H is for Higham and Hay Point #AtoZChallenge2016

H is for Higham and Hay Point.

In choosing what to write for H, I decided on Higham. My 1st cousin 3 times removed, Frances Helena Margaret Walker married William Jame Higham on the 21st February 1898 in Walkerston. The couple had nine children, four girls and five boys between 1899 and 1916, all of which reached adulthood.

So I went to Trove to see what I could find about the family generally and discovered that they seemed to have quite a few mishaps along the way reported in the Mackay Daily Mercury newspaper.

In 1924, it was reported the  Frances was conveyed by ambulance from their Seaforth holiday residence suffering from pneumonia¹
.


In 1929, it was reported that W Higham (this would be William Alexander, son of William and Frances) was badly scalded at the mill and that he had previously had a similar accident².



In 1932, Mrs Higham (again Frances) was in hospital suffering from a poisoned hand³.



In 1933, Marjory Higham (granddaughter of William and Frances) fell out of bed and broke her collarbone⁴.



In 1936, Mr W Higham (William Alexander) had the misfortune of getting a bullet through his leg⁵.



In 1938, Mr W. J. Higham (aged 70) is in hospital with a severe gash to the right foot caused by the axe slipping⁶.



In 1954, it was reported that Daphne Higham (don’t quite know her connection as yet) had a toe injury⁷.



There were many more incidents noted in the Mercury, these are just a sample. Trove is wonderful in that we can see the little mishaps that occur in our families, being a local district paper all things were written about at that time.

Now, briefly about Hay Point ...

Hay Point is at the southern end of Dalrymple Bay and is 18 km south-east of Mackay

According to the Mackay, Historic Society Hay Point was named after Heuston Stewart Dalrymple-Hay (1835-1879) who was appointed Sub-Collector of Customs in 1870 in Mackay and later became the Harbour Master⁸.

In the late 1960s, the Utah Development Company (USA) and Mitsubishi (Japan) embarked on massive coal mining at Goonyella, about 150 km south-west of Mackay. The consortium built a separate rail track, running parallel with the Queensland rail route in parts and proceeding through the Sarina district to Hay Point, the site for a massive coal-export terminal. A wharf 1.5 km long was built, and the first coal was loaded from it in 1971. The Hay Point facility is close to a similar government-owned wharf (1983) at Dalrymple Bay, which is leased to the private sector. There is a lookout for viewing both terminals⁹.

Overlooking Hay Point Coal Loader from Mt Griffiths Lookout
Postcard Collection of Murray Views Collection
Accessed from http://queenslandplaces.com.au/hay-point

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1. 1924 'MARIAN.', Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), 30 April, p. 9. , viewed 10 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168129993
2. 1929 'ETON', Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), 13 August, p. 3. , viewed 10 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170723361
3. 1932 'MT. PELION', Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), 21 June, p. 10. , viewed 10 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172810531
4. 1933 'ACCIDENTS.', Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), 3 July, p. 5. , viewed 09 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172959181
5. 1936 'SEAFORTH', Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), 10 January, p. 13. , viewed 10 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172916428
6. 1938 'AMBULANCE ATTENTION.', Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), 22 November, p. 8. , viewed 09 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169406619
7. 1954 'DISTRICT ROUND-UP', Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), 24 November, p. 5. , viewed 10 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169650564
8. http://www.mackayhistory.org/research/placenames/placenames.html
9. http://queenslandplaces.com.au/hay-point