Anne Milne

PROFILE OF ANNIE EMMA DAVIS

by her daughter Olive Milne McLeod

Annie was the third daughter of Eliza Goode and John James Davis. John Davis had immigrated from Wales. Eliza's parents were Abijou Goode and Emma (Mann) Goode. They, with their three children, had emigrated as free settlers (for a passage price of ten pounds) from Coventry, England in September 1863.

See Anne's diary account of a fishing trip on "Kingfisher" in 1958

Abijou Goode was a silk weaver, who became unemployed when the Industrial Revolution took place in England. He could see no future for himself or his family and took emmigration as his way out.

After waiting sometime in Rockhampton (260 miles south of Mackay) he finally obtained work with his wife, as cook and kitchen hand on a station at Nebo 60 miles west of Mackay. Their hardships were intolerable but they persevered and eventually established themselves on a holding at Nebo. Two other children were born to them.

They baked the bread for the Nebo district as part of their storekeeping.

Grandad Davis then sold the shop to his eldest daughter Amy and her husband, and Annie continued working for them.

Her parents then bought "Braeside" a few miles out of Nebo. He bought and sold cattle and horses, and ran a blacksmith shop and cabinet making shop on the premises.

Pioneering women in my Mother's time had to know how to do everything, how to cope with all emergencies, and my Mother was no exception. She was a fine horsewoman, excellent cook, first class seamstress, and continually took prizes for her needlework. She had great presence of mind in emergencies, and a devilish sense of humour. She presented a gentle exterior to the world, but she was a little iron Lady.

After marrying Andrew Brough Milne (after a whirlwind courtship) she provided him and their growing family with a secure and loving home which was maintained throughout our lives.

She was pre-deceased by her second daughter Winifred who died of cerebral haemorrhage on 2/09/1980 and third daughter Gladys who died of ovarian cancer on 21/04/89. Annie died at her home, as was her wish, on 11/09/1990. She was 96 years old and surrounded by the remainder of her family at the time of her death.

She and my Father, are interred at Mt. Bassett Cemetery, in North Mackay.

Nebo Hotel (formerly known as the Fort Cooper Hotel)

Annie's life in Nebo was very hard.

John Davis and Eliza bought a hotel and their daughters were the staff.

Later on he sold the hotel and built a shop, in which Annie worked from early morn to late at night.

Nebo Shop and House built by JJ Davis

DIARY OF A TRIP IN "KINGFISHER" 1958 BY ANNE MILNE   Top

TUESDAY SEPT 9 1958.

Left Eimeo at 8.30 a.m. September 9 1958. Lovely calm day. Saw first whale 9 am. Arrived Fantome 10. 20 am. and fished but only got 1 Snapper Bream and left for West Point at 11.30. Caught a few snapper bream. Left for Brampton and arrived at 1 pm. with three Roylens. Had dinner and Rex was washing his hands over the side, when he overbalanced and fell into the water (wasted no time getting back on board ). After dinner went to Maryport and caught five Red Emperor. Went back to Pelican and anchored for the night. Had fish supper and cleaned up to go ashore. Arthur Bussetin came alongside with "Omar". Went ashore with outboard and saw the Bussetttins and enjoyed the frolics of the guests. A northerly wind blowing and when we left to board the dinghy, the boat rolled, as I tried to stop in, and over I went, right over my head. Wet everything including my watch which doesn't seem to have suffered, new black cardigan, new dress, but didn't lose my glasses. Had to rinse all in fresh water after boarding "Kingfisher:

WEDNESDAY SEPT 1OTH

Overshot the winch when hauling up the anchor and caused trouble as we couldn't use the engine and Rex had to haul by hand. Left Pelican at 8.40 am for Finger and Thumb and fished, drifting for 10 minutes. No fish. Left for Goldsmith Inlet at 10.35 am. Went ashore at Goldsmith and explored the island. On returning to boat, found it had dragged the reef anchor and was aground. She couldn't be moved as the North wind had taken control. Packed the legs up after getting them firm on reef, and waited 5 hours for the tide to rise. Scared stiff damage may be done on account of heavy load on boat, but it was O.K. Left for Ingot Bay and anchored for the night

THURSDAY SEPT 11TH.

Left Ingot at 7.50 am and went to Farrier. Explored island, and got a young cocoanut plant. Dad decided to sit for 1/2 hour and wait for a turkey hen near the mound. Rex and I went back to boat to fish and I landed our first Coral Trout (5 lb.) got a couple of other small rubbish. Dad gave a signal and Rex picked him up. (No turkey). Left again and passed Coppersmith lighthouse at 10.05 am. Left Keysor Island at 2.30 pm for Lindeman. Had a rough trip round the northern side. Was rough and had a job to cook fish and chips for tea. The winch was stiff and took all the current out of the batteries and the starter was flat. Had to couple up to 24 v. Didn't go ashore that night.

FRIDAY SEPT 12TH

Went ashore this morning and we were greeted by Tom Evetts who took us for morning tea; also greeted by Lock Nicholson. We went up and inspected the aerodrome and saw a plane come in, and passengers land. Took photos from top (wonderful view). Had a ride up the hill in their passenger Kombi, also down again. Were invited on a run with their guests on the Shang, amongst the islands. It was a lovely trip, met lots of the guests and enjoyed the run immensely. Tom cut the engine and we went right up to a Whale and Calf. Cameras worked overtime. Arrived back to Kingfisher, cooked tea went ashore for pictures (up to put). Friday was a beautiful calm day, but S.E. came up on returning from pictures and had a terrible night Brough and I slept about 1/2 hour all night.

SATURDAY SEPT 13TH

Left Lindeman 7.15 am in rough sea for Hamilton Bay and stopped at 8.50 for breakfast. Started again at 9.40 am for Whitsunday Inlet arriving at 10.20 am. Left boat and went in dinghy and outboard for miles up Inlet. Decided to move out to see if weather had moderated and engine made terrible noise. Stopped at once and they have been working on it ever since. Have got it going now, but I don't know if it is satisfactory; will add more later - Later: Still working on engine. Stayed Whitsunday for the night.

SUNDAY SEPT 14th

Had good sleep last night. Men are working on engine again. Time 7 am. Left Whitsunday Inlet at 10.45 am for Long Island. Went E. Time 10.45 am./ Arrived Palm Bay 12.50. Nice and calm. Left for Happy Bay and met the Mountenays. Had afternoon tea and were shown over he Island. Invited for dinner at night and accepted. Had left the dinghy anchored at low water and waited for tide to float her. Was dark night and mistook dinghys close to beach for ours, but on investigating Dad had to walk out up to his armpits before recovering it.

MONDAY 15TH SEPT

Had run with John Mountenay on "Noela Ray". Afterwards had morning tea on Kingfisher and went ashore and climbed Island to the lookouts. Returned to boat, had dinner and a rest, then went to Shute Harbour at 2.50 p,m to fish. Rex caught 7 fish, Brough one, me none. Lovely day, wind E 10 knots. Took on 24 gallons fuel from Happy Bay. Three Pounds six shillings cost. Met Terry Deane and Mrs. on Island. TUESDAY 16TH.
Had a good night rest last night. Still very calm. Decided to ring Colin re batteries etc., as have had trouble with same. Got Sylvia, and left message. Came back to boat and Brought is working on the pump. Time 9.45 am. Charlie arriving Mackay tonight. Left for South Molle 10.55 am. Engine started much better. Had dinner South Mille, (very nice) 8/6 pence. Saw young Laird and wife on honeymoon. Boarded Kingfisher 2.50 pm. Went to Daydream Island and roamed around. Pretty little island, got some pawpaws. Boarded boat back to Happy Bay to meet the "Noela Ray" and collect the ice. Later :- Collect ice, had tea and went ashore at night. Posted letter to Win.

WEDNESDAY 17TH SEPT.

Had a good calm night. Sea is oily calm this morning. Changed to liflit northerly. Left Happy Bay 8 am for Cid Harbour. Fished off Cid Island. Rex caught his first Coral Trout and some lovely snapper bream. Trawled to Sawmill Site and caught two mackerel. One weighed 7lb. dressed. Returned to Cid Island for lunch. Nice northerly fresh blowing; where we contacted Roylens at 1.30 pm and collected pharaphenalia and headed for Nara Inlet. Dinghy got loose and had to turn back for it. Saw mother whale turning somersaults and a calf playing too. One Roylen came in and left again while we were anchored in Nara Inlet. Had hot tea and lay down to listen to the play over the air, but were amused mostly by Rex who went to sleep on the bank above where Bough and I were. He gave a wonderul imitation of the wire anchor rope when it slackens and then tightens in the water. I wished we had a tape recorder. Time is 9.15, so off to bed.

THURSDAY 18TH SEPT.

Nice calm night, had good sleep. Had breakfast and rowed ashore and climbed up rocks to fresh water, where we all had a bird bath. Returned to shoop for morning tea. Very windy and gusty N. W. Esmeralda arrived with a party and went ashore for awhile. Had a sleep and then boarded the dinghy and outboard and went for a long cruise around part of the island. Outboard behaved splendidly. Dad landed to try for a goat, but they were all old enough to have a vote so were safe. Lovely bird calls all day, also cockatoos and every sound echoes over the island. No fish worth having; only small rainbows, no red fish. Wind seems to have dropped except for some gusts. Charged batteries with charging plant today.
FRIDAY 19TH SEPT.        .

Had good quiet night. Very cloudy this morning and change in wind. Hossack H. circled us this morning and left. Goats calling out from both sides of island and goats on boat answering. Leaving Nara Inlet for Whitehaven Bay time 8.10 am. Arrived at Hazelwood 11.30 am. Rough trip. Went ashore for an hour, had dinner and a rest. Went ashore again and roamed the island. Lots of lovely big ti-trees, also signs of pigs but didn't see any. Ran charging plant, had tea and retired for the night. Very sloppy and had little sleep.

SATURDAY 20TH SEPT.

Has calmed down a lot and are proposing some fishing this morning as up to now we have done very little. Didn't do much good. Went to Esk Is. had dinner and a rest. Rex went out in dinghy and caught a coral trout and parrot, and gummy shark. Brough and I went ashore and found the yellow orchid and got some. Water was very inviting so told them to move off and I had a swim in the nude. After returning to boat, had smoko and decided to go back towards Lindeman for the night and started engine, and discovered the dinghy rope was wound round the prop. Couldn't release it so Rex rowed the dinghy and towed the boat to shore and beached her, then cut the rope off in fairly shallow water, Brough kept her off the beach and Rex had three or four dives before he could cut it free. Much relieved.

SUNDAY 21 ST SEPT.

Had bad night last night. Ship rolled and tossed all night and it rained. Had morning tea and left Whitehaven Bay at 7.4 am and went into a quieter place for breakfast. Moved again and did some fishing. Rex got three coral trout, me one. Brough a nice snapper bream. Left for Surprise Rock 10./l0am and am travelling - hence the writing.        Arrived Surprise Rock 11 o'clock. Had very good fishing. Caught big cod aboaut 30lb. a morwong 13 lb. lot of red bream etc. Gave the catch to Lindeman Island and had tea on the island at night. Met Rowan Croker and party. The day was a lovely day, although it looked so bad early this morning. Sharks were bad on Surprise Rock.

MONDAY 22ND SEPT.

Had another very rough night. A strong southerly sprang up at 1.15 am and sleep was impossible. Started engine and moved to Seaforth Is. where it is calmer. Had walk around Island. After dinner had much needed sleep and moved boat back to anchorage. Men went ashore and got two tins water. Rowan Croker came aboard for a chat. "Silverwake" arrived, also an Auster Plane circled a few times and landed. Quite a lot of boats in anchorage.

TUESDAY 23RD SEPT

Had fair night. Bit bumpy this morning. Will land later for fuel. (Later.) Too rough to land for fuel so went to Shaw Island to land. Did so but nothing interesting and only 1 snapper bream caught. Returned to anchorage at Seaforth Island. Rough sea and very restless night. Rowan Croker left in his sailinfg boat for Mackay, about midday.

WEDNESDAY 24TH SEPT.

Had another restless night. Thought the boat would dash herself to pieces at times. Time now 6.30 am, think the wind has eased a lot, but squalls everywhere. Hoping it will clear today so we can make for home. (Later) Time 3 pin weather the same. Too rough to load fuel this morning though we went into the island to try. Came back to boat, and decided to wait. Three Roylens arrived about 8.35 Later one of their boats with Scotty brought us some fresh break and milk, which we were very glad of. An Auster plane just landed. Stayed on boat all day. Too rough to go anywhere.

THURSDAY 25TH SEPT.

Left anchorage at Seaforth Is. at 8.4 am and have gone to Lindeman to get fuel. Sea is a lot calmer this morning though not good. Forecast for today 15 to 20 knots S.E. Left Lindeman and went to Goldsmith Is. where we will spend the night. Sea was rough in places and wind has not dropped. Tried fishing all around Farrier, but no fish. Landed Goldsmith Is. and walked over it; saw where the fire had been a few weeks previously. A chap called "Happy" has a hut there, but was away.

FRIDAY 26TH SEPT.

Had a good night and got up early. Decided to leave for home as there was no change in weather. Had morning tea. Left a 6.10 am and had sandwiches on the way. Sea very rough in places. Arrived Eimeo 9.00am. Had a busy time unloading boat. Had dinner and a rest. Rex contacted Norma and Arnold and they came to see us in the afternoon.

SATURDAY 27TH SEPT.

Staying at Eimeo over the weekend. Rex's Birthday today.

END OF DIARY

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