Rosewood History Qld.
Rosewood Pioneers

James DALE and Sarah Jane GILLESPIE

© Jane Schy 2025

Name: James DAIL/DALE
Occupation: Servant Miller (1851); Carter (1861); Agricultural Laborer (1862); Farmer
Birth: 1st December 1832, Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland
Baptism: 2nd December 1832, St Margaret’s Roman Catholic Church, Ayr, Scotland
Residence: 1841, Montogomerie St, Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland
Residence: 1851, Glen Whask Mill, Colmonell, Ayrshire, Scotland
Residence: 1861, Gas Lane, Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland
Immigration: 14th February 1863, the Everton arrived at Brisbane from Liverpool (departed 1st November 1862)
Death: 9th November 1908, at his residence at Rosewood aged 75 years
Burial: 10th November 1908, Ipswich General Cemetery (Roman Catholic B, Row 54, Plot 44319)
Father: Patrick DALE (Cotton Hand Loom Weaver)
Mother: Mary McGOVERN
Marriage: 26th October 1862, St Margaret’s, Maybole, Ayr, Scotland

Spouse: Sarah Jane GILLESPIE
Occupation: Cotton Weaver (1861); Domestic Servant (1862)
Birth: 6th January 1843, Kildare, Ireland
Residence: 1851, Viccarton Row, Girvan with her mother and step father Patrick Cunning, a Hand Loom Weaver.
Residence: 1861, Lagganwhilly Rd, Girvan – Niece in law to George & Sarah Phie, Cotton & Muslin Weavers
Immigration: 14th February 1863, the Everton arrived at Brisbane from Liverpool (departed 1st November 1862)
Death: 28th May 1928, at the residence of her son George in Rosewood (Daisy Park) aged 85 years
Burial: 29th May 1928, Ipswich General Cemetery
Religion: Roman B, Row 54, Plot 44319
Father: James/William GILLESPIE (Service Seaman)
Mother: Ann WRIGHT

Children: 14  (Spelling of surname as written on birth registration)
Patrick DAIL (1863-1941) = Janet O’DONNELL
Mary Agnes DAIL (1864-1953) = William Hugh McGOWAN
James Francis DAIL (1866-1911) = Sarah Jane KELLY
Elizabeth DAIL (1868-1932) = Erik ROSENSTET
Daniel DAIL (1870-1898)
Sarah Jane DAIL (1872-1912) = Hugh McGUFFIE
Ann DAIL (1874-1946) =  Joseph Charles McDONALD
Ellen DAIL (1876-1949) = George Francis KEYS
John DALE (1878-1936) = 1. Hanorah COVENEY 2. Myrtle ARNDT
William DALE (1879-1967) = Amy Amelia BAKER
Marion DALE (1881-1964) = John William JOHNSON
Walter Dixon DALE (1883-1969) = Emma Maria JOHANSEN
George DALE (1885-1965) = Annie May ERBACHER
Jessie DALE (1887-1943) = Luke JOYCE

James and Sarah arrived in Australia in 1863. James was one of the captains of the fourteen young men’s messes on the sailing ship Everton during the voyage. On arrival in Moreton Bay the passengers presented Captain David Davies and the Surgeon Dr. John S. Ireland with written addresses, thanking them for the kindness they experienced and the conscientious manner in which they were attended by Dr. Ireland. James Dail signed the letters on behalf of those in his mess. 

As Government immigrants, the passengers had enjoyed a better diet than the usual diet on immigrant ships. Amongst other things, they enjoyed the great benefit of freshly baked bread three times per week. About one half were Irish, and the others were pretty equally divided between English and Scotch.

Sea voyages were always accompanied by a degree of risk. Twelve children under the age of 6 died on the voyage, and there was another casualty in early December when one of the sailors fell into the sea while taking in the jib during a violent storm. A life boat was lowered but it was so rough it was impossible to rescue him.

During the voyage, a newspaper, the “Everton Magazine”, was published every Monday. It was edited by a Mr McKenzie and printed by subscription. The shipboard newspaper provided information and entertainment to the 363 Government immigrants during the long voyage on a crowded ship. It was circulated among friends and one edition was picked up by the Queensland Guardian, a Brisbane newspaper. A few excerpts were published on Thursday 5 March 1863 on page 3. 

One of the articles in the magazine embodied a grievance felt by every immigrant who came to our shores. I have transcribed the article as it gives us a sense of what James and Sarah would have experienced. First impressions are deep and lasting.

“On Tuesday morning, February 10th, we (the Everton) made Cape Moreton lighthouse, and received the pilot shortly after rounding the Cape. The wind, which, though fair for the run up to the lighthouse, situated at the extreme entrance of the island, proved to be dead against our further progress up the bay to our destination. We anchored at a distance of some three miles off the lighthouse, remaining there for some three days through the head winds. Eventually we were compelled, from the strong winds and heavy setting in from sea, to slip 105 fathoms of cable and make out to sea again. 

Few places, we think, could surpass the entrance at Cape Moreton for a total want of arrangements for the protection of vessels, or facilities for communication in cases of distress. Rocks, reefs, and coral banks abound all around it, rendering the position of vessels with head winds and a heavy sea the most hazardous spot that could well be conceived. There is not the slightest shelter for a vessel with the wind strong from seaward, and, to avoid destruction, she is compelled to abandon her anchorage and move out to sea again. 

No communication exists between the lighthouse and the town which could enable a vessel to apprise the authorities of any dilemma they might be in. The passengers and crew of a vessel might be suffering from dreadful disease, or short of provisions, and no means be had from town to alleviate their sufferings, or by lying stranded on some reefs or the shores of the island, and no assistance be secured for their succour, unless their plight was made known through some steamer casually passing. 

This state of things is far from what we would expect, under the advanced and public spirited Government of Queensland. They have given proof of great vigour and enlightenment in many of their recent measures affecting the welfare of emigrants from the old country. We trust they will ere long extend some degree of that vigour to the protection of the lives and property on board the vessels entering the bay, and carry out some measure to remedy the defective and precarious state of the bay near Cape Moreton. 

The ship Wanata, from London and Queenstown, with nearly 700 passengers on board, anchored near us, two days after our anchoring off the lighthouse. She was compelled, like us, to slip her cable and make out to sea on Friday night. There were two vessels with upwards of 1000 souls on board of them, without any means of communicating the distress they might have been in to the authorities only some fifty miles distant. Indeed, we understand that the passengers of the Wanata were suffering from a short supply of water, the distilling apparatus supplying the ship with fresh water having gone wrong. 

On Saturday, a favourable change occurred in the weather, and we made sail direct for the mouth of Brisbane River, where we are now anchored, waiting for tho Government Immigration Commissioners to inspect us. The scenery as we progressed up the bay changed from the bleak, barren appearance of the extreme point of the island, to a very pleasant and fresh-like verdure with hoard (rich green landscape with a hoard of small details, like a tapestry) and there some sweet spots studded with trees of fair proportion. The channel is about a mile wide near the entrance, and surrounded on both sides with ridges of precipitous reefs. The bay up to the river is a wide and rather beautiful expanse of water, indented on its surface with two or three islands.”

The A.S.N. Company’s paddle steamer, Samson, bought the immigrants from the Everton to the Government Depot at South Brisbane on Wednesday, 18th February. It was interesting to learn that later that year, the Samson  made history as the first steamboat to navigate the Burdekin River when she took eight new residents up to the relatively new settlement at Edward Spencer Antill’s station, Jarvisfield.

The immigrants from the Everton had endured a nasty time whilst at anchor in Cape Moreton. Brisbane and Ipswich had been in flood following severe weather. The wharves had been under water, which had only started to subside on Monday 16th, falling nearly 3ft by the next day. The 1,000 or so immigrants from the Everton and Wanata were housed in tents and depots on the southern side of the river. James and Sarah would have taken a steamer up the Brisbane River to the junction, then into the Bremer River to the Ipswich wharves, as soon as they could. I don’t know which one they travelled on. The Ipswich left for Ipswich on the 19th and the Bremer went on the 20th. The Brisbane and Ipswich both steamed up to Ipswich during the week beginning Monday 23rd.

Sarah was heavily pregnant and gave birth on 4th March in Ipswich to their first child Patrick. 

The family remained in Ipswich and James was employed by the Government for a short time. He became a carrier and worked for Robert Craig (licensed drayman) before carting limestone for William Hancock. Hancock built a lime kiln, which opened for business in April 1864. It was situated on the southern side of the Brisbane road between Limestone Hill and the Girls’ Grammar School.

We observe that Mr. W. Hancock is at length prepared to meet a want that has long been fell in this town, and is ready to afford a supply of the best lime to all who require that necessary article for building. Mr. Hancock has for several months past been building a lime kiln in the most approved English fashion, but has met with several mishaps. Once it was struck by lightning, and a considerable portion demolished; and the late floods did great damage, coming whilst it was in an unfinished condition. The kiln is now in full working order, and is capable of turning out a hundred bushels per day. Only the hard stone is used, which makes the best lime, although it has hitherto been rejected by burners, as ordinary kilns are not sufficient to calcine it. [1]

James then worked for Messrs. John and George Harris (Merchants of Brisbane, Ipswich and London) who had large stores on the corner of Bell and Bremer Streets, Ipswich. He also worked for Messrs. William Thomas Clarke and Samuel Hodgson, (Clarke, Hodgson and Co., Merchants at Ipswich, Brisbane and Dalby), during which time he carried merchandise out to Dalby and bales of wool from Dalby to Brisbane. Their store was on the corner of Wharf and Bremer Streets, the site of the first theatre in Ipswich (est.1856).

At the Police Court in Ipswich on 18th April 1865, James DAIL was fined 5s.and 4s.6d. costs for allowing a a horse to stray.

On 26th May 1870, James DAIL purchased 79 acres 3 roods 24 perches of land (Portion 357A) near Rosewood Gate, in the parish of Walloon, for £13.15.0d.  See Land Purchase. 

Eventually the family named the property Daisy Park because of the white daisy-like flowers that grew everywhere after the land was cleared.

James started in dairy farming. To supplement his income, he submitted tenders to the Commissioner of Railways to cart firewood to supply the locomotives. Eventually he began growing maize, poultry and pigs and he was a supplier of milk to the Rosewood Dairy Company’s factory.

This article appeared in the Queenslander in November 1876.
New Wheat – We have received from Mr. Dale, of Rosewood Scrub, a sample of Cawnpore wheat, grown on his farm from seed supplied by us. We are glad to receive from Mr. Dale the assurance that this particular variety will turn out to be most valuable. The samples sent are well grown, with full ears, although they have been gathered rather green. The rust has slightly affected the ears, but this might almost have been expected on such rich deep soil as Mr. Dale’s farm. It is encouraging to us to have such a good report of the wheat from a farmer of Mr. Dale’s well known experience. Need we say that we shall be at all times ready to assist our farming friends in every way within our means to introduce new seeds or plants, whenever they are at our disposal. [2]

That same month, a destructive whirlwind swept over the clearings of the scrub and carried away a quantity of oaten hay belonging to James Dale and deposited it on his neighbour’s land. A table was lifted high into the air and smashed into fragments when it hit the ground.

James Dale was a member of the Farmers’ Club and was a committee member at times. He exhibited at the local Shows. In 1879 it was said of his milch cow – She was a grand milker and it would have taken a very superior animal to have wrested the prize from her.

In 1880 he won first prize for the “Best Coup of Fowls” at the Rosewood Show, and he received the prize of 10 shillings and 6 pence for the “Best Cock and Hen”. He also won prizes for his maize and he gave prizes e.g. in 1880 he gave 10 shillings for “Panicuin Seed 20lb”. Samuel Waight was the winner. In 1888 James won first prize of 20s. for the best boar and first prize of 20s. for the best sow at the Rosewood Show, In 1889 he won first prize for the best boar and best sow at the Marburg Show.

Life on a farm could sometimes be a dangerous proposition. In October 1885 young Sarah Jane Dale, aged 12 years, was brought into town with a ruptured eyeball after an accident on the farm. Apparently one of her brothers was using a shingling hammer, and the head flew off the handle and struck her in the face. She was attended by Dr. Dunlop in Ipswich, who feared that Sarah would lose her eye.

At the sports day on the Farmer’s Club grounds in June 1887, in the under 12 girl’s race, the Dale girls showed much fleetness of foot, so much so that the committee resorted to handicapping.

At the Ipswich Petty Debts Court on 13th September 1888, before Mr H. M. Lightoller and A. Dunlop, James Dale sued Charles Smith for £8, for damage sustained through a fire which had burnt his grass. Mr. Chubb appeared for James and Mr. Cardew for Charles Smith, who pleaded “Not indebted as alleged.”

James said that on the 19th of August he was alerted to the fire and went towards Smith’s place where he saw that his paddock was on fire. With assistance from three neighbours, and with great difficulty, they beat out the fire and were able to save his house. When James spoke about it to Charles Smith, Charles said, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh, and you will have to put up with it.” James had about seventeen acres of good couch-grassland altogether. The grass in the eight acre paddock was all burnt. He had about thirty head of cattle and two horses and kept this land for feeding calves. There were as many as twenty calves running on it sometimes and occasionally some of the cows grazed on it. A strong westerly gale was blowing when Smith was burning off.

Two of James’s sons, James and Daniel, and his daughter Elizabeth, along with Grieve Dove (a slaughterman) also gave evidence, most of which was corroborative of the James’s story. 

Charles Smith deposed that he did not know how the fire occurred at the Dale’s on the 19th of August. He had been burning out stumps on the 14th of August and had burnt a strip of a couple of acres on that date, and he had put the fire out. On the next Saturday evening he burnt near the waterhole on his land and left one stump burning, but the grass was burnt for fully a chain around it. He left four men behind in charge when he left. He said it was calm that day but a gale blew up on Sunday afternoon. Dale’s paddock burned for nearly a week after, and, as there was now new shoots in the grass, he considered that it had done a lot of good to Dale’s land.

George Price (labourer), John Freeman (farmer), and William Sahl (farmer) corroborated Smith’s testimony and said that the grass in James’s paddock was no good, and that nothing could live on it. 

 A verdict was given in favour of James for £4, with £4.7s. witnesses’ expenses and 12s. 6d. costs of Court. [3]

Nine year old Walter Dale was bitten on the left foot by a snake in March 1893 when he was out looking for eggs on the farm. He went home straight away and began to vomit, and his foot and his face became discoloured. He was given brandy and his foot was bound up. Walter was taken down to the hospital in a very weak condition. Under Dr. Thornton’s care, he was able to recover. [4]

On the first Tuesday in September 1898, a tragic accident happened to twenty-seven year old Daniel Dale. He was sitting on top of a load of sorghum and bringing it from the paddock. When he went through the slip rails, part of the load fell off and Dan fell with it onto a pitchfork that was amongst the sorghum. The prongs of the pitchfork entered just above his groin, extending upwards about 6in.(15cm) between his abdominal muscles, and penetrating into the cavity of his abdomen. He was taken to Ipswich and attended by Dr. McDonald, however Dan did not survive, and he passed away two days later.

At a meeting of the Mutdapilly Divisional Board in November 1899, correspondence was received from T. Smith, stating that he had sold his land at Seven Mile Creek to Mrs. James Dale, who would be responsible for the rates in the future. (Portion 2 – 52 acres)

James Dale died in 1908 on the King’s Birthday at his Rosewood home. (King Edward VII was born on 9th November) Rev. Andrew Horan, of Ipswich, attended him during his illness.

At his death his remaining sons were Patrick Dale of Irvinebank, James at Walloon, John at Rosevale, William, at Munguna, Walter Dixon, at Rosewood and George at Ipswich. His daughters were Mrs W. M. Gowan at Bunderberg, Mrs. E. Rosenstet at Gladstone, Mrs H. M’Guffie of Gympie, Mrs. R. Wilson of Brisbane, Mrs. Geo. Keys of Townsville, Miss Marion Dale at West Maitland, and Mrs. S. Joyce at Brisbane. Mrs R. Campbell, of Ellenborough Street, Ipswich, was a sister.

Sarah Jane Dale was one of the midwives in the Rosewood district. She lived on for twenty years after the death of James and died in 1928. She was attended at her bedside by the whole of her family along with Rev. Father O’Rourke from St Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church, and the Sisters of Mercy. As a pioneer of Rosewood, she had watched the transformation of the wild scrub into a prosperous district. 

Eleven members of the family survived Sarah – Messrs. Patrick (Brisbane), William (Townsville), Walter Dixon, John and George Dale (Rosewood), and Mesdames Johnson (Kurri Kurri), W. McGorvan (Bundaberg), Rosenstet (Gladstone), G. Keys (Townsville), J. Macdonald (Gympie), and Joyce (Brisbane).

Many of the descendants of James and Sarah Dale are scattered throughout Queensland.

Their son George inherited the family farm on Lanefield Road and it was passed to his son Frank then to Frank’s son Matthew. The farm ran some cattle and operated as mixed farm with dairy and some cultivation.

The original slab hut home at Daisy Park, 1881. This was replaced by another house in 1898.

Transfers of cattle brands:-

A family history book has been written about the Dales and can be read online at Picture Ipswich.  Dale Family History – Percy Hanlon, May 2011

References
[1] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.), Tuesday, 19 April 1864, page 3
[2] Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.), Saturday, 25 November 1876, page 27
[3] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.), Saturday, 15 September 1888, page 5
[4] [ Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld) Saturday 18 March 1893, page 4
1841, 1851, 1861, Scotland Census
Scotland, Select Marriages, 1561-1910
Australia and New Zealand, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current
Queensland, Australia, Immigration Records: Passengers and Crew, 1852-1899