Doon Villa Homestead's Charm was widely known

On the 1st of September, 1952 an article in the Maryborough Chronicle  told of Doon Villa Homestead.

The home was originally built my Mr Peter Graham. Mr Wilson, one of the founders of Wilson and Hart's sawmill purchased the Homestead off of Mr Graham. The article tells us,
"he remodeled the lume, making extensive and artistic alterations to it. He had large rooms built ...the dining room had tiled floor with a decorative domed ceiling. The drawing room is also artistically designed, and hundreds of pounds worth of gold leaf were put to an ornate ceiling" .

The 19 acre property extended from John Street to Treasure Street in Maryborough, with a view of the Mary River. The article tells of Mr Wilson's horticultural interest which resulted in a "drive of Indigenous and exotic trees, numbers of walks, 12 miniature lakes and a house for monkeys".

Main House originally call Doon Ville later called Doon Villa.

Mrs Wilson lived at the residence following Mr Wilson's passing. The Dunn family acquired the estate and after modernising the house put it up for sale at 3600 pounds.

They built a small modern brick house - one that June O'Hanlon's father helped build (see previous blog entry). June lived in Doon Villa Homestead while the new brick house was being built.

The Homestead was demolished and the land sold and divided up for more houses.

Many sporting groups including the Bowling, Soccer and Hockey Club bear this name.

Do you know why Doon Villa Homestead was demolished?

Do you remember the homestead?

Maryborough District Family History Society has also gathered some interesting information on this and other residences and have these posted on pinterest

References

Newspapers Home - Trove. (2016). Trove. Retrieved 30.4. 2018,from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/?q=

#Doonvilla #homestead #WilsonandHart #Wilson #sawmill #maryriver #localhistory

Memories of Doonvilla with June O'Hanlon

Fraser Coast Libraries interviewed  June O'Hanlon as part of the Oral History Series. June was born and lived all her life in Maryborough. She told of the Maryborough State High School and the family's legacy of attendance.

Maryborough Girls Grammar School. Image part of the Library Collection

She also talked of the war years and ration books. June's father was a carpenter and she was lucky enough to live in the Homestead Doonvilla for a short time. She describes the vast building and the grounds.

Her interview will be put up on our Youtube channel.

Tags: #Doonvilla #Maryborough #Frasercoast #libraries

Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland

Tom Petrie's daughter, Constance Campbell Petrie of Murrumba North Pine, claims she "determined as far as lay in my power to save from oblivion by resenting in book form, the vast body of information garnered in the perishable storehouse of one man's- my father's - memory" (Petrie, 1904,Preface).

The book she wrote is called Tom Petrie's reminiscences and is part of the Queensland Archives Copyright Free Collection. The information in the book dates from 1837. A summary of  a journal of an expedition to the Wide Bay River in 1842 is the topic of Chapter VI found on page 258.

Petrie concluded that the "Wide Bay River is navigable for a vessel drawing 9 ft of water for about forty miles up." (Petrie,1904 p.258)

This and many other notes appeared in the Queenslander in the form of articles before being published in this book. His daughter claims in Petrie, 1904, Preface her father's "association with the Queensland Aborigines from early boyhood was so intimate and extended" and this is reflected in much of this content. 

Even in 1950 this was thought to be an important book about the early days as stated in an article from the Maryborough Chronicle Tuesday November 21st, 1950

Fraser Coast Libraries also has a later Edition in the Local History Collection.

References:

Petrie, Tom & Petrie, Constance Campbell, 1873-1926 (2013). Tom Petrie's reminiscences of early Queensland : (dating from 1837) (Queensland classic edition). Salisbury, Brisbane Watson Ferguson & Company

Newspapers Home - Trove. (2016). Trove. Retrieved 13.3.2018,from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/?q=

Tags: #widebay #maryborough #frasercoast #maryriver #petrie #archives #queensland

Having a Voice Launch - Gataker's Artspace

Lillian Coyne and Library Technician Deborah McCall

The Libraries' local history project, Having a Voice, endeavoured to record oral histories of people who traditionally did not have a voice. Communities of interest included women, Australian Chinese, Aborigines, Australian South Sea Islanders and poor rural people. The exhibition consists of portraits and oral history videos and was launched at Gatakers Artspace on the 6th April, 2018. Councillor George Seymour attended the event as did many of the participants. 

Acting Mayor Councillor George Seymour, Regional Librarian Tara Webb and Juanita Shang

Regional Librarian Tara Web and  FC Libraries First Five Forever Project Officer Fay Fleiter 

The interviews can be found on our youtube page youtube.com\frasercoast libraries

Information Services Librarian Kathy Shilvock, Gregory Eaton, Phyllis Klupp and Dudley Byquar

It is a registered Heritage Festival Event and will be at Gatakers Artspace from the 6-29 April, 2018. 

Tags #havingavoice #heritage #localhistory #libraries #gatakers #launch #frasercoast