Principal Bedroom
Welcome to the Principal (or main) bedroom, reflective of the Harris’ time at Newstead House. George and Jane had six children. Unfortunately, only four made it past infancy.
Let’s meet the Harris family…
Jane Harris
Jane Harris was born in Ipswich in 1844 to an Irishborn mother, Jane Thorn (née Handcock), and an English-born father, George Thorn. George Thorn was known as the father of Ipswich for his contributions to the education, health, religion, and art institutions of the town.
Jane married George Harris in 1860 and moved into their property on George Street where she gave birth to their first child, Kate, who died in infancy.
Jane was known to have inherited her father’s sense of humour and vivacious personality, and she continued her family’s reputation for generous hospitality. She was likely the driving force behind the Harris’s glamorous social identity.
Her skills as a hostess meant she held sway with Brisbane’s high society, mingling with powerful friends such as Lady Diamantina Bowen, the Governor’s wife.
Multiple pre- and post-nuptial settlements between Jane and George placed the entirety of the contents in and around Newstead in Jane’s name. The motivations for this are unclear, but it does appear that Mrs Harris’ status, both socially and financially, was somewhat comparable to her husband’s.
George Harris
George Harris was born in London in 1831, the son of carpenter John Harris and Sarah Harris (née Walton). His parents brought their six children to Sydney in 1833, when George was just two. In 1848, he moved to Brisbane with his mother, where his elder brother, John, had a mercantile and shipping agency. After trying his luck in the Bendigo goldfields, George returned to Brisbane to join John in shipping wool under the name J & G Harris. As the business expanded, they bought a fleet of ships, opened a store in South Brisbane, acquired a wharf in Short Street at Queen’s Wharf, and opened a leather tannery and factory.
In 1860, George met and married Jane Thorn, and was appointed by Sir George Bowen as member in the Upper House of the first Parliament of Queensland.
During the boom years, George Harris was appointed official liquidator of the Bank of Queensland by the Supreme Court, and he was a member of the Marine Board, and Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. However, a series of illadvised
investments, a shipwreck and world events shifted George Harris’ fortunes in the 1870s, and eventually led to the Harrises leaving Newstead in 1890.
The Harris children
George and Jane Harris’ first child, Kate, died in infancy in 1862. Four children survived, all born at Newstead.
They were Edith Maud (1865–1925), Evelyn Jane (1867–1943), George Edmund (1863–1913) and John Ernest (1864–1911).
Mrs Harris became pregnant once more in 1968, but gave birth to a stillborn baby boy.
Little is known of the earlier years of the Harris children. The adult lives of the two daughters, Edith Maud and Evelyn Jane, are better documented while less is known of the sons, George Edmund and John Ernest.
Edith Maud
Edith Maud married George Condamine Taylor in 1883. Mr Taylor was the son of influential Toowoomba businessman James Taylor, to whom the Harris’ had lost Newstead in 1876 when they had been unable to meet the mortgage payments. Nonetheless, the Harris’ spared no expense on the wedding, hosting a grand party at Newstead.
Edith and George moved to Bellevue homestead near Esk, and had three daughters. After George Condamine Taylor died, Edith remarried Charles Lumley Hill in 1901, and continued to live at Bellevue. The couple had a daughter named Juan and a son named William George. Throughout her life, Edith Maud was well-respected for her business savvy and skills as a grazier and cattle-breeder. She died in 1925.
Evelyn Jane
In 1888, Evelyn Jane married Richard Gardner Casey, an expert horseman, and Chairman of the Victorian Racing Club and of various mining companies. The couple lived in Melbourne, where they had two sons. The elder, Richard Gardner, became Governor General of Australia in 1965.
When she died, Evelyn Jane was remembered by her generous nature and as one of Melbourne’s foremost hostesses.
George Edmund and John Ernest Harris
Little is known of the two sons, George Edmund and John Ernest. We know that the elder, George Edmund, married Clara Crust on 28 March 1898 and had six children. Both George Edmund and John Ernest died before their mother, in 1911 and 1913 respectively.
What was in this room?
Scroll through the 1890 auction catalogue below to find out what was in this room.
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