Short Stories of the Blackmores, Suttors, Kinlesides, Watsons, Farrs, Gordons, Blacks and others.
In 1876 three Watson brothers came from “Walwa” on the Upper Murray in Victoria following a survey trip the previous year, to settle on the Gregory River at “Gregory Downs” some 120 kms south of Burketown.Two of the brothers, Harry Frederick and Philip Sydney were twins aged only 19 at the time and the youngest … Continue reading Watson Bros to Gregory Downs
The Royal Flying Doctor Service from the Mt Isa base and Dr Ian Robinson were regular visitors to Gregory Downs for the clinics conducted there and at other locations around the Gulf country and Mt Isa district. Dr Ian Robinson treating a patient with VH-FDR in the background. The RFDS aircraft was a Beechcraft Queen … Continue reading The RFDS and Foxtrot Delta Romeo
Salvador Rosa National Park Crystal clear springs add more than ten million litres of water a day to peaceful Louisa Creek and the Nogoa River as they meander beneath a backdrop of rocky sandstone crags and spires. Salvator Rosa National Park is at the western edge of the Central Queensland Sandstone Belt and roughly midway … Continue reading The Cungelella Cattle Mystery
Harry Foster at “Riversleigh” in the 1950’s. (Photo courtesy Ken Foster) Mrs “Aunty” Barrett, at the Gregory Hotel, had taken in and reared the child Harry Foster and his sister, Jessie. Harry and Jessie Foster's young mother died in childbirth at Westmoreland Station and their father left the two children with Emily Barrett at the … Continue reading The Fosters at Riversleigh and Gregory Downs
By Greg Blackmore I can remember always wanting to be a Jackeroo and had my leather saddle bag and quart pot for a few years before I had even left school. Raised on a small mixed grazing property near Rylstone and Mudgee in NSW, I rode a bike the 3 miles to Clandulla Public School, … Continue reading Going Bush – a Jackeroo
Dudley Colin Suttor Dudley Colin Suttor, was born at Koorawatha in 1892, whilst his parents, Walter and Louisa (Nee Monro), were living at the property “Warrangong”. Walter and Louisa had 9 children, 5 boys (2 of those died young) and 4 girls. Dud Suttor was their seventh child and their other children were:-Stella Louise 1881- … Continue reading Dud Suttor – Soldier and Wallaby #129
By Greg Blackmore In 1965 I started flying lessons with Schutt Aircraft Flying Academy at Grovedale airfield, just out of Geelong in Victoria. This was during my first year at Marcus Oldham Agricultural College and I progressed through to my first Solo flight in October that year at about 8 hours flying time. In April … Continue reading A Pilot’s Log Book
The first of Sydney Grandison “Grandie” and Isabella Watson’s children to marry was Isobella “Emily” who married George Black from Tarwin Meadows (near Inverloch) in Victoria, in 1871. Emily was only 20 years of age at the time and George was 38 years her senior at 58. Life at Tarwin Meadows was fairly hard for … Continue reading Major Olaf Murray Walsoe
Written by Sidney Watson from Vancouver, Canada during the 1898/99 winter and later in 1899, just before he and his wife, Annie, returned to Australia after two summers on the Goldfields of Alaska and British Columbia. Philip Sidney Watson, of Gregory Downs, married Annie Lister in January 1898. Annie was a suffragist with a BA … Continue reading Letters from the Klondike
With information also provided by Andrew Taylor - Ruby was Andrew's Great, Great, Grandfather's sister. Three Watson brothers, Philip Sidney and Harry Frederick who were twins, and a younger brother, Robert McGregor "Greg", established `Gregory Downs Station' in 1877. The three brothers had left their home, `Walwa', on the upper Murray River in Victoria and … Continue reading Greg Watson and Ruby Taylor
Struth it's Blackmores 