Earls in the local area - the Ducie/Moreton Story

The ancestral “Torthworth” Castle on the Estate.

There are many fascinating stories in the history of our area especially from the 1850’s onward with the influx of immigrants into Maryborough, especially from the United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark. Perhaps one of the most interesting and least known story concerns the Ducie/Moreton family and their connection with our area up to the present day.

The Earldom of Ducie, second largest Estate in England, dating back to the 1600’s, was involved in Government in the UK over the centuries. In 1850, the younger brothers of the then Earl, realising that they would never inherit the title as it passed from father to son, migrated to Australia and arrived in Maryborough.

The Honourable Basil Moreton and his wife Alison, greet Queen Elizabeth.

By a strange quirk of fate, in the period from 1850 to now, none of the subsequent Earls produced sons and four Earls of Ducie have been from Maryborough and Hervey Bay.The family name, Moreton, is well represented in this area and much wider with the Moreton Telegraph Station on Cape York and Ducie Island in the Pacific.

Fourth Earl, B.B. Moreton was a local MP, 5th Earl, Capel Moreton married a Miss Bryant from Maryborough and both are buried in the Maryborough Cemetery, 6th Earl, Basil Moreton, cane farmer from Nikenbah was instrumental in restructuring the estate when he inherited the title in 1953 and his son David, the current 7th Earl, who was born here and still retains his Australian citizenship, makes regular trips back to Hervey Bay.

There are many great stories concerning the Earls but none is more fascinating than the current Earl, the Honorable David Moreton, finding a folio of water colour paintings in an old barn on the family Estate, Tortworth, in 2007. They had remained hidden in the barn for over 200 years. The paintings have been verified as the works of a young George Raper, a seaman on the 1st Fleet to Australia, in 1788. The entire collection is now in the National Gallery, Canberra and is called the Ducie Collection.

Part of the extensive Ducie Collection at Hervey Bay Historical Museum and Village

The Hervey Bay Historical Village & Museum has an extensive permanent display relating to the Moreton/Ducie family and its connection with the Fraser Coast. Apart from  many personal items, five  copies of the paintings are on display.

To see the display you can visit the museum:
Friday and Saturday
1 - 4.30pm
Sunday
10.30am  - 4.30pm

Location:

13 Zephyr Street
Scarness Qld 4655

Telephone:
07 4128 4804 (Open Hours)

Written and published with consent from: John Andersen, Historian, Hervey Bay Historical Village & Museum.

Tags #Earl #tortworth #herveybayhistoricalmuseum #history #herveybay #maryborough #earl