Rosewood History

BAKERS

“It’s all about a balancing act between time, temperature and ingredients: That’s the art of baking.” – Peter Reinhart

Who doesn’t enjoy the sweet smell of freshly baked bread wafting from an oven? It can really get the taste buds tingling. How many loaves loaf of bread made it home from the bakery minus a small test sample pulled from the middle?

Researchers say that the aroma triggers a feeling of well being and comfort and evokes pleasant memories of childhood days. It has been referred to as “the staff of life” since Biblical times, another way of saying it has been the main staple in our daily diet.

In the early days of Rosewood and the neighbouring districts, the main ingredient for bread was readily available. Wheat of the very best quality was grown and, with the aid of steel hand mills, it was ground into flour to make delicious and nutritious bread. Rye was also grown by some German settlers. They mixed it with wheat flour to make a darker and wholesome bread. A variety known as Egyptian wheat, which had rust resisting properties, was grown in the Laidley area and some was successfully grown in the Rosewood district. Some of the stalks reached a height of 6 feet (1.8288m) and it was calculated to give a yield equal to forty bushels to the acre. The dark colour of the flour made a sweeter but no less wholesome bread and it was slightly cheaper to buy, so was favoured more by the general population.

Pioneer women traditionally made their bread at home using camp ovens. Eventually, skilled bakers working in their shops complimented their efforts and became integral to rural and urban communities. Wood fired ovens for bakeries were installed in a separate room at the rear of their family residence because of the risk of fire. The scent of the baking bread would spill out and fill the street.

The job of a baker was labour intensive and time consuming for little profit. All of the preparation and cleaning up was done by the baker himself. Wheat had to be ground, ingredients like yeast, milk, salt, sugar and baking powder (Royal, Borwick’s or Aunt Mary’s) was measured and added while the ovens kept continually stoked to meet community needs. In the 1880’s roller-mill technology began to be imported from Europe which made the task less arduous.

Rosewood’s first baker, John Hermann came to the town in 1881.

Bakers in Rosewood

The list will be updated as more information is discovered.

Johann Heinrich Hermann 1881-1882 Baker and Storekeeper
John was born 1842 in Marburg, Germany. He married Emilie Karoline Christine Krüger in 1870. John took over the store occupied by John William Vance and had a bakehouse and oven built at the rear of the store. He became insolvent by 1882. He was working as a baker at Park Road, Wolloongabba in 1887 and later became a cotton farmer. He died in 1925 at Glamorgan Vale.

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Charles Rumpf 1883 Baker and Storekeeper
Charles (born about 1848) was from Germany. He married Florence Helen Rattray in 1878 in Queensland. He set up in business next to the Rosewood Hotel. About 12 o’clock on night of 6th July 1883 the store and baker’s stock and furniture, together with £20 in cash, were destroyed by fire.

Local butcher, James Ryan, did not like Charles and they ended up in court. James was charged with disorderly conduct and Charles for using abusive language. Read about it here.

By October 1883 Charles was insolvent.

Before Charles came to Rosewood he had been a boarding house keeper in Edward Street, Brisbane. After he left Rosewood he became a boarding house keeper in Albert Street, Brisbane. In 1888 he had a bakery at Victoria Street, Woolloongabba and later he worked for Mr. Maher in a bakery at Toowong.

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Philip Angel 1883 -July 1890
Built and owned Rosewood Stores and Bakery

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John M. Oliver 1891-1896
Mr. J. M. Oliver, of the Rosewood bakery, advertised that he sold bread over the counter at 2½d per loaf, or 3d. if delivered.

On 10th July 1894 , John Oliver (aged twenty-three years) was admitted into the hospital suffering from injuries as the result of an accident. He was out with a cart delivering bread in the vicinity of the township when the horse suddenly started off and ran at a rapid pace towards the railway gates. It is thought that John was standing near the cart when the animal bolted, and, in a plucky attempt to stop the runaway, he was knocked down. One of the wheels of the vehicle passed over his chest on the left side, breaking several ribs and also his left collar-bone, as well as causing other injuries of a less serious nature. He was treated at the Ipswich Hospital.

When he left Rosewood, John Oliver rented a shop and residence from Mr. F. W. Lyons at Moorooka and opened a bakery. At 2.38 a.m. on the morning of 31st May 1897 the shop and dwelling were totally destroyed by fire. The contents of the building were insured for £230, but the place itself was not insured as the policy had lapsed.

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Edgar Henry Mann 1897- July 1898 Rosewood Bakery
Edgar was born in Edmonton, Middlesex in 1865 and immigrated in May 1882 per Clifton to Melbourne. He secured employment at Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. On coming to Queensland he was first employed at Ipswich, where he married Miss Julia Matterface in 1888. Prior to the 1893 flood, Edgar Mann set up in business as a baker opposite the Woolloongabba Railway in South Brisbane. He suffered considerable loss through the flood. The premises were sold and Edgar went to Melbourne in 1894. When he returned Edgar set up business in Rosewood in 1897 until June 1898, when he sold it to W. Smallbone. Edgar went to Laidley and opened a bakery, which he conducted for many years until he suffered a paralytic stroke in September 1932, and another in 1933 from which he died.

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Walter Smallbone July 1898, 1899 Rosewood Bakery

Walter was a son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. George and Phedora Harding of Rosewood. He married Charlotte Annie Harding in 1894. Prior to his death in 1924 he had conducted a successful business at Paddington in Brisbane.

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Charles Thomas Bragg 1897-1900
Charles was born in 1865 in Brisbane and worked in family bakery business in Fortitude Valley from 1875. He was employed by Walter Smallbone while in Rosewood. He became a painter after he left Rosewood in 1900. He was living at “Eskville”, Harcourt street, Teneriffe when he died in 1921.

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Wallace Henry Collett 1899- December 1901
Built and owned the “Rosewood Bakery” at 66 John Street, Rosewood, but employed a “first class” baker to do the baking (Ben Meissner).

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Ben Meissner December 1901-March 1903
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)
Ben (1875-1969) was the son of Christian Frederich aka “Hermann’” Meissner and Albertine Wilhelmine Caroline Berlin. Ben married Elizabeth Zahl in 1899. In December 1900, Wallace Collett disposed of his bakery to Benjamin Meissner, a dairyman from Tallegalla. Benjamin employed Henry Dow to do the baking in his shop. In March 1903, Ben Meissner left Rosewood for Redland Bay and became a fruit farmer.

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Henry Duncan Dow March1903-January1927
Dow’s Bakery (66 John Street)
Scottish born Henry Dow (1872) immigrated to Brisbane on Chyebassa in 1885. Henry married Mabel Adam New, daughter of Nehemiah and Charity New, in 1894. Henry spent two years as an employee of Ben Meissner before he acquired the Rosewood Bakery. After 25 years in business, Henry Dow sold his property to Cuthbert John Spreadborough of Thagoona in January 1927. The Dow’s moved to Murgon in the South Burnett. Henry died in 1946.

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Alexander John Dow 1926
Dow’s Bakery (66 John Street)
Alexander, born 1904, was the son of Henry Duncan and Mabel Dow. He moved with his family to Murgon in 1927 and worked as a baker. Alexander married Gladys May Somerfield in 1939 at the Murgon Church of England. They moved to Gladstone about 1937, where he worked as a baker, and Alex died there in 1986.

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Nehemiah New 1900-1903
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)
Nehemiah, born 1852, married Charity Martha Adams at Blandford St Mary, Dorset, England in 1873 and they came to Queensland on the Duke of Buccleuch in 1885. The family moved from Hope Street, Springhill to Albert Street, Rosewood in 1900 before moving to John Street. Nehemiah worked at the Rosewood Bakery. Nehemiah died in 1906 and is buried in the Stone Quarry Cemetery, Ebenezer.

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Robert Grant January 1925-March1930
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

Robert was born at Redcliffe in 1895 to Walter Grant and Annie Knowles. He married Hilda Margaret McNally and they lived in Albert Street, Rosewood. They moved to Millmerran when they left Rosewood.

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George Alfred Hartley & Sons (based at Gatton) March1930-November 1930
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

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John Leslie Davey from the 1st December, 1930-1931
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

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William Feltham 1931-1943
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

William was born in 1885 in Bristol St George, Gloucestershire. He married Elizabeth Charlotte Stokes there in 1911 and immigrated to Queensland the next year. They lived at Milton, Paddington, Rosalie and Beenleigh and came to Rosewood from Beenleigh. Elizabeth died at Rosewood after requesting to be taken home from hospital 3 days before her death in 1935. Her funeral cortege was a lengthy one, and beautiful wreaths were included, one from Mr. Feltham’s staff. The flag at the Farmers’ Hall was flown half-mast on the day of her funeral. William remarried in 1937 to Anna Louisa Davis and they moved to Brisbane about 1943. William died in 1966 and he and Elizabeth are resting in Ipswich Cemetery.

Reginald Feltham 1931-1943 Rosewood Bakery (son)

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Davisdon & Grant 1943
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

Robert Clyde Grant from Ipswich. Dec 1943-October 1946
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

Robert lived at 1 Hancock Street, Ipswich with his parents until he married Hillary Donaldson from Rosewood in St Lukes Church of England, Rosewood in 1938. They made their home in Murphy Street, Ipswich.

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Hector Thomas Ross October 1946-February 1949
Ross’s Bakery (66 John Street)
Hector was baker and manager 1925-Jan 1928 at Ever’s Bakery. He moved away from Rosewood and in October 1946 Hector moved back to Rosewood from Pittsworth and bought the Rosewood Bakery premises in John Street from the estate of Garnett Kirkup.

Portrait of Hector Thomas Ross, Ipswich c.1910. Picture Ipswich

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Neil Edward Gillott February 1949-June 1951
Gillott’s Bakery (66 John Street)

Neil was born in 1922 in Warwick. Marjorie Gwenneth Stewart, his wife, was born in 1919 in Malvern, Victoria, where they married in 1946.

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John Frederick Hattersly June 1951-1953
Owner of Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street). Did not run it himself. Employed Alfred Crew.

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Alfred Percival James Crew June 1951-March 1953
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

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John James O’Neill and a Mervyn Joseph O’Neill 1953, 1954
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

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Herbert Frederick & Merle Lorna Lawrence – Baker 1958, 1959
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

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Trevor Lewis Charles Anthony – Master Baker 1963
Rosewood Bakery (66 John Street)

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Robert Edward Hughes – Baker, John Street 1958-1968
Hughes’ Bakery (66 John Street)

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Robert Sellars 1903-1933
Owner, baker and pastry cook “R. Sellars” Rosewood

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Andrew Anderson – Baker
Andrew was born in 1857 in Fife, Scotland. Andrew married Bodil Marie Hansen in 1888. They lived in Ipswich before Alex came to Rosewood and worked as a baker for Robert Sellars. By 1911 he was back in Ipswich working as a baker in Brisbane Street.

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James Edward Amos Evers Owner and baker 1912-1925. “Evers Bakery” Residence: John Street, Rosewood
Mrs Elizabeth Evers Owner 1927-36 Evers Bakery
Arthur Edward Evers Baker 1934 Evers Bakery
James John Henderson Evers Baker 1934-c.1951 Evers Bakery
Norman Evers Baker – c.1980 Evers Bakery. (Photo at right taken approximately 1963)
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Laurence White 1916-1919
Residence: Albert Street, Rosewood. Laurence came from West End to work for Evers Bakery in Rosewood and went back to West End in 1919.

Queensland Times, 7th November 1916 – Before the Acting-Police Magistrate (Mr. J. E. Landy), the Inspector under the Factories and Shops Act., proceeded against Jas. Evers, baker, Rosewood, for failing to pay L. White, employed by him as. a secondhand baker, the rate of wages prescribed by the award for six hours’ work done before 6 a.m., by the said L. White, during the week ending the 7th of October, 1916, and that the said L. White was directly concerned in the commission of the said offence. Mr. T. W. Thiel represented the department. Both pleaded “Guilty,” and were fined £3 each, including 3s 6d costs.

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Leslie Charles Mountjoy Haines 1921, 1925
Les was born in 1899 in Rosewood and was the youngest son of Charles Richard Haines and Annie Sophia Urry. Les worked at Evers Bakery. He enlisted in the AIF in 1918 and was a gunner in the 6th Field Artillery Brigade. Les moved to Kelvin Grove in 1925. He married Edith Amelia Jane Griffiths in 1927 in the Rosewood Congregational Church and joined the police force. They often visited Rosewood.

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Colin Roache – mentioned as being employed at Evers Bakery in 1951

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Charles William Grigg 1930-32
Residence: Albert Street, Rosewood.

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Gertrude De Maine 1934-1937 Pastry Cook in John Street
Gertrude and her husband Benjamin Henry De Maine and their daughter Hilda lived at Austin’s farm at Tallegalla where Ben was employed as a farm labourer.

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