Rosewood History

Edmund John LUDLOW and Sarah Jane MINOR

Name: Edmund John LUDLOW
Occupation; Farmer; Butter Packer, Clerk at Booval Cooperative Butter Factory
Birth: 14th November 1849, St Philip & St Jacob, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England
[Src: Oct-Nov-Dec-Registration Place: Clifton, Gloucestershire, England. Volume: 11 Page: 293]
Baptism: 23rd November 1860, Bristol, St Barnabas, Gloucestershire, England
Residence: 1851, 4 Seymour Place, Stapleton Road, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England
Residence: 1861, St. Mark’s Land, Lower Easton, Bristol St. George, Gloucestershire, England
Immigration: 27th February 1871, the Storm King arrived Moreton Bay from Gravesend 25th November 1870
Land: 13th November 1871, 40 acres (portion 511), county of Churchill, parish of Walloon  See Land Purchase.
Residence: 1881, Highridge Farm, Ashwell, Queensland
Residence: 1889, Fernside, Lowood
Residence: 1905, Mary (Marian) Street, Booval, Queensland (Farmer)
Residence: 1908, Frederick Street, Taringa, Queensland (Butter Maker)
Residence: 1912, Marian Street, Booval (Farmer)
Residence: 1913-1940, Marian Street, Booval (Butter Packer, Clerk)
Death: 14th September 1940, at home, Marian Street, Booval, Ipswich aged 90 years.
Burial: 15th September 1940, Ipswich Cemetery
(Church of England A, Row 3, Grave 18)
Father: Edmund LUDLOW (Accountant at Ale & Porter Brewery 1851 & Wine Merchant)
Mother: Mary GAY
Marriage: 26 September 1873, Rosewood, Queensland

Spouse: Sarah Jane MINOR
Birth: c.1852, Ipswich, Colony of New South Wales
Death: 23rd July 1944, at home, Marian Street, Booval, Ipswich aged c. 92 years.
Burial: 24th July 1944, Ipswich Cemetery (cortege from home)
(Church of England A, Grave number A9916)
Religion: Formerly Methodist
Father: Sterling MINOR (Carpenter)
Mother: Margaret ROSS (married 29/09/1851, Ipswich, Moreton Bay, New South Wales)

Children: 12
Edmund Henry LUDLOW (1874-1915) = Jane Elizabeth SHARKEY
Mary Elizabeth LUDLOW (1876- 1964) = Thomas Joseph FLANNERY
Thomas Alfred Sterling LUDLOW (1877-1960) = Mary TITMARSH
Edwin John LUDLOW (1879-1941) = Lydia May ROBINSON
Herbert Hughes LUDLOW (1880-1974) = Grace Mary WINKEL
Sarah Ada Grace LUDLOW (1882-1921)
Ethel Mendham LUDLOW (1883-1969) = Victor William HUNTER
Agnes Gertrude LUDLOW (1886-1964) = Moreton Henry PERRIMAN
Victoria Laura LUDLOW (1888-1931) = 1. Harold Jospeh WALTERS 2. Claude Walter MAUNSELL
Patricia Jessie LUDLOW (1890-1951) = 1. John Louis HENRYS 2. John Seton HAY
Albert Francis Loveday LUDLOW (1891-1961) = Faith HOLMES
Harrold Vivian LUDLOW (1893-1974) = Elizabeth Dawson McKENZIE

In Edmund Ludlow’s obituary it says that he was educated at Eton College in Windsor, Berkshire. That is a two hour drive from Bristol today, so it would have been many more hours away from home in the 1860s. Edmund would have been aged 13, the requirement to be a boarder there, and he would have spent 5 years at the school. I wonder why he went to Eton when Clifton College in Bristol, established in 1862, would have been a much closer option? Perhaps he earned a scholarship to attend Eaton?

Edmund (Edward on the passenger list) and his younger brother James Henry, sailed from Start Point, Gravesend on the Storm King in November 1870. The clipper ship anchored off the Yellow Patch at Cape Moreton 11 p.m., February 27, 1871 after a voyage of 89 days. On this particular voyage the Storm King was not under the Queensland immigration regulations, but still brought 80 passengers along with a large cargo.

Edmund (20) and James (18) were second saloon passengers. They would have paid more for their tickets, a worthwhile thing to do if you could afford it. Saloon passengers were regarded as “first class” passengers and had exclusive access to lounge around on the poop deck and could entertain in their cabins. Meals were served in a large dining room (saloon). The cabins were usually centred mid ship where the ocean movements and the vibration of the engines made less of an impact and they did not have to endure the cramped conditions and poor ventilation of those in steerage.

Other Rosewood pioneers were on board traveling under similar conditions. They were William and Annie Coleman and Mark and Elizabeth Bensley. There were also eight Roman Catholic priests, six Italians and two Germans, who were to be permanently stationed in Queensland.

The previous year the Storm King was allowed to sail up the channel and out again (drawing 16 feet), but she could not come up to the Flats on this voyage. Because of the silting up of the channel, the pilots refused to bring vessels drawing more than 15 feet through the new channel.

On 1st March, when the steamer Nowra was on the way back to the Brisbane wharf with the passengers and their luggage from the Storm King, an accident occurred in the Brisbane River. Between the police hulk and Luggage Point, the captain of the Nowra ordered the jib to be hoisted. Almost immediately a cry of  “man overboard!” rang out. The mate of the Nowra, George Jenkyns had been knocked into the river. The steamer stopped and backed up, the captain threw out a life-buoy and a boat was lowered from the steamer, but the poor young fellow sank and all efforts failed to recover his body. It was a melancholy arrival for those on board the steamer.

Because the Ludlow men had paid for their own passage, they were issued with Land Orders (Immigration Act 1869), a form of government assistance to help establish themselves. Edward Ludlow (sic) purchased 40 acres in the parish of Walloon under Land Order No 356. Mark Bensley bought a block next door known as “The Grange”.

Edward and his brother moved onto the land and erected a rough shelter to begin with while they began clearing the land for farming. Edward spent the next 18 years there. 

Edmund married Sarah Jane Minor in 1873 at the home of Mrs Florence O’Sullivan in Rosewood. They were married by a Roman Catholic priest, Rev. Andrew Horan from Ipswich.

Sarah’s father, Sterling Minor, was a colourful character by all accounts. He arrived in Sydney on the convict ship Huron in 1828. Convict records indicate he was born in New York and he was a Carpenter and a Protestant. Sterling Minor was sent to Cockatoo Island for 6 months before being transferred to Parramatta Jail and later received his Ticket of Leave in Brisbane in 1856. 

In 1847 Sterling Minor bought 32 perches (Lot 28) partly bounded on the West by one chain of Nicholas Street in Ipswich. In 1858, a  notice placed in the Sydney Morning Herald by Sterling indicated that his wife Margaret had left the family with their youngest child and he wanted information regarding her whereabouts. An unnamed person replied via the newspaper that she was residing at her house, 38 Bourke-street, near Woolloomooloo-street, 4 doors from Hargraves Hotel.

There is no record of Margaret returning, so Sarah (aged 6) and her siblings were left without their mother.

A few months before Edmund Ludlow bought his new wife Sarah home to live at his farm, he had been embroiled in a tragic incident.  STRANGE SUICIDE  

In June 1884, a committee was formed to work towards the establishment of a school in the Rosewood Scrub. The committee members were: Edmund John Ludlow (secretary) Walter Loveday (treasurer), William Voight, Charles Lane and George Coulson. Walter gave one acre of his land for the purpose of the school. Henry Morton Stevens gave another acre on the adjoining block.  Application For Establishment of A School

The Secretary for Public Instruction rejected the idea of using the word “Rosewood” in the name of the school because there was already a school by that name, so the name “Ashwell” was chosen. According to the Brisbane Courier, 21 November 1925 and the Queenslander, 2 January 1926, records in John Oxley Library indicate that the school and settlement near Rosewood was named by Messrs. Edmund Ludlow,  Walter Loveday, and Martin Gerhardt after Ashwell, in Hertfordshire in England. The Courier-Mail on 14 October 1935 said this: Ashwell: State school and settlement near Rosewood; named by Mr. E. Ludlow, a local resident, after Ashwell, in Hertfordshire (England).

In January 1887 the tender of George Schlect (£682.10) was accepted for constructing all of the necessary buildings. The school opened on 7th November 1887. 

The Ludlow children were enrolled at the new school and the school committee then lobbied for fencing and gates for the school.

Edmund exhibited his farm produce at the local shows. At the Rosewood Show in 1887, in the butter classes alone there were nearly fifty exhibits, all attractive-looking, clean, and of good colour. The prize-winners for 281b. keg of butter were S. Waight, C. Dutney, C. Lane, J. Quinlan, in order of merit named; for 61b. keg of butter, C. Lane, S. Waight, E. J. Ludlow, W. Waters: for 21b. butter, S. Waight, C. Lane, S. Waight.

George Colvin replaced Edmund Ludlow on the Ashwell School committee when Edmund resigned in July 1889. The family were leaving to go to live near Lowood. Sarah’s father had transferred some of his land to her. It consisted of 143 acres that Sterling Minor had selected 4th January 1869 (Portion 358) and was situated on the banks of Lockyer Creek.

The land was about 2 miles from Lowood township and Edmund had a house built on a hill on the land. Ernest Cooper Nunn senior supplied the wood for the house. The building measured 32ft. by 26ft. and had verandahs on three sides. The property was named “Fernside”.

This had been the site of an Aboriginal camp ground and bora ring. Before erecting the house, the bora ring was filled in, and the house was erected directly on the site. It was also the site of a shepherd’s camp. There was another smaller bora ring according to this article.

LOWOOD HAD A RING Aug. 6. 1948
Several old residents of Lowood have commented on the report of the inspection of the bora rings at Kipper, and some interesting information regarding another ring near Lowood has been given. Mr. E. C. Nunn, sen., said when he came to Lowood as a young man, over 60 years ago, there was a bora ring on the site where the Andrews family’s home now is, near the new Patrick Estate bridge. To this day the property west of it is known to old residents as the “Bora Paddock.” The large ring was filled in when Mr. E. Ludlow built his house on the site in 1888. Mr. Nunn supplied some of the timber for the building.

Mr. E. Reinbott, who lives not far from where the bora rings were, said a track about 90 chains long crossed the road from the big ring and followed the ridge along in front of where he is now living, and passed below his stockyard to a small ring. The latter now has been filled in by constant cultivation. There is still a track discernible along the ridge in front of his house. It had been dug out deeply enough to show up still after cattle crossing and recrossing it for years. It is wide enough for two to pass, one going each way.

Mr. Reinbott said his father or mother told him that when a corroboree or ceremony was to take place, the aborigines who were to take part would work very hard and clear away all the soil from the roots of a black wattle tree without breaking any or the root, and then would turn the tree over with its roots in the air and make a platform of it. They chose black wattle because it has no taproot. The oldest gin would climb up into it and from there would give a talk or a lecture. The tree was always placed near the main corroboree grounds. Mr. Reinbott said there was a huge iron bark tree on his father’s property near the bora track and one of the natives asked him to leave it there as a remembrance. The tree had toe notches cut all the way up its trunk and the natives used to climb up it with the aid of a scrub vine. The notches were just deep enough to fit their big toes. The tree would not have been cut down, Mr. Reinbott said, but when the railway line was surveyed from Lowood to Esk, the tree happened to be right on the proposed site and it was removed. In one of Mr. Reinbott’s properties, near the rifle range, there are trees now standing which still show the marks of the aborigines’ primitive axes. Other trees in the district show where bark had been stripped from them for building gunyahs. Dr. L. P. Winterbotham, who visited Kipper to inspect the bora grounds recently, for many years was a resident doctor at Lowood.

In March 1889 Edmund placed an advertisement for the sale of Highridge Farm at Ashwell.

In February 1890 Edmund Ludlow was appointed as a member of Lowood State school committee in the place of W. Perrem, who had resigned. Edward had this position until December 1891. During this time he wrote a letter to the Department of Public Instruction advising them about the overcrowding of pupils and the need to make additions to the school for their accommodation. 

That same month (February) there were severe floods. The Lockyer Creek rose over 15 feet. Almost all of the farmers had their crops swept away, but in many instances the soil from ploughed lands was carried away to a depth of several feet.

A petition for the liquidation of the estate of John Edmond Ludlow sic., farmer, of Lowood, was filed in the Supreme Court in September 1891. The liabilities in the estate were set down at £210 13. l0d.

He must have possessed a large amount of resilience and carried on, because in February 1893 there is a report of Edmund losing all of his crops of lucerne and maize in the disastrous floods that once again occurred. He and Sarah were raising their 11 children at this time with one on the way.

Then in the Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser of Thursday 16 July 1896 on page 4, this article was published.
LOWOOD CABBAGES. Some fine samples of cabbages grown in the Lowood district were on view at Messrs. Ginn and Hooper’s store, Nicholas-street, on Tuesday last. There were two each of the Flat Dutch and the Improved Melbourne St. John’s Day varieties, and the vegetables were large and splendidly developed. They were grown by Mr. E. J. Ludlow, of Lowood, from some of Horton and Co.’s seed, obtained through Messrs. Ginn and Hooper as local agents. From time to time cabbages are sent to Queensland in crates from Victoria, but while such excellent specimens can be produced as those grown by Mr. Ludlow the market ought certainly to be supplied without any importations.

The “Federation Drought” started to affect the country around 1895. By 1901, when the year opened, severe drought had set in, the most extreme conditions occurring in late 1901 and 1902 and finally subsiding in 1903.  Conditions made it nigh impossible for farming and the Ludlow family made the decision to moved to Ipswich. 

Sarah put Fernside up for sale at an auction on November 12th 1904. See Auction Notice.

The property, after keen competition, was purchased by Mr. John Handley for £1022, or £7 per acre. On the property was a newly erected eight-roomed house.

Edmund eventually found employment with the Queensland Farmers Co-op Association Ltd at their Head Office at Booval, Ipswich as a Butter Packer. The Co-op began operations there on 6th May 1901 and had a branch office in Roma Street, Brisbane. They were manufacturers of the well known “JACARANDA” brand of butter.

May 1920 – The butter factory recently opened at Booval, near Ipswich, by the Queensland Farmers Co-operative Cooperative Co. On the left is the old factory. (1)

At a unique gathering in Ipswich in January 1910, 6 out of the 7 lodges of the order in PAFSOA West Moreton held a reunion. Bro. E. J. Ludlow was installed in the True Blue Lodge as Junior Elder. Boonah members could not attend because of the train schedule but relatives and friends and others could attend. They had tea at Whitehouse’s Cafe at 6pm and went to the Town Hall for entertainment and the installation of newly elected members. 600-700 people were present.

In 1911 Edmund received his life membership badge from the Rosewood A. & H. Association. He was still competing at the shows with a substantially built black horse. 

• August 1912 – Rosewood Show – Harness Horses,  Pony 1 to 14 hands.  J.F. Hayes 1st  E. J. Ludlow 2nd.
• April 1913 – Ipswich Show – Pony, gelding or mare, 13 hands and not exceeding 14 hands ridden by a boy under 15 years.  E. J. Ludlow, Newtown, “Loyal”.
• September 1913 – Rosewood Show – Mare or gelding, 13 hands, and up to 4 hands, ridden.  C. Hansen’s “Masher” 1st and E. J. Ludlow’s “Loyal”, 2nd.

At the annual meeting of the Ipswich and West Moreton Friendly Society on 7th September 1912, the election of officers resulted as follows: President, Mr. R. Ranicer; Vice-President, Mr. T. Peters; Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. E. J. Ludlow; Auditors, Messrs. H. W. E. Newell and S. Shanks; Trustees. Messrs. T. Senior, T. E. Woodford, and G. Williams. 

On 7th April 1915, at the sale of the Coochin Coochin Estate at the Boonah School of Arts, 162 portions were put up for sale. E. J. Ludlow from Ipswich put up portion 73, 52a. 3r. (£8 5s). It was purchased by J. G. Sellars, from Ipswich for £9 3s.

In 1918 he called for tenders to put up 2 ½ chains of sawn timber fencing around his Marian Street property and Sarah sold a “fine big block of land at Booval” to Mr. E. Nicholls.

Edmund  Ludlow and J. W. Roche were elected as a delegates to the Trades and Labor Council in July 1926 at a meeting of the Storemen and Packers’ Union. Edmund was elected to the executive of the Union in August that year

As a matter of interest I am including some information about the Ludlow’s old home near Lowood. At about about 1 o’clock in the morning of 2nd December 1936, one of the old landmarks of the Lowood district, a home situated about two miles from Lowood on a hill on the main Esk road known as “Glandford Brigg,” was completely destroyed by fire. After Sarah Ludlow sold it to John G. Handley, he subsequently sold it to Mr. Stephenson Fountain senior. During Mr. Fountain’s residence there he raised the old home onto high blocks and had extensions built. Mr. and Mrs. James Pointing, sen. were the next purchasers about 1917 and Mrs. Maria Pointing was the owner when it burned down. Another home was built on the site and Mr. Stephen Henry Andrew then purchased it. Mr. Thomas Patrick Payten, of Brisbane bought it around September 1948.

LANDMARK BURNT. OLD LOWOOD HOME. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article117633721

At the Ashwell School’s Golden Jubilee Clebrations in December 1937. Thomas Alfred Sterling Ludlow of Stone Quarry, answered to his name when the roll of the old scholars was called. He was presented with a golden rosette as a memento.

Edmund Ludlow worked until he was 82 years old. He had been employed at the Co-operative Butter Factory for 28 years starting as a Butter Packer then as a Clerk, travelling to and from Brisbane every day for 16 of those years. He died on 14th September 1940. His funeral cortege left from his residence, Marian Street, at 3.30p.m. the next day for the Ipswich Cemetery.

Sarah Jane followed in July 1944 aged about 92 years. She left her real estate to Henry Hughes Ludlow of Booval, and Henry Grosvenor Simpson, of Ipswich. (Subs. 26 to 29. resub. 2, sub 3. por. 11, parish Ipswich.)

Nine of her children survived her.

Some of the Ludlow siblings ca. 1900.
Front Row L-R: Jessie Patricia, Albert Francis
Middle Row L-R: Sarah Ada, Harrold Vivian, Agnes Gertrude, Victoria Laura, Ethel Mendham
Back Row: L-R  Edwin John, Thomas Alfred Stirling, Herbert Hughes

The advertisements below appeared in the Queensland Times on 19th and 26th August 1944.

© Jane Schy, 2024

References:
(1) The Queenslander, Saturday, 15 May 1920, page 21
Trove – National Library Australia
Bristol, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1720-1933
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
1851, 1861 England Census
Queensland, Australia, Passenger Lists, 1848-1912
Land Orders 1861-1878 Q.S.A.- 1871 page 72 IMM/249 Microfilm Z2516
Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980
Qld Registry Births Deaths Marriages
Queensland Government Gazettes 1903-1910