Farmhouse of Fewings Daughter in Eumundi

The photo features the second house built by Frederick Arthur Munro,who married Althea Hull of Toowong circa 1903-1908.

Althea Hull was the daughter of J.B.Fewings, of Carslake Toowong. Along with her sister she had run a school in Toowong.

Frederick Arthur Hull was one of the original settlers of Eumundi and could be regarded as pineer of the region. Alone he carved a dairy farm out of virgin rainforest in Eumundi and because he did this without assistance , he recorded this acheivement in the name he gave his property, which he called"Lone Hand". The name of the properity is reflected in the fact that there is a Lonehand Rd. in Eumundi. He cleared the land and planted crops. On the failure of the first crop, he turned to dairying . He was the first person in Eumundi top send cream to the Strathpine Butter factory in 1909.

The first hut that Fred (as he was known) built was a very basic affair and was constructed of split slabs and was a simple affair. It is thought that the original hut burnt down, although this not certain. Fred built the second house himself for his family and one has to admire the spirit of his wife who traded an elegant social life as the daughter of well-to-do upper middle class family for the life of a pioneering settler in primitive conditions. As Althea was well educated herself and both a teacher and the daughter of a highly successful teacher, she was particular about the education of her children. The eldest, Helen was sent to Toowong to live with her grandmother and attended the Brisbane Girls' Grammar; the next, Alan was educated at boarding school in Toowoomba Boys Grammar ,while the youngest, Vivienne was sent to Maryborough Grammar as a boarder.

There was nothing in Eumundi and health services were non-existant. Althea paid the price for this isolation when one of her children died in childbirth. There was no assistance and the baby died while infant and mother were being transported to Toowong on the back of a bullock dray for medical aid after complications set in during the birth. Consequently her last child was born in Toowong at the Toowong birthing hospital in Dean St.

Althea's sister married Fred's brother. It is probable that Fred meet Althea through visiting his brother in Toowong. But whether this is actually how they meet the family really don't know and can only speculate as to how a very busy pineering farmer found the opportunity to meet and court a well-bred young lady who was very at home in the fashionable drawing rooms of the elite in Toowong and who later was to swap it all to become the matriach of one of the first pioneering familieas of Eumundi.

In this, she resembled her father who swapped the familiar rural setting of his childhood to come to Toowng in the 1860's and be one of the original settlers in Toowong when the larger farming estates were being broken up into smaller villas. Just as her father established himself as significant to the development of Toowong, especially as the headmaster of Petrie School and in the spiritual life of St. Thomas Church, so did his daughter become equally important to the history of Eumundi when she and her husband Frederick Hull established thenselves as significant to the history of Eumundi.

(Source: Oral history of Ms Genevieve Kennett (grand-daughter of Althea and Fred Hull and also to a paper written by Hessie Lindsell of the Eumundi Historical Association.)

 

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Opening of Toowong Library
Toowong Railway Station c.1900
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1939 Aerial View of West Toowong
Althea Hull was the daughter of J.B.Fewings - her hut at Eumundi
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Plot numbers for above graves