Francis Isidore Power 1852 – 1912
Francis Isidore POWER was born in Brisbane on 28 March 1852, the son of Michael and Anna Maria (Connolly) POWER, of Gayndah, and a brother of Virgil POWER, the first judge of the Queensland Central District Supreme Court. After their father’s death in 1859 the family moved to Ireland for their education and the boys attended Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare. Francis obtained his law degree at Trinity College, Dublin and became a solicitor with a Dublin law firm, but returned to Australia soon after. He moved to Gympie where he established a law practice in 1875, and remained in Gympie until his death on 24 June 1912. Francis POWER married Elizabeth PLUNKETT in 1887 and they had twelve children, eight boys and four girls (Francis, John, Vera, Noel, Leonard, Muriel, Mona, Joyce, Isidore, Leo, Michael, Gerald). They built, a large colonial house, called “Kitawah” on 40 acres of Mary River flats on the south side of Gympie. The home still stands, though much altered, known today as “Gunabul” and run as a restaurant. Francis POWER (senior) became a leading figure in community affairs.
He was the first Gympie citizen to become a member of the Queensland Legislative Council, and held the position of Minister for Justice (1907-1908). Besides his legal practice he was a director of several mining companies, including 2 South Great Eastern, one of Gympie’s most successful gold ventures, and was a representative of the Australasian Gold Mining Company. He was also president of the Gympie Turf Club, a founder of the Gympie Golf Club, chairman of the Drainage Board, a patron of the Gympie Hospital, president of the Gympie Stock Exchange Club, patron of the Gympie Show Society, and a member of the first Gympie Divisional Board (for which he was also the solicitor), president of the Gympie Mine Owner’s Association, and a life member of the Queensland Turf Club.
Francis POWER was also “instrumental in having legislation passed to establish a board to control floodwaters in the mines. This was a result of serious flooding and the resulting tax enabled floodgates and concrete dams to be built which solved the problem and saved the jobs of many miners.”
Like so many mining towns Gympie was subject to the fluctuations of good and bad times. One of these “bad times” occurred whilst Francis and Elizabeth were building their home “Kitawah”. To help relieve some of the unemployment Francis employed as many local men as he could. The result “was one of the most magnificent and spacious homes in Gympie, being structurally more solid than many weatherboard homes of the day, with its red cedar panelling, doors and window frames. There were servants’ quarters and a stable, a huge rotunda in the grounds where municipal bands would play for the public on Sundays, one of the first golf courses in Queensland, peacocks, an aviary, and even a monkey house.” (Gympie Times 29/9/1990)
A firm of Gympie undertakers rented stables on the property and two of the sons checked the local paper each day. If there was a funeral on that day it was their job to take the horses across the river, for which they were paid the sum of two shillings and sixpence.
The POWER boys were educated at Nudgee College, Brisbane and De La Salle College, Armidale, and all went on to become doctors, solicitors, or accountants, professions chosen by their mother. The family fortunes declined after Francis died, on 26 June 1912, and the townspeople of Gympie contributed towards his children’s education as a mark of their respect.
According to an article, published in the “Gympie Times” 29 September 1990, reporting a POWER family re-union, “Francis was remembered as a kindly gentleman who devoted much of his time to the welfare of Gympie and worked tirelessly for its development.” Elizabeth POWER sold “Kitawah” in 1924 and moved to Brisbane. Elizabeth died in Brisbane on 16th November 1936, aged 77, and is buried here with her husband.
Only one of Francis and Elizabeth’s children, Francis Plunkett POWER remained in Gympie. He followed his father into law, practising as a solicitor in the family company. Another son, Noel Plunkett POWER, who had been a clerk in Gympie, was killed in action in World War One on 4 October 1917, aged 24. The POWER children married into many well-known Gympie families, including Francis Plunkett who married Beryl RANKIN, the daughter of Robert RANKIN the draper, and whose five daughters were all, born in Gympie. Francis Plunkett died on 14 November 1967 and is buried with his wife, Beryl, in the next grave, RCSB 32. The firm of POWER and CARTWRIGHT solicitors, still operates in Gympie today, but there are no longer any members of the POWER family associated with it.
George FERRIS bought “Kitawah” from the POWERs and remodelled it to suit his large family. The stables and servant’s quarters were removed and he also changed the position of the house. William Amos was the next owner when he bought it in 1950. It had several owners and at one time was flats, until Mr. Jack Andrews bought it as a family home in 1969 and gave it the name “Gunabul”.
In 1992 the POWER family held a family reunion at Gunabul homestead and presented the owners with portraits of Francis and Elizabeth POWER.
This story was written by Denise Juler and it appeared previously in the Gympie Today.
Sources: Trove
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