This page designed by
Number of Visitors to this page:
Lindeman Island
HISTORY
Lindeman Island
Lindeman Island first received historic mention in June 1770 when the artist
on board HMS Endeavour, Sydney Parkinson, included its outline in a
panoramic pencil sketch of the complex of islands running from the adjacent Maher
Island in the north to Burning Point at the southern end of Shaw
Island. At that stage, of course, none of the islands was named (see Cook).
The island was named in 1868 by Commander H. M. Bingham, RN, in HMS Virago after Sub Lieutenant George Sidney Lindeman on board Virago. The Sub Lieutenant was a nephew of Dr. Henry John Lindeman, the founder of the Lindeman Wine Company, who came to Australia from England in 1840 and in 1842 settled in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales at Cawarra Estate on the banks of the Paterson River several kilometres from today's town of Gresford. There he established a vineyard from which sprang the Lindeman Wine Company. Cawarra still existed in 1989, occupied by descendants of Dr. Lindeman but is no longer a vineyard. Nearby the Wyndham family were establishing their vineyard and winery at Dalwood, north of today's Hunter Valley town of Branxton and they and the Lindemans became friends and business associates, this association reflected in the namings on the island as mentioned below. (Lindeman family connections).
In October 1867 while Virago was undergoing a re-fit in Sydney, George Lindeman visited his uncle at Cawarra staying for almost three weeks and in all probability met the Wyndhams. It is a reasonable assumption that when he returned to Virago he would have carried with him a fair sampling of the product of Cawarra and probably of Dalwood also to enhance the ship's wine stocks and there can be no doubt his visit accounts for the naming of Cawarra Head on Little Lindeman Island and Dalwood Point on the main island. These two names did not appear on Bingham's survey charts but on Staff Commander E. P. Bedwell's charts following his surveys in SS Llewellyn in 1878- 79.
It is reasonable also to attribute the naming of Sidney Island to the west of Lindeman Island to the Lindeman connection even though Sub Lieutenant Lindeman was known by his first name 'George'. The island was in fact named 'Haycock' by Bingham, the name 'Sidney' not appearing until 1879 on Bedwell's survey charts.
During a visit to Bowen by Virago in January 1868 a traditional cricket-match was played between a Virago team and the Bowenites on 6 January in which George Lindeman scored ten runs for his side but nevertheless the Viragos lost to Bowen (Port Denison Times 11 January 1868).
Bingham's survey of the waters around Lindeman Island commenced on 13 March 1868 when Virago anchored in the bay enclosed by the north-east shore of Lindeman Island and Shaw/ Maher Islands, having spent the previous fortnight anchored at the southern end of Whitsunday Island, between Henning Island and today's Gulnare Inlet. Sub Lieutenant Lindeman on that occasion was in charge of seventy men who spent the time ashore on Whitsunday Island collecting wood for Virago's furnaces, there being a shortage of coal at the time.
Virago remained at the Lindeman Island anchorage until 21 March when she weighed and steamed around the north side of Pentecost Island, down the west side of Lindeman Island and around the southern tip of Shaw Island to anchor that afternoon in the lee of Thomas Island where she remained until 26 March when she left for Gladstone. That same day she sent a cutter to intercept the steamer Boomerang north-bound and from her learnt of the attempted assassination of Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, at Clontarf, Sydney on March 12. Sub Lieutenant Lindeman was in charge of the cutter on that occasion (Virago's log; Bingham's sailing directions; memoirs G. S. Lindeman).
George Lindeman left the navy in January 1871 and on 7 April married Mary Catherine Lynch, both migrating to Australia in December 1871. On 1 March 1875 he was appointed secretary to the Marine Board of New South Wales which position he held until 1900 when the board was disbanded and he became Government Shipping Master until his death in 1911. His position with the MarineBoard is reflected in the Sydney Morning Herald of 6 June 1882 where he is shown as secretary to the Marine Board in an enquiry into the sinking of the SS Llewellyn which had been chartered during 1878- 79 by the Queensland Government for the Queensland survey.
Because of his earlier naval experience Lindeman was appointed a commander in the Naval Brigade (fore-runner to the Naval Reserve) in 1879 and played a significant role in the organisation of that body, becoming Acting Captain commanding the Brigade in 1886. By virtue of that position, he commanded HM Screw Corvette Wolverene when that vessel was handed over to the Government of New South Wales and the Brigade by the Royal Navy in 1882 for training purposes. This limited her role to short coastal cruises and in-harbour boat drill for trainees. He left the Brigade in August 1902 with the honorary rank of captain.
On 4 September 1911 while on duty as Shipping Master he visited the Public Service Board in Sydney to finalise details of his retirement and dropped dead during the discussions. He was buried with naval honours on 5 September 1911 at the South Head cemetery. His wife died on 9 September 1927 and is buried with her husband (Nicolson family files).
The Aboriginals
It is apparent Lindeman Island was the site of an Aboriginal camp from time
to time probably because of the reliable water supply in the stream at the
south-west corner of the island. The account of the killing of two crew members
from the Ellida in 1861 states there were thirty or forty
Aboriginals in a camp there and in his sailing directions Commander
Bingham says it was the only island among those in the same area where natives
were seen though traces of them were found on other islands. After white
settlement of the Whitsundays most Aborigines drifted away but some remained on
Lindeman Island into the time of the Nicolson family.
The Aboriginal name for Lindeman Island was Yakaima, meaning Red Emperor (Gilbert P. Whitley, Ichthyologist to the Australian Museum 1925) though the name is variously spelt and pronounced in other writings.
Settlement
Herbert Henry Blake 1886
On 30 April 1886 Blake applied by letter to the Lands Board for an
occupation licence over the island for grazing purposes (Queensland State
Archives LAN/ S152). His address at the time was Morses Excelsior Hotel,
Brisbane.
Almost unbelievably the Lands Board professed not to know the location of Lindeman Island and returned a map of the Whitsundays to Blake asking him to mark the island he referred to, which he did. This may have been a ploy by the Department because of the mix-up in identification in 1883 when D. C. Gordon was granted a special lease over today's South Molle Island when he in fact wanted a lease over Long Island. As a result of this approach, on 11 August 1866 the Crown ranger at Bowen went to the island to measure and value it (Port Denison Times 14 August 1886) and it was gazetted open for occupation on 9 December 1886 (Queensland State Archives LAN/ S13).
An occupation licence was allocated on 4 September 1886 (QSA LAN/ B15A) but this must have been a provisional entry only for nothing more seems to have happened and Blake disappeared from the scene. It seems possible this Blake was related to Egbert Mabille Blake who in the late 1920s took up residence in the Newry group, on Rabbit Island and later on Outer Newry Island but the connection has not been established beyond doubt.
Lindeman Island was gazetted open again on 11 November 1887 and on 12
September 1890 but there is no evidence of any takers.
Abraham Adderton 1897- 1918
Abraham Adderton made application on 17 July 1897 and was granted occupation
licence 92 over 3 square miles, being the whole of Lindema Island (QSA
LAN/ S13). With him was his wife Sarah (nee Alton) they having been married in
1888 in Maryborough, Queensland. It seems they initially must have considered
settling at Long Island because Sarah Adderton was granted an occupation licence
76 over that island following her application of 29 April 1895. However they did
nothing with Long Island and in 1916 Mrs Adderton gave notice she did not
intend to pay the rent for 1917.
Some latter day writings say the Addertons went to Lindeman in 1905 but contemporary writings clearly indicate it was in 1898. The Mackay Mercury of 19 July 1913 carries an article 'A Trip to Bowen' relating the voyage of the launch Electron from Mackay to Bowen and therein it comments, after a visit to the Lindeman Island, that the Addertons had been on Lindeman for 15 years. Similarly The Cruise of the Gulnare in 1912 states they had been there for 14 years.
Abraham Adderton, then aged 16 years, migrated from England to Maryborough, Queensland in July 1873, his parents following in January 1874. It is evident he took to the sea on timber-boats operating from Maryborough, his marriage certificate showing his occupation as 'Master Mariner'. The 1913 article mentioned above says he was on the timber boat Mary Peverley operating out of Maryborough and the publication Port of Maryborough shows him as part-owner with Edward Backwell of the Mary Peverley from 1891 though it was in different hands in 1900, this no doubt reflecting his move to Lindeman Island. In all probability Adderton used the Mary Peverley to transport building supplies to Lindeman.
At Home Beach, the site of the present resort, the Addertons built a weather-board and iron roofed dwelling towards the western end. This had living quarters on one side and dining quarters on the other, separated by a central boatshed from which a slipway ran to the water's edge. Their boat, Ayesha, was a converted ship's lifeboat powered only by sail and judging by photos of the time was about 7 metres in length.
Adjacent on the eastern side of the main building was a large woolshed and store-room with sheep-yards adjoining. They employed Aboriginal labour to help them in their stock work and the construction of small dams and fences. Their main water-supply came from a permanent spring which still flows into the sea just to the east of Home Beach.
The Addertons grazed sheep and goats on Lindeman Island, the Mackay Mercury of 19 July 1913 saying they had 800 goats and 1500 sheep in that year. Their wool-clip was baled and picked up by the supply vessels which called regularly at the island, the bales ferried out either in their own boat or ship's boats.
Lands Department records show that in mid 1900 Adderton showed an interest in an occupation licence over St Bees/ Keswick and Brampton/ Carlisle Islands but nothing came of this.
In 1918 Adderton sold the licence to Lindeman Island to Tom Matthews-Frederick and the Bowen Independent of 25 May 1918 reports he sold his boat to Captain Tom Daly (see Defiance Island). The Addertons departed the scene by leaving from Mackay on the SS Cooma on 18 May 1918 (Mackay Mercury 31 May 1918). It is not clear where they went after leaving the island but eventually Abraham Adderton moved to Sydney where he died on 29 May 1935, being buried in the Northern Suburbs cemetery (John Adderton, Sydney; N. S. Cemetery records). They had no children.
Mount Oldfield, the highest point on Lindeman Island, commemorates the Addertons' time on the island, that being the maiden name of Abraham's mother, Eleanor Cecilia Oldfield.
T. A. Matthews-Frederick 1918- 1922
Thomas (Tom) Alexander Matthews-Frederick, born in Glasgow on 13 September
1887, was the son of well-known Bowen identity Alexander Frederick
Matthews-Frederick who purchased Proserpine Station in 1887 (Proserpine Guardian
21 January 1933). Tom and his brother Robert joined their parents at
Proserpine Station and managed it until it was sold in 1917 when Bob bought
Glenore Station near Bowen where Tom joined him for a time before marrying and
moving to Lindeman Island.
Tom Matthews-Frederick bought the licence to Lindeman Island and the stock from Adderton in early 1918 (Bowen Independent 19 January 1918; Queensland State Archives LAN/ S13). This was shortly after his marriage on 15 January 1918 to Lydia Elphick Maciver (Bowen Independent 26 January 1918) one of the well-known Gray family of Kelsey Creek and Proserpine. The couple must have moved to Lindeman Island immediately after the wedding because the Mackay Mercury of 12 February 1918 reports a visit to the island by the District Superintendent of Lighthouses following the cyclone of 20/ 21 January 1918 when he found 'Captain and Mrs Adderton, Mr and Mrs Frederick and Mr Lucas[?] all well'.
Letters written in early 1918 by Tom to his family show there were 900 sheep, 1,000 goats and 13 head of cattle on the island and though it had been neglected in recent years he was hopeful of making a living there. He commented somewhat wryly that as they had no horse, he himself had to do all the heavy carrying around the homestead. They had a monthly mail and supply service by ship from Mackay but he nevertheless had to buy a motor-boat 'in case of sickness'. This was the Adderton's boat Ayesha and photos of the time show this boat on the slip-way on Lindeman Island.
There was a story that the name of the Matthews Frederick's boat was Dancing Wave, but photos of the boat in their time give no name, and that name is not known to family descendants. There may have been some confusion with an 87-ton timber-boat Dancing Wav e , which operated out of Maryborough under a Captain Calders (Port Denison Times 26 November 1898 and Port of Maryborough) and which, laden with timber, disappeared from her anchorage under Fitzroy Island during the cyclone which hit the Cairns/ Cooktown area in January/ February 1913.
In a letter dated 7 December 1920 to his mother Tom spoke of having a
prospective buyer for the island and the impression is given the island venture
was not all that successful. In 1922 the licence passed to W. R. M. Nicklin and
the Matthews-Fredericks left Lindeman for Bowen where Lydia bought the Club
Hotel in November 1922 the sale being handled by the Nicolson Brothers of Bowen
(Bowen Independent 4 November 1922) of whom one brother, Angus D.
Nicolson, was later to buy the island.
W. R. M. Nicklin 1922- 1923
William Reuben McCready (Billy) Nicklin was born on 18 January 1897, the son
of William Lahey Nicklin who in turn was the son of Reube Nicklin who with
his wife was lost in the wreck of the Quetta in Torres Strait in February
1890. The Nicklin family was well known in the Coorparoo area in the late 1800s
and the early 1900s and a cousin of Billy Nicklin, Sir Francis (Frank) Nicklin,
was Premier of Queensland from 1957 to 1968.
Billy Nicklin was a soldier in World War 1 after which he passed through several occupations, including working for his grandmother's family, the Laheys, in their sawmill at Canungra. He purchased the licence to Lindeman Island in 1922 (transfer registered 18 October 1922) from Matthews-Frederick and resided there while continuing to graze sheep, but the illness of his father caused him to return to Brisbane.
During his time at Lindeman Island, Billy Nicklin is said to have been involved with Frank Wylde Ball of Hamilton Island in the latter's project of producing a cancer-cure from the paw-paw tree and indeed Billy's son, Rod Nicklin, in 1990 says his father was a keen paw-paw grower and advocate. His connection with Ball is highlighted by the fact that in 1925 he obtained an occupation licence over Henning Island, previously held by Ball, but there is no evidence he occupied that island.
After his father returned to health Billy Nicklin did not return to Lindeman but took up farming in south-east Queensland. He died in 1964 (C. R. [Rod] Nicklin, son of Billy Nicklin). Altogether it seems Nicklin was a restless soul at that stage and his venture on Lindeman Island amounted to little more than a beachcombing exercise and there was little if any change to the homestead.
On 13 September 1923, under the auspices of the newly-formed Great Barrier Reef Committee, a party of scientists left Mackay in the QGS Relief for a scientific expedition to various islands on the coast, including the Whitsunday islands. They called in at Lindeman for one day on 20 September before returning to Mackay the following morning. Leader of this expedition was Sir Gerald Lenox-Conyngham, Geodesist from the University of Cambridge, who said of Lindeman Island 'I saw one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen from the top of Lindeman Island' (Mackay Mercury 22 September 1923). A photograph taken from that vantage point is included in the official report of the voyage (Historical Records of Australia Vol. 6 No. 1, and Geographical Journal 65Ð 1925, 314Ð 334, at James Cook University).
Nicolson Family 1924- 1974
Angus DeSalis Nicolson, born at Maytown near Cooktown on 11 November 1883,
spent his early years in Cape York Peninsula where hi father, John
Nicolson, worked on and managed cattle properties.
Eventually he became a linesman with the Post and Telegraph Department and in 1903 while so employed at the McDonnell telegraph station 100 kilometres south of Cape York he blew off his right hand while dynamiting fish about 20 kilometres from the station. There followed a dramatic journey on horse-back first to the telegraph station with an Aboriginal assistant and then on to Cape York with fellow-linesmen where they were met by a doctor before being taken by boat to Thursday Island and hospital. The journey occupied 30 hours and the young Angus was very lucky to escape with his life (Torres Telegraph 1903; Bushman 1903).
On 17 June 1914 he married Miss Elizabeth Miller, only daughter of the well-known Bowen identity and general merchant, Donald Miller and the couple went to live with his parents at Argyle Park near today's Queens Beach, Bowen. They were to have three children Lachlan DeSalis (Lach) in 1915, Donald Archibald (Archie) in 1918 and Elizabeth Margaret (Betty) in 1921. Angus became a councillor with the Wangaratta Shire Council and the Bowen museum has a photo of him in that role in 1915.
In February 1920 Angus bought out the Auctioneers, Commission and Forwarding Agents, A. J. Davidson & Co (Bowen Independent 28 February 1920) and was joined in the business by his brother Charles who had a farm in the Bowen area. In 1924 the business was sold to Saville H. Kelsey (Bowen Independent 29 March 1924) one of the well known Kelsey farming family of Bowen and Proserpine after whom Kelsey Creek is named.
Family recollections are that Angus, accompanied by Lachlan, visited Lindeman Island in about 1920 probably in the course of his agency business and from this flowed the decision to buy the licence to the island, which was purchased from Nicklin by Elizabeth Nicolson in 1923. Angus' memoirs say he first became interested in Lindeman Island because of praises heaped on it by Captain Farmer, the master of a vessel which took frozen beef from Bowen. This no doubt was Captain Frank Farmer of the Commonwealth and Dominion Line vessels which regularly serviced Queensland coastal ports in those days.
Angus went alone to the island in December 1923 while Elizabeth and the children remained in Bowen before following on in the QGS Relief after the finish of the school year in 1925.
Some drama accompanied Angus' early occupation of the island. On 15 May 1925 while he was shooting crows with a .22 rifle an accidental discharge put a bullet through his left hand between the thumb and first finger. Two Aboriginals who were with him on the island (Billy Moogerah, the other possibly his half-brother Frank Dewar) rowed Angus the twenty-odd nautical miles to South Molle Island where the Carden-Collins were in residence and from there he was taken on by boat to Cannonvale.
He was taken by car to Proserpine for initial treatment and on by train to Bowen and the hospital there (Bowen Independent 23 May 1925). However the wound gave further trouble and on 30 June Angus and his wife left Bowen for Townsville in the SS Cooma (Bowen Independent 4 July 1925) and there he received further treatment. The Bowen Independent of 28 July 1925 reports Angus back in Bowen and 'soon would be able to return to his island and his sheep'.
At first the tenure of the island continued under OL92 but during 1925 Mrs Nicolson applied for and was given a special lease 4758 for 14 years from 1 January 1926 for pastoral purposes.
The family took up residence in the house/ boatshed complex built by the Addertons and all pitched in to improve their lot on the island. Water came from the faithful spring the Addertons had used and fresh fruit and vegetables came from gardens and orchards planted on the hill-top behind Home Beach, at Plantation Beach and Garden Beach where water also was available both from springs and wells. In those early years sheep-grazing was the primary source of income and as with the Addertons, baled wool was ferried out to visiting supply vessels. However a new economic base was soon to emerge, tourism.
During the school holidays at Christmas 1928 the island was host to the first of the Embury expeditions with over one hundred participants camped along Home Beach in tents. By this time the old wool-shed had been dismantled and in its place was a rough galvanised-iron cookhouse used by the expedition. The expedition was a good start to the Nicolson's dream of making the island a tourist resort and from that point on it was to see almost non-stop development of facilities to cater for tourists until eventually tourism became the entire economic base of the island and its grazing role faded away.
During 1929 Frederic Truethardt who previously had been the agent in Sydney for the Swiss Tourist Office was in the area looking for a suitable island site on which to build a resort and spoke to Ian Wood, Mayor of Mackay (and later a Federal Senator) who was keen to promote the tourist potential of the area. According to Wood the Nicolson's heard of this approach and suggested to him that their island be considered for the venture though in the event Truethardt chose Stonehaven at Hook Island. From this contact Wood decided to take a hand himself in the development of Lindeman Island and gathered together a syndicate of Mackay businessmen which incorporated as Mackay Tours Ltd on 7 October 1930 and obtained a sub-lease from the Nicolsons over a part of the island.
During 1929 materials from the old wool-shed were applied to the construction on the same site of a row of eight accommodation units under the one roof, with partitions of canvas or hessian between them, this building shown in photographs taken from 1929 on and referred to in advertisements of the time as a bungalow.
By 1930 Mackay Tours had organised a number of tourist trips to the island with guests either transported from Mackay in the Busuttin's launches Laura and Florence and Charlie Volskow's Tonka II or dropped off from coastal passenger vessels such as Howard Smith Ltd's Canberra on its north-bound voyage and picked up on the return, an arrangement which later was extended to other passenger vessels operating along the coast. The official opening however was held at Christmas 1930 when advertisements by Mackay Tours in the Mackay Mercury told readers there were 'bungalows for ladies and tents for gentlemen and a dancing hall', the latter an open-air affair which served also as a dining area.
Thereafter, detached cabins were built from palm leaves and grass to the east of the bungalow. The walls and roof of the huts were of thatched grass while the inside walls were lined with plaited coconut-leaf matting and by August 1932 five of these were completed (Mackay Mercury 22 August 1932) the number later rising to eight. In this phase the developers were assisted by several Torres Strait islanders who formerly had been among the crews of trochus-fishing boats which in those days visited the area frequently and who became long-term residents and identities on the island.
With the path to tourism now firmly established, in August 1932 Mrs Nicolson applied for a new lease to allow her to develop tourism on the island and this was granted on 1 July 1934 as special lease 8248 for 20 years( Queensland State Archives LAN/ U14, Nicolson family files).
Mackay Tours directed much of its promotion of Lindeman Island to southern States, enticing tourists away from their winters to the warmth of the tropics and in this were very successful. In September 1931 a party of thirty-five schoolgirls from the Melbourne Church of England Girls Grammar School and the St. Gabriel's School at Waverley, NSW visited for a fortnight and this was the forerunner to a number of school excursions over the following years.
By 1932, brochures issued by the Queensland Government Tourist Bureau described the facilities thus: 'The accommodation consists of a bungalow, a combined dining and social hall and several picturesque grass huts. The settlement is illuminated throughout with acetylene gas and a well provides ample supplies of fresh water. Wire stretcher beds, mattresses and bedding are provided. Fresh water showers are available and running water is provided to some bedrooms. The semi open air dining room is capable of seating a large number of guests and a specially prepared floor is available for dancing. A radio receiving set, a gramophone and a piano are provided for entertainment'. All this was available for one week for £15/ 3/ 0 ($ 30.30) including first class train fares from Brisbane with sleeper and an overnight stay at 'one of he best hotels in Mackay'. The acetylene gas mentioned in the brochure was piped from a gasometer where the gas was generated by the simple though smelly process of dripping water onto calcium carbide.
In the Mackay Mercury of 8 November 1932 it was reported that 108 tourists had visited the island during the 1931 winter season and 160 in 1932.
It was during this time also that air-transport was introduced. On the hill-top behind the resort, grass was cleared for an air-strip where the first plane, an Avro Avian piloted by Steve Howard, landed in early June 1933. After taking several people on joy-flights Howard returned to Mackay with the first passenger to travel by air between the island and the mainland, Mrs W. F. Carr of Mackay, a local landscape and seascape painter (Mackay Mercury 9 June 1933, 13 June 1933).
Howard was back on the island in August 1933 with his passenger on this occasion Archie Nicolson returning from a visit to the mainland (Mackay Mercury 23 August 1933). By Christmas 1934 advertisements boasted 'comfortable grass cabins, electric light and running water in every room'. The bungalow had become a museum of coral and marine life maintained by Melbourne Ward who had been a lecturer with the first of the Embury expeditions in 1928. Born in 1903 in Melbourne, hence his name, Mel Ward was a son of Hugh J. Ward a well-known theatrical entrepreneur of the early 1900's. Mel started his career as a dancer, singer, musician and comedian until he retired from the stage in 1920 and devoted himself to his hobby, marine zoology, a field in which he became an acknowledged expert and an honorary lecturer to the Australian Museum.
In 1931 he married and in December 1933 he and his wife Halley moved to Lindeman Island where they resided until September 1935 while Mel conducted a detailed study of its marine ecology (Australian Zoologist X111 (2) August 1965, Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW 24 February 1967). He set up a museum in the old bungalow building which was re-sited in 1934 eventually moving to a new building in 1937.
During the Mackay Tours tenure the Nicolsons remained on the island and managed that end of the operation and did the actual construction of the facilities, with some finance from Mackay Tours who also did all the advertising and tour arrangements. Correspondence in Nicolson family files indicates Mackay Tours provided all the cutlery, crockery, linen, blankets and floor timbers for the grass huts and dining room/ dance floor as well as piping, pump and taps for the water supply. However, by 1934 cracks had appeared in the arrangement between Mackay Tours and the Nicolsons and when the sub-lease expired in that year the Nicolsons refused to renew it and Mackay Tours were forced to retire from the scene.
In his later writings Senator Wood attributed the Nicolsons' refusal to renew the lease to an incident which occurred on the island when a young lady who had been acting in Sydney as an agent for Mackay Tours came to the island for familiarisation purposes. The story goes that one evening she went for a stroll with the pilot of a visiting aircraft and, according to Wood, Mrs Nicolson (who was 'very prim and proper') noted the young lady was not in her room by 9pm and demanded she be sacked by Mackay Tours. This request was refused and as a result the sub-lease was not renewed though it seems probable other frictions may have existed in any event (Bowen Independent 8 October 1932; Holiday Mackay September 1988; Senator Ian Wood and his personal papers at James Cook University Library).
The rift between Mackay Tours and the Nicolsons has led in later years to some polarisation of opinions as to the exact role of both parties but the foregoing is as accurate a picture as can be drawn from a close study of reports of the time.
After Mackay Tours Ltd
With the departure from the scene of Mackay Tours Ltd a new syndicate was
formed to push on with tourism, its directors and shareholders being George
Gordon-MacLeod of Sydney, Angus Nicolson and Mel Ward with Mrs Nicolson as
secretary.
Gordon-MacLeod, born in England on 2 June 1881 spent about 20 years of his life in Siam (now Thailand), going there from England as a missionary but later becoming a manager of the trading firm of Louis T. Leonowens Ltd founded by the son of Anna Leonowens (of Anna and the King of Siam fame) who taught English to the Court of King Mongkut from 1862 to 1867.
In 1919 MacLeod married but both he and his wife contracted tuberculosis and
in 1923 they moved to Australia to live at Cobbitty near Camden in New South
Wales where he became a keen polo player, being rated one of the best in New
South Wales, and becoming Chairman of the Australian Polo Club. In 1925 he
joined the importing and exporting firm of A. F. Knox & Co Pty Ltd, Sydney.
In 1925 also, because of his earlier connections with Siam, he was appointed honorary consul for Siam, being elevated to consul general in 1930. He held that post until his death from tuberculosis on Lindeman Island on 2 July 1937 (Department of Foreign Affairs Canberra; Australian Archives, Canberra, A981 Consuls 274).
Meanwhile his wife had died in about 1925 and it seems that because of his own progressive illness Gordon-MacLeod retired from his business life and moved to Lindeman Island as something of an escape and perhaps in the hope of benefiting from its warmer climate. Presumably it was from his presence there and contact with the Nicolsons he decided to become involved in the development of the island and contributed 1550 one pound shares.
The syndicate's first meeting was held on 15 October 1934 at which it was decided the Queensland Government Tourist Bureau be appointed their principal agents in place of Mackay Tours. It also was decided the bungalow should be re-sited further to the east and used to accommodate the Wards, one half to be their living quarters, the other the museum. With the injection of capital from Gordon-Macleod substantial improvements were also begun; a new residence for the Nicolsons, a new dining room and recreation hall and five new accommodation huts towards the eastern end of the resort site.
In September 1935 Mel Ward resigned from the syndicate and left the island, his fifty shares passing to Lachlan Nicolson who had returned in 1932 from secondary school at the Gatton Agricultural College to take his place in the management and development of the venture.
In 1936 Gordon-Macleod also resigned but stayed on as an adviser and his 1550 shares were purchased by Angus and Elizabeth Nicolson. On 2 July 1937 he died suddenly on the island his body being taken to Mackay for burial on 4 July. In 1938 his shares were divided equally among all the family members; Angus, Elizabeth, Lachlan, Archie and Betty. Thus control of the venture passed entirely to the Nicolson family and Lachlan became a director in the place of MacLeod.
By January 1936 the resort comprised seven fibro tourist cabins towards the eastern end of the beach, eight grass cabins, dining hall, recreation lounge, an 'Idlers Club', a dormitory (the Nicolson residence), amenities block, staff quarters in the old Adderton building, and the museum. There was a tennis court and a golf course of nine holes under construction which on some holes used old turkey mounds as tees. Water was supplied by a well and a windmill, and acetylene gas still was piped to all buildings (Report to Forestry Dept from Land Ranger 15 January 1936) this being replaced by electric light by 1939 (Land Commissioner report 10 February 1939).
The 1930s were the hey-day of the coastal passenger steamer trade and following through on the arrangements made when the resort first opened, Lindeman was a routine port-of-call for vessels whose name became synonymous with the Queensland coast Bingera, Ormiston, Manunda, Manoora, Orungal, Canberra, Katoomba, Kanimbla. It was possible to board these vessels either at southern ports or at Mackay for the Lindeman trip. In between, guests were conveyed to or from Mackay or Seaforth by local launches Coolum and Fiesta and the island's Aladdin.
In April 1941 Betty Nicolson married Albert John Thomas (Tom) Evetts and this marked the beginning of a new phase of the island's history as the Evetts and their children were to become intimately involved in its development over the next thirty-two years. Tom's parents owned a general store at Seaforth and there he became interested in the sea, running passenger and fishing trips in Fiesta between Seaforth and the Newry Islands and other adjacent islands. In 1935 he began transporting guests to Lindeman Island where he met and married Betty Nicolson. After their marriage the couple moved to Carmila but in 1942 returned to Lindeman Island and from July 1 that year Tom became a member of the syndicate and purchased 300 shares from Angus and Elizabeth.
Tom and Betty were to have six children, John, Margaret, Robert, Susie, Judy and Janet all of whom were to play their part in the conduct of the resort as they grew up. Betty handled the resort's domestic arrangements while Tom managed the boating side.
On 20 December 1941 the island, including Little Lindeman Island, was declared a national park and SL8248 was re-negotiated to SL12403 in the name of Elizabeth Nicolson for 30 years from 1 January 1942 over the whole island, 1920 acres (Proserpine Shire Council Alterations to Rate Book, 1914- 1943).
During World War 2 Lachlan and Archie joined the RANVR and the resort was closed down in 1942 and for the term of the war survived on fishing and its small wool-clip with Tom Evetts assuming a major role in this phase.
In 1945 with the end of the war in sight, the Nicolsons were approached by George Downer of Potts Point Sydney with a proposal that the north-eastern side of the island be developed as a separate resort, centred mainly on East/ Dalwood Point and what today is Princess Alexandra Bay. There were discussions about a separate lease or a sub-lease from the Nicolsons with Downer to arrange a syndicate to finance the development. The Nicolsons were to be shareholders and would run the boating side of the resort. With Lachlan and Archie on war service at the time discussions were difficult and protracted but finally the family in November 1945 decided against theproposal and the idea lapsed (Nicolson family files). Nevertheless the Nicolsons themselves had plans for a second resort complex at East/ Dalwood Point but this did not eventuate though some clearing was done there in the 1950s (Company letter to Minister for Lands 3 January 1958).
After the war, with Lach (who was awarded a Military MBE in July 1947 for services in hazardous situations during the war) and Arch returned to the island, the family re-opened the resort on 4 June 1946. Meanwhile, in October 1945, they purchased the 10.5 metre launch Huon as a service craft for the island in addition to Aladdin (Company minutes 27 September 1945).
In 1946 also, a family syndicate was formed including Elizabeth Nicolson,
Angus Nicolson, Lachlan Nicolson, Archibald Nicolson, Elizabeth Evetts and Tom
Evetts and SL12403 was transferred to those names on 25 October 1948. On 18
September 1947 Lachlan married Thora Frances Agnes Rasmussen of Mackay and on 23
March 1954 Thora's name was included in the lease.
As a first step towards improving facilities for tourists the air-strip, originally built in about 1932 but not in use because it had been condemned by the Department of Civil Aviation, was re-built and extended during 1946 and Somerset Airways of Mackay ran a regular service in Auster aircraft.
This air-service was to be supplemented in the next several years by Barrier Reef Airways under Captain S. C. Middlemiss which operated Catalina flying-boats from the south to the various island resorts in the Whitsundays and later was to merge with Ansett Transport Industries which added two Short Sandringham flying-boats to the service.
The appearance on the scene of Ansett Transport Industries arose from their 1948 take-over of Hayman and Daydream Islands following a survey of the area in June 1947 by Reg Ansett. During that survey Ansett became interested in Lindeman Island and offered to buy the resort but the Nicolsons declined the offer (letter Ansett to Nicolsons 4 July 1947 and their reply 25 July 1947).
In October 1947 the 16.8 metre Shangri-La was purchased from G. T. (Tom) McLean of Roylen Cruises of Mackay, it previously being a personal vessel used by General Douglas Macarthur during the Pacific phase of World War 2. For the next seventeen years Shangri-La was the main supply and passenger vessel for the island with a weekly service to Mackay, meanwhile conducting day-trips from the island for the guests.
In September 1949 the Syndicate appointed Lachlan manager for a two year
term, this a prelude to Angus' eventual retirement from the management role.
Lindeman Island Pty Ltd
In 1955 a family company, Lindeman Island Pty Ltd, was formed and Angus,
while remaining chairman of directors, retired from management and handed over
to Lachlan who became managing director. In 1960 Angus was to be awarded an MBE
for his services to the tourist industry.
Towards the end of 1956 the existing air-strip was extended to meet Department of Civil Aviation standards but this still was suitable only for small aircraft and to accommodate larger planes a new air-strip of 4000 feet was constructed in late 1957 in a north-south direction, cutting across the old northwest-southeast strip. The construction was done by Mackay earthmoving contractors, Gillham and Co (Mackay Mercury 12 November 1957) and it was this company, through a subsidiary, Gillham Airways, which began a thrice-weekly air service from Mackay on April 1 1958 with two Avro Anson aircraft each carrying eight passengers.
However Gillham encountered servicing problems with the planes and were unable to continue the service and in July 1959 Lindeman Island Pty Ltd notified Gillhams the arrangement was terminated. The immediate reaction from Gillham Airways was to seek a court injunction preventing the Nicolsons or any other operator from servicing the island by air but their application was dismissed, though over the following several years legal action taken by Gillhams resulted in 1963 in a financial settlement in their favour.
The air service continued with aircraft from local airlines Somerset Airways, Coastal Airways and Bowden Air Transport and from Trans Australia Airlines until in 1959 the family decided to form its own airline, Lindeman Aerial Services Pty Ltd. This culminated in September 1961 in the purchase of their own aircraft, a De Havilland Drover which was named Angus Nicolson in honour of the Nicolson patriach and carried for the first time the livery of Lindeman Aerial Services. Initially the service operated only between the island and Mackay but when the Proserpine airport was upgraded it also was served and a contract undertaken to service Collinsville. Eventually the company owned four aircraft. LAS had an office in Victoria Street Mackay where also a small travel company, Lindisle World Travel was located.
Elizabeth Nicolson Senior died on 21 March 1958 and was buried in the Mount Bassett cemetery at Mackay. Her shares in the family company passed to her daughter, Elizabeth (Betty) Evetts.
By 1959 new guest accommodation was built and a swimming pool added and thereafter the resort was able to accommodate 80 guests. During this refurbishment the last of the old grass huts from the 1930s was demolished though a new grass hut was erected as an adjunct to the recreation hall and a link with the past. A very special guest was to be among the first to use this accommodation Ñ Princess Alexandra who spent several days on the island in September 1959.
On 1 October 1961, to obtain a more secure title over the land on which
improvements were built, SL12403 over the whole island was surrendered and
replaced by perpetual lease NCL1818 over 152 acres covering the resort area and
airstrip, that area being
excised from the national park. A new SL26379 for 10 years and 3 months,
expiring on 31 December 1971, covered the remainder of the island, about 1200
acres, which remained national park.
Tragedy struck the Evetts family in July 1962 when their daughter, Margaret Ann, was killed in a water-skiing accident off the resort. She was buried at the Mount Basset cemetery and in later years, when her mother died, she was buried with her.
In April 1964, to cater for the ever-growing tourist traffic to the island the company purchased the 33.6 metre Fairmile Esmerelda from Proserpine sawmiller, Eddie Gray senior and in her conducted four-day cruises around the islands and the Barrier Reef, with Tom Evetts mostly as skipper. Shangri-La continued on with day-trips.
During 1966 a swing-basin was dredged in the reef at the eastern end of Home Beach by the Queensland Harbours Board's dredge Mourilyan and a jetty constructed, to be opened on 2 June 1968. This addition greatly facilitated transport arrangements which previously necessitated loading passengers and supplies via a tender.
On 11 November 1964 Angus Nicolson re-married, to Lorna Stevens, a daughter
of former Premier of New South Wales Sir Bertram Stevens, but died on 25 July
1967 in the Mater Hospital at Mackay and was buried in the Mount Bassett
cemetery. His shares in the family company passed to his widow and his place as
chairman of directors was taken by Archie
Nicolson. On 25 November 1967 Archie died at the age of 49 and also was buried
in the Mount Bassett cemetery. He had married Dawn Loni on 25 June 1965 and his
shares passed to her. Archie was an engineer and qualified ship's master and
during World War 2 had served in small craft doing intelligence work along the
Queensland and Northern Territory coasts.
In 1970 a six-hole golf course was constructed on the high ground to the west of the air-strip and running towards Piccaninny Point from which the name 'Piccaninny Golf Course' was sometimes given to it. To provide water for the golf course and for gardening and general use at the resort a dam was constructed at the same time across Boat Port Creek on the western side of the island north of Piccaninny Point.
On the expiry of SL26379 a new lease SL37519 was issued for 20 years from 1
July 1973 in the name of Lindeman Island Pty Ltd.
Lindeman Island Pty Ltd
P & O Australia Ltd 1974- 1983
On 9 May 1974 P& O purchased a 50% share of the resort and Lindeman
Aerial Services Pty Ltd by buying out the Evetts' and other family shares.
Lachlan and Thora Nicolson retained their shares and purchased the remaining
family shares to give them 50% also and stayed on as managing director and
secretary respectively, with a life tenure over their house on the island.
As a part of the settlement arrangements Esmerelda passed to the Evetts who left the island to commence regular cruises with her out of Mackay under the new name Elizabeth E in honour of Elizabeth Evetts. Sadly, Mrs Evetts died on 30 June 1974, the day set aside by the family for the official re-naming. She was buried in the Mount Basset cemetery with her daughter Margaret.
The 1974 entry of this powerful partner saw over the following two years a $1m refurbishment of the resort to provide modern accommodation for 204 guests in about 80 units and an enlargement of all main hotel and entertainment facilities with an official opening on 4 August 1976 by the Premier of Queensland, the Honorable J. Bjelke-Petersen MLA (Proserpine Guardian 17 May 1974, Thora Nicolson, Programme for official opening 4 August 1976).
Under P & O there were moves to make substantial extensions to resort facilities and East/ Dalwood Point and Princess Alexandra Bay again were suggested as a site for development as was Gap Beach/ Bay on the northern side of the island. However nothing came of these plans.
Lachlan and Thora both retired in April 1979 when they sold their shares to P & O and as part of the deal Huon passed to them (Bowen Independent 6 June 1979 and Thora Nicolson). Sadly, on 4 October 1980 Lachlan died in a motor accident at Booyal near Childers while he and Thora were returning by car from Brisbane where Lachlan had been awarded the Honour of an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to the tourist industry. Thora was badly injured but recovered and returned to live on the island in their original home, now surrounded by resort development.
In August 1979 Lindeman Island Pty Ltd was given permission by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to occupy a site at Plantation Bay for the purposes of siting there a children's 'Adventure Camp' as an adjunct to the company's policy at that time of a 'children free' tariff structure. The approval was for a little over a year as a trial period. This arrangement was formalised when a special lease 44731 was granted to the company over 33.7 ha at Plantation Bay for five years from 1 November 1982. At the same time special lease 44732 over 11.6 ha at Coconut Beach on the western side of the island was granted for five years from 1 November 1982. Both these additional leases were to allow for future expansion of the resort. In February 1983 the resort was sold to the State Government Insurance Office (later to become Suncorp) who saw it as an investment opportunity and originally had ideas of re-development. Meanwhile they sub-leased to P & O via Lindeman Island Pty Ltd for two years but during that time decided not to proceed with development but to sell. P & O continued management after the lease expired and pending sale of the resort.
East-West Airlines 1986
In late 1985 it was announced by the Queensland Government that about
two-thirds of Lindeman Island was to be sold to East-West Airlines on a freehold
basis, the national park status of the area involved to be revoked.
East-West proposed a major re-development of $340m to cover most of the island,
including a jet airstrip and as a part of the plan SGIO were to sell the
existing resort to East West for inclusion in their development. However there
was a major public outcry against this proposal and after a short but sharp
public and political battle East-West withdrew from the deal in March 1986 and
the proposal faded away.
Adelstein Investments Pty Ltd 1986- 1990
Lindeman Island Ltd
In April 1986 the resort was bought from SGIO/ Suncorp for $8.5m by Sydney
businessman Peter Adelstein (Courier Mail 19 April 1986; Proserpine
Guardian 1 May 1986).
The various leases (NCL1818 and special leases 37519,44731/ 2) passed to the new buyer and were registered in the name of a shelf company, Lake Hewson Ltd, until within months, Adelstein found a partner in Australian Investment Corporation and the company name was changed o Lindeman Island Ltd.
The resort was closed down in early 1987 while a major $20m re-development was undertaken. It re-opened on 30 April 1988 with 104 new rooms along the foreshore and 48 of the original rooms in the background refurbished, providing for 350 guests. A new heated swimming pool was constructed overlooking the beach and Kennedy Sound. Lindeman Aerial Services had passed to Adelstein with the purchase but he disposed of the aircraft and Lindeman Aerial Services ceased to exist. Air transport continued to the island under a series of local airlines.
In September 1989 the resort was advertised for sale with tenders closing
early November 1989 (Proserpine Guardian 9 November 1989).
Club Med Lindeman Island 1990
In late 1990 Club Med purchased the resort as a part of its world-wide chain
of villages, the first venture into Australia by this French international
tourist operator, Club Mediterranee SA of Paris. In February 1991 the resort was
closed to enable a major re-construction to commence in August that year and
after the expenditure of $85m and the expansion of accommodation to 225 rooms,
the doors were re-opened on 6 November 1992. In the re-construction most of the
older resort buildings were demolished.
The Information on the Whitsunday Islands is reproduced by kind permission of Mr. Ray
Blackwood from his book:
" The Whitsunday Islands An Historical Dictionary ". Please visit his site here. It is well worth the time!