Surname: GORDON
Given Name(s): John

Occupation(s): Grazier

Birth Details
Birth Town: Towie
Birth County, Region, Province: Aberdeen
Birth Country: Scotland, UK

Death Details
Death Town: Rockhampton
Death State/Territory: Queensland
Death Country: Australia
Death Date: 1891

Surname: COUTTS
Given Name(s): Janet

Birth Details
Birth Town: Crathie & Braemar
Birth County, Region, Province: Aberdeen
Birth Country: Scotland, UK
Birth Date: 1803

Death Details
Death Town: Rockhampton
Death State/Territory: Queensland
Death Country: Australia
Death Date: 1886

Immigration Details
Air/Port Landed: Botany Bay
Ship/Plane: Catherine Adamson
Year Arrived: 1857

Family Stories

Life in Australia:

According to other researchers, John was a grazier (highland cattle and black faced sheep) and his father had been a farmer. On arrival, the family stayed in Brisbane for five years and John's sons Donald and Alexander found work. In 1861 they settled on the Logan River, some 30 miles from Brisbane. "The History of Mt Morgan" notes their settlement on the Logan as 1858. It is thought the Coutts had a property there. In 1864 they moved to Rockhampton. In 1868 a new Crown Lands Act had come into force, which made it possible for land-seekers to select blocks on designated portions of existing runs. Under the terms of this Act, John applied in 1870 to select, as a conditional purchase, 640 acres of land on the northern end of Calliungal Run. Quoting "The History of Mt Morgan": "Much nonsense has been written about Gordon's reason for taking up this Selection 247. In his "Gold Mining in Central Queensland", Rees R Jones explains that he was "fond of the hills and dales of his native land", and for this reason he selected what another writer has described as a "barren sheep-farm". Actually it was neither a sheep-farm nor was it barren: it was a well watered, well grassed little valley, where the Gordons would have prospered if a drought of unprecedented severity had not come to drive them away". From the Lands Department records in the Queensland State Archives, an application to lease lands before survey was made on 27th July, 1870 for 640 acres of 2nd class pastoral land, rented at sixpence an acre, i.e. £16 plus the survey fee of £8, total £24. The land was described as Port Curtis District, Moonmeera Block, Calliungul No. 2. The Rockhampton Register shows the selector as John Gordon. Payment of £24 was signed by Donald Coutts Gordon. Donald held conditional selection No. 1365 in the district. John suffered many hardships meeting the conditions of fulfillment . His son-in-law, James McBryde acted as his agent in appearing before the Minister for Lands in Brisbane, as John was too old and infirm, and was eventually allowed a three year extension to meet the conditions from 5th December, 1871. In 1876 James attended land court to obtain the Certificate of Section No. 247. The next year James wrote to the Minister of Lands Brisbane, "Mr Gordon like many more in this district had to abandon his selection on account of the want of grass and water and was compelled to rent other pastures for his stock in a more favoured locality thus involving him in expenses for which he was not prepared and made it quite impossible for him to pay this year's rent at the proper time. Mr Gordon would now pay his arrears but Mr Commissioner Wodehouse informs me that this cannot be done without your authority ... "may I mention that 7 years' rent have already been paid and improvements to the value of £160 pounds". The improvements included fencing, stockyards and rails and a house. At that time the blacks were very bad, and a revolver an indispensable companion when in the bush. On their selection, they met with but indifferent luck, partly owing to the cattle dying from eating a poisonous weed known as the peach leaf and which was very common there then, and following on this came the disastrous and well remembered drought of 1877. Everyone suffered enormous losses then and the Gordons at length found it necessary to obtain employment outside their pastoral pursuits. William Mackinlay had found gold on this mountain some years before, and from time to time he came with his children to fill bags with stone from the mountain top, and to carry this stone down to Mundie Creek, there to dolly and wash it with satisfactory results. The old man's efforts to make something by selling his knowledge about the ore deposit were unavailing. Dairy Creek later became known as Gordons Creek. The Gordons built their hut where Gordons Creek joins the Dee River and brought 200 cattle and called their property "Glen Gordon". About 1881 McKinley lived on the property adjoining.In 1886, the land, "Glen Gordon" became The Mount Morgan Gold Mine and by 1889 Mount Morgan was producing about a tonne of gold a month. It became the richest single gold mine in the world and was mined for gold and later copper from 1882 to 1990. In forty-one years the company treated 9,307,938 tons of ore for a return of 5,345,000 ounces of gold and 140,000 tons of copper. According to "The History of Mt Morgan", Frederick Morgan was the licensee of the old Criterion Hotel, Rockhampton. His wife was exceedingly capable, and able to look after the hotel without her husband's help and he was therefore able to give time to developing and working little mines in the Rockhampton district. Two of his brothers, Edwin and Thomas looked after a mine at the foot of Mt Wheeler, near Cawarral. John and Janet's son, Sandy worked for them. He had previously worked for William Burns, the Rockhampton ironfounder, on a wage and share basis at a small mine at Raglan, and often asked his employer to come up with him to look at a hill on his brother's selection on Calliungal Run, assuring him that it was worth examining. William Burns was then unwilling to leave his mine and later found himself too busy with his contract for the first Port Alma wharf to take an interest in mining. Donald Gordon was Sandy's brother, and the western fence of his selection 247 crossed the summit of a hill which was then known as "Ironstone Mountain". William Mackinlay was the stockman to Messrs Wood and Robinson of Calliungal Station, situated some 13 miles down the Dee River. In 1862, the run comprised the whole valley of the Dee from its source to its mouth, or about 60 miles of open country [FW Sykes, "A Practical Treatise on Mount Morgan", William Donaghey, Mount Morgan, 1888]. Mackinlay could not interest people in the curious ore he showed them. Therefore, he attempted to keep his knowledge secret from the people on Selection 247. But Sandy Gordon commenced to "keep company" with Mackinlay's daughter, and she divulged the family secret to him. Her father was furious and therefore she left the Mackinlay's home at Box Flat and married Sandy. All that the Gordons were able to do, however, was to make attempts of their own to find someone to "have a look at it" - William Burns was only one of those to whom the opportunity had been offered. Poor Sandy Gordon was not an abstemious man, and at last the Morgans were obliged to put him off. But his wife came to the Morgans and bargained with them that if Sandy were re-employed, he would take them to the Dee Ranges and there show them something worth looking at. Oral family history tells that Donald Gordon was ripped off, as follows: Sandy was not told of his wife's approach to the Morgans. They eventually agreed and camped on the Gordon property and subsequently found the gold, but told no one. The Morgan brothers then approached Donald Gordon (the selector) to sell his land by offering him £1 per acre. Donald refused. The Morgan brothers persisted and apparently got Donald drunk on his own grog! Subsequently Donald then signed a document to sell his land for £240 (i.e. £1 per acre). He had paid 5 shillings per acre. Donald woke up the next day to find he had sold his land. [No such document of sale appears in State Archives holdings]. Within a few months "Gold was discovered at Glen Gordon". Apparently this type of thing went on all the time and there were many, many court cases. A lot of people couldn't afford to fight it out in court - so were just ripped off (like MacKinley on two previous occasions).This is the story that has been passed down through the generations, but as nothing was documented we don't really know how accurate it is. A good many books will refute the Morgan version, but as they were the only family to document anything, all our stories are history. Most, if not all, of the publications of Mt Morgan seem to be the Morgan version of events. The Queensland State Archives, Land Department file shows that on the 2nd July, 1878 the land was transferred to Thomas Skarratt Hall, then to Donald Coutts Gordon on 4th February, 1879. The Issue of Deed of Grant on selection 247 in favour of Donald Coutts Gordon passed on 5th February, 1880. The files hold a letter from the Crown Solicitor's Office, Brisbane dated 26th October, 1883 in which Messeurs Thomas Skarratt Hall and Frederick Morgan informed that they executed a conveyance of 640 acres of land situated in the County of Raglan, parish of Calliungal and that the deed of grant may now be issued under the 1st section of the "Corrected Titles to Land Act of 1882". A note on the base says: SO to prepare deed 30/10/1883. On 30/8/1886 the Lands Department was subpoenaed re Mt Morgan "to produce book". Something very "shonky" occurred between 1880 and 1883. Another story details that Thomas Skarratt Hall was the manager of the Rockhampton branch of the Queensland National Bank. Donald had shown him a sample of the ore from the selection in 1881 and he declared it worthless. Thomas Hall was something of a mining expert being involved in financing other mining developments and was a partner in several gold mines. Donald showed a sample to his neighbour, John Jones, who also had considerable knowledge of gold, having prospected for some years. Jones was convinced it was gold. Donald and John Jones decided to take a dray load to Jones' battery. Unfortunately word reached Donald that his mother was seriously ill in Rockhampton and he rushed to her bedside, and nothing more was done about the ore. Whilst in Rockhampton, Donald was offered the position as overseer on a sheep station in the Peak Downs District and left Rockhampton without returning to "Glen Gordon". Meanwhile Donald's brother, Sandy was working as a prospector for William Burns in the Raglan District for 30 shillings per week plus half of what he found. Many times Sandy asked Burns to look at the ore on "Glen Gordon" but for various reasons this did not occur. Shortly after this Sandy went to work at the Galawa Mine" owned by Frederick Morgan and his younger brothers and Mr Thomas Sharrat Hall. Sandy Gordon, Edwin and Thomas Morgan left Rockhampton in July 1882 and camped near "Glen Gordon". It is at this point that the stories of who and how the gold was discovered differ. After several days in the area the Morgan brothers staked their claims in the land abutting "Glen Gordon". A series of original maps clearly show that the location of the Morgan's discovery was 100 metres inside the boundary of "Glen Gordon". The Morgans then approached Donald Gordon and explained that his land was worthless as far as gold was concerned, however they wanted access to their land and so purchased "Glen Gordon" for £1 per acre plus a gratuity of 30/- per week for John and Donald paid by Mt Morgan Mine. By a series of errors and dishonesty the Gordons were duped out of their hill of gold. Sandy Gordon, a heavy drinker, died aged 43 at his sister's house in Rockhampton in 1885. His wife, Minnie died in a Brisbane institution for the destitute, bringing to an end the sad story of the Gordon's connection with the mine known as Mt Morgan. In 1998 this story still causes a reaction with some family members who feel wronged! John and Janet died at Lower Dawson Road, Rockhampton, Queensland. "Brisbane Courier Mail", 26 Mar 1886: Gordon, Mrs Janet Coutts. Death.19 Jan 1886 at her residence at Lower Dawson Rd, beloved wife of John Gordon and sister of the late Rev J Coutts M.A. Newcastle, New South Wales, age 80 Years.

You and Your Family:

At the time of writing (1999), Keith is operating a business, Dodd & Young Human Resource Consultants. He is keenly interested in military history, and together with our son, Kane, trekked the Kokoda trail, Papua New Guinea, last August. Hayley and Kane are studying at university and I am working part-time as a school secretary and devoting most of my spare time to family history research.

Life Before Australia:

John was born about 1798 in the Glenbuchet area of Towie, Aberdeen. He married Janet Coutts there about 1827. The 1851 census of Scotland shows them residing at 15 Pittandlich Street, Towie, with Janet's mother, Elizabeth and children: Isabella, 15; William, 13; Robert, 11; Alexander, 9; Margaret, 6; and Jane 2. John was described as a "householder, occupying no land".They emigrated to Australia in 1856. There is no recorded entry as assisted immigrants to Botany Bay or Moreton Bay. There is an entry for paying passengers at the right time: "Catherine Adamson", Aberdeen, London departed London, arrived Sydney in January 1857. Passengers; Mr & Mrs Gordon and six children (3 boys and 3 girls).

Descendants

Children
GORDON, Ann 1 GORDON, Alexander 10 GORDON, Margaret 11
GORDON, Jean 12 GORDON, James 2 GORDON, Elizabeth 3
GORDON, Thomas 4 GORDON, John 5 GORDON, Donald Coutts 6
GORDON, Isabella 7 GORDON, William Leith 8 GORDON, Robert Alexander 9

Grandchildren
GRIEVE, Alexander Ross 1 GRIEVE, Ann Margaret 1 GRIEVE, Ellen Janet Veitch 1
GRIEVE, Isabella Catherine 1 GRIEVE, James Gordon 1 GRIEVE, Jane Elizabeth (Jenny) 1
GRIEVE, John 1 GRIEVE, Robert 1 GRIEVE, Thomas 1
GRIEVE, Walter Victor 1

Great Grandchildren
GRIEVE, Cecily Edna 1 GRIEVE, Evelyn Joyce 1 GRIEVE, Gordon Thomas 1
GRIEVE, Margaret Betty 1 GRIEVE, Marie (Enid) 1

Great Great Grandchildren
DODD, David 1 DODD, Diane Elizabeth 1 DODD, Keith 1

Great Great Great Grandchildren
DODD, Hayley Sharon 1 DODD, Kane Michael 1

NB: Superscript behind each descendant name represents the lineage number of that descendant.
This family information was last updated by GAIL DODD on the 23 January, 1999.