Friend Park is a heritage-listed park at Friend Street, Barney Point, Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1854 to 1856. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 December 2003.
History
Friend Park is the site of the former Port Curtis Government Residence and Domain, established in 1854–56. The former residence was constructed for, and occupied by, Captain Maurice Charles O'Connell, who in 1854 was appointed Government Resident, Police Magistrate, and Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Port Curtis and Leichhardt districts of New South Wales (the separation of Queensland did not occur until 1859). The Domain was laid out in mid-1854, and a stone residence was completed by the end of 1856.
The township of Gladstone was established by the New South Wales Government in 1853–54. Historian Lorna McDonald suggests that this was possibly an attempt to create a more centralised alternative to Brisbane as the capital of a potential northern colony, because unlike most Queensland ports, Gladstone was established prior to the expansion of pastoral settlement in the hinterland. In April 1853 the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy, announced the intention of establishing a township at Port Curtis, and in May that year surveyor Francis MacCabe was instructed to undertake a survey for the town of Gladstone.
In naming the town Gladstone, Fitzroy commemorated British Colonial Secretary William Ewart Gladstone, who in 1846 had attempted to establish a northern colony in the Antipodes. On 17 February 1846 Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent establishing the Colony of North Australia, and the British Parliament passed an Act to define its boundaries, which included all lands and coastal islands north of latitude 26° south and extending from the east coast to the present-day Western Australia border. The new colony therefore included all of the present-day Northern Territory and most of what later became Queensland, but with the exception of the Moreton Bay, Darling Downs, and Maranoa districts. On 21 February 1846 Queen Victoria appointed Fitzroy as governor and commander in chief of the colony of North Australia, and on 25 May 1846 appointed Lieutenant-Colonel George Barney as Lieutenant-Governor and Superintendent of North Australia, to administer the new colony on Fitzroy's behalf.
Gladstone's objective in establishing the colony of North Australia was to provide a place of exile for expirees and reformed convicts from both Australian and British gaols. This in effect meant a resumption of transportation to eastern Australia, and was bitterly opposed in New South Wales. In late 1846 Gladstone was replaced as Colonial Secretary by Earl Grey, who reversed his predecessor's colonial policies. On 28 November 1846 Queen Victoria revoked the colony of North Australia, but word did not reach New South Wales before an attempt was made early in 1847 to establish a settlement at Port Curtis.
Colonel Barney and his family had arrived in Sydney in September 1846. Despite finding considerable colonial opposition to the resumption of convict transportation, Barney carried out his instructions and in November 1846 explored the North Australia coast and selected Port Curtis as a settlement site. Barney and the first contingent of 87 officials and settlers left Sydney on the barque Lord Auckland on 30 December 1846 and arrived at Port Curtis on 25 January 1847, during the height of the wet season. Their ship ran aground and the passengers were embarked at Facing Island, where they waited in tents for 7 weeks, surviving principally on dried meat and biscuits, before a relief ship, the barque Thomas Lowry, arrived on 14 March 1847.Download The wet season hindered the establishment of a settlement on the mainland, and there was discontent within the isolated community. The relief ship also brought news that the colony was likely to be abandoned. This was confirmed officially with the arrival of another ship on 14 April 1847. The settlement was disbanded between April and July 1847, during which time Colonel Barney took the opportunity to explore the Gladstone district, which he considered had great potential as the site of future settlement. Port Curtis he considered one of the finest natural harbours in the Australian colonies. Barney Point and Barney Point Beach are named in his honour.
The second attempt at non-indigenous settlement at Port Curtis, made six years later in 1853, was more successful. By 23 October 1853 Francis MacCabe had completed his Design for the Town of Gladstone, Port Curtis. Like Colonel Barney in 1847, he identified the area between Auckland Inlet and South Trees Inlet as the most suitable site for a settlement. The principal township was laid out near Auckland Inlet, but MacCabe set aside a substantial area from Barney Point to south of what is now Friend Park, as a reserve for Public Quay, Custom House and Public Offices; and a large reserve for Government House, Domain and Gardens further to the southeast, adjacent to Waapentake Creek. A large sand flat separated the proposed domain from the sea. MacCabe's plan was laid before the New South Wales Executive Council on 6 December 1853 and the Town of Gladstone was proclaimed on 21 December 1853.
On 1 January 1854 Captain Maurice Charles O'Connell, grandson of former New South Wales Governor Sir William Bligh, was appointed as Government Resident, Police Magistrate and Commissioner for Crown Lands for the Port Curtis and Leichhardt districts. These pastoral districts were proclaimed on 10 January 1854, with Port Curtis declared a settled district although only two stations had been established here by 1854.
The first sale of town lots at Gladstone was held in Sydney on 9 February 1854, and by the time O'Connell arrived at Port Curtis at the end of March 1854, the first slab buildings had been erected near Auckland Inlet. O'Connell and his family and other officials set up residence in tents at Barney Point Beach, in the area proposed as public reserve and out of the way of commercial development closer to Auckland Inlet. Here a small residential precinct soon developed. The O'Connells lived aboard ship for a month while a temporary government residence was being erected: a large marquee with a timber floor. It is understood that this marquee was erected on the low promontory at the southern end of Barney Point Beach, in the area now known as Friend Park.
On 16 April 1854 Governor Fitzroy arrived at Gladstone to inspect the fledgling settlement, and the following day officially installed O'Connell as Government Resident. Whether this ceremony occurred near the temporary government residence, in what is now Friend Park, is not clear. During the 1954 celebrations of the centenary of the establishment of Gladstone, the Gladstone community re-enacted the arrival of Fitzroy on Barney Point Beach and the installation ceremony, which was conducted in Friend Park before an audience of 6500 people. To commemorate the event, a cairn was unveiled in Friend Park.
By early July 1854 O'Connell had decided that the promontory at the southern end of Barney Point Beach, which had been intended as a temporary camp only, would be a more appropriate site for the government residence and domain than the site near Waapentake Creek selected by surveyor MacCabe. O'Connell's domain was laid out with gardens and fencing, but work on construction of a permanent residence in stone did not commence until 1855, and was not completed until late 1856.
Amongst O'Connell's regular reports to Sydney was an account of the accidental death on 16 September 1854 of 22 year old Thomas Milles Stratford Riddell, eldest son of the acting NSW colonial secretary. Riddell had been among the first purchasers of Gladstone land at the February 1854 sale in Sydney, and is thought to have accompanied O'Connell to Gladstone in March 1854. He had been assisting in carting water to the township in September when he was thrown under the wheels of the dray and killed instantly. He was buried in the government domain (now Friend Park), and by the early 1900s his grave was marked by a stone sarcophagus. Another early burial in the domain was that of Lieutenant Le Strange. This grave was known in 1954, when a wreath was laid on it during the centenary celebrations, but is no longer evident.
At the first census of Gladstone conducted by O'Connell in May 1854, the small community comprised 127 non-indigenous residents. A young visitor to the place in March 1855, Richard Mitchell, claimed the township was known locally as Auckland Point and consisted of two commercial stores and a courthouse near Auckland Inlet, while everyone except the storekeepers lived at Barney Point – likely either on or adjacent to the area set aside (but not yet proclaimed) for a public reserve.
O'Connell, autocratic by nature and fiery of temperament, was not well liked in the small Gladstone community. Although his correspondence reveals that he had great hopes for the future of Gladstone and Port Curtis, his critics accused him of inaction, and in late 1855 he faced a Select Committee Inquiry into the conduct of the Government Residency at Port Curtis. As a result, the status of Port Curtis was reduced from that of a government residency with its own revenue and government administration, to that of a pastoral district. O'Connell filed his last report as Port Curtis Resident on 26 April 1856, but remained at Gladstone as Lands Commissioner, still occupying the temporary tent house erected for him in April 1854. In late 1856 he moved into the stone dwelling completed in the government domain.
O'Connell was reinstated as Government Resident in September 1858 to handle the rapid influx of population into the Port Curtis District following the discovery of gold at Canoona. The Canoona gold rush from August 1858 briefly revived the fortunes of the district, but O'Connell's hopes that Port Curtis and Gladstone would now develop their potential were crushed when it became clear that most prospectors were accessing the Canoona goldfield via Rockhampton. In June 1859 the non-indigenous population of Gladstone was 203, which represented an 8-person increase since 1856, while that of Rockhampton stood at 250.
In June 1859, Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent separating the colony of Queensland north of the 29th parallel of latitude, and following the arrival of Governor Bowen and the proclamation of the new colony on 10 December 1859, the Port Curtis Residency became redundant. O'Connell was informed in February 1860, following which he moved to Brisbane where he served as President of the Queensland Legislative Council from 27 August 1860 to 23 March 1879. He still held an interest in the Port Curtis District, being the pastoral lessee of the Riverston run on the Boyne River.
Following the abolition of the Port Curtis Residency, O'Connell petitioned the Queensland Government to be allowed to purchase his former house and grounds at Barney Point, claiming that he had invested a considerable amount of his own money on improvements, but the colonial government refused.
A survey plan (G14.1) of the government buildings erected at Barney Point, completed by surveyor Clarendon Stuart by 9 July 1860, indicates that the government residency was located on what is now Friend Park. It was a well-ordered establishment comprising a main house, three out houses, stable, cow yard, a formally laid out garden with pathways, and front fencing. To the northwest of the government residence, outside what is now Friend Park, an old brick shed was identified, and further to the northwest, overlooking Barney Point Beach, was the house of the Clerk of Petty Sessions. To the southwest was a more extensive garden and stock yard, which appear to have been associated with the government residence. No graves were identified on the plan.