An Ipswich milkman 175 years ago may have married for love but then came the children. I told a version of this story live on West Bremer Radio.

In 1850, Hugh Maxwell was taken to the Ipswich court. He would have a bit of bad luck. His six-year-old son would die when his clothes caught on fire, and his wife die of sunstroke and then ironically the very next day be buried in torrential rain.

And yet despite this misfortune, Maxwell was not bitter but actually a really nice fellow. In 1849 he employed as his servant girl the nineteen-year-old Celia Moran. Shortly afterwards she fell in love and became betrothed to be married, and so Maxwell bought her a wedding dress and paid for her wedding dinners. On Australia Day the 26th of January 1850, Celia married the much older 44-year-old Bundamba milkman Michael Christie.

Celia and Michael may well have married for love, but pretty soon their main focus became taking Celia’s former employer to court. That’s the 1850 court case in which the Christies sued Maxwell for the modest sum of five shillings being alleged unpaid wages. The Christies won, and poor Maxwell had to come up with court costs as well, and couldn’t even claim back any of the costs of the wedding dress or reception expenses.

The Christie love blossomed into at least half a dozen children together, but it was the children who troubled further this love story. You see, while the Christie babies were being born, the milkman father went on a fighting rampage across Ipswich. Amongst his assault victims was a Mrs Preston and her children. Her husband was later nominated by the bishop to be churchwarden of St Paul’s in Ipswich. Then there was Thomas Holt the former New South Wales treasurer, member of New South Wales parliament for Ipswich and Brisbane, and founder of the AMP society. There was some bad blood there, because Christie later supported Benjamin Cribb who replaced Holt in parliament. Christie also assaulted a John Maxstead whose only fault was that he once drove a team of horses too fast through town.

The Christie fighting was taken up by the whole family when in 1879 their son John was charged with assaulting his father Michael and threatening to cut off his head with an axe. This also involved the mother Celia, and siblings Patrick and Jane. The whole family were making claims and counter claims against one another. The outcome was that son John was fined £20 and put on a £10 good behaviour bond.

The family feud was back in court the following year in 1880 when son Patrick, by now seventeen-years-old, was charged by his mother Celia for assault and running away with a pillowcase full of salt beef, damper, tea and sugar. Patrick was sentenced to a rather harsh three months in gaol with hard labour.

In 1884 the father Michael passed away when he burst a blood vessel while ploughing. Celia was then left to fight their children on her own.

In 1887, son John, who previously had threatened to cut off his father’s head with an axe, this time threatened to kill his mother with a revolver. Another son Arthur was also somehow involved. For that, John was bound over to keep the peace towards his mother for six months with a £40 good behaviour bond.

Celia died in Ipswich hospital in 1896 from chronic bronchitis and is buried with her husband Michael in the Ipswich cemetery, although her children didn’t see fit to include her on the headstone.

It’s all a very sad love story for Michael and Celia Christie from 175 years ago and was made really complicated with somewhat unruly children.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION TOLD ON WEST BREMER RADIO.

Photo credits:
Fighting on Valentines Day in Ipswich, 1850 – Microsoft Designer AI.
Ipswich Courthouse, c1860 – State Library of Queensland.
Thomas Holt, 1870 – Wikipedia Commons.
Benjamin Cribb, c1860 – State Library of Queensland.
Michael Christie, Ipswich Cemetery – Find a Grave by Anne – here lies 2024.