Letter from Clement Lawless to his brother John of Cloyne, County Cork, Ireland, 26 April 1846

MLMSS 10129

fonds

26 April 1846

9604913

0.01 metres of textual material (1 folder) - manuscript

Clement Francis Lawless (1815-1877), pastoralist, was born at Cloyne, County Cork, Ireland. Clement and his brother Paul sailed for Australia from Liverpool in June 1840. After a while sheep farming on the Hunter River, the brothers bought cattle and drove them 600 miles (966 km) to the Albert River in the Moreton Bay District, where, in 1842, they took up the Nindooinbah run under a squatting licence.

Seeking land more suitable for sheep, Clement and Paul rode north up the Brisbane valley in 1846, where they found fertile, well-grassed land watered by lagoons and deep creeks in the Burnett district. At this time the region was still centrally governed from New South Wales, before the separate colony of Queensland was proclaimed in 1859. The brothers sold Nindooinbah and in 1847, with twenty shepherds, many sheep, some cattle and horses, and drays laden with supplies and tools, travelled through the Brisbane valley to the Burnett country. There, Clement and Paul took up Booubyjan, Windera and Boonimba, building their home on Booubyjan. These runs covered 281 sq. miles (728 km²). In 1857 the brothers took up Bluff Plains and Bunya Creek in the Mary River valley, a run of thirty-four sq. miles (88 km²) which they named Imbil.

By 1859 Clement had returned to Ireland, where in September 1860 he married Henrietta Babington, daughter of Thomas Wise. He bought Kilcroan near Cloyne. His only child, Emmeline Anne, was born in 1866. With his wife and daughter he visited Queensland in 1867 and returned to Ireland next year. His last trip to Queensland was in 1873, when he sold his interest in Booubyjan and Imbil to Ellen, the widow of Paul Lawless. Clement died at Kilcroan on 22 May 1877 as the result of a hunting accident.

Reference:
C. G. Austin and Clem Lack, 'Lawless, Clement Francis (1815–1877)', Australian Dictionary of Biography

A three-and-a-half page letter, from Clement Lawless to his brother, the Reverend John Paul Lawless Pyne, in Cloyne, County Cork, Ireland, 26 April 1846. The letter is crossed throughout on woven paper with fragments of original red wax seal and address panel with postal stamps.

The letter provides an insight into the world of a mid-nineteenth century pastoralist and contains detail and observations about life and conditions in the colony, advancing agricultural interests and reflects the community’s interest in exploration, to open up new lands for occupation and development with particular interest in Ludwig Leichhardt’s expedition from Sydney to Port Essington.

Clement’s writing responds to circumstances surrounding early European life and interests in Australia. He alludes to Governor Gipp’s policy of ‘free immigration’, to difficulties of securing tenure in the squatting system, and to the Government’s plan “to make all this part of the Country [what was to become the colony of Queensland, proclaimed in 1859] into a County [and] let it in 640 Acres by Auction”.

Copyright status:: In copyright
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales