Missing Friends Part 1.
Imagine farewelling a family member who was setting off to another country to make a new life. Now, imagine doing this without social media, the internet generally or phones to keep in touch with that person. Letters (if your family could read and write) were your only hope of hearing from them. Letters that could take three to six months to arrive by ship from the other side of the planet.
This dilemma faced thousands of families throughout the 19th century. From convicts hauled off to Australia and never heard from again, to families and young people taking advantage of assisted migration, their relatives at home were left wondering if they were still alive in that strange place.
The most reliable way to try and contact your colonial family members was the Missing Friends section of the newspapers. There were a couple of investigation agencies, and they assisted as best they could in an age when everything was accomplished slowly through diligent letter-writing.
Australia was such a vast place, and so poorly connected by transport that many Australian families were sending plaintive requests to the Missing Friends columns, asking that if this should meet the eye of their relative, please communicate with your anxious family.
This is a small selection of Missing Friends in Queensland. Some are solveable, even today, thanks to that wonderful resource, the internet. Others leave you wondering what became of the person and their family.
THE DISAPPEARING DENTIST.
It started quite normally. Mr Jordan, a dentist, who had practiced in Brisbane and Ipswich, retired in late 1860, and another chap took over his practice.
“Mr JB Mackenzie in succeeding to Mr Jordan’s practice, begs to announce that, from his considerable practical experience as a Dentist, in Great Britain and he neighbouring colonies, he will be enabled to meet the requirements of all who may require his professional services.”[i]
Mr Mackenzie then took out a series of classified advertisements, announcing his services – an office on the corner of George and Elizabeth streets, Brisbane, and visits to Ipswich on the first Tuesday of every month.[ii]
A qualified, experienced man taking over a popular practice. But within two months, Mr JB Mackenzie had vanished, after what would seem to be a trifling skirmish in the classifieds with a steamer captain over his fare.
“To Mr Mackenzie, Surgeon Dentist, successor to Mr Jordan. – You are requested to call on board the Breadalbane, Steamer, and PAY your Fare, 8s.; also Steward’s Fee 7s. 6d., incurred on the 5th December. JAMES TWINE, Master, Breadalbane.”[iii]
JB Mackenzie responded in the classifieds, giving his side of the events.
“In consequence of an advertisement which appeared in Saturday’s issue of my being indebted to the Captain of the Breadalbane, I beg to explain. The Breadalbane was lying at the Basin at Ipswich. I was making some purchases, when, hearing the last bell, I hurried off, leaving my change (a sum sufficient to cover the expense involved). Captain Twine promised to send and receive the same; he did not do so. Concluding he had done so, I paid no further attention to the matter, and am very much surprised at the step he has taken. JB Mackenzie.”[iv]
Perhaps it was the embarrassment of being labelled a fare-evader by a steamer captain, a professional accused of neglecting to pay his fare by someone of a lesser station in life. Named Twine. A professional reputation was something to protect. But perhaps it was a symptom of a much deeper problem, because Mr Mackenzie shut his doors and was not seen in Brisbane or Ipswich again.
A clue to the mystery came a month later in the New South Wales Police Gazette, a publication probably not accessible to the residents of Ipswich and Brisbane, who were wondering where that dentist fellow had gone so suddenly.
“SYDNEY. Found in Riley-street, about 1 pm of the 1st instant by Sergeant Harris, a small card-case, containing a number of cards addressed Mr JB Mackenzie, Surgeon Dentist and a pawn ticket, written in Hebrew, dated 31st January 1861, and signed Charles Aaron, Pawnbroker, Kent-street. Now lying at the D Division Station.”[v]
Mr JB Mackenzie had travelled to Sydney and pawned a possession, losing his card case in the process. Further professional embarrassment, if that was even a factor in his decision-making at that point. Perhaps the pledge was not claimed, as Mr Aaron is reported to have auctioned a gold chain, pledged on 31 January and unredeemed.[vi]
Meanwhile, in seemingly unrelated news around the time of the pawning, a poor man who worked at a wild animal show named Billings’ Menagerie, lost his life after a tiger mauled his arm off. It seems that his job was taken by a man who was rather over-educated for the position, but anxious to earn some money quickly.
The North Australian in July 1861 gave a brutal one-sentence update on Mackenzie’s whereabouts. It took a second look before I realised that he wasn’t being fed to the wild beasts….
“MISSING FRIENDS- Mr J H Mackenzie, who succeeded Mr Jordan in his profession as dentist, and mysteriously disappeared, is at present engaged at Billings’ Menagerie, Watson’s Bay, near Sydney, feeding the wild beasts.”[vii]
Mystery solved then. How the mighty were fallen.
A SON OF THE LANDED GENTRY SOUGHT IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICTS.
This appeared at first to be a standard Missing Friend notice. Thomas Baillie was looking for his brother George. Mind you, Thomas had managed to establish himself as Australian landed gentry by mentioning the Station he had owned, and also the fact of a trip to England.
Brother George was encouraged to communicate his whereabouts, ‘unless comfortably situated,’ which suggested that Thomas did not seriously expect George to be anything of the sort.
“MISSING FRIEND.
“MR THOMAS BAILLIE, late of Polkemmet Station, colony of Victoria, having now returned from England, is anxious to hear from his brother GEORGE, supposed to be residing in Queensland.
“MR G BAILLIE is earnestly requested to communicate with his brother, either through Wm Bell & Co, Melbourne, or Mr Kemball, Brisbane, and unless comfortably situated he is entreated to return to his brother, who will give him a hearty reception.”[viii]
A further notice directly below gave an insight into just who the missing man was. And how comfortably situated brother Thomas was, to offer travelling expenses and funds upon arrival.
“A Reward of TWENTY POUNDS (20) will be given to any person affording information as to the present address of Mr George Frederick Augustus Baillie, or for satisfactory proof of his decease. It is supposed that Mr Baillie is now living in one of the Northern Districts of the Colony, and unless early intelligence is received of him, a description of his person will be advertised.
“All expenses of his conveyance to Melbourne, will, if required, be defrayed for him, and funds will be placed at his disposal on his arrival there.
“A packet of letters from England, addressed to Mr Baillie, has been forwarded to Brisbane. March 10th 1864.”
Tantalisingly, little of George Frederick Augustus Baillie, son of the late Sir William Baillie, Bart., Polkemmet, was recorded in Australia after his brother’s announcement. But he did survive his excursion to the Northern Districts, and in all likelihood took up the offer of travel expenses and funds at his disposal. Not to mention the hearty welcome.
George returned to the United Kingdom, and married Mary Gertrude Saddler in 1871 at Christmas Church, Clifton.[ix] She was a suitable match – the daughter of an Esq., and her family had ties to the Church. George Frederick Augustus Baillie died in Gloucester on 13 April 1882, aged 48. His brother Thomas was a prominent grazier and remained in the colonies, taking a seat on the Bench in Melbourne.
A Mystery Unsolved.
“HENRY HALLIDAY SMITH, from Liverpool. –When you come to your senses, write your brother. The loss of your mother’s portrait lies at your door.” [x]
How the modern reader would love to unravel this one. Unfortunately, the name Henry Halliday Smith did not recur in my searches, and the prospect of searching all of the gents named Henry Smith was simply too daunting.
I do hope that he came to his senses and wrote his brother. But I keep getting a mental picture of ”Whistler’s Mother,” which was probably nothing like that treasured and disputed keepsake.
[i] Moreton Bay Courier, 18 September 1860.
[ii] The North Australian, 09 November 1860.
[iii] Moreton Bay Courier, 15 December 1860.
[iv] Moreton Bay Courier, 18 December 1860.
[v] NSW Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime, Sydney, 04 February 1861.
[vi] Sydney Morning Herald, 12 October 1861.
[vii] North Australian, 22 July 1861.
[viii] The Courier, 22 March 1864.
[ix] Belfast News-Letter, 22 February 1871.
[x] The Courier, 02 June 1863.
Moreton Bay and More 