Cairns Post 1 Jan 1948
OBITUARY. MBS. JANET NEWELL HERBERTON, Dec. 31-The passing af Mrs. Janet Newell, widow, of the late John Newell at her home "Elderslie." Herberton, on December 3 last was a real loss not only to her friends and relatives but to the whole of the community in that she was one of those rare people who by virtue of their personality stand out from among the rest and leave an impression of sweetness and gentleness wherever they go. Mrs: Newell was also one of the true pioneers. She rode first to Herberton as a young girl on horseback passing through country inhabited by hostile native tribes and returned several years later undaunted, to make her home in the new settlement. Miss Janet Jack, as she was before her marriage, was the daughter of William Jack, one of the party, who with John Newell discovered the Great Northern Mine. She was born on September 6 at Paisley, Scotland, and came to Australia with her parents and sister at the age of two years. Her mother died on the voyage and was buried at sea. Mrs. Newell's early life was spent on sugar plantations round Brisbane, Toowoomba, Maryborough and Stanthorpe. She came north in 1881. She disembarked at Port Douglas and with her father, sister, her uncle and aunt, and her cousins rode on horseback to Herberton. The journey took from four to five days. They camped out every night with the exception of one night which was spent at Emerald End cattle station, owned by John Atherton, on the site of which Mareeba now stands. This Journey was only a visit. She returned to Toowoomba with her sister and stayed there until several years later she came north again to be married to her father's partner, John Newell. The wedding took place at Watsonville and the honeymoon was spent in Southern Queensland and New South Wales. The young couple rode on horseback to Cairns, and thence went by boat to Brisbane. From Brisbane they went overland to Sydney, via Stanthorpe, Tenterfield and Newcastle. On the return to Herberton the bride took up residence in her new home on the hill above the Wild River and lived there for 63 years until she left on the last long journey of all. She called the lovely old colonial bungalow, then bright and new-"Elderslie" after her father's' birth place in Scotland and was never so happy as when there surrounded by her family and friends. Holidays were often spent in the south, but Mrs. Newell always spoke of Herberton with affection. Although she suffered a certain amount of ill health in the last years of her life. Mrs. Newell was always alert and interested and her last holiday, taken a few weeks before her death and spent in Cairns, was thoroughly enjoyed. She often recalled the picnics and parties she had attended in Cairns in the very early days when all transport was by horse. She also recalled how, when leaving for the Tableland, parties of riders were anxious not to be the last or to be overcome by darkness when alone and at the mercy of the blacks. During her last holiday in Cairns a grand-daughter drove her by car to all the resorts she had visited and remembered so well fronm her girlhood days. Her journey down and back was made by car with her son and she remarked more than once upon the tremendous changes which had taken place since her first visit to Herberton on horseback. Bitumen roads bad replaced the bush tracks and Atherton and Mareeba, of which there had been no trace, were prosperous towns. Herberton itself was a clean bright town, a centre of learning where she had first seen only trees in a basin of the hills. The funeral, which was largely attended, took place from "Elderslie" Piles of beautiful flowers covered the cortege. Rev. Brindley, Presbyterian Minister of Mareeba, conducted the last sad rites. |
