The earliest census returns for Moreton Bay had nearly 1600 people spread out over a vast area that ranged from the Darling Downs to the Logan, Pine River, Ipswich and Brisbane Town. In December 1849, there were two men named Humby in tiny Brisbane Town. Both were English. Both were transported convicts. Both had marriedContinue reading “Mr Humby and Mr Humby.”
Tag Archives: Dunwich Benevolent Asylum
The Old Man Nobody Wanted.
On 6 October 1873, a frail old man suffering from dementia was transferred to Dunwich Benevolent Asylum from the Brisbane Hospital. The hospital couldn’t do much for him – he was old, he was wandering in his mind, but he wasn’t really sick enough to take up a valuable hospital bed. He had been sentContinue reading “The Old Man Nobody Wanted.”
Waterloo, Trafalgar and Dunwich
Veterans of the Napoleonic Wars must have been a tough breed. A handful of them lived hard lives in Queensland, still working at hard physical labour in their seventies and eighties. There was no aged pension, and injury or illness in a labouring man removed their only means of earning a living. The Dunwich BenevolentContinue reading “Waterloo, Trafalgar and Dunwich”
Alas, poor Hamlet.
One of the more plaintive entries in the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum Admission Book reads: “I can’t remember anything about my early history – I was put in Diamantina Orphanage when an infant. I was there 11 years. Then was employed by Thomas Allen, Greenmount, 4 years. Then put in Toowoomba Hospital 3 years. Last 2Continue reading “Alas, poor Hamlet.”
The Man Who Invented His Life
In December 1865, a man named James Keane recorded his history in the Register of Admissions to Dunwich Benevolent Asylum.[1] It was certainly impressive: “Arrived in Sydney by the Shamrock from Liverpool A.D. 1845. Employed by Messrs. Stenhouse and Hardy Solicitors, Elizabeth Street, Sydney. Was for a considerable time Editor of the “Moreton Bay Courier”Continue reading “The Man Who Invented His Life”
“Old Trafalgar” Dies at Dunwich.
On June 4, 1878, a very old man passed away at Dunwich Benevolent Asylum at Stradbroke Island. He’d been there since 1869, when, aged 91, he could no longer take care of himself. That was a hard blow for a very independent man. Abraham Brown had been a mariner since the turn of the 19thContinue reading ““Old Trafalgar” Dies at Dunwich.”
