STORRIE DESCENDANTS

Elspeth (née Storrie) and Frederick Henry George Doblo

Elspeth, familiarly known as "Elsie", the eldest of John and Christina's children and thought to have been born at Rawbelle Station, married Frederick Henry George Doblo in Bundaberg on 8 September 1886 just two weeks short of her 22nd birthday. Fred was a butcher by trade and the family lived at South Bundaberg. Children born to the marriage were—

• Esther (30 March 1888)

• Frederick (20 March 1890-4 December 1954)

• Elspeth (14 February 1892), wife of Nicholas Joseph Dunn

• Harrold “Harry” (7 January 1894-5 August 1916), killed in action with the AIF

• Ada (15 October 1895)

• May (27 July 1897) and

• George (10 November 1902), husband of Elsie Mary Clark.

Being the eldest child, Elspeth (Elsie) played a lead role in the administration of her father's estate following his death in 1907. Just as her mother died intestate, so too did her father and this required a petition to the Supreme Court to distribute real and personal property in accordance with the government requirements of the day. In their retirement, Fred and Elsie moved to Brisbane where they lived at Ashgrove to be nearer their daughter, Elspeth and her husband Nicholas Dunn.

Elizabeth (née Storrie) and Robert George Wallis

Elizabeth, or "Lizzie" as she was known, married Robert George Wallis, a machinist, on St Patrick's day 1892. Lizzie was aged 26 years at the time of her marriage. Seven children were born to Robert and Lizzie and the family lived at Richmond Lane, Maryborough. Their children were—

• Robert James, born on 29 December 1892, husband of Mirinda Katherine McNamara

• Elizabeth Jane (16 November 1894-17 November 1894)

• Christina Ann (23 February 1896-27 March 1896)

• George (6 January 1897-7 January 1897)

• Bernard William (13 January 1898)

• Percival John (23 April 1900-13 April 1950) and

• Bella (11 June 1902-12 June 1902).

Lizzie died on 15 November 1902, aged only 36 years, five months after giving birth to her seventh child, Bella who survived a mere 24 hours. Elizabeth and George also survived for only a day.

After the loss of his first wife, and faced with the prospect of raising a young family single handed, Robert married Mary Amelia Taylor on 3 September 1904 who gave birth to another five known Wallis children.

Margaret (née Storrie) and Henry James Chase

Margaret, the third eldest child, at age 28, married Henry James Chase on 6 November 1895 in Bundaberg. Henry James, born in Hampshire, England, arrived in the colony on 9 October 1874 as an immigrant with his parents, Thomas and Ann (née Steel). The Chase family left London on 27 June 1874 aboard the Great Queensland in the company of 645 persons who were mainly of English stock. Of the total number who embarked on the sea journey, 150 were predestined to settle in Bundaberg. Most of the ship's arrivals disembarked at Maryborough with those heading to Bundaberg being transported by the steamer Lady Bowen.

Records identifying the families by name and their destinations are not available and the 22 year gap between the Chase family's arrival and when they took up land at Greenoak, Gooburrum, on 2 October 1896 suggests they may have headed first to the Gympie gold diggings. The Chase family also lived for a time at Burnett Heads. Henry, a labourer, and Margaret raised a family of seven children—

• Charles Harrold (11 August 1891), husband of Ellen May Clifford

• Herbert Sutherland (19 October 1896), husband of (1) Florence Emmiline Clements and (2) Mabel Maud De Courcey

• Mona Macpherson (12 March 1899), wife of Eric Godard Rogan

• Montague Russell (15 October 1902)

• Vera Elizabeth (21 November 1904), wife of Louis Quadrio

• Vivian Edward (12 November 1906-1977), husband of Gweneth May Furnis, and

• Clifford William (11 March 1909-14 August 1976), husband of Rubina Elsie Finsen.

When Margaret's father died in 1907 the family is on record as residing at Halifax, Lucinda Point, NQ and this is borne out by school enrolment records showing their children attended the Halifax State School–

• 1903 Charles and Herbert

• 1904 Mona

• 1907 Montague

• 1909 Vera

• 1912 Vivian

• 1914 Clifford.

Viv and Gweneth (Furnis) had daughters Julie and Beryl.

Cliff and Rubina's (Finsen) marriage ended unhappily with his children, Hazel, Kevin and Vivian growing up knowing nothing of their ancestors. It was not until very recent years when Gin Gin residents re-enacted the arrest of Queensland's only bushranger, James Alpin McPherson, alias the Wild Scotchman that these children became aware of their family connections. One of the principal proponents of the celebrations was Viv Chase (married to Yvonne Honer), shire councillor and postmaster who, much to his joy, discovered his family connections while lending a guiding hand in this annual event. Viv's sister, Hazel Joy (12 May 1935-31 December 2002), and her husband, Kelvin Neal live in Bundaberg. Their children are Christina Heather, wife of John Gilby, Annette Kaye, wife of Gregory Charles Wixon, and Jennifer Joy, wife of Peter James Macklin. Their son Steven Lesley Neal (16 January 1956-9 June 1974) died as a result of injuries sustained in a road accident. Viv and Hazel's other brother, Kevin, who is married to Sylvia Doherty, resides in Shepparton, Victoria. Vivian and Yvonne's children are Tony, John and Helen. After Yvonne's death in 1992, Viv has married again.

John Storrie (I)

John was born in 1868 at Rawbelle Station while the family worked and lived there. John died at age 5½ months and was buried in a lone grave at Rawbelle in 1869.

James William and Caroline (prev O'Brien) Storrie

James attended Gooburrum State School where he was enrolled as pupil number 29 when the school opened in March 1884. Records show that he left school on 25 July the same year and returned on 6 October 1884. James married Caroline O'Brien (née Chambers) on 20 April 1904. Their only known child was Isabella Christina who was born on 23 May 1904. James' marriage did not survive the test of time and the two parted company, with James moving from Halifax near Lucinda Point in north Queensland to Clermont c1937. He was a contractor and also lived in Roma for a time. While at Clermont, James resided with the Duncan family who were the proprietors of a corner store at Copperfield, a mining settlement, south-west of the town. James died at Clermont on 23 September 1950.

John Storrie (II)

John, who was born in 1871, lived only until 17 April 1877.

Christina Ann (née Storrie) and George Brasch

Christina, born at Rawbelle in December 1872 and died on 16 September 1950, also attended Gooburrum State School and was enrolled as pupil number 32. She later married George Brasch (sometimes spelt Brash), a blacksmith and wheelwright (1873-1915), in Bundaberg on 24 July 1894. Attendants at the wedding included Charles Olfen and Margaret Storrie. The newlyweds adopted the spelling of Brash as a variant of the family surname even though George's ancestors were of Danish descent and spelt the name Brasch. Many Danish and German families living in Australia in that era often anglicised their names for easier recognition. Children of the marriage included—

• George Gavin, born on 17 May 1895 married Elizabeth Ellen Webster on 15 March 1919

• Clement William (9 August 1898) married Elsie Knight on 28 June 1930

• Leslie Sutherland (30 September 1903) married Ivy Lillian Johnson on 11 July 1925

• Violet May (15 August 1906) and

• Dulcie Jean (25 July 1914).

All children were born in Bundaberg. George (Jnr) became an engineer/coachbuilder and lived in Targo Street, Bundaberg. After the death of her husband in 1915, Christina Ann remained in Bundaberg for a few years before moving to Avon Street, Petrie Terrace, Brisbane around 1918.

George Storrie

Enrolled as pupil number 30, George attended Gooburrum State School from its opening in 1884 until 19 December 1888. At the time of his father's death in 1907, George was living and working as a labourer at Mount Molloy near Cairns.

Robert Storrie

Like his brothers and sisters, Robert attended Gooburrum State School which his father helped to establish. He was enrolled as pupil number 33 in 1884 and continued schooling until December 1889. When his father died in 1907, Robert had not been heard of by the family for over ten years. Records indicate that Robert was, at some time prior to 1907, working on construction of the Rockhampton to Mount Morgan branch railway line and was reported to have then gone to Western Australia. He died in 1948 near Moree, New South Wales.

John Sutherland Storrie

John Sutherland (Jnr), a dairy farmer, worked the family property called Roselyn until his father's death in 1907. It has been said that he “made many a Gooburrum maiden's heart flutter at the turn of the [20th] century and a John Sutherland Storrie (Jnr) of him is provided, courtesy of the book “Gooburrum State School Centenary 1884-1984”. At the time of his death in 1940 he was an inmate of the mental asylum at Goodna and is buried at the nearby Ipswich cemetery.

Isabella (née Storrie) and John William Hanran

Isabella Storrie married John William Hanran (1876-1940) of Townsville on 31 October 1906. John was the sixth of seven children born to Mary Ann (née Ogle) and her husband, Patrick Francis Hanran, Townsville's Mayor for nine years. After Isabella's sister Elizabeth Wallis' death in 1902, Isabella volunteered to help care for her sister's children, but after a few months, she successfully responded to an advertisement for a housekeeper to a Townsville family and it was during this time that she met her future husband. Isabella, or ‘Bella' as she was known, was a tall, slender woman with beautiful hair. She was also a very quiet person and an avid reader who was often heard to say, ‘reading is never a waste of time'. She had converted to Catholicism after her marriage to John William and she took time to read from the bible every Sunday and often quoted passages to her husband. One of her abiding interests was the royal family, and she read everything she could lay her hands upon about their activities. A very perceptive person, one of her attributes was that she could sum people up in a very short time. She was also very fussy about her presentation and appearance—she never went out without wearing white gloves and stockings and never went bare legged even inside the home. She cared for her few clothes meticulously and her one ‘good' dress took pride of place in her wardrobe for that special outing.

She was a good cook who always prepared a hot breakfast (including meat) for the family. She learned these skills as a young woman, preparing meals for the workers (including Kanakas) on her parents' farm "Rosslyn"at Gooburrum. Her husband, John, often said that she ran the house just like a hotel—she was a very methodical woman. She observed a weekly ritual of washing on Monday (corned beef for the evening meal); spent all Tuesday ironing and served up pie for dinner. Friday was always shopping day in the town. Bella took pride in welcoming visitors into the family home and often entertained ‘strays' to the Christmas dining table.

She was a very intelligent woman and her extensive reading made her very knowledgable. She had always wanted to be a schoolteacher but lacked the self-confidence to pursue this course. Some of her hand-drawn maps are reported to be still in the Gooburrum State School archives. Her one failing perhaps was that she was definitely not a seamstress! Her attempts to craft a pair of pyjamas for her husband ended up with him throwing them back at her after which she never tried her hand again at needle and thread. Their children were—

• Mary Christina (29 March 1908-4 October 1979), otherwise known as Mollie, their eldest child, was born in Townsville and married James Lucey on 11 November 1931

• Francis William (Frank), (27 January 1910-18 May 1975) married Phyllis Adeline Moore on 20 November 1937

• Robert (Bob), (26 March 1913-25 September 1982), married (1) Margaret Girl Coupe on 26 June 1943 and (2) Veronica Margaret (Vera) Mazzer on 9 April 1954

• James Albert (Bert), (30 May 1914-18 January 1982), married Emma Maud Lewis on 10 September 1941

• Margaret Isabella, (13 July 1920-29 August 1996), married Cecil George Nott on 7 August 1954.

They all grew up in Townsville, part of a well-known and respected family. All children lived their married lives in north Queensland excepting Mollie and her husband who raised a family of five children in Brisbane, and Bob, who resided in Sydney. 

William and Mabel Rose (née Brewer) Storrie

William lived on the family property until c1912 before turning to work as a labourer at Pemberton Grange sugar plantation, south-east of the Hummock, Bundaberg's only hill. He was mentioned at the inquest of his father's death in 1907 as sitting up all night with his father on the evening he died. William re-settled at Halifax in north Queensland and probably joined his sister, Margaret Chase, before marrying Mabel Rose Brewer in Ayr on 29 October 1914. Their children included—

• Eliza Isabella (Tess) (20 February 1916), married John Joseph Clive (1913-1989) on 3 August 1940 at Ayr

• William Joseph (Joe) (31 December 1917-October 1982) married Betty Naughton (1924- ) on 11 October 1947 at Ayr

• Mabel Jean (27 February 1920) married Ellwyn Evans (1920- ), East Ipswich

• Norman Leslie (19 September 1928-14 April 1988) married Wilma Lillian Luke, Brandon (1931-1999)

William was buried at Ayr. His monumental inscription reads—

In Loving Memory of /

My late Husband and father William STORRIE /

Died 8th October 1937 /

Inserted by his wife and family.

Jessie Jane Storrie

Jessie was born at Gooburrum and when her father died in 1907 she was an inmate at the Goodna asylum near Ipswich . She never married but gave birth to a daughter Jessie on 21 January 1906. Her baby died four months later on 28 April 1906.