Earliest Registered Births on Gympie Goldfields

Still to this day, a most popular research request made of Gympie Family History Society members is from people who have been told that their ancestor was the first white child, male or female, born in Gympie.

However, one will never know the answer for sure as not all births were registered, most were, here is a list of those as they have been registered, as posted in one of our Societies earlier Gazettes from the 1990s.

The first female registered birth was Jane Smyth born on the 10th January 1868. Jane was the second child, first daughter, born to Samuel Smyth, a miner, and his wife, Mary Smyth nee McKillop. As accounted for in Queensland Births, Deaths and Marriages, Samuel and Mary had nine children, six sons and three daughters of whom four sons and one daughter survived into adulthood. Jane sadly passed away, a newborn, on the day of her birth.

The first male registered was Isaac Burgess who was born on the 14th January 1868. Isaac was one of five children born to Isaac Hudson Burgess, a timber merchant, and his wife, Hannah Burgess nee Lake, Isaac was their middle child, he passed away as an infant, at one year of age, on the 3rd February 1869.

This story was written by Denise Juler.

Sources:  GFHS Research Collection; Qld BDM – www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au;