Apr2014_BOND FAMILY REUNION

On Sunday 23rd February 2014 around 100 members of the Bond family gathered at the Dayboro Memorial Showgrounds to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Bridget Farrell in Brisbane from Ireland.  Those attending came from as far away as Loburn in New Zealand’s South Island, Millicent South Australia, Melbourne Victoria, the central coast of New South Wales and various parts of Queensland.

 

Bridget and her five children – Elizabeth, Robert, William, John and Annie Bond, were amongst the 462 immigrant who arrived in Brisbane on 19th February 1864 on board the Flying Cloud.  The Flying Cloud made a fast passage of 94 days.  The surgeon-superintendent reported an unusually large mortality, there being 20 deaths from various diseases.  In fact the ship should have been quarantined as there was typhoid disease on board.  The surgeon-superintendent was charged with giving a false statement to the Health Officer.  The Flying Cloud’s Captain was also charged but the charges against him were dismissed.  Dr. Sandiford was sentenced to six months imprisonment, serving just over three months when his sentence was commuted, as it was felt that he had “been influenced by another.”

 

Bridget and her children survived the voyage, despite the odds against them.  She may have wondered what she had brought her family to as only one month after their arrival there were major floods in the Bremer and Brisbane Rivers “…far above the level recorded at any time since the Moreton Bay district was settled.”  A month later a fire destroyed 14 shops in Queen Street.  Later the same year The Great Fire of Brisbane occurred on 2nd December 1864 when 50 tenements were destroyed, including business premises and private residences.

 

At some stage shortly after her arrival in Brisbane, Bridget Farrell met William Stewart, and they later married.  William Stewart selected his first property at Fishery Pocket on 7th July 1869.  By 1875 he had selected four properties, totalling 815 acres. These properties were all in the locality that is today known as Armstrong Creek.

 

William Stewart was a member of the four man committee that made application for the establishment of a Provisional School at Terrors Creek.  When the Terrors Creek Provisional School No. 191 opened on 18th May 1874  in a barn on Haagen Raaen’s property [140 years ago], the first pupil enrolled was Annie Bond, aged 13.  David Meyers from Loburn, New Zealand, and his sister Wendy Botting from Millicent, South Australia, who both attended the reunion, are great-grandchildren of Annie Bond.  

 

The Bond families presently living in this district are descended from William and John (Bill and Jack) Bond.  Graham Bond still resides on a portion of the property selected by his Great-Grandfather William Bond in 1876, and Bob Bond now owns the property originally selected by his Grand-Uncle Robert Bond in 1888 and taken over by his Grandfather, John Bond, on the death of Robert Bond later that same year.

 

Sadly, on 19th February, the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Bridget and her children, the Bond family lost the oldest leaf on the family tree with the passing of Joyce Winifred Heathwood (nee Bond) aged 93 years.