First chairmen of Gympie Division

Well-educated and with a cultured background, William Couldery (1839-1919), had an engaging personality, an interest in art and literature, and an ability to converse on a wide range of subjects. Sent to New South Wales in 1855 at the age of sixteen because of family concern about a lung complaint, Couldrey regained his health in the outback. In 1862 he visited England, and on his return came to Queensland, where he led an itinerant life as a stockman and drover. He was working on Gin Gin Station when gold was discovered and he arrived in Gympie in January 1868. With Nugent Wade Brown, a mate from Gin Gin, he bought the 4 South Lady Mary claim and unsuccessfully worked the Caledonia reef. The claim was then amalgamated with nearby claims belonging to Robert and Frederick Lord. Noticing gold in mullock from an old shaft, the partners built a windlass, dug further, and soon struck a ‘jeweller’s shop’, a patch thick with gold.

Couldery became a big investor on the goldfield, acquiring shares in four of the Smithfield mines. At the Logan River, south of Brisbane, he developed a sugar plantation and distillery, built a sawmill and a brickworks, established a dairy farm, and introduced pure-bred Ayrshire cattle. In 1892, he decided to re-open ‘Pollock’s Folly’, an old shaft on the Smithfield Reef near the One Mile School. This mine, which became the Phoenix PC, struck rich gold, and Couldery made a second fortune. He moved to Sydney, investing in real estate and Sydney Harbour ferry companies. However he maintained his interest in Gympie mining, the New Dawn mine (1903-1911) being his last investment. Couldrey died at ‘Warlingham’, his mansion at Elizabeth Bay, in 1919. ‘Warlingham’ was also the name of the home on Lady Mary Terrace in Gympie, where for many years he had lived with his wife Susannah, daughter Dorothy, and sons Victor and Reginald. St Peter’s Anglican Church now stands on the site.

The Profile of Mr William Henry Couldery, J.P. (Extract from Gympie’s Heritage No.1 Dec. 1996) Mr Couldery landed in Sydney 1855 from England after his health demanded a change in life due to lung troubles. An attack of fever and ague, the result of a droving trip, sent Mr Couldery south. It was the proclamation of Gympie goldfield, on 16 September 1867, that he thought of forsaking the nomadic existence. In January, 1868, Mr Couldery first arrived in Gympie, and immediately turned his attention to mining, with some initial success. He had a thorough belief in Gympie’s future, and backed his opinion with his money. As a result, his name has become identified with all the enterprise and progress that have distinguished that field. Mr Couldery adopted an up-to-date style of mining. Windlasses and whims gave way to the latest inventions in machinery and cages. Science was brought into play and thanks to Mr Couldery’s initiative, the electric light displaced the dripping hollow candle in the big mines. He held interests in every mine of any note. With the Phoenix, Smithfield United, and the No. 2 and 3 Smithfield, he is more particularly identified. Indeed, his name may be quoted as signifying the mines themselves, so greatly are their successes due to his capital and enterprise. Outside of Gympie, his interests are many and varied. He took up land in the Logan district and planted cane, built a sugar mill, into which vacuum pans were introduced at his instigation for the first time in Southern Queensland. A sawmill, distillery, and a brick-mill owed their existence to him. Then Mr Couldery gave these industries the go-by, and went in for cattle-breeding, being the first to introduce pure bred Ayrshires into Queensland, and his stock are well known. The celebrated St. Helena herd sprung from cattle of Mr Couldery’s breeding. An attempt to introduce New Zealand farm horses was not so successful. His conversation is that of the cultured man, while his opinions and ideas on all subjects are alike attractive and valuable. It has already been said that Queensland is fortunate in her prominent men, and it is certain that in her annals a prominent place will be given to the name of Mr William Henry Couldery.

Ageston Sugar Plantation

Ageston Sugar Plantation was a sugar plantation established in 1866 on the Logan River at Alberton, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It was one of a number of early plantations which pioneered the region’s sugar industry.

William Couldery

The plantation was sold to William Henry Couldery of Gympie in 1871. London born, William Henry immigrated to Australia as a young man due to a respiratory illness, and on regaining his health undertook pastoral pursuits in New South Wales and Queensland before arriving in Gympie in 1868. On the recently proclaimed goldfield he became renowned as an innovator, introducing new technology such as electric lighting and modern mining machinery. He owned or had shares in a number of goldmines and profited from the Gympie gold rush, becoming the first chairman of the Gympie Divisional Board and taking positions on many other local institutions. In 1872 he married Susanna Geddes of Caboulture and by the following year had started a family, with the birth of a daughter, Beatrice, at his Gympie residence, Warlingham Villa. The Couldreys had three more children, Reginald Hall (b. 1875), Victor Carlton (b. 1881) and Dorothy Rosamund (b. approx. 1896). William Couldery did not initially take up residence at Ageston, remaining instead in Gympie to oversee his interests there. Like many plantations, Ageston was run by a Manager.

Although William Couldery resided in Gympie and was registered as a freeholder there on the Queensland electoral roll until 1891, he was also registered as a leaseholder, and then freeholder, at Ageston in the roll for the Logan Electoral District through to 1904/5. He appeared to have a close involvement in the management of the estate and did periodically visit it. It was during such a visit, in 1875, that the office at the manager’s house was struck by lightning not long after the occupants had finished dinner. The lightning ignited a batch of newspapers in the office, and the flames spread to a bed and the calico lining of the room. William Couldery saved the building by throwing the burning materials outside into the rain. The account of the incident provides an insight into the spatial arrangement and domestic life of the house, referring to the presence of women and children, including a servant girl and a baby belonging to Mune. In addition to an office, the house had a dining room and a sitting room. William Couldery had his own bedroom within the residence, while the customs official slept in the office, the bed that was burned being his.

In 1887 a catastrophic flood impacted the district, resulting in widespread loss of stock and infrastructure. No substantial damage was reported at Ageston and William Couldery, who had a supply of 40 000 feet of hardwood from the sawmill, offered to meet relief orders for scantling at a reduced cost.

The downturn in the sugar industry at this time induced the government to hold an enquiry in 1888. William Couldery gave evidence, stating that he was no longer making a profit from sugar. By this date the estate was reported as being 1300 acres, with £30,000 having been invested in it. However, only five acres were under production (3 acres of sweet potato and 2 acres of lucerne). The main activities on the estate were distilling and cattle breeding.

During the drought of 1888 William Couldery decided to cease horse breeding and instructed Brisbane auctioneers to sell his entire stud of 54 draught horses. William based himself more permanently on the property. In late 1891 he and his wife moved from Ageston to a property, Cedar Grove, on the Upper Logan. Cedar Grove was inherited from his wife’s family, and here he built a cheese factory and concentrated on dairying. William Couldery retained Ageston, however, where the bulk of his Ayrshire herd was kept – in 1892 the herd numbered over 200 head, the largest Ayrshire herd in Queensland. In 1893, when William Couldery did not apply to have his distilling license renewed, the distillery was dismantled and the still secured by government authorities.

In 1894 the estate was transferred into Susannah Couldery’s name. At this time Ageston had a large olive grove and the following year put the mill rollers to use in an olive crushing trial. By the turn of the century, William and Susannah had moved to Sydney. Ageston was occupied and managed by their son, Victor, while Cedar Grove was in the hands of Reginald Despite the advertised sale in 1899 of 330 acres of land at bargain prices, Ageston endured into the early 20th century. Cattle remained an economic pursuit, Victor Couldery building a cattle dip in 1906, and his brother, Reginald, reported as moving stock from that property to Ageston in 1907. However, the family interest in Ageston was fading. William and Susannah Couldery moved to Sydney, where Susannah died in 1912, and William in 1919. Not long after William’s death the plantation was subdivided and sold off.

Compiled and written by Conny Visini, 2021

REFERENCES:

From Gympie Family History Society’s, Mayors Collection

Gympie Regional Council website link, or National Library of Australia;
“The Gympie goldfield 1867-2008”, by John Ferguson and Elaine Brown, 2009

Gympie Gold Museum, Newsletter February 2017