Rosewood History

Conrad Friedrich ISZLAUB & Martha ROBERTSON

Name: Conrad Friedrich ISZLAUB
Occupation: Schäfer (Shepherd); Shoemaker; Publican at the Rosewood Hotel; Farmer
Birth: 6th April 1834, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany
Residence: 1855, Suelberg, Hessen, Germany
Immigration: 23rd September 1855, the Grasbrook arrived Moreton Bay, NSW from Hamburg 26th May.
Land Purchase: 6th August 1874, Portion 629, 50 acres at Tallegalla
Residence: 1894, Rosewood, Queensland
Residence: 1896, Hatton Vale, Queensland
Residence: 1906, Plainlands, Queensland
Death: 6th May 1909, Ipswich General Hospital aged 75 years.
Burial: 7th May 1909, Tallegalla Cemetery
Religion: Lutheran
Father: Friedrich Maximilian ISSLAUB
Mother: Anna Margaretha Elizabeth FEUER
Marriage: 3rd January 1862, at the house of Mrs Souter, South Brisbane, Queensland [3]

Spouse: Martha ROBERTSON
Birth: 24th April 1837, Canongate, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Immigration: 11th November 1861, the Wansfell arrived Brisbane, Qld from Gravesend 28th July.
Death: 19th August 1896, Ipswich General Hospital, Queensland aged 59 years.
Burial: 20th August 1896, Tallegalla Cemetery
Religion: Presbyterian
Father: William ROBERTSON (Joiner)
Mother: Elizabeth KING

Children: 7
Mary Elizabeth ISZLAUB (1862-1935) = Robert Samuel HODGE
William Maximilian ISZLAUB (1864-1917) = Edith Emily McGEARY
Margaret ISZLAUB (1866-1910) = William HANNANT
Conrad Friedrich ISZLAUB (1869-1935) = Anna Rosine JUDACHEFSKI
Albertina Minnie ISZLAUB (1872-1930) = George Edward BROWN
George James ISZLAUB (1874-1938) = Mary Ann RHEINBERGER
Florence Elizabeth ISZLAUB (1879-1962) = Charles STOBERT

The passenger manifest shows Friedrich Maximilian ISSLAUB (47), Anna Maria ISSLAUB (30), Conrad Friedrich ISSLAUB (21) and Friedrich Carl Wilhelm ISSLAUB (4) were amongst the 112 German immigrants on the brig Grasbrook when she arrived at Moreton Bay in 1856. The family came from a town on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains in Hesse, Germany. They were bought from the ship to the wharf by the steam boat “Hawk”. They are all healthy young men, and cleanly looking women. The present is the best “batch” that has yet arrived, and will be a valuable addition to our population. [1]

Conrad became a British subject when he was naturalised on 7th November 1859, ten months after his cousin Johann Georg Islaub (and family) arrived in Sydney, New South Wales. (Johann was naturalised the same year as Conrad on 5th January 1859.) [3]

Martha, a 24 year old servant from Scotland, arrived six years later than Conrad. Her voyage lasted 108 days. The ship carried 400 tons of general merchandise and 282 passengers who were described as superior to the usual class of immigrants. An agreeable method of wiling away the dull hours at sea became popular with the passengers. That was the production of onboard newspapers, in this case, the “Wansfell Chronicle” and the “Wansfell Times”. The humorous pen and the artistic efforts of some, along with the quips and quiddities of others, would be remembered with gratification long after other aspects of the voyage had faded from the memory.

The Bremer was engaged as the lighter to bring Martha and the other passengers and their luggage to the wharf. 

When Conrad and Martha met they must have had a whirlwind courtship, because they married not even two months after Martha arrived in Brisbane. They were married by Reverend Charles Ogg, Presbyterian minister, in the house of Mrs Souter in South Brisbane. Mrs Souter’s “house” was in fact the Commercial Hotel, which she re-opened after the death of her husband. Despite this, Conrad did however follow his Lutheran faith, as he attended the church of Rev. Frank Schirmeister while they were living in Brisbane.

Conrad seemed to attend court quite a lot over the years for various matters but with no luck of winning a case. By the time he married Martha he’d already taken his employer, James Henderson from Logan, to court for non-payment of wages (July 1857). Henderson was a grazier who had a cattle station “Tabragalba” on the Albert River. If Conrad was successful he could claim costs and expenses under the Masters’ and Servants’ Act. Henderson’s lawyer objected to the case being heard. He claimed that the Court had no jurisdiction because the agreement was entered into under the old Masters and Servants’ Act and was therefore not binding under the new Act. He referred to another case that had been heard in May where the Bench stated that the Act had been framed without giving them a retrospective jurisdiction, and as such, the case must therefore be dismissed. And so it was.

In April 1860 he was back in the Brisbane Police Court when Patrick Fitzgibbon summoned him for assault and illegally rescuing a mare. The problem started earlier that month when his father had a disagreement with a fellow German countryman, a butcher named Green. Green claimed that Maximilian Iszlaub said, “You have stolen off Mr. Mooney a pig.” Mr. Green replied that he would butcher him and make him into sausages. He subsequently took Maximilian to court where he was fined 40 shillings and costs of an interpreter and witnesses. Even though Maximilian claimed that he had no money, his representative assured the court they would soon be able to find where his money was. In order to pay the fine, a bailiff named Patrick Fitzgibbon, (who interestingly was regularly before the court himself for being drunk and disorderly) took Iszlaub’s mare to pay the expenses. Fitzgibbon claimed that Conrad assaulted him and refused to let him take the horse.

Conrad was fined 5s. and costs for the assault, and 1s. and costs for rescuing the mare. He was supposedly let off lightly, despite his unruly behaviour in court, because he was a foreigner and did not fully understand the danger he was incurring due to the language barrier. Such were the implications and difficulties for those who had to learn and understand a new language.

Conrad changed occupations and worked with his father who was a shoemaker.

Times must have been good and bad for the family. It seems that the entire Iszlaub family lived at Kangaroo Point on the one property. It must have been hard when, by Order of the Directors of the Queensland Building Society No. 2, their home was put up for sale by auction in September 1868. At the time Conrad and Martha had three children and one on the way.

At the risk of F. C. ISZLAUB. Lot 12 – An allotment containing 26½ perches, being portion of Eastern Suburban Allotment 71, the improvements consisting of a 4 room wood cottage with double brick chimney, one front room ceiled, verandah in front, covered with G. I., also at the back is a 3 room wood cottage and out houses. This property is situated on the Main Ipswich Road, about a quarter of a mile from Stanley Street, on the Kangaroo Point side, and is enclosed with a 2 rail and paling fence. Title under the old Act. [2]

I don’t know if the property was ultimately sold or if they were able to retain it. Conrad was still living at Ipswich Road, Kangaroo Point in 1874 according to Bailliere’s Post Office Directory and Conrad’s father died there in March 1874. He was a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and served in the Prussian army under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher at Waterloo in June 1815. He was 79 years old.

Conrad, Martha and their family were living in the Rosewood district by 1875. The following information was provided by Noel Iszlaub, two times great grandson of Conrad and Martha. On the 6th August 1874, Conrad Friedrich Iszlaub made application for a “Homestead” selection under the provisions of the “The Crown Lands Alienation Act 1868,” tendering a sum of £4 13s as the first years’ rent and survey fee, for a block of 50 acres. The survey description of the selection is Reg No. 3169, Ipswich District, Classification No. 629,  Parish of Walloon, County of Churchill, District of Ipswich. From the survey illustration showing dense scrub, dated 23rd June 1875, to the “Fulfilment of Conditions by a Homestead Selector,” lodged 5th March 1880, the property had been developed. It was then described as “1 x three roomed dwelling house of slabs, boards and shingles, 36 acres cultivated enclosed with a temporary fence and a barn.” An application by Conrad to purchase under “The Homesteads Act 1868” was submitted on 18th November 1881, the Deed of Grant being passed 9th February 1882. [3].      See Land Purchase.

In February 1876, Conrad was reportedly involved in a large meeting of the back settlers in the Rosewood Scrub, which was held at the farm of John Dart. They discussed the need for the formation of roads in the district, especially those affecting the back settlers who had no way to get their produce out to take to market. Conrad said they needed a level road as far as possible from the railway gate to the Back Plain.

In October 1876, Conrad was one of five elected at a public meeting, held at the home of John Dart on the 14th, to form the school building committee for promoting the establishment of a State School at Rosewood Scrub (Tallegalla). Conrad and Martha’s children, Conrad and Albertina Minnie, were first day students with George James enrolling in 1879, Margaret in 1880 and Florence 1884. [3]

Once again Conrad found himself in trouble. This time in the Small Debts Court on 3rd September 1879. Lawrence Demanar, licensee of the Rosewood Hotel at Walloon (there was a hotel by that name at Walloon) claimed £1 0s. 5d., for refreshments he had supplied to Conrad. The verdict was for the plaintiff with 6s. costs.

In colonial Australia you had to be a British subject to have the right to own land, to vote, or to be appointed to an official position. Conrad was a subject of a foreign power, and as such he didn’t have the same rights as British settlers. In 1884 Conrad swore an oath of allegiance to become naturalised as a British subject. He acquired a farm of 50 acres at Tallegalla.

On 7th October 1884, Conrad Friedrich Iszlaub, from Tallegalla, obtained the license for the Rosewood Hotel. He ran the hotel until July 1888 when he transferred it to his son-in-law Robert Samuel Hodge from Laidley.

In 1885 Conrad made a complaint to Senior-Constable Minogue of Rosewood. Conrad said that a man named Larry Green had stolen his saddle on the 12th July while they were having a drink and playing dice at the Rising Sun Hotel. He said Green kept looking outside in the direction of his horse and saddle, and at one stage he went outside for about five minutes. When Conrad went out he noticed that his horse, saddle and bridle were gone. Later his daughter found his horse on the main road leading to their house. The horse had the bridle on, but no saddle.

He next saw the saddle on the 10th of May 1885, in front of his hotel. Conrad went to the police. The constable accompanied him back to the Rising Sun Hotel where they saw Green on horse-back. Larry Green was asked to dismount to allow them to look at the saddle. Iszlaub identified the saddle and said it was his property. Green said, “You are a liar, Iszlaub; it’s not your saddle; it is mine”. He was then arrested, and the saddle was taken into custody. Green was allowed bail while waiting for a trial, but the case never went ahead.

On March 17th 1888 at the Rosewood Police Court, Conrad was charged with a breach of railway by-laws, namely, using obscene language when speaking to John S. Cook, stationmaster at Rosewood Station. After hearing evidence, he was fined £1, with £1-3-6. At the same hearing Iszlaub accused Cook of assaulting him on the Rosewood railway platform, but this part was dismissed.

Conrad’s and Margaret’s daughter Florence was involved in an incident in which she suffered burns as a result. A notice of thanks from Martha was published in the Queensland Times in June 1888.

On 5th April 1889 Conrad said he was robbed of £83 on the train by William Robinson (engine-driver) and John Thomas Buckley (guard). They were charged for the offence and the matter was heard in the Ipswich Police Court. The Bench came to the conclusion that the accused were not guilty of the offence and there was not one iota of evidence to substantiate the charge. Therefore, the two men left the court without the slightest stain upon their character.  Alleged Railway Robbery

William Robinson and John Buckley must have stewed on what had ensued during the lengthy court sessions, and by November they decided to sue Conrad Iszlaub for £1,000 damages for malicious prosecution. The jury found there was no reasonable cause for the proceedings instituted in the Police Court and awarded Robinson £100 damages and costs. Judgement was also entered accordingly to Buckley for £100 damages and costs.

Conrad and Martha moved to the Plainlands area where their son William and daughter-in-law Edith also farmed. They were living there when Martha died.

Martha’s death resulted from an unfortunate incident. She was in the habit of walking about the house in thin slippers. One day in August 1896 she stood on a rusty nail which went deep into her foot. Martha was transported into Rosewood and Dr. Flynn sent her by passenger train to the Ipswich Hospital. She was admitted August 12th, and died August 19th of septicaemia.

Conrad also died in the Ipswich hospital. He was admitted on the 23rd April 1909 and died on 6th May of prostatic disease and chronic cystitis. His funeral moved from the Rosewood Railway Station (on the arrival of the midday train from Ipswich) to the Tallegalla Cemetery.

Iszlaub Family 6th November 1895, Plainlands

Back Row:  L-R  George James Iszlaub, Robert Samuel Hodge, William Hannant, Margaret Hannant (nee Iszlaub), Conrad Friedrich Iszlaub jnr., William Maximilian Iszlaub, George Brown, Albertina Minnie Brown (nee Iszlaub)
Second Row: L-R  Ellen “Nellie” Maude Hodge, Mary Elizabeth Hodge (nee Iszlaub), Conrad Friedrich Iszlaub, Martha Iszlaub (nee Robertson), Edith Emily Iszlaub (nee McGeary), Florence Elizabeth Iszlaub
Front Row: L-R  William Iszlaub, Norman Hannant, Percy Iszlaub, Conrad Iszlaub, Elsie Hannant.

© Jane Schy, 2024

References:
[1] Moreton Bay Courier, Saturday 29 September 1855, page 2
[2] The Brisbane Courier, Tuesday 8 September 1868, page 4
[3] Noel Iszlaub 2x Grandson, Maryborough, Qld
Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934
Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths, Marriages
Ipswich Cemetery Records
Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980
Queensland  Naturalisation Index, 1851-1908