Tin Can Bay Pioneer Dies, January 1954
With the Coronation of King Charles yesterday, this blog features one of the Pioneers of Tin Can Bay and her link to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953.
Obituary: 16 January 1954. Mrs. Hannah Brown. A Tin Can Bay woman who was affectionately known as “Grannie” to residents there, passed away on January 7, the day of her 97th birthday. She was Mrs. Hannah Maria Brown. Mrs. Brown was closely associated with the pioneering of Tin Can Bay and saw it grow from a small fishing village to a progressive township. Mrs. Brown, who lived at Tin Can Bay for 23 years, met with some serious setbacks during the early days of the township. They were often stranded by flooded creeks as there were no high bridges. She had to wait for days in some instances for her son to get through with food and other supplies. Deceased was the first person to live permanently at the Bay. For weeks at a stretch, there was nobody at the settlement except several visiting fishing boats. One week when there was not a single person at the Bay, she slipped and fractured several ribs. She bound herself up and commenced to walk to Gympie, 35 miles away. She met bullock drivers at Brown’s camp who advised her to rest there, but she continued the journey. Creeks in the district were slightly flooded and she was covered in mud when she reached Goomboorian. Here she was fitted with dry clothes and conveyed to Gympie by car.
Mrs. Brown was born in Corpusty, Norfolk, England, and married at Newbiggin, Northumberland, on Jan 22, 1876. She came to Australia in the sailing ship, *“Scottish Wizard” with her husband and infant son. They landed at Maryborough on January 22, 1882, and immediately came to Gympie to live.
brisbane telegraph 16 jan 1954 grannie brown copy
“Scottish Wizard”
Her place of residence for many years was Crescent road. While there she had as boarders, Mr. Tom Dunstan and his father. Because of her pioneering status, Mrs. Brown played a leading role in official ceremonies in the Tin Can Bay district. In 1936 she opened the new bridge over Tinana Creek, in those times the roads in these parts were deplorable in wet conditions and cars were often bogged. In June last year, she and Mr. Zac. Skyring, the two pioneers of the Bay, led the township’s Coronation Procession to the school. Here they planted a tree which will be known as the Coronation tree. In July last year she had the distinction of opening the new post office by handing over the key, buying the first stamp and posting the first letter. Mrs. Brown was always a keen gardener and did her own household chores up to the time of her leaving the Bay through ill-health four months ago. Her husband predeceased her on September3, 1924. She is survived by four sons, two daughters, 23 grandchildren, 49 great-grandchildren, 4 greatgreat grandchildren and one sister in England.
Hannah Maria BROWN (Grannie) was the daughter of John and Sarah Ann (nee Comer) Riseborough. Born at Corpusty, Norfolk in January 1858, and christened in the Parish church on February 28th , she was the second of six children born to John, an Agricultural labourer and his wife Sarah Ann. In 1876 Hannah had left the family home and moved north where she married Henry Brown at Newbiggin. Henry, born in Liverpool, was a labourer and the couple were living at Shadforth in Northumberland when their son John Hannet was born in January 1881. Hannah gave her occupation as dressmaker in the 1881 Census. Migration to Australia followed with Henry and Hannah, along with infant son John passengers on the ship “Scottish Wizard” arriving at the port of Maryborough on January 27th 1882. Henry and Hannah Maria were blessed with the birth of several more children when they settled in Gympie, where the family were farming at Veteran Road Gympie on the Electoral roll for 1919. Henry died on September 3rd 1924 and was buried in the Gympie Cemetery, Corella road. (CEP-5- 456) Hannah Maria died at the Lister Private Hospital Gympie on January 7th 1954, just two days short of her ninety sixth birthday and was buried at the Corella road cemetery the following day. (CEP-5-456). Grannie Brown was a woman who accepted the challenges thrown her way and lived her life to the best of her ability. She was a true woman of her time.
This story was written by Val Buchanan.
Ref: Findmypast El Roll QSA. Immigration to Qld. Gympie Cemetery Trust. Ancestry. State Library S.A. Trove. Queensland University.
* The “Scottish Wizard” launched in Aberdeen, Scotland, August 1881. Sold to Italian buyers in 1900 and renamed “Pasquale Lauro” was torpedoed off the coast of France in 1916. There were no survivors.
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