Talk:Archibald Meston

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Reason tagged Indigenous "yes"[edit]

When opportunity permits I hope/intend to contribute to this article (if no-one else does) .. outlining the very significant impact Archibald Meston had on the lives of Australian Aboriginal peoples in Queensland into the present .. by virtue of his recommending Queensland's Aboriginal reserve system, and assisting implement Queensland's Aborigines Protection regime - which lasted in some form, and regulated the lives of Queensland Aboriginal peoples up until the 1970's. Bruceanthro (talk) 03:39, 25 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Biographical and other Notes[edit]

Here is an assembly of notes on Archibald Meston's life and contributions - listed here, with the intent of later transforming them into narrative.

Life Events - Arranged Chronologically[edit]

1851: Born at Towie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on 26th March 1851 [1]

1859: migrated to Australia and grew up at Ulmarra on the Clarence River, N.S.W

Sugar boiler (Northern NSW/Southern Qld)

Farm manager (Northern NSW/Southern Qld)


Editorial appointments with the Ipswich Observer, the Toowoomba Chronicle, and the Townsville Herald

1871 married Margaret Frances Prowse Shaw in Sydney, with whom he was to have four sons and a daughter

1878-1883: represented Rosewood within Queensland parliament.

1882-1888: came to Cairns with his growing familiy, to be the editor of the Cairns Chronicle, where he spent 6 years getting involved in regional politics and investing in an expanding sugar industry. Lived at Kamerunga on a selection he named 'Cambanora' from Aboriginal words meaning 'cassowary nest' ie he purchased 2000 hectares of land along Freshwater creek for Brimsmead and Co, with whom he was a managing partner

1888: sold Cambanora and all of his property and personal items at Kamerunga, before moving to Brisbane - from where he was later to arrange exhibitions north.

'1889: appointed leader of the Queensland Government's expedition to the Bellenden-Ker Range of north Queensland [2], the first of his four 'exploring' exhibitions into the Belleden Kerr ranges

1894 Meston was appointed a Special Commissioner of Police to prepare schemes for aborigines improvement [3]

1897-1903': appointed Protector of Aborigines for south Queensland.[4]

1909-1913: Director of Queensland Government Bureau in Sydney (Tourism?)

1924: died in Brisbane 11 March 1924 [5]

Contributions - Arranged by Theme[edit]

Theme: Barron Railway[edit]
Post 1882: "Led the lobbying to secure the connection [from Cairns] to the Tableland for the Barron Valley route"
Theme: Naturalist[edit]
Keen marksman, frequently journeyed into the bush (while in Cairns region) on shooting and specimen collecting exhibitions.
A visitor to his selection, was shown his collection of cassowary skins; cases of butterflies; drawers stocked with the well preserved skins of the birds of the district; boxes of beetles; snake skins; dingo skins; skins of the denizens of the jungle; and kept a young cassowary under the house.
Deplored 1880's error of referring to crocodiles as alligators .. writing learnedly on the discovery and naming of North Queensland crocodiles, their species, and their habitats
In 1887 he published an appeal to the Queensland Government 'to check the ruthless slaughter of the cassowary [which he shot and coolected!] .. its habitat being confined the the dense tropical scrubs of north-east Queensland .. then in 1894 (19th May) he read a paper On the Australian Cassowary (Casuarius australis),’ before the Royal Society of Queensland.

He is commemorated by rare species of Garcinia mestonii F. Bailey and Piper mestonii F. Bailey which occur at Bellenden Ker.


Theme: Chronicles of Aboriginal people[edit]
On shooting and specimen collecting encountered Aboriginal people in the wet tropics area - these encounters inspiring many stories, sketches, articles and poems which he contributed to southern newspapers.
December 1882 he is recorded as robbing lower Mulgrave Aboriginal tribes of artifacts and weapons, without compunction .. and taking a pot shot at 'wild/myall' Aboriginal people if he could
Meston's report (1889) following his Belleden-Ker expedition is arguably the first 'scientific' account of the Aborigines of the area ,, and he specifically devotes a section to the 'Belleden-Kerr blacks' (Pannell 2006: 34). "Meston's descriptions are quire general and are more focused on comparing and contrasting local Aboriginal traits .. Meston's attempt to scientifically classify and arrange the Aborigines of the Russell, Mulgrave, and Barron Rivers into a broader taxonomic scheme is infromed by evolutionary ideas ,, notably the Darwinian social evolutionary 'survival of the fitest'. Bruceanthro (talk) 14:52, 26 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Theme: Explorer of Belleden Kerr Ranges[edit]
in 1889 Meston undertook to first of four exploring exhibitions into the Belleden Kerr ranges (collecting speciments etc), and, "claimed the distinction of being the first European to ascend the summit of the Bellender-Ker Range in June" of that year (Pannell 2006: 34)
Meston boasted that his expedition into the Belleden Kerr Ranges was the first 'purely scientific expedition' in Australia .. though the dominant concern was for economically valuable (biodiscovery) plants .. perhaps new species of plant as lucrative as coffee or tea .. defenitely ascertaining (and reporting on) the nature of the "timbers in the district". (Pannell 2006: 34) Bruceanthro (talk) 14:43, 26 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Theme: Queensland Aboriginal Reserves[edit]
Theme: Tourism - Queensland Govt Bureau in Sydney[edit]

Bibliogrpahy[edit]

Dorothy Jones. Trinity Phoenix: A History of Cairns and District. Cairns: Cairns Post, 1976.

Thorpe, Bill. ’Archibald Meston and the Aborigines. Ideology and Practice, 1870’1970. An Exploration in Social History.’ History Honours Thesis, University of Queensland, 1978.

Bruceanthro (talk) 13:18, 25 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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