170th Reunion of the descendants of Dr Dunmore Lang’s ships the Fortitude, Chaseley and Lima.
It was a very enjoyable and memorable afternoon despite inclement weather. Some of the descendants lived up to their pioneering ancestry by coming out on a rainy, overcast day. Their ancestors would have endured much worse! Despite the threatening clouds, we managed to gather everyone around the memorial cairn in Captain Burke Park before the heavy rain started.
Second left is 93-year-old Kevin Dickson, the oldest 4th generation descendant of James William Thompson who came on the second ship, the Chaseley, which arrived on 1 May 1849, 170 years ago!
In traditional dress and standing next to the banner is Renee Johnston who made the banner for the 150th year reunion in 1999 and updated it for this event twenty years later. Hopefully she’ll have to update it for many more future reunions.
Pioneers Picnic
The Pioneers Picnic, first held on the 1st of May 1899, was the jubilee of the landing of Doctor John Dunmore Lang’s pioneers in Brisbane. About 600 hundred pioneers arrived in Brisbane in 1849 on the ships ‘Fortitude’, ‘Chaseley’ and ‘Lima’. The picnic was attended by over three hundred, including immigrants and their descendants. This year is the 120th anniversary of the Pioneers Picnic.
Yesterday’s Pioneer Picnic, although on a much smaller scale, was no less significant. 
Afternoon tea at Medley Café in the historic Yungaba grounds on the river was a fitting location for some of the group to continue their reminiscences.
So sorry to have missed this event. Both my great grandparents arrived in 1849, William Clark was a 12 year old on the Lima and Mary Childs was an 8 year old on the Fortitude. They married in 1867 and spent a lot of their lives in Gympie. William Clark’s story is recorded on Obituaries Australia. My father, one of their grandchildren was born in 1904 and I was born in 1955. I think this makes me third generation but not sure how this is counted. Hoping I can make the 180th reunion. The only images I have for my great grandparents are from the Jubilee Issue of the Queenslander newspaper in 1909. William Clark wrote a long article in this journal about his reminiscences.
Hi,
This is an attachment which I tried to send to a site which would not accept it
I vividly recall the men throwing hot rivet’s with a pair of tongs and catching the hot rivet in a bucket.
Then came the good part as they had to retrieve the hot rivet with steel tongs and put it in to a prepared hole and then put an air hammer onto the open end
Cheers
Gordon Woolston as Con Geiger at this time
Phone 0434872704