Henry Weldon

Story

Henry Weldon’s birth is recorded in the Registry of Births and Marriages of His Majesty’s 44th. Regt. of Foot at Cawnpore, India. Henry was born 28th October 1828 in Ghazeepore, East India. His parents are registered as Alexander and Anne Weldon and Alexander’s occupation is stated as Private.

The year of his arrival in the New South Wales Colony is unknown at this time. Henry obtained employment as a groom on “Taabinga Station” near Kingaroy in the early 1850’s. This station was a holding of 305 square miles at this time. It included the whole of the Stuart river watershed from the Bunya mountains to Home Creek near Tingoora. Taabinga was managed by C.R. and W. O. Haly.

ELIZABETH JANE PERRY was born about 1837 to Charles Perry and Elizabeth Charlotte Quigley, in Brentford Middlesex, England. Elizabeth aged 15, came to New South Wales on the vessel “Parsee” with her parents, brothers Daniel, George, Charles and sister Maria. All the family could read and write. The voyage took 102 days from Plymouth to Moreton Bay. The “Parsee” was a splendid vessel, built for the New York trade, having made one voyage to that port.There were 493 immigrants on board of whom were 105 married couples, 18 males, 106 single female adults and 159 younger children. Some severe cases of diarrhoea were recorded, especially in the tropics but no infectious diseases were reported. They arrived in Moreton Bay 15th January 1853.

Elizabeth Jane Perry worked in the homestead of the adjoining property called “Cooyar Station.” Henry met Elizabeth and soon they were married by the officiating minister, Rev. Benjamin Glennie at Cooyar, with the consent of her father Charles Perry on 23rd. July 1853

CHILDREN

William Henry Weldon born 1855, married (1) Rosanna Swain (2) Dianna Louise McNamara, died 1934

Elizabeth Jane Weldon born 1857 married James Quigley, died 1931.

Rose Weldon born 1860 married James Henney, died 1944

Charles Quigley Weldon born 1862 married Maria Theresa Baker, died 1955

George Moriarty Weldon married Mary Ann Joynson, died 1934

Amelia Weldon born 1866 married Stanious Daniell, died 1942

Annie Maria Weldon born 1868 married George Richard Baker, died 1946

Sadly on 30th May 1869 Henry was thrown from a horse and killed. There are 2 stories about this incident. One is that there was a particularly nasty horse on the station, and Henry declared he would ride him the next day or break his own neck in the attempt. The other story was that there were some brumbies out near Mt. Haly and Henry declared:-” I’ll run those brumbies in or break my bloody neck.” In either case his brash statement came true in that he was killed in the attempt. This is the reason the inscription on his headstone at “Taabinga Homestead” reads as follows.

“Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Proverbs 27.

Sometime later in the early1870’s, Elizabeth being left with 7 children, the youngest aged 12 months, left Taabinga and moved to Brisbane where some of her family were residing and commenced nursing at a General Hospital.

Another family who worked on Taabinga was George Baker and family. George’s wife Bridgetta died 29th May 1872 after the birth of a child. George came to Brisbane and on 11th August 1873 married Elizabeth Weldon in the (old) St. Johns Church of England. They returned to Taabinga and their 1st child, John Wallace Baker was born. About 1875 George and Elizabeth moved to the Taroom district. Another child Sidney Briggs Baker was born 27th Dec, 1876 to them. On 10th July 1878 George died of gastric fever and diarrhoea at “Glenhaughton station” aged 53 years.

Elizabeth moved to Taroom and ran the Dawson Family Hotel. In 1878 she applied for a licence and was refused on the grounds of insufficient accommodation in the house and furniture etc. Elizabeth later moved to “Punch Bowl” near Mackay and then to “Hazeldene” and 27th June 1892 passed away.

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