Local sleuths solve mystery of photo of orchard from 1907
From Donna Klease (nee Smith)
Donna Klease, left, and Karen Harper from Council library have managed to save the photo.
The beginning of this mystery came about at our weekly coffee group late last year. My friend Anne Veivers had visited an auction house in Toowoomba and seen a lovely old photo of an orange orchard in Mapleton. As a descendent of the first pioneers of Mapleton, the Smith family, I found this fascinating.
Contact was made with the auction house owner to arrange a photo be taken and emailed to me. He explained that it had been hanging in the Nambour Railway and that it was in a series of commissioned framed photos in some local railway stations in the early 1900s. To my pleasant surprise it was indeed our Smith family photo. The orchards were located near Baroon Falls (later called Mapleton Falls) on Mapleton Falls Road. In the picture are some of our family members.
Smith’s Orange Orchard in Mapleton 1907.
What was surprising is the size of the framed photo — one square metre! I made contact with our Council Heritage Library in Nambour to find out if they were willing to purchase and save it. With the wonderful help of Karen Harper, Carol Hawley and team from the Heritage Library, we were successful.
We established that the Government Photographer at the time, was Mr Henry Mobsby who had taken the photo. Mr Mobsby had taken over as official artist and photographer for the Department of Agriculture in 1904 and continued in this role until his retirement in 1930.
The 1907 photo has Mr David Smith Senior standing on the left of the orange case, with his son Councillor T. D. Smith in the background (my Great Grandfather).
Mr O. Gorman in the foreground on the right hand corner the early pioneers of Mapleton. Similar gigantic gum trees as seen in the background once occupied this farm, which were felled by stoving, then burnt. The timber frame is made of Bean Tree and has the inscription “Orange Orchard Mapleton”.
The Queenslander Newspaper in 1911 wrote the following of Mr D Smith: “In 1894 the first spring cart was driven down the range to Nambour, and although the event seems insignificant today the occasion marked an important era in Blackall Range history, and the day when the residents assembled to cheer the sturdy pioneer as he essayed the journey fraught with so many difficulties is still memorable in Mapleton. Mr Smith on this occasion, carted 5cwt (250 kgs) of produce and took 3 days to accomplish the return journey. Considerable improvements were effected to the roads at this stage, and carts and wagons now replaced the weary pack horse.”
In 1889 David Smith who owned farmland in Redland Bay, was considered one of the active pioneers of Redland Bay.
He sent his two young sons, Thomas and William, to search for agricultural land, with the knowledge that tall timber grew on good soil and that red soil was suitable for growing citrus fruit and vegetables.
David had read that some newly-surveyed land on the Range west of Petrie’s Creek was available for selection. With swags and food the boys set off by train to Brisbane and onto Caboolture.
They boarded a Cobb & Co coach to Woombye and Currie’s Knob to arrive at Tom Petrie’s Hotel, which later became the town of Nambour.
With help up the Range through the tangled mass of vines and scrub by two guides (Mr Howard and John Murtagh) they reached the top to set up camp beside a swampy lagoon.
David Smith was renowned as the “Father of Mapleton”.
With his two sons and daughter (Amy) the families farmed and helped establish the foundations of the village, like the school, hall, roads, tramway, church, cemetery and the Farmers and Fruitgrowers Progress Association.