Rosewood History
Rosewood Pioneers
Mark and Elizabeth BENSLEY
“A Model Farm”
I would like to say thank you to Anne Quatermass and Janette Kerle for collaborating with me on this story and for their willingness to share their knowledge.
© Jane Schy 2025
Name: Mark BENSLEY J. P.
Occupation: Bricklayer (1861,1867); Modeller and Plasterer (1864); Publican (1868-1870); Farmer; Magistrate
Birth: 16th October 1835, Bradwell, Norfolk, England
Baptism: 20th October 1835, Bradwell, Norfolk, England
Residence: 1851, 30 Town House, Bradwell
Residence: 1861, 27 Bradwell House, Bradwell
Immigration: 28th February 1871, the Storm King arrived at Brisbane from Gravesend (departed 24th November 1870).
Residence: Grange Farm, Ashwell
Land Purchase: 13th March 1871, Lot 424 120 acres See Land Purchase
Death: 6th October 1905, Brisbane, Queensland aged 69 years
Burial: 7th October 1905, Tallegalla Cemetery Plot: T2/1 – 03/01
Father: William BENSLEY (Brick Layer)
Mother: Sarah CHASTENEY
Spouse: Elizabeth Lond CAULK
Birth: 12th July 1836, Plumstead Magna, Norfolk, England
Baptism: 17th July 1836, Plumstead Magna, Norfolk, England
Immigration: 28th February 1871, the Storm King arrived at Moreton Bay from Gravesend (departed 24th November 1870).
Death: 2nd October 1918, Rosewood, Queensland aged 82 years
Burial: 3rd October 1918, Tallegalla Cemetery Plot: T2/1 – 03/01
Father: Thomas CAULK or LOND (Victualler and Shoemaker)
Mother: Mary Ann BUBBINGS
Marriage: 20th February 1864, at the Parish Church, Great Plumstead, Norfolk, England
Children:
Arthur BENSLEY (1864-1949) = Margaret ELDER
Laura BENSLEY (1866-1869)
Oscar BENSLEY (1867-1941) = Elizabeth Annie RICHARDSON
Anna BENSLEY (1870-1870)
Fred BENSLEY (1871-1871)
George BENSLEY (1873-1873)
May BENSLEY (1876-1876)
“The Rosewood Gate is the most go-ahead place around, and this is perhaps due to there being more men of the ‘go-ahead’ stamp there than anywhere else.” – 1879
Much is rightly attributed to John Willam Vance. He was not the only man of the “go ahead” stamp in the Rosewood Scrub. As the journalist’s statement above implies, there were several.
Mark Bensley, by deed and action, figured prominently in the pioneering history of the Rosewood district. Mark was an intelligent, resourceful and energetic innovator who actively participated in community life and supported local initiatives. His contribution was not so well recognised as Vance’s, yet it was no less significant. After researching this man I was astounded by his skill and physical capacity for work and wondered if he ever, ever stopped? He reminds me of my late father who believed in the individual and the “will” of the individual.
As a young Norfolk man in the 1860s, Mark found work with an engineering company owned by Morton Peto and Edward Ladd Betts. For seven years Mark worked on constructing railways in various parts of England. His skill as a brickmaker would have been invaluable, especially in sinking wells and tunnel work. Peto and Betts contracted to build a line between London Bridge and Victoria for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, a project which resulted in the firm becoming insolvent in 1867.
It was during these years that Mark married Elizabeth Lond CAULK in 1864. Elizabeth was born and christened with this unusual name. Elizabeth’s father was born Thomas CAULK in 1807 to an unwed mother named Charlotte CAULK. His mother married John LOND in 1810. Thomas used either surname CAULK or LOND at different times. When he died in 1874 his death was registered as Thomas CAULK.
Mark went back home to Bradwell and he and his family went to live at the Guardian Angel Inn where Mark became the publican. The Angel, as it was known, was located at 15 Southtown Road, in the hamlet of Southtown aka Little Yarmouth. This was a short distance across the River Yare from Bradwell. The old wayside inn was established about 1819 and was demolished in 1882.
They stayed at the Inn for three years until October 1870 when Mark packed up his family to make their way to London in order to secure their passage on a ship to Australia.
From the diary of Mark Bensley.
OCTOBER 1870
Saturday 29th. Left the “Guardian Angel”, Southtown. I lodged at the “Saracen’s Head”, Yarmouth, Norfolk until Sunday and then went away to London by the boat. Started at 8am, arrived 11:20pm on the “Boreas”. Stayed at the Railway Eating House, Minories, London. Walked to the Norwich Eating House, Shoreditch. Slept all night.
On Friday, 4th November the family travelled from Shoreditch Station to Diss, Norfolk, then from Diss Station to Norwich. They walked to Great Plumstead at night so Elizabeth could see her younger sisters Charlotte and Sarah before they left the country. The next day they started out on their return trip to London, arriving on the 8th.
Went to No.33 Redhill St.Albany Street, London, from there to Hodge’s Coffee House in the Minories.
Thursday 10th. Went to No.1 Leadenhall Street to Mackay, paid £42 passage money to Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia (second class cabin).
Mark visited 32 Charing Cross, London, which was the office for the Queensland Government, and where the Agent-General was stationed. He went to get a Land Order. Under the Immigration Act of 1869 Mark requested 120 acres of land in total. The Immigration Act of 1869 in Queensland, Australia, was a law designed to attract new settlers by providing land grants, typically 40 acres or multiples thereof.
From 12th November to 21st November, the family found lodgings at 38 Cotton Street, East India Road, Poplar, at 11 shillings per week for 2 rooms. They made their way to Gravesend where the barque Storm King was moored in the river Thames, and the family was on board by nine o’clock on the night of the 23rd.
More from Mark’s diary.
Captain Holden to Pilot – When do you think we shall be able to sail? Well, sir, if you can tell me when the wind will shift, I can tell you when we can sail.
Thursday 24th. Started at ten in the morning and anchored at The Nore (sandbank at the mouth of the Thames marked by lightship).
Friday 25th. Fine. A child died on board and taken on shore to Southend to be buried. Saw the “Sussex” come home. Foretop mast carried away, from Melbourne.
Saturday 26th. Weighed anchor morning. Hoisted all sails and then becalmed. Lowered anchor and furl’d sails. Thick fog in the afternoon. No progress.
Sunday 27th. Calm and thick fog. No progress.
Monday 28th. ESE wind started 10 o’clock morning. On tow of two tugs the “Essex” and “Kent” of Margate. North Foreland 4 o’clock afternoon.
Tuesday 29th. ESE wind of Beachy Head 10am, and 5pm opposite St. Katherine’s, Isle of Wight. That was the last land seen in England by any of us.
Wednesday 30th. The Pilot left us at 7am off The Lizard. Too far to see hurrahing when he left.
Mark, Elizabeth and their sons Arthur (5) and Oscar (3) travelled as second Saloon passengers. Saloon passengers 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 made less of an impact and they did not have to endure the cramped conditions and poor ventilation of those in steerage.
Other second cabin passengers on the Storm King were Rosewood pioneers Edmund Ludlow and his brother James, and William and Annie Coleman. The Bensleys and Ludlows had their land selections next door to each other at Ashwell. Eight Roman Catholic priests were also on board the ship as well as some former residents who were returning to the Colony.
After a voyage of 89 days, the Storm King dropped anchor in Moreton Bay at 2.30p.m. on Tuesday 28th February 1871. Elizabeth Bensley was heavily pregnant and would give birth to a son less than a month later.
The paddle steamer Nowra left for the wharf with the passengers from the Storm King at 9.30a.m. on March 1st.
On her way up the river, an accident occurred in which a 30 year old seaman named Henry Jenkins was drowned. Jenkins had made two voyages to Brisbane on the Young Australia, but left her when she was last in the port. Since then he had been employed on board the Nowra as a deck hand. About 12.20 p.m when the Nowra was entering the river, Jenkins was standing on the fore sponson setting up the stay of the mast. He slipped and fell overboard in front of the paddle wheel, which struck him. He never rose above water again. The steamer stopped immediately the accident happened, and every effort was made to save the poor man, but it was in vain.
Again, from Mark’s diary.
Wednesday 1st March 1871. Started for shore by the steam boat “Nowra”, all passengers on board half past nine. Last man off the steam boat drowned and sunk about 20 yards off opposite the Police hulk. Landed at Harris Wharf at half past two o’clock at Brisbane. Total miles 13,509 plus about 25 miles to Brisbane: 13,534 miles.
Stopped at Brisbane until Saturday March 5th and took steamer to Ipswich, 50 miles inland. Hired a house in Bell Street, 4 shillings per week. No water on premises. Fine showers (rain) and nice growing weather. Sharp thunderstorm on Saturday evening. No rain but the lightning splendid all colours.
Tuesday 14th. Walked to Rosewood Scrub under the Pine Mountain to look at the land. Started at half past 3am about 12 miles.
Mark didn’t dally, he walked 12 miles to see his land at Ashwell and then walked 12 miles back to Ipswich! That must have been at least a five hour walk one way. A week later their son Fred was born. Fred only lived for a few months and the following two children didn’t survive either. In all, Mark and Elizabeth lost 5 children in infancy. Heartbreaking would be a word that comes to mind.
Mark Bensley’s Selection No. 1669A, Portion 424, consisted of 120 acres in the Parish of Walloon, County of Churchill. Here he built a bush hut as soon as he could.
From his Obituary 1905 [1]
So little of the place was surveyed at the time, it is said, that the directions he received at the Lands Office at Ipswich were to go to Boland’s (now Mr. T. Harding’s) furthest corner, and thence due west for about 40 chains, which would probably be his land. He did so, felled about 1½ acre of scrub, and erected his bush hut. Afterwards, when a survey was made, it was found that the house was about six yards within the corner of his own property, but the scrub which he had felled belonged to a Mr. Murray. The first 20 bags of corn which he grew were carted to Rosewood via Brandy Gully, and the cartage cost him £1.
Imagine the gruelling work it would have taken to make a clearing in virgin scrub to build a house, and all by his own exertions. Elizabeth would have been forced to find the strength and resilience to live under such primitive conditions and battle the elements along side her husband. She would have greatly relied on him for support in all ways, especially in those first years on the farm, when birthing and burying her children without the understanding and consolation of other women.
When he first arrived in the Scrub, water was very scarce. Mark had to cut his own track and fetch water from a hole in the forest, three miles from where he lived. From August until Christmas Day, with two buckets, twice one day and one the next, he walked that track. He also had to hump his provisions from the Railway gate, two and a half miles. In May 1872 he helped to cut tracks to get produce down to the station for market, and was told by Mr. Lot Latcham that whoever did not help to cut roads should not be allowed to use them. Even in 1875 the scrub came right down to the railway line, and you could shoot scrub turkeys within sight of the train.
Mark worked for Joseph Stringfellow, foreman of the roads for West Moreton, in constructing roads and bridges in and around the district. In August 1873 he was one of the men appointed as the Road Board for the road that would run from the railway station at Rosewood Gate, westerly to Lane’s farm, and from Perrem’s farm northerly to W. Dobbie’s. The other appointed men were Joseph Wyles, Wm. Perrem, John Lane, and Charles Cowell, all farmers, residing at Rosewood. Mark immediately called for tenders.
Eventually he began to devote the whole of his attention to his farm and in time turned it from a dense scrub into a highly-improved holding, with a splendid orchard.
Mark Bensley addressed those attending a meeting called by John William Vance in July 1877, when the formation of a Farmers’ Club was first discussed, and he was one of nine members appointed to draw up a code of rules for the society. He was first appointed Vice President of the Club in 1878 and was President for many years. He was a lifelong member and a trustee until the time of his death. Had he lived another 6 years, he would have been honoured with a life member badge in 1911.
He was also secretary of the Rosewood Gate School committee in 1876 (Mark Bensley, William Mathews, Joseph Hudson, James Moran, Richard Mason) and arranged for the school to be painted in 1877. He resigned from the committee in 1884 and David Pfrunder took his place.
That same year (1877) he grew seventy acres of corn (amounting to about 3,000 bushels) which he prepared for market with a husker and sheller of his own creation.
In October, a deputation consisting of Mr. James Foote, M.L.A., and Messrs. Vance, Moore, Hudson, Bensley, Lane and Mitchell went to see Hon. George Thorn, Minister for Works in regards to the inconvenience of the railway timetable. There was only one down train a day available to the people, yet three other trains passed down every day, two without passengers. The fast train, the “Flying Dutchman” would stop to let people off but would not stop to let people on. The deputation was successful because Mr. Thorn told them that if they would guarantee three passengers per day from Rosewood, he would order it to stop or put on another train. His attention was also called to the state of the water supply. Many people were suffering severely from want of water, especially in the Rosewood Scrub. Mr. Thorn then promised to sink a well and put up a pump in whatever place was considered most convenient. When Mr. Vance suggested the railway station as the most central and suitable place in the district for a public pump, it was decided to have a pump at the Rosewood Gate without delay.
Getting a supply of water was a top priority for the settlers. In December, a bore was being sunk for a well on the quarter acre of land given to the Government by John Vance. Mark was sceptical about the way in which it was being done and thought it looked more like a shaft being sunk to find coal. He thought the cheapest and best way would have been to run a brick shaft down. He also correctly predicted that any water found would be of poor quality. Mark Bensley was experienced at sinking wells, experience he gained when working for Peto and Betts.
Now, I have sunk a few in my time of all sizes, from 24ft. diameter to 3ft. 6in., and have been down as far as 283 feet in a 4ft. shaft, but bricks are my style. I sank thirty-two wells right off the reel for Messrs. Peto and Betts, four of them for the railway engines to water at – and bored several holes; two of them had copper tubes down them for Artesian wells, and one was used for an aquarium, with a nozzle fitted on and several jets of different patterns. [2]
By September 1878 Mark had drawn his own plans to build a new house and intended to utilise the old house and outbuildings as shed room for crops, cattle, pigs, poultry, implements, etc.
At some stage he bought another 80 acres of land adjoining his farm. This was Portion 512, originally selected by John Clarke Foote. His son Arthur Bensley later owned it.
Perhaps the Rosewood will add a little to its reputation as an agricultural district if we mention four water melons, weighing no less than 142lb., which were grown by Mr. Mark Bensley, a well-known farmer there, and sent as a present to the member, who says he is prepared to prove that no electorate in the colony can produce such men and melons as the Rosewood. As the Brisbane market is at present devoid of melons, it would be well if Mr. Bensley forwarded a consignment of those ponderous cucurbitaceae to test their commercial value. [3]
Besides growing maize and melons, he was successfully making bricks. He was having so much success that he was contemplating getting the necessary machinery from Sydney in order to increase his operations.
On the Queen’s birthday in May 1880, the Minister for Works, Hon. John M. Macrossan, visited Rosewood State School to hear the farmers’ grievances about the railway rates. At lunch Mr. Macrossan gave John Vance (one of the main agitators) the double honour of dining at his table and disagreeing with his views. The Minister for Works was then driven to Mark Bensley’s farm, where he consumed about a quart of milk and a few deliciously flavoured local oranges. This was a consummation devoutly to be wished; for railway traffic reform is surely “a dead certainty” after the Minister has dined with Mr. Vance and deserted with Mr. Bensley. [4]
The Queenslander of Saturday, 28 August 1880 ran the following article on page 3.
A CHAT WITH A ROSEWOOD FARMER
(By Our Agricultural Reporter)
Being at Rosewood for the little show held last Friday week, I was anxious to see something of the capabilities of this far renowned district, and being introduced to Mr. Bensley, of the Grange farm, I was very hospitably invited to go home and dine with him, and so see his place “all in the rough” as he termed it; and as I particularly wanted to see a Rosewood scrub farm in its regular “every day clothes,” or working order, it was with pleasure that I accepted the offer. Mr. Bensley having unloaded his dray of corn at the railway shed, we mounted into it, and, forgetting my present literary occupation in reminiscences of past farming days, prepared for a good chat upon agricultural topics.
Turning to the left, when some half mile from the railway station, we went for about a mile along a rich flat, one time covered with dense scrub, but now all divided into paddocks, in most of which the stumps are still to be seen. The soil hereabouts is of a clayey nature, and but few of the paddocks are now under cultivation, many of them being covered with a rank growth of that noisome weed the yellow wild tansy. A small plot of oats upon our right looked frost-bitten or suffering from drought, and altogether I was not by any means enchanted with this entrance to the famous Rosewood. Yet it is upon these rich black flats, I believe, only a mile or to to our left, that is situated the farm of Mr. C. Dutney, who, both at the late Brisbane exhibition and at the present Rosewood show, carried off first honours with his unequalled exhibits of maize; I regretted much that I was unable to spare time to visit his place, for from such an energetic and successful farmer there would be certain to be something to be learned.
Turning off into the hills, in about two and a-half miles from the railway we came to the Grange farm. It is eleven years since Mr. Bensley penetrated into what was then a dense mass of luxuriant vegetation through which not even a footman could force his way without using an axe. It wanted a plucky man, and one with a plucky wife too, in those days to tackle such a location, for it was experimental work and Mr. Bensley was the first that went into this part of the mountains. So shut out, or rather shut in, from the world was the farm that for nine months his good wife never once saw the face of any other woman; now, from the hill upon which the homestead is built, can be seen settlers’ houses in every direction, neat white buildings around which is always a large clearing, the yellow hue of the ripe maize giving a ground colour in pleasing contrast to the dark glossy green of the still standing scrub.
The Grange consists of some 200 acres of land, and of this more than half has been cleared. The farm buildings are of the usual rough stamp but are numerous and complete, forming a quadrangle and thus giving good shelter to stock. The house has yet to be built, the old place still doing duty; and on this point I would just state that Mr. Bensley, who is a plasterer by trade, and a judge of the quality of bricks, intends building his new house of bricks made upon the farm; the density and weight of some that he showed me, although only roughly made, reminded me of the heavy solid articles with which Manchester in the old country is built.
The chief product of a Rosewood farm is maize, and so to the maize field we went first, some of the crop not yet being gathered. To my surprise I found it planted among the host of original stumps of the ancient scrub. Now I should not have thought this anything extra-ordinary upon a new farm, but knowing how long my host had been settled, and this field being near the house, I expressed my surprise. However, with a quiet chuckle at my rawness (although I have been thirty years an Australian settler), he said : “Those stumps are just the very reason that the Rosewood farmers are thriving and paying their way; if they had spent all their little initiatory capital in clearing them out, the farms would be like those you see so many of between Brisbane and Beenleigh-deserted.” As it is, the land is so productive that four, five, and six years running can a crop of maize be grown by simply making holes with a hoe and dropping in the seed, no after culture of course among such a mass of stumps being possible; then by that time the stumps have so much decayed that their eradication is easy. This may seem a wasteful mode of proceeding, but it is not quite so bad as it looks, for it is seldom that more than two or three crops are taken off the one field, as by that time-in fact, every year-a fresh plot of scrub can be cut down and burnt (a comparatively speaking inexpensive job), put under crop, and the old original paddock spelled. Mr. Bensley assured me that from 50 acres, just treated as above and the third year under crop, he last year got 4000 bushels; this year through the dry weather setting in the yield was not so good. Only one crop of maize is taken in the year, and this is not sown till February; spring sowing is found to be not at all successful, owing to that season being generally speaking too dry.
As soon as the stumps are rotted out, renovation of this soil if it should be required would be most easy, judging from the results I saw at the Grange; for, leaving the maize paddock, I next saw a few acres devoted to field culture of green crops; the stumps were all gone here and the plough had been at work. The soil of these hill-side scrubs is somewhat different to that of the flat, being not so stiff or clayey, and of a lighter colour; and so suitable is this soil naturally for roots that I here saw growing swede-turnips equal in quality and size to those grown in England; they were healthy, no signs of blight on them, nor of that withered flabby look so commonly seen on Australian turnips in dry weather; and, “bear in mind,” said the owner, “they were sown in March and have not had a drop of rain or water on them since the middle of April, nor have they had any manure.” Alongside was an acre or so of man-gold wurzel-the long red; these were over 1ft. in length and from 4in. to 6in. in thickness; they, also, had been sown at the same time as the turnips and had grown without water or manure.
Adjoining this lot was an acre of field peas, healthy and with that luxuriant look so requisite to a successful pea crop. I was surprised to find that they had not apparently felt the drought, for they were, together with the turnips, &c, upon the top of a hill and exposed to a full sun. With such crops as these to fall back upon when the time comes for renovation, and by the keeping of cross-bred sheep or dairy cattle, the Rosewood farmers need only laugh at the cry that they are deteriorating their lands. Mr. Bensley here has a row of flax, put in for experiment ; it is not up to what it should be-perhaps the time of planting was too late. Sweet potatoes of course in such a fertile place grow like weeds, and pumpkins are a speciality of the district. The original settlers had to close fence their paddocks to keep out marsupials; this is now not so necessary, but, although a heavy expense at first, it can be worked to advantage in the way Mr. Mort, at Bodalla, N.S.W., pursues with pig feeding, and which Mr. Bensley intends to try; it is the turning into a field of maize a lot of pigs, thus letting them do their own gathering and feeding, and so harvest the crop and convert it into pork at one operation.
My next chat was as to what grasses suited the locality best, and for an answer I was taken to a stack of prairie grass hay and told to examine it. Pulling out a handful I found that it was both sweet and of a nice green colour; my host told me his stock were exceeding fond of it, and in the paddock where it was growing, and which by the by had never been ploughed, the tussocks were green and as luxuriant as was possible for them to be consistent with the evident partiality the way in which they were eaten showed that the stock had for them. Prairie does not suit in many localities, but at Rosewood I am certain it could always be reckoned upon as a standard crop. Buffalo grass is also thought a great deal of by Mr. Bensley, but it was cut by the frost when the other was not.
We chatted a good deal about other matters, which would doubtless give information to other settlers or intending selectors; but for the present space compels me to hurriedly wish my practical farming host, Mr. Bensley, good-bye, and to thank; him for the readiness with which he answered my many questions.
In early 1881 Mark Bensley donated several old coins to the Queensland Museum. In October, Mr. Joseph Britain Pash, founder of the Essex Industrial School and a member of the Essex Chamber of Agriculture, visited the Bensley farm. Mr Pash travelled all around the Colony, including Tasmania, to study the state of agriculture and the extent of machinery used. He was pleased with what he saw, and after his visit it was reported that Mark Bensley’s farm could justly be termed the “model” farm of the Rosewood Scrub.
On breaking up day on 15th December, the children at the Rosewood Gate School enjoyed a generous supply of cakes, lollies, ginger-beer, and other treats. Mark Bensley was responsible for those treats and the penny readings (readings of literary works, poetry, songs, with the admission price being just one penny). Mark was known for always taking great interest in these occasions and for his untiring efforts in making them a success.
In January 1882 he wrote a paper on agriculture which was published in the newspapers and acknowledged later as a valuable essay on agriculture. I won’t transcribe it here but follow the links if you would like to read it.
Agriculture Agriculture Conclusion
Grange Farm
The Bensley family home was surrounded with a well kept garden. Around an acre and a half was cultivated as an orchard. Amid the oranges, lemons, mandarin, guavas, loquats, olives, Japanese plums, jargonelle pears, apples, apricots, peaches, nectarines, figs, walnuts, persimmon, several varieties of guava, mulberries and other varieties, were two Japanese cherry trees, noticeable because of their prettiness and vigorous growth, and for the peculiar flavour of the fruit. Rows of pineapple plants were planted among the rest. The fruit trees were sourced from Mr. Carl Heinrich Hartmann’s Range Nursery at Toowoomba. There was also a vineyard, where he grew twenty-nine varieties of table and wine grapes. His son Arthur kept some bee hives.
Mark liked to experiment and make drinks from his produce. One year, when peaches were plentiful, he mashed them up and converted them into cider, which resulted in very exhilarating and alcoholic drink. He made wine from Isabella grapes, but departed from the method of wine making used by the Germans of the Scrub, by adding sugar.
He was also dairy farmer and adopted the English method of removing the calves from the cows and hand feeding them from birth. His dairy was a double-roofed structure, built away from everything else so as not to affect the flavour of the milk or its products. He built a large dam in 1880 and was talking of making another larger dam to cover two acres or so of his land, which he divided into small ten acre paddocks for his cattle, and fenced each of them. An underground tank was used to collect the rain water from the roof of his home and it provided him with a good supply of water. In 1882 he was talking about building a more commodious and comfortable brick house to replace what he called the old rough and ready bush hut.
The multitude of stumps that surprised the Agricultural Reporter for the Queenslander when he visited the farm in August 1880 had all but disappeared when another reporter visited in April 1882.
We next visited the farm of Mr. Bensley, an Englishman from the county of Norfolk, who has a farm of 200 acres some two or three miles from Rosewood, pleasantly situated on a low ridge of scrub land, the greater part of which he has cleared of stumps and every vestige of the scrub, and employs it advantageously for pastoral and agricultural purposes. This is quite an exceptional clearing in the scrub, for in a majority of cases the farmers appear to be content with merely ridding their land of the timber growth, leaving the stumps thickly dotted over the land, and allowing them an opportunity to rot out, and meanwhile to disfigure the land and make it a complete eye-sore. There might be some excuse for this if the stumps were difficult or costly to get out; but it is not so, for, being mostly brigalow, they could easily be burnt out, and the ashes thus made would add greatly to the fertility of the soil and more than pay for the labour of burning them…<snip>….in addition to the disfigurement of the land, they are anything but safe for a man to get about in at night or to ride a horse through at any time, while they depreciate the value of the land much more than the cost of removing them would amount to. [5]
The Queensland Government Gazette (No 56, 13th October 1882) listed Mark Bensley as a Justice of the Peace and Magistrate of the territory. He was empowered to consent to the marriage of minors in November 1888 and acted as coroner for the district. For the ten years before there was a court house at Rosewood or Marburg, he tried offenders and held inquiries into deaths in his own house.
In the second week of April 1883, a Government party struck water at a depth of 77ft. about a mile and a half from the Bensley farm. The quality of the water was excellent. They encountered hard schistose rock at the bottom of the bore so it was plugged and the machine was then moved near to Mark Bensley’s farm. Mr. McKinnon was sent from the Hydraulic Engineers’ Office in Brisbane to report on a dam site at the corner of Mark’s farm. The government engineer, Mr. J. B. Henderson, came to inspect the site. An agreement was made with a contractor to construct the dam but when the specifications were prepared, the contractor would not proceed with the work. Tenders were invited by advertisement in the Brisbane and several country newspapers without response, then further afield in chief mining centres in Victoria, also without success. A final attempt was made to find a contractor back home. Two offers were received and recommended for acceptance (£2960), but circumstances arose which prevented it going ahead.
Messrs. Mark Bensley, John Lane and William Mathews were appointed trustees of the cemetery reserve. (Govt Gazette 7 June 1884)
The aforementioned William Coleman, a fellow passenger on the Storm King, became a breeder of Ayrshire cattle on his property Hampstead Park near Ipswich. In July 1884 Mark bought a purebred Ayrshire bull from him. William bred it from a champion bull “Prince Charley” which in turn was bred by R. McDougal, Victoria. The breed was known for producing excellent butter and milk and for being hardy, good grazers and kept in splendid condition.
Cattle brand
The purpose of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition held in London on 4th May 1886, was to “stimulate commerce and strengthen the bonds of union now existing in every portion of her Majesty’s Empire”. 5.5 million people visited the Exhibition. Entries from Australia and New Zealand were sent over for the exhibition. In Class 74, Wines, a bronze medal was awarded to Mark Bensley from Rosewood, Queensland.
Mr. Mark Bensley, J.P. of Rosewood, informs us that he had occasion to clean and shift a 400-gallon iron tank, a few days ago, and to his surprise, in bailing out the water, he found four live fish-one 2in. long. They appeared to be of the variety known as bony bream; and as Mr. Bensley’s house is on a pretty high ridge, fully five miles from the river, no children in the household given to piscatorial excursions, and not enough water near the place to tempt the fish to fly from the river, he naturally would like to know how the jubilee they got into the tank. For our own part we can only echo the sage remark once made by the late lamented Denmark to Mr. Horatio -” There are more things in heaven and earth,” &c. [6]
(When I was a child growing up at 29 Whitehill Road, Newtown, Ipswich in the 1950s and early 60s I saw it “rain fish” twice.)
In December 1887, Frederick Christopher Emmott established a dairy and butter factory on a seven acre section of Portion 424, which he leased from Mark Bensley. It was named the Rosewood Dairy Company Ltd. The dairy was on the south western side of the Bensley residence. The dairy was described by a visitor: It appeared to be a pretty little cottage with a galvanised iron roof. This, however, is the dairy, as was soon discovered when we entered the building. Mark worked hard to supply the dairy.
In August 1889 Mark entered something different in the show, a plaster frame “of neat and artistic design” which won a prize certificate. His entry was evidence that some people had an eye for the artistic as well as the useful at Rosewood.
In 1890 the Rosewood Dairy Company Ltd was sold to Mr. Peter Hansen. Hansen carried on the business for a year and then left the area. In January 1891 Mark established a butter factory on his own account. He engaged William Edward Oxenford to build a new, large and commodious building for the purpose, and Mark equipped it with the necessary machinery. He called it Grange Dairy. He had the best bull in the district, a pure Jersey, and he grew feed for his cows in winter.
Operations were commenced six weeks ago, and about 250lb. of butter are turned out weekly, the quality of the material being pronounced to be unquestionable. Water is procured from a well 75 feet deep, being beautifully cool and thus well suited for the purpose, although its brackish taste would render it less useful otherwise. The machinery is all in first-rate order and reflects credit upon the manner in which it was laid down by Mr. Oxenford. Milk is paid for according to its quality, that showing under 10 per cent of cream being paid at the rate of 3½d. a gallon, between 10 and 15 per cent, 4d. a gallon, and so on. Temptation to defraud is thus guarded against, while there results the good effect of encouraging farmers to endeavour to increase the richness of the article, and consequently the quality of their stock. Some milk from Mr. P. O’Donnell’s cows, at the time of inspection, showed 12 per cent of cream, which is considered a high standard. A lactometer is kept on the premises for testing the milk. Mr. Bensley deserves the good wishes of the community for the success of his enterprise. There is no doubt but that these factories will be initiated all over the colony, and the principle adopted will probably be that of allowing bona fide farmers only to become shareholders, and distributing the profits pro rata according to the quantity and quality of milk sent in. In this manner the colony will be keeping well abreast of the times, and in touch with more advanced countries, such as America. Mr. Bensley does not confine his attention solely to dairying, for he has a splendid fruit garden. In it are to be seen all varieties of trees, including grape, plum, pear, apple, orange, lemon, guava, olive, Spanish chestnut, mango, all-spice (giving out a beautiful scent), cherries, palms, and many others. The success attained by these should induce others to “go and do likewise.” [7]
I was passing Mr. Bensley’s butter factory a few days ago, and, at the invitation of the courteous proprietor, went in to have a look at the appliances, I was very agreeably surprised to find everything in connection with the dairy in barrack room order and scrupulously clean. I saw a large quantity of the manufactured article, which had the effect of bringing my salivary glands to vigorous action. Mr. Bensley pays for the milk according to quality or weight. This arrangement gives general satisfaction. It will also show the farmers the necessity for keeping only the best butter producing cattle, and doing away altogether with “iron tail” cattle, which although very prolific, are not suitable for butter making. Any milk under a certain test is not taken. [8]
Mark tried to sell the dairy at auction in January 1892.
Eventually he sold the dairy plant in September 1892 to the Lanefield Farmers’ Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd.. A survey was done to subdivide the 7 acres from Portion 424 and it became Lot 2. The dairy remained on site and was worked in conjunction with the headquarters at Lanefield.
Here is the survey kindly provided by Anne Quartermass. SURVEY
In March 1892 Mark was elected as Chairman of the Rosewood Divisional Board. He was elected as an officer in the Rosewood Rifle Club in July 1896 and 1898. He and his son Arthur were members of the Patriotic Committee in March 1900 during the Boer War. They sent books to soldiers at the front.
Over the years Mark wrote letters on various matters to the Editors of newspapers, which is where I found so much information about him. Here are links to some of those articles he wrote.
ROSEWOOD (1878)
POLITICAL MEETINGS IN CHURCHES (1882)
THE ROSEWOOD INQUIRY (1883)
THE BLACKALL MONUMENT (1884)
MISSING PAPERS (1884)
THE LATE FLOOD (1887)
QUEENSLAND BUTTER (1891)
THE “LONE STAR” COTTON PICKING MACHINE (1892)
CHANGE OF SEED MAIZE (1894)
Mark handed the following clipping to the Chief Inspector of Stock, Mr. P. R. Gordon in March 1900. I found it so bizarre that I had to include it for others to read.
A farmer living near Whitland, Carmarthenshire, lost a valuable two-year-old heifer a couple of days ago by an extraordinary fatality. The beast showed evident signs of suffering as far back as last spring, and those continued with increasing severity until her death. Several farmers well versed in cattle diseases, and one professional “vet” visited her, but all quite failed to diagnose her malady. There appeared at times some fever, and blood exuded from first one forefoot and then from the other, and afterwards from one of the hind feet. These were bathed with warm water and various remedies were given, but all to no effect. The disease baffled all treatment. When after death the carcass was skinned the flesh appeared perfectly healthy, but a large abscess the size of a man’s fist, and filled with matter, was discovered in the glands of the neck, about l0in. from the butt of the left ear, and in the abscess were the head and part of the body of a snake coiled up, the, the tip of its tail being just visible through the outer ear. If, as is surmised, it found its way into the ear about the time the animal first sickened, it must have been alive for a considerable time afterwards, as it was so little decomposed when found that the mottled patches on its back were still plainly to be seen
At the end of 1901 Mark Bensley sold Grange Farm to Mr William Füchs and purchased a house close to Rosewood township. I’m still looking for where this home was located.
A few years later (January 1905 ) he placed his Rosewood home up for sale as he intended to leave the district.
Johann Nicolai Jessen, a farmer from Calvert was the buyer. Mr. Jessen never lived to take possession, as he died on 6th August and was buried on the 
7th, the same day as Mark Bensley’s furniture was to be sold at auction. I don’t know if the auction was cancelled. Even more coincidentally, Mark Bensley went to Ipswich to see a doctor on auction day as he had become very ill. He gradually grew worse in spite of the best medical care in Ipswich and Brisbane, he died on 6th October. His funeral moved from his residence in Rosewood at 10 o’clock the next morning.
His obituary stated that Mr. Bensley had been, in times past, prominent in all things for the advancement of the place. His mortal remains were brought to Rosewood enclosed in a handsome oak coffin with silver mounts. He was interred at Tallegalla Cemetery, the rites at the graveside being performed by the Rev. A. E.West. Elizabeth and his two sons, Arthur and Oscar, and several grandchildren, were left to mourn the departure of one who was greatly respected in the district.
Arthur Bensley (farmer) and his son in law, James Elder (blacksmith) were executors for his estate (£1751).
What happened to the old Grange Farm, Lots 1 & 2 of Portion 424?
Williams Füchs bought the farm (Lot 1) and his daughters Anna Wilhemine and Catherine Maria “Kate” lived there, as did Friedrich George Füchs. Friedrich advertised FRESH country Milk for Sale, about 87 gallons delivered once or twice daily, Rosewood railway station. Apply F. G. Fuchs, Rosewood.
ON Thursday last Mr. A. H. Benson, fruit expert, paid a visit to this district. He arrived on the previous evening from Marburg, and was met next morning by Mr. P. H. Adams, secretary of the Farmers’ Club, and afterwards by Mr. F. G. Fuchs, of the Grange Farm. In the afternoon Mr. Benson visited the Grange Farm, where he also pruned a tree and gave Mr. Fuchs some advice respecting some other trees in the orchard which have not been in a healthy condition for some time. [9]
The Lanefield Farmers’ Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd ceased operations from 30th September 1904. This is probably why William Füchs sold the farm and left for his new farm at Island Plantation on the outskirts of Maryborough. He had a clearing out sale in November 1904.
Christian Friedrich Retschlag from Kirchheim bought the farm. His son Charles and wife Ida and family moved in. It wasn’t very long before their baby daughter Ivy Mabel Beatrice Retschlag passed away at the farm aged 9 months 3 days.
The Ashwell dairy/creamery (Lot 2), which was part of the Lanefield Dairying Company Limited, closed in March 1905 owing to the small supply of milk available. The Company’s land was put under lease for three years. Walter Loveday leased the Ashwell land and M. Freeman had the land at Lanefield. Then the liquidator of the Lanefield Dairy Company Ltd., Percy Harry Adams, put both properties to auction with John Pender on 22nd December 1909.
The Company’s well-known properties at Lanefield, comprised:-
(1) Subdivision 1, of Portion 71, Parish of Grandchester; Area, 10 Acres.
(2) Subdivision 2, of Portion 424, Parish of Walloon; Area, 7 Acres.
Christian Retschlag died in March 1908. George Frederick Siemon, of Ipswich, Storekeeper, and Frederick William Retschlag, of Marburg, Butcher, were Devisees in Trust. (Subdivision 1 of Portion 424, County of Churchill, Parish of Walloon.) The farm went to Charles and Ida.
In December 1910, George Harcourt Crowther from Pimpama purchased the farm (Lot 1 Portion 424) from Charles Retschlag, and he also purchased Arthur Bensley’s farm which adjoined it (Portion 512). The price paid for the two properties was considerably over £2000.
Charles and Ida Retschlag moved to Marburg in January 1911. They bought land from Mr. Reinhardt and Mr. A. Hohnke built a house for them there.
George and Mary Crowther had 10 children. They named the farm “Montrose”. George was a well known breeder and exhibitor of Jersey cattle. He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in June 1913. and in January 1916 he was elected a president of the Rosewood A & H Association. The Crowther family left for their new home at Oakey on 1st November 1916. Their daughter Alice Angelina, who had been a pupil teacher at the Ashwell State School, was transferred to Oakey. Mr and Mrs Alex Rodgers gave the Crowthers a farewell party at their home at Lanefield before they left.
John Yates, a widower, bought the Ashwell farm from George Crowther in October 1916. When John died in September 1920, the farm passed to James Prince Yates and Walter Hazel Yates. (Subdivisions 1 and 2 of portion 424, county of Churchill, parish of Walloon) So John Yates ended up with both Lots 1 and 2. Perhaps he purchased the Lot 2 at the auction in December 1909?
The farm was sold in 1921 to Ernest and Louisa Setch, who kept the name “Montrose”. It passed to Ernest’s brother Hebert Setch after Ernest died in 1959. Herbert and Louisa Henrietta Setch sold it to John and Janette Kerle. The Kerle family lived there for 33 years from 1971 to 2004, after which they sold it to a mining company and it is now back in private hands.
Now about that old dairy.
This photo was kindly provided by Anne Quatermass. It depicts their lovely family home of 33 years. It was taken about 1972/73. It stands on Portion 424, the old Bensley property, on the corner of Urry Rd and Keates Rd at Ashwell. (141 Urry Road)
Anne and her parents wondered if the house may have been Mark Bensley’s house, built circa 1885. It certainly does have all of the features of an 1880’s house. e.g. the pyramid roof core, stepped verandah, cross braces, gently sloped curved convex verandah roof, pediment over the verandah entrance, sash windows, paired brackets under the eaves, U shaped verandah, fanlight windows over doors and possibly French doors.
Mark Bensley’s house was described as being situated on a hill, which fits in with the house pictured above, taken from Keates Road in 2013.
1880 – From the hill upon which the homestead is built can be seen settlers’ houses in very direction.
1887 – Mr. Bensley’s house is on a pretty high ridge.
Looking at the photos of the old Grange Farm and the Kerle’s home, it becomes apparent that the houses are two different structures.
However, Anne and her parents may still be correct in their speculation. I have a theory about this house. Could it have been the first dairy built in 1887 by Frederick Christopher Emmott? That lines up with the age the Kerle family estimated for their house.
A few supporting facts:-
1888 – Drawing rein there the first object that came into view was what appeared to be a pretty little cottage with galvanised iron roof. This, however, is the dairy, as is soon discovered when we entered the building. [11]
In 1891 Mark Bensley established a dairy on his own account and erected a new, larger building fit for the purpose. The original 1887 “pretty little cottage” may have been moved aside to make way for this.
In May 1901 Mark Bensley altered the premises that was formerly occupied by the Rosewood Dairy Company to serve as a cottage. [10]
The Kerles suspect that there may have been a dwelling on the land behind their house. A lot of broken crockery and glass shards were found there as well as many bricks. The original entrance gate and track to the house were in Keates Road and there is still an old wooden gate there. The rates notices received by the Kerles were always addressed to Keates Road. However, the mailbox, front gate and track to their house were on Urry Road.
The house was partially dismantled and renovated in 1979 and the verandahs were removed. The original inner shell of 4 bedrooms, lounge room and a hallway still exist inside the renovation. There was an even older section at the back of the house, possibly an addition.
Here is a link to some photos of the house as it looked when it was for sale in 2024.
References:
[1] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.) Thursday, 12 October 1905, page 2
[2] Ipswich Observer and West Moreton Advocate (Qld.), Thursday, 6 December 1877, page 3
[3] The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.) Saturday, 19April 1879, page 485
[4] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.) Tuesday, 1 June 1880, page 3
[5] Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.) Saturday, 15 April 1882, page 471
[6] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.), Saturday, 18 June 1887, page 7
[7] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.), Saturday, 14 March 1891, page 2
[8] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.) Thursday, 19 February 1891, page 3
[9] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.), Saturday, 10 May 1902, page 2
[10] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.), Thursday, 13 June 1901, page 7
[11] Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld.), Thursday, 2 February 1888, page 3
Norfolk, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1922
UK, City and County Directories, 1766 – 1946
1851 England Census
1861 England Census
1869 Post Office Directory of Cambs, Norfolk & Suffolk (Pt 2: Norfolk)
1869 Post Office Directory of Cambs, Norfolk & Suffolk
Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980
Queensland, Australia, Property Indexes, 1819-1919
Government Gazettes, Queensland, Australia 1859-1918
Queensland, Australia, Occupational Indexes, 1857-1922
Aldine History of Queensland 1888
Queensland State Archives
A lot of research has gone into this – Well done Jane xx
Thankyou for compiling this story about The Grange at Ashwell as pioneered by Mark Bensley and his wife Elizabeth. MB was a remarkable powerhouse of toil and ingenuity and I’m sure his wife was right there with him shoulder to shoulder for all of it. I hope that many Rosewood locals will read this story. Thankyou Jane.
Mark Bensley is my Great-Great-Grandfather. It’s great to see the history of his time in Rosewood preserved.