Extract: J Cooper, Personal collection.

This sample of poetry, carefully copied into a school exercise book by his grandson, Philip, came from an original collection of twenty poems gathered by Francis Theobald Heffernan, my great-grandfather. His original book is held within one branch of his descendants. Australian poets, Andrew B (Banjo) Paterson and Will Ogilvie feature, having written a third of the poems in the collection. Several named poets are not well known; others have pseudonyms. Some of these poems appeared in The Bulletin, the magazine so loved by bushmen in the nineteenth century; the authors of several others have not been able to be traced. ‘The Wallaby Track’ was printed in a local newspaper, attributed to ‘Sundowner’.^[1]

Francis Theobold Heffernan was born in Dublin (city, parish or county), Ireland. When he provided his age on registering the birth of his children in Queensland, he indicated 1840 as his year of birth. With younger brother John, he boarded the Black Ball clipper Beejapore at Queenstown, county Cork, on 23 March 1863.^[2] Perhaps Francis and John had listened to Henry Jordan at one of the two lectures he gave in Dublin between July and October 1862. Henry Jordan had been appointed as Queensland’s first Agent for Emigration in London in 1860.

The diary of Abijou Good, an Englishman, written on the journey, provides a glimpse into the voyage. He noted the confusion on board caused by the Irish emigrants ‘put on board’ in Cork. He described the new arrivals on board by stating ‘we have the dandy Irishman from Dublin or Cork and we have the rough uncouth Irishman from the mountains’.^[3] I wonder if Francis and John fitted his description of dandy Irishmen from Dublin.

The Beejapore bypassed Moreton Bay to cast anchor in Keppel Bay on 27 June. The majority of the clipper’s passengers disembarked in central Queensland, travelling to their destination, Rockhampton, by steamer up the Fitzroy River. Abijou Good described this journey: ‘scenery along the banks of the river was very fine the trees were growing in to the water on both sides up the hillsides and as far as the eye could see nothing but trees met the view’.^[4]

The immigrants spent time in the depot until they were engaged. Some 50 immigrants were engaged on arrival, and hundreds more before the end of the month. Descendants do not know if Francis and John Heffernan were among those who found work so quickly but believe that Francis was still in Rockhampton a week later when he married Jane Hope as he reported when registering, in writing, his eldest son, Matthew Joseph’s birth in March 1865.

We can trace the movements of the family through the birth places of the children whose registrations have survived or who noted their place of birth on marriage certificates. It is recorded that their eldest daughter, Mary Ann was born in Gracemere, just west of Rockhampton in June 1866.^[5] Catherine’s birth in Crocodile Creek in August 1867 marks the beginning of the family’s life on several gold fields. Jane was born in April 1869 at nearby goldmine, Three Mile Creek and Margaret two years later in Cawarral, 20 kilometres north-east of Rockhampton, another early gold rush district.

Francis and Jane’s second son, also Francis Theobald, was born in Rockhampton in about 1873. This may have been about the time that Francis began his connection with the construction of the Great Northern Railway, later described as the Central Queensland railway.^[6] By the late 1870s, Francis Theobald Heffernan’s name started appearing on Queensland electoral rolls. In 1876, he was residing at Wallaroo Creek, near Duaringa; during the next year at Walton Creek and Springton, each located along the route of the central Queensland railway line.^[7] By 1877, Francis, Jane and their children had reached Duckworth Creek, near the modern town of Bluff.

Stone cairn: Descendant’s collection.

It was here that Jane died at about 37 years two days after giving birth to twins on 13 January 1877. Her unnamed baby son died of fever at ten days old; her unnamed baby daughter of fever at seventeen days old. Jane and her babies were buried on the eastern bank of Duckworth Creek. According to local people spoken to in recent years, the graves were marked with stones, something like this cairn, photographed in the suggested burial area in recent years. Perhaps this is the actual place of the burials, which were certified by Francis’ brother, John.

With his surviving children from 12 to about 4 years old, Francis continued along the line as it was constructed, enrolling as a resident in Comet in 1879 and 1880 and in Emerald from 1881 to 1883.^[8] Perhaps each of his daughters entered domestic service as soon as they were old enough. Certainly, family stories from each of Mary Ann’s and Catherine’s descendants indicate that these girls were providing domestic service from about 14 or 15 years old. Both were married before June 1883; and it seems likely that Jane had moved south to Roma by then. Francis was not a witness at any marriage.

From this time, Francis’s working life and movements became more erratic. In February 1883, he was in Rockhampton giving evidence, as a miner, to the Police Magistrate to reclaim his tent and fly which had been stolen from him. In May 1885, Francis certified his fourth daughter, Margaret’s death when living in Bogantungan. Margaret was almost 14 years old when she died of fever in Clermont. Perhaps she had been in service there.

By 1888, Francis Heffernan had moved east again, applying for reefing claims near Mt Morgan and Mt Morinish. A Warden’s Report of 1890 indicated that he and his partner had crushed a quantity of rock to find very little gold.  In 1894, he was using his literacy skills to act a Secretary for the Carriers Committee in Mt Morgan during their dispute with the local Turf Club.^[9] However, by 1901 he had rejoined two of his children, Matthew Heffernan and Catherine Shepherd who had settled in Jericho, further west along the railway line. While there, he added his name to an Electoral Roll as a cabinet maker.^[10]

Extracted from In Memoriam card: J Cooper, Personal collection.

The lure of mining was great – Francis moved to Sapphire, a well-known site for gems by about 1908. He died there on 13 November 1908, soon after being granted an old age pension of 10/- a week.^[11] His grave in the Sapphire Cemetery is unmarked.

Was it in his later years that great-grandfather gathered poems or had he collected them through his life in rural Queensland? Francis Heffernan’s level of literacy was also evident through his written registration of his children’s births and his brief time as secretary. Much more to remember him by than through the tragedies of his life.

[1] The Capricornian, 13 September, 1884, p 20.
[2] ‘Emigration to Queensland’, The Cork Examiner, 23 March 1863 p. 3.
[3]  Passenger list Beejapore 1863, Queensland State Archives, DR37924; ‘Diary of Abijou Good written on the Beejapore’.
[4] ‘Diary of Abijou Good written on the Beejapore’.
[5] Family birth and marriage registrations in Queensland are not acknowledged individually throughout this story.
[6] ‘Queensland. Great Northern Railway’, The Argus, 19 July 1865,p.7
[7] Index to Queensland Electoral Rolls 1870-1879, Toowoomba & Darling Downs Family History Society, 2002.
[8] Index to Queensland Electoral Rolls 1870-1879, Toowoomba & Darling Downs Family History Society, 2002.
[9] Morning Bulletin, 21 August 1888, p.5; 21 December 1889, p. 8; 17 June 1890, p. 4 and 15 May 1891, p. 5, 21 April 1894, p.5; 26 April 1894, p. 5.
[10] Queensland State Electoral Roll 1901, in Queensland Electoral Rolls 1893-1943, Archival Digital Books Australia, 2014.
[11] Heffernan, Francis, Certificate No 4814, Index to Old Age Pensions, Register No 2 Part 1, DR 8451, Queensland State Archives.