian & Pacific Oceans.

Robert became a soldier, serving in the British Army around the early 1820s. The 96th Foot Regiment was formed in Manchester in early 1824 from the remnants of the officers & enlisted men of the earlier 94th & 95th regiments. Records show that the 96th regiment served at the French intervention in Spain- mid 1824, Nova Scotia -1824, Bermuda -1825, & then back to Nova Scotia in 1828. I’m not sure exactly where Robert would have served, but in any case, he was back in England by sometime around 1831 at age 24.

Things were about to change drastically in Robert’s life. On February 27, 1832, at age 25, Robert was convicted at a Court Martial in Chatham, Kent, England, on charges of mutiny and desertion. I have no details on the crime he supposedly committed, but such a serious charge would typically result in execution in the military of that time. However, he was instead sentenced to 14 years of transportation to the colony of New South Wales. I speculate that his sentence was downgraded—if one can call a 14-year transportation sentence a downgrade 😀—perhaps because he had simply left his barracks for a night on the drink, got into a fight, or committed a minor offense. The fact that it was a mutiny charge on British soil, rather than in a war zone, may have also influenced the lesser sentence. This is all supposition on my part, as more detailed records may eventually surface.

Many of the convicts sent to Australia would be considered very low-level offenders by today’s standards. These convicts were often sentenced for minor crimes that might not even result in a conviction today, such as stealing a letter or a loaf of bread. The British government saw this as a convenient way to establish a labor force in the colony of New South Wales during the early 1800s—a labor force they didn’t need to pay. Nearly all the early convicts sent to New South Wales were from poor, working-class backgrounds and could not afford legal representation. Appeals were not an option in those days.

In any case, the military, whose jurisdiction Robert Bradbury fell under, was a law unto themselves.

On April 27, 1832, at age 25, Robert Bradbury was transported from Portsmouth, England, along with 201 other convicts aboard the convict transportation ship Clyde (Master: Daniel N. Munro; Surgeon: George Fairfowl). The journey on a convict ship to Australia was one of the most grueling experiences of the 18th and 19th centuries. Given that Robert had previously traveled aboard ships as a soldier, he likely handled the voyage better than many of his fellow convicts. Records from this period show that conditions for soldiers and convicts on such ships were similarly harsh. The ships were crowded, with prisoners chained together amid the pungent stench of unwashed bodies, illness, and despair.

Life on board was regimented, with convicts forced to exercise on deck when the weather allowed, and meals were sparse and monotonous—usually consisting of hardtack biscuits, salted meat, peas, and oatmeal. Punishments for misconduct were severe, including flogging, solitary confinement, or ration reductions.

The mental toll was equally severe. Many convicts, disoriented by the rolling waves and sickened by the conditions, succumbed to melancholy and despair. Cramped quarters below deck offered little relief during wild storms as the ship was tossed like a cork in the Southern Ocean en route to the Great Southern Land. Food supplies dwindled, and by the time they neared their destination, fresh drinking water was rationed and often low. Many convicts didn’t survive the journey. Authorities viewed them as expendable, so those who perished simply meant fewer mouths to feed. The voyage lasted 122 days, and Roberts’s ship – Clyde arrived at Port Jackson in the colony of New South Wales on August 27, 1832.

https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/clyde/voyages/310

Convict details-

Robert was 26 years old. His religion was shown as being protestant Church of England, his complexion – fair & pockmarked, his trade was listed as a baker & soldier, his general description was 5ft 7 &3/4 inches tall, hair colour – was sandy brown, & he had lost a front tooth upper jaw, scar under the chin, a mole inside right elbow and he had neither the ability to read or write.

It is worth noting that during this period, the standard record-keeping procedure for convicts included documenting the ship they were transported on, their age, the date of arrival in the colony, and their personal descriptive details—such as height, hair and eye color, and any other distinguishing features. The rationale was to provide a thorough description in case of escape.

Records show that Robert Bradbury also had previous convictions getting him 300 lashes. Robert was, by no means a saint, having gotten into trouble & received punishment on many previous occasions.

Assignment ~ September 1832 ~ Robert was assigned to work for John Bates at Sydney, Colony of N.S.W.

Residence ~ September 1832 ~ Robert lived in Sydney, Colony of N.S.W.

Occupation ~ September 1832 ~ Robert worked as a baker.

Upon arrival, as a convict he was assigned to many different free settlers around Sydney and north to around Newcastle and Maitland in NSW. He worked as a baker for publican John Bates at his Coaches & Horses Inn at Parramatta. Interestingly, he also worked as a soldier. It wasn’t uncommon for convicts to also be soldiers, working under strict supervision. As he’d already been in the Army, prior to his court martial & transportation, his military experience would have probably got him the job. Being a convict transported to Australia, in the 1800’s was no picnic. They had practically zero rights. They were sent to the colonies as punishment & that punishment was generally the harshest of hard labour. Robert Bradbury, alongside the other convicts, were moved about as needed, into the custody of a master, who controlled every aspect of their lives. If convicts dared to complain or stir up trouble, it was usually a case of going straight back into a prison. So, convicts who went to work for a master, generally tried to keep out of trouble & stay below the radar. If you kept your nose clean, there was a higher likelihood of getting a “Ticket of Leave”/Freedom. The options were then open for a former convict to get access to run a business of his own and purchase land. The backbone of our country was built on many ex-convicts who gained their freedom, and went on to run prosperous businesses, or become successful farmers.

31 December 1837 ~ Robert was recorded as working under a master, being assigned to Edward Biddulph, Maitland, Colony of N.S.W. Biddulph ran an Inn, the Crooked Billet in Newcastle, and also had land for pasture in the district, where Robert may also have worked as a shepherd.

Residence ~ 31 December 1837 ~ Robert lived in Maitland, Colony of N.S.W.

Residence ~ 11 January 1839 ~ Robert lived in Newcastle, Colony of N.S.W.

Occupation ~ 11 January 1839 ~ Robert worked as a baker and soldier.

Even at this stage of his life, in his thirties, Robert was not very good at staying out of trouble. It appears that he, like many other uneducated crooks/criminals was destined to stay in the criminal justice system.

11 January 1839 ~ Robert absconded from his assigned master, William Croasdill, Newcastle, Colony of N.S.W.

The New South Wales Government Gazette of Wed 30 Jan 1839 had an article from the Principal Superintendent of Convicts’ Office, January 29, 1839 –
THE undermentioned Prisoners having absconded from the individuals and employments set against their respective names, and some of them being at large with stolen Certificates and Tickets of Leave, all Contables and others are hereby required and commanded to use their utmost exertion in apprehending and lodging them in safe custody. Any person harbouring or employing any of the said Absentees, will be prosecuted as the law directs.
J. M’LEAN, Principal Superintendent of Convicts.
Bradbury Robert, Clyde (I), 33, Lancashire, baker and soldier, 5 feet 7 3/4 inches, fair and pockpitted comp., sandy brown hair, grey to blue eyes, lost a front tooth of upper jaw, scar under chin, mole inside right elbow, from William Croasdill, Newcastle, since January 11th 1639.
THOMAS RYAN, Chief Clerk.

The New South Wales Government Gazette Wed 6 Feb 1839 Notices show –
LIST OF RUNAWAYS APPREHENDED DURING THE LAST WEEK.
Bradbury Robert, Clyde (1), William Croasdill, Newcastle.
THOMAS RYAN, Chief Clerk.

February 1839 ~ Robert was apprehended during the first week of February. So, Robert’s time of freedom, was limited to only about a month before he was caught again

Robert Bradbury was eventually sentenced to an additional 4 years in custody. By the looks of things, it was to be served concurrently with his existing incarceration, so it looks like he may have dodged a bullet with his sentencing.

SIDE NOTE With a touch of irony that Robert would probably have been totally unaware of, in December 1839 his old regiment prior to his court marshall & transportation in 1832, the 96th, had moved to Salford Barracks in England, and later in the year to Chatham where on 4th July the first detachments for New South Wales had commenced their journey escorting convicts. This continued until 15 August 1841. My wife & I were holidaying recently on Norfolk Island, and we noticed that the 96th Regiment was also assigned to guard convicts during their deployment there. Some members of the regiment died on the island from natural causes.

The regiment was stationed on Norfolk Island to perform garrison duties, maintain order, guard the convicts, and protect the island’s interests—particularly its valuable timber resources.

The 96th Foot Regiment played a vital role in maintaining the convict system and ensuring the colony’s security during the period of transportation.

Meanwhile, back in New South Wales, entirely oblivious to the happenings of his former regiment, by 9 May 1843 ~ Robert was granted a Ticket of Leave at Maitland, Colony of N.S.W.

From 1811 convicts had to serve a minimum sentence before a ticket of leave would be granted. Once a convict had his or her ticket of leave they were allowed to work for themselves, marry, or to bring their families to Australia. However, tickets of leave did have conditions attached. They had to be renewed yearly, carried at all times and Ticket-of-Leave men, as they were known, were also expected to regularly attend religious services. They were not allowed to carry firearms or leave the colony. Once the sentence was completed, or in the case of a life sentence when a sufficient length had been served, the convict would be granted a pardon, either conditional or absolute. Ticket-of-leave men were cheap labour and convenient targets. They worked harder, complained less, and knew that refusing unfair wages or excessive work might be called “misconduct.” Although they were well on their way to freedom, conditions were attached & those conditions were strict & had severe repercussions if broken.

Unfortunately, Robert just couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble—or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that trouble had a way of finding him.

Arrested ~ 12 June 1843 ~ Robert was arrested at Maitland, Colony of N.S.W., for house breaking, he was in Newcastle Gaol awaiting trial.

Court Appearance ~ 13 July 1843 ~ Robert appeared at the Court of Quarter Sessions, Maitland, Colony of N.S.W., on a charge of assault upon James Barry, at Maitland, on the 6th June last. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and the prisoner was discharged.

Police enquiry ~ March 1845 ~ Robert was questioned on suspicion of murder, but none of the parties have been able to identify him at Buchanan, Colony of N.S.W.

By this stage, I’m guessing the patience of the powers that be had been severely tested with Robert. He was likely quite fortunate not to have ended up on Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay, or Port Arthur, which were notorious as some of the strictest and harshest penal settlements in the British Empire at the time. Only the worst and most troublesome offenders were sent there, and Robert had accumulated a fairly lengthy rap sheet. He had been in and out of trouble on multiple occasions, facing charges of housebreaking, assault, and even a possible murder charge. These cases were eventually dropped due to lack of evidence before they went to trial.

It seems the convict administrators decided to send him far enough away in an attempt to keep him out of further trouble. Ten years earlier, Robert Bradbury would likely have been sent straight back to jail. However, by this time, the colonial government was more focused on keeping convicts out of prison and placing them in gainful employment. The colony was in need of workers—men who would earn wages and contribute to the burgeoning economy of early Australia.

On November 11, 1845, Robert was once again granted a Ticket of Leave Passport, this time allowing him to remain in the service of W. F. Gordon for six months at Darling Downs in the Colony of New South Wales.

Unlike a Certificate of Freedom, the ticket did not end a sentence. Unlike a Conditional Pardon, it did not release a lifer from the colony’s grip. Unlike an Absolute Pardon, it offered no return home. It was parole in everything but name, earned slowly, lost instantly, lived cautiously. The colony called it mercy.
The men who carried it knew better. They lived between punishment and hope, watched by everyone, protected by no one, surviving on a single piece of paper folded into their coat, proof that they were trusted today, and could be untrusted tomorrow.

Being granted a Ticket of Leave Passport meant that he was basically delivered an ultimatum. He was sent to work as a shepherd at Koreelah Station, approx 650 klms north to the Darling Downs. That area would have had very few white settlers living there at the time. I think that the administrators were dangling the carrot of potential freedom in front of him if he could behave himself.

No.: 45/989 – 11 November 1845 – Name: Robert Bradbury – Ship: Clyde – Year of Arrival: 1832 – Where Tried: Chatham Ct. Martial – When Tried: 27 Febry 1832 – Sentence: 14 Years – Ticket of Leave No.: 42/1338 Maitland – Allowed to: Remain at Darling Downs in the service of Mr. W. F. Gordon J.P. for six months – on the recommendation of: Maitland – Bench, dated: 21 Octr. 1843 – 2000: Regd. 43/9886.

SIDE NOTE…..Some history of that particular area - The Leslie Brothers (Partrick, Walter & George), who were early settlers on the Darling Downs, found one way to help alleviate a problem, that they found himself embroiled in. Late-comer-squatters had started to trespass on to his stock runs . The Leslie’s sold some of the run, or rather the goodwill of it, for it was all Government land. They disposed of land towards the lower end past Killarney, retaining Canning Downs. The land past Killarney (Koreelah) came into the possession of William Francis Gordon who paid the Leslies £250 for the use of it. The purchase included the improvements, a few huts and a woodshed along with ten miles of run. Along with the original run owners there was also those who served as labourers, first a few convicts, then ticket-of-leave men, then the free settler labourers.

One of those “ticket of leave” men was my great/great grandfather Robert Bradbury.

Living and working in solitude, as a shepherd on a station property, or even with a few local aboriginal laborers/shepherds usually meant that there was no opportunity to get into any strife. Robert Bradbury was finally issued his Certificate of Freedom on 16th September 1846 while working at Koreelah Station on the Southern Darling Downs close to where the border between Queensland & New South Wales is now located.

This area, on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, is where the headwaters of the Condamine River originate. The Condamine is a tributary whose waters flow into the Darling River that flows for 2800 km down the inland region of Australia, across four states – Queensland, New South Wales,Victoria, South Australia, forming the mighty Murray/Darling river system, which irrigates 40% of crops currently (2023) grown in Australia. One mountain ridge apart, on the Eastern side of the Great Divide, is the headwaters of Teviot Brook, that flows downstream into the Logan River & into the Pacific Ocean south of Brisbane. For that reason, the district adjacent to where Koreelah is located is called The Head. From this area, on the lofty heights of the main range, where he would have been mustering sheep & cattle on the station run, Robert Bradbury would have had no trouble seeing the rich flat grazing plains below the range, east to Innisplains & the small town of Beaudesert.

He would have no doubt yearned for ditching his convict existance of the last decade and a half, & returning to a normal lifestyle. Keep in mind, Robert had been a convict since he had been transported to Australia, which eventually worked out to be a quarter of his lifetime. The wheels in motion for publishing convicts new found freedom turned very slowly, as can be seen from the newspaper story above, published over a year after his certificate was issued. Needless to say, I am thinking Robert would have just wanted to get back to civilisation as soon as possible, to have a normal life, to have gainful employment, to have friends, maybe get married & to have a roof over his head that wasn’t a jail. Back then, this part of the country was still included in the colony of New South Wales. Queensland didn’t become a colony or state in its own right until 1859. Koreelah Station was eventually sold off in an estate auction to George Fairholme & the Leith-Hay brothers (William & James), but the name “Koreelah” is still kept as the district & national park name. On the 3rd of July 1847, Robert’s occupation was still listed as a shepherd at “Koreelah Station”, south of Killarney (W F Gordon’s stock run), on the southern Darling Downs. Well before its sale Robert had left Koreelah, and made his way over the Great Dividing Range on a rough track adjacent to “The Head” (used by local indiginous people), where he found employment at Henry Wilks Telemon station, Innisplain near Beaudesert, which as the crow flies, is only about 40 klms from Koreelah. The rough track he followed would much later, become “The Head Road” linking Killarney on the Southern Darling Downs, to the Fassifern Valley on the eastern side of the Great Dividing Range. Robert Bradbury would not have known it at the time, but he was crossing the Main Range where the future border between New South Wales & Queensland states is located. He was now a free man & about to become a QUEENSLANDER.

For the next few years, from about 1847, Robert lived and worked at Telemon Station Innisplain, near Beaudesert, after gaining his freedom. For the first time in a couple of decades, since his convict transportation, he was now earning money & was no doubt enjoying life as a free man. I figure that with his recent freedom, and being able to travel with the restrictions of being a convict now being lifted, he would have relished the idea of getting to meet and interact with more people, and of course, the ability to now get into a relationship, without all his movements being monitored.

Brisbane had only recently (in 1842) been opened to free settlers, but for someone like Robert, it didn’t offer many employment prospects. However as a shepherd/stockman, newer outlying towns like Ipswich, which was developing as a regional center supporting the growing agricultural and grazing industries, suited Robert Bradbury’s needs perfectly.

How Robert met his future wife, 18-year-old Irish immigrant Catherine Ryan, who arrived in Australia as an assisted immigrant, remains somewhat of a mystery. Catherine may have been part of the domestic staff at Telemon Station, where Robert was working, or they may have met during one of Robert’s occasional trips to Ipswich. Throughout his earlier life as a soldier, low-level criminal, and convict, Robert had never exhibited any Christian values. However, by the time he married Catherine, he had seemingly abandoned his Protestant Church of England background and converted to Catholicism, likely for the sake of the marriage. The Catholic Church generally did not welcome Protestant outsiders into its fold.

Robert Bradbury (46) and Catherine Ryan (19) were married at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Ipswich on November 8, 1853. There was a considerable age difference between the couple. Was Catherine with child at the time of their marriage? Their first child, a daughter, Johanna (my great grandmother) was born in August of the following year. In modern times, this might seem irrelevant, but in the historical context of the period, it was a serious issue given the strong Catholic beliefs Catherine held.

As a 46-year-old ex-soldier and convict, Robert probably didn’t care much about societal expectations, but as a recently freed man, he wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip past him. I’m not suggesting for a moment that there was anything untoward or sinister in Robert’s motives. However, as a recently freed convict—who, let’s face it, had likely not experienced any meaningful relationships for quite some time—he certainly wouldn’t have let a young woman with whom he had recently formed a relationship, however informal, slip from his grasp. As a ticket-of-leave man, with not much going for him, a man in his position wasn’t going to let that happen.

There was also the reality of how society viewed convicts who had been freed into Queensland at the time. Catherine, as an Irish workhouse immigrant orphan, belonged to a demographic that, like the ex-convicts, was treated poorly and held in low regard. Consequently, both ex-convicts and orphan girls found solace in each other’s company.

Sidenote….As far as I know, the Bride – Catherine Ryan & the witness – Margaret Ryan weren’t related.

By early 1854, the newlyweds were living at Laidley, in the Lockyer Valley with Robert working as a shepherd/farm labourer around the district. From the 1850s, the Laidley area was being cleared for sheep grazing.

They had their first child, a girl –Johanna (my great grandmother) who was born 31st August 1854 at Laidley, west of Ipswich. They eventually had three children – Johanna, Robert & Mary Ann, during their marriage, but also lost a couple of babies at birth.

Birth & death of unnamed Bradbury baby (1856) Moreton Bay, colony of New South Wales.

By December 1857, Robert had moved back to the Ipswich area & his occupation was listed as a shepherd/farm laborer. This move may have been partly due to the upcoming arrival of a new member of the family.

Birth of son Robert Bradbury jnr (14th December 1857 – 1934) Ipswich, colony of New South Wales.

Queensland was the name given to the new colony on the 6th June 1859

On 22nd July 1859, Robert & Catherine Bradbury lived in Ipswich Queensland. His occupation was again listed as a shepherd.

Birth of daughter Mary Ann Bradbury (22nd July1859 – 1893), colony of Queensland.

In October, 1859 Robert donated £2 2s. 6d (approx $250.00 in todays money) to a collection for the construction of St Mary’s Catholic Church in Ipswich, so he was certainly making an attempt towards a more law abiding & charitable way of life.

Robert appears to have obtained work wherever he could as a farm labourer or shepherd around the West Moreton district throughout his married life.

Birth and death of unamed Bradbury(1861–1861) Ipswich region, colony of Queensland

Sadly, Robert Bradbury died on 9 October 1862 at Bigge’s Camp (Grandchester). He had lived roughly 16 years after gaining his freedom. His death was apparently from a severe cold lasting six days (more than likely, influenza), and he was buried at Ipswich cemetery in the Catholic section. The death certificate shows his age as 50, although I have him at age 55. His wife Catherine Bradbury, with their three kids, Johanna(8), Robert(5) & Mary Ann(3) continued to live in a house at Clay Street Ipswich, for at least another ten years. She then moved to Toowoomba where she lived for approximately 30 years. Due to failing health, she then moved in with her daughter & son in law, Johanna & Nicholas Corcoran, at their farm at Moogerah in the Fassifern Valley.

Link to the Catherine Bradbury (Ryan) story here https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/05/01/catherine-ryan/

Will/Estate ~ 4 October 1881 ~ Robert’s will was granted probate; Goods, Chattels, Credits and Effects to Catherine BRADBURY.

As with any ancestry research, times, dates and ages can easily become muddled. It usually comes down to cracking the code and finding one simple record of a time and a place that has been recorded, and trying to match it up with whatever other details are available. Many of our very early pioneers were illiterate. They didn’t keep any of their own records. Photography was pretty much nonexistent until the mid to late 1800s. The only details on them were usually immigration arrivals, and any local records of land purchases, rate notices, births, deaths & marriages. If they broke any laws and were recorded going through the justice system at the time, they may have made it into the newspapers of the day. If you were a law-abiding citizen, you went through life with very little record of your existence other than birth, marriage, and death records being kept. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the convicts probably had more records kept on them than any of the free settlers. Hence, the records about Robert Bradbury were quite detailed up to the point, of him gaining his freedom.

What happened to Robert & Catherine Bradbury’s children?

Son, Robert Jnr married Matilda Christina Albertine Discher. & lived in Mackay.

Daughter, Mary Ann, married Charles Thomas Regan. They also lived in Mackay.

Their oldest child, daughter Johanna Bradbury (my great Grandmother) married a farmer & grazier, Nicholas Corcoran (my great Grandfather). They had eleven kids and lived at Fassifern Valley. Johanna & Nicholas’s daughter, Catherine Mary Corcoran (my grandmother) married Edward Bermingham (my grandfather).

So, according to what I have found on Robert Bradbury’s life, he appeared to have settled down from his earlier turbulant existence, after he was married & had a family to support. In saying that, Robert Bradbury born 1806 St Helens Lancashire England, grew up in England & served in the British armed forces, charged with desertion, convicted & transported to Sydney Australia in 1832 aged 25, gained his freedom in 1846 aged 39, married 1853 aged 46, sadly died in 1862 Bigges Camp (Grandchester Qld) at the relatively young age of 55 leaving his wife Catherine with three young kids. He finally got his freedom but didn’t live long enough into his later years to enjoy it.

In closing this story on my great great grandfather Robert Bradbury, it is worth noting the situation relating to how our convict ancestors were treated, not only from the brutal masters, but also from their families & descendants.

I have sighted many documents & records showing that there was a considerable amount of shame held by family members, back in the day. Apparently, some but not all, didn’t want it to become public knowledge that their father or mother was a convict.

However, in modern times, having a convict ancestor is a much cherished part of many peoples family history. We appreciate it & wear it like a badge of honour. How times have changed!

Robert Bradbury’s life journey – Born 1806 Manchester England, c1822 Enlisted as a soldier, Manchester – Spain – Nova Scotia – Bermuda – Nova Scotia -Chatham England. 1832 Court Marshalled & Transported to New South Wales as a convict. 1847 Freedom. Died 1862 Bigges Camp (Grandchester) Queensland.

Geoff Bermingham

Reading time 16 minutes

Comparisons between sports by diehard fans, always without fail degenerate into a battle of whose sport or code is the better. To me, it seems to be an exercise in futility & a total & utter waste of time. Most of it is media driven rubbish by second rate sports journalists (generally from the murdoch press) looking to create a story out of nothing on a slow news day. 

I’m certain that most diehard motorsport fans have had discussion or arguments about the relative skills of motor racing drivers compared to the skills of athletes from other sports thrust upon them, whether they like it or not. It’s a discussion that generally includes comments such as “Yeah but they’re a bunch of blokes only driving around in circles” or ” They’re not athlete’s they just drive a car fast” or “Anyone could do that” etc. It’s almost like some are itching for an argument. As a fan of many different sports, it does make me wonder why people endeavor to put someone else’s sport of choice down. For the life of me, why can’t fans just enjoy what they follow without having to belittle athletes & fans of other sports or pastimes? In Australia, the fans of each of the football codes seem to always be in a pissing contest with each other. The attitudes & comments by the leaders of the Football codes – Australian Rules, Rugby League & Rugby Union, make me sometimes wonder if they’re actually being run by the grown-ups or they have a group of kindergarten kids running the show. It was pathetic watching these people carrying on about the recent Womens Soccer World Cup.

It really was quite the wonderful journey the girls in The Matilda’s took us on, with them in making the Women’s World Cup finals that were held in Australia. There didn’t appear, from an outsider, that there were massive ego’s in that team. They were just a bunch of young women who were passionate & enjoyed playing for their country on the world stage. It was fantastic to see how well they played here in Australia. But you wouldn’t think so, by seeing these old fat white guys from other sporting codes trying to belittle the round ball game & denigrate womens sport, at every opportunity.

Although I respect the abilities of participants involved in many other sports, the skill of race car drivers absolutely amazes and enthralls me. But, it doesn’t mean that I feel as though I have to justify it. It is at this stage that I just back away from these discussions. I really couldn’t be bothered wasting my breath.

So, the following is not meant to be me, making a point about motorsport being better than any other sporting pastime. It’s simply me, defining why I love following motor racing. Take it on board or not.

Henry Ford is generally acknowledged for one of the most famous & oldest quotes about the origins of motor racing & the competitiveness among automobile drivers: “Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built.”

Motor sport is a vast umbrella of many different individual groups & categories. Most of them operate completely independently from each other & have differing regulations & governance. The overall sport has a myriad of different classes of cars, trucks, motorcycles & basically anything that runs off an engine as its power source. Motor sport has categories that race on asphalt road circuits, dirt tracks (speedway), drag racing strips, rallying & many other places where the participants can safely compete against each other.

Coming from a fans perspective, if you try to explain the differences to a person who has no idea of the sport, simply put…..you are wasting your time! The complexities, wide varieties of differing rules & completely differing power sources make the task almost impossible to anyone who doesn’t have a basic understanding of cars.

For example, try to descibe the various classes (just in car racing) to a newbie. In open wheelers alone, there’s upwards of twenty different classes or formula’s, that immediately come to mind.

Then there are touring cars, stock cars, off road racing, drifting, speedway, one make manufacturer racing, rallying, hill climbing, Sports Car racing & on it goes. All of these individual racing series have a multitude of separate classes operating in each of them. So, good luck in explaining all that to a newbie & holding their interest long enough for them to gain an understanding of the sport.

My passion is a particular form of motorsport called Endurance Sports Car Racing that competes on sealed bitumen race & street circuits. Race distances are usually 6, 12 or 24 hours in duration, although some races are allocated a distance, eg 1000 klms. As the description name suggests, the makes of vehicles competing are made up from manufacturers who mass produce & sell high performance sports cars like Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi, Bentley, McLaren, Jaguar, Renault Alpine, Aston Martin, Corvette (GM), Maserati. However, many of the mainstream passenger car manufacturers such as Toyota, Ford, General Motors, Peugeot, Mazda, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Nissan, Honda are also competing.

The Prototype (or Hypercar) class is the top level of sports car racing, creating some of the coolest cars in the history of the sport. These bespoke cars are designed & built wholly & solely for racing at the 24 hours of Le Mans & in the associated WEC (World Endureance Championship) & IMSA (US sports car series). Many iconic race cars have contributed to the well recorded history of Le Mans & sports car racing. A good example is the Porsche 917 of the 1970s, below left. On the right is the winning Ferrari prototype 499P at Le Mans 24 hour race, 2024.

Grand Touring Cars commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various auto racing series throughout the world. As the name of the class implies, the exterior of the car closely resembles that of the production vehicle, while the internal fittings & performance may differ greatly from the street version.

In Sports Car Racing, multiple classes of cars (prototypes & GT) can compete simultaneously on the same track. Some classes are exclusive to professional drivers, while others include a mix of both professional & amateurs.

There are also many GT3 only series around the world. Many of the professional drivers compete in prototype series, GT series & races combining both classes.

Performance Balancing……. In essence, GT3 & Sports Car racing in general, allows for the various manufacturers cars to have different positive (and negative) attributes while using a system of measures to ensure that, ultimately, all brands can produce similar levels of performance in terms of lap times. It is commonly referred to as BoP – balance of performance. The intended result is that cars with different engine capacities or with a V8, V12, straight 6 or a turbo 4 cylinder engine etc plus many other drive train & vehicle specifications can all compete on a level playing field. Many circuits require a different BoP ruleset than others. Needless to say, BoP is always going to be a contentious part of the sport, with factories (& fans) often calling foul on the levels of BoP used against them. Sandbagging (deliberately qualifying slower than what the car can actually perform) is another form of bending the rules that appears from time to time. The governing bodies of the sport & race control all have access to every team & cars performance data. If teams can be proven to have been sandbagging, there are serious implications & consequences.

Are you still with me?😃 Because, if you are, you’re doing well.😃

The most popular endurance sports car race in the world is the Le Mans 24 Hour held in June, every year in France. 325,000 people attended the 2023 centenary race at the 13.626 klm Circuit de la Sarthe. It had a world wide TV & live streaming audience of 113 million viewers.

Although Le Mans is the most popular event on the racing calendar, it is only one race for endurance sports car racing. The sport has hundreds of races each year, in most countries across the world.

Race teams compete at a different venue almost every time they race during a season. The tracks can change, with weather conditions, track modifications and configurations. Car set-ups can be quite dramatically different from the previous time drivers & teams were there. Even racing in a different season of the year can change a circuit’s characteristics. Drivers can change teams, and subsequently be driving a totally different make and type of car from when they were last there and pretty much have to start from scratch to get the car sorted out for that circuit.

Different circuits require a totally different car set-up. Tracks like Le Mans have flat, long straights & ultra fast corners, so cars need a low drag, high speed setup. Whereas, Bathurst in Australia & the Nordschliefe in Germany with undulating corners, many elevation changes plus long high speed sections require a completely different car specification. There are also plenty of shorter tracks like Brands Hatch in the UK that require a specific car set up too.

In endurance racing, what works for one driver doesn’t necessarily work for his team mate who hops straight into a car to take over, in a following stint. Team mechanics and engineers have to get a car sorted to work for multiple drivers and their individual driving styles. Then of course there is the tyres. Different race circuits have different characteristics on tyre wear, with different surfaces. What works on one particular track can become vastly different on another track. Racing series can change a brand of tyre (Michelin, Dunlop, Pirelli, Goodyear, Firestone etc) from one year to the next. Different tyres with different compounds, & grip & wear characteristics complicate things even more. A car can run on one brand but perform differently on another.

The days of hopping into a car and simply driving the wheels off the thing are long gone. These days the cars are a hell of a lot more reliable, but there are many more variables that have to happen to give you a good result on race day. In modern day race cars the drive trains are practically bulletproof, but the skills of the drivers have to be more in tune with the car. Being fast in qualifying doesn’t necessarily win you the race. Being consistently fast and reliable with the ability to read the car over the period of the race with all the different, inconsistent, condition changes, will get you over the line onto a podium position. Having mechanical sympathy for a car is nothing new, but being able to read it and sometimes nurse a car & tyres to the finish line is a talent and a skill that is very important in modern racing. Can a team double stint tyres? Can a driver get a lap extra out of a tank of fuel? In doing so, a car can be handed over for its final run to the flag hopefully with enough left in the tyres, & the fuel capacity to make a sprint race out of it. During races, drivers are continuously fed information through onboard technology & are in constant touch with the team race strategist at all times.

For a team arriving at an annual event like the Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race in Australia, it goes something like this:-   They arrive at the track, some having travelled from overseas & some being Australian teams coming from all parts of the country, early in the week prior to the race. The team get settled with accomadation. Many people imagine all forms of elite motor sport are much like what they see with Formula One – Rediculous amounts of money being thrown around, luxurious accomadation, mixing with celebrities & partying with Hollywood stars at the casino in Monte Carlo etc. The reality for most race teams is that their accomadation & food arrangements are usually budget hotels & takeaways. Some teams camp at the track. Some of the factory race teams, Porsche & Audi are a bit more upmarket but still not quite in the F1 league.

Race transporters have to be unpacked. The race cars & pit garages have to be sorted out. This involves tons of equipment being set up.  Modern day motor sport requires lots of telemetry & data analysis, so it’s not just tools & spares. There’s lots of information & data collected from the car, which is meant to help drivers and engineers understand the behavior of the machine in the dynamic environment of racing conditions. The amount of electronic equipment & computers required to keep track of the performance of the car on track can be just as much, if not more, than the spares, these days.

The drivers arrive, practice and qualifying starts. If the team has been there before, they have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen, to get them into a position to be in contention on Sunday afternoon. If, like the Bathurst 12H, it’s an early season event, the teams may be slightly rusty, after the Summer/Southern hemisphere  & Winter/Northern hemisphere break. They may strike some issues early in the week that may require lots of additional work to get the car on track, and that’s before the event is even under way.

There are fan/media commitments & sponsor & promotional activities that drivers & teams have to attend. The drivers are like any other bunch of athletes. They are dedicated sportsmen & women. They live to race & compete against each other at the highest level. However, sponsors keep the sport alive, which means that many of the drivers have to attend most of the pre-race functions etc & answer all the same questions over & over again. To many of them, this is the only part of their chosen sport that they dislike. Like footy & cricket players, they just want to play the game they love. However the drivers are the face of the team that the public & media want to see. I’m no different when it comes to seeing my favorite drivers & teams performing at their optimum performance at various races that I attend, but I’m not a fan of all the pre-race stuff that goes on.

As an interesting side note – These days, at the Bathurst 12 hour race, we arrive in town on the Friday night, go to the circuit Saturday & Sunday & head home on Monday. In years gone by, we used to drive down on Wednesday. Because the vast majority of the crowds didn’t arrive until Saturday, it was possible to wander around the pit paddock & garages on Thursday & regularly bump into many drivers & team members. The year the above photo was taken, Porsche Factory driver Pat Long saw us wandering past & came over, said hello & had a chat because he noticed I was wearing a Flying Lizards T shirt, the team he drove with back in the old American Le Mans Series days. Arriving earlier certainly has its benefits. Most of the guys are happy to have a break from all the other setup stuff they have to do & are generally up for a chat or a photo. You literally run into Le Mans, Nurburgring, Spa, Daytona & Sebring race winners at every turn.

Like other sports, they are in demand to be interviewed with their thoughts & opinions on the upcoming race, their personal lives & anything else that media interviewers apparently need to know.

Scrutineering (car legality check) takes place. The on track action starts on Friday for Free Practice when the cars are out on the circuit for the first time. This is usually the first time that teams get to see how their car is going to actually perform at any given circuit. Things start to really get real serious on Saturday for Qualifying. They may think they have a fast car, but then the opposition blows past them like they are standing still, and they have to get better times out of the car if they are to be competitive in the race. It’s a fine balance between a quick car on the fast long straights of Mt Panorama, but losing time over the top of the mountain & down the tight twisty sections coming down the mountain circuit.

Endurance sports car racing is a little different from other types of motorsport. Many races have classes for only fully professional drivers who are generally fighting for the outright win & other races also have a mix of pro & amateur drivers, some in the same race car, driving together. There are so many areas that can end a weekends racing for a team. Endurance racing relies on many amateur rich guys to often get cars onto the grid. These guys are quite often handy steerers who can turn in some pretty quick times, in favorable conditions. They’re not pro-drivers who do this for a living, but are guys who love racing and have the finance behind them to buy a drive (or sometimes a whole team) and usually perform quite well. The car may be fast, with a pro driver in it, but the guy who is paying the bills may not be able to get his head around it quite as well. On the other hand, if the weather turns sour, drivers who can perform ok in dry conditions, many times find themselves way out of their comfort zone.

So, qualifying day arrives. Teams prepare their cars for getting the fastest time possible in the conditions, to set the starting grid for the following days race. Usually the quickest guy gets the job to qualify the car in the highest possible grid position for the beginning of the race.

There are a few different schools of thought for qualifying. The race is an endurance event with hours of racing, many pit stops for fuel, tyres & driver changes taking place, so it isn’t the end of the world if the car is not on the front row of the starting grid on race day. But keep in mind, drivers like other athletes have that super competitive streak in them. They all want to be the fastest in qualifying, to start the race up front. There is no doubt that being in front at the start definately has its advantages. You control the pace, you have free air in front of you. Oh, & I forgot to mention, this race being twelve hours duration, starts in the dark at 5.45am in the morning. So the first half hour or so has yet another element of danger & skill to it. Circulating with speeds of up to 300 kmp down Conrod straight in the dark with the blinding lights of 40 cars behind you certainly makes you aware that you are alive, & want to stay that way.

Motor racing being what it is, usually means that most tracks around the world, are well away from the larger cities & densely populated areas. With that being the case in Australia, our native wildlife can sometimes makes their way onto some of the circuits. This can & often does happen during a race weekend. Phillip Island in Victoria has an ongoing problem with Cape Barren geese venturing on to the track occasionally. Mt Panorama at Bathurst has yet another skill requirement that many of the overseas teams & drivers have to learn about & contend with.

So, the race is underway. Many teams further back on the starting grid use their amateur drivers to start, with the strict instructions of – Keep the thing in one piece & stay off the walls. The Am guys have a minimum drive time in the cars, so teams cannot just put the pro guys in to gain an advantage. The ams have to do their fair share of driving.

Many people view endurance racing as a long drawn out affair, but with modern day cars, they are built to last the distance easily. That is not to say that they are totally bullet proof. Do anything stupid with them & your day can be over very early into the race.

The initial plan is to get to the first programmed pit stop & see how well things are going then. The aim of everyone in the race, is to get the car & team into a top ten position heading into the last few hours to give yourself a decent run to the checkered flag. By about half way through the event, most teams start to work back from the finish time (in the B12Hr-5.45pm) & backplan their pit stops, at planned lap count intervals. This is why the team strategist, working in combination with the engineer/controller is so much an important member of a team. With cars usually doing exact lap counts per full fuel load, teams know exactly how far they can go, without the car running out of fuel somewhere out on the track. Tyres only last a set duration too. Flog them too early in the driving stint & they have a point where the tyre wears out prematuraly & litterally drops of the cliff & your lap times plummet. The team strategist/controller is one of the most important members of a race team, particularly as the end of the race draws closer. His or her decisions can make or break a good result. These are the people who are usually found up the back of the team garage with their heads buried in computer screens analyzing the real time data. Late race cautions, caused by an accident, can throw plans up in the air. Nobody usually remembers the behind the scenes team members, but they are are vital part of all race teams.

Motor racing being what it is, also means that accidents can happen. Cars tangle with each other. Drivers make mistakes. Rain can hit the circuit turning your high grip, dry weather, slick tyres into ice skates. Weather radar plays an important roll in the team strategists list of things to keep an eye on during a race. Being fully aware of when impending bad weather is to hit the race circuit & knowing exactly when to pit the car to change to wet tyres is vital. Run a car that is on wets when the rain hasn’t yet hit the track can be disastrous. Your car could turn into a mobile chicane with everyone passing you, if you go too early. Anything can happen. If an accident takes place blocking the track, a full course yellow caution usually bunches up the field. Designed to give Race Control another tool to aid recoveries and safely manage on-track incidents during the race, the Full Course Yellow (FCY) system will see all cars required to slow to 80 km/hr in single file on the instruction of Race Control, potentially reducing the use of the Safety Car. Anyone breaking the FCY cops a penalty, which often can take them out of contention for a podium position. Everyone wants to see an incident free race to the checkered flag, but accidents take place for many different reasons, & problems usually crop up towards the end of a race when the adrenylin is pumping at a high rate. There is no such thing as a patient race driver when the end of a race in imminent. These guys are all professional enough to not stupidly end their own races or anyone else’s with a crazy or dangerous manouver. But what they are all paid to do, is take the opportunities when they present themselves. If there is a gap created, a professional driver will take it in a nanosecond. Being patient & waiting for another one won’t win you the race. That is why they are so good at what they do. Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell’s winning move within the final minutes of the 2019 race finish shows that well. There was absolutely nothing between the Aston Martin & binning that Porsche into the wall that day.

As all teams have access to exact timing & electronic information on their cars, it really becomes a total team effort to get the car into a winning position in the final hours of a race. One slipup from the driver, the pit mechanics, the refuelers or the race engineer/strategist can lose a race for a team that has battled so hard to get into contention. Everyone has to be at the peak of their game for the winner to cross the line first. There are very rarely any second chances.

Sidenote – That particular day in 2019, I wasn’t actually at the race (2019 Bathurst 12 Hour). I was at the base of the Himalayas with our family, in Northern India, not far away from the tallest mountain in the world- Mt Everest. We were in India for our sons wedding. I think the Nepalese locals thought that this Aussie in their midst had gone stark raving mad. I was watching the final stages of the race on a live stream at the time, when Matty Campbell made that incredible pass to go on & win the 2019 Bathurst 12 Hour race for the Porsche Works/Earl Bamber Motorsport team.

Aside from the actual racing, I follow all the team gossip, comings & goings of team members, as other sports fans do with their sports & teams. As I’ve already mentioned, the drivers are only one part of a race team. The owners, managers, strategists & many other team members have become well known to motor racing fans as well, for the vital work they do in making these teams function as well as they do. If you watch the excellant Netflix series, F1 Drive to Survive, it details how the inner workings of a race team works.

There are plenty of racing doco’s & movies out there, but very few manage to explain in detail how teams have to perform & operate as a unit to get success. One of the very best documentaries ever made about motor sport & in particular, endurance sports car racing, is a film commissioned by the German car manufacturer, Audi, detailing their success at the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 2008, called “Truth in 24″. It is available free of charge to watch on YouTube. Well worth a watch, even if you only having a passing interest in motorsport.

Sidenote – Sport of all persuations should be a subject that Film Producers should be able to recreate into movies without adding over the top scenes detailing non-factual events, for dramatic effect, that generally don’t happen in the real event. Motor racing (& sport in general) has all the completely natural drama taking place. The preparation, the lead up, the start, the background pitlane drama’s, some serious crashes & then the big exciting finish. So why do movie producers feel the need to add romance, a sex scene, a fight scene, rediculous music scores & crazy AI extras that don’t even look real, to bolster up a generally pathetic script for a sport movie? Production companies apparently deem it necessary to completely overdramatize their films with extra bullshit scenes detailing non-factual events to add something to a sports movie. It never works & consequently, most sports movies are box office failures.

But, I digress……Truth in 24 is a documentary/movie that does work, because all of it actually took place. There’s no actors, or made up dramatic scenes. The drivers, team members & other personalities are the real deal. The footage was all taken at the actual race in 2008, & leading up to it.

So, that is why I love this sport. But I also get why others are so passionate about their sport or interest of choice too. I really believe we all need a passion or hobby to follow. Life would be pretty dull without it.

EDIT – Feb 2024 — My son & I recently arrived home from the 2024 edition of the Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race. It is still only February, but I can honestly say that this race will be my 2024 sporting highlight. Whatever other events in the sporting world take place will have to be something quite extraordinary to beat this one. Having my favourite Porsche factory team – Manthey Racing win the thing was icing on the cake. The winning car was driven by Queenslander Matt Campbell (who also won the race in 2019), Belgium driver Laurens Vanthoor & Turkish driver Ayhancan Güven.

Reading time 20 minutes

The fifth of ten children born to Johannes (John) and Louisa Rosina (Kubler) Muller, was my grandfather, Adolf Gustav Muller.

Within the family, his own generation referred to him by his initials – A.G. As his grandchildren, we affectionately called him Papa Muller. We, too, occasionally referred to him as A.G—but never to his face. We wouldn’t have dared! He was what the current generation might jokingly call a “tough old geezer.” And when I say tough, I don’t mean the rough-and-tumble, fighting kind. He was a man who knew how to assert his authority without violence—or in our case, as grandkids, without any form of corporal punishment.

He faced problems head-on, working through each one with a blend of thoughtful negotiation and his own unique brand of verbal reasoning. Whether it was dealing with an unruly grandchild or navigating a maze of bureaucracy to resolve a constituent’s issue with the hierarchy, he always found a way to get to the bottom of things—and get results.

To his many friends, parliamentary colleagues, and acquaintances over the years, he was simply known as Alf Muller. He was born on May 1, 1889, in the Fassifern Valley and attended Kalbar and Templin State Schools. His father, Johannes (John) Muller, a dairy farmer, passed away at the relatively young age of 52 in 1905.

At just 16 years old, Alf faced the loss of his father and, alongside his siblings, took on the responsibility of maintaining the family farm. Over time, Alf followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a dairy farmer and grazier in the Boonah district, where he lived for the rest of his life.

On the 12th of January 1910, 21 year old Alf Muller married Annie Lobegeiger (19), a local girl from Roadvale, whose parents John and Emilie Lobegeiger, were also one of the early farming families in the district. Alf and Annie had three daughters -Phyllis (1910), Vera (my Mum 1914), Mavis (1919) and a son Selwyn (1917). The family continued the tradition of Alf’s father Johannes (John) Muller & ran dairy & beef cattle on their grazing property in the Fassifern Valley.

Alf’s father John Muller had decided on serving his community & becoming a local councillor, but sadly died shortly after winning a seat on the local Goolman Shire Council. Alf also had a sense of civic duty, which eventually led him into a life of serving his local community as its local member of state parliament. He also served on many farming regulatory authorities throughout Queensland over his lifetime.

Following in his father’s footsteps, 29-year-old Alf became a councillor and later served as chairman on both the Goolman and Boonah Shire Councils before entering Queensland state politics.

Alf was a very busy man, who wore a lot of different hats in his lifetime. He was a member of many agricultural boards including the State Butter Board, the Australian Dairy Producers’ Export Board 1933 to 1953, the Commonwealth Dairy Equalisation Committee, Member and Chairman of the State Butter Marketing Board, Chairman of Directors – Queensland Farmers Cooperative Association and Queensland Cooperative Dairy Companies Association; Director, Producers Cooperative Distributive Society; President, Queensland Branch, Clydesdale Horse Society; Patron: Fassifern Agricultural and Pastoral Society, Beenleigh Agricultural and Pastoral Society, Rosewood Show Society. In amongst all of that, he still found time to be a farmer in the Fassifern Valley.

With Alf being a public figure, as the local state parliamentary member for Fassifern & also being a cabinet minister, he was often quoted on a wide variety of topics.

Alf Muller represented the electorate of Fassifern (now known as Scenic Rim) in the Queensland State Legislative Assembly from 1935 until 1969, when he was eighty years old. He served as Deputy Leader when the Country Party were in Opposition from 1949 to 1957 and as Minister for Public Lands and Irrigation from 1957 to 1960. A popular politician, Alf earned considerable respect from both sides of the political divide in Queensland during his time in office. He was widely known as a humble man whose main focus was to secure a better deal for his local district, where he served as their parliamentary representative for 34 years.

In 1935, after winning the Fassifern seat in the Queensland State Legislative Assembly, Alf decided to build a family home in Boonah. With his political career gaining momentum and his son Selwyn increasingly taking responsibility for managing the Fassifern Valley farm, Alf chose to relocate to Boonah. The following year, in 1936, a home was constructed for him at 14 Macquarie Street.

In a remarkable coincidence—and a reflection of how closely connected life in small country towns like Boonah can be—Alf engaged builder – Norm Vincent, the grandson of one of Boonah’s earliest tradesmen, Charlie Vincent, to build his family home on Macquarie Street. Unbeknownst to Alf at the time, Charlie Vincent had once mentored Ned Bermingham—Alf’s daughter Vera’s future father-in-law—during Ned’s apprenticeship in Boonah many years earlier.

Charlie Vincent played a pivotal role in shaping early Boonah, constructing many of the town’s original homes and buildings leading up to the 20th century. Decades later, his grandson Norm continued the legacy by building the Muller family home, which still stands proudly on Macquarie Street today.

Alf had a falling out with his own party, the Queensland Country Party, ostensibly over a taxation incident and his steadfast refusal to be pressured into supporting the government and its vested interests. He opposed their efforts to not protect the Crown Estate from private developers—many of whom were Country & Liberal Party donors with a financial stake in developing the land for personal gain.

His refusal to fall into line with members of his own party who held vested interests with the developers saw him sit as an independent for a number of years.

A quote from the Labor Party opposition leader in the Queensland Parliament at the time, Jack Duggan on Alf Muller – “He was game enough to stand up to people who were endeavouring to gain some advantage for themselves, particularly large land owners and party supporters. He does not have the sartorial elegance of the Liberals, he does not come in here dressed in suits made by the best tailors of the State, he does not have the vocal eloquence of the Treasurer and some of his other Liberal colleagues who occupy the Ministerial bench, but he was always a fearless and hard-hitting debater. Whatever else he may not have possessed, he certainly had the attributes of being a hard worker, having a sincerity of purpose and a high degree of common sense. We on this side differed with him very much on the Government’s handling of their land policy…but I know that the Liberal people who had access
to the entrepreneurs and real estate agencies, and the big graziers who threw their money at the Government, thought it would be better to deal with someone who had a less strong view on the cutting up of big estates.”

Duggan challenged the Liberal/Country Party government to ‘deny that they forced out their hardest and best-working Minister by using this tax matter.

As an illustration of Alf Muller’s depth of feeling against his colleagues, on the Hansard record, he told the Parliament: “To my constituents and to the people of Queensland in general, let me say that I can be of greater service as an Independent than by sticking to a party led by Mr Nicklin and Mr Morris. I do not want to say the whole thing, of course, has weakened my confidence in Mr Nicklin, as far as Mr Morris is concerned, I never had any.”

Although Fassifern was considered one of the safest Country Party seats in the state, Alf never took it for granted. He took as much satisfaction from helping constituents with individual problems as he did from securing approvals for major projects such as dams, schools, and infrastructure. When he fought for a particular cause, he was tenacious and determined, never willing to give up. When Alf retired as the member for Fassifern, his son Selwyn took over the seat and later became the Speaker of the Queensland State Legislative Assembly.

During Alf’s tenure in the Queensland State Parliament, the Country Party-led government was known for its ultra-conservative and extremely right-wing policies. This staunch conservatism persisted for another three decades. Many ideas that the South African government introduced during the oppressive Apartheid era were reportedly influenced by Queensland Government policies of the time, which, in turn, took directives from the Federal Government’s White Australia policy.

However, A.G. Muller was one of the few Country Party members with a strong sense of social justice. In the Queensland Country Party of the 1930s, progressives were a rare minority. For that pre-WWII era, he held commendable views on Indigenous welfare that were not shared by many of his peers. He made numerous speeches, recorded in Hansard, advocating for better living conditions and access to education for First Nations people. Unfortunately, Alf’s ideas often fell on deaf ears. On many occasions, he found himself swimming against the tide of his own party’s policies. While one could never suggest that Alf Muller sympathized with Labor Party values, he certainly upheld some admirable standards that occasionally aligned more with the opposition than with his own party. He adhered to a strict moral code throughout his life, always committed to his policy of giving everyone a fair go. In doing so, he often clashed with his own party on certain issues.

When reading these newspaper reports, it’s important to remember that the general tones, descriptions, and attitudes expressed by the community, politicians, and journalists regarding our First Nations people were very different from how we speak today. Even when there was good intent, the language often came across as racially intolerant in the newspaper reporting of the time. What we now consider bigoted racial descriptions in modern language, though harsh, were more commonplace. People were blunt and direct in their speech.

He started out as a member of the Country Party but in 1961 he resigned from the party due to differences he had with the rest of the Cabinet. It was stated at the time that these differences related to transactions A G Muller had with the Income Tax Department, which, in part is true. He sat as an Independant Country member until October 1965 when he rejoined the party.

In his younger days, Alf Muller had also represented his district in both cricket & football. On February 28, 1911, Alf top-scored for Fassifern with 17 runs. Unfortunately, the Dugandan team put the cleaners through them that day. My other grandfather, Ned Bermingham, was a talented all-rounder who played for Dugandan. On that day, Alf could hardly have imagined that his future daughter, Vera—who would be born three years later in 1914—would eventually marry the son of one of the opposition team’s bowling attack, Ned Bermingham’s son, Jack Bermingham, in 1948.

Alf founded Surradene Clydesdale Stud at his grazing property in the Fassifern Valley near Kalbar. The Fassifern district, where he lived, required a significant number of horses for land cultivation. Farmers specifically chose the Clydesdale breed due to its size and stamina, making it well-suited for the task.

During this period, A.G. Muller owned several stallions and was actively breeding horses on his property. In 1931, he was elected Queensland Branch President and Federal Delegate of the Commonwealth Clydesdale Horse Society (CCHS)—positions he held for 17 years until the Queensland Branch was disbanded in 1948. To date, he remains the longest-serving president of the Queensland Branch.

Additionally, records indicate that from 1938 to 1948, Alf Muller served as a federal Clydesdale judge, officiating at the RNA Brisbane Show on four occasions.

I have touched on the topic of religion in several of my other blog articles about our family ancestors, particularly how the strong faith of the original settlers guided them through the difficult early years in the Fassifern Valley.

In my research, I noticed that different races and religions tended to remain within their own communities, often due to language barriers. Protestant Germans typically married other Germans, while Irish Catholics tended to marry within their own group. These unions were shaped not only by cultural familiarity but also by deeply held religious beliefs, which often took precedence over denominational differences.

Given this background, it must have been difficult for Alf and Annie when three of their children chose to marry outside the Methodist faith. Daughters Mavis and Vera, as well as son Selwyn, all married Irish Catholics. While I never witnessed any open racial or sectarian tension—and certainly none that I noticed as a child—the fact that three out of four of their children married outside their church likely caused some consternation.

That said, Alf and Annie were, in many ways, progressive for their time, so this may not have been an issue they couldn’t overcome. Still, as I have noted in other family blog articles, I do not recall any joint family gatherings with the Catholic relatives. It must be considered that the era was a different time & place for the local populations of the time.

Conservatism ruled, and many people didn’t want to appear radical, even if they privately considered themselves progressive. As a politician, Alf was always aware that you had to consider and respect the electors’ opinions, even when you believed they were wrong. You don’t keep anyone’s vote by constantly and openly contradicting them.

I remember him telling my dad on more than one occasion that the best thing you can do is listen to what people have to say. Even back then—indeed, likely since time immemorial—many politicians assumed their own views were unquestionably correct instead of listening to their constituents. Even when he disagreed with the racist attitudes or the occasional crackpot theories that some people held, he believed you still had to listen and take those points into consideration.

Throughout his life of serving his constituants in state parliament & having his voice heard on the many agricultural boards, Alf Muller always saw himself as just a humble farmer but in doing so, he was always at the forefront of trying new farming practices & trialling different stock breeds from all over the country & around the world. I have no idea how he fitted all of this into one lifetime.

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Alf’s wife, my grandmother Annie, was a quiet and private person with little interest in the public life of a politician’s wife, yet she diligently performed her duties. She was content at home in Boonah, cooking, tending her garden, and participating in church and community activities. In fact, their daughter, my mother Vera, often stood in for Annie when Alf was fulfilling his role as a local politician, first as a councilor and later as a state government representative for Fassifern.

Did I mention cooking? Annie was a top-notch, quintessential bush cook! Whenever we visited, we were greeted by the aroma of a baked dinner on the wood stove or a fresh batch of scones or cakes laid out on the kitchen table as we walked up the back stairs.

My memories of my grandparents—just plain Papa and Nana to the twelve grandkids—are of typical, hardworking country people. Even as he grew older, Alf enjoyed nothing more than returning to Boonah, meeting and chatting with the locals, or working on the farm, far removed from the rough and tumble of state politics. As a kid, it seemed to me that he knew just about everyone in Boonah and throughout the Fassifern Valley. I remember walking down Church Street and onto the main street, High Street, with him on Saturday mornings; it took forever to get anywhere, as he stopped to chat with nearly everyone we passed.

As his grandson visiting Boonah, even at a relatively young age, I often wondered why my grandfather always bought locally, especially when it came to cars, farm machinery, white goods, furniture, and other major purchases. I had noticed that prices in Boonah were generally higher, even though the town is only about two hours southwest of Brisbane.

When I asked him about it, Papa told me he always bought locally. He had grown up with the people in the town and around the valley—they weren’t just acquaintances; they were friends, and in many cases, family. And I remember thinking at the time, perhaps rather cynically for a ten-year-old, that they were also voters😀. However, as far as he was concerned, if he could get the same product in Boonah, he would never consider buying it elsewhere.

He believed in supporting the local economy. Just as he was a farmer, so were many of his friends and neighbors, and they all shared the same philosophy: support each other by keeping business within the community. “This is how it all works,” he would say.

We often travel to Boonah these days, either visiting or passing through on our way to the Southern Darling Downs, where my wife’s family is from. The town has changed over time, as expected, but it still retains the charming, old-style country feel it has always had. As kids, we enjoyed visiting regularly, knowing that life would slow down to a relaxed country pace.

Alf’s words of advice to his son Selwyn when he took over the State Parliamentary seat of Fassifern were – “Use your common sense. If you have anything worthwhile to say, have the courage to say it; if you wish to comment but are not aware of all the facts, remain silent”

Alf Muller died on the 1st of August 1970 at eighty one years old & was accorded a State Funeral upon his death. He was buried in the Kalbar Cemetery. My Grandmother Annie died five months later and is buried beside him at Kalbar.

He was a great man and a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. But he was also one of many who helped develop this part of our state into the thriving, successful farming community it is today.

There are still many descendants living around Boonah, the Fassifern Valley, and Southeast Queensland, as well as throughout Australia, continuing the family tradition that Alf Muller’s father, Johannes Muller, began when he arrived from Germany nearly 150 years ago, in 1879.

See link to Alf Mullers daughter, my Mum

Vera Isabel Bermingham

Reading time 14 minutes

Vera Isabel Bermingham was my Mum. She was the second of four children to Adolf Gustav & Annie Emilie Muller (Lobegieger). Vera was born in Boonah on 24th March, 1914, just a few months before the start of World War One.

The Muller children – Phyllis, Vera, Selwyn & Mavis in front

The rural countryside of the Fassifern Valley was then, as it is today – a rich and diverse farming and grazing district. Most of the Muller family had been farmers, ever since Johannes Muller had arrived in Australia from Germany in 1879. Alf and Annie’s farm ran beef and dairy cattle, had the customary pig & chook pens and grew market garden crops in the rich black soil country, now known as the Scenic Rim. The four Muller children, Phyllis, Vera, Selwyn, and Mavis enjoyed a typical bush childhood. They rode their horses to the nearby one-teacher school.

The 1920s were a vastly different world from today, especially in the conservative bush. Men worked the farms, ran the businesses, and had access to further education, while most girls and women were sent off to learn typing, shorthand, and what was quaintly referred to as “domestic science.” It was generally expected that a young woman was preparing herself for marriage and family. I should note that this wasn’t the case in all families, but it was for Vera’s. Her father, Alf Muller, was a tough yet fair old-school farmer with ultra-conservative values, shaped by a strict German Primitive Methodist Church upbringing.

By her teenage years, Vera was developing a tough and forthright character. She yearned for further education and was eager to make her mark in whatever field she chose. However, despite her protests, her learning was limited to the Commercial High School in Ipswich. After completing her studies, Vera worked at Humphreys and Tow, the local department store in Boonah, from 1929 to 1937. Although she often clashed with her father over his restrictions on her further education, she loved her job and enjoyed life in and around Boonah. She played tennis, rode her horse, bushwalked, climbed local mountains, and went on picnics around the beautiful Fassifern Valley with her friends from various church and social groups. She often recounted stories of climbing Mt. French behind the family home, taking trips to Cunningham’s Gap, and exploring the district with her brother Selwyn, her sisters Phyllis and Mavis, and friends—riding horses, motorbikes, and traveling by car.

Vera’s mother, Annie, was a shy and private woman with a quiet disposition. Though she dutifully supported her husband as a local politician’s wife, she preferred spending time with her church, community, garden, and family.

As Vera’s father, A.G. Muller, pursued his political career, Annie often opted out of the endless meetings, official openings, and party functions. Vera frequently accompanied him instead, serving as his assistant. She was a young woman with a confident, outgoing personality, and she would later recall how her outspokenness often exasperated him.

In early 1939, Vera cut her ties with Boonah and, against her father’s wishes, moved to Brisbane, where she took a secretarial position with the Vacuum Oil Company (now ExxonMobil). At 24, leaving Boonah for “the big smoke” was a significant step, and though it was only a few hours away, it marked the beginning of a new chapter.

Vera embraced the social life in Brisbane with enthusiasm. Living and working in the bustling city was a stark contrast to the quiet, conservative town of Boonah. Her father was disappointed by her decision to leave, as he would have preferred she marry a local farmer and remain in the Fassifern Valley to raise a family. But he was to face more disappointments as Vera pursued her own path.

By 1939, World War II had begun. Defying her father’s wishes once again, 25-year-old Vera applied to join the women’s naval and air force units. She also applied for nursing training, as many fully trained doctors and nurses were being deployed to front-line medical units. Accepted into training at the Brisbane General Hospital, now known as the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Vera pursued nursing with great passion. The war years provided a fast-track education in the skills modern nurses required, as Brisbane received a steady influx of severely injured and wounded troops returning from the Pacific theaters of war.

For a more detailed view and a great video on what nursing training was like in Vera’s day, visit The Museum of Nursing History. The video in this link is fascinating —it describes exactly what my mum experienced during her nursing training at Brisbane General Hospital during the war years. It’s incredible to think that she was one of the thousands of nurses who lived at the hospital and trained as a registered nurse (RN) at the Royal Brisbane during that time, 1939-1945. It’s also deeply gratifying to know that the heritage-listed Nurses’ Quarters have been restored to their former glory and are still being used to train and educate new generations of nurses.

Lectures for nurses at Brisbane General & Womens Hospital when Nurse Vera Muller was doing her training

Despite their rigorous schedules, the young wartime trainee nurses found plenty of ways to go out on the town and evade the 10 p.m. curfew at the Nurses’ Quarters. When they managed to get time off, they posted a lookout so they could sneak back in during the early hours. My mum often spoke about the Matron in charge of the Nurses’ Quarters and the various matrons at the hospitals where she served. They all had reputations as strict disciplinarians, and the Matron’s word was law—there were no ifs, buts, or maybes.

Nurses quarters at Royal Brisbane Hospital. The heritage listed building has been fully restored & is now part of a campus for the latest trainee nurses

From her father A.G. Muller’s perspective, life wasn’t unfolding entirely according to his plans for all of his children. Most followed the path he envisioned—but not all. His second daughter, in particular, was becoming something of a thorn in his side.

In 1934, his eldest daughter, Phyllis, had married a local farmer’s son, James Alexander Yarrow of Roadvale, a World War I veteran. A.G. couldn’t have been happier: his daughter had married a returning war hero.

In 1940, his son, Selwyn, married Patricia Margaret O’Callaghan and took over the farm. With the start of World War II, Selwyn joined the army, serving with distinction in the Middle East and New Guinea campaigns. He returned after the war to resume running the farm, allowing his father to focus on his growing political career. What more could he ask for? A son who was a war hero, ready to continue the Muller family farming tradition.

By late 1941, his youngest daughter, Mavis, was engaged to Boonah solicitor James Patrick Finney, who ran a successful legal practice. Mavis and Jim had purchased a home on McQuarie Street, just 200 meters from her parents, where they planned to start a family.

However, by 1942, his second daughter, Vera, was a problem.

There is little doubt that, had A.G. Muller known what was happening in Vera’s life in Brisbane during the war, he would have been mortified. Despite the war, she was enjoying her life, working hard in a challenging career, and making new friends.

This was a time when Australian and American service men and women were passing through Brisbane on their way to the Pacific front. Most young adults weren’t sure if Australia would be invaded, with the Japanese coming within about 300 kilometers in New Guinea. There was a sense of urgency to live life to the fullest, as things could change quickly if the war took a turn for the worse. By 1942, with the Americans’ arrival, Commander General Douglas MacArthur had implemented the Brisbane Line—a plan to temporarily abandon Northern Australia if a Japanese invasion occurred.

Vera was an independent young woman, unwilling to follow the script her father had set for her. A.G. had likely been vocal and firm about his desire for his last daughter to marry a local farmer from the Fassifern Valley. But she was determined to carve her own path. While their differences didn’t harm their relationship, her choices clashed with A.G.’s deeply held values. Vera, however, would not budge.

During the war years, the dedicated nurses and doctors worked incredibly long hours for poor pay, enduring tough conditions. But she loved it, forming lifelong friendships along the way. Vera completed her nursing training and earned multiple promotions, eventually overseeing the nursing team at the elite Medical Research Ward at Brisbane General Hospital. Here, she handled the most challenging cases daily, which she described as the most interesting work of her life. She also earned her midwifery certificate and assisted in delivering many new Queenslanders into the world. Her true passion, though, was acute nursing, caring for the most seriously ill on their road to recovery.

Vera’s life took another decisive turn in early 1948 on the Ipswich to Boonah railmotor. Today, that journey takes only half an hour by car, but back then, the trip stretched to nearly three hours, stopping at every small station to chat with locals and deliver mail and milk. It was the perfect setting for a lifelong partnership to begin between Nurse Vera Muller and PMG (now Telstra) Telephone Linesman John Francis (Jack) Bermingham. It’s fair to say they had plenty of time to get acquainted on that epic 1948 train trip home to Boonah, to see their respective families.

Vera came from a strict German Methodist family, while Jack was from a devout Irish Catholic background—a notable cultural mix in ultra-conservative Boonah in 1948. Jack was also a divorcee, which, at that time, placed him firmly on the fringes of the Catholic Church. He had a son, John Francis Leslie Bermingham, from his previous marriage. Although Jack may not have held strong religious beliefs, he was deeply hurt by his ex-communication from the church—and by the rejection he felt from certain family members. This offense ran so deep that, as far as I know, he never set foot in a Catholic church again.

Vera and Jack Bermingham were married at Brisbane’s Albert Street Methodist Church on February 9, 1949. They honeymooned briefly in Townsville, after which Jack returned to work, installing new automatic telephone exchanges across North Queensland.

The couple lived in Townsville, Bowen, Ayr, and various other towns in North Queensland, with Vera working in different hospitals throughout the region. However, after the fast-paced environment of the Royal Brisbane Hospital, where she had handled acute care during and after the war, she wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the slower pace of regional hospitals.

The first of their three children, Robert, was born in Ayr, North Queensland. Jack was then transferred to the southwestern regions of Queensland, working in areas like Texas, St George, Wallangarra, Dirranbandi, and Goondiwindi. Vera and baby Robert stayed in Boonah, living in a rental house on Church Street. In 1951, Jennifer was born at the Ipswich Maternity Hospital, so Vera and her two young children were now based in Boonah, with both sides of the family nearby.

In 1953, the year before I (Geoffrey) was born, Vera put her foot down about Jack’s nomadic work life, and he retrained as a PMG draftsman. He now drew up the new plans for telecommunications systems, that he had previously been installing in country areas, but was now working in Brisbane’s CBD.

As an interesting observational side note when I was a child visiting Boonah, I never once saw the two families—the Mullers and the Berminghams—together, despite living only a few hundred meters apart on Macquarie Street. Whenever we visited Boonah, we saw one family or the other. I can’t definitively say what kept them apart—whether it was religion, social class, or ancestry—but even as a kid, I sensed a gap between them, one much wider than the physical distance between their homes. As I got older, I began to understand the cultural and religious divisions that shaped these relationships, dating back to when Queensland’s pioneer settlers arrived in the mid-1800s. Many senior Boonah residents still clung to outdated values and principles through the 1950s and 1960s. Both sets of grandparents held to their strong religious (Protestant versus Catholic) and cultural beliefs, reflecting the eras in which they had been raised. It’s possible that some differences felt too difficult to reconcile. Still, these didn’t stop Vera, who held strong Methodist beliefs from her German heritage, from marrying Jack, raised in a devout Irish Catholic family. Their union clearly didn’t sit well with either set of in-laws.

Queenslanders have long been the target of ridicule from those in the southern states, often described as being “ten years culturally behind” the rest of Australia. Although Boonah lies just a couple of hours southwest of Brisbane, in the 1950s & 60s it still reflected a cultural mindset more akin to the early 1900s. In fact, I believe most small provincial towns across Australia, but perhaps more so in Queensland, shared this characteristic. That likely makes sense, considering many of the towns’ civic leaders & senior citizens were born around the turn of the century.

You could sense Boonah’s conservative atmosphere the moment you arrived in town—and I say that with respect. I loved visiting as a child and still do. But during those years around the mid-20th century, Boonah stood as a bastion of conservative values and lifestyle.

Even today, some towns still seem to hold onto the same racial, religious, cultural, and environmental views—caught in a kind of time warp. That may sound derogatory, but it really depends on which side of those fences you stand. Far from being critical, we loved going there as kids to experience the relaxed country lifestyle and slower pace of life.

In many ways, Queenslanders continue to think and vote differently, live and work differently. Hell, we even operate on a different time zone in summer than the rest of the country.

Vera, coming from a traditional farming family, naturally held conservative political beliefs. However, she was a critical thinker who valued rational thought over rigid ideology. She didn’t always align with her father’s Country Party (later the National Party) views, nor with her husband Jack’s strong allegiance to the Liberal Party.

Consequently, Vera had a pragmatic, common-sense approach to life. She was a realist, and one of her favorite sayings was, “Just get on with it”—meaning that dwelling on problems is pointless; instead, make the best of what you have.

She maintained the strong religious values her parents instilled in her during her childhood in Boonah. Raised as a Methodist, Vera remained active in her local Methodist congregation and later the Uniting Church after moving to suburban Brisbane. As kids, we were christened, baptized, and attended Sunday School.

The family had bought a home in suburban southside Brisbane. Vera had wanted a more stable life, instead of the migratory lifestyle they’d had, since being married. Vera and Jack raised the three kids in the post-war baby boom period in Australia and we all attended local primary and high schools.

Vera was always going to be drawn back to her beloved nursing. Now with a more balanced lifestyle, she and Jack decided she could return to work, taking on daytime shifts at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Acute Nursing Care and Rehab (today’s ICU). She also picked up night shifts at various hospitals around Brisbane—all while raising three young children. Besides, the extra income would be helpful, as they had started their family later in life. At the time of their marriage, Jack was 43 and Vera 35, so they were also late starters in the housing market and had only just begun paying off a mortgage.

Vera’s nursing career was long and filled with distinction. Over the years, she worked in emergency departments, hospital research wards, ICU, surgical, rehab, general care and recovery, maternity, and aged care. I believe her passion for nursing and healthcare would have kept her working until her last days if she hadn’t had a family. Nursing is a noble profession, driven by an instinct to care, and it requires unwavering dedication, compassion, and a commitment to patients’ well-being. Nurses are not only responsible for medical care but also play a critical role in offering emotional and mental support to patients and their families. Vera retired in 1978, at age 64, after 38 years of service. She spent the following years caring for Jack until he passed away in 1984, ultimately succumbing to Alzheimer’s disease.

After Jack’s death, Vera wasn’t one to sit idle. She traveled widely, visiting Hong Kong, China, across Australia and reconnecting with old friends. She remained active and embraced her role as a grandmother to an ever-growing family, eventually having thirteen grandchildren.

Geoff, Robert, John & Jen with Vera on her 90th birthday

Vera Isabel Bermingham (née Muller) lived a long and fulfilling life, passing away on October 11, 2008, at the age of 94. She outlived all her siblings.

I have no idea whether guts & stubborn determination are genetic traits that get passed down to future generations. However, it is interesting to note that all of Vera’s female descendants – her daughter, the five grandaughters & the five great grandaughters, have all been the recipients of those characteristics.

I am Vera and Jack Bermingham’s son – A G (Geoff) Bermingham. My wife and I have three children – Andrew, Jarryd & Kathryn.

I think Vera would have been very proud to know that our son, her Grandson – Andrew Bermingham recently graduated as a Registered Nurse and is now following in her footsteps and working in the health care sector.

Andrew & Pankaj have blessed us with a beautiful grandaughter – Samara Isabel Bermingham – Vera Isabel Bermingham’s Great Grandaughter.

Reading time 32 minutes

I decided to write this blog installment about my family ancestors to clarify a few points, share the trials and tribulations of their story—as well as mine, in trying to trace their journey—and offer advice to help others get started. Although I’ve got to admit tracking all of them & making many mistakes along the way is one of the most enthralling parts of the whole exercise. Beginning the journey into ancestry research is often the hardest part. As genealogy enthusiasts, we’ve all faced that initial challenge: Who do I choose to start with & where do I begin?

As a novice, I felt overwhelmed. Should I start by tracking down long-lost living relatives I hadn’t seen in years? Would they be willing to talk to me or share any records they had? The whole process seemed daunting at first. After a lot of aimless searching without a clear direction, I finally took the plunge and joined an ancestry group. In my case, it was Ancestry.com—but more on ancestry groups later.

Joining the group was a great decision. Before long, people started reaching out to me, and I realized that we are all in this together. For most, genealogy begins as a simple mission to build a family tree. But as I delved deeper, I uncovered fascinating details about my ancestors’ lifestyles, environmental circumstances, political views, religious beliefs, and other aspects of their personal lives.

While the genealogy part of the process was relatively straightforward, I soon moved beyond just names and dates. I became completely absorbed in understanding the lives they led and the world they inhabited.

Initially, I thought it would be nearly impossible to understand their personalities, since I had only known three of my four grandparents. Yet, when you start digging, it’s incredible what you can discover. It reaches a point where you can even discern their personal traits and quirky characteristics, gaining insight into what they were like.

As I began uncovering more information, I realized that I wanted to see my ancestors as they truly were. Some had difficult or flawed personalities; some were simply hard to get along with. Yet, most seemed to be kind and genuine people who came to Australia seeking a better life for themselves and their families.

Along the way, I discovered both the sorrowful and joyful chapters of their lives—the hardships they endured as well as the successes and happiness they found. The stories told in eulogies often don’t present a complete or accurate picture of a person’s life. I wanted to capture their stories honestly—warts and all.

While collecting and organizing my family’s ancestry, I noticed how a small number of people present themselves as if they single-handedly uncovered every detail. They project an image of being the ultimate authority on family records. Too often, they attach their names to an ancestor’s story and claim some sort of ownership of the records, as though they were the original discoverers. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen very often, but there are certainly a few who insist on portraying themselves as the definitive source of knowledge.

In reality, almost everyone—including myself—is simply casting a net and gathering information from websites and family sources, which themselves draw from libraries and archives preserved for centuries. I have never claimed, nor do I intend to claim, that my work is original. The truth is that the internet has made research dramatically easier for all of us.

So, please don’t take credit for research that was done long before you. Like me, you have simply copied, compiled, and arranged details, records, and photographs to build your family’s story.

Here in Australia, we are fortunate to have access to some incredible resources for researching our ancestors. At this point, I’ll mention just one of them. In addition to the many dedicated ancestry websites, the National Library of Australia operates Trove—a free online resource and digital library. Trove serves as a central access point to a wide range of digital collections from across Australia, including those from libraries, museums, galleries, and other institutions.

One of Trove’s most valuable features is its expansive archive of historical newspapers, which continues to grow. These archives provide invaluable insights into the past and can be instrumental in genealogy research.

Beyond the local websites in Australia, internet access has opened doors to a vast number of archives and genealogy websites across the world. Personally, I’ve been able to explore old Irish birth, death, marriage & famine records, as well as historical archives from both Germany and Ireland.

There are now thousands of archives and museums worldwide, available online, significantly simplifying the research process for amateur historians like us.

In tracing our family’s ancestry, I realized that I was, in one sense, extremely fortunate. Nearly all of our ancestors came from Ireland and Germany, with only one originating elsewhere—England.

Early in my research, I discovered that Ireland had very little recorded information from before the potato famine of the mid-1800s. For reasons I will explain shortly, historical records from earlier periods are scarce for much of the Catholic population of that era. Germany, on the other hand, proved to be the opposite—offering a relative treasure trove of well-preserved records spanning centuries.

With these pieces of the puzzle as a starting point in the Australian context of our ancestors’ story, where do we begin?

The East Coast of Australia was mapped in detail by Captain James Cook in 1770, and the first British settlement began in 1788 with the arrival of the First Fleet. To keep the story focused, we’ll set aside earlier visits by the Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish explorers.

My Ancestry DNA results indicate that I am 46% Irish and 44% German, with the remaining 10% tracing back – to England -6%, Scotland -3%, and the Baltic region -1%. Based on my research into historical DNA patterns, these smaller percentages may reflect ancestral migration across Europe that occurred centuries ago & eventually ended up in either Ireland or Germany.

Why Australia? My Ancestors’ Decision to Leave Home

The reasons they chose to travel across the world almost always came back to the same point. Their countries and regions were caught between warfare, poverty, famine, and political turmoil. At the time, deciding to leave their homeland was much like us today choosing to live on another planet. They had no idea what awaited them, or even whether they would arrive safely. When considering Australia as a destination, both the Irish and the Germans were influenced by delegations from Queensland that visited their countries to promote migration. These delegations offered conditional free land to farmers, which was an irresistible opportunity. Many people in Ireland and Germany had nothing, so the chance to own freehold land in a new country provided a solution to their hardships. Beyond material prospects, the promise of religious and political freedom, along with the opportunity to start anew, made Australia’s offer highly appealing.

The first of my ancestors to arrive in Australia were my great-great-grandfather Robert Bradbury (born in England in 1806), a convict who landed in Sydney in 1832, and my great-great-grandmother Catherine Ryan (born c1834), who arrived in Brisbane in 1852 as an assisted immigrant from Ireland. Although they arrived in Australia two decades apart, their paths eventually crossed, and they married in 1853 in Ipswich, Queensland. The rest of my ancestors, all Irish and German, arrived in Queensland in the second half of the 19th century. I have included a link to each of our family’s immigrant ancestors below.

THE IRISH IMMIGRANTS ☘️🇮🇪

Catherine Ryan – Tipperary (arrived Brisbane Queensland 10-8-1852) on board the “Meridian” https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/05/01/catherine-ryan/

Ellen Dunn (Bowen) – Nenagh Tipperary (arrived Brisbane Queensland 12-10-1856) on the “Lady McDonald” https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/ellen-bermingham-dunn-bowen/

Nicholas Corcoran – Danesfort Kilkenny (arrived Brisbane Queensland 12-11-1864) on the ship “Hannemore” https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/11/26/nicholas-johanna-corcoran/

Peter Bermingham – Carbury Kildare (arrived Maryborough Queensland 9-10-1874) on the ship “Great Queensland” https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/02/22/peter-bermingham/

THE GERMAN IMMIGRANTS 🇩🇪

George M Kubler, Louisa J Streiner – Biberach, Baden Werttemberg (arrived Brisbane Queensland 14-9-1863) on the ship “Beausite” https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/04/22/george-louisa-kubler/

Gottleib F Lobegeiger, Wilhelmine F Topp -Templin, Brandenburg (arrived Brisbane Queensland 17-1-1864) on the ship “Suzanne Goddefroy” https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/04/13/gottlieb-frederich-ferdinand-jeleb-lobegeiger/

Carl F W Krueger, Johanna E Grambauer – Pinnow, Brandenburg (arrived Brisbane Queensland 6-9-1865) on the ship “Suzanne Goddefroy” https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/04/04/carl-johanna-krueger-emilie-albertine-louise-lobergeigerannie-muller-vera-bermingham/

Johannes Muller – Tuttlingen, Baden Werttemberg (arrived Brisbane Queensland 7-2-1879) on the ship “Fritz Reuter” https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/johannes-john-muller/

OUR CONVICT ANCESTOR 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Robert Bradbury – St Helens, Lancashire (arrived Sydney New South Wales 27-8-1832) on the ship “Clyde” https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/11/08/robert-bradbury-2/

Family pathways our ancestors made on arrival in Australia. Robert Bradbury a convict transported to Australia for desertion was the first to arrive in 1832, coming up from Sydney. His future wife, Catherine Ryan arrived in Brisbane in 1852. Ellen Dunn/Bowen 1856, George & Louisa Kubler 1863, Gottleib & Wilhelmine Lobegeiger 1864, Nicholas Corcoran 1864, Carl & Johanna Krueger 1865, Peter Bermingham 1874, Johannes Muller 1879.

I’ve now written articles on most of my ancestors. When I began this ancestry journey, I hoped to discover where I came from and, perhaps, whether we had any high achievers in our family history. Many say that ancestry research is a journey of discovery, and I can certainly agree. Beyond realigning my priorities, I also learned more about myself along the way.

All of our Irish ancestors were farmers, while our German forebears were farmers or artisans. Our English lineage includes laborers and military members, though we do have a trace of nobility as early as the 15th century. Many people get excited when they discover a hint of an upper-class connection, but these ancestors were people, just like everyone else, and they didn’t contribute anything to the gene pool beyond what any other ancestors did. My wife’s family tree has a distant, tenuous connection to William Shakespeare, yet even this doesn’t feel exclusive. Over 500 years, descendants of these famous individuals could easily number in the millions, so it’s not a unique club. I haven’t completely abandoned tracing our roots back to the home countries, but I prefer to focus on the details after our ancestors arrived in Australia.

From the start, I had doubts about the accuracy of many centuries-old records from our ancestral home countries. The world has endured two World Wars and numerous other conflicts just since 1900. Prior to that, both Ireland and Germany—where my ancestors originated—suffered through wars, famines, and civil unrest over the past thousand years. Many original archives, museums, and historic records were destroyed by invasions, fires, and civil strife during these tumultuous periods, as well as during internal disputes. Consequently, the likelihood of finding detailed and accurate information about our ancestors before they arrived in Australia is significantly reduced.

The Irish records were unreliable, to say the least. Roman Catholic record-keeping was banned until the relaxation of the Penal Laws in the late 18th century. While some Catholic marriage records from the late 1700s can be found in larger towns and cities, most rural Catholic parishes in Ireland only began keeping records in the 19th century.

In ancestry circles, the term “brick wall” refers to the point in genealogical research where no further records seem to exist. Occasionally, another document surfaces, but in truth, most Irish brick walls date back to the mid-1800s—when the Irish Penal Laws were still in effect and the country remained in the grip of the Great Famine.

Remarkably, I’ve had better success tracing records on the German side of my family. Germans are known for their meticulous record-keeping, and I’ve uncovered many well-documented ancestral details. I was genuinely surprised by how many records survived, especially given that German cities and towns were heavily bombed during World War II, which destroyed countless archives and museums. Major cultural centers such as Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, Leipzig, and Munich experienced significant archival losses during the war.

On my mother’s German side, I have traced our lineage back over 500 years to Johann and Catharina Haysel, my 12th great-grandparents, who lived in the late 1400s in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. They are part of the Kubler family line.

I have also discovered a connection to Alessandro Farnese (Pope Paul III), born on February 29, 1468, in Canino, Latium, in the Papal States, Italy, and who died on November 10, 1549, in Rome, Lazio. He and his mistress, Silvia Ruffini, are my 15th great-grandparents. Between approximately 1500 and 1510, they had at least four children, one of whom was Constanza Farnese. Three generations later, her descendants found their way to Germany, eventually connecting to the Dold family. Rosina Catharina Dold, my great-great-grandmother, is among their descendants.

With a touch of irony, despite earlier skepticism about claims of famous family connections, I’ve uncovered a connection to a Pope—a church leader, no less. And here I am, someone without a trace of religious belief, who holds no faith in any divine being or religious institution. You might wonder how a Catholic Pope could have had a mistress and children. In fact, several Popes were known to have had affairs, either before joining the clergy or even during their time in office. A few continued these relationships while serving as Pope. This highlights that even 550 years ago, the Catholic Church was not immune to hypocrisy—something that, given its long and complex history, may not be entirely surprising.

Commercial autosomal DNA tests are generally effective for identifying relatives within 6 to 8 generations (about 150-200 years). Beyond that, the shared segments are often too small to be reliably detected or assigned to a specific ancestor

Without overemphasizing the point, it’s worth noting that this man’s descendants & family connections now number around 250,000 (depending on how you do the Maths). He is also only one of my 65536, 15 x great-grandparents, so we aren’t getting too carried away at this discovery. So, being one of the descendants doesn’t necessarily make you closely connected to anyone of celebrity status. In fact, it has been estimated that one in four people in the UK has some form of ancestral lineage to William the Conqueror.

One person with a distant connection to William the Conqueror is my wife. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s hardly an exclusive club, but it remains fascinating nonetheless. Tracing her lineage beyond William the Conqueror led me to his own predecessors, whose records date back to around 808 AD—approximately 1,200 years ago.

It was at this point that I began to wonder how accurate these records truly were. Like millions of others around the world, we join the dots from historic documents to build our family trees—but how reliable are they?

Every date and detail has been recorded, copied, and transferred over the years by humans, and humans are prone to mistakes. Even decades or centuries ago, errors could creep in—whether accidental or intentional. We strive to be thorough and preserve our history accurately, but information, whether from its original source or passed down through others, can easily alter the truth and turn family stories upside down.

My takeaway from all this is that no one can offer an ironclad guarantee that their genealogy is entirely accurate. Whether you’re an amateur historian like myself or a professional who has dedicated a lifetime to the work, mistakes still happen. Computers can help distinguish fact from error, but I still maintain a healthy degree of doubt about any records—official or unofficial—that date back more than a couple of hundred years.

My father’s Irish lineage lacks reliable records before the Great Famine of the 1840s. The oldest records on my father’s side come from a connection to England: my 15th great-grandparents, Sir Matthew Browne, MP of Betchworth (1469–1557), and Lady Fredeswith Guildford (1478–1525). These ancestors link to our only English relative, my great-great-grandfather and convict, Robert Bradbury.

Clearly, our family’s standards had slipped considerably by the time Robert arrived in Australia. 😃

That said, I’ve managed to trace our German lineage back about 500 years. Anyone who has researched a few generations knows that the ancestral lines can become a confusing maze that often fades away.

Imagine wandering through an old city or town that you’ve never been to before, with no clear sense of direction, as you attempt to find a particular location. You navigate cobbled streets and narrow laneways, climbing steep stairways in search of a clue to confirm you’re on the right path. Sometimes, you find an address, only to discover there’s nobody home. A single wrong turn can lead you completely off course, forcing you down the wrong pathway. Often, you end up at dead ends, retracing your steps and seeking a new route. Along the way, there are many clues, but not all of them can be trusted.

As previously mentioned, another lesson I learned early on is that many ancestry site members often copy and paste information from others. While copying records is integral to ancestry research, I can’t overstate the importance of fact-checking! If several people copy an incorrect detail, it can quickly be considered factual. A photo you find that you believe depicts Great Aunt Edna or Uncle Bob could actually be a completely unrelated person. Unfortunately, many old photographs were either unlabeled or mislabeled, creating a modern version of Chinese whispers. Although it’s a fascinating journey, it can also be a frustrating exercise in the search for facts.

Since the arrival of white colonization, Australia has not faced invasion by an external power—unless one considers the First Fleet’s landing in 1788 as such. Views on colonization vary widely, yet it is vital to acknowledge the acts of genocide inflicted on First Nations peoples by colonial forces. Even the word invader provokes anger and denial among many white Australians. Still, no other term adequately describes what occurred after 1788.

Modern historians are increasingly confronting these difficult truths about Australia’s early colonial history. The frontier wars in Queensland—my home state—were the bloodiest and most brutal of all, with at least 65,000 Aboriginal people killed, a figure regarded as conservative.

As I have grown older, I have come to fully grasp the horrors endured by Indigenous Australians, who saw their lands seized and their lives shattered by relentless colonial aggression. Disease, genocide, the Stolen Generations, deliberate poisoning of food and water, and sustained violence against an entire people expose how distorted the version of history I was taught in the 1960s truly was. In truth, Australia’s colonial governments proved no less ruthless than the very English and German regimes from which many of our ancestors once fled.

Up until the 1960s, Australia maintained a “White Australia” policy enshrined in federal and state legislation.

Sadly, racism still permeates modern Australian society. We all know people who harbor such views—some even hold positions in our government, public institutions, and workplaces. Many of us have family members whose views we must tolerate for the sake of family harmony. They’re the ones who dominate conversations at family gatherings, convinced their racist and regressive political beliefs are the solutions to all our national issues. Evidence, photos, and historical records mean nothing to them. In fact, racists often rely on their own distorted version of history to reinforce their beliefs and justify their perspective. They live in their own world of hate and bigotry, surrounding themselves with like-minded people. There are also the so-called “soft racists,” who take a more conservative approach. They remain quiet in public but still harbor racist views, often nodding along with louder, more outspoken individuals without openly expressing their own opinions. These are the people who silently empower far-right politicians by voting for them while avoiding any public association with that political stance. My home state of Queensland is probably the most racist in Australia; head north of the Sunshine Coast or west of the Great Dividing Range, and you’re in redneck country.

Update – In October 2024, Queensland elected an ultra-conservative right wing state government that introduced major policy changes in crime and punishment, which will primarily impact Indigenous people, likely leading to higher incarceration rates within the community. It appears that little has changed in our justice system regarding the ongoing persecution of Australia’s Indigenous population. But I digress.

Thankfully, Australia has retained most of its historic migration records since the First Fleet’s arrival. The British colonizers were meticulous record-keepers, and newspapers began recording information from the early days of settlement. By the 1850s, photography was becoming more common, so images of people, places, and events in Australia’s history were preserved.

As a fifth-generation Queenslander, my earliest ancestral arrival was a convict, Robert Bradbury, transported in 1832 for desertion from the British Army.

As a side note, my wife’s earliest recorded ancestors to arrive in Australia had all-expenses-paid trips of a different kind: James Beckett, a convict who arrived with the Second Fleet in 1790, just 17 months after the First Fleet, and Ann Calcut, another convict from the same fleet. This makes my wife an eighth-generation Australian, descended from some of the earliest “Aussies.” James Beckett and Ann Calcut, who later married, did not choose to come to Australia; they were convicted and sentenced to transportation for life. Eventually, both were later granted their freedom, and James Beckett became a brickmaker in Parramatta. All up, in my wife’s family tree, there are records for eight convict ancestors.

Queensland’s first census was conducted on April 7, 1861, with a population of 30,059, comprising 18,121 males and 11,938 females.

My thoughts on ancestry tracing are not intended as a definitive guide. It’s just how I’ve chosen to explore my roots, having started after retiring a few years ago. While it is a time-consuming endeavor, it’s also deeply addictive. Some people have been doing this for decades. I must admit that, as kids, we used to roll our eyes when our parents, grandparents, and relatives reminisced about family history. Now that I’ve caught the genealogy bug later in life, I wish I had paid more attention back then.

Uncovering details and stories about one’s ancestors only fuels the desire to learn more. It’s an incredible educational experience that offers insights not just into my ancestors but also into their worldviews. I’ve learned about their daily tasks, generational thinking on politics and environmental issues, and how religion influenced their lives. I’ve discovered that my family’s ancestors learned early on to live within their means.

We tend to think of our ancestors as old-fashioned and set in their ways, but they, too, were young once, full of hope and enthusiasm for the future. We’ve all seen documentaries and old photos of historical figures, but when the images are of your own grandparents, great-grandparents, and other relatives, they hold a special significance. Their lives—what they saw, how they lived, and how they raised families—become deeply personal. Starting from scratch, they built farms, cleared land, and worked with basic tools. They didn’t have access to health care, reliable water, or even modern sanitation. They were incredibly resourceful, creating inventions and tools to make life on the farm more manageable. Without the hindsight we have now, they did the best they could with what they had.

Some current attitudes reflect poorly on past generations, particularly regarding racism and environmental concerns. However, people are products of their time. During the Victorian era, the British Empire, of which Australia was a part, still endorsed slavery, and colonialism brought with it brutal and unethical practices. It’s easy to criticize now, but the early settlers were merely trying to survive. Australia was called “the lucky country,” but the settlers’ success was due to hard work and persistence, not mere luck.

The map of Prussia (Germany) from 1807 to 1871 highlights the country’s disunity and turmoil during that period, a time when many of our ancestors emigrated in search of a better life. My family’s ancestors were among those who left to escape the instability. The various states and provinces of Prussia were in constant conflict with one another. It is no surprise that our ancestors decided to leave and make their way to a more peaceful country like Australia to start new lives.

Although colonial Australia treated First Nations and Pacific Islander people appallingly, the people of that time were shaped by their circumstances. The environment was seen as something to be exploited rather than protected. It’s only in the past 20 years that we’ve begun addressing issues like global warming seriously. Early settlers learned that by caring for the land, the land would care for them, and they embraced many environmental practices & soil preservation long before it became a global concern.

Religious beliefs also played a significant role in their lives. In colonial Australia, community ties were strong, often formed around church congregations that could be obsessive and cult-like by today’s standards. The Irish married the Irish, the Germans married the Germans, and communities were often insular, reflecting their languages and religious affiliations. The area where my family settled in Queensland—the Fassifern Valley—was divided along these lines. English settlers took the creek flats, while the Scots and Irish chose timbered country, and the Germans selected the rich soil of the Fassifern Scrub. Severe drought greeted these pioneers in the 1870s, but not one abandoned their land. They were driven by a fierce sense of ownership, pride, and resilience.

Education standards improved over time, and with greater access to newspapers and, later, radio, people became more informed about their communities and the world.

As I’ve traced my family’s history, I’ve followed leads that looked interesting but often led nowhere. I’ve come to realize that tracing ancestry isn’t only about finding captivating stories—it’s also about understanding where you come from. Discovering family history can feel like time travel, offering a fascinating look at what life was like centuries ago. How amazing it would be to meet these people from our past, to hear their reasons for coming to Australia, and to ask about life in the old country!

Our ancestors embarked on arduous journeys across the world under extremely challenging conditions. They left their homes and crossed oceans, enduring horrific hardships and risking their lives to reach Australia. Many did not survive, succumbing to disease or perishing in shipwrecks. So, next time you’re seated on an airplane—enjoying an in-flight movie, a meal, and a few relaxing beverages, or perhaps complaining about the length of the flight to your overseas destination—remember the sacrifices and resilience of those who came before.

To put that into perspective…Some of our ancestors had never traveled more than 20 kilometers from their homes during their lives to that point. Some had never seen the ocean. In our family’s case, they were all farmers who were used to the Northern Hemisphere agricultural practices & climate conditions, so they would have had no idea what conditions were going to be like in Australia. I wonder, how many knew that Australia was, & still is the driest continent in the world. I’d be willing to bet that the Queensland Government delegations to Germany & the UK back in the 1800s, drumming up prospective immigration, weren’t passing on that information. Our ancestors all made an incredible leap of faith in what was awaiting them on the other side of the world.

Ancestry research is always a work in progress. It’s rarely possible to create a complete account of lives from over a century ago due to limited recorded information. Unlike today, when nearly everything is documented—often down to photographs of last nights dinner and the smallest details of daily life—records from the past are far more fragmented.

While I don’t believe in using assumptions to fill in the gaps, it’s often necessary to help connect the dots. Unless your relative led a very public life, records are limited to shipping logs, birth and death notices, cemetery markers, and sometimes a rare photograph or two.

Studying the conditions in Germany and Ireland from where our ancestors came provides context. Some records I’ve found don’t align perfectly with others; I attribute this to the day’s inconsistent record-keeping. However, sometimes it’s a mistake to dismiss details due to minor discrepancies.

Take my great-great-grandmother Catherine Ryan, for example. She arrived in Brisbane in 1852, to a town that was barely more than a village. The free settler population was small, and Queensland only started recording immigration in 1848, a decade before statehood. With relatively few Catherines of her age group arriving in the early 1850s, tracking her wasn’t impossible, just challenging. By categorizing records and eliminating obvious errors, I’ve narrowed her arrival time to a point shortly before her marriage on November 8, 1853.

In the official Queensland Assisted Immigration records, there were only four female Ryans listed in the 18–25 age group who arrived by 1853, and only one named “Catherine Ryan.” Some assisted migrants, particularly single young women, would adopt a family for the journey. This was common on migrant voyages to the US, Canada, South Africa, and Australia, as having a family on board provided young women with a sense of protection in an environment where security was often non-existent.

In some rare cases, a few traveled under a false name. People back then were not so different from today: some lied about their age or activities for various reasons, and over the years, some records disappeared or were accidentally destroyed. Anyone researching ancestry can attest that not all official records are reliable. Dates, spellings, and shipping records were often haphazardly recorded. When researching my great-great-grandmother Catherine Ryan, it’s been an exercise in connecting dates, places, records, and media reports. I always ask myself, “Does this person’s location and timeline match my ancestor’s?”

However, using Catherine Ryan’s case as an example, she travelled to Australia as an assisted migrant in the years following the initiation of the Irish Workhouse Orphans scheme.

In many ways, I’m grateful that our Catherine Ryan came to Australia from Ireland as a free assisted migrant, even though she was a workhouse orphan. While reviewing lists of Irish female convicts transported to various parts of Australia during the famine period, I found no fewer than seventeen women named Catherine Ryan. This gives you a sense of how challenging it can be to accurately trace an ancestor.

A quick way to start a debate with other ancestry researchers is to hold rigid opinions without rock-solid evidence. Entering genealogy research, you need the humility to accept that you might make mistakes and the respect to acknowledge that others may have it right. No one gets it right the first time. I’ve learned that talking to and listening to as many people as possible is invaluable. Older relatives, in particular, are an incredible source of information. Many are eager to share their stories with someone who will listen. If no one records their memories, significant historical details or family stories may vanish.

There are, of course, many myths and exaggerated stories passed down through generations. Just as today, people a century ago made up tales to discredit someone they disliked. They didn’t have digital social media but relied on word-of-mouth and, later, newspapers. Sorting fact from fiction is crucial for creating an accurate family history.

It’s also essential to understand the business model of genealogy sites like Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, and FindMyPast. They are not benevolent organizations. They trickle information to keep you engaged, encouraging you to maintain memberships. However, their vast records are worth the cost—just don’t rely solely on them. Many free archives and local libraries hold original records. Some of the best resources are small, volunteer-run local archives. I highly recommend visiting these places in the areas your ancestors came from. Many families donate photos and records from estates, so new information arrives regularly. Even a brief mention in another family’s records can reveal new insights into your own family history.

Regional history social media groups are another excellent resource. Descendants of pioneer families still living in these areas often post historical records, old photos, and landmarks from their family collections, especially after an elderly relative has passed away. These groups are also a great way to connect with distant family members.

I continually update my ancestry articles as I uncover more accurate information. With only about 3% of Queensland State Government Archive records online as of 2023, there’s always more to find. It would be helpful if our State Archives took a more proactive approach to digitizing these old records. Compared to other Australian states, Queensland’s online access is disappointing.

Recently, at a family reunion, a distant relative remarked that our family “had no shady dealings” in the past. Since starting this journey, I’ve held the view that whatever happened in the past remains a part of history—good or bad. We shouldn’t hide any nefarious activities; they’re part of our family’s story, and I’d want them included in any records. Luckily, our family doesn’t appear to have any infamous characters. 😃

During that same reunion, a few cousins and I discussed whether we felt a particular affinity with certain branches of the family. Some identified with a family line because of farming heritage, religious connections, or common interests. Personally, I feel connected to all my ancestors. While I don’t share their conservatism or religious values, I’m proud of what they achieved after arriving in this foreign land. Each of them, in their own separate ways brought something to the table, either their individual life skills, the raising of their families or just their moral compass throughout their lives.

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GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES :-

In tracing the trail of past relatives, I’ve found that most families have a few skeletons in the closet. It seems our early Australian ancestors often viewed certain issues as potential sources of disgrace, going to great lengths to ensure these details didn’t reach the outside world. My research suggests that sometime in the early to late 1800s, Victorian-era Australia—and likely other countries—experienced a moral shift toward ultra-conservative views. This change impacted everything from political and religious perspectives to daily life and personal conduct.

In Australia, during this conservative period, most people held strong religious beliefs and a fervent loyalty to King/Queen and country. They viewed the world—and their place in it—through a very different moral and cultural lens. With no internet or television and only newspapers as the primary media, people generally trusted what they read. In rural & regional areas, traditionalists were often resistant to groups that challenged the local social and religious norms. I can imagine how horrified Australians from the mid-1800s to the 1960s would be by today’s moral standards. Conformity was expected, and nonconformity was often punishable. Crimes like cattle & stock stealing, burglary, forgery, treason, and even homosexuality could carry the death penalty. Acceptance of minority groups, including the LGBTQIA+ community, was virtually nonexistent. Being openly gay could lead to brutal violence, often resulting in expulsion from the community. If arrested, there was little hope for leniency or protection from the police, who would sometimes participate in or even initiate violent abuse in custody, inflicting their own form of punishment.

How times have changed! Today, we’ve nearly reversed that conservative stance. However, mainstream TV and print media now often manipulate news to align with editorial standards and political biases. Many people attempt—though not always successfully—to find unbiased news through internet sources. By 2024, fact-checking has sadly become essential for anyone seeking accurate news and current affairs. The Fourth Estate sometimes appears to wield the power to dictate national governance rather than report impartially. There is a fine line between the hard-won ideals of freedom of speech and the press and the current state of sensationalized editorial content. News outlets, such as the Murdoch Media Group in Australia and many other organizations worldwide, operate under the guise of providing news to the public while advancing their own political and editorial agendas.

We also live in a world where oversharing personal lives on social media has become the norm. With the rise of mobile phones equipped with cameras and recording features, privacy and modesty are less of a priority. While our ancestors could trust a photograph as factual evidence, today’s technology has made it difficult to know what’s real. Fake news is everywhere.

AI INFLUENCE – While I have embraced many newer technologies that make ancestry research easier—and have even used AI myself to restore old photographs to clearer, more modern standards—the rampant use of AI to modify images and alter records to fit particular narratives deeply concerns me. In some cases, history is being rewritten to validate certain agendas, with vested interests—sometimes political or even extremist—attempting to distort historical facts to promote their own views.

Some may consider my stance on AI somewhat hypocritical, but I believe there is a vast difference between enhancing an old, damaged sepia-toned photograph and grossly altering an image to serve propaganda purposes. That’s just my opinion—you don’t have to agree with me. I also make it a point to label any photographs I have modified, so others are aware of the improvements I’ve made. From my perspective, it’s important to remain cautious and always check records for authenticity.

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EMOTIONS – SHAME & HUMILIATION – Regarding the notion of shame, many of our past relatives felt embarrassment over their convict ancestry from the 1700s and 1800s. Shame is an interesting emotion, as it’s often tied to what others might think of us, rather than a direct reaction to something we’ve experienced ourselves. Practically all the convicts transported to Australia were punished for relatively minor crimes—many simply had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most were poor and lacked access to legal support, so they were sent to the ends of the earth with little chance to prove their innocence. Many were treated poorly after gaining their freedom, with their employment prospects severely limited. However, many modern descendants now wear their convict heritage as a badge of honor.

The issue of shame was significant in early Australia, which was highly structured. The military governors, soldiers, police, courts, and jails formed the only governing system in place. At the bottom of the social hierarchy were the convicts, transported to Australia as a solution to Britain’s severe prison overcrowding. British prisons were so full that convicts were held in old shipping hulks on the Thames River.

With Australia discovered by Captain James Cook in 1770 and America no longer an option for Britain’s unwanted criminals, transporting convicts to the new colony became a logical solution. By 1788, this strategy served a dual purpose: alleviating Britain’s prison crisis and providing a labor force for Australia.

The shame factor emerged later as Australian society became more structured. The governors, military, legal system, and later the squatters and landed gentry, who arrived seeking wealth, wanted a cheap and compliant workforce. Additionally, Britain saw Australia as a convenient place to send its suppressed Irish population. In the aftermath of the Great Famine of the late 1840s, large numbers of desperate Irish immigrants were shipped to Australia, further meeting the colony’s labor demands.

The landed gentry, who viewed themselves as the aristocracy of the emerging colony, were content to reinforce the stigma surrounding convict origins and Irish ancestry, ensuring a steady supply of low-paid workers. Despite their significant contributions to Australia’s history and development, both ex-convicts and Irish immigrants were often compelled to hide their backgrounds in the early days of free settlement. However, this was not easily done. The strong Irish brogue of the immigrants and the widespread lack of literacy among both ex-convicts and Irish settlers made it difficult to conceal their origins. While this ensured a subordinate labor force for the colony, it also fueled a persistent political debate that echoed the tensions in the United Kingdom.

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As a personal observation, many modern-day Australians continue to focus on the perceived wrongdoings of the nation’s early leaders. It is undeniable that Australia has been home to a diverse range of nationalities since the early days of settlement. In addition to convicts and the Irish, large numbers of mainland Europeans fled war-torn Europe in the 1800s. Chinese, Greek, and Italian immigrants also arrived well before World War I, all seeking a new life. Even in its early years, Australia was one of the most multicultural countries in the world. While acknowledging the mistakes and injustices of past administrators is important, they should not overshadow the nation’s progress and identity.

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FAMILY MYSTERIES

We still have a couple of family mysteries to solve.

One is about my great-grandfather, Peter Bermingham. As mentioned in my blog article about him, I know he arrived in Australia in 1874 at Maryborough and likely died around 1908. He married my great-grandmother, the recently widowed Ellen Dunn, in 1877, and they had a child—my grandfather, Edward Bermingham. They farmed at South Pine. But that’s where the information ends. There are no citizenship records, no voting details, no census data, no death notice, no official date or place of death, no funeral, no grave—nothing. Who was he? Did he leave the country, commit a crime, or end up in jail or an asylum? Was he murdered or did he take his own life? There are so many unanswered questions about Peter Bermingham’s life and disappearance. Most of my other ancestors left clues along their lifelines, but Peter left almost nothing about his life in Australia after his arrival from Ireland. What did he do, and why did he disappear without a trace?

The second mystery is about my great-great-grandmother, Johanna Elizabeth Grambauer. I know she was born in Germany in 1828 and died in Kalbar, Queensland, in 1902. Her husband was Carl Kruger, with whom she had six children. They farmed in the Fassifern Valley, but aside from these few details, she remains a mystery, much like Peter. She appears to have been a stay-at-home wife and mother, yet I believe there’s more to her story. However, despite my efforts, she remains another unresolved piece of our family history.

Closing Comments & Observations on Ancestry Tracking

Ancestry tracking is a truly captivating hobby that attracts a wide variety of people. Some, like me, want the whole story—warts and all. I don’t care if my ancestors were criminals, paupers, or wealthy individuals; I just want the complete, unvarnished truth. Others prefer to bask in the highlights or the “good parts”, selectively including connections to wealthy individuals or celebrities while omitting any embarrassing details, such as criminal records, mental health issues, or adoptions. Then there are those who, despite uncovering a wealth of family information, seem reluctant to share it. They almost guard it as if they alone should preserve their family’s history.

I understand that many people are private individuals who may not have the communication skills to appreciate the importance of this ancestry work, but for goodness’ sake, step over your embarrassment and share what you’ve found. If you don’t, it will all disappear. Our family history is just that—it’s our collective past, and we are merely custodians, responsible for passing it down to future generations.

Even now, I still uncover information that can completely overturn previous research I once believed to be accurate. Sometimes, the true story turns out to be more mundane or less captivating—but it’s still the truth. And that matters.

So yes, there are times when entire sections of an ancestry story must be removed and replaced with historically accurate facts. The key is to prioritize accuracy and eliminate any embellishments or misinformation.

What’s truly surprising is how some family members continue to cling to inaccurate details, unwilling to admit they’re mistaken—even when presented with clear evidence.

It’s disappointing to have to remove entire chapters once you discover they’re wrong, but I see it differently: I want to get it right. That’s all that matters.

When reaching out to relatives and others for information, it’s a fine line to walk. Some people clam up completely, while others are simply too shy to share. But the more people involved, the larger the pool of knowledge, records, and photographs. I became interested in our family’s history when my daughter-in-law asked about it, and I realized I didn’t have many answers. That set me on this quest for facts.

Photographs & historic records. Initially, I didn’t find many records from my immediate family. My parents, for one reason or another, had very little documentation. However, a couple of distant cousins, Mary (on my Dad’s side) and Trevor (on my Mum’s side), had treasure troves of old photos and records passed down to them. Both had already put significant time into researching each side of our family, which saved me a lot of time. Fortunately, they were happy to share everything they had. My sister Jen has also found valuable information, and our extended family has generally been cooperative.

It’s unfortunate when families refuse to share their history, sometimes taking it to the grave. Once lost, it can’t be retrieved. For those uninterested in preserving family records, I urge them to donate these valuable pieces of history to local historical societies or museums—please don’t just throw them away. I’ve heard shocking and tragic stories of relatives discarding or burning old photo albums and records simply because they lacked personal interest. Such actions are shameful. Once these priceless records are gone, they’re lost forever, often due to someone’s careless neglect.

However, there is a downside to donating to museums: photos and records are often unlabeled, so they may lose their identifying details and end up buried in archives. Family records generally hold true meaning only to descendants, for whom they are priceless treasures with immense historical significance.

Discovering a rare photo of an ancestor is one of the most exciting parts of ancestry tracking. The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is absolutely true. Even a faded or damaged photograph adds a new dimension to a person’s story. Often, you can see traces of their struggles and experiences in their facial expressions. However, a word of caution—make sure the photograph is correctly attributed. I’ve seen people mistakenly associate photos with the wrong individual, sometimes attaching incorrect images because they didn’t bother to verify.

One day, a family member will ask, “Who are we, and where did we come from?” It’s good to be able to provide a factual answer instead of a fabricated story that some families prefer to spread.

We have a responsibility to record our ancestors’ stories before they fade away. Whether gathered through conversations with elderly relatives, family records, photographs, library archives, or online sources, someone else has likely done the initial legwork. Genealogy research often builds upon copying and pasting from earlier records.

Since beginning this journey, I’ve observed people cherry-pick historical records to fit their own narratives. Some make tenuous connections to well-known figures—like the infamous Australian outlaw, Ned Kelly. Kelly was a murderer, thief, and bank robber, yet he has become something of a folk hero in modern Australia, with a significant cult following. Many compare him to a Robin Hood figure, when in reality he was a cold-blooded killer.

It’s essential to ensure your findings are accurate and to correct any mistakes. Some ancestry researchers become defensive when their conclusions are questioned. Online discussions can often turn heated, with individuals clinging firmly to inaccuracies. In contrast, in-person conversations tend to be more productive.

I’ve had coffee and shared meals with many genealogy enthusiasts, and most are eager to both share their knowledge and learn from others. Early on in my journey, I realized the importance of keeping an open mind when analyzing ancestry records—whether they’re official documents or family stories passed down through generations.

Some people have a tendency to stubbornly hold onto incorrect information, even when presented with verified facts. It’s not about belittling anyone; as someone who values accuracy, I simply strive to get the story right. Occasionally, you’ll encounter individuals who are more interested in having the last word than in uncovering the truth.

That’s why it’s vital to check, check, and recheck your research. Be prepared to let go of long-held beliefs if new, credible evidence comes to light. It’s not about saving face—it’s about honoring your ancestors by telling their true story.

One of the most valuable tools for ancestry tracking has been DNA testing. Though it has existed for about 40 years, DNA testing has only recently become widely accessible, providing a more precise way to link ancestors to descendants. It confirms family relationships, assuming that some family members also participate. Of course, DNA testing can open a Pandora’s box. You might discover unexpected connections, like non-biological parents or a criminal relative. On the other hand, you could find out you’re related to someone famous. DNA tests have also reopened cold cases, as genetic links have allowed police to identify suspects through relatives. If you decide to take a DNA test, be aware that it could have far-reaching implications. We all like to think we have no secrets, but a simple ancestry test can reveal much more than you anticipated.

I was fortunate to have relatives who had already done extensive research before I got involved. This journey has also reconnected me with people I hadn’t seen in years and introduced me to family I had never met. I know many people start this process and soon give up. My family history was easier to trace since nearly all our ancestors came from just two countries—Ireland and Germany. They arrived in Brisbane and settled in the Fassifern Valley. Starting from scratch with multiple ethnic backgrounds would be far more challenging. My DNA is roughly 50/50 Irish and German, but I’m now exploring my granddaughter’s Indian ancestry on her mother’s side so that she may have her own paths to follow someday.

I’ve also encountered people who rely on century-old newspaper articles as factual evidence. With all due respect, historical newspapers were not always accurate. Back then, as now, sensationalized human-interest stories were common, sometimes prioritizing circulation over facts. Just because it’s in print doesn’t make it gospel truth.

In Australia, we have Trove which is a free, online resource maintained by the National Library of Australia that connects users to digital collections from hundreds of Australian libraries, museums, galleries, media outlets, government, and community organizations, offering access to a vast trove of cultural material and stories. It includes digitized newspapers, books, journals, images, maps, websites, and more. It is possible to access multiple different sources to verify media facts of the day. Unfortunately, there are still some copyright issues with Trove, not allowing them access to some newspapers, surprise, surprise, that are affiliated with outlets like the Murdoch press, but in saying this, it is a valuable tool in tracking down old articles about relatives & times from Australia’s past.

I believe ancestry research should be available to all who are interested. I welcome critiques and fact-based responses, and I’m not concerned with people copying my records—they’re historical facts, not my personal property. I’d rather see the whole story shared as widely as possible.

Our family history includes farmers, laborers, teachers, medical professionals, and servicemen who fought and died in wars. They worked hard to make a living, often under difficult conditions. Many lost children in infancy, and our family members have served as soldiers, Anzacs, and in numerous professions. These lives, though not sensational, are a testament to resilience and tenacity.

One of the great things about ancestry research is the opportunity to reconnect with long-lost relatives or meet family members for the first time. A distant cousin I recently met asked about my knowledge of farming practices. I explained that although nearly all my ancestors were farmers in the Fassifern Valley—growing various crops, raising dairy and beef cattle, sheep, and pigs, and breeding stud cattle and Clydesdale horses—my siblings and I were born and raised in Brisbane. As a result, we grew up as city kids, and my knowledge of farming could fit on the back of a postage stamp.

Despite your efforts, sometimes you hit a brick wall in your research. I encourage anyone who faces this to keep going. Ancestry tracking is a marathon with no finish line. Fresh discoveries are constantly emerging, often revealing things you may have missed the first time. I regularly find new information about our ancestors, which I then add to the story. You can track back to distant ancestors only to come to a dead end or suddenly find that your research may be faulty. The whole exercise can do your head in sometimes. It’s a hobby that you can park at any time & later pick up from where you left off. It’s definitely an exercise in perseverance.

One surprising discovery I made during this ancestry-tracking journey was an awareness of my own reflections on the process. Following various historical groups on social media, I noticed that some people develop an almost obsessive, overly enthusiastic admiration for their ancestors. Over time, I’ve come to believe that our ancestors were just ordinary people, much like us, simply living and working in the times they were born into. From a modern-day perspective, some view them as people who achieved miracles, but in reality, they were shaped by the limitations of their conditions and the moral and environmental understanding of their era. They were products of their time and place. Some we may feel an affinity for, while others may have been difficult or even unpleasant, yet we must accept them for who they were—our ancestors. We may disagree with their politics, beliefs, or morals, but they are who they are.

A crucial detail that many family genealogists sometimes overlook is how easy it is to get caught up in the excitement of uncovering facts and details about ancestors we could never have known personally, given that they lived over a hundred years before us. In this enthusiasm, we may inadvertently draw conclusions that never actually happened. It’s an easy mistake to make.

As a researcher, you might come across a trove of information and start forming opinions about your ancestors’ lifestyles and attitudes. This often happens in the excitement of discovery—I’ve seen it in many researchers’ stories, and I’ve been guilty of it myself. It’s important to develop the ability to stay objective and grounded in facts. I make a habit of going back through my records and files to recheck information.

Many people tend to get carried away with the more heroic aspects of their ancestors’ lives. They often focus on the adventurous parts of their stories while overlooking less dramatic but equally life-changing events. Staying true to the complete picture of an ancestor’s life is essential for an accurate and meaningful genealogical record.

Your ancestor may not have been a renowned figure like Captain James Cook—one of history’s most accomplished navigators and explorers, celebrated for charting Australia—but perhaps he was a crew member aboard Cook’s ship. Though he wasn’t famous, he still played a vital role as part of the crew on the Endeavour. It’s important to focus on the facts.

All of our ancestors traveled vast distances from across the world to reach Australia. However, once they arrived, most of the original settlers remained close to their homes and towns.

Over time, many of their descendants ventured farther afield. Initially, their career paths took them to various parts of Queensland, and in more modern times, career opportunities and marriages led our family members to settle in different parts of Australia & the world.

Below is a list of locations where our ancestors and their descendants lived, raised families, and eventually settled. These places span Queensland and other parts of Australia:

Queensland Locations:
Amberley, Beaudesert, Biggenden, Boonah, Brisbane, Buderim, Caloundra, Childers, Croftby, Dalby, Fassifern Valley, Gatton, Grandchester, Hughenden, Ipswich, Kalbar, Kelvin Grove, Laidley, Lutwyche, Mackay, Manly, Maryborough, Moogerah, Munruben, Nerang, New Farm, Nudgee, Oakey, Obum Obum, Purga, Roadvale, Rocklea, South Pine, Sunshine Coast, Telemon, Toowoomba, Townsville, Walloon, Warwick, Wynnum.

Other Australian Locations:
Grafton NSW, Koreelah NSW, Launceston TAS, Maitland NSW, Melbourne VIC, Newcastle NSW, Parramatta NSW, Perth WA, Point Cook VIC, Sydney NSW.

No doubt, I have missed some, so please bring it to my attention & I will rectify.

In closing, I began this journey seeking to understand who my ancestors were and to gain insight into their lives. I’ve come to the conclusion that they were all achievers in their own ways, some reaching higher than others.

The story is about them - My ancestors!

IF YOU COULD SEE YOUR ANCESTORS, ALL STANDING IN A ROW,

WOULD YOU BE PROUD OF THEM OR NOT, OR DON’T YOU REALLY KNOW?

SOME STRANGE DISCOVERIES ARE MADE, IN CLIMBING FAMILY TREES,

AND SOME OF THEM, YOU KNOW, DO NOT PARTICULARLY PLEASE.

IF YOU COULD SEE YOUR ANCESTORS, ALL STANDING IN A ROW,

THERE MIGHT BE SOME OF THEM PERHAPS, YOU WOULDN’T CARE TO KNOW.

BUT HERE’S ANOTHER QUESTION, WHICH REQUIRES A DIFFERENT VIEW –

IF YOU COULD MEET YOUR ANCESTORS, WOULD THEY BE PROUD OF YOU?

Reading time 65 minutes

I love a good story—one with a compelling plot, a hero, villains, diverse settings, dramatic content, and a well-structured beginning, middle, and end. When the story is factual and evokes emotional resonance, it becomes even more powerful.

This is the true story of Catherine Ryan, my great-great-grandmother. Like many great tales, it started as a simple quest to answer basic questions: Where was she from? Why and how did she come to Australia? What kind of life did she have in her new country?

As I delved deeper into Catherine’s life, I had no idea what I would uncover. There were many shocks and surprises.

Anyone who commences to research an ancestor’s history soon realizes that you’re trying to unearth details about someone who has been dead for over a century. How accurate will any of it be?

I think that at some point during this journey of discovery, most of us reach a moment where we think, “OK, stop now. Go with what you’ve got.”

But in Catherine’s case, I found there was much more to her than just the basic dates and places. She was a woman of real substance. And like many of our recent ancestors, she lived through a period of great technological, industrial and social change.

My intent was to uncover the hidden aspects of her life that are difficult to unearth: What was the generational mindset of the Irish in their homeland, and later, when they arrived in Australia? What attitudes did colonial Australians have on politics, religion, and education? How did she—and her contemporaries—react to issues like sexism, racism, the environment, and crime and punishment? Did she have a hobbie or pastime?

In researching Catherine’s life, I wanted to portray her as more than just a two-dimensional character, which often happens when writing about ancestors. While it’s important to stick to the facts, there are instances where I’ve connected a few dots. I’m not advocating for propping up a story with inaccurate guesswork, but by analyzing the subject’s living conditions, their status in the community and the economic state of their town and country at a given time, it is plausible to link the person to that time and place with a high degree of accuracy.

Much of this information is now more accessible thanks to old newspapers from Ireland and colonial Australia. Reading the actual print media of the mid-19th century, which detailed the stories of the day, provides incredible insight into the attitudes of the general population during that time. The wording and tone of news articles, advertisements, and letters to the editor give us a fairly accurate idea of the thinking of that period.

Before you dismiss this theory, consider it in comparison to modern-day social media. Both outlets provide a reasonable reflection of the attitudes of a cross-section of their respective communities. Some opinions, often with political overtones, are extreme. Some come across as aggressive and negative, while others are calm, logical, and sensible. Somewhere in the middle lies the consensus, where you typically find the majority.

So, although this is primarily Catherine’s story, it is also a story about the era she was born into and the timeline throughout her life.

It is a saga of survival and dogged determination.

The first thing I realized was that, like many of our ancestors, she was a product of her time. The events and experiences she encountered in her first two decades shaped the rest of her life. Although Catherine came to Australia as an assisted migrant, her early years in Ireland share many similarities with the treatment of convicts sent to Australia during the colonial period. Unlike the convicts, she may have been considered free, but the harsh reality of life in Ireland during Catherine’s formative years was that it had been turned into a virtual prison by the ruling British government.

Catherine Ryan was our family’s earliest female ancestor to arrive in Australia, in 1852. Her future husband, Robert Bradbury, was our earliest male ancestor to arrive, in 1832. To learn more about my great-great-grandfather Robert Bradbury, the link to his story is here https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/11/08/robert-bradbury-2/

DEFINING PERIODS IN IRISH HISTORY LEADING UP TO CATHERINE RYAN’S BIRTH

Ireland had reluctantly been officially part of the United Kingdom since 1801, although English control had been in place since the Norman invasion in 1169. This conquest marked the beginning of over 800 years of English political and military involvement in Ireland. In the early 1800s, the British government ordered the Royal Irish Constabulary to suppress the unrest, the root cause of which was the government’s relentless harassment and persecution of the predominantly Catholic population.

When Catherine Ryan was born, the county of Tipperary had a larger-than-average Catholic population, leading to heightened tensions between the minority Protestant establishment and prominent Catholic families. The region was a significant grazing area with a simple social structure: one was either a Protestant landowner or a Catholic herdsman at the bottom of the social hierarchy. There were few intermediate categories of tenants. This part of Ireland witnessed the sharpest and most direct conflicts between these factions. From the early 1800s onward, and especially as the famine began, open gang warfare occurred between Catholic and Protestant groups in Tipperary. The Catholic agrarian movement in County Tipperary operated under various names during this period, but their principles remained consistent: they sought a united Ireland, free from British aggression, with the right to self-determination.

To fully understand these events, it is necessary to look further back in time.

The British government had waged an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing in Ireland for centuries, with the tacit support of successive British royal families and the Protestant ruling classes in England. Despite coercion and force by the ruling Protestant UK government in London, the religious majority of the Irish nation remained steadfastly Roman Catholic. Historically, Britain has fostered religious divisions and bigotry among the Irish people to maintain control by dividing them.

In 1695, the British government introduced repressive laws intended to persecute Catholics. The Irish Penal Laws of 1695 intensified the injustice inflicted by the Protestant English, stripping Catholics of religious freedoms and nearly all of their holdings, including land. Under British rule in previous centuries, the Irish were treated as non-persons, stripped of legal personhood. Since murder requires identity, the Irish were legally killable by any English person at will.

Catholics were forbidden to keep birth, marriage, and death records, obtain an education, hold a commission in the army, enter a profession, run a business, or own a horse worth more than five pounds. They were also barred from owning weaponry, studying law or medicine, speaking or reading Gaelic, or playing Irish music. While the enforcement of the Penal Laws resulted in widespread poverty across Ireland and consequently led to emigration, it also fostered a sense of unity among those who remained and introduced the concept of nationalism. Catholic priests were banished, Catholic schools were banned, and Catholics were forced to pay a tax to support the Anglican Church. The most impactful laws for the Irish were those surrounding land ownership. The Property Act of 1703, passed by the British Parliament, forbade Catholics from passing down their land.

Catholics finally reinstated the keeping of records in the mid-1800s. There was a gap of about 150 years during which very few official records were kept, aside from individual parish churches recording basic details.

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Enforcement – Ok, so how did the British authorities impose these laws?

The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) operated under the authority of the British administration in Ireland as a quasi-military police force. Unlike police in other parts of the United Kingdom, RIC constables were routinely armed (often with carbines), billeted in barracks, and organized with a militaristic structure. The RIC was responsible for policing Ireland during periods of agrarian unrest and nationalist freedom fighting, often quelling civil disturbances.

For most of its history, the ethnic and religious composition of the RIC generally reflected that of the Irish population, although Anglo-Irish Protestants were disproportionately represented among its senior officers. This Anglo-Protestant dominance led many Catholic rank-and-file members to leave the RIC and pursue police careers abroad. The sectarian and nationalist violence, land clearances, evictions, and protection of landowners during these years fell under the RIC’s responsibility. Many RIC officers resented these duties and subsequently left the service. For example, numerous former RIC members who emigrated from Ireland later joined the Queensland Police Service in the late 1800s, where they became notably overrepresented.

Education

Education standards across Ireland in the 1800s were practically non-existent, with most young people unable to read or write. Although learning standards across the UK were only marginally better, they were beginning to improve. In contrast, Ireland was largely neglected and received little to no assistance from the British government to organize improved schooling for its children.

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CATHERINE’S LIFE IN IRELAND C1834 – 1852

Catherine Ryan was born into a turbulent period in Ireland, likely in the early 1830s in County Tipperary. Although the exact location is unknown, it was probably near Cashel. Her name, Catherine Ryan, was among the most common for girls in Ireland at the time, making it extremely difficult to trace her origins—like searching for a needle in a haystack. In fact, hundreds of baby girls named Catherine Ryan, with parents named John Ryan and Johanna Buckley (or variations of these names), were born across Tipperary during the early 1830s. To my knowledge, Catherine was an only child, and pinpointing her exact date and place of birth may be virtually impossible, as will soon become apparent. Based on details recorded at the time of her death, she was born sometime between 1830 and 1835. Several family ancestry researchers suggest 1830 as her birth year, but I have not been able to verify this conclusively. I am leaning more toward 1833 to 1835. Population of Ireland in 1834 – 7.95 million.

As if tracing her origins weren’t difficult enough, Catherine came of age during one of the most devastating periods in Irish history. Between 1845 and 1852, the country endured An Gorta Mór, the Great Famine—a catastrophic era of mass starvation and disease, ranking among the deadliest famines in world history.
The disaster began in 1845 when the potato crop, the cornerstone of the Irish diet, failed repeatedly year after year. Hunger and disease swept relentlessly across the land. The surge in people seeking aid quickly overwhelmed the system, and the workhouses were pushed far beyond their limits. The population of Ireland in 1847 was 8.5 million. However, by 1850, the population level had dropped to 6.5 million.

By 1850 Ireland was essentially, entirely owned by English landlords, many of them Lords temporal or spiritual, in estates typically of tens of thousands of acres. Their land titles were conquest-based. On these estates the Irish were tenants-at-will on holdings of typically three to eight acres the rent of which they paid by, typically, 250-260 days of unpaid work annually on the landlord’s estate.

In 1843, the British Government recognized that the land management system in Ireland was the foundational cause of disaffection in the country. The Prime Minister established a Royal Commission, chaired by the Earl of Devon (Devon Commission) to enquire into the laws regarding the occupation of land. Irish politician Daniel O’Connell described this commission as “perfectly one-sided”, being composed of landlords with no tenant representation.

In February 1845, Devon reported:

It would be impossible adequately to describe the privations which they [the Irish labourer and his family] habitually and silently endure … in many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water … their cabins are seldom a protection against the weather … a bed or a blanket is a rare luxury … and nearly in all their pig and a manure heap constitute their only property.

The period of the Great Famine was indeed a time of profound suffering and hardship for the Irish people, exacerbated by a series of decisions—or lack thereof—by the British government. The Devon Commission’s conclusions about the patient endurance of the laboring classes underscore the deep-seated injustices they faced. The scathing descriptions of landlords as “land sharks” and “bloodsuckers” reflect the widespread resentment towards those who profited from the exploitation and misery of their tenants.

The failure of the British government to prevent the export of food from Ireland, despite the starvation of millions, further fueled the growing anti-British sentiment. This was a time when many Irish people felt utterly abandoned by those in power, who seemed indifferent to their suffering. The mass evictions, often carried out with brutal force, compounded the misery of the Famine, as entire families were left homeless and destitute.

Given this context, it’s easy to understand how Catherine Ryan and her community in Tipperary would have been deeply affected by these events. Even if Catherine was not directly involved in the militant movements around Ballingary, the atmosphere of resistance and the constant harassment by the British-led Irish Constabulary would have been a significant influence on her worldview. The suspicion that the British government was not only neglectful but perhaps complicit in the direction the Famine took adds a dark layer to the historical narrative, suggesting that the suffering of the Irish may have been seen as a means to an end by those in power.

The aftermath of the famine left an indelible mark on Ireland, with the death of a million people and the mass emigration of another million, including Catherine Ryan. The struggle to survive amidst such overwhelming devastation would have shaped Catherine’s experiences and decisions profoundly. Her journey, like that of so many others, was likely driven by a desperate need to escape the horrors of famine and find a place where she could rebuild her life.

The Workhouses

The loss of records and the immense scale of the tragedy during the famine make it challenging to trace individual histories like that of Catherine Ryan‘s parents. Many of the dead were buried in mass graves & went unrecorded. Complete family’s who succumbed to starvation & disease were among those lost without trace. The overcrowding and harsh conditions of the workhouses, where many sought refuge, further complicate the search. The fact that there were multiple teenage girls named Catherine Ryan in the Cashel workhouse registers reflects the widespread suffering and displacement of that time.

Catherine’s story, with its roots in the famine’s devastation, represents the experiences of many Irish families who faced unimaginable hardship during that period. The loss of her parents, her time in a workhouse, and her eventual emigration to Australia encapsulate the broader narrative of survival, displacement, and resilience that defined the Irish experience during and after the famine.

In the above case arrowed of a young girl named Catherine Ryan, it reads as follows……. Name- Cath Ryan,……….age- 14, single,……….employment- none, religion- Roman Catholic,……not disabled,……….no husband or parents,…………observation on condition of pauper when admitted-destitute,……..townland resident-Cashel,…….date of admission-8th April 1848.

Is this record truly for our Catherine Ryan? I cannot say with certainty. It certainly fits her timeline. What I can say is that the workhouse registers provide a sobering window into the heartbreaking realities faced by those who ended up there, particularly during the famine.

Reading the entry for a young girl named Catherine Ryan—with its stark details of her situation: no parents, no employment, and described simply as “destitute”—stirs a deep sense of empathy and sorrow. These brief notations reduce entire lives to a few lines, yet they speak volumes about suffering, endurance, and the resilience of countless individuals.

The emotions that arise from reading these entries are understandable, as they represent real lives, real hardships, and often, the final chapter for many who had nowhere else to turn. The workhouse was often the last resort, and the cold, factual nature of these records can be jarring when contrasted with the immense human tragedy they represent.

This glimpse into Catherine Ryan’s life at the time adds depth to her story, making her more than just a name on a page. It transforms her into a symbol of survival, a young girl who, despite being marked by destitution and loss, managed to endure. Her experience, as recorded in those few lines, is a poignant reminder of the countless untold stories of the famine and of those who survived it.

The higher survival rate of girls compared to boys in workhouses highlights another tragic dimension of famine. Physiological differences enabled girls to withstand extreme conditions more effectively than boys, leading to greater female survival. This resilience in the face of deprivation underscores the harsh realities of human survival during periods of severe scarcity. Historical evidence consistently shows that, on average, women have demonstrated higher survival rates than men during famines, epidemics, and other extreme hardships.

This detail illustrates not only the personal hardship she faced but also the broader biological and social factors that influenced who survived and who did not during the famine. It’s a powerful reminder of the resilience of those who lived through such times, particularly the young girls who, like Catherine, managed to survive against overwhelming odds.

The Cashel Workhouse buildings are still intact. To the rear were kitchens & wash-houses then a single story connecting spine containing a dining hall & chapel. To the rear was an infirmary & “idiots wards”. Most of the original workhouse buildings survive in the shape of the present day St Patricks geriatric hospital.

The workhouses built throughout Ireland during the famine were indeed grim and oppressive institutions. Designed with the barest of necessities, these buildings reflected the harsh policies of the time, where the goal was to provide minimal aid while deterring reliance on public assistance. The decision to exclude decorations and enhancements, and to construct the buildings with a rigid economy in mind, further emphasizes the lack of compassion in their design. With the terrible living conditions, hopelessly inadequate food, lack of sanitation & overcrowding problems within the Famine Workhouses, a reasonable comparison could be made with that of the Concentration Camps of World War Two in Nazi Germany.

The workhouses, already grim and oppressive, became even more harrowing during the famine years as mortality rates soared. With approximately 250,000 people dying within these institutions, they were aptly termed “death houses.” The fear and despair experienced by children who lost their parents, leaving them to face these brutal conditions alone, is heart-wrenching. Many of these children, already weakened by starvation and disease, did not survive, adding to the immense human toll of the famine.

The plight of the Irish Catholic population during the famine, especially the young women like Catherine Ryan, underscores the harsh realities they faced under British rule. With no means of survival, many were forced into workhouses, which became symbols of the oppressive system that broke up families and severed long-standing connections to the land.

The British government’s willingness to exploit the Irish as cheap labor, while showing indifference to their suffering, adds a layer of historical injustice that continues to resonate with people of Irish descent. The conditions in the workhouses, where inmates were subjected to grueling and often meaningless labor, further exemplify the cruelty of the system. For young women, tasks like picking oakum were not just laborious but also punitive, reflecting the broader societal attitudes towards the poor and vulnerable.

This harsh treatment, coupled with the devastating impact of the famine, paints a grim picture of the challenges faced by the Irish during this period. It also highlights the resilience of those who, like Catherine, managed to survive these trials, often carrying the scars of their experiences for the rest of their lives.

Between 1848 & 1853, more than 4500 young Irish women were resettled as assisted migrants in the Australian colonies. For many of the young girls across Ireland, they were prime candidates to be shipped to Australia, as domestic help and wives for a population that had a large male majority. The selection process was simple. The girls had to be “hearty, humble & fertile women” & were to be young, single, obedient, healthy and free of smallpox. But without supportive networks or family, the girls remained vulnerable and powerless to control their fate.

The first orphan migrant scheme was devised by Earl, Henry George Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to relieve overcrowding in the workhouses and to meet the demand for domestic labourers and single young women in the colonies. Some of the orphan girls died very young; some had extremely harsh lives and others flourished in their new country. The vast majority of them would never see the shores of Ireland again.

Australia had already started to escalate its intake of migrants by the mid 1840s. As a developing country, the population didn’t want any more convicts sent here. Australian farmers needed laborers to clear the land, plant crops, and take care of animals. More infrastructure was being planned to fill the needs of the growing population & a workforce was needed to build it. Although in its infancy, industry in Australia was also starting to generate a need for a much larger pool of skilled workers & tradesmen. While more convicts were gaining their freedom & joining the workforce, those numbers weren’t enough. Each of the colonies within the country was crying out for workers. With Irelands woes, the migration of poor Irish Catholics wanting to escape, was running at a high level.

Sidenote – As a personal observation, I have come to a conclusion that, in later life Catherine would have purposefully decided to put the horrors of her past aside, & distanced herself from what she had endured in her formative years in Ireland. The Irish Catholics, over centuries of persecution, have remained remarkably resilient, & for the vast majority, have adopted an attitude of getting on with life. None will ever forget what they have had to contend with, over the long history of brutal rule under the British. But, the overiding fact is that the Irish are survivers.

CATHERINE’S MOVE TO AUSTRALIA – 1852

By 1851, seventeen year old Catherine Ryan, like many of her peers, was faced with limited choices. Emigration was more of an imposed solution than a voluntary decision. The administrators of the workhouses, in collaboration with the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission in London, organized the mass departure of impoverished Irish female orphans and laborers to destinations like the United States, Canada, and Australia. This was part of a broader strategy to alleviate the overcrowding in workhouses while also fulfilling the labor needs of British colonies.

For many young Irish women, including Catherine, the idea of going to England offered little hope. The industrial changes in England had already led to deteriorating living conditions for both rural and urban workers. Additionally, Irish Catholic women faced significant discrimination, physical abuse, and religious persecution in Protestant England. Moving across the Irish Sea often resulted in continuing poverty and hardship. The options, therefore, were stark: emigration, starvation, or enduring the oppressive conditions of the workhouses. In truth, there was no real choice; these young women went where they were directed.

Despite the dire circumstances, it seems that some of the girls had some awareness of what awaited them in Australia, perhaps through word-of-mouth or other sources outside the workhouse. However, the journey itself was grueling. The young emigrants were taken from the workhouses to the Dublin wharf, where they would board a steamer bound for Plymouth Harbour in England, the port of departure for Australia. The conditions of their transport were far from comfortable—26 girls and young men crammed into a horse-drawn carriage designed for 16, highlighting the discomfort and indignity they endured even before embarking on their long voyage to an uncertain future.

The development of Moreton Bay after it had become a free settlement in 1842 was much retarded in its early years by the lack of suitable labour. Manual workers, shepherds, tradesmen, and domestics were sorely needed by the pastoralists and by those living within the town boundaries. This demand led to the sending out of the first immigrant ship under Government auspices towards the end of 1848.

Before 1850, Moreton Bay in New South Wales (now Queensland) was identified as a region with significant potential for agricultural and economic development, prompting interest in increasing its population through migration. Captain John Wickham, the Police Magistrate at Moreton Bay, recognized the region’s capacity to support an influx of migrants, estimating that three shiploads of immigrants per year would meet the area’s labor demands.

However, by early 1852, local landowners & pastoralists, George Leslie and Louis Hope, saw the need for even greater numbers of settlers to drive the region’s growth. They traveled to London to lobby the British Land and Emigration Commissioners, urging them to increase the frequency of emigrant ships to Moreton Bay to one per month. Their efforts were successful, and the Colonial Land and Emigration Office was directed to expedite the dispatch of settlers and assisted migrants to the area.

In response, a series of ships were sent to Moreton Bay within a short period. The Maria Soames, Argyle, Meridian, and Rajahgopaul were all dispatched between March 5 and May 5, 1852, marking a significant escalation in the migration efforts to this burgeoning region. This influx of migrants was crucial in meeting the labor needs of the district, particularly in agriculture, and played a key role in the development of Moreton Bay as a thriving settlement.

The Maria Soames was the first of four ships to arrive in Brisbane in 1852. Many of the new immigrants aboard demanded unusually high wages, believing that, as the first newcomers, they were well positioned to take advantage of the colony’s labour shortage. However, their demands for above-average pay did little to help those who arrived later. By the time the other three immigrant ships arrived, wage levels had already begun to fall. This shift was driven by angry squatters who sought cheaper labour and resented being held to ransom by the newcomers’ wage demands.

But, in Australia at the same time, there were many people who campaigned against bringing more poor Irish labourers, into the country. One of them was the outspoken Rev Dr John Dunmore Lang. His fear was that the colony would be swamped by such persons and that Protestant and British liberties would be lost. He also strongly opposed Caroline Chisolm’s campaign to sponsor the immigration of single Irish Catholic women to Australia. But, by the late 1840s, even the Revd Lang realized that he had to soften his views & be a little bit more pragmatic, particularly if the aim was to get single women to travel to Australia in numbers, to fill the many domestic jobs that were vacant in the expanding colony of New South Wales & into the area around Moreton Bay, where the transportation of convicts had now ceased.

The Rev Lang wasn’t alone in his criticism of the Irish immigration schemes. There were many others in Australia who weren’t enamoured with the idea of bringing poor Irish girls to the colony. Upon arrival in Australia, the girls often found that their Irish working-class moralities and values clashed with the English, Victorian middle-class society of the time. Antipathy towards the orphans centred on their youth, incompetence, lowly workhouse origins and, most of all, their Irishness.

Some of the media comments across Australia, that were recorded from newspapers of the day-

……….. barefooted little country beggars, swept from the streets into the workhouse, and thence to New South Wales……..

…….notoriously bad in every sense of the word, thirty-four (34) of them were sent straight to Moreton Bay………

…….Many of these orphan flibbertigibbets are marrying former convicts which is hardly surprising given the history of the Moreton Bay settlement.………. Side note – Our very own orphan flibbertigibbet – Catherine Ryan, married a ticket of leave convict, Robert Bradbury.

…….Irish female immigrants were most unsuitable to the requirements of the Colony, and at the same time distasteful to the majority of the people

……..Their disinclination to learn, their dirty and idle habits, low-class, licentious and unruly

…….In some, ‘a morose and ungovernable temper’

………..Irish orphans were ‘useless trollops’ who did little for ‘their’ colony.

…….Even worse, as future mothers, the girls threaten to imperil the supposedly vigorous colonial physique, with ‘their squat, stunted figures, thick waists and clumsy ankles’.

…….Another shipload of female immigrants from Ireland has reached our shores & yet though everybody is crying out against the monstrous infliction, and the palpable waste of the immigration fund, furnished by the colonists in bringing out these worthless characters …”.

………perhaps prejudging the young women is harsh but it had led to the condemnation of them all, not just a few, as prostitutes, ill-disciplined and promiscuous during the voyage, and ill-suited for work in the colonies.

………..for the reception of the female orphans landed upon our shores, where the most disgusting scenes are nightly enacted. I will not try to portray the Bacchanalian orgies to be witnessed there every night…

……….We venture to say, every vessel that brings an increase of this kind to our female population, brings a melancholy increase to the vice and lewdness that is now to seem rampant in every part of our town. From this class we have received no good servants for the wealthier classes in the towns, no efficient farm servants for the rural population, no virtuous, and industrious young women, fit wives for the labouring part of the community; and by the introduction of whom a strong barrier would be erected against the floods of iniquity that are now sweeping every trace of morality from the most public thoroughfares of our city.”

………….The most stupid, useless, ignorant and unmanageable set of beings that ever cursed a country by their presence… whose knowledge of household duty barely reaches to distinguish the inside from the outside of a potato.’

By mid 1849, opposition in the colonial press had mounted & the cry soon went up…..SEND NO MORE YOUNG WOMEN FROM THE IRISH WORKHOUSES! 4500 people (10% of the total population) turned out & protested against the Irish immigrants, in Sydney streets. These actions highlighted the shifting dynamics of Irish immigration to Australia.

Although Sydney and Melbourne had effectively stopped the influx of Irish girls from workhouses, smaller numbers of both male and female Irish workers continued to arrive, often mixed with other assisted migrants from England, Scotland, and Wales. Adelaide and Brisbane remained destinations for these migrants although by that stage, the good citizens of Adelaide were also starting to make rumblings of discontent about the numbers of Irish girls being sent there.

Brisbane, however, presented a completely different scenario. The town’s skewed male-to-female ratio and its chaotic environment—marked by newly released convicts, insufficient policing, excessive alcohol consumption, and tensions with Indigenous populations—created a strong demand for women. In such a context, Irish girls were seen as vital to balancing the population and supporting the community’s growth. The town administrators were not about to send any women away, recognizing the essential role they played in the social and economic fabric of the colony.

Brisbane’s “wild west” reputation underscores the challenging conditions these women faced upon arrival. Despite the town’s rough nature, the practical need for women, especially in agricultural regions, ensured that these Irish migrants would be integrated into the community, contributing to its expansion and development.

Whether or not, the Earl Grey assisted migrant scheme was a success, is a matter for other historians to debate. Grey had his own high-minded attitude to colonials. His principal means of meeting colonial demands for labour was the renewal of large-scale government-assisted emigration. And of this, the female orphan scheme was but a part.

From the perspective of the Colonial Administration, the Earl Grey assisted migration scheme initially appeared successful, addressing labor shortages in the colonies by bringing in young Irish women to work as domestic servants and potential wives. However, over time, the scheme was perceived as a means of offloading the “flotsam” of the UK population, a term that reflected the growing dissatisfaction with the quality and origins of the migrants being sent. This sentiment contributed to the eventual mothballing of the scheme by 1855. Yet, the practice of relocating impoverished Irish men and women to Australia, particularly to Queensland, continued well into the late 19th century and into the 20th century.

The Earl Grey girls were pioneers in this wave of migration, setting a precedent for the thousands of single young women who would follow them to Australia. These girls, drawn from the poorest and most vulnerable segments of Irish society, were expected to fill critical roles in the colonies, particularly as domestic workers and, eventually, as mothers of the next generation. Their employers were tasked with ensuring their physical and spiritual welfare, but this expectation was not always met. Some employers exploited the girls, taking advantage of their isolation and lack of support.

On average, it took these young women about two years to find husbands, after which many went on to have large families, contributing significantly to the population growth in Australia. Despite the hardships they faced, these women laid the foundation for future Irish immigrants and played a crucial role in shaping the social fabric of their new homeland.

Amid these challenges, the Irish girls found support from the Catholic nuns of the Sisters of Charity. These nuns provided much-needed guidance, spiritual support, and advocacy, often intervening with the colonial authorities to secure better treatment for the girls. Their efforts helped ensure that these young women, despite their difficult circumstances, could find a measure of stability and protection in their new environment.

On May 1st 1852, the 579 ton “Meridian” departed Plymouth England bound for Australia, with Catherine Ryan on board, as an assisted immigrant.

Traveling alone as a young single female during the 19th century would have been an intimidating experience, especially given the treacherous conditions often faced by migrant ships. Many of these ships encountered severe weather, making the journey both physically and emotionally taxing. However, the Meridian stood out as an exception. Passengers on this vessel spoke highly of the conditions on board, which was not always the case with other ships of the time. The Meridian managed to complete its journey from Plymouth to Moreton Bay in just 100 days—a notable achievement for the era.

Voyages in the 1800s were often prolonged due to periods of calm weather, known as the doldrums, where ships could be left stranded without wind. This made the timely arrival of the Meridian even more remarkable. For the women on board, a smoother, quicker voyage would have provided some relief amid the uncertainty and challenges of emigrating to a distant land.

The assisted immigration schemes from the UK had strict qualifying conditions, requiring all migrants to be healthy, able-bodied, and of good character. Men were generally expected to be from laboring backgrounds, particularly in agriculture, while women were typically destined for domestic or farm service. The emphasis was on immediate employability and a willingness to work for wages. Migrants had to be honest, sober, and industrious, with restrictions placed on young children and those over forty.

Each migrant received basic provisions like blankets, cutlery, plates, and mugs, which they kept upon arrival. This provision hints at the general economic state of the migrants and possibly the conditions on the ships. The Meridian, carrying 243 migrants, was primarily used for passenger transport but had previously shifted convicts to Australia. The ship was small, with cramped accommodations that offered little privacy.

For many workhouse migrants, this journey was their first sea voyage, and it came after years of hardship, including poor diet and the loss of family members. The stress and trauma they endured made the prospect of starting anew in a distant land both daunting and hopeful.

The layout of a typical migrant ship in the 1850s was carefully designed to maintain order and propriety, with single males housed at the back, single women at the front, and married couples and families positioned in between. This separation was an attempt to keep the sexes apart during the long voyage.

However, with everyone living in such close quarters, it was challenging to enforce these boundaries strictly. The presence of many single young girls and women on board did not go unnoticed by the male passengers and crew. The Captain, senior officers, and the ship’s Doctor had to be vigilant to prevent any inappropriate interactions, often needing to keep a close watch to ensure the girls’ safety.

Despite these precautions, life on board had its moments of respite. In the evenings, when the lanterns were lit around the deck, the atmosphere would often become more relaxed. The girls, if they had behaved during the day, would gather to enjoy a brief escape from the monotony of ship life. They would engage in laughter, singing, dancing, and playing games, creating a sense of camaraderie among themselves. These moments of light-heartedness allowed them to reminisce about their families and friends left behind in the workhouse, providing some comfort during their daunting journey to a new life.

ARRIVAL IN QUEENSLAND – 1852

The Meridian anchored in Moreton Bay, New South Wales, on Tuesday, 10th August 1852. Upon arrival, the ship was boarded by the Immigration Agent and Medical Officer, who meticulously recorded the particulars of each immigrant from the Shipping or Immigration Board Lists and checked their health status. This process often took a couple of days, with private passengers disembarking first. It wasn’t until Friday, 13th August 1852, that the young women from the ship finally set foot in Brisbane.

To reach Brisbane, smaller, shallow-draught schooners transported the migrant passengers up the Brisbane River. They disembarked at Queens Wharf, adjacent to the Commissariat Store, below the present-day Star Casino.

In a twist of fate, the Meridian met a tragic end just a year later, in 1853, on another voyage to Australia. The ship sank near the remote Island of Amsterdam, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Remarkably, despite the perilous location, most of the crew and passengers survived the ordeal and were rescued by the crew of an American whaling vessel.

There were plenty of challenges faced by the young colony during the early days of free settler immigration, particularly in the context of the slow communication between the colony and London. The administrators had a tough time balancing the need for labor with the timing of immigrant arrivals due to the slow communication methods of the time. Letters took months or even years to arrive, making it nearly impossible to adjust the flow of immigrants in real time. The influx of immigrants in 1853 posed a logistical problem, as the colony’s ability to provide employment for all new arrivals was limited by the unpredictable timing of these migrations.

The new migrants, housed in the old Military Barracks on North Quay, were not given a warm welcome. Their treatment was reminiscent of how convicts were treated, albeit with the key difference that they had freedom of movement.

After a three-month journey, being able to walk freely around what is now Queen Street in Brisbane would have been a significant relief, even if the overall reception was less than hospitable.

Eighteen-year-old Catherine Ryan spent her first night on Australian soil in the old military barracks on North Quay, which was a relic of the earlier convict transportation period. The building faced the Brisbane River & was partly situated on the ground now occupied by the Treasury Building. It was being temporarily used as an immigration depot due to the arrival in quick succession of the four migrant ships. Catherine Ryan’s arrival in Brisbane and her first night in the old Barracks must have been a significant transition from her life in Ireland. The experience of moving from a ship, where she was surrounded by familiar faces and fellow migrants, to being separated and starting work with new employers in an unfamiliar environment would indeed have been challenging.

Catherine was one of the earlier free settlers who arrived in Queensland after assisted migration to boost the colony population was implemented after the convict era that concluded in 1842.

The contrast between Ireland and early Queensland was stark. The tropical climate, unfamiliar flora and fauna, and the presence of wildlife like kangaroos, snakes & other reptiles, and even crocodiles would have been overwhelming. The early settlers, especially those like Catherine, faced numerous hardships, from adjusting to the climate to dealing with the dangers of the Australian wilderness, which were very different from what they had known in Ireland.

The sense of isolation must have been compounded by the lack of detailed information about the Australian environment and the hazards that came with it. The fact that crocodiles were present in the rivers and coastal areas adds another layer of difficulty to their adaptation process. The early migrants had to navigate not only a new land but also the potential dangers it presented.

The early colonial period in Brisbane during the 1850s was indeed a turbulent time. The rapid increase in the settler population from just a few hundred in 1846 to a thriving community by 1852 brought with it a range of social and legal challenges. The influx of immigrants, combined with the existing population of convicts, ticket-of-leavers, and military personnel, created a complex and often volatile environment.

There were several Boundary Roads, actual road names, all around Brisbane well into the 1870s. Many of these roads still exist today. While some marked the boundaries of properties or councils, many served as boundary lines that Indigenous Australians were not allowed to cross after 4 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, and not at all on Sundays.

Even in the late 1870’s mounted troopers would ride about Brisbane after 4pm cracking stockwhips as a signal for Aborigines to leave town.

This environment shaped the early history of the city and influenced the experiences of people like Catherine Ryan as they navigated their new lives in Australia.

Early Brisbane was marked by frequent flooding, which compounded the challenges faced by its inhabitants. The lack of a bridge over the Brisbane River until 1874 meant the town was divided, making transportation and communication between the two sides difficult. This geographical split added to the town’s hardships.

The social atmosphere in Brisbane was rough, with high levels of drunkenness and brawling. Law and order were enforced in a very public manner, with floggings being carried out on Queen Street and public hangings taking place until 1855. The sites for these public executions and punishments included the Queen Street Gaol (now the Queen Street Post Office), the Convict Barracks on Queen Street, and the Old Windmill on Wickham Terrace. These measures reflected the harsh and often brutal methods used to maintain order in the rapidly growing and turbulent settlement.

The harsh treatment of convicts during this period underscores the severity of colonial justice. Convicts who absconded faced brutal punishments, and if not executed, were given a severe flogging (300-500 lashes), which was meant to deter others from similar actions.

The early naming process for the northern outpost reflects a blend of colonial aspirations and practical considerations. The initial name “Moreton Bay Penal Settlement” aptly described its function as a penal colony. The proposed name “Edenglassie” might have seemed idealistic, but “Brisbane” was a more fitting choice, honoring Sir Thomas Brisbane, the former governor of New South Wales. His name became synonymous with the burgeoning township and helped to establish a distinct identity for the settlement.

The 1846 census for Brisbane provides a detailed snapshot of the early colonial population. With a total of 1,599 people counted:

• Men: 1,123
• Women: 476
• Married persons: 489
• Born in the colony: 1,156 (primarily children)
• Free persons: 213

Among the free persons:

• Tickets-of-leave: 129 (including one woman)
• Private assignment: 8
• Government employ: 81

This distribution reflects the early demographic and social structure of Brisbane, showcasing a predominance of children born in the colony, a substantial number of men, and a smaller but significant proportion of free individuals, many of whom were in various stages of reintegration or employment within the colony.

The period following Catherine’s arrival saw a significant influx of migrants to Queensland. State Government delegations were actively recruiting people from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, and Germany to meet the growing needs for farmers, tradesmen, and laborers in the new colony. This effort aimed to support the expanding population and development of Queensland.

Immigration depots were established at major ports of arrival such as Thursday Island, Cooktown, Cairns, Townsville, Bowen, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Maryborough, and Brisbane. These depots helped manage the influx of single migrants and families arriving along the Queensland coast.

By the time of Federation in 1901, over a quarter of a million new Australians had arrived, contributing significantly to the growth and development of the colony and shaping the future of Queensland.

QUEENSLAND POPULATION COUNT 1852 – 9000

Brisbane & outskirts – area pop 4000

Brisbane’s role as an immigration outlet was primarily to serve the needs of the bush, rather than to expand its own population. New arrivals were sent to work on squatters’ properties and farms rather than settle in the city. This was due to the city’s lack of demand for labor, especially for women, and the focus on supporting the agricultural and pastoral industries in the surrounding areas.

Catherine Ryan’s move to Ipswich in early 1853 reflects the broader trend of migration from Brisbane to more promising locations. By that time, Queensland was still part of New South Wales, and Brisbane was a relatively small port town with a population of about 2,000. It was still grappling with its origins as a penal settlement and the legacy of convict transportation, which continued until 1849 despite the official cessation in 1842.

Ipswich, in contrast, was being planned with a more orderly layout and had strategic advantages. It was well-positioned to support the Darling Downs wool producers and Lockyer Valley farmers. The area had begun coal mining in 1848 and was set to become a hub for intensive farming. The early planning for the first railway line from Ipswich to Grandchester highlighted its importance in the region’s development. Ipswich was emerging as a significant center, and its potential to become the capital of the future colony was recognized by many.

An interesting observation was recorded in 1852 by a contemporary author in Ipswich, who remarked: “We must observe that the Australians have a patois of their own, particularly idiomatic among the old hands—a mixture of slang, Saxon, and Aboriginal languages. There will soon be an Australian dialect, just as there is already a Yankee dialect.”

This comment, made in Queensland’s earliest colonial days, noted that the foundations of an Australian vernacular were already emerging. The author attributed this development to a blend of influences: the refined speech of high society, the strong presence of Irish English, the rougher convict dialects, and the incorporation of numerous Indigenous terms.

Even in 1852, the earliest signs of the Aussie accent were starting to appear.

CATHERINE MOVES TO IPSWICH – 1853

IPSWICH HAD A POPULATION IN 1853 OF APPROX 1000 PEOPLE

Catherine Ryan’s move to Ipswich was a strategic decision that likely offered her better employment opportunities, given the growing demand for domestic help and labor on grazing stations. The emerging class structure in Queensland, with a mix of convicts, assisted migrants, and free settlers, shaped the social and economic landscape of the colony.

Catherine likely traveled to Ipswich by a shallow-draught steamer, such as The Swallow depicted below. The journey typically took between six and ten hours, traveling up the Brisbane and Bremer rivers, depending on the river and weather conditions.

Catherine’s relationship with Robert Bradbury is a compelling story. Robert, who had been transported for desertion from the British Army in 1832, had a turbulent history before gaining his Ticket of Leave. After being sent to Northern NSW and working at Koreelah Station, he eventually found work as a farm laborer and shepherd at Telemon Station, south of Beaudesert. His experiences as a soldier and baker before his transportation added to his diverse background.

Their meeting and subsequent marriage on November 8, 1853, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Ipswich—a modest slab hut at the time—marked a significant milestone. Catherine may have been pregnant with their firstborn child, Johanna, my great-grandmother, who was born in August of the following year. Interestingly, baby Johanna shared her name with Catherine’s mother, emphasizing the family’s strong ties to tradition. There may have been some urgency to marry, as Catherine, a devout Catholic, likely wished to avoid bringing a child into the world without the blessing of her faith. From what I understand, Robert was well into his forties, while Catherine was 19 at the time of their marriage, highlighting a considerable age difference. Their union brought together Robert, who had faced significant adversity, and Catherine, a young migrant seeking new opportunities in a growing colony. Their story stands as a testament to the complexity and evolution of relationships and social mobility in early colonial Queensland.

St Mary’s Catholic Church in Ipswich was originally a slab-hut timber structure, where Catherine and Robert were married in 1853 by Father William McGinty. The illustrations and photographs below depict the church’s transformation over time: first as it appeared in 1853, then a few years later in 1857, followed by the stone church built in 1859, and finally the cathedral completed in 1904.

Sidenote – Father William McGinty was a foundational & controversial figure in establishing the Catholic Church in Queensland. He played a key role in securing funding for several churches, the most prominent being the grand Gothic St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ipswich. McGinty often engaged in public disputes with parishioners, superiors, and newspaper editors.

Robert and Catherine Bradbury’s life in the Ipswich–Laidley area was marked by hard work and family growth. Robert’s employment as a shepherd and laborer on local farms provided stability for the family, and they welcomed three children during this period. Johanna Bradbury, born in Laidley in 1854, was followed by Robert Bradbury Jr. in 1857, and Mary Ann Bradbury in 1859, both born in Ipswich. The couple had also lost two male babies in childbirth in 1856 & 1861.

Their story is a reflection of the experiences of many early settlers in Queensland, who moved frequently within the district to find work and build a life in the colony. Robert’s role in the agricultural and pastoral industries was typical of the labor required to support the growing economy, and the family’s movement around the Ipswich area highlights the transient nature of work and life during this time.

Several noteworthy coincidences occurred during this period of Catherine’s life. Around 1855, after the birth of their first child, the family moved to a house on Clay Street, West Ipswich. I believe it may have been the first dwelling built on the block, which stood on land then owned by Patrick O’Sullivan—an established local businessman, philanthropist, landowner, respected Irish Catholic, and Member of Parliament—widely known for his deep commitment to the Ipswich community. A devout Catholic of Irish descent who had originally arrived in Australia as a convict, O’Sullivan rose to prominence as a generous benefactor, actively supporting many of his constituents. I believe that Patrick O’Sullivan may have assisted Robert and Catherine Bradbury in purchasing the Clay Street property.

QUEENSLAND POPULATION COUNT 1859 – 25000 (estimate at time of colony of Queensland being declared)

QUEENSLAND POPULATION COUNT 1862 – 45000 (Ipswich pop 3287)

Robert Bradbury’s death in 1862 at Bigges Camp (Grandchester) marked a difficult moment for Catherine and her family. The cause of death, described as a “severe cold lasting six days,” suggests that he may have succumbed to a respiratory illness, possibly worsened by his likely habit of smoking, a common issue among former soldiers and convicts of that era. His burial in the Ipswich General Cemetery ties him permanently to the region where he spent his final years working and raising a family.

For the Robert Bradbury story, click on to the link – https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/11/08/robert-bradbury-2/

At just 28 years old, Catherine faced immense challenges—illiteracy, low wages, and the overwhelming responsibility of raising three young children alone after Robert’s death. However, Queensland did offer her better employment opportunities and a sense of security that was hard to come by in her homeland.

When considering the broader context of Catherine’s life, it’s striking to realize that Robert was part of it for only a relatively short period—around ten years. They married in 1853, and he passed away in 1862.

Catherine’s deep religious faith and the support of her local Ipswich Catholic parish likely played a crucial role in helping her navigate this difficult period. Her resilience, faith, and the sense of community provided by the church would have been invaluable in providing the strength and support needed to raise her children in the absence of their father. Despite the hardships, Catherine’s life in Queensland offered a chance at a new beginning, and she would have drawn on every available resource to provide for her family and build a future for them.

As an observation—though only an educated guess—I believe Catherine was likely a strict disciplinarian with her children. This view stems from the likelihood that she spent long stretches of time managing the household alone while Robert worked around the district. Following his death, the burden of raising the family fell entirely on her, which may have reinforced a tough but fair attitude. Following the death of her husband, Robert, in 1862, twenty-eight-year-old Catherine was left to raise three young children on her own.

Considering her difficult life in Ireland and the anti-Irish prejudice she probably endured in Australia, it seems plausible that Catherine adopted a no-nonsense, pragmatic approach to parenting, doing whatever was necessary to secure the best possible outcomes. She had to fight her own battles with no one to depend on, a reality that reflected the broader hardships of the era.

This may also partly explain why, apart from Johanna, who married locally to Nicholas Corcoran, a farmer from the nearby Fassifern Valley, as to why her other two children, Robert aged approximately twenty and Mary Ann aged approximately seventeen, sometime around 1876-1878, both moved more than a thousand kilometers away. While this doesn’t necessarily suggest any deep animosity between Catherine and her younger children, it seems they were determined to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Mary Ann married Charles Thomas Regan in Mackay in 1877 & lived there until her death relatively young at age 33. Mary Ann’s brother, Robert Bradbury jnr later moved to Mackay and worked for his brother in law Charles Regan in his transport business.

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As an observation, I believe Catherine was likely a strict disciplinarian with her children. This view is informed by the likelihood that she spent long periods managing the household alone while her husband worked across the district. After his death in 1862, the full responsibility of raising the family fell to her. At just twenty-eight years old, Catherine was left to raise three young children on her own, a circumstance that may have reinforced a firm approach to parenting.

Given her difficult life in Ireland and the anti-Irish prejudice she likely encountered in Australia, it seems plausible that Catherine adopted a no-nonsense, pragmatic approach to raising her family without their father—doing whatever was necessary to secure the best possible outcomes for her children. With no one to rely on, she had to fight her own battles, a reality that mirrored the broader hardships of the era.

This may also partly explain why, apart from Johanna—who married locally to Nicholas Corcoran, a farmer from the nearby Fassifern Valley—her other two children chose to move further away. Around 1876, Robert Bradbury jnr, aged approximately twenty, and Mary Ann Bradbury, aged approximately seventeen, both relocated more than a thousand kilometres from home. While this does not necessarily suggest any deep animosity between Catherine and her younger children, it does indicate a strong determination on their part to seek opportunities elsewhere. It was also around this time that Catherine severed her ties to Ipswich & moved to Toowoomba.

Catherine’s younger daughter, Mary Ann Bradbury, married Charles Thomas Regan in Mackay in 1877 and remained there until her death. Mary & Charles Regan had eight kids. Mary’s brother, Robert Bradbury Jr., had also moved to Mackay and worked for his brother-in-law, Charles Regan, in his transport business. He married Matilda Christina Albertine Discher & they had two sons. Both Robert jnr, his sister Mary & their families lived in Mackay, where they eventually died & are all buried in Mackay Cemetery.

Back to our benefactor, Patrick O’Sullivan. He also played a pivotal role in establishing the original Ipswich Hospital in 1861. As a prominent figure in the early Ipswich community, I believe that he helped Catherine secure a nursing position at the hospital, which was only an 11 minute walk from her home in Clay Street. Catherine & her kids were still living at the Clay Street address at the time, in a cottage now owned by her after her husband Robert’s death, but located on a small corner block of land that was part of a larger block, that was originally owned by O’Sullivan. He was widely recognized for remembering his Irish convict roots and was known to assist many members of the local Catholic parish—Catherine was one of them.

Catherine had worked in domestic service since her arrival in the colony in 1852. Such work was abundant, as one of the original purposes of the Irish workhouse immigration scheme was to provide young women to fill the colony’s many domestic positions. However, after the untimely death of her husband, Robert Bradbury, in 1862, Catherine found herself a widow with three young children to raise. She now needed a more stable income and better qualifications to support her family. Her decision to train as a nurse demonstrates both her determination and her resilience. This choice may also have been influenced by personal tragedy, as she had previously lost two infants during childbirth.

The hospital’s proximity to her home on Clay Street offered her a practical opportunity to pursue nursing.

This profession not only enabled her to provide for her children but also aligned with the nurturing role she naturally embodied. Still, hospital work during this period was extremely demanding. Wages were meagre, shifts were long, and there was little protection for workers. If a nurse failed to report for duty, the previous shift often had to continue, sometimes extending into double or even triple shifts. Being Irish and widowed offered no leniency. Irish women in particular were expected to endure these harsh conditions without complaint, as any protest could result in instant dismissal. Prejudice against Irish immigrants was common, and employers could easily replace one Irish girl with another, given their lowly position in society.

Interestingly, when applying for nursing positions, Catherine often chose to use her maiden name. Her earlier experience working in Ipswich, including her time as a domestic servant at the hospital, likely eased her transition into nursing.

In mid-19th-century Queensland, women who wished to pursue nursing (& teaching) were required to remain single. Marriage meant automatic resignation, while widows with children were considered unreliable and were often overlooked. For Irish Catholic widows, discrimination was particularly severe, leaving them among the last to be considered for employment in many professions.

Catherine’s early life, marked by the trauma of the Irish famine, had instilled in her both resilience and a profound capacity for care—qualities that shaped her path into nursing. This career change became a turning point in her life, allowing her not only to contribute meaningfully to her community but also to secure a more stable future for her family.

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By the time her daughter Johanna married Nicholas Corcoran in 1872, Catherine Bradbury was still living on Clay Street in Ipswich, maintaining her strong ties to the community while continuing her roles as both mother and nurse. At 38, she had overcome many challenges and was witnessing her daughter embark on a new chapter, all while remaining rooted in the place where she had built a life for her family.

The exact location of the cottage where they resided in Ipswich, as shown on the above map, is on the left side of allotment 105. It is listed as subdivision 3.

Occasionally, when hunting down details on ancestors, you come across some peculiar or amusing anecdotes & records. The following details are taken from the minutes of 1865 meetings of the Ipswich Hospital & Benevolent Asylum.

• 2nd February 1865 – The Secretary reported that Nurse Mrs Farrell had been guilty of misconduct and had left the Institution on Sunday 29th ult. in consequence – and further that he had employed the Mrs Tomlins to replace Mrs Farrell at same wages. Appointment confirmed.

Somebody on the hospital board must have felt sorry for Mrs Farrell, because shortly after being given her marching orders, she got her job back at the hospital. There was also talk, just rumours that had come to the board’s attention, that Mrs Farrell may have been stealing hospital property. However, nothing was proven in those instances.

• 21 September 1865 – Two Nurses, Mrs Farrell & Bridget Murray were reported by the Matron as having been found intoxicated and incapable, in consequence of attending to their duties. Resolved that Mrs Farrell’s case be reserved for consideration at the end of the Month. It was resolved that an Advertisement be inserted twice in the “Courier” and the “Queensland Times” for a competent nurse.”…

• 28 September 1865 – Mrs Farrell’s case having been considered, it was resolved that her services be discontinued and that Catherine Ryan be engaged as Nurse in her place, on trial for a fortnight. The Salary being at the rate of £35.0.0 per Annum.

• 12th October 1865 – Resolved that the engagement of Catherine Ryan as Nurse, at a Salary of £35.0.0 per annum be confirmed to be paid Monthly. An agreement to be drawn up by the Secretary.

However, by 16th November 1865, the situation had changed.

• 16th November 1865 – Resolved that nurse Catherine Ryan be discharged, according to the terms of agreement & then resolved that she be re-engaged to serve as a General Servant to perform work required in the Hospital.
• Catherine had effectively been demoted, but kept on the same pay.

• 16th November 1865 – and here’s the kicker – Resolved that Mrs. Farrell be re-engaged as nurse.

• 26th November 1865 – The nurse Catherine Ryan received a cheque for £8.0.6, being for services rendered in the Hospital to this date and one Month’s pay in lieu of a Month’s Notice plus retaining her job at the Ipswich Hospital.

The decision was ultimately charitable for poor old Mrs Farrell, who was also a lady of Irish descent. At a rough guess, it’s possible that Mr Patrick O’Sullivan (remember our Irish, ex-convict philanthropist who was also a board member at the hospital) may have intervened to help both Mrs Farrell & Catherine keep their jobs.

Another interesting connection I discovered is that Mr. Charles Watkins, a hospital board member, also served as a witness at the 1853 wedding of Robert and Catherine Bradbury at St. Mary’s in Ipswich. It’s clear that members of the Catholic community in Ipswich closely supported one another.

Catherine, however, found employment at the hospital through a series of different positions, which likely suited her circumstances as a widow with three young children. Evidence also suggests that she worked in a freelance capacity, taking on nursing/caring roles in various parts of Ipswich during this period. This same evidence also suggests that Catherine Bradbury worked as a nurse on Mortimer Street near the Ipswich CBD during the 1870s, likely in the years before her eventual move to Toowoomba.

So, the story had a happy ending for all the parties involved. Catherine was probably aware of the backstory of Mrs Farrell’s antics but the end result was that she got to retain her position at the hospital & hopefully, Mrs Farrell learned the error of her ways 😀.

QUEENSLAND POPULATION COUNT 1872 – 134000 (Ipswich pop 5200)

Another interesting item of note in Ipswich at the time Catherine was there, showing that the sectarian religious violence between Catholic & Protestant Irishmen was still a current issue, even in Australia – “The Queensland Times reported on 19 November 1874 that there had been a riot at the Ipswich School of Arts the week before, with many of the protagonists hospitalized. The article noted that Brisbane papers referred to the “provocation given by the Orangemen (Protestants) of Ipswich and its vicinity”. The Queensland Times stated this was incorrect and that in fact “the brutal violence recorded was at all events commenced by illiterate Irish settlers from the country’, at the instigation of their more polished but equally culpable co-religionists in town.”

More than likely, Catherine would have seen to the injuries while working at Ipswich Hospital during her time there.

Another noteworthy discovery was that in 1865, when the earlier issues with Mrs. Farrell arose, Catherine and the other nurses at Ipswich Hospital earned £35 per annum. By 1876, however, wages had actually declined, with nurses receiving the modest sum of £31/4/0—a rate that remained unchanged regardless of whether they worked days, nights, or weekends. Interestingly, the position of Gentlemen’s Servant received the wage of £52/0/0 per annum and was not a medical role but rather a male domestic or attendant position within the institution. It is little wonder that nurses, who traditionally have been less inclined to protest or engage in industrial action, endured such poor treatment during that period.

To give an idea of wages in Queensland in 1876 – Unskilled labourers could earn – £50/0/0 per annum, Skilled tradesmen – £100/0/0 per annum, Nurses, who worked long hours received low pay rates – £31/4/00 per annum.

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TOOWOOMBA – 1876

Catherine Bradbury’s move to Toowoomba in 1876 marked a significant transition in her life, as she left behind Ipswich—possibly due to the severe flooding that affected the region during the 1870s. It is likely that she took reconnaissance trips to Toowoomba before relocating permanently in 1876, most likely travelling by rail. She initially established herself as a nurse in Toowoomba, most likely at or near Toowoomba Hospital, working with a local practitioner – Dr Roberts, but later relocated to James Street, where she operated her new venture, Roselein Cottage, as a Lying-in Hospital to provide care for women in need. This move not only gave her a new sense of purpose but also allowed her to contribute meaningfully to the Toowoomba community for the next three decades.

It’s fascinating to think about what Roselein Cottage might have looked like during Catherine Bradbury’s time there. A local Toowoomba historian told me that these were the homes (above) in James Street Toowoomba, prior to demolition. The fact that they were in a dilapidated condition by 1986 suggests that they had seen many changes over the years, yet they also hold a glimpse into the past. The top house in this photo group is likely Roselein Cottage.

Catherine’s hospice – Roselein Cottage would have provided an important service to the community, offering care and accommodation for women in need. The historical context of these homes helps paint a picture of the kind of environment she worked in and the living conditions of the time.

QUEENSLAND POPULATION COUNT 1882 – 240000 (Toowoomba pop 7734)

Catherine Bradbury’s daily attendance at Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral underscores her deep religious commitment and how central her faith was to her life in Toowoomba. Being so close to her residence/hospice at Roselein Cottage would have made it convenient for her to integrate her spiritual practice with her daily responsibilities.

Understanding Catherine Bradbury’s life and mindset during her 30 years in Toowoomba involves piecing together various aspects of her daily existence, interests, and the broader context of her times. Here’s a glimpse into what her life might have been like:

1. Community Engagement: Given her role in operating Roselein Cottage and her daily attendance at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Catherine was likely deeply involved in her local community and church life. Engaging with parish activities, participating in church events, and contributing to community welfare would have been significant aspects of her life.
2. Personal Fulfillment: Running a Lying-in Hospital and providing care for women in need would have been fulfilling work. Her dedication to this role suggests a strong sense of purpose and commitment to service, which could be seen as a personal interest or passion.
3. Reading and Education: While specific details about her hobbies are not documented, many women of her era who were involved in community and religious activities often engaged in reading and education. She might have read religious texts, newspapers, or other materials relevant to her work.
4. Resilience and Adaptability: Catherine’s move from Ipswich to Toowoomba and her successful operation of Roselein Cottage reflect her resilience and adaptability. Managing a hospice for over 30 years in a new town shows her ability to overcome challenges and adapt to new environments.
5. Faith and Spirituality: Her daily attendance at Mass and the close proximity of her hospice to St Patrick’s Cathedral suggest that faith was a central element of her life. Her spirituality would have provided her with strength and guidance, influencing her outlook on life and her approach to her work.
6. Commitment to Service: Catherine’s decision to operate a hospice and advertise for accommodation indicates a strong commitment to helping others. Her role as a caregiver and her active participation in community life demonstrate a mindset oriented towards service and support.
7. Practicality and Resourcefulness: Living through the 1870s to early 1900s, a period of significant social and economic change, Catherine would have had to be practical and resourceful. The need to maintain and manage her hospice, handle the demands of her work, and navigate life’s challenges would have shaped her practical mindset.
8. Social and Economic Conditions: The late 19th century in Queensland was marked by both growth and hardship. Catherine would have felt the impact of economic changes, evolving social expectations, and the development of infrastructure and services in Toowoomba. Toowoomba was viewed as the gateway to the rich and expanding Darling Downs farming and grazing region. In the 19th century, the Darling Downs was also a place where empires and reputations were being built by the landed gentry of the new colony of Queensland. It was a city on the rise—a hub of opportunity. Although Catherine likely never saw Toowoomba as a place to seek wealth, as she considered herself a humble nurse devoted to her faith and service to God, she was certainly in the right town at the right time. Toowoomba was rapidly growing, attracting new residents and industries, and she was quietly part of that transformative era.
9. Health and Hygiene: Operating a Lying-in Hospital during this time meant dealing with the health and hygiene standards of the era. Her work would have involved managing these conditions and providing care in a setting that was evolving with medical advancements.

Catherine’s life in Toowoomba was marked by dedication to her work, strong faith, and a commitment to community service. Her interests and mindset were likely shaped by her experiences, her role in the community, and the broader social and economic conditions of the time.

Fast forward to my own lifetime. When I was a child & into my teenage years, I knew Catherine Bradbury’s Grandaughters – my 2 x Great Aunts -Aunty Min (Mary Anne Corcoran – lived to 100) & Aunty Hannah (Johannah Mary O’Donohue – 88) & my own Grandmother – Nana Catherine Bermingham (88). All three sisters were strict Catholics, & when I say strict Catholics, I mean, almost fanatically bigoted. As a young kid visiting their homes, it was quite the traumatic experience. The houses were filled with religious paintings & artifacts throughout all the rooms & hallways.

The local Catholic Priest in Boonah, visited weekly to Nana Catherine Bermingham’s home to do a full Catholic mass with her. I don’t say any of this, to denigrate them, but just to show the level of their religious fervour. Trust me, they took their spiritual fanaticism to another level. The homes were always in darkness. I think they all had an aversion to turning on the lights or opening the curtains. In saying that, we cared for them deeply. These three old ladies were the family matriarchs & had unfailingly carried their pious values for their entire lives. I always sensed that there was an overiding fear factor with their fervent devotion. But…then again, this was standard operating procedure for the Catholic Church. Their deep religious beliefs had been heavily instilled in them, at an early age, from their parents & grandmother.

Operating a hospice and managing the needs of those in her care would have been a full-time commitment, leaving her little opportunity for personal leisure or relaxation. Her church, as a place of spiritual solace, likely provided her with a sense of peace and connection amidst the demands of her daily life. The devotion she carried from her earlier life in Ipswich, combined with her rigorous work in Toowoomba, paints a picture of a life centered around service, faith, and resilience.

In 1881 probate on Roberts’s will was granted to Catherine.

In 1886, Catherine Bradbury purchased 160 acres of land with the proceeds of her husband Robert’s estate. She bought lot # 114 marked in Red on the above land map, directly beside Johanna (her daughter) & Nicholas Corcoran’s property, “Rockmount”at Croftby, in the Fassifern Valley. It’s possible there was a falling out between Catherine & her two younger children – son, Robert jnr & daughter, Mary Anne.

It seems that Catherine’s purchase of land near Nicholas & Johanna Corcoran’s property and the distance between her and her younger children might indicate a complex family dynamic. While Catherine’s decision to invest in land near Johanna could reflect a desire to stay close to her daughter and her family, the absence of communication or records with Robert Jr. and Mary Anne suggests there might have been some estrangement or unresolved issues.

Family relationships can be intricate, especially with the added pressures and challenges of life in a developing colony. The reasons behind Robert Jr. and sister Mary Anne’s distance from their mother Catherine Bradbury might never be fully known, but the available evidence points to a significant shift in family connections during this period. Robert Bradbury (Jnr) did keep in contact with his sister, Johanna, in later life, as can be seen in photos of him with her on a visit to Rockmount.

QUEENSLAND POPULATION COUNT 1892 – 410000 (Toowoomba pop 13500)

QUEENSLAND POPULATION COUNT 1902 – 511000 (Toowoomba pop 14900)

Catherine’s strong Irish brogue and her move to her daughter Johanna’s farm in the Fassifern Valley in her later years, at age 72, add a poignant touch to her story. It’s remarkable how certain aspects of one’s identity, like an accent, can persist even through significant changes and challenges in life. Her transition to living with her daughter’s family in the Fassifern Valley after losing her sight highlights the importance of family support and the deep connections that remained strong despite the physical and emotional distances.

Catherine Bradbury died on 8th February 1915 at the age of 81, at her daughter and son-in-law’s grazing property, “Rockmount,” located in Moogerah near Croftby in the Fassifern Valley, Queensland, Australia. I have no way of knowing what her quality of life was like at the time of her passing. According to her death certificate, she succumbed to senile decay, heart failure, and exhaustion—a common description on death certificates for elderly people at the time. However, upon reading the listed causes of her death, I have no doubt she was utterly exhausted after living an extraordinary life.

As the author of this article, it may be wishful thinking, but I like to believe that Catherine Bradbury (née Ryan) passed peacefully after enduring an eventful and remarkable life. She is buried in the Catholic section of the Ipswich General Cemetery, near her husband Robert.

Ok – Lets go to birthdates & names. This is where it gets really complicated.

My thoughts on her actual birth date point to her being born sometime around 1834 in Tipperary, Ireland. There is a discrepancy of about four years in her age, at various points along the lifespan between her birth & death. I cannot substantiate my theory, other than just gut feeling, pertaining to the details that fit into the other historical aspects of her life. Gut feeling is not a good indicator or piece of evidence that I would normally recommend for ancestry tracking. However, another reason for this hunch, is that there is also the fact that many of the Irish immigrant girls jacked on a few extra years to their ages when they first came to Australia, in the hope of obtaining a higher wage. Practically all of the workhouse survivors were stunted in their growth due to poor food & disease control, so it is not beyond doubt that many looked a lot younger than their claimed ages when they hopped off the boats. There were many of the young adult migrants who had originally been admitted into the workhouses as infants or children & genuinely didn’t have a clue about their actual date of birth. None of them had a birth certificate. As life went on in their new country, it probably came down to the simple reasoning that it was logical to just accept a slightly higher age for the rest of their lives. After all, for each & every one of the famine survivors, something like a minor discrepancy about their age was the least of their concerns. As the years went by, although they never forgot about the appalling hardships of their past with most suffering in silence, many of the dates & places from the earlier days in the old country disappeared into the haze of time. Most wanted to forget about their past.

In the case of my great-great-grandmother, Catherine Ryan, the birth record most commonly cited in various family records states that she was born on 5 December 1830 in Newport, Tipperary, Ireland, to parents John Ryan and “Catherine” Buckley.

However, her official Queensland death certificate, dated 8 February 1915, lists her parents as John Buckley and Johanna Ryan.

Due to the reasons previously outlined, I have doubts about the accuracy of both records. Regarding the Irish birth record, I am not inclined to accept it as definitive. As for the Queensland death certificate, despite being a local document from 1915, I do not currently consider it totally reliable in terms of identifying her mother and father.

It is important to acknowledge the inconsistencies often found in Irish records from the famine era, when documentation was frequently incomplete, inaccurate, or never recorded at all. The prevalence of variations in the spelling and forms of her parents’ possible given names—such as John, Jon, Jno, Jonathan, Johanna, Johannah, Catherine, Catherina, Cath, Katherine, and Kathryn—along with the commonality of the surnames Buckley and Ryan, further complicates the matter. This, combined with the possibility that her parents’ surnames were either reversed or entirely incorrect, and the uncertainty over whether her mother’s name was Catherine or Johanna, contributes significantly to the confusion and increases the margin for error.

Approaching nearly 200 years after Catherine’s birth, it has become exceptionally difficult to determine her exact birth date with certainty. If you can grasp the complexity of that, you’re doing well.

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At this stage of my research, I lean toward the possibility that her mother was Johanna Buckley and her father was John Ryan. My reasoning is twofold. First, as strict Catholics, her parents would not have given their baby girl the mother’s maiden name; in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church at the time, that would have been unacceptable. The newborn would have taken the father’s surname, and if the parents were unmarried a marriage would likely have taken place. Second, it is probable that Catherine Ryan would have given her own firstborn daughter her mother’s Christian name, Johanna. This theory is speculative, and I am happy to be corrected with fact-based proof. I remain open to revision if someone can provide verifiable, well-substantiated evidence.

QUEENSLAND POPULATION COUNT 1915 – 677000

AUSTRALIA POPULATION 1915 – 4 MILLION

RACIAL & RELIGIOUS ISSUES THAT THE IRISH FACED IN COLONIAL AUSTRALIA

Of the thousands of orphan girls who came to Australia in the wake of the Great Famine, most disappeared into colonial life, leaving little trace of their ordeals and conveniently burying their stories. In more modern times, historians have started to unearth the connections across the generations, bringing to light fascinating tales of young women making new lives in the colonies and establishing, sometimes, vast family networks.

The Irish population of colonial Australia, encountered multiple levels of prejudice, with the anti-Catholic version being the most common. In racial discourse, the Irish were in a liminal position: they were European and white, but not white enough. Between the 1860s and 1880s, for example, Melbourne Punch targeted Bryan O’Loghlen, one of Victoria’s most prominent Irish Catholic politicians, labelling him subversive, corrupt, and akin to “the Negro”. Visiting British politicians made statements which were later taken up & promoted through the press of – a vision of a “Greater Britain”, in which white settler colonies would be included but the Chinese, Indians and Irish excluded.

From the earliest days of convict transportation, the British colonial community responded to the Irish with a mixture of fear and loathing, giving rise to, and sustaining, racial stereotypes, some of them more alarming than others. In newspaper advertisements & on signs outside businesses looking for workers, they faced the “no Irish need apply” , “Protestants preferred” & “No Irish, no blacks, no dogs”.

The depths that colonial leaders, administrators & commentators descended too, & levelled at the Irish migrants, & girls in particular, was quite horrific. Direct quotes ……. “These Irish trollops commit whoredom, hold no wedlock, ravish, steal and commit all abomination without scruple of conscience”……”Have bestial, ape-like or demonic features”. These statements & the earlier mentioned media articles are barely scratching the surface of what these women had to deal with. The hostility and malevolence from British administrative commissioners towards Irish immigrants in colonial Australia can be perplexing, especially given that these immigrants were seeking new opportunities and contributing to the development of the colonies. For the Brits however, it was business as usual, in their treatment of the Irish & any of the races from their colonial conquests. Nothing had changed!

The legacy of British colonialism and its impact on various nations and peoples is indeed a profound and complex issue. The historical grievances held by many nations and communities, including the Irish, Indians, Africans, Caribbean peoples, and Indigenous Australians, stem from centuries of exploitation, violence, and cultural suppression inflicted during the height of the British Empire. It shouldn’t come as any great surprise as to why the current day people of Ireland, & descendants of Irish ancestors who have moved to all parts of the globe, still hold a great deal of animosity & distrust of the British & their institutions. There has never been any apologies or willingness to accept responsibility for the attrocities that were committed in the past. Sadly, in modern day England, there is still a great deal of nationalistic pride in what they see as the glory days of the British Empire, when successive Governments, Royal Family, aristocrats & their institutionalised organizations ran rampant over entire countries & anyone who got in their way.

In Australia, by the time of federation in 1901, a quarter of the population was Irish or of Irish descent. The result was that Australia was more Irish than any other country on Earth, except Ireland itself.

There was a stark reality faced by Irish immigrant girls arriving in colonial Australia & particularly in Queensland. The treatment of these women upon arrival was often marked by discrimination and cultural suppression, reflecting broader tensions between the Anglo-Protestant colonial authorities and the predominantly Catholic Irish immigrants. The deliberate separation of these girls from other Irish immigrants in an attempt to strip them of their heritage and religion is a harsh reminder of the challenges they faced.

The effort to culturally cleanse these young women of their Irish roots, especially their Catholic faith, underscores the deep-seated prejudices of the time. Despite these attempts, the Irish community were determined to maintain their identity. They found ways to support each other, preserving their cultural ties and religious practices in the face of adversity. The shared experiences of loss, displacement, and discrimination likely forged strong bonds among them, and their solidarity became a form of quiet resistance against the cultural erasure they were subjected to.

The case of the Belfast Girls who arrived in 1848 is particularly telling. Their mistreatment serves as an early example of the kind of hostility these immigrants encountered. The colonial authorities’ efforts to suppress the Irish identity of these girls were not just acts of cultural erasure but also reflected broader fears of Irish political activism and Catholicism, which were seen as threats to the established colonial order.

We tend to look at Australia as this bastion of religious and political freedom but it wasn’t always so. The nation’s history is complex, with episodes of intolerance and attempts at forced assimilation that stand in stark contrast to its modern-day values. Although……do they? Even today, many immigrants arriving from overseas face prejudice and discrimination. They often contend with the same intolerance from segments of white Australia, especially when seeking to worship freely in their own religious spaces. Hostility and bigotry, sometimes amplified by parts of the media and local communities, persist. Some things, it seems, have not changed.

The figure of about 500 Irish girls sent to Brisbane until the temporary halting of the migration schemes in 1855 speaks to the significant impact these women had on the colony. Despite the challenges they faced, their contributions to the growth and development of Queensland were substantial, and their legacy is an important part of Australia’s multicultural history.

An account of one group of Irish girls who arrived in Brisbane in 1850 – “Their hair had been cut short and the black fellow when he saw them for the first time in Brisbane called them “short grass” consequently they were afterwards called “short grasses”. Their dress consisted of  a plain blue cotton gown with white spots which hung loose from the neck to the feet. These were covered with heavy hobnail shoes”.

In the early days of Queensland, the shared experience of ostracism by local colonial free settlers brought together two marginalized groups: the male convicts and the Irish immigrant girls. Both demographics faced significant prejudice and isolation, with the free settlers viewing them as inferior or undesirable. As a result, these two groups turned to each other for support, where they could find some measure of acceptance and belonging.

This alliance between former convicts and Irish immigrant girls not only helped them survive in a hostile environment but also laid the groundwork for future waves of Irish free settlers. Their resilience and mutual support forged a pathway that allowed more Irish immigrants to come to Queensland, establishing a strong Irish presence in the region.

Despite initial resistance from Anglo administrators and Church of England settlers, the Irish community grew and became an integral part of Queensland’s social fabric. By 1886, 31.6% of Queenslanders born in the British Isles were from Ireland, many of whom were pioneers in the developing colony. Their perseverance ensured that the Irish not only remained but also contributed significantly to the colony’s development and culture. However, sectarianism persisted. Even today, numerous instances of Catholic and Protestant differences and prejudices surface in education, employment, and public service.

I mentioned Catherine as a person of substance at the beginning of this piece. However, I believe she would have seen herself quite differently. After all her trials and tribulations, I think she was content to blend into the background of society throughout her life.

In our family’s history, there were three other Irish immigrants who came to Queensland to start a new life, during the mass migration period of 1850 to 1900 – Ellen Dunn 1856, Nicholas Corcoran 1864 & Peter Bermingham 1874.

QUEENSLAND POPULATION COUNT 2024 – 5.6 MILLION

Modern day decendants of Robert & Catherine (Ryan) Bradbury are now spread across Australia.

• Their son Robert Bradbury Jnr lived in Mackay Queensland (1857-1934)
• Their daughter Mary Anne Regan lived in Mackay Queensland (1859-1893)

Their first child, daughter Johanna Bradbury (1854-1934) married Nicholas Corcoran – my Great Grandparents. They raised a family & farmed in the Fassifern Valley. Johanna & Nicholas Corcoran’s daughter Catherine Mary Corcoran married Edward Bermingham – my Grandparents. They lived in the township of Boonah, Fassifern Valley, Queensland. They had six children, one of whom was my Dad – John Francis Bermingham.

My Great Great Grandmother – Catherine Ryan, came to Australia in 1852 as an almost destitute young woman, escaping the horrors of the Irish Famine & hoping to get a fresh start. My Great Great Grandfather – Robert Bradbury, her husband, came on a convict transportion ship in 1832. They were our family’s earliest ancestral arrivals in Australia. Like the hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the 19th century who followed, they helped develop Queensland.

Unlike our other ancestors, they didn’t arrive here qualifying for a land grant. They started their lives in Australia with barely anything except the clothes on their backs. Catherine & Robert were just ordinary people from poor working class backgrounds, who raised a family & worked hard to get ahead. After Roberts death, she would have had to work in lowly paid domestic & nursing jobs to keep a roof over their heads & get her kids an education.

Who was this woman & what was her motivation?

As I mentioned early in this chapter on Catherine, I wanted to find out about the person behind the stories. I wanted to get an idea of who she was & search for her personality. I wanted to see the sights & issues that she saw & experienced on her arrival in Brisbane as a young woman, on her own in 1852.

I have discussed in other articles on my ancestors, that it is virtually impossible to gain accurate insights on their personalities, because they have all long gone. We can only acquire as much as possible, that has been passed down through the generations. In doing so, we can gain some sort of understanding of their values, habits, lifestyles & maybe, just a glimmer of their personalities. One of the talents I have picked up since starting ancestry tracking, is identifying personality traits from faded old photographs. Some may consider it as drawing a long bow.

Even from the single surviving photograph of Catherine Ryan in our family’s possession, she appears to be a woman hardened by all that life had thrown her way. She lost her parents at a young age, endured the harshness of the workhouse, and survived famine, cruelty, and brutality. She was sent to the other side of the world in search of reprieve, arriving in colonial Brisbane with little more than the clothes on her back.

There, she faced yet more anti-Irish prejudice before suffering the untimely death of her husband, Robert, which left her to raise three young children alone. Despite these challenges, she ensured her children received an education and the chance of a better future. Later, she moved to Toowoomba to begin a new chapter, establishing and running her own hospice venture.

Catherine’s strong Catholic beliefs likely played a crucial role in her resilience. Her faith would have provided her with a sense of purpose, offering a framework to make sense of the hardships she faced. In a time when she was isolated and likely surrounded by a society that didn’t always welcome her, her Catholic community and beliefs might have been a significant source of strength and comfort.

In moments of doubt, her faith could have served as a guiding light, reminding her of the bigger picture and giving her the endurance to keep going. Being part of a religious community might have also helped her feel less alone, offering her a network of like-minded people who shared her values and beliefs, making life more bearable.

This connection between faith and resilience, especially in the face of adversity, is a powerful testament to how deeply belief systems can influence one’s ability to cope with life’s challenges. With that in mind, as an atheist, I’ve often questioned why religious people hold such strong views—sometimes to the point where fights break out or even wars are waged over the belief that one God is superior to another’s. It can be challenging to find answers that truly address questions about faith, especially when approaching them from a non-believer’s perspective.

People’s reactions can sometimes be more about defending their identity than engaging in thoughtful discussion, and even at that level, they can become openly hostile. Adding to this complexity is the terrible historical and ongoing record of the Catholic Church—and other denominations—regarding pedophile priests, cover-ups, and their unwillingness to fully take ownership or rectify these divisive acts.

I always try not to approach these discussions in an antagonistic way, but I’ve yet to receive a fact-based, convincing response. Generally, when asked, many religious individuals tend to become defensive while trying to justify their beliefs, which, ironically, often contradict the core logic of their faith. Religion and faith appear to be deeply personal, and for many, they are more about lived experience than logical argumentation.

Based on my observations of both early and modern Catholics, I’ve come to believe that the vast majority are drawn to the faith primarily for the sense of community, support, and companionship it offers—essentially, a form of group therapy and social connection. Many, both historically and in the present, appear willing to overlook serious controversies within the Church, including clerical abuse & celibacy scandals, cover-ups by the Vatican, historical connections to regimes such as the Nazis and the Mafia, as well as questionable behavior among some clergy, such as predatory violence, gambling and excessive drinking. That said, if the faith brings meaning or stability to their lives, then that’s great.

The answer to the depth of Catherine’s faith may have been less about intellectual justification and more about the comfort, community, and purpose it provided her in the face of overwhelming challenges. But, whatever it was, it certainly worked for her.

Herein lies one of the key reasons many people continue to follow religion. For some, it is rooted in a deeply held belief system; however, for the vast majority, it is the sense of community spirit, rather than the Holy Spirit—that churches bring into their lives. For that reason alone, churches (more than religion itself) provide a sense of calm and a structured pathway through life.

It’s powerful to see how historical contexts reveal the stark contrasts in societal attitudes and the resilience of those who lived through such times. The struggles that Catherine and her contemporaries faced, compounded by the prejudices and lack of support, make their perseverance all the more remarkable. It’s a humbling reminder of the progress we’ve made, especially in terms of mental health awareness and support, and a call to continue valuing and understanding the experiences of those who came before us.

I’m absolutely sure that, as an adult, she would have been a no-nonsense type of person who dealt with any issues that came her way. Catherine was a determined person, but she also had a soft side to her, by way of caring for her patients at her hospice in Toowoomba. Even the wording of her advertisements in the local Toowoomba classsifieds suggests that.

Access to the vast records now available across the internet has made it possible to learn more about the lives people like Catherine left behind in Ireland. When I began this journey of discovering my ancestors, I had no idea—aside from knowing we had some Irish roots—of the unbelievable hardships they endured throughout their lives.

Our ancestor, Catherine Ryan is but one of them.

Between 1840 and 1914, 300,000 Irish settlers migrated to Australia, with the vast majority enduring the same hardships & issues as Catherine. So, she was by no means alone in her struggles against all the adversity that she encountered.

This AI-enhanced photograph of Catherine Bradbury (Ryan) was created from the original taken in Toowoomba, circa 1876. It is a restored version of the image featured at the beginning of the article. The instructions I put into the AI chatbot were basic, just simple clearing of the image. No more than that. I wanted to see her as she was, with no contemporary enhancement. The original was the only surviving photograph of this remarkable woman. Nearly one hundred and fifty years later, I find it extraordinary to look through the lens of that moment and see my great-great-grandmother as she once sat in a Toowoomba photographer’s studio, around 1876, when she would have been about 42 years old. What an extraordinary life she lived! Catherine was among the many young Irish women from impoverished backgrounds who came to Australia as workhouse orphans, famine survivors, or convicts. These women built an enduring legacy that profoundly shaped the lives of future generations of Australian girls.

From the very beginning of my journey to uncover the life of my great-great-grandmother Catherine Ryan, one question kept nagging at me: What’s the deal with these feisty Catholic girls from Tipperary? 😃 What drove them?

Our family had not one, but two courageous young girls from poor backgrounds, born several years and about 20 kilometers apart in the southern region of Ireland—Catherine Ryan near Cashel and Ellen Bowen at Nenagh. Sadly, I don’t have a photo of Ellen. Although they were unrelated, they grew up in similar circumstances and arrived in Australia within a few years of each other.

So…..The answer to that nagging question is, that I think I now have an understanding of how & why Catherine Bradbury & Ellen Bermingham had developed into tough as nails, uncomprimising adults.

Both were fiercely independant women who didn’t take a backward step, after many setbacks.

Ellen’s son – Edward Bermingham & Catherine’s Grandaughter – Catherine Mary Corcoran, became husband & wife.

Click on to the link here for Ellen’s story – https://porsche91722.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/ellen-bermingham-dunn-bowen/

I’ve applied an AI enhancement to the only known photograph of Catherine Ryan to create her appearance at age 18, upon her arrival in Brisbane, Australia, in 1852, and at age 30 in 1864, shortly after the death of her husband in 1862.

Whether Catherine retained any conventional beauty after her arrival—following a long sea voyage and the harsh realities of life as an impoverished Irish workhouse orphan—remains open to interpretation. However, evidence suggests that the orphan girls were relatively well-fed on the migrant ships to Australia during the mid-1800s, following their escape from Irish Famine. This was likely due to the immigration authorities’ desire for the girls to arrive healthy, capable of work, and appealing as potential partners—thus contributing to the broader aim of increasing the population of the young colony.

The images shown above, together with the image of the couple on their wedding day featured earlier in this piece, are AI-generated, that I have taken the liberty of enhancing. For full transparency, it is important to understand that these images are intended only as a visual guide—an interpretation of what the couple may have looked like, rather than a definitive representation.

In creating the image of Robert, I relied on detailed colonial government convict descriptions, which were originally recorded to aid identification in the event of escape and recapture. I also used photographs of his son, Robert Bradbury Jnr, as a possible reference for his appearance. For Catherine, I worked from the only known photograph of her in existence, taken when she was approximately 42 years old. As such, the accuracy of these AI-generated images remains entirely open to interpretation.

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Our family collective proudly wears a badge of honour, rejoicing in the fact that we had survivers of the Irish Famine & one of the Workhouse Orphan girls as an ancestor. I mentioned earlier in this story about the similar ways that the Irish girls were treated in comparison with the ticket of leave convicts. It appeared at the time, that if you were from either of those two categories, you could expect to be the recipient of ridicule & discrimination in your lifetime. Both the ex-convicts & the Irish orphans worked hard to keep their past under wraps, which is a shame considering both had such a rich, troubled & sensational story to tell. It’s interesting to note how, in modern-day Australia, we now take great pride in discovering an ancestor who was a workhouse orphan or a colonial convict. We are proud and grateful for their resilience and survival and, of course, for the families that followed, leading to us. How times and attitudes have changed!

There’s some interesting common traits from both Catherine Bradbury (Ryan) & Ellen Bermingham (Dunn/Bowen), shared to present-day descendants……. I can definately see many recurring similarities all the way down to this current generation of girls in our family, who all have a touch of both ladies in their genetic make-up. The current crop of girls who are cousins across the extended Bradbury, Bermingham & Corcoran lineage, plus all the later extended newer family names, who are now all linked together, are two, three & four x great granddaughters of Catherine & Ellen. From children, they all grew to become educated, confident young women. As adults, they are all high achievers in the various career paths they chose to follow. None of them are backward in coming forward, to tell you exactly what they think about anything that gets under their skin & they all hold strong social values. They, in turn are now raising families of their own that will carry the legacies of the two girls, who arrived in Brisbane from the Emerald Isle, over 170 years ago.

Geoff Bermingham – great great grandson of Catherine Ryan.