John Theophilus Symons (JTS) Bird (1842 - 1932) was an Australian journalist, historian, author and gold prospector.
Bird was born in Buckland Brewer, Devon in England on 10 May 1842. [1]
He was trained as a newspaper printer and compositor in Devon, and worked on local newspapers in Torquay including The Chronicle and The Recorder. [1]
Bird and his two younger brothers departed England for Australia on 4 March 1863 [2] aboard the migrant ship Beejapore , arriving in Keppel Bay on 25 June 1863. [3]
The day after Bird arrived, he commenced work at The Morning Bulletin in Rockhampton as a compositor. He remained at the newspaper until late 1866 when he decided to pursue gold mining on the various goldfields around the local area.
During the 1867-1870 period of gold mining in Queensland, Bird spent time on goldfields around Rockhampton, Bouldercombe, Raglan, Canoona, Peak Downs and as far south as Gympie.
Bird's best success was found at Ridgelands, to the west of Rockhampton, in 1867 when he and his prospecting partner Arthur Hoskings discovered gold within the granite and slate deposits in the area. Their find prompted scores of other hopeful prospectors to descend on the area which helped establish a small township at Ridgelands. [4]
Bird and Hosking applied for a £500 reward from the government for discovering a new goldfield but were rewarded with the smaller amount of £200, becoming the first people in Queensland to be rewarded for finding gold. [5]
It was during a gold mining expedition on the Gympie goldfields, he married his wife Kezia Seymour at Maryborough, Queensland on 4 April 1868. [1]
After his marriage, Bird decided to travel to the Gilbert River in Far North Queensland but only made it as far as Mackay where he recommenced newspaper work at The Daily Mercury , effectively ending his gold mining aspirations. [1]
Bird had returned to Rockhampton by 1870, and rejoined the staff at The Morning Bulletin. He recommenced worked in the composing room at the newspaper where he became foreman and overseer by 1875. [1]
Following this, Bird moved into more editorial roles and due to his gold mining experience was appointed editor of the newspaper's mining columns. As mining editor, Bird became one of the first to write about the gold which was found at Mount Morgan in 1882, resulting in the construction of Mount Morgan Mine. [1]
Bird also became The Morning Bulletin's sports editor, writing the newspaper's local sports columns using the pen name Veno. [2]
During his newspaper career, Bird was appointed chairperson of the Printing Trade Board on numerous occasions. [6] [7]
In 1909, he concluded working as overseer of the newspaper's mechanical staff after being in the position for 38 years. The staff at the newspaper presented Bird with a purse of sovereigns as a token of hope that Bird's purse would be full for the remainder of his life. Bird said he was surprised at the gesture as although he was finishing in the composing room, he was still intending to work at the newspaper in a less physically demanding role. [8]
Following the death of his wife in February 1918, [9] Bird decided to leave Rockhampton to reside in Brisbane, ending a 55-year association with The Morning Bulletin. Upon his departure from The Morning Bulletin, the employees of the newspaper gathered in the composing room to make speeches, and farewell gift presentations to Bird. [10]
Despite living in Brisbane, Bird still submitted work to The Morning Bulletin as a freelance contributor until about twelve months before his death in 1932. [2]
Throughout his time with The Morning Bulletin, Bird researched and wrote about the early history of Central Queensland, from European settlement up until about 1870. His efforts culminated when all his newspaper research was collated into a book he authored called The Early History of Rockhampton.
The Early History of Rockhampton was first published by The Morning Bulletin in 1904. The book has been republished several times since. Most recently, the book was republished by Coorooman Press in 2016. [11] Original copies of the 1904 publication are considered to by valuable, worth approximately $1500 each. Several copies are held in the "Rare Books" section in the John Oxley Library at the State Library of Queensland in Brisbane. [1]
In her own book, Rockhampton: A History of City & District, Queensland historian Dr Lorna McDonald OAM [12] described Bird as Rockhampton's first historian despite never receiving formal training as either a historian or journalist. [13]
McDonald said that despite occasional inaccuracies, The Early History of Rockhampton was a very rare pre-World War I publication and the best of its kind in Queensland. Dr McDonald also states that Bird was a versatile writer, with his writing reflecting the resilience of human memory and his inability to gain access to official records. [13]
However, Dr McDonald accused Bird of lacking complete objectivity, citing the omission of at least one prominent Rockhampton pioneer due to a conflict between Bird and the man's son. [13]
Bird has also been posthumously criticised for the negative way he wrote about and portrayed local indigenous tribes [14] and for omitting events where Aboriginal people were murdered. [15]
Bird had planned a revised second edition of his book, but it never eventuated due to the outbreak of World War I in 1915. [2]
After suffering from decling health including a stroke, Bird died in Brisbane on 7 May 1932. [16]
His wife and five of their seven children had predeceased him. His funeral was held at the Toowong Cemetery. [17]
Bird Court, a street in the Rockhampton suburb of Frenchville is named after J.T.S. Bird. [1]
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the urban population of Rockhampton was 63,151.
Rockhampton Airport is a major Australian regional airport in West Rockhampton, Queensland that services the city of Rockhampton, with direct flights to various major centres in Queensland, as well as Melbourne in Victoria. Flights have previously operated to Sydney but were cancelled due to lack of passenger numbers. The airport runway has the capability to handle aircraft such as the A380, 747, & 777 types.
The Shire of Fitzroy was a local government area located in the Capricornia region of Central Queensland, Queensland, Australia, to the immediate west and south of the regional city of Rockhampton. The shire, administered from the town of Gracemere, covered an area of 5,898.7 square kilometres (2,277.5 sq mi), and existed as a local government entity from 1899 until 2008, when it amalgamated with several other councils to become the Rockhampton Region. It is named for the Fitzroy River, that passes along the northern boundary of the shire.
Monkland is a rural locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census Monkland had a population of 1,125 people.
The Archer brothers were among the earliest European settlers in Queensland, Australia. They were explorers and pastoralists. Seven sons of William Archer, a Scottish timber merchant, they spent varying amounts of time in the colony of New South Wales, mainly in parts of what later became Queensland. A substantial number of locations in Queensland were either named by or for them. They were, in order of birth:
During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of New South Wales had suppressed the news out of the fear that it would reduce the workforce and destabilise the economy.
William Oswald Hodgkinson (1835–1900) was an Australian explorer, journalist, gold miner, and politician.
Harold Livingstone Fraser was an Australian aviator born in Rockhampton, Queensland.
Morinish is a rural locality in the Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Morinish had a population of 62 people.
Reginald Byron Jarvis "Rex" Pilbeam was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and long-serving mayor of Rockhampton.
Lorna Lorraine McDonald was an Australian historian and author.
Thomas John Griffin was a senior Queensland police officer who was executed in June 1868, after being found guilty of the double murder of two police officers, troopers John Power and Patrick Cahill, who were on duty and under Griffin's protection and authority. Less than a month before he carried out his crimes, Griffin had been police magistrate and gold commissioner at Clermont in Central Queensland.
James Grant Pattison was an Australian journalist and author, known for writing under the pseudonym of "Battler".
Captain Frederick (Fred) Rhodes was an Australian master mariner, journalist, author and cotton farming lobbyist.
Henry Arthur Kellow was a Scottish-born Australian literary critic, author and teacher.
Ridgelands is a rural locality in the Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census Ridgelands had a population of 166 people.
George Charles Frederick Palmer was an Australian bushranger who operated in Queensland.
Patrick Halligan was an Irish-Australian hotel licensee and gold buyer who was murdered in Rockhampton, Queensland on 25 April 1869.
Thomas Joseph Lee was an Australian politician, best known for being the mayor of the City of Rockhampton between 14 April 1930 and 20 April 1936.
John Palmer was an Australian businessman and politician.