Extract from Journal 1 of Cyrus John Richard Williams
The Dickson Family
The Dicksons were a large family; the sons James Robert, Frederick William (afterwards Judge Dickson), Graham, Power, Herbert and Harold; the daughters Alice (who married Captain Leeper, R.N.), Annie (who married Jock Mitchell a squatter in New England), Ada (who married me), Agnes, Lucy (married to Alec McNab of Chambers, Bruce and McNab, solicitors) Grace (who married Oliver Hargrave), and Edith.
The Dicksons lived in a fine sandstone house on the top of Toorak Hill, 200 feet high with a flat-topped tower from which one had a fine view up the Bulimba Reach and partly down the Hamilton Reach of the Brisbane River.
The girls of the family, though none of them beautiful, were very attractive and their house was a popular one and in my Livingstone and St Helens days, young men were there nearly every evening.
Alice, the eldest, fiancée of Lieutenant Leeper who was attached to the H.M.S. “Lark”, surveying ship, was a particularly bright girl and had many chances of throwing Leeper over and making good matches, among her most devoted swains was Charlie Jameson, but she remained faithful to the uniform and married her Captain. She was clever at music, could play anything by ear or on sight and could sing well enough for what in those days were called “musical evenings”, parties at which those who performed enjoyed themselves hugely and those who listened were bored stiff. The choruses, which usually accompanied the songs of that period were a slight “let off” for the dullards.
Partly on the above account, but more by the general charm of the family, the house was very popular with the “lads of the village”. The dining room was about 30 feet long by about 20 feet wide, with a beautiful Queensland beech floor, which timber never requires any preparation to make it suitable for dancing, and any evening we would push the dining table to one side of the room, roll up the carpet and spend the evening dancing; the only fly in the ointment was the three and a half mile walk home at midnight. On musical evenings our soloists were Selwyn Smith who would sing anything, and Alice who could sing or play anything, and such evenings were filled with the melodies of Gilbert and Sullivan’s’ operas. Our attitude towards imported talent may be indicated by the following. One evening, as the St Helen’s contingent were walking up the 200 foot hill to Toorak, someone remarked “There’s going to be a fellow here tonight who sings like an angel.” Ringrose remarked “Let’s kick his arse.” The bright particular star proved to be a young Italian chap from Sydney, named Tornagi, and after hearing him sing “Non Ever”, we forgave him.
The Dickson Family
The Dicksons were a large family; the sons James Robert, Frederick William (afterwards Judge Dickson), Graham, Power, Herbert and Harold; the daughters Alice (who married Captain Leeper, R.N.), Annie (who married Jock Mitchell a squatter in New England), Ada (who married me), Agnes, Lucy (married to Alec McNab of Chambers, Bruce and McNab, solicitors) Grace (who married Oliver Hargrave), and Edith.
The Dicksons lived in a fine sandstone house on the top of Toorak Hill, 200 feet high with a flat-topped tower from which one had a fine view up the Bulimba Reach and partly down the Hamilton Reach of the Brisbane River.
The girls of the family, though none of them beautiful, were very attractive and their house was a popular one and in my Livingstone and St Helens days, young men were there nearly every evening.
Alice, the eldest, fiancée of Lieutenant Leeper who was attached to the H.M.S. “Lark”, surveying ship, was a particularly bright girl and had many chances of throwing Leeper over and making good matches, among her most devoted swains was Charlie Jameson, but she remained faithful to the uniform and married her Captain. She was clever at music, could play anything by ear or on sight and could sing well enough for what in those days were called “musical evenings”, parties at which those who performed enjoyed themselves hugely and those who listened were bored stiff. The choruses, which usually accompanied the songs of that period were a slight “let off” for the dullards.
Partly on the above account, but more by the general charm of the family, the house was very popular with the “lads of the village”. The dining room was about 30 feet long by about 20 feet wide, with a beautiful Queensland beech floor, which timber never requires any preparation to make it suitable for dancing, and any evening we would push the dining table to one side of the room, roll up the carpet and spend the evening dancing; the only fly in the ointment was the three and a half mile walk home at midnight. On musical evenings our soloists were Selwyn Smith who would sing anything, and Alice who could sing or play anything, and such evenings were filled with the melodies of Gilbert and Sullivan’s’ operas. Our attitude towards imported talent may be indicated by the following. One evening, as the St Helen’s contingent were walking up the 200 foot hill to Toorak, someone remarked “There’s going to be a fellow here tonight who sings like an angel.” Ringrose remarked “Let’s kick his arse.” The bright particular star proved to be a young Italian chap from Sydney, named Tornagi, and after hearing him sing “Non Ever”, we forgave him.