Thomas Lodge Murray Prior’s local landholdings in the early 1860s (Parish Map base QSA)
By the early 1860s the majority of the land in what are today’s inner western suburbs had been surveyed, auctioned and sold with freehold title. A continuation of the ‘terra nullius’ doctrine. As part of a larger government offering of ‘Country’ lots surrounding Brisbane, the size of the ‘Portions’ offered in today’s St Lucia averaged around 40acres. With some exception it was offered with a reserve price of £1 per acre.
Government’s intent was to quickly release land for farming to encourage settlement and a degree of self-sufficiency for the newly created Colony. Concurrently it was encouraging immigration from overseas with various inducements including land orders and grants for those individuals and families that could afford to contribute to the cost of their own passage.
There was also latent demand from established businessmen looking for investment opportunities, newly released land had potential, and it was individuals from this cohort who initially purchased most of the St Lucia land. One such individual was Thomas Lodge Murray Prior (TLMP) who purchased seven portions, in the order of 290acres, in a continuous parcel bounded by what would later be known as Indooroopilly, Carmody and Mill Roads, Sandy Creek and the Brisbane River.
At the time he was between pastoral endeavors having sold his interest in Hawkwood in the South Burnett, this enabling him to build a significant ‘land bank’. In addition to the 560acres locally, he had holdings at Moggill (750+ acres) and Cleveland (3,000+ acres fronting Waterloo Bay and at Ormiston).
From his diaries it can be seen he sailed fairly close to the wind in respect to his finances, simultaneously juggling borrowings with loans to individuals on terms, so they could purchase land from him. He sold land to Louis Hope at Ormiston, noting he thought he was overextending himself on sugar, and to Patrick Mayne out at Moggill, land that his son and daughter would later gift as part of a substantial bequest supporting UQ and its relocation to St Lucia. Despite the odd bad debt (small amounts generally) his risk taking appears to have been measured and he avoided the fate of some of his contemporaries.
TLMP arrived in Sydney in the 1830s, a ‘new chum’ he worked on pastoral stations gaining experience and taking on management responsibilities. He travelled north in the early 1840s and became a partner, then sole lessee of Broomelton (Bromelton) on the Logan River. He was supported in the purchase by his two older step sisters, the daughters from his father’s first marriage.
‘Established’ he returned south and proposed to Matilda Harpur, the daughter of Thomas Harpur, and they married in Sydney in 1846. This turned out to be a good match, and not only for Thomas and Matilda. Whilst visiting, her two sisters were courted and married TLMP’s fellow pastoralists William Barker and Charles Robert Haly (there is probably a book or a film script in this story).
In the mid 1850s TLMP decided to try his hand in the Burnett region and purchased Hawkwood, selling his interest in Bromelton but transferring most of the stock. Coincidentally his mother and father where visiting from England, his father (Major) Thomas Prior taking advantage of a land grant available to serving military officers. He selected what became known as Prior’s Pocket, and this was used as a staging point for the transfer of stock.
Thomas Prior, Thomas Lodge Murray Prior, and Thomas de Montmorency Murray Prior (M-P family archive and National Library of Australia)
There is often confusion between the Murray Priors, Tom or Thomas Prior the father, who only spent a couple of years here, TLMP (later hyphenated), and his firstborn, Thomas de Montmorency (Irish spelling used here to reflect the origin of the name rather than the French version with an ‘I’) who followed in his father’s footsteps.
His timing for the move was not the best with escalating tensions and conflict with the displaced Aborigines. His then 7 or 8 year old daughter Rosa Caroline (Praed) would later write a romanticised version of TLMP’s swashbuckling role in the action taken to subdue this resistance, one at odds with his own, and his station manager’s accounts. Later in life he reflected on the positive aspects of his relationship with Aborigines on his properties or in his employ, he nevertheless acknowledged his, and his contemporaries role in this ‘vigilante’ activity.
Coupled with some difficulties with stock, he decided to sell up and moved the family back to Brisbane. By this time his family was growing, he would have eight surviving children with Matilda, a further seven children with his second wife Nora Clarina Barton (and at least two known children out of wedlock). Matilda would have been relieved and delighted at the contrast to station life. They rented Eskgrove for a time, lived out at Cleveland, and then at Shafston before purchasing and moving into Montpelier at Kangaroo Point.
His temporary retreat from country life coincided with separation from NSW and the creation of the new Colony of Queensland in 1859. He soon found himself engaged as Postal Inspector and then the first salaried Post Master General of Queensland. His brothers in law put up the bond to enable him to be engaged. His salary was £600 per annum plus a fodder and other allowances. This was a tidy sum, gave him a level of confidence to purchase his land bank, but also meant he spent a fair time in the saddle establishing mail runs and new postal services in areas rapidly being opened up for settlement.
During this time TLMP was appointed to the Legislative Council, on which he served until his death in the early 1890s, by then regarded as one of the old conservative guard drawn from the pastoralist ranks. He had stood unsuccessfully prior to this for the Legislative Assembly.
It is, however, clear that he missed the challenges and opportunities of life on the land, and his diaries offer a combination of postal business and assessments of the stock bearing capabilities of the properties he visited on his travels. He seriously began to examine options during 1864 but by the end of the year had still not made any firm decision. He was obviously influenced by Matilda who was reluctant to return to station life based partly on their experiences at Hawkwood, and likely having her become accustomed to ‘Town’ life and mixing in ‘Society’.
This was only a temporary, TLMP next took on Maroon and Rathdowney, perhaps too good an opportunity to miss (arising from insolvency). Montpelier appears to have been part of the ‘package’, becoming their town house.
Maroon became the family home, with two of the children becoming partners in subsequent additional ventures. Lizzie, who married John Jardine ran Aberfoyle, and Thomas de Montmorency who married Florence Moor, Bulliwallah (both inland from Mackay and south of Charters Towers).
Matilda died young in 1868 and TLMP remarried in 1872, the beginning of a second family that would be brought up in a different family environment and circumstances to the first.
Further reading SLHG Reference Notes No 8 A Fair Slice of St Lucia and No 30 Charles Robert Haly
brisbane history west 