Sepia Saturday 330: 14 May 2016

Alan Burnett from Sepia Saturday says:

Our theme image this week shows a type-setter at work. It comes from the collection of the Netherlands National Archives and is part of their Flickr stream. Whatever type of old image you want to share for Sepia Saturday 330, just include it in a blog post, post your post on or around Saturday 14th May 2016 and then add a link to it on the list below.

Having nothing in my own collection to match the image prompt, I duly searched Picture Queensland. The image below was one of the results that emerged from the search term "type".

Illustrated page from The Queenslander annual, November 4, 1935, p. 37  - courtesy of the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

This is a cropped image, I hasten to add....and here is the caption:

If you want to see the original image go here.

Being the family historian that I am, I of course want to know a bit more about Miss M. Morrow.  Grove Crescent Toowong is reasonably familiar to me.  Here it is on the map:

It is just around the corner from Kensington Terrace where St Ignatius is located - the church where Robert and I were married and Robert's sister Patricia too.  I used to work at the ABC in Sherwood Road Toowong.  The children went to Toowong Creche & Kindy in Sherwood Road.  I have ploughed up and down Miskin Street on many occasions in the car - possibly one of the most difficult hill starts in Brisbane at the junction of Miskin Street and Sherwood Road.  One also has to be careful not to exceed the speed limit in the dip of Miskin Street because it is a school zone being near the BBC playing fields.  But that is all by the by....back to Miss M Morrow.

So I started with Find My Past electoral rolls. I find her in the 1934 Commonwealth Electoral Roll listed as Mary Annie Caldwell Morrow. Occupation: h. duties.  Residence Menahouie (this is actually a transcription error as you will discover below) Grove Crescent, Toowong. Then I remember that you just get transcriptions on FMP and can't see the person in context i.e. if she was living with anyone else...so I swap to Ancestry.

Because I have so many more christian names to search on I can be more confident of finding the right person.  I find the following on Ancestry:

Mary Annie Caldwell Morrow was born in 1872 to Thomas Morrow and Margaret Caldwell.  She was the second eldest of four children (to the best of my knowledge) as follows:

1869 William Alexander Morrow
1872 Mary Annie Caldwell Morrow
1874 Thomas Edgar Morrow
1879 Henry Cooke Morrow

A search on Trove finds the following:

Family Notices (1868, January 11). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), , p. 4. Retrieved May 15, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1305392 - courtesy of Trove National Library of Australia

Back to the electoral rolls...the earliest I can find featuring Mary Annie Caldwell Morrow is in 1903.  The family is living in Ruhamah, Eldernell Avenue, Hamilton. William is listed as a barrister (aged about 34), Thomas Edgar (about 29 years old), Thomas and Henry Cook (aged about 24) are listed as confectioners.  Mary and her mother Margaret have home duties as their occupation.  

In 1905 and 1908 Thomas Edgar and William Alexander are still living at home with their parents and sister but Henry has moved out.  In 1913, Thomas and Thomas Edgar have changed their occupations to manufacturer and William is now living with Bertha at Toorak Road Hamilton.  William is still a barrister. By 1919, William starts describing himself as a manufacturer and he and Bertha have moved back to Eldernell Avenue. By 1925 it is just Mary Ann Caldwell and her mother Margaret living in Eldernell Avenue.  In 1928 it is just Mary Annie Caldwell living in Ruhamah but the street has changed its name now to Killara Avenue.  So I'm not sure if the property straddled both streets or she moved streets and kept the same house name.

The 1936 Electoral Roll shows Mary Annie Caldwell Morrow at Grove Crescent. Several events probably prompted Miss Morrow to move.

Her mother's death in 1926. And maybe the family home was too big to maintain.  

DEATH OF MRS. THOMAS MORROW. (1926, November 1). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), , p. 19. Retrieved May 15, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21076397 - courtesy of Trove National Library of Australia

Presumably she moved to Toowong to be closer to her brothers Henry and Thomas. Henry lived at Graham Road Indooroopilly and Thomas lived at Grove Street Toowong.  Henry lived previously at Morrow Road Taringa (presumably named after the Morrows) according to this notice in the paper:

Advertising (1925, December 26). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), , p. 20. Retrieved May 15, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20988953 - courtesy of Trove, National Library of Australia

So who were the Morrows?  And what kind of confectionary did they manufacture?  Those who have been long term Queensland residents will be way ahead of me on this one.  I have only lived here since the early 80s but many will remember Morrows Biscuits before it became Arnotts in the 1960s.

Here is some of the artwork associated with Morrow confectionary:

Rankin & Morrow's Excelsior Confectionery label courtesy of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Look at this marvellous photo I also found on Picture Queensland.  I think this is Miss Morrow's father and her brother in the front row.

Page 26 of the Queenslander Pictorial, supplement to The Queenslander, 18 August, 1917.Caption: Interstate Conference of Manufacturing Confectioners, held in Brisbane recently. 
Front row: D. Webster (Q.), Hobbs (W.A.), Morrow (Q.), J. Henderson (N.S.W.), H.C. Morrow (Q., president), J. Featherstone (S.A.), F. Dutton (V.), J.N. Steadman (N.S.W.). 
Second row: G. Treagle (Q.), W. Ennever (N.S.W.), T. Poole (N.S.W.), F. Fowles (V.), M. Mendes (V.), G.W. Long (V.), A.E. Batiste (V.), F.J. Ransom (N.S.W.), A.T. Carrington (N.S.W.), S.C. Russell (V.). 
Third row: J.C. McQuode (V.), W.C.A. Luke (V.), J. Hargreaves (N.S.W.), A.W. Allen (V.), G. Black (V.), J.E. Plumridge (Q.), J. Spence (V.), W.A. Hogarth (N.S.W.). 
Back row: T.P. Chegwin (Q.), W. Davison (V.), J.R. Phillips (Q.), Jno P. Wilson (Q.), P.B. Hoadley (V.), M. Dines (Q.), G. Dunne (Q.), L. Gole (Q.), J. Ireland (N.S.W.), J.D. Webster (Q.). J. and J. Murray photo.

Here is a photo of the factory in 1925.  I did visit this factory many years later as a Producer's Assistant when I worked at the ABC - eating Iced Vo-Vos hot off the production line was a treat I shall always savour.

Aerial view of Petrie Terrace, Brisbane, ca. 1925 Morrows Biscuit Factory (later to become Arnott Morrows) on River Road (renamed Coronation Drive in 1937), Milton, appears in the foreground. courtesy of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

When I searched Picture Queensland again for Morrow, I came up with this...

An article and photograph from The Steering Wheel on Menahonie, a private residence in Toowong owned by Miss M. A. C. Morrow and designed by architect Mr Eric P. Trewern. 1 April 1933 courtesy of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

Brisbane Courier, 17 November 1932, p.8 - courtesy of Trove Natonal Library of  Australia

And this:

Telegraph, 14 July 1936, p.21 courtesy of Trove, National Library of Australia

Miss Morrow died in 1940.

Death of Miss Mary Morrow (1940, June 11). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 13 (CITY FINAL LAST MINUTE NEWS). Retrieved May 15, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188199359 - courtesy of Trove, National Library of Australia

She left a considerable legacy to her brothers and the Presbyterian Church.

PROBATE GRANTED (1941, July 31).Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 - 1947), , p. 4. Retrieved May 15, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article152138788 - courtesy of Trove - National Library of Australia

Miss Morrow's Bequest to Presbyterians (1940, August 3). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 16 (CITY FINAL LAST MINUTE NEWS). Retrieved May 15, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172627960 - courtesy of Trove, National Library of Australia

Here is Menahonie today (well three years ago in 2013).  And look it is right out the back of St Ignatius Primary School.

Curiosity got the better of me yesterday and I couldn't resist going by and making sure it was still there.

It's difficult to do it justice in the available late afternoon light, but it is safe to say that Menahonie looks well loved and cared for.

Can anyone tell me what Menahonie means?  

For more "types" of contiributions to Sepia Saturday click here.