4. Claude Harold Annesley - Life on a soldier settler's farm in Queensland - Marriage fails - Returns to Bowen

A Soldier's Settlement at Girrawin


The government gave returning sol­dier settlers 600 acres (roughly one square mile) and £600 to construct fences, dig a dam and build a hut.  Controversy followed that scheme, and by 1930 most had left their land.

Claude was granted a soldier settler's farm at Gunnewin between Roma and Injune. 

The area was in the locality of Orallo and Mount Hutton

Orallo is a locality on the Bungeworgorai Creek in southeast Queensland, Australia situated about 460km west-northwest of Brisbane (show me). Orallo is at an elevation of approximately 370m above sea level. 

The nearest more populous place is the town of Roma which is 41km away with a population of around 5,900

Mount Hutton is a mountain in southeast Queensland. Mount Hutton is at an altitude of about 943m above sea level.

Mount Hutton is close to the village of Injune (20.4km away - The nearest road to Mount Hutton is an unsealed road that is un-named (2.85km away).

According to the 1919 census records, Claude was living at Orallo, a record for Katie for 1919 census cannot be found.

Saturday 12 April 1919

He was expressing his concerns over the valuations given to the lands by the Council.

Life in the bush was very tough, in those pioneering days.

Claude and Katie had another child, Claude Dalgleish Annesley born 18^th July, 1921.  

Not much was known about the events of this time period, although family stories indicated that Claude had left Katie either before the baby was born or just afterwards.

But in 1922 a year later, Claude was certainly living at Gunnewin.  In fact he was before the courts, for killing his neighbour’s calf!  As the following newspaper articles describe.  The Queensland government also undertook some works on the bore on his land as per their archives.

The Court cases regarding the calf.

From the Queensland Government Archives, work was carried out on the Mt Hutton bore at Annesley ‘s farm.

66990

LAN/AZ239; PRV9892/1/561

198

File - public works undertaken

Files

Mt. Hutton Annesley bore

Series ID: 14043Works Carried Out by the Public Estate Improvement Branch

Queensland State Archives Item ID66990, File - public works undertaken

Circa 01/01/1922 c 31/12/1922

  

Family life on the farm at Mt Hutton.  Valerie with her mother, sheep and dog. Katie with Valerie and Dale 

In the background is a man, so this presumably is Claude!  

The photos of Valerie, Katie and the sheep were taken at the same time.  

There are many questions unanswered at this point in time about why and when he left Katie and the children.


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By 1924 Claude Annesley was back living in Bowen.  In fact he was a cricketer, and known as The Hampshire Crack!  He was also the treasurer of the Bowen Lifesaving.

 

In 1925 Claude was living at the Pilot Station in Bowen.  The lighthouse is quite isolated, located on 
an island off the coast, but at low tide it can be accessed by walking over the exposed reef. 

In 1928 Claude was employed as a station-hand at “Scartwater”, a large cattle station near Charters Towers, which was owned by the RSL 

The Scartwater Trust is operated from the earnings of a cattle station, it not only caters for the needs of ex-servicemen and their dependants, but also plays a vital role in the education of scholars in North Queensland, it originated in 1917.

RSL (Queensland Branch) was founded in 1916 by Diggers returning from World War I. The aim was to provide vital services for their mates.


The family story was that Claude was the station manager, and also one of the founding members of the Returned Services League.  That fact has not been proven.

The family story now becomes quite clouded.  The facts are that Claude and Katie separated possibly in 1923.  By that time their daughter Valerie was around 8 years of age.

Claude had his daughter Valerie with him, at the Lighthouse, and perhaps at Scartwater.  He left Valerie in the hands of some drovers.  Valerie was living on the Lighthouse, as she recalled rowing a row boat from the island to the mainland.  She would have been around 10 years old at the time.

(This information for Valerie was taken from family records 
which her daughter Lynn had been researching)

“Valerie was left with some friends of Claude’s the Hansen’s, who were a droving family and he left for New Zealand.  She did not have much formal education”

Valerie was also living for some a time with her Aunt Eileen in New Farm.  It would seem that she lived there in her early school days, perhaps from age 7 years, but after. Dale was born.  She wrote many letters to her mother, asking to come home, so she could help out with “Boy”.  The letters are a sad recount of her relationship with her mother. 

By 1923  Katie was in a relationship with Samuel Herron.  Sam and Katie had two sons, James and Wilfred.  They remained on the land at Gunnewin.

Valerie was apparently not living with them at all, and around 1930 she made contact with the family.  Valerie in her letters to her mother was unaware of her two step brothers.




Claude Dalgleish Annesley was 10 years old before he knew his father was not Samuel Herron, his step-father.  He later changed his name by deed poll to Dale Herron, as he considered Samuel to be his father, and was a man that he deeply respected.

Dalgleish.         Quite an unusual name.  

 Apparently Katie liked the name, and she named him after the builder of a jetty, who lived in Bowen.

Now to add a little intrigue to the story. 

Dalgleish was in fact John Thomas Dalgleish who was a bridge builder and who in 1913 lived at the Commercial Hotel Bowen.

Surprisingly in 1919 he is listed as living at……..Orallo, as a carpenter.  Now that is a co-incidence!

In 1925 he was back in Bowen living in Kennedy Street, and his occupation was a foreman!

Katie’s name did not appear on the census for 1919.
She was in the census records of 1925 and 1928 as Katie Annesley and in 1932 she was recorded as Katie Herron.

How did she meet Samuel Herron, was Claude living with someone else?

Questions!       Questions!     

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