A four part series on the Thursday Island Jubilee in 1927. This is part 4
Part 3 is here
Telegraph (Brisbane), Saturday 8 October 1927, p. 15
THURSDAY ISLAND'S JUBILEE
Quetta Memorial Cathedral
In the
following article, the last of the series on Thursday Island the jubilee of
which recently was celebrated, some further recollections of the olden days of
the island are given.
Before it was a Town
Mr. E. B.
Harris, vice chairman of the Telegraph Newspaper. Co., who for some years was
associated with the British-India and Queensland Agency, Co., lived on Thursday
Island in the "eighties." It was a very primitive settlement in those
days, Mr. Harris says. There was no town, no streets, no horses, and therefore,
no wheeled traffic, even a bullock or a cow there. Tall rank grass, some, of it
7 ft. high, grew all over the place, except at the back of the island, where there
was a tropical jungle.
There was
not even a wharf there in those early days, but the British-India Steam
Navigation Co.'s ships, which were employed in the Queensland Royal Mail
service between London and Brisbane, berthed alongside an old hulk which was kept
there for that purpose. In Mr. Harris's day the James Patterson, which at one
time was employed on this coast, was the hulk, and later the Star of Peace.
The staff
lived ashore in a small four-roomed cottage with a kitchen. The framework of
this small building was of hardwood, and the sides and root were of galvanised
iron. The doors and windows were never closed, for although there were doorways
and openings which served as windows, they were mere blanks in the walls. There
was a veranda all around the little place, but no steps. The cottage belonged
to the staff, and not to the company, and it served as a protection from the
heavy tropical rains and from the fierce heat of the tropical sun. Howbeit,
conditions within were pretty much as sultry as those without very often, for
tho galvanised iron became intolerably hot. Mr. Harris recalls such well-known
ships of the mall line as the Merkhara, the Roma, the ill-fated Quetta, and
others of the company's own line, and tho Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of
Westminster, and others of that line which also at times were employed in the
service. The cargoes inward were largely composed of "rough stuff" such
as barbed wire and grog with a
sprinkling of "plum duff" ingredients
and other dietary items, as a mate of one of tho ships remarked to Mr. Harris
on one occasion.
A Lonely Grave
Exploring
the back of the island one day Mr. Harris came across a lonely grave. On it was
a wooden cross, on which was inscribed, "Sacred to the memory of William
Buist, master of the Rober, ‘drowned’ (then came the date - Mr. Harris thinks some
time in 1848); erected by his crew. Mr. Harris made Inquiries but even, the best-informed
public on the island knew nothing of the grave. Nobody seemed to be aware
previously that it was there.
The Smallest Town
One of
those who were associated with Mr. Harris in those days was Mr. W. J. Graham, who
afterwards for many years was prominently associated with the business and
civic life of the town, which Mr. Graham says is the smallest in the British
Empire, consisting as it does of an area of only 188 acres, Including 88 acres of
streets. The total area of the place, including the Commonwealth's part at it,
used for Defence purposes, is only 500 acres. The Island also has the smallest
newspaper in the Empire, or the world, for that matter, Mr. Graham says. This,
consists of a dally publication of a slip containing telegrams, and tiny local
Items which may be available.
Quetta Memorial Cathedral
Mr.
Graham lists among the many extracts from newspapers which he has preserved
concerning tho history of the Island the following from a Church of England
publication, describing the interior of the Quetta Memorial Cathedral: —
"A
Quetta lifebuoy, draped with the British-India Company's house flag, hangs over
tho pulpit. Her stern riding light, recovered by a diver after 18 years'
submersion, gives light for evensong. The barnacles and coral incrustation on
the brasswork of the lamp tell their own tale. The ewer at the font was given
to the church by a Mr. McLeod, of Thursday Island. In the chancel hangs another
flag and a lifebuoy, hearing tho name, "Kanahooka Sydney." This was a
steamer which foundered in the Gulf of Carpentaria two years after the loss of
the Quetta.
"The
seats at one end of the church are from the wrecked barque Volga, now lying off
Goode Island, with one of her musts still plainly visible at high-water mark. A
chart, given by Mr. McKenzie, showing the exact locality of the wreck hangs on
one side of the main door, and opposite is one of the port holes of the Quetta,
the outline and details plainly to be seen under beautiful coral growths. This was
given by Mr. Graham, Hotel Metropole, and is one of the most striking relics In
the church.
“An
altar, erected near the gates is the gift of a Rotuman boy, from the South, Sea
Islands, named Tom Mann, who desired thus to keep his memory green among his
South Sea friends here after his return to his own island.
"The
larger of the two bells was first used in Townsville Cathedral, and the smaller
is the Quetta's ship's bell."
In
addition to the Quetta memorial tablet, there also is a tablet to the memory of
the 302 men who lost their lives in the great hurricane off Cape Melville on March
5, 1899, to which reference previously has been made in these articles. At the
foot of this tablet are the words, "When thou passest through the waters I
will be with thee."
School Teacher’s Recollections
Living In
retirement at Kent Street, New Farm, Is Miss O’Brien, who for some years was in
charge of the Thursday Island State School. Miss O'Beirne treasures her
recollections of Thursday Island and its many splendid people. Of the late Hon.
John Douglas, as he was invariably called, she speaks in the very highest terms.
"He was a splendid man," said Miss O'Beirne, "a most upright and
just man; everyone respected him and his word was law in the Island, not only
because of his position of authority, but also because we all trusted his knowledge
and judgment. The coloured people shared our respect and even our affection for
him.
An Island Wedding
Miss
O'Beirne recalls with particular pleasure an island wedding in which she took
some little part. It was that of the Rev. J. G. Ward, who afterwards died when in
charge of the Presbyterian Aboriginal Mission at Mapoon in 'the Gulf, to his
bride who had come up to help her betrothed in his good work. Mr. Ward stayed with
Mr. Douglas until the wedding arrangements were completed and Mrs. Ward as she
became, was the guest of Miss O'Beirne at the school residence. Miss O'Beirne suggested
to the mothers of half-a-dozen girls attending the school that they should
dress the girls as bridesmaids for the occasion, and this was done. The late Rev
W. Maitland Woods, who was the founder of the Quetta Memorial Church,
officiated. As illustrating the interdenominational spirit of such places, here
was a Presbyterian missionary married by an Anglican clergyman, whose bride went
forth to the ceremony as the quest of a member of another faith, with
bridesmaids drawn from other denominations. Miss O'Birne said her heart went
out to Mrs. Ward and also to Mrs. Hoy, who heroically accompanied their
husbands to that wild part of the coast in which the missions were located, not
knowing what was before them. Mr. Ward died, but Mrs. Ward continued there in
the good work, and Mr. and Mrs. Hey retired after 20 odd years' service there.
Quetta Memories
Miss O'Beirne
was at the island when the Quetta was wrecked, and never can forget the thrill
of horror which passed through that little community when the awful fact became
known there. She remembers well little Quetta Brown— as she was afterwards
called — the ill-fated ship's foundling, coming ashore, and tho loving care which was
bestowed upon her by Captain and Mrs. Brown who adopted her, and by others.
Concluded
