Saunders Beach: Bird Smuggling Destination

29 Sunday Oct 2017

Posted by saundersbeachhistoryproject in BIRD LIFE, LOCAL HISTORY, SAUNDERS BEACH

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André Sabbé, Australian native birds, bird smuggling, George Saunders, Jalloonda, Laurie Friswell, NanKivell, nickel refinery, Queensland State Archives, Springfield

Tuesday the 25th February 1964 was two nights before a new moon. At 8pm on that day darkness had closed around Saunders Beach. The Melisande, a sleek, steam-driven clipper, glided to a stop in shallow water about one kilometre from the beach. She was answering a beach bonfire.

Image 1. The Melisande was once owned by the King and Queen of Belgium. She had two engines each capable of 15 knots and allegedly sunk in Hong Kong Harbour in typhoon.

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George Saunders and Lord George

01 Sunday Jan 2017

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Crown Land, Elizabeth Annie Morris, Elizabeth Saunders, George Saunders, horseracing, JCU Library, Louisa Emma BENTON, National Library of Australia, Queensland State Archives, Springfield, Suffolk Punch, Townsville Times, Townsville Turf Club, Trove

Throughout his time in Townsville George Saunders exhibited a passion for horses. He gained an income through trading horses and breeding the Suffolk Punch draught horse. Training racehorses occupied much of his time.

Image 1. Horses on Saunders Beach, taken 2015. From the early 1880s the Saunders family resided at Springfield, a 2 100 hectares property which nowadays takes in the current Saunders Beach. The Saunders used to ride socially on the beach and no doubt George Saunders used to train his racehorses on the beach.

Lord George, a bay gelding and perhaps named for his owner, raced in the Townsville Turf Club’s 1875 Christmas Races.

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George Saunders’ Role in Queensland’s Kangaroo Cull

02 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by saundersbeachhistoryproject in LOCAL HISTORY, SAUNDERS BEACH

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Australian War Memorial, Beach Banter, Crown Land, George Saunders, Queensland State Archives, Saunders Beach, Saunders Beach Community Centre Association Inc, Springfield, Thuringowa Divisional Board, Thuringowa Marsupial Board

Queensland became a separate British colony from NSW in 1859, cash poor but rich in land. The first parliaments knew a prosperous pastoral industry would generate income for Queensland through wool and beef exports so the politicians listened to the wants and needs of their constituents on the land.

One pressing complaint of the rural sector, both agricultural and grazing concerned kangaroos, wallabies and other marsupials. They ate food intended for both humans and stock and drank sparse water in drought-prone areas.

The situation couldn’t go on. Action was needed, action that took the form of a new law:

Image 1. The header of Queensland’s new law authorising a cull of kangaroos, wallabies and other marsupials. Image from the Queensland Government Gazette 1877 Volume XXI.

‘Destruction of Marsupials’ quite simply meant money for scalps. In the 1877 Act a scalp is defined as “a portion of the skin of the head of any marsupial to which both of its ears are attached”.

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Townsville’s ‘Hidden’ War Memorials – a T150 event.

03 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by saundersbeachhistoryproject in COMMUNITY ACTIVITY, LOCAL HISTORY, SAUNDERS BEACH

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Annie Elizabeth MORRIS, Bruce ROBINSON, Dr D Gibson-Wilde, Elizabeth Annie Morris, Honour Boards, Louisa Emma BENTON, National Trust, Railway Station, Saunders Beach, Springfield, St James' Cathedral Townsville, T150, Townsville City Council, Townsville Grammar, Townsville Heritage Centre, Volunteers, WW1

Ever since the 1880s when George Saunders took up land in the area now called Saunders Beach this beachside village has had a vital connection to Townsville for such things as banking, Courts and State Land Office transactions. In 2008 the Queensland Government amalgamated local governments and Saunders Beach became a suburb of Townsville City Council.

This year Townsville celebrates 150 years – 1866 to 2016 – since it became a Municipality under the Queensland Municipals Institute Act of 1864. This historical milestone for Townsville is elegantly represented by the abbreviation T150.

In recognition of this Townsville City Council has planned a year-long festival of events, selecting some community-based activities to support financially. The National Trust of Australia (Qld) Townsville Branch received funding for four bus tours.

Image 1. In the grounds of the Townsville Heritage Centre.

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New Year’s Eve 1891

31 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by saundersbeachhistoryproject in LOCAL HISTORY, SAUNDERS BEACH

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Beach Banter, Black River, Crown Land, JCU Library, Mathew Index, nickel refinery, North Qld Herald, Queensland State Archives, Saunders Beach, Saunders Beach Community Centre Association Inc, Springfield, Thuringowa Divisional Board, Volunteers, Yabulu

The first Europeans to settle on what is now Saunders Beach were the Saunders family. They spent New Year’s Eve 1891 hosting a party for about thirty guests at their residence Springfield, north of the Black River.

The guests danced and sang and an enjoyable night passed too quickly, reports The North Queensland Herald of 6 January 1892 (available on microfilm at James Cook University).

On New Year’s Day “a riding party proceeded to a fine beach…where a pleasant picnic took place”. Afterwards some members of the party relaxed under the spreading trees while the more energetic rode races or walked along the beach. That night there was more dancing until the party-goers were exhausted.

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Community Christmases at Saunders Beach

27 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by saundersbeachhistoryproject in COMMUNITY ACTIVITY, LOCAL HISTORY, SAUNDERS BEACH

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Beach Banter, Community Centre, Delta Dogs, NanKivell Park, rural fire brigade, Saunder Park, Springfield, Volunteers

By all accounts the Saunders family generously opened their home Springfield in the late 1800s and the early twentieth century. George Saunders and his wife Elizabeth were from rural backgrounds – George came from the small village of Whitwell in Hertfordshire, England and Elizabeth was a farmer’s daughter from Cappyroe, Offaly, Ireland. They carried the hospitality of rustic life learnt in their homelands to Springfield, hosting such activities as a New Year’s Eve 1891 house party for thirty guests.

Modern Saunders Beach unknowingly carried on this tradition when the Saunders Beach rural fire brigade put on the first kids’ Christmas Party on the beach at the northern end of Reef Street in 1990.