Over a century ago, South Yarra in Melbourne and Toowoomba in Queensland were home to two sisters who despite different paths reached the peak of Australian high society. I told a version of this story on radio 4WK.

Queensland sisters Edith Maud Harris and Jane Eveline Harris came from convict stock, grew up in colonial Queensland, and blossomed to live lavish lifestyles.

At the time of Australian Federation in 1901, Edith lived in Toowoomba and Jane in South Yarra. From the north and to the south, they were the belles of the society parties.

Their father George Harris and their maternal grandfather George Thorn Senior were Queensland parliamentarians, and an uncle George Thorn Junior was Queensland premier. They were born in the family home of Newstead House. It was built in 1846 and today is heritage-listed as the oldest surviving home in Brisbane. It was reopened over the weekend after a $6.6 million restoration.

When Jane was aged eighteen she married the Queensland pastoralist and another politician Richard Casey Senior. He was thirty-eight-years-old and more than double her age. When he died in 1919, Jane was a beneficiary of a fabulous estate valued at more than £100,000 or $52 million in today’s money. Their son Richard Casey Junior became Baron Casey, the sixteenth governor-general of Australia.

Meanwhile, Jane’s sister Edith was just seventeen-years-old when she married the Queensland pastoralist George Condamine Taylor. At thirty-years-old he was just a bit less than double her age. George was the son of pastoralist and parliamentarian James Taylor who was one of the founding fathers of Toowoomba.

Upon George’s death in Toowoomba in 1899, Edith inherited slightly less than $2 million but the estate included the historic Bellevue Homestead (pictured top of page) at Coominya, which is still there today and is another heritage-listed home.

Edith was independently wealthy and still a young woman of thirty-three so was very eligible to marry again. And all of the rich bachelors in the colony would make a good match.

One was Charles Lumley Hill who was a Queensland pastoralist, businessman and politician. He was the son of Colonel Charles Hill and Lady Frances Lumley, and nephew of Richard Lumley, the 9th Earl of Scarborough.

Charles was educated at Oxford University and another member of the Queensland parliament. When Algernon Keith-Falconer visited Brisbane – he was the 9th Earl of Kintore, Lord-in-waiting for both Queen Victoria and King Edward VII, and governor of South Australia – it was Charles Lumley Hill who hosted him.

Importantly for Edith, Charles was single and rich. But he was also over sixty-years-old which, like her first husband, made him almost double her age. When the couple married in 1901, it caused quite a surprise across the newly federated Australia.

Charles was long considered “past middle-age, and a veritable club bachelor.” But both were possessed of considerable wealth and were famous as extravagant entertainers. The wedding invitation list was extensive, and the list of gifts even more so including silver, gold, and fine jewellery.

Edith’s Bellevue continued to host lavish parties and contained numerous art treasures and sporting souvenirs, including three Melbourne Cups. Edith was an astute businesswoman and breeder of Hereford cattle, regularly winning prizes at shows including at Toowoomba and beyond. She was known as the “high priestess of Queensland society.”

For eight entertaining years the power couple of Queensland society revelled in their wealthy match, sharing their time between parties at Bellevue in the Brisbane Valley, Queensland’s capital city Brisbane, and across the Darling Downs. But it seems Charles could not go the distance because in 1909 after a short illness, he passed away at Edith’s Bellevue homestead. From the inheritance, Edith added $3 million to her by then considerable personal wealth.

Queensland’s Harris sisters came from convict stock, Edith grew her brand in Toowoomba and Jane in South Yarra, and did very well to be the Kardashians of their time.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON RADIO 4WK.

Photo credits:
Bellevue Station Homestead, c1912 – State Library of Queensland.
Richard Casey Jnr – National Library of Australia.
Mr C. Lumley-Hill and Mrs Hill 1901 – State Library of Queensland.