[[07960]] STEWART, Dearcy Norman, parents Dearcy STEWART and Enid DEKINS

Look for Dearcy in these descendent charts
Amos BUCKLEY
James DEKINS

03 - Dec - 2002

[[07961]] STEWART, George Weller, parents John STEWART and Elizabeth TURPIE

03 - Dec - 2002

[[07962]] STEWART, Myrtle Eileen, parents David STEWART and Bertha HEDGELONG

Look for Myrtle in this descendent chart
Charles HEDGELONG

03 - Dec - 2002

[[07963]] STEWART, Norman Gordon, parents John STEWART and Elizabeth TURPIE

30 - May - 2008

[[07964]] STEWART, Russell Fairlie, parents David STEWART and Bertha HEDGELONG

You can see Russell in this descendent chart
Charles HEDGELONG

03 - Dec - 2002

[[07968]] GRUNDY, Albert Charles, parents William GRUNDY and Matilda JONES

31 - May - 2008

[[07969]] BOWSER, Edwin Albert, parents George BOWSER and Sarah CLARKE

You will find Edwin in these descendent charts
Amos BUCKLEY
James DEKINS
George BOWSER

01 - Jan - 2012

[[07970]] LOVEDAY, George Thomas, parents George LOVEDAY and Susan WARNER

Look for George in these descendent charts
Edwin BEARD
John MADDEN
John SMOOTHY

05 - Nov - 2010

[[07971]] ABERCROMBIE, Ella Eliza, parents Robert ABERCROMBIE and Jane BOARDMAN

Ella was living in the suburb of Morningside in Brisbane when her brother Robert joined the army on Friday, 1 October 1915.

You will find Ella in these descendent charts
Edwin BEARD
John MADDEN
John SMOOTHY

14 - Dec - 2009

[[07972]] LOVEDAY, Dorothy Gwendolyn De Lopez, parents George LOVEDAY and Ella ABERCROMBIE

28 - Jul - 2014

[[07973]] LOVEDAY, Grace Wallace McFadden, parents George LOVEDAY and Ella ABERCROMBIE

28 - Jul - 2014

[[07974]] LOVEDAY, Malcolm Frederic Raymond, parents George LOVEDAY and Ella ABERCROMBIE

married Mary Isble ADAM in 1920

28 - Jul - 2014


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[[07975]] LOVEDAY, Keith Anthony George, parents Keith LOVEDAY and Maria MADDEN

Look for Keith in this descendent chart
John MADDEN

18 - Apr - 2014

[[07976]] SPINKS, John Lawrence, parents Arnold SPINKS and Emily MADDEN

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John MADDEN

13 - Jan - 2010

[[07977]] SPINKS, Natal Francis, parents Arnold SPINKS and Emily MADDEN

You can see Natal in this descendent chart
John MADDEN

03 - Dec - 2002

[[07978]] SPINKS, Patrick, father unknown and Emily MADDEN

03 - Dec - 2002

[[07979]] SPINKS, Ruby May, parents Arnold SPINKS and Emily MADDEN

You will find Ruby in this descendent chart
John MADDEN

03 - Dec - 2002

[[07995]] STANTON, Constance Thelma, parents Percival STANTON and Rose ADSETT

You will find Constance in these descendent charts
John ADSETT
Thomas MADDOCK

22 - Dec - 2002

[[08012]] HEIRDSFIELD, Edward Joseph, parents George HEIRDSFIELD and Eliza STOKES

You can see Edward in this descendent chart
George HEIRDSFIELD

28 - Dec - 2013

[[08013]] BURNARD, John Edwin, parents Edwin BURNARD and Charlotte DAVNEY

You will find John in these descendent charts
Augustus RODE
Charles TRUNDLE
Samuel SNEYD

10 - Apr - 2017

[[08014]] ROLLSTON, Doris Emily, parents David ROLLSTON and Elizabeth DEKINS

You can see Doris in these descendent charts
Amos BUCKLEY
James DEKINS
James RUDDELL

11 - Apr - 2011

[[08015]] ROLLSTON, Ethel Mary, parents David ROLLSTON and Elizabeth DEKINS

ROLLSTON - DEKINS - grave in Bundaberg Cemetery


photographed by Greg DAVIS, 2007



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Amos BUCKLEY
James DEKINS
James RUDDELL

15 - Apr - 2016

[[08016]] ROLLSTON, Ivy Lillian, parents David ROLLSTON and Elizabeth DEKINS

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Amos BUCKLEY
James DEKINS
James RUDDELL

22 - Dec - 2002

[[08017]] ROLLSTON, Robert James, parents David ROLLSTON and Elizabeth DEKINS

McCAFFERTY - ROLLSTON. - At St. James' Church, Coorparoo, 1.30 p.m., 11th December, the marriage will take place of Dell Esme, younger Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Rollston, Greenslopes, to Doctor Powell McCafferty, eldest Son of Dr. and Mrs. S. J. McCafferty, of Greenslopes.

The Courier-Mail   Saturday, 11 December 1954

GANNON - ROLLSTON. - On the 27th July, 3.30, at St. Luke's, Buranda, by Father Cullen, Thomas Austin, only Son of Mr. and the late Mrs. Henry Thomas Gannon, of Manly, N.S.W., to Millicent Elizabeth, elder Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert James Rollston, of Greenslopes, Brisbane.

The Courier-Mail     Thursday, 25 July 1946

You will find Robert in these descendent charts
Amos BUCKLEY
James DEKINS
Charles SKYRING

30 - Sep - 2016

[[08018]] MADDEN, Evlyn, parents John MADDEN and Catherine CLANCY

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John MADDEN

22 - Dec - 2002


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Family Surname Index

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[[08019]] MADDEN, Winifred May Ellen, parents John MADDEN and Catherine CLANCY

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John MADDEN

22 - Dec - 2002

[[08020]] LOVEDAY, George, parents George LOVEDAY and Ella ABERCROMBIE

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John SMOOTHY

28 - Jul - 2014

[[08021]] LOVEDAY, Naide Irene Louise, parents George LOVEDAY and Ella ABERCROMBIE

28 - Jul - 2014

[[08022]] LOVEDAY, Susan Elizabeth Ethel Abercrombie, parents George LOVEDAY and Ella ABERCROMBIE

You will find Susan in this descendent chart
Edwin BEARD

05 - Nov - 2010

[[08023]] RIDLEY, Mary Emily
GRIFFITHS-RIDLEY.-On May 26. 1908, at Christ Church, Milton, by the Rev. George Morrison, Arthur, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths, "Burnage," Toowoomba, to Mary, only daughter of the late Johnson Ridley, of Brisbane.

Family Notices. (1908, July 11). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 16. Link to TROVE

GRIFFITHS, Mary Emily. - May 21, 1949, at her residence, 16 Reed Street, Cremorne, beloved wife of Arthur Thomas Griffiths and loving mother of Valmai (Mrs. J. Field), Geoffrey, and Lloyd, aged 87 years.

Family Notices (1949, May 24). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 16. Link to TROVE

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON

26 - Jan - 2018

[[08024]] HARRIS, Edith Annie

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Samuel JAMES
George SMITH

23 - Dec - 2004

[[08025]] GILL, Ernest Albert, parents Martin GILL & Amelia COX

Ernest has not been found arriving in Queensland or being born here and his parents have not been found in the Queensland records either.

You will find Ernest in these descendent charts
George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON

08 - Jun - 2007

(08026) SAWYER, Audrey Gwendoline, parents Sydney SAWYER and Edith HARRIS
1C5R of Gregory DAVIS

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Samuel JAMES
George SMITH

05 - Jan - 2003

(08027) SAWYER, Marjory Gertrude, parents Sydney SAWYER and Edith HARRIS
1C5R of Gregory DAVIS

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Samuel JAMES
George SMITH

05 - Jan - 2003

(08028) SAWYER, Patricia Edith Jean, parents Sydney SAWYER and Edith HARRIS
1C5R of Gregory DAVIS

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Samuel JAMES
George SMITH

05 - Jan - 2003

[[08029]] GRIFFITHS, Arthur Thomas, parents George GRIFFITHS and Isabella ATHERTON

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON
Alpin CAMERON

06 - Jan - 2013

[[08030]] HALLORAN, Leila Mary Edith, parents Alfred HALLORAN and Jessie CAMERON

Leila died two days after her youngest daughter Leila Denise Atherton was born.


GRIFFITHS.-In loving remembrance of Leila wife of Arthur Griffiths-died March 10, 1906.

Family Notices. (1907, March 16). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 16. Link to TROVE


GRIFFITHS--HALLORAN.-On the 16th April, at St. James's Cathedral, Townsville, by the Right Rev. the Bishop of North Queensland, assisted by the Rev. E. L. Timewell, Arthur, eldest son of G. W. Grifflths, of Toowoomba, to Leila, only daughter of Alfred T. Halloran, of Townsville.

Family Notices. (1901, May 4). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 836. Link to TROVE

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON
Alpin CAMERON

01 - Jan - 2014

[[08031]] GRIFFITHS, Arthur Lloyd Atherton, parents Arthur GRIFFITHS and Leila HALLORAN

David GRIFFITHS - email address - has written previously (20/9/2012) and is researching this family and may have more information about Arthur Lloyd Atherton GRIFFITHS and his family.

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON
Alpin CAMERON

21 - Sep - 2012


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[[08032]] GRIFFITHS, Leila Denise Atherton, parents Arthur GRIFFITHS and Leila HALLORAN

You will find Leila in these descendent charts
George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON
Alpin CAMERON

05 - Jan - 2003

[[08033]] HALLORAN, Alfred Thomas

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Alpin CAMERON

26 - Feb - 2006

[[08034]] CAMERON, Jessie Jane Mary, parents Alpin CAMERON and Eslpeth MacARTHUR

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Alpin CAMERON

04 - Jun - 2017

[[08035]] HALLORAN, Elsie Ethel May, parents Alfred HALLORAN and Jessie CAMERON

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Alpin CAMERON

05 - Jan - 2003

[[08036]] GRIFFITHS, George Washington, parents Thomas GRIFFITHS and Elizabeth HAWKINS

George and Isabella were married by his father, Thomas GRIFFITHS.

Griffiths, George Washington (1844-1924)

by M. French

George Washington Griffiths (1844-1924), foundry proprietor, was born on 24 March 1844 at Bristol, England, son of Thomas Griffiths, accountant and Congregational minister, and his wife Elizabeth, nee Hawkins. The family moved to London in 1846 and to Manchester in 1848 where Thomas became a junior partner in A. & S. Henry, cotton merchants; he became wealthy from contraband cotton during the American Civil War. George was educated at Dr Clark's Boarding School, Brill, Buckinghamshire, and briefly at Manchester Mechanics' High School. Hoping to become an architect, he left school in December 1857 and worked briefly in building, engineering and haberdashery before joining A. & S. Henry. On 31 July 1867 George was married by his father to Isabella Park Atherton. With his wife, children and brother-in-law William Atherton, he sailed for Queensland on 2 October 1870.

Griffiths and Atherton bought a small ironmongery and mechanical repair shop at Toowoomba late in 1871; Atherton soon left and, after the arrival of a brother, John Alfred Griffiths, and two sisters, the firm became Griffiths Bros & Co. early in 1873. Moving to a larger site in 1874, they built a foundry and made their first casting in February 1876. They survived by making some of Australia's earliest metal windmills until their first contract for railway rolling-stock in 1881. In 1884 Griffiths bought out his family partners and formed the Toowoomba Foundry and Rolling Stock Manufacturing Co. Ltd with himself as quarter stockholder and managing director. To make steel sleepers for the Normanton-Croydon Railway, a plant was opened in Brisbane. When the railway contracts expired in 1892, the firm was saved by an accommodation with the Queensland National Bank and by the purchase in Griffiths's wife's name of some £5000 worth of shares held outside the family. Saved again by railway contracts in 1895-1902, the firm then began to produce the famous 'Southern Cross' windmill. It contracted in 1910 and 1914 to build thirty-five locomotives for Queensland but, after a loss on a Commonwealth contract, it abandoned railway work. After a trip to England in 1903-04 Griffiths began transferring control to his two youngest sons. He retired in 1911.

Griffiths himself was not an engineer and did not employ designers and engineers, preferring to rely on imported designs or the patterns provided with the precarious railway contracts. When necessary, he hired his brother John Alfred. A good estimator and manipulator of money, Griffiths removed competition by ruthless price-cutting. Essentially he was a salesman rather than a manager and often relied on injections of capital by his wealthy father in difficult times. Generous in large matters but parsimonious in small, he loved reading novels and history and devoted much leisure to a large garden. An active Freemason, he turned from the Congregational to the Anglican Church. He served briefly on the Toowoomba Municipal Council.

Following his wife's death in 1910, Griffiths married Margaret Ann Hunt on 7 March 1911 at Mosman, Sydney. He died on 27 August 1924 at Rose Bay, Sydney, survived by his wife and four daughters and three sons of his first marriage.

His third son Alfred Atherton Griffiths (1879-1948) was born on 5 March 1879 at Toowoomba. Educated at Toowoomba Grammar School, he joined the foundry in January 1895 as a storeman but soon unofficially assumed many of his father's managerial duties. He became a director in 1900, de facto managing director in 1908 and joint managing director in 1911 with his brother George Herbert Griffiths (1881-1977), born on 17 April 1881 at Toowoomba. Educated at J. A. Baxendall's Downs School, Toowoomba, Bert joined the firm in 1898. More technically minded than his brother, he started on the works floor, is credited with developing the 'Southern Cross' windmill, became a director in 1904 with the unofficial title of works manager and joint managing director in 1911. From the mid-1920s both brothers delegated their routine duties to other directors but retained overall control. Atherton became the first president of the Southern Cross group of companies and was succeeded by Bert.

Under their direction branches were established all over Australia. They took over the Eclipse Windmill Co. in 1925, created an export division in 1939 and established a subsidiary in South Africa. They also diversified into south-west Queensland pastoral properties. During World War II the Toowoomba foundry employed over 1000 men on shell-primers, engines and other equipment for the Australian and allied forces. In peace, the firm concentrated on water-supply systems and, more recently, automotive castings. Industrial Investments Pty Ltd was formed in 1949 (renamed Industrial Enterprises in 1952) to co-ordinate all Australian operations.

The two brothers had an amicable, complementary but distant relationship. Atherton, like his father, was the manager and salesman with a head for figures and minute detail. Like his uncle, Bert was inventive, even visionary, and usually initiated major developments. From 1904 the two gradually bought shares held outside the immediate family and ensured that the company remained a family business.

Much more outgoing than Bert, Atherton was an alderman of Toowoomba intermittently in the 1920s and consistently in 1930-48. A football enthusiast, he was one of the oldest practising Rugby referees in the world when he retired in 1943. He married Evelyn Hamilton at Toowoomba on 20 June 1907; they had five children. Divorced on 12 September 1934, he married Marjorie Jessie Nankervis in 1937. He died of cancer at Toowoomba on 25 June 1948 and was cremated. Bert, who served in France as a sapper in 1918, was a crack rifle shot. He had an alert, retentive mind, and in retirement made extensive notes on the firm's history. He married Agnes McIntyre at Sandgate on 10 October 1917; they had three children. Three more children resulted from his marriage to Margaret Walton Kent at Inverell, New South Wales, on 4 November 1933. He died at Toowoomba on 8 July 1977 and was cremated.
Select Bibliography

M. J. Fox (ed), The History of Queensland, vol 1 (Brisb, 1919)
South-West Queensland Railway Historical Society, Pony Express, Oct 1973
Darling Downs Gazette, 21 July 1884
Toowoomba Chronicle, 28 Aug 1924, 26 June 1948, 9 July 1977
Griffiths family register and papers, and notes on the history of Toowoomba Foundry, 5 vols (typescript, held by Toowoomba Foundry Archives)
foundry records (University of Southern Queensland Archives).

Citation details

French, M., 'Griffiths, George Washington (1844-1924)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/griffiths-george-washington-6488/text11123, accessed 18 January 2012.

This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, (MUP), 1983



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James ATHERTON

13 - Apr - 2013

[[08037]] ATHERTON, Isabella Park, parents James ATHERTON and Ann PARK

PARK - ATHERTON - GRIFFITHS - DANIELS - grave in Toowoomba Cemetery


photographed by Greg DAVIS, 2007



It appears that Isabella, her husband George and the two oldest children Margaret Annie and Arthur Thomas migrated to Australia in 1871 and then they sent for her parents who arrived in 1874 with Isabella`s sister Agnes and her husband Joshua GADD and their three eldest children.  A William ATHERTON aged 30 arrived on the same ship as Isabella and George. A death of a William ATHERTON whose parents were William ATHERTON and Ann PARK was recorded in 1917 but it is unknown if this is a brother because the father's name is William instead of James. It may be that this is just a mistake in the Death Register.


GRIFFITHS.-To the memory of Isabella Park Griffiths, who died at "Burnage," Toowoomba, 23rd May, 1910.

Family Notices. (1911, May 23). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 4. Link to TROVE

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON

25 - Apr - 2013

[[08038]] GRIFFITHS, Margaret Annie, parents George GRIFFITHS and Isabella ATHERTON

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON
William BOYCE

14 - Nov - 2013

[[08039]] GRIFFITHS, Ada Mary, parents George GRIFFITHS and Isabella ATHERTON

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON

08 - Jan - 2007

[[08040]] GRIFFITHS, Alfred Atherton, parents George GRIFFITHS and Isabella ATHERTON

At this web address you may find more information relevant to this person.

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON

13 - Apr - 2013

[[08041]] GRIFFITHS, Edna May, parents George GRIFFITHS and Isabella ATHERTON

After William died in 1915, Edna remarried Richard GAILEY in New South Wales in 1919.

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON

06 - Jan - 2013

[[08042]] GRIFFITHS, George Herbert, parents George GRIFFITHS and Isabella ATHERTON

At this web address you may find more information relevant to this person.

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON

13 - Apr - 2013

[[08043]] GRIFFITHS, Isabella Agnes Olive, parents George GRIFFITHS and Isabella ATHERTON

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George GRIFFITHS
James ATHERTON

04 - Jun - 2006

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