He was idolised as the “Grand Old Man of Ipswich” but he made blunders that tarnish his legend. I told a version of this story live on Ipswich’s West Bremer Radio.

Mr. Samuel Watson was born in Sydney on St Patrick’s Day the 17th of March 1841, his parents having just arrived from County Fermanagh, Ireland. He came to Moreton Bay in 1843 and then to Little Ipswich where his parents purchased allotments at the very first sale of land in Ipswich.

Watson himself later took up a block on the Lockyer Creek in the nearby Clarendon district where he established a top reputation as a horse and cattle-breeder, and a crack horseman, in fact he was one of the finest horsemen of his day.

Watson founded a successful butchering business in Ipswich with his brothers and brother-in-law. He was already successful when in 1866 he got married, and that signalled the start of the tarnishing of his legend.

You see his father-in-law was Patrick Noonan who was the unluckiest man in Ipswich history. Noonan would lose a grandson at war, a son before war, a grandson, daughter, and wife in the floods, and even had to pay for the funeral of his wife’s first husband whose brother had been hung for murder.

Firstly, Watson spent thousands of pounds, or millions of dollars in today’s money, prospecting for gold, copper, and other minerals in the Stanley area east of Ipswich, all of which led to nothing.

Secondly, Watson sacked his brothers and brother-in-law from his butchering business, buying them out so that he had full control.

The thing is, his brother Richard Watson and brother-in-law Captain Roddy McLeod were two of the most prominent citizens of Ipswich and were huge assets to the business.

His brother Richard was the first to grow cotton in the district and became the mayor of Ipswich. His brother-in-law Captain McLeod was one of the founders of the Queensland defence force and also became the mayor of Ipswich. He was the person most responsible for the Sangster memorial in Brown’s Park and was described as “a fine specimen of the stuff they grow north of the Tweed.”

But despite his partners clearly being assets, Watson cut business ties with them both.

Thirdly, Watson hired the worst driver in Queensland as a driver for the butchering business. Roland Carey was the first person convicted in Queensland for not having a drivers license, went on to have a litany of other driving convictions, and while driving Watson’s meat van was found liable for a collision that cost the business over £50 or almost $30,000 in today’s money.

When Samuel Watson died in 1927, it was reported that Queensland had lost its oldest pioneer who had lived in the Ipswich district for around eighty-four years, which was longer than anyone else up to that point.

Watson was hailed as the “Grand Old Man of Ipswich” but no mention was made of his cursed father-in-law, failed gold explorations, sacking of not one but two Ipswich mayors, and the hiring as a driver the worst driver in Queensland.

CLICK HERE TO LITEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON WEST BREMER RADIO.

Photo credits:
Samuel Watson – The Queenslander Pictorial supplement to The Queenslander, 28th June 1919.
Roderick McLeod, Mayor, 1898, Ipswich – Picture Ipswich.
Samuel Watson memorial, Ipswich General Cemetery – Anne – here lies 2018 via Find a Grave website.