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JAMES & HELLEN (MUNRO) FRASER
James Fraser Sr.
James parents were Donald FRASER and Mary MUNRO who were married at Alness on 25 Dec 1829. Donald was a Sawyer (employed in sawing timber). James was born in Assynt in 1843. He and Hellen MUNRO were first married by Scottish Law (or Practice) and later had the church ceremony at Alness on 25 Aug 1864. Hellen's parents were George MUNRO and Elizabeth MUNRO. Hellen told Edith (now Mrs. Aylward) that her father could trace his family back to the Stuart Kings. George was a Crofter (joint tenant of Scottish divided farm); they were married at Kiltearn on 9 Dec 1815. Hellen had six sisters and a brother (who when he grew up to manhood got some disease and died - his mother never got over it.)
Hellen's family seems to be:-
George MUNRO married Elizabeth MUNRO 9 Dec 1815 Kiltearn
Mary (Stuart) ch 5 Dec 1816 Alness
Ann ch 5 Oct 1828 Alness
Elisabeth ch 24 Sep 1830 Alness
Donald b 21 Apr 1831
Ellen b 28 Jan 1835 Alness
Hellen (Munro) Fraser
As a little girl living in Inverness Shire Hellen had Catholic Cousins, Leslie's, living in Ross Shire. They left Scotland for Australia while she was still young, they were the Leslie's that did the exploring of the Darling Downs. However Patrick Leslie (25 Sep 1815 - 1881) was born at Warthill, Aberdeen Shire. He was the 2nd son of William Leslie (9th Laird of Warthill (estate known as Wartle) and 8th of Folla) and Jane Davidson (sister of W.S. Davidson. Patrick and his brothers Walter and George were at their Uncle Davidson's property on the Krui River at Collaroi in 1836. The Leslie's were first on the Downs in 1840 and took up "Toolburra" for Patrick on 2 July 1840 and "Canning Downs" for Walter on 7 July 1840.
Patrick Leslie
Hellen Munro's sister was married to a horse trader in N.S.W. who travelled around buying horses for the forces in India. She had a number of miscarriages and Hellen was coming out to be with her for a birth. James didn't want her to so (wouldn't let her") so they got married at Alness, 25 August 1864. The boat was held up so they went back for the other ceremony. The ship was "The Charlie Palmer". They struck severe storms in the Bay of Biscay where the boat heaved and tossed over a period of several weeks. They eventually reached Brisbane in January 1865 and the Frasers travelled to the Darling Downs. They came to settle in Gympie two months after gold was found there. (found in mid-Oct 1867. On October 31, 1867 an area of 25 square miles around Nashville was officially proclaimed the Upper Mary River Goldfields.) James came, not to engage in mining, but to transport supplies from Maryborough to the new goldfield by horse and dray. With their young family they settled on a property at the Two Mile at the beginning of 1873 and soon acquired adjoining blocks to accommodate their teams of horses.
James and four of his five sons later engaged in timber hauling to mines and sawmills, one of the latter being Henderson's Mill which stood on the site of the present Memorial Park.
The initial meeting to the establishment of the Two Mile State School was held in the Fraser residence in May 1881. This resulted in the school being opened two years later. James was a member of the first school committee. Among the list of potential pupils submitted to the Department of Public Instruction in 1881 regarding the opening of a school at the Two Mile were Mary Anne, James, Robert, Donald and Elizabeth Fraser,. (Also Maggie, Liddy, Minnie and Kate O'Brien - "Winds of Change" has the surname as Brien).
Commencing in February 1895 James Fraser was a member of Widgee Divisional Board for seventeen years, being Chairman for five years. (1898-99, 1903-04; 1908-11). Because of the abolition of the Glastonbury Division (most of the territory was added to Widgee), the entire Widgee Divisional Board was required to retire. The new board comprised William Henderson, Daniel Martin, Alfred G. Ramsay, James Fraser, John Flood, Thomas Abdy, William Chippindall, Matthew Mellor and Daniel Skyring. James was a former chairman of the Glastonbury Divisional Board. He later served three terms as Widgee chairman. In April 1903 Widgee was elevated to the states of a shire, Widgee Divisional Board members became Shire Councillors instead, with James Fraser the incumbent chairman. During his term as Chairman, Bell's Bridge was opened (in May, 1908), a major accomplishment in those days. Of sturdy construction, this timber bridge was good enough to survive the biggest flood this century in the Mary River (March-April 1955).
On James' death the property passed to his youngest daughter, Elizabeth Helen Fryar. In 1963 the property was bought by Gympie butchers, Gerrard and Sullivan, who used it as a holding paddock for their adjoining slaughter yards. Included in this sale of the Fryar estate were two blocks obtained by James (Jnr.) and William Fraser, on the opposite side of the minor road "King Road" a few years ago). The total area controlled by the Frasers (and later by the Fryar family) was 66 acres straddling part of King Road. Part of the area referred to across King Road from the slaughter house is the site chosen for the Forestry Department Workshop and Storeroom.
Assynt 1927 Two Mile Gympie Queensland
The home "Assynt", was named after the place where James was born, a little north of Inverness. Assynt had so many buildings that people often thought it must have been an early staging post for Cobb & Co. The house was demolished in 1972. (The original Fraser cottage was built on lower ground.) The house was above the level of the record 1893 flood. It was a big house with five bedrooms, 'front room' (lounge), veranda on three sides, a back landing leading to a very large kitchen and a dining room, back veranda and 'milk room'. (In the days before cream separators fresh milk was set out in a cool situation in large, shallow metal pans, and, when the cream had risen to the surface, skimming took place, the cream then being churned into butter. ) The home was always a dropping-in place for relatives and friends.
The spacious barn had a hayloft with a trap-door in the loft floor to facilitate transfer of feed. Corn was fed in a separate compartment from the hay or chaff in each of these convenient feeding stalls. Under the same roof as the barn was a long narrow section which housed the potato crop - big enough to allow the potatoes to be spread out in a single layer and turned occasionally to prevent rotting. Huge boxes held such commodities as whole corn and chaff.
At the back of the buggy shed, and adjoining, was a room for saddles, bridles, etc. Each saddle lay astride a long wooden horse, specially built to keep each in good shape. Bridles were all hung neatly on pegs provided for them above the saddles. A strongly built shed housed the dray. A long bench in this building served as a workshop and many tools hung in convenient spots. In addition there were pigsties and a fowl house with a shingle roof. Much was of vertical split-slab construction.
So many fruit trees were established around the house that the family was almost self-sufficient in regard to fruit. Jam and jelly was made and 'put down' and stored. As with most early farms the aim was to make the unit practically self-sufficient as far as food production was concerned for both the family and domestic animals.
Swagman
A common sight during periods of economic depression was the movement on foot of many itinerant workers, commonly known as 'swagman', from place to place in search of work or establishing claims to obtain official sustenance allowed at police stations. As the property was beside a main road (now part of Highway No. 1) there was a steady stream of swagmen passing by. Whenever the family buggy was on the road, and there was room for another, the swagman going the same way was invariably given a lift and, in many cases, food.
In times of flood with traffic hazards, as many as eight travellers were accommodated in the barn where they gratefully accepted food as well as basic shelter.
Isobel Fryar was the only one born in the Fraser's house after the family. Hellen suggested naming her Isobel Stuart Fryar. Her husband, Reginald Henry Doggrell, in his capacity as District Forester, Gympie, initiated preliminaries in 1971 (almost a year before his retirement after more than 20 years in that position, an all-time record for Gympie! for the purchase of 28 acres of the Fryar property to provide an area for the forestry complex.
Sadowa Gold Mile at Two Mile Gympie
The "Sadowa" was the only mine on the Frasers' property that was developed and workings extended to a depth of about 400 feet. Several other shafts were less than 100 feet deep. In common with other mines in the vicinity e.g., "London", "Dead Bird" and "Homeward Bound", the "Sadowa" was not a very profitable venture.
After some years of timber hauling, two of the Fraser sons, Don and William, joined the Forestry Department for the rest of their working lives. The latter was one of the original staff at Imbil (after World War 1) and Don was employed mainly at Atherton and Kilkivan, both being involved in work in the rain forests. Several members of later generations of Frasers have been engaged in forestry activities in this and other areas.
Compiled by James Sellen
