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| William Goodwin Geddes, Senior |
| 1822, Manchester, England 21 May 1851, Athy, Queen's Co. Ireland 18 Aug 1854, on Genghis Khan 8 July 1904, Sydney, NSW Church of England Carpenter, Postmaster, Storekeeper, Publican, Gentleman Farmer Susannah Gurd Richard John Geddes Susannah Geddes William Goodwin Geddes Henry Geddes |
| Born: Married: Arr Bris: Died: Religion: Occupation: Wife: Children: |
| The Geddes Mystery, Brian Jones, Spectrum, 2002 William Goodwin Geddes dreamed of building a new life for himself. A child of the Industrial Revolution, he had seen enough of chimney stacks and polluted skies. In his grandparents' time Manchester was a town of just 25,000 inhabitants. Most people lived on the land, peacefully. But as the textile factories proliferated the labourers flocked to the city in search of work, often living in squalid and overcrowded conditions. In William's day Manchester was bursting at the seams -- with a population of more than 350,000 -- making it England's second largest city. But its astounding growth came at a cost, a cost measured in human misery. While the industrial barons lined their pockets, the streets were filled with beggars, waifs and whores -- each one crying, 'Please, sir, I want some more!' William Geddes wanted more, too. Having recently returned from across the Irish Sea, he had witnessed the effects of the Great Potato Famine where hunger caused many to die and thousands more to emigrate. ... As the Geddes family grew, so did William's desire to provide better opportunities for his children. The perceived benefits of life in Australia began to outweigh the risks of the voyage and the uncertainties of starting life again in a strange land. Besides, a decent, hard-working man such as himself could easily raise his social standings in a young country like Australia. And if there was one characteristic which stood out in the life of William Goodwin Geddes, it was his 'craving for respectability' -- one of the traits which the historian Geoffrey Serle in The Golden Age attributes to that whole generation of migrants, along with 'seriousness of purpose', 'readiness of emotion', 'prudery and sentimentality'. From Spear & Musket, 1979 Thus Geddes and the two Stewarts were the first owners of the present Caboolture business area. A punt was started by J. Stewart on the Caboolture River about a mile above Capt. Whish's plantation and a pub erected and kept by W.G. Geddes whose son under the style of Capt. Geddes ran the punt. Caboolture Country, Stan Tutt, 1973 Geddes (a storekeeper in Caboolture) selected land in Rocksberg some time after J.W. Zillman had taken up the surrounding country. J.W. Zillman had wanted this area but had not sufficient money. He hoped to save enough to buy it but Mr Geddes stepped in first St Lawrence's Treasures: 100 years of worship in St Lawrence's Caboolture,1889-1989, Sheila Kemish & Brian Bauer, Caboolture, Qld., 1989 Saturday, January 26 will be remembered at Caboolture as an exceptionally hot day -- but more especially as the occasion of the ceremony of the Laying of the Foundation of the new church to be dedicated to St Lawrence, the Deacon and Martyr. The church site was the gift of Mr W.G. Geddes, one of the oldest settlers in the district; and the ceremony of laying the block was duly performed by Mrs Geddes in the presence of a considerable gathering of people. She and Mr Geddes having kindly come up from their home on the Logan for the occasion. Sunday Mail (Adelaide) 20 May 1956 Brisbane police interviewed Mr & Mrs Geddes at Caboolture and drew a blank. Those good people had never heard of a Louis Brennan and they were content that they had no relatives in Adelaide. But you know what police are. Their training will not permit them to leave well enough alone. For the purposes of the exercise, the Queensland police asked Adelaide to send a photograph of the man Louis Brennan. Along it came and depicted a very battered looking character. This was taken along to Mr & Mrs Geddes. "Do you recognise this man?" police asked. "A son of yours named Goodwin Geddes went missing 12 years ago. Could it possibly be him?" The parents were distressed at the suggestion. Goodwin had been drowned. The coroner had fount that verdict. Furthermore, how could anyone associate the wreck in the photograph with the brilliant and athletic Goodwin? And that seemed to end that. A History of the AMP, Professor Geoffrey Blainey, 1999 The local board of the Society met in Brisbane and heard the details, most of which were now public knowledge. The family was well known, the father was respected and indeed was even said to preach from time to time in the Wesleyan churches... A legal opinion was sought in Brisbane from the celebrated barrister and politician Samuel Griffith who was later to become the inaugural chief justice of the High Court of Australia. On 6 November 1889 Griffith completed his opinion on four very large sheets of paper. He informed the Society that there was doubt whether 'the lunatic', as he was often called, could be successfully prosecuted but the father definitely could be prosecuted, and moreover he possessed money. Samuel Griffith came to the conclusion the the father probably knew, when he received the terminal payout from the Society, that the son was still alive. There was now sufficient evidence for a jury to find the father guilty. 'But', warned Griffith, 'it is by no means certain that they would do so'. The Brisbane Courier, 14 October 1889 The pen of the novelist were needed to describe the journey and the interview. The excitement of hope and fear, of denial and of doubt, with which they travelled the weary road, culminated at last in the undoubting conviction that in the wasted features and vacant gaze of the lunatic calling himself Brennan they had found their long-lost son. But it was not time for rejoicing or killing the fatted calf. 'Dead and alive again,' indeed, 'lost and found'; but in circumstances which only laid a new burden on the parents hearts. 'With feelings which I fail to describe' -- so old Mr Geddes telegraphed from Adelaide to his solicitors in Brisbane -- 'we have found the confinee here called Louis Brennan is out long-lost son, but cannot comprehend how any person could identify the photograph of this poor emaciated and aged-looking lunatic with Goodwin Geddes of 21.' Thus far has developed a tangled drama, which for the tragic and the picturesque has been seldom equalled in real life or in fiction, and to which darker elements may yet be added before the curtain is allowed to drop. Scandals in Australia's Strange Past, George Blaikie, 1963 So confident was Mr Geddes that the police had made a frightful blunder that he announced his intention of visiting Adelaide to put an end to all controversy. Once more Queensland tensed in excitement as news of identification was awaited. Then, on 30 September 1889, a telegram was received from Mr Geddes, who had reached Adelaide: "With feelings that I cannot describe, we found that the confinee here called Louis Brennan is our long-lost son. But I cannot comprehend how any person could identify the photograph of this poor, emaciated, and aged looking lunatic with the Goodwin Geddes of twenty-one. Memoirs, Edith May Geddes, 1976 After a few years my grandfather Geddes died still leaving my father out of his will, and it was then that my grandmother, feeling compassion for her son's wife and children found his will and burnt it, and that is how we claimed our share. |
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