The Mayne Inheritance

Last updated

The Mayne Inheritance: a gothic tale of murder, madness and scandal across the generations
The Mayne Inheritance.jpg
AuthorRosamond Siemon
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical Biography [1]
Publisher University of Queensland Press
Published in English
 1997 (1997-MM)
Media typePrint (hardcover)
ISBN 0702234222

The Mayne Inheritance is a non-fiction book written by Queensland author Rosamond Siemon. It was first published in 1997 by University of Queensland Press, [1] and a new edition with updated information was issued by the same publisher in 2003. The book won the Brisbane City Council's One Book One Brisbane competition in 2003.

Contents

Plot and themes

The Mayne Inheritance tells the story of Patrick Mayne, a young man who migrated to Australia from his impoverished background in County Tyrone, Ireland in 1841. He was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Ireland in 1824. [2] He soon moved to the infant town of Brisbane where he found work as a slaughterman in an abattoir. In 1848 a sawyer, Robert Cox, was savagely murdered at Kangaroo Point and a considerable amount of money was presumed to have been stolen.

The next year, Patrick Mayne married and, despite being a poorly paid labourer, bought his own butcher's shop in what is now Brisbane's central business district. He then expanded his business empire through investing cleverly and soon became one of Brisbane's richest men. Patrick became one of the aldermen on the first Brisbane Municipal Council in 1859.

He died in 1865 from an unspecified illness, [2] and according to the book during his dying days confessed to the murder of Robert Cox. He left behind a widow and five children who had to survive in a hostile colonial environment which ostracised them for being the children of a confessed murderer. The second half of the book deals mainly with the lives of these children, none of whom married, and in particular James O'Neil Mayne who used the wealth inherited from his father to become a philanthropist. His most notable deed was funding the purchase of 270 acres (1.1 km2) of land at St Lucia for the University of Queensland. This spacious riverside site is still the main campus of the University.

The story of The Mayne Inheritance spans nearly a century, from Patrick's arrival in Australia in the 1840s to the death of his last surviving child, Mary Emelia Mayne, in 1940, at the age of 81. The narrative takes place within the context of Brisbane's history, and the reader is also taken on the journey of Brisbane's transformation from an isolated colonial hamlet to a major Australian city.

Adaptations

The book was adapted for the stage by Errol O'Neill and premiered at Brisbane's La Boite Theatre in 2004. [3]

Related Research Articles

Patrick Logan Commandant of penal colony

Captain Patrick Logan was the commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement from 1826 until his death in 1830 at the hands of Aboriginal Australians who objected to him entering their lands. As he had been hated by convicts, there were rumours that escaped convicts living in the bush had attacked him, but there is no evidence of this.

Brian Con Penton was an Australian journalist and novelist. He was born at Ascot, a suburb of Brisbane, and educated at Brisbane Grammar School.

Bowen Hills, Queensland Suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Bowen Hills is an inner north-eastern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census Bowen Hills had a population of 3,226 people.

Patrick Jennings Australian politician

Sir Patrick Alfred Jennings, was an Irish-Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales.

Newstead House, Brisbane Mansion in Brisbane, Australia

Newstead House is Brisbane's oldest surviving residence and is located on the Breakfast Creek bank of the Brisbane River, in the northern Brisbane suburb of Newstead, in Queensland, Australia. Built as a small cottage in the Colonial-Georgian style in 1846, the cottage was extended and today is painted and furnished in a late Victorian style.

Arthur Hunter Palmer 19th-century Australian politician

Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer was an Irish-Australian politician who served as the fifth Premier of Queensland, in office from 1870 to 1874. He later held ministerial office in Thomas McIlwraith's ministry from 1879 to 1881, before serving as President of the Queensland Legislative Council from 1881 until his death in 1898.

Andrew Joseph Thynne

Andrew Joseph Thynne was a lawyer and politician in Queensland, Australia. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council and Attorney-General of Queensland.

John Laskey Woolcock

John Laskey Woolcock was a barrister and Supreme Court judge in Queensland, Australia.

All Hallows School Catholic day school for girls in Brisbane, Australia

All Hallows' School (AHS) is a Catholic day school for girls, located in Fortitude Valley, close to the central business district of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Pinjarra Hills, Queensland Suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Pinjarra Hills is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Pinjarra Hills had a population of 606 people.

Mary Emelia Mayne

Mary Emelia Mayne, was an Australian philanthropist.

Samuel Blackall

Samuel Wensley Blackall was an Irish soldier and politician, who was the second Governor of Queensland from 1868 until he died in office in 1871.

Thomas Blacket Stephens Australian politician

Thomas Blacket Stephens was a wealthy Brisbane businessman and newspaper proprietor who also served as an alderman and mayor of Brisbane Municipal Council, a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland and a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council.

Joshua Jeays Australian politician

Joshua Jeays (1812–1881) was a Leicester-born carpenter who became a successful developer, an alderman and mayor of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

James Francis Garrick Australian politician

Sir James Francis Garrick, was a politician and agent-general from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In his later years, he lived in London.

Patrick Real was a Supreme Court judge in Queensland, a colony and later a state of Australia.

John Donaldson (Australian politician) Australian politician

John Donaldson was a politician in colonial Queensland, Colonial Treasurer from 19 November 1889 to 12 August 1890.

John Cameron (Queensland politician, born 1834) Australian politician

John Cameron was a Queensland politician, author, and public figure. A pioneering Brisbane auctioneer, realtor, and principal of Cameron Bros, John Cameron is a key early Queensland public figure and one of the builders of Brisbane.

Moorlands, Auchenflower Historic site in Queensland, Australia

Moorlands is a heritage-listed villa at 451 Coronation Drive, Auchenflower, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard Gailey and was built c. 1892 by contractor Arthur Smith. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 August 1992.

Hennessy & Hennessy was an architectural firm established in 1912 in Sydney, Australia that was responsible for a series of large scale office buildings in the 1930s in all capital cities in Australia, as well as New Zealand and South Africa, designed by John (Jack) Hennessy (1887–1955), described as Australia's first international architect.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Mayne Inheritance". Catalogue. State Library of Queensland . Retrieved 12 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. 1 2 "Mayne – unbounded localitty in City of Brisbane (entry 21273)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government . Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  3. ↑ "ABC Online Forum". Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.