Rosewood History

Domenico PEDRAZZINI, Mary GRIMLEY, Winifred HOGAN

Name: Domenico Giuseppe Antonio PEDRAZZINI
Occupation: Farmer
Birth: 5th March 1837, Campo, Vallemaggia, Ticino, Switzerland
Immigration: 19th September, 1855, the Agen Und Heinrich from Hamburg arrived Hobson’s Bay, Melbourne, Victoria with many others from Ticino.
Land: 22nd August 1870, Portions 242 (51 acres) parish of Walloon.  See Land Purchase
Land: 4th January 1875, Portion 342 (41 acres) parish of Walloon. See Land Purchase
Land: 30th April 1880, Portion 94 (343 acres ) parish of Forbes. See Corrected Title 1     See Corrected Title 2
Land: 25th August 1882, Lot 23 (1 acre) Rosewood
Land: Portion 953 (40 acres) parish of Walloon
Death: 26th January 1920, Goodna Asylum, Queensland, aged 82 years.
Burial: 27th January 1920, Ipswich General Cemetery with Mary
Religion: Roman Catholic
Father: Jacobeau PEDRAZZINI (Stone Mason)
Mother: Maria GOBBI

1st Spouse: Mary GRIMLEY
Birth: about 1846, Armagh, Northern Ireland
Immigrated: 3rd July 1863, the Cairngorm arrived Brisbane from Liverpool 20th March
Death: 30th January 1884, Mt. Walker, Queensland aged 38 years
Burial: 31st January 1884, Ipswich General Cemetery
Religion: Roman Catholic 
Father: James GRIMLEY
Mother: Mary
Married: 16th March 1864, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Ipswich, Queensland

Children: 6
Francis PEDRAZZINI (1865-1934) = Winifred SHEA
Mary PEDRAZZINI (1867-1929) = Thomas Clarke O’SULLIVAN
James Antonio PEDRAZZINI (1871-1950) = Winifred O’SHEA
Margaret PEDRAZZINI (1876-1949) = Patrick Thomas CAREW
Michel John “Jack” PEDRAZZINI (1878-1950) = Nellie Annie ROBERTS
Thomas Joseph PEDRAZZINI (1881-1968) = Bedelia Catherine DELANEY

2nd Spouse: Winifred HOGAN
Birth: 20th October 1845, Kildangan, County Tipperary, Ireland
Immigration: 24th June 1866, the Wansfell arrived Moreton Bay, Queensland from Southampton 18th March
Death: 29th November 1927, Kingaroy Hospital, Queensland aged 82 years.
Burial: 30th November 1927, Ipswich General Cemetery
Religion: Roman Catholic 
Father: Edward HOGAN
Mother: Mary HOUGH/HOWE
Married: 18th August 1884, St. Mary’s Church, Ipswich, Queensland

Children: 3
Edward PEDRAZZINI (1887-1952)
Winifred PEDRAZZINI (1888-1888)
Katherine Esther PEDRAZZINI (1890-1927) = Thomas CAREW

Domenico was 18 years old when he left his home in Switzerland. He borrowed Frs.1000 from his father to go to Australia. He was in charge of his brothers who went with him, 16 year old Carlo Francesco and 14 year old Guglielmo (William) Pedrazzini. A passage cost 22 shillings.

The German barque Agen und Heinrich left Hamburg on 31st May 1855. Captain Oldejans was responsible for 120 passengers from Vallemaggia (district of the canton of Ticino). There were 10 from Lugano, 8 from Piedmont, 2 from Verzasca, 15 Germans and 12 sailors on the voyage to Australia. The vessel was 56 yards long, 12½ yards wide (51.2m X 11.4m) and it had three masts. When the ship arrived at Port Phillip, Victoria, seven sick passengers from Vallemaggia were taken away and quarantined. Two of them were the younger Pedrazzinis. The other passengers disembarked on 22nd September.

It is unknown how Domenico made his way to Queensland however, it was probably by coastal steamers.

He married his first wife Mary in 1864 in Ipswich. Mary Grimley arrived at Brisbane after a passage of 92 days from port to port. The ship carried 353 passengers (75 Irish) and about 500 tons of cargo including something interesting, a screw lighter in pieces. An iron screw steamer intended for the bay and river trade was put together in Brisbane immediately on its arrival. It could carry 50 tons of merchandise on a draught of 4 feet of water. It was 55 ft long, had a 15 ft beam and a hold 6 ft deep. She steamed along at the rate of 6 to 7 knots an hour and was exclusively a cargo boat, not for passengers.

The coastal steamer Clarence bought Mary and the other passengers to the South Brisbane Depot. Five of the ship’s crew had tried to stow away amongst the luggage but were discovered before the steamer left the ship.

Domenico took the Oath of Allegiance to became a naturalised British Citizen on 21st December 1869 at the old Ipswich Court House in East Street. It was a requirement that he be a British citizen if he wanted to own land in this country. He purchased 92 acres at Rosewood. This land was on the west side of Mary Moran’s selection which was at the end of Railway Street.

A public meeting was called by John Vance in September 1870 to arrange for the establishment of a primary school at Rosewood. Domenico was one of the committee members given the duty of collecting subscriptions and making arrangements for a school house and teacher’s residence to be built. William Mathew, John Vance, Martin Beavis, Richard Mason, John Farrell, James Moran, Walter Bunney and Thomas Smith were the other members.

In August 1882 he bought another acre of land from John Vance. Its location was where No 31 Railway Street is now. He sold his other farmland at Rosewood and went to Mount Walker where he invested several hundreds of pounds buying land in the area.

Domenico was a very hard working and thrifty person. Despite considerable adversity, he made a comfortable home on the holding (Portion 94, 343 acres, parish of Forbes) which he purchased from Police Sergt. Edward Quinn, one of the first settlers at Woodfield, Mt Walker.

At a residents’ meeting in early 1883, he informed those present that he had previously been a farmer at Rosewood and had sold up to settle at Mount Walker. He said that because of the state of things, he was almost inclined to leave the district. His concern was the great need for a speedy way to get produce to the market. He said that if a railway line was constructed, then every farmer in the locality would be able to make a good living. All there agreed with him.

Mary Pedrazzini died the next year in 1884 leaving children aged between 3 and 19 years old. Six months later Domenico married Winifred Hogan.

Winifred had been in the Rosewood district since she came to Queensland aged 19. She came on the Wansfell with her two younger brothers Edward Hogan aged 17 and James Hogan aged 13. They were transferred from the ship to Queen’s Wharf, Brisbane by the steamship Kate, arriving at 10.30 am on the morning of 27th June 1866. They were housed at the immigration depot before the trio travelled by steamer to Ipswich. From there they made their way to Rosewood to join their elder brothers Michael and Patrick Hogan.They had immigrated in 1861 on the Mangerton.

If you look a the map above you can see the Hogan’s land (Portions 1, 2, 3, 4 parish of Ferguson), which was across Western Creek from Domenico Pedrazzini’s land. James and Patrick Hogan later selected land at Rosevale in 1872 and 1873 resp. These associations must have been how Domenico and Winifred came to meet.

Domenico didn’t take a prominent part in public matters, but for a number of years he was a member of the committee of the local State school. He was also one of the directors in the Mount Walker Co-operative Creamery Company. He and Winifred regularly attended St Patrick’s Catholic Church at Rosevale.

In 1886 a new road was opened through Pedrazzini’s land. Domenico offered the Mutdapilly Divisional Board £4 per acre for the land necessary, without fencing. This was accepted.

Around October 1910 the Pedrazzinis retired. Domenico leased the farm and moved back to Rosewood where he had arranged for a new home to be built on that acre of land in Railway Street.

Domenico was unwell for some time before he died in 1920, leaving an estate of £2,405 in the hands of Winifred and Thomas Carew. Winifred went to live with her daughter Kate Carew at Kingaroy. She made several trips back to see relatives and friends in the district and was well liked there. She was noted for her kindness and empathy and was ever ready to lend a helping hand in sickness or trouble of any description.

Winifred died in November 1927. After Mass was celebrated in the Kingaroy church, her body was transported to Ipswich. Her funeral sevice left for the Ipswich Cemetery from the church she was married in, St Mary’s Catholic Church. Her surviving family were Mrs.Thos. Carew, Ned Pedrazzini (Brisbane), James Pedrazzini (Mt. Walker), Frank Pedrazzini (Rosewood), Thomas Pedrazzini (Byrnestown State School), Michael Pedrazzini (Mt. Carbine, N.Q.). Also her step children, Mesdames T. O’Sullivan (Rosewood) and P. Carew (Boonah). Mr. James Hogan of Rosevale was her only surviving brother.

The grieving family was shaken and left further bereft by Kate Carew’s death a few days later. Kate had been accompanying her mother’s remains to Ipswich when she became ill at Gympie and was hospitalised there. She passed away at 4 o’clock on the afternoon of December 4th.

© Jane Schy, 2024

Sources:
Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934
Queensland, Australia, Naturalisation Index, 1851-1908
Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915
New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896
Queensland Registry Birth, Marriages, Deaths
Land Purchase Registers
Trove – National Library Australia
Australian Electoral Rolls