History
North-west of the city of Brisbane, Queensland, nestled
among forests and lakes lies the small hamlet of Whiteside. This might
provide an opportunity for the more adventurous genealogical buffs to dig deep
because this fast growing suburb of outer Brisbane DID NOT obtain its name from
pioneers. As the article below says, this early sheep and cattle property was
named Whiteside. The interesting conundrum is of course, why did the Griffin's
call it so? Those whose curiosity allows them to Google maps and more
particularly the satellite image will be fascinated by the length of Whiteside
Rd, which I would venture to say is longer than the one outside Ballymena .
The following history is supplied by the Morton Bay
Regional Council, Queensland.
Whiteside
In the middle of 1843, Captain Frank (Francis Henry) Griffin (ca. 1813-1881)
of Sydney became the first free settler to occupy land currently part of the
Pine Rivers Shire. A short time later, Frank was joined by his brothers John and
William. The run taken up by the Griffins for raising both cattle and sheep,
which was named Whiteside, was an
extensive portion of 28 square miles of land on the north bank of the North Pine
River stretching from the sea coast as far west as Terror's Creek and northwards
nearly as far as the Caboolture River.
The father of the Griffin brothers, Captain George Griffin (1783-1851), a
former Royal Navy Officer, East India Company Master and Agent and latterly
Ship's Master for a Sydney firm, was head of the family company, but Frank
continued to manage the property for some time while his father carried on his
profession as a master mariner.
By
1845, Captain George Griffin was residing full time at
Whiteside with
his wife Jane (nee Taylor, ca. 1793-1863). During that year, as changes to the
land legislation limited the size of a run which could be held under one licence
to 20 square miles, the Griffins were required to split
Whiteside into
two sections, thereby creating the coastal Redbanks run east of Sideling Creek.
After the death of George Griffin at
Whiteside in
1851, the properties were operated by George's widow, Jane, assisted by one of
the sons, John Broomfield Saunders Griffin (ca. 1824-1885), the other sons
having moved elsewhere.
The following year, by marrying Isabella Joyner, the widow of William Joyner
and then owner of the neighbouring Samsonvale run, John Griffin came to play a
significant part in the management of both the large runs then covering most of
the Pine Rivers area, especially after his mother's death in 1863. By the late
1860s, however, with increasing closer settlement, the Griffin family had
relinquished all connection with lands to the north of the North Pine River.
The Whiteside
run is remembered today by names such as
Whiteside
Road, which formerly led to the homestead, the Parish of
Whiteside
which incorporated most of the land once part of the station and, more recently,
by the locality of
Whiteside. The Griffin family's pioneering achievements have also been
perpetuated by the name of the locality of Griffin and Griffin Court in Murrumba
Downs.
Index