A Part of Buderim's History

THE WILLSON'S OF BUDERIM

By Brian Willson

My great grandmother Mary Hamilton who was a cousin of William Pettigrew married Henry Willson in 1862 and in 1866 Henry was employed by Pettigrew as a storekeeper on Pettigrew's land at the mouth of the Mooloolah River ( Heap 1966). Although Heap does not mention the name of this storekeeper, family records show that Henry was this storekeeper. The diaries of William Pettigrew make many mentions of  Willson.

The Willson's third child Margaret, was born in 1867, and was the first white girl to be born in the area on the coast.

 In 1875, a Mr Ballinger of Mooloolah Plains wrote to the Board of Education to try and have a school built in the area. His letter dated May 3rd, 1875 read in part “there are nineteen children in the Mooloolah district and there is no school for them”. He also added that “it was possible to guarantee the attendance of only 12 of these children”. The Board replied that “an average attendance of 15 children was required before a school could be built”. Later that month a Mr Dixon advised the Board “that 15 children could be guaranteed” and added “that a weatherboard building 20ft by 12ft with a desk and seating would be built”. The Board replied “that if a building and furniture were provided they would pay a teacher 70 Pound a year and would supply books and school requirements”.

A committee consisting of farmers, C Ballinger, D Cogill, J Lindsay and C Chalmers, a timber-getter G Traill, a sugar manufacturer, J Dixon and storekeeper, H Willson was formed, and they recommended to the Board that Mr. Robert Grant, 35, single, educated in Old Aberdeen and with teaching experience in Missouri, U.S.A, be appointed teacher.

The Buderim Mountain Provisional School as it was known  was opened on July 5th 1875 with an enrolment of 12 children with Mr Grant as teacher. It is amazing that a school could be built and opened only 2 months after the first approach to the Board. The school attendance register for 1875 gives the following names:-

1. MacDonald, Ernest

2. Cogill, John

3. Ridley, George

4. Traill, Alfred

5. Traill, Arthur

6. Traill, Anna Bella

7. Traill, Anne Jemi

8. Ridley, Lily

9. Cogill, Elizabeth

10. Ballinger, George Fred

11. Ballinger, Henry

12. Ballinger, Charles

13. Willson, Mary

14. Willson, Sarah

15. Willson, Margaret

16. Burgess, Sam John

17. Chambers, Mary Anne

18. Chambers Catherina

The three eldest Willson children commenced school in September 1875. A son Henry Hugh Willson started in late 1876.

The school on Mt Buderim was  a long walk from their home on the coast and Margaret was to later recall this daily trek to school in her poem “Memories” the last line of which reads “As we trudged that league to school”. Presumably they used horseback for this trip.

Henry Willson was voted Chairman of the first elected school committee on July25th, 1876

In 1878 after the collapse of the timber industry, Henry applied to the Department of Lands for a lease over 160 acres of land on the banks of the Mooloolah River on which he erected a humpy dwelling 9ft. square. Almost immediately the site proved useless, as it was covered in water following a fresh in the river, and was abandoned.

The family then decided to move to Brisbane and the children left the Buderim school in late September 1878, thus ending their connection with Buderim.

References

Heap 1966 “In the Wake of the Raftsmen” Part11

Buderim School correspondence in Qld State Archives