Rosewood History

Model of the Ramillies

Thomas HOGAN and Harriet Ann PHELPS

Name: Thomas HOGAN
Occupation: Farmer: Lengthsman on the railway
Birth: 1829 Garrydenchy, Tipperary, Ireland
Baptised: 6th October 1829, Mullinahone, Tipperary, Ireland
Immigration: 29 November 1855, the Ramillies anchored at the river bar at Moreton Bay, New South Wales
Death: 25th April 1903, at his residence in Rosewood, Queensland aged 73 years
Burial: Ipswich General Cemetery (Grave number 7238)
Religion:  Roman Catholic
Father: John HOGAN
Mother: Mary SAUCE
Marriage: 22 November 1860, St Mary’s Catholic Church, Ipswich

Spouse: Harriet Ann PHELPS/PHILLIPS
Birth: 1812, Seavington St Mary, Somerset, England
Baptised: 26th July 1812, Wayford, Somerset, England
Immigration: 19th September 1858, the Alfred arrived Moreton Bay, New South Wales
Land:  22nd February, 1878 – Subdivsion 1 of Free Selection 7L in the West Moreton agricultural reserve, county of Churchill, parish of Walloon.
Death: 9th November 1894, at her residence in Rosewood, Queensland aged 82 years
Burial: 10th November 1894, Ipswich General Cemetery  (Roman Catholic B, Grave number 5413)
Religion: Church of England (on arrival to Qld)
Father: Davidus (David) ROWE
Mother: Elizabeta (Elizabeth) LANE

1st spouse: Abraham Samuel PHELPS
Birth: 9th November 1809, Seavington St. Mary, Somerset, England
Death: 24th December 1853, Seavington St Mary, Somerset, England
Father: Jarman PHELPS
Mother: Ann Martha PERRY
Marriage: 14th May 1836, Seavington St Mary, Somerset, England

Children: 4
David Rowe PHILLIPS (1837-1874) = Margaret PERDIEUX
Adam Rowe PHILLIPS (1839-unknown) = Ann LEE
Emma Amelia PHILLIPS (1845-1866) = Alfred James BAKER
Elizabeth Ann PHILLIPS (1845-1922) = Morris CUMNER

Thomas Hogan claimed to be the oldest pioneer of the district with the exception of John Farrell. 

The 740 ton barque, the Ramillies, left the Thames (London) on 3rd July 1855 for Moreton Bay. Thomas had an exciting welcome to Queensland (then New South Wales) when all did not go well when arriving at the Bay. The masters of ships arriving in Moreton Bay were given Admiralty Charts. If these were followed, then the ships would get to shore with no problems. A red buoy indicated the western entrance of Freeman’s channel and a chequered black and white  buoy marked the shipping channel. When the ships arrived they did not know that the red buoy was not in position and had been washed away. The captains mistook the black and white buoy as the first on their chart.

Several ships encounted problems because of this. The Venus was lost in Freeman’s channel and the Caspar four months prior, had a narrow escape. The Ramillies was steering the same course when a pilot boarded the ship just in time to save her. The Ramillies also reported to have other issues that made the journey arduous for the passengers. The local immigration board held an enquiry relating to complaints against the captain and ship’s surgeon. The allegations that were made about the inferior provisions supplied on the voyage were dismissed and a decision was never made about the allegations about the irregularities that occurred in regards to their behaviour with unmarried females.

Thomas found his way to Ipswich where he met and married a widow named Harriet Phelps.
At St. Mary’s Church, Ipswich, on the 22nd instant, by the Rev. W. McGinty, Mr. Thomas Hogan, late of County Tipperary, Ireland, to Harriet, relict of the late Samuel Phelps, of Sevington, Somersetshire, England, and both of Ipswich. [North Australian, Ipswich and General Advertiser, Friday 23 November 1860, page 2]

Harriet immigrated to Brisbane in 1858 after her husband’s death in England. Harriet, a 45 year old domestic servant, her twin daughters Elizabeth and Amelia aged 12 and her son Adam aged 18, went to Ipswich where her older son David was living. David immigrated on the Conrad in 1855.

Harriet and her children were among the earliest residents of Ipswich. They lived in the river pocket of Coalfalls, in the western suburbs of Ipswich. Thomas joined her after they married. It’s unknown what he did for employment in these years.

In 1863 Thomas signed a Requistion from some annoyed inhabitants of Ipswich, for the Mayor to convene and chair a public meeting about the Colonial Secretary’s attempt to “stop the healthy stream of immigration now settling in this country”. It was mainly about the Irish immigrants as suggested in this article. Article

Thomas was a member of the Ipswich Hibernian Society. In 1874 the Society had an excursion by train to Gatton on St Patrick’s Day. The train was 15 minutes late leaving Ipswich because of the number of people boarding. There was room for 600 passengers and many boarded at stations along the way on the two hour trip. The Hogans were on board and Thomas was chosen to take part in a Hurling match. The Queenslander reported:-

Amongst other things the playing of a hurling match was introduced, for the first time, we believe, in Queensland. The game is thoroughly Irish, and bears about the same relation to the national sports of the Emerald Isle that cricket does to those of England. Usually the picked athletes of one parish or county are matched against those of some neighboring district, and as the number of men playing is frequently very large, and thousands of persons throng to the scene of contest, and take almost as active an interest in the proceeding as the players themselves, an Irish hurling match is about as lively an affair as anyone could wish to see. 

From the following account of the match at Gatton it would seem that the attempt to introduce the sport there was very succcesful. The programme of sports opened with the hurling match. Mr. William Sullivan, of Helidon, and Mr. P. O’Sullivan, of Ipswich, were chosen as captains, when they picked the following gentlemen to take part in the game: For Mr. O’Sullivan—Messrs. Pender, P. Saunders, M. M’Grath, D. M’Namara, T. Burke, E. Collins, J. Toomey, Jas. Dwyer, R. Ahearn, T. Sullivan, and W. Quinn. For Mr. Sullivan—Messrs. L. Slattery, P. Shaw, J. Flattery, J. Sullivan, John Farrell, W. Lynch, Dan. Sullivan, William Heffernan, P. Ryan, E. M’Cormack, and Thomas Hogan. 

Mr. W. Sullivan’s men seemed to be the choice, and succeeded, after very good play on both sides, in scoring three goals to their opponents’ one. The day being hot, it was considered advisable to give over hurling, which ended without the predicted fight. It is now near time for some people to give up those antiquated notions of fighting at Hibernian gatherings, as three picnics have taken place without the “free fight” anticipated.

Read about the excursion here if you wish.  

Thomas and Harriet moved from Ipswich and went to live at Rosewood. Harriet bought Lot 1 from John William Vance in 1878 after Vance started to subdivide his land. This was 2 acres of land in Railway Street.

They lived quietly and happily in their community and it is hard to find too much about them. Thomas is listed as a new subscriber to the newspaper Australian during the week ending Thursday, 6 February 1879. Around 1884 Thomas found employment as a lengthsman in the maintenance branch of the railway.

Then there were the letters that Thomas wrote to the Rosewood Divisional Board about the upkeep of the road in front of their home. In June 1892 he and John Frederich (store owner) asked for the stumps in the road fronting their properties to be removed. They also asked and for a crossing to be made over the gully (which crossed the road and ran under the railway bridge) because it was quite impassable and dangerous. In May 1893 Thomas wrote asking for a couple of old box drains which were lying opposite the police station so he could install them in the road from his fence to the present water table (the highest level that soil is saturated). He offered to do the work for 10 shillings. Then in April 1899 he wrote about the box drain near his garden needing repairs.

Harriet had been in delicate health for the two years prior to her death, and died as result of having bronchitis. Harriet left her land to Thomas. That Christmas Thomas placed a tribute to Harriet in the Queensland Times.

Years will come and years will go
But the form I love so well,
It vanished from my home
How I miss her none can tell.
Angels to their starry home
Call the gem I could not keep,
There she waits until I come
My darling wife is gone to sleep.
(Inserted by her affectionate and loving husband, Thomas Hogan)

A couple of years later in 1896 Thomas sold off all of his household furniture and sundry items. Perhaps he found life hard without Harriet as there are reports about him being drunk and disorderly.

One Sunday in April 1903, he died at home after having lived in Rosewood for 37 years. Nineteen of those years he spent employed by the railway. His death was not entirely unexpected, as he had been in failing health for some time. Bartholomew Coveney was named as the sole executor in his will. Land described as Subdivision A of Portion 106, County of Stanley, Parish of Ipswich was transferred to Bartholomew Coveney.

© Jane Schy, 2024

References:
Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915
Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1914
Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914
Trove – National Library of Australia
New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896
Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages