Daniel McCallum (abt. 1805 - 1866)

Ancestors Descendants

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early Life in Glasgow 1.2 Trial and Transportation 1.3 Marriage to Bridget Walsh 1.4 Daniel and Bridget's Family 1.5 A family on the move 1.6 Death and Burial 2 Research Notes 3 Sources

Biography

Daniel was born about 1805. He is the son of Donald McCallum and Janet Blair. He married Bridget Walsh on 6 April 1840. He passed away in 1866.^[1] He is buried in an unmarked grave on the Redbank reserve.^[2]

Early Life in Glasgow

During these years [of Daniel's early working life] Glasgow was transformed from a small merchant town into a burgeoning industrial city, growing rapidly in size to become the powerhouse of the Scottish economy. Industrial and technical innovation fostered this expansion and many people were attracted to the city in search of work, not just from rural Scotland but also from England and Ireland. Such rapid expansion inevitably created social problems and accompanying political tension. These came to a head in the so-called Radical War of 1820 and the events leading up to the Great Reform Act of 1832. Between 1750 and 1821 Glasgow's population exploded from just under 32,000 to over 147,000 people. A third of this increase took place in the last decade.^[3]

Daniel's trial record of November 1828 has him declaring he is a native of Glasgow and 23 years of age, by trade a joiner, and resides in his fathers house in Gallowgate.^[4] On Daniel's death certificate, Donald is recorded as a tobacconist.

Trial and Transportation

Daniel was a British subject, born in Glasgow in 1805 and described as being 5 feet 3½ inches tall with a ruddy, freckled complexion, brown hair, and hazel eyes with a long horizontal scar on his left eye. He was a house carpenter and had been convicted of "Stealing in a Dwelling house", i.e. stealing two silk handkerchiefs from a women working in an inn, although there is serious doubt about the validity of the charge. It well may have happened through drunken high spirits but it is known that Daniel was a tradesman with money in his pocket at the time, for he had paid for a jug while at the inn. Whatever the real facts of the matter may be, he was tried on Christmas Eve, 1828, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment which was commuted to transportation to New South Wales. He sailed on the John (2), leaving Sheerness on 27 May 1829 and arrived in Sydney, together with another 187 male convicts on 13 September 1829.^[5][6][7]

Marriage to Bridget Walsh

Daniel and Bridget McCallum nee Kelly alias Walsh, who were married on 6 April 1840, "with the consent of the Governor" In the Parish of Eldon, County of Gloucester, NSW. The surname recorded is McAllam, but both the married couple and their witnesses (John & Catherine Calligan) signed with a cross, so the spelling was probably a phonetic approximation by a recording clerk. He is recorded elsewhere as Daniel McCallum and Macullum.

Daniel and Bridget's Family

His future wife, Bridget Kelly alias Walsh, was also transported for "Stealing in a Dwelling house" and was 20 years old at the time. ... It is perhaps not surprising, with ruddy complexions on both sides, that their son, Alex McCallum, was later photographed on a splendid new coach of the Cobb design built for his Gympie run, with a huge red beard and red hair.

It appears that the couple had at least eight live children, but the documentation is sketchy. There are certainly baptismal records for Michael, Daniel, Alexander, Robert and Elizabeth Ann who were all baptised into the Roman Catholic faith like their mother in 1848 in the County of Cumberland, NSW. There are records in the Qld. Register of Births for five of the children. Michael McCallum had been registered in 1840, Daniel in 1841 and Robert in 1845. Alexander, who later won the coach mail contract from Esk to Nanango, was registered in 1843 and his sister Elizabeth Annie in 1848. Her father is recorded on this baptismal register as George Chapman but this is likely to be another clerical error. Patrick, the eldest son, was born in Maitland in 1838 while his parents were awaiting the governor's consent to marry and Michael had been born to this couple just a month after their marriage.

The Pre-separation Register developed by the Nanango Shire for its bi-centennial history lists several other children of Daniel and Bridget McCallum including Bruce, John and Matilda Bridget Janet Harriet. Bruce was the name Daniel Junior was known by, John was born in 1853 and Bridget Matilda in 1857. There is no record of John in Nanango after 1859, but his grandson Keith traced him to Victoria. Bruce had died alone on the bank of the Dan River near Eversham Station, Aramac, where he and his brother John were shearing on 9 June, 1892. There was an inquiry into his death but there were no suspicious circumstances. He died a bachelor.

...

The remaining seven children of Daniel & Bridget McCallum all married: Elizabeth Annie to Peter Storck on 12/5/1866, then Patrick to Mary Ann Sullivan (widow) nee McLean on 28/1/1869, followed by Alexander to Betsy Yates on 20/9/1870, Michael to Ellen Kendricks on 18/6/1876, Matilda to James Hughes on 11/7/1876, John to Elizabeth Reid, on 16/11/1880 at Darlington Point, NSW and Robert to Mary Ann Richardson on 19/6/1884. Elizabeth Annie needed her father's permission to marry because she was under 21 at the time and Daniel McCallum died in the same year as her marriage, on 9 November, 1866. He had been pardoned on 13 January, 1847, nineteen years after his original sentence and he died at Redbank at 60 years of age, exiled permanently from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but a free man in Australia. His widow Bridget survived for another twenty five years, dying at Goodna on 26th November, 1891 aged 78.

Two of their sons, Patrick and Alex, are recorded as mail contractors serving Nanango and its surrounding districts for many years ...^[8]

A family on the move

Writing in 1909 in the jubilee year of the proclamation of the Queensland, W. Clark, remembers the old time village established at South Brisbane on indigenous lands called Mehanchin (Meanjin). At the time he remembers it as a favourite camping place for the emancipationists of the penal regime. As he recalls:

Grey-street was the only other street showing any settlement upon it in the year 1849. David Bunton's Wheat Sheaf Inn stood quite isolated at one end of it, at the edge of a large swamp. Near to it lived Dan McCullum, a carpenter, and Francis Glynn Connolly, father of South Brisbane's medico, of that name. On the opposite side of Grey-street John Bryden - Petrie's foreman carpenter—owned a cottage.^[9]

Mr. Clark's is a precious memory. However, he is likely mistaken in that Mr. Bunton was granted a licence for the 'Wool Pack Inn' at the time.^[10] There are later reports of a license for the Wheat Sheaf Inn on Logan-road.^[11] David Bunton along with Jacob Goode of Burnett Inn fame, both publicans, were amongst the 20 qualified voters from South Brisbane on the 1847 electoral list.^[12] Jacob Goode commenced at the Burnett Inn in 1849.^[13] In 1859, when the estate of Mr. Bunton had his property on Lot 10 Melbourne St. up for sale, it was described as a large five roomed weatherboard cottage, substantially built with hardwood floors. A building which would have operated as his Inn with the McCallums staying nearby.^[14]

1865 Plan of South Brisbane showing Lot 10 Melbourne Street off Grey Street.

The 1865 plan gives the impression of a well established settlement. However, in 1849 there were only 44 buildings, grouped around Russel-street where the ferry crossed to North Brisbane, along the river bank for about three blocks, and only extending back two streets, to Stanley and Grey-streets.^[9] It was surveyed but unformed as suggested by Thomas Baines painting from sketches done in 1855.

Baines, Thomas, 1820-1875. South Brisbane From The North Shore, Moreton Bay, Australia, 1868. National Library of Australia.

Death and Burial

It appears that Daniel died on the 9th November 1866 at Redbank Station in the Burnett, where he he was also buried on the same day. ... Daniel was only 61 years of age and died from congestive cardiac failure (often called dropsy), which had been grossly evident for only about 8 weeks. At the time he is noted as having been a "Bushman". ^[15]

Redbank is a significant locality in the early history of the McCallum families. Daniel is buried in a group of graves probably in what was the town reserve.

REDBANK (co. Wicklow) is a small township situated at the confluence of the Auburn river and the Redbank and M'Cullum's creeks, on the telegraph line and main road from Dalby to Rockhampton. The nearest townships are Hawkwood, 25 miles S.E., and Camboon, 40 miles N.W.; the communications being by horse or dray. With Brisbane, the nearest is by horse or dray to Gayndah, thence by coach twice a week to Maryborough, and thence by steamer. Redbank has one hotel, the Redbank, and about 5 other buildings and about 20 inhabitants. It lies in a pastoral district, the surrounding country consisting of open ridges and black soil flats, covered with ironbark, bloodwood, and gum timber. Granite and sandstone.^[16]

REDBANK Station - First occupied in 1849, by Mr. John Ross and family, and possessed by them many years; now (1875) the property of Mr. E. H. Lloyd. Distance from Gayndah 70 miles; situate(d) on the Auburn.^[17]

Research Notes

Was Daniel (or Daniel and family) in Werris' Creek in 1840? Henry Stuart Russell received hospitality at Forbes' station, Werris' creek, where he found an excellent fellow as overseer, he thought by the name of McCullum. Henry had sought to follow a Mr. Rusden back to Maitland but did not catch him. This stop near present day Tamworth was on a route north through New England to the Darling Downs. ^[18] Daniel lived at Maitland/Raymond Terrace in 1840 under assignment to Rev Rusden from 1835, using his carpentry skills in the building of churches throughout the parish, travelling in accordance with his ticket of leave. ^[19] By 1841, the Reverend Francis Vidal was working a property of 13,000 hectares at Werris' Creek ^[20], and so a possible reason for Rev Rusden to be in Werris' Creek and for Daniel to be working there.

Sources

1. ↑ Queensland Register of Births Deaths and Marriages - Death, Daniel McCallum 09/11/1866. Son of Donald McCallum and Blair. https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/details/c9f6f69aec759331df31557a7bc4d7614f4909c038307186f3e3f46f309da019. Registration Details: 1867/C/367.
2. ↑ Kelly, Marilyn. Towards a Brighter Future - Volume 2: From Agricultural Labourers to Innkeeper and Patriarch - the Story of the Bright and Walters Families of Nanango, Queensland the First Two Generations 1825-1985. Self Published, 2015. p. 282.
3. ↑ Moss, Michael 'Industrial Revolution: 1770s to 1830s' accessed 4 May 2021.
4. ↑ Transcription of the trial record attached p. 19.
5. ↑ https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/john/1829
6. ↑ https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/mccallum/daniel/39151
7. ↑ Details on the Voyage of the John.
8. ↑ De Lacey, E 2014, Lost Coach Routes of the Brisbane River Valley,
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} The Queenslander, Sat 7 Aug 1909. Page 21. A JUBILEE RETROSPECT.—THE CITY OF SOUTH BRISBANE.
10. ↑ The Moreton Bay Courier, Sat 24 Apr 1847. p. 3.
11. ↑ The Queenslander, Sat 13 May 1871. p. 10. LICENSING COURT.
12. ↑ The Moreton Bay Courier, Sat 17 Apr 1847. p. 2. LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.
13. ↑ The Moreton Bay Courier, Sat 28 Apr 1849. p. 3. DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.
14. ↑ The Moreton Bay Courier, Wed 21 Sep 1859. p. 1. Classified Advertising.
15. ↑ Kelly, Marilyn. (2015) Towards a Brighter Future: From Agricultural Labourers to Innkeeper and Patriarchs Volume 2. Self published. p. 280.
16. ↑ Bailliere's Queensland Gazetteer and Road Guide 1876. p. 157. Sourced at: Ancestry.com. Queensland, Australia, Bailliere's Gazetteer and Road Guide, 1876 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data:Bailliere's Queensland Gazetteer and Road Guide, 1876. CD-ROM. Ridgehaven, South Australia: Gould Genealogy and History, 2007.
17. ↑ The Maryborough Almanac, and Wide Bay & Burnett Business Directory. Maryborough: W.S. Roberts, 1873, accessed State Library of Queensland 2 Dec 2022
18. ↑ Russell, Henry Stuart, The Genesis of Queensland, Turner and Henderson, Sydney 1888, p193-4, accessed on Google Books
19. ↑ Kelly, Marilyn. Towards a Brighter Future, op. cit. pp. 270-75
20. ↑ Contemporary details on the town of Werris Creek, NSW.