The statue of Thozets Creek On 6 June 1859 Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent to form the colony of Queensland. A proclamation was read by George Ferguson Bowen on 10 December 1859 which formally separated Queensland from New South Wales. In between those two dates Rockhampton’s first moves towards creating a separate northern state commenced. A public meeting was called for 18 October 1859 for the purposes of “considering the propriety of inaugurating Separation”. The meeting was called under requisition of fifteen Rockhampton residents including George Brown. The separation movement in Rockhampton from the early days was composed of most of the town’s prominent citizens. In addition to George Brown it included Anthelme Thozet, George Silas Curtis and Sir Charles Nicholson. In 1860 George Brown leased land on the eastern bank of Thozet Creek. He later purchased that land and his home was built between Lakes Creek Road and the watercourse, probably somewhere near the children’s playground in Alan Bray Park. This provides a strong link between Brown and the statue which many locals over many years have claimed was put up by Anthelme Thozet. The statue is of Amphitrite, goddess of the sea and thus symbolic of separation of lands. In her later years Madam Thozet is reported to have told local residents that the statue came over as ballast in a ship which frequently transported goods from Europe, while others reported that the statue was bought off a ship which was later wrecked near the mouth of the Fitzroy River. The only vessel which matches this description is the ‘Polmaise’, which arrived with passengers and cargo from London on 4th October 1872 and was wrecked near Curtis Island on her return trip on 2nd February 1873. These dates are interesting because of their link to the separation movement. The first petition for separation of the northern portion of Qld was presented on 21st November 1872 to Lord Kimberley in London. Representatives of the petitioners present at that meeting included Separation Committee members Anthelme Thozet, Sir Charles Nicholson and Archibald Archer. The Thozet family were overseas from late 1869 to early 1873, and arrived back in Rockhampton just a month after the ‘Polmaise’ was wrecked. Madam Thozet told local residents that Anthelme Thozet cut the ironbark timber, built the base and put the statue up. Thozet was an engineer and owned a local sawmill so this story is plausible. Madam Thozet never claimed ownership of the statue and Anthelme Thozet died in 1878. In 1880 George Brown sold the land beside Thozet Creek to George Silas Curtis, another advocate of separation for north Qld. There was also an Anti-Separation League, which seems to have been based around Springsure. In an article published in 1895 the Anti-Separation League, remarked about the Separation League in Rockhampton erecting a statue to George Curtis on the market reserve. The market reserve (town common) was not very far from where the statue was located, the statue was visible from the rail line and it would be simple to mistake the statue’s location for the town common. Whether the statue was indeed a monument by the Rockhampton Committee marking the northern state they hoped for is not certain, but the desire for north Qld to be a separate state goes back over 150 years.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 01:41:59 +0000
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