Journey to Hughenden

Journey to Hughenden In July, 1963, Miss A. M. Gray, of Gisborne, New Zealand, famous as the founder of Cloncurry, and the discoverer of the donated to the Library Board of Queensland a manuscript journal, Great Australia Copper Mine there). In 1863, before the estab written by Mrs. Charles Gray. Miss Gray is the daughter (by a lishment of Hughenden, Henry had been in Sydney and there he second marriage) of Charles Gray, whose first wife (Lucy, the met his cousin, Robert Gray, who had recently arrived from India. author of the manuscript) died childless in New Zealand in 1879. Gray agreed to join Henry in his pastoral pursuits, and they The presentation was made through the good offices of Mr. M. H. journeyed to the Mount McConnell area, where Henry already had Blunt, M.R.C.V.S., Research FeUow in Physiology at the Univer holdings, and where Gray took up a station which was later called sity of New England, Armidale, N.S.W., and of Mr. AUan Wilkes, Conway. This country is on the Burdekin River, near its junction Archivist of that University. Mr. Blunt is a nephew of Miss Gray. with the Sellheim. During this time Henry heard glowing reports The journal describes a journey from Sydney to Townsville in of the Flinders River district, which had been traversed by WiUiam 1868 by steamer (although the story really starts only when the Landsborough and Frederick Walker in their search for Burke vessel reaches Gladstone) and from TownsviUe to Hughenden on and WiUs. Late in 1863, Henry set out for the Flinders, examined horseback. From the time of Mrs. Gray's arrival at Hughenden, the country, and decided to take it up. Others, however, had she goes on to describe outback station life on the Flinders River. heard reports of its grazing capabilities as well, and when he We have decided to publish the first three chapters of her account returned to Mount McConnell he found other intending pioneers in this issue of Queensland Heritage. This covers that part of her were on their way to the Flinders. Henry hastily gathered together story which ends with her arrival at Hughenden. 800 head of mixed cattle, and set out for the Flinders. There Hughenden Station was taken up by Ernest Henry (later to be ensued an exciting race, which Henry won, and which has been 4pproxi«Ate roat^ of Mrs Cr&y's journey shown t.b«s Queensland Heritage Page Eleven described in more detail in a recent publication issued to mark took her from Sydney at least as far as Bowen, for on this part of Hughenden's centenary.^ the journey she travelled by the steamer Boomerang^ of 445 tons. Lodging applications on 7 June 1864, Ernest Henry took up Captain Hariey. The passenger list for this vessel includes the runs in the vicinity of the present town of Hughenden, and these names of Mrs. Gray, Mrs. Edkins, and Messrs. C. Gray and M. he called Canterbury, Hughenden, Cumberland, Sussex and Gray. The Boomerang left Sydney on the afternoon of 19 Septem Somerset. Hughenden was named after Hughenden Manor in ber 1868, and arrived at Gladstone at daylight on 25 September. Buckinghamshire, which was at one time owned by John Norris, Apparently more cabin passengers embarked at Gladstone, for on the grandfather of both Ernest Henry and Robert Gray. These arrival at Bowen the following people are listed, in addition to runs measured in total 246 square mUes. Henry seems to have Mrs. Edkins:^ Miss Seaward, Messrs. H. Spring, Murray, Isley, been in financial difficulties from the start. He transferred his G. Smith, Whitbread, Homan and Melfit. On leaving Sydney there interest in the licences to these runs to Henry Beit in 1865, but were six in the steerage, though their names were not listed in this seems to have been in the nature of a mortgage, and later in the passenger list. On arrival at Bowen there were 14 steerage the same year Robert Gray bought his cousin out. passengers. Interestingly enough, Mrs. Gray, her husband and Robert's cousin, Charles, the husband of the author of the brother-in-law are not listed on the vessel's arrival at Bowen, Journey to Hughenden manuscript, visited Hughenden station in but this can be explained by the fact that they were destined for 1865.- Charles Gray had, according to his brother, been running Townsville, and the Port Denison Times seldom listed those who the blockade between Liverpool, Nassau and Wilmington in the had not chosen to disembark at the local port. There was a good American Civil War, but had left his ship when it was on a visit deal of jealousy between Bowen and Townsville. to Calcutta, and had thence apparently taken a ship to Australia. The Boomerang left Gladstone at 5 p.m. on 25 September On this visit, Charles agreed to enter into the pastoral business 1868, and arrived at Bowen at 1 p.m. on the foUowing day. She with Robert. had strong head winds throughout the voyage. As the vessel does We are not informed as to exactly what Charles's next move not seem to have left Bowen for Townsville until the following was, except that he apparently returned to England and collected Monday (28 September) it seems likely that Mrs. Gray and the his wife and his brother Mowbray, and it is during the final stages two Messrs. Gray transferred to another vessel, for she says that of Mrs. Charles Gray's journey from Britain to Hughenden that she left Bowen on the evening of the day of her arrival, and the story recorded in her journal begins. arrived at TownsviUe on the Sunday morning. Unfortunately, we She wrote this journal as if the separate chapters were individual have no Townsville newspapers or official shipping lists to confirm letters written to a friend in England. There is no indication as to our suppositions. who this friend was — indeed, one is tempted to think of the We do not know the date on which the party left TownsviUe "recipient" of the letters as a fictitious character. The use of a dash for Hughenden on horseback. Robert Gray tells us^ that they after the initials of personalities mentioned in the journal (e.g., arrived at Hughenden on 11 October 1868. A thorough study of her husband, Charles, is always referred to as C -) leads one to Mrs. Gray's journal does not tell us exactly how many days the think that she had plans for publishing her diaries. This conven ride took, but some idea can be gained from the following tion of anonymity is extremely annoying, for it makes it hard for summary: us to solve quite a few identification riddles. For instance, who First day. They reached the Alice Hotel in the afternoon, was the "old Mr. I-" (or perhaps "old Mrs. I-") who travelled had supper, and rode another fifteen miles to camp at the up with them by steamer, but whose journey ended at Bowen? foot of the range (Hervey Range). The handwriting in this journal is extremely difficult to read, Second day. They climbed the range, and rode on to stay at and in many cases we have had to use shrewd guess-work in a station, probably Dotswood. transcription. For instance, she often speaks of the vegetation, Third day. They came to the Burdekin River about noon, but whether she is writing "gum trees" or "green trees" is an had a double issue of lunch, and rode on to a station (called open question. On what was meant to be page VIII of Chapter Reedy Lake here) for the night. III, she wrote something which bears no close relationship to the Fourth day. They rode on to a station on the bank of a "brimming river" and camped near this station (probably immediate context (and which we have, therefore, omitted from Southwick). the transcription at that point) but which explains a view-point Fifth, Sixth and possibly the following day. They rode she adopted in writing the whole journal: through a "fair specimen of Australian bush". There is no These letters are to be chiefly about what 1 did, what I saw, clear indication of how many days they took to do this, but, what 1 thought, etc. Queensland exclusively from my point at the rate they were travelling, they probably reached Nulla of view; consequently things that are in the foreground in my Nulla Station on the evening of the fifth day, and Reedy pictures are in the middle distance, or on the far horizon, Springs on the evening of the sixth day. of other peoples'. Last day but three. They reached Mount Emu Plains Station. Last day but two. They met an aboriginal groom, sent by The punctuation in the manuscript is inconsistent and ill- Robert Gray, with Mrs. Robert Gray's horse Euclid, for defined, as in many nineteenth century journals and private letters. Mrs. Charles Gray. Euclid led them astray, and they reached Often the only mark is a dash, and this quite obviously implies Wongalee well after nightfaU. different punctuation in different contexts. We have had to render Last day but one. Euclid had wandered off in the night, punctuation in whatever way we thought Mrs. Gray would have intent on returning to Hughenden, but careless as to whether rendered it, had she been preparing a manuscript for a printer. he had a rider or not. By the time he was brought back to Coupled with this difficulty is her annoying habit of doodling on Wongalee, no progress could be made that day.

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