Surveying Success

Hilary Davies

Colonial Queensland was the stage on which the Hume family achieved success between 1863 and 1901. The scenes were set on the Darling Downs and in Brisbane. After serving in the merchant marine with the P&O Line, Walter Hume migrated to Queensland from England in 1862 to train as a surveyor. Soon he was joined by his widowed mother and four siblings; then in 1866 by his fiancée, Katie Fowler. The varying fortunes of each family member reveal how personality, background and the social, economic and political conditions in the colony determined their success. Walter and Katie Hume coped with isolation from family and the deaths of five infants while working to establish their financial future, secured promotions for Walter and created a place for themselves among the colonial elite.