BROWNE Reginal Spencer

Reginald Spencer Browne CB (13 July 1856 – 9 November 1943) was a journalist, newspaper editor, and an Australian Army Brigadier General in World War I.

Early life and career

Reginald Spencer Browne (a.k.a. Browne, R. Spencer; Browne, Spencer; Spencer-Browne, Reginald) was born at Oaklands, Appin, New South Wales on 13 July 1856, the son of a pastoralist. His father, also born in Australia, was a superintending officer of yeomanry. Browne was educated at Appin, Corowa and in England. He became journalist, working for several newspapers including the Albury Banner and the Deniliquin Pastoral Times, before becoming sub editor of the Townsville Herald in 1877, editor of the Cooktown Herald in 1878 and editor of the Brisbane Observer in 1881. In 1882 Browne joined the Brisbane Courier, and stayed there nearly all of his working life, until 1936.

Browne joined the Queensland Mounted Infantry in 1887 and was commissioned a lieutenant. During the shearers strike of 1891, Browne took commanded a flying column which put down the strike; he took part in these actions even though he was sympathetic to the unions cause. Browne was promoted to captain in 1891 and then to major in 1896.

Browne volunteered for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War, and sailed in November 1899 with the 1st Queensland Contingent. For his services, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with five clasps, and was mentioned in despatches. Browne returned to Australia in November 1900.

In 1903 Browne became commanding officer of the 13th Light Horse Regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Then in 1906 he became the commander of the 5th Light Horse Brigade and was promoted to full colonel. He then transferred onto the list of Reserve of Officers in 1911.

World War I

Browne joined the First Australian Imperial Force on 16 March 1915 as commander of the 4th Light Horse Brigade. This brigade was sent to Egypt, but was dismounted and broke up on 26 August 1915. Browne's new unit, the 13th Light Horse Regiment, was assigned to the newly formed 2nd Division, with which it served at Anzac Cove.

On 28 August 1915, Browne was appointed officer commanding Australian Details Egypt, responsible for training reinforcements. In September Major General Legge sent for him to replace the commander of the 6th Infantry Brigade who had drowned following the torpedoing of the troop transport Southland. Browne took over the brigade on 8 September 1915 and served at Lone Pine and Quinn's Post, but at the age of 59 the rigours of the campaign combined with his age began to take its toll. Nonetheless he stayed until he was evacuated on 10 December 1915.

On his return to Egypt, Browne was transferred to the Training and General Base Depot at Tel el Kebir. He was promoted to temporary brigadier general on 16 March 1916 and appointed to command the Depot on 20 March 1916. During 1915 he had published The Heroic Serbians, for which he was awarded the Serbian Red Cross. When the Base moved to England, Browne went with it, taking command of the Training Depots in England on 14 June 1916. On 25 July 1916, his command was abolished and merged into AIF depots in the United Kingdom under Major General Newton James Moore. Browne took charge of the 2nd Command Depot at Weymouth, England; this unit was responsible for taking in men "unfit for service within six months" and therefore to be returned home.

On 12 October 1917, Browne was declared medically unfit and listed for return to Australia. He took a visit to France, and then left for Australia on 24 November 1917. On 10 February 1918, Browne was appointed to command the new Molonglo Concentration Camp near Canberra, where German internees were held. Browne was demobilized on 17 December 1918, and was formally retired on 20 October 1921 as an honorary major general.

Post-war

For two years (1921–1922) Browne was State president of the Queensland branch of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia. From 1925 to 1927, he contributed weekly articles to the Courier on his memories of people and events in 19th century Queensland. These were collected and published as A Journalist's Memories in 1927. The book is considered a reliable source of much information on the history and legends of Queensland.

Personal

In 1881 Browne moved to Brisbane and married Violet Edith Fanny Sutton of Maryborough on 13 October. She died soon afterwards. On 7 August 1889 he had married Catherine Fraser Munro (d.1942), a noted musician and amateur actress. He had been interested primarily in pastimes like polo, shooting and fishing, but henceforth shared wide cultural interests with his wife.

He died, childless, in Brisbane on 9 November 1943, and was cremated.

Publications

• Romances of goldfield and bush by R. Spencer Browne, London : Gordon and Gotch, 1890.
• The heroic Serbians : an appeal for help by Spencer Browne, Weymouth : Sherren, 1916, 1917, 1918.
• A Journalist's Memories by Spencer Browne, Brisbane : Read Press, 1927.
• The men of Queensland / Stanley Bruce Kennard: notes and recollections by Spencer Browne, Brisbane : H.J. Diddams, 1927.[7]
• The sheep industry by Spencer Browne, Brisbane, 1942.
• Brisbane Theatre of the Old Days by Reginald Spencer Browne, in In The Early Days by J.J. Knight, n.d.
• Foundation of the Brisbane Courier by Reginald Spencer Browne, n.d.

Manuscripts

• George Essex Evans: an appreciation by Spencer Browne, 1931. "Address delivered at Essex Evans Memorial, Toowoomba, 18 June 1931."
• Songs of the sixties by Spencer Browne, [1940-41?]. "A lecture delivered at...on...with musical accompaniments provided by Mrs Spencer Browne."

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Spencer_Browne  Downloaded 1 June 2012

BRADLEY Vera

Author of: I didn’t know that: Cairns and Districts Tully to Cape York, 1939-1936, Service Personnel and Civilians.

Vera Gladys Bradley nee Downey was born at Emerald in Central Queensland, the fifth child in a family of six. In 1927 the Downey’s moved to Cairns where Vera attended Parramatta State School. On leaving school she was employed as a sales assistant.

In 1943 she enlisted with her mother in the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) and served at Charters Towers, Cairns, Darley in Victoria and the 112 AGH Greenslopes, Brisbane.

In 1945 she married Ronald James Bradley, a watch repairer in the A.I.F. After hostilities ceased they returned to Cairns and opened their own business. Later they had two children, Veronica and Bradley.

Reference: BRADLEY, Vera, I didn’t know that: Cairns and Districts Tully to Cape York, 1939-1946, Service Personnel and Civilains, Boolarong Press, Moorooka, 1995, p. x.

BOTTOMS Dr Timothy

Extensive research: Dr Timothy Bottoms
working on Conspiracy Of Silence.
Photo: Mike Watt.

Blood baths of the past: Dr Timothy Bottoms talks his new book Conspiracy Of Silence

By Denise Carter, Saturday, March 17, 2012

© The Cairns Post

Genocide isn't a word we would like to associate with the history of Cairns, but historian and author Dr Timothy Bottoms says that's exactly what happened, writes Denise Carter.

When driving between Woree and Edmonton over Skeleton Creek, a vision of skulls on posts is not likely to be conjured in your mind.

Marked: the yellow areas on this map
from Dr Bottoms' book show
places where he believes massacres
have occurred in Queensland.

Although it might, had you read local author Dr Timothy Bottoms’ upcoming book, Conspiracy of Silence, about the massacres of Aborigines on Queensland’s 19th century frontier.

“There were 16 skulls on posts,” Dr Bottoms says from his Edge Hill home.

The skulls were just part of the results of what Bottoms calls The Skull Pocket-Mulgrave River-Skeleton Creek battue (or blood bath), which he says was the stuff of nightmares.

European settlers, both with and without the Queensland Native Mounted Police, “dispersed” gatherings of Aborigines, which involved shooting men, women and children.

The native mounted police were trained and equipped by the colonial government under the helm of a sub inspector, ultimately accountable to the Queensland Colonial Secretary.

Massacre: an illustration from the 1800s shows a group of white
vigilantes in action.

They were Aboriginal men usually living and recruited miles away from where they were to operate, Dr Bottoms says, so they had no allegiance to the people they were required to kill.

“There were death squads on the frontier,” he says.

The Skeleton Creek battue started north of Yungaburra.

It was commented upon by Jack Kane from Yungaburra, who was 18 when he was a participant in 1884, in an interview with Dr Norman Tindale recorded in Tindale’s expedition diary in 1938.

Kane said: “I didn’t mind the killing of the bucks but I didn’t quite like them braining the kids.”

“The babies were bashed against trees until their brains splattered out,” Dr Bottoms says.

Dr Bottoms created the foundations for the book while researching A History of Cairns, a Cairns Regional Council commissioned work, which was, controversially, not published in 2003.

“I was trying to paint the Sistine Chapel in words but they wanted a roller block job on a toilet block,” Bottoms says.

At the time the council cited the cost of publication as the reason.

Dr Bottoms says Queensland Museum are currently considering his book for publication this year, and as the basis for a six-month exhibition in 2013.

For Conspiracy of Silence, which a Queensland Museum spokeswoman described as “a very substantial research work”, he used primary source documents and spoke to both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, starting his work with the arrival of Captain Cook from the point of view of the rainforest Aboriginal people.

He says he debunks “the pioneering myth” that Australia was settled in a peaceful manner.

Dr Bottoms explains the pioneering myth does not mention (or briefly mentions) the impact on indigenous Australians and places emphasis on white man’s achievements in conquering the land.

During his research and writing, he mapped where massacres occurred.

He says the difference between his work and that of others is locating the massacres.

“I have identified each on a map so you can follow them and the result is astounding,” he says.

At the outset, Bottoms believed the massacres may have just happened in the Cairns area.

“When I stood back, I had to pick my jaw up from the floor,” he says.“I had no idea.

“Now I believe what I’ve uncovered is less than 10 per cent of the massacres in Queensland.”

The book includes a map of the massacres all over Queensland.

Based on historian Professor Raymond Evans’ figures, Bottoms says the amount of men, women and children killed in such massacres stands at about 50,000 between 1859 and 1897.

Any protests from the white population, he says, were quashed with social and economic restrictions, and so protestors usually used nom de plumes to vent their angst in newspapers.

There were, nevertheless, people who did speak out against the atrocities to no avail.

“Their valiant efforts were ignored by successive governments,” Dr Bottoms says.

Other massacres included the Massacre of the Mitchell River (or The Battle of Mitchell River) and the Speewah Massacre.

“You can map the genealogies for clan groups and there are big gaps,” Dr Bottoms says.

Dr Bottoms worked with indigenous elder Ernie Grant of the Jirrbal/Girramay people in Tully when researching his book and plans to work with him in the future.

“We are looking at doing a documentary film in the style of Two Men In A Tinnie,” Dr Bottoms says.

“I would be travelling with Ernie through the frontier.”

The idea would be to stop off at points of interest and analyse past events.

Dr Bottoms has been spreading the word about the massacres around the country.

He presented at the Q150 conference in Brisbane and his presentation is available online.

And while presenting at the National Museum of Australia, where he was awarded a fellowship as writer in residence, Dr Bottoms says he received a standing ovation.

The researching and writing has come at a personal cost.

Apart from the effort involved in such a vast amount of work, he says he found his discoveries very depressing.

“I found it horrific,” he says.

“Most of my crying I did while reading about it 20 years ago.

“It doesn’t help your wellbeing.”

But it has been worthwhile.

“I passionately believe it had to be done,” he says.

Dr Bottoms believes this largely unnoticed history of Australia has to be acknowledged.

“We can’t as a nation walk on an international stage if we don’t clean our backyard.”

Reference: http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2012/03/17/210681_lifestyle.html  Downloaded 31 May 2012