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Henry Somerset | |
|---|---|
 Henry Plantagenet Somerset | |
| Member of theQueensland Legislative Assembly forStanley | |
| In office 27 August 1904 – 9 October 1920 | |
| Preceded by | William Summerville |
| Succeeded by | Frederick Nott |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Henry Plantagenet Somerset (1852-05-19)19 May 1852 Fort Armstrong,Kaffraria, Eastern Cape (nowSouth Africa) |
| Died | 11 April 1936(1936-04-11) (aged 83) Caboonbah,Queensland, Australia |
| Resting place | Caboonbah Undenominational Church Cemetery |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Ministerial |
| Other political affiliations | Liberal Party,National |
| Spouse | Katherine Rose McConnel |
| Occupation | Grazier |
Henry Plantagenet Somerset (19 May 1852 – 11 April 1936) was a pioneer pastoralist and politician inQueensland,Australia. Somerset was a liberal politician who represented thedistrict of Stanley in theQueensland Legislative Assembly from1904 to1920, and canvassed successfully for the extension of theBrisbane Valley railway through theBrisbane River Valley to the rich timber reserves in the Blackbutt Range and beyond. Both theSomerset Dam and the local government area ofSomerset Region are named in his honour.
H. P. Somerset's family claimed descent fromJohn of Gaunt andKatherine Swynford through theBeaufort line. Henry was the second son of Colonel Charles Henry Somerset and Christina Emma Thompson and was born atFort Armstrong inKaffraria,Cape Colony (nowSouth Africa) on 19 May 1852 where his father was a serving officer with the72nd Highlanders.
In 1855, his family moved to India, and remained until theSepoy Mutiny in 1857 after which his mother returned to England with her four young children. They were cared for by relatives until Henry's father returned in ill health and both his parents died in 1863 when Henry was 11. The following year Henry Somerset was sent toWellington College by his guardian, General Edward Somerset, where he remained until he was 18, excelling at sport, music and art. Wellington College had been established byQueen Victoria for the education of her army's orphans in 1859 and Henry's years there provide the most joyous chapters of his autobiography.[1]
On the advice of Charles Grant Tindal,[1] with whom Henry shared a love of thoroughbred horses, Henry paid £40 for passage to Queensland as a sailor-passenger on the wooden barquePolmaise and a land order for 40 acres. On arrival he met William Bowman, manager of Mount Brisbane Station on part of which the township ofEsk was built and accompanied him toNew South Wales. Henry returned to Queensland and worked for David Cannon McConnel, from 1872 to 1874, atCressbrook Station. He establishedMount Marlow Station for James Henry McConnel in 1875 where his head stockman was James MacPherson the bushranger, known as the Wild Scotsman,[2] after his release from prison.
Mount Marlow station was sold in 1877[3] and Henry returned to England in December 1878 on theWhampoa after having proposed to Katharine Rose McConnel, daughter of David Cannon McConnel on the top ofMount Coot-tha.[4]
They were married at the British Legation inBerne, Switzerland, in 1879 and returned to Cressbrook for the birth of their first daughter. Henry then purchased Glenhaughton Station on theDawson River for D. C. McConnel before leaving to manage[5]
Ramornie Station on theClarence River for Charles Grant Tindal until 1885 and then Gordon Brook Station until 1888. He returned to Queensland permanently in 1888 to build a house for his wife and four children, first atMount Stanley and finally atCaboonbah in 1889-1890.[citation needed]
HisCaboonbah Homestead was built in a unique position commanding a view of both theStanley andBrisbane Rivers and it was from here that Henry Somerset sent riders on two separate occasions to warn Brisbane of impendingflooding in 1893. The first was a local bullock driver named Harry Winwood who rode to Esk with a telegram for Post Master General, Brisbane, but"not a soul was warned".[6]
The second was a stockman from Dalgangal station, Billy Mateer, who rode toNorth Pine with more success. Convinced that Caboonbah's location was ideal for a flood warning station for theBrisbane andStanley Rivers, Henry lobbied hard.[7] and achieved his objective in 1895.[8]
In 1893, he became the first chairman of theMount Beppo State School, which opened on 4 September 1893.[9][10]
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In 1890, he served as a councillor in theEsk Shire and served again from 1898–1905, being chairman from March 1901 to January 1902.[11]
In September 1904 Henry Somerset won the seat ofStanley in theQueensland Legislative Assembly from the incumbentWilliam Summerville (525 to 410) and retained it until 1920. In his first acceptance speech he described himself as a democrat, not a conservative and pledged himself to "use his influence to advance the construction of the railway line as far as Stanley Gates"[12] (now known as the township of Moore on D’Aguilar Highway, Somerset). He also offered to come before the electors again if he failed. He had no need to honour that promise.
The railway had reachedYimbun, a station beyondToogoolawah when Henry Plantagenet Somerset was first elected. It passed the timber town ofMoore and reachedLinville on 21 November 1910 andBenarkin on the Blackbutt Range by 8 May 1911. In two more years it was open toBlackbutt,Gilla,Pidna and finallyYarraman as its terminus which was formally opened on 1 May 1913.World War I intervened and stopped the proposed railway extension from Yarraman toNanango which was never completed.
While in parliament, Somerset advocated better working conditions for country hospitals and staff, the teaching of practical skills like handcrafts and domestic science in State schools, assessment of water resources before surveying for closer settlement and particularly water conservation.
Henry Somerset successfully contested seven elections from 1904–1920 although his personal popularity was such that for some of these he was unopposed. Henry Somerset had joined theFarmers' Parliamentary Union by 1910 and continued to attend their meetings for several years. He initially accepted endorsement from theQueensland Farmers' Union (later theCountry Party) for the1915 Queensland state election and then rejected it to stand as a "straight out liberal".[13] He won the next two elections but retired in 1920. The electorate of Stanley was held by the County Party until 1949 when an electoral redistribution saw the seat renamedSomerset.
It was H. P. Somerset's nomination and advocacy of the Stanley Gorge as an effective catchment area for a dam that saw theStanley Dam project being accepted for flood prevention, resulting in the creation of the now-calledSomerset Dam. Its construction was one of two recommendations from a report by A. G. Gutteridge (1928) as Royal Commissioner exploring future water requirements for theCity of Brisbane.[14] It was initially rejected[14] by Brisbane City Council that sparked unrelenting criticism for two years until the decision was reversed in 1930.[15]
The dam project was supported by theForgan Smith Government in 1933 but interrupted in 1942 when workmen and machinery were diverted to other purposes duringWorld War II. The dam was finally opened in 1953.[citation needed]
Henry Somerset died on 11 April 1936, all of his siblings, his wife and eldest son having predeceased him. He is buried in the cemetery of theCaboonbah Undenominational Church that he helped to establish and had served his community in local and State Government for thirty years. He chose as his own epitaph,"Write me as one who loves his fellow man".
TheCaboonbah Homestead became the headquarters of theBrisbane Valley Historical Society. The society meticulously restored the homestead to its original condition, reopening it to the public in 1989. It was added to theQueensland Heritage Register (entry 601139) on 12 December 1996.[16] Unfortunately, in May 2009, an electric fault started a fire which destroyed the homestead.[17][18]
TheStanley Dam was renamed theSomerset Dam in 1958 in honour of Henry Plantagenet Somerset. The locality ofSomerset Dam which surrounds the dam was also named after him and the local government area ofSomerset Region.
The movieDeluge: the true story of the Great Brisbane Flood of 1893 starring local actorRay Barrett presents the story of Somerset and his attempts to warn of the impending flood.[19]
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| Preceded by | Member forStanley 1904–1920 | Succeeded by |
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| National | |
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