So
Archer, Gertrude and the children left Balmain and travelled to
Queensland. Queensland had separated from New South Wales and become
a colony in its own right on 6 June 1859. Queensland was a place of
contradictions, like most areas of white settlement in Australia
(with the possible exception of South Australia). It was the first
colony to introduce free secondary education, yet was also the first
to give a government powers to remove aboriginal people and restrict
them to reserves (a law that wasn't repealed until 1971). It also saw
the birth of the Labor Party in 1891 as striking shearers fought to
improve wages and conditions for all workers. Perhaps it was this
last thing that attracted Archer, given his history of support for
working men.
The
O'Tooles settled in Fortitude Valley, already a thriving commercial
district. They moved into a house at 137 James Street, where Archer
opened a tobacconist and newsagent shop, but things did not get off
to a flying start.
 |
| Brisbane Courier 20 October 1899, p.3 |
I don't
know what happened, but I hope Archer got his damages payout.
Archer
and Gertrude joined the local Christadelphian congregation and became
active members.
In June
and July of 1901, Australia was visited by Mr Henry Sulley, a noted
architect from Nottingham, international speaker and a member of the
Christadelphian faith. He spoke extensively, delivering sets of four
lectures. They would follow the pattern of archeology, architecture,
prophecy, preaching and were illustrated with his own drawings and
diagrams. His speciality was the temples of Jerusalem, with attention
to the temples of Solomon, Ezekiel and Herod. Lectures were open to
the public, were free, and were always reported as being
well-attended. When Mr Sulley reached Brisbane, Archer was chosen as
MC for the lectures. The third lecture, on prophecy, was written up
in the Brisbane Courier, and Archer's role in proceedings was detailed (he opened the evening by reading Micah ch 4 and a passage from the
Letter to the Romans).
On 31
August, 1901 there was the first newspaper report of a lecture to be
given by Archer himself, entitled “The Signs of the Times”. It
was a public address delivered in Centennial Hall, where Henry Sulley
had spoken, and took place on 1 September, commencing at 7.15 pm.
Archer became a notable public speaker, his lectures (frequently
illustrated by magic lantern slides) being advertised and reported in
the newspapers, first in Brisbane and later in Rockhampton. There are
breaks in the notices, the longest being between 1921 and 1934.
Whether that corresponds to a break in Archer's lectures or merely
reflects a break in newspaper notices, I do not know. Often his
lectures were in series form, always they were free and it was always
clearly stated that there would be no collection. This was about
sharing and educating, not fund raising.
So, by
September 1901, the move north was looking good, but then there was
another setback for the family. In late 1901, Clarice, aged 10,
became ill and was admitted to the Children's Hospital in Brisbane. I
don't know why she went in, but sadly she did not come out again. A
funeral notice appeared in the Brisbane Courier on 4 January 1902:
“The
Friends of Mr. and Mrs. A. O'Toole, Bookseller, James-street,
Teneriffe, are respectfully invited to attend the Funeral of their
beloved Daughter, Clarice Gertrude, to move from the Children's
Hospital tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, at 1.30, for the Toowong
Cemetery”
The
Toowong Cemetery is the main cemetery in Brisbane and is also known
as Brisbane General Cemetery.
Archer
and Gertrude continued on at James-street for a few years, although
not without incident. On 21 April 1903 William Gilbert climbed the
verandah post of the shop and attempted to break into the flat above.
Archer, awake and alert, rushed at him but the would-be thief
escaped. Archer notified the police and Gilbert was arrested within
twenty-four hours.
He was tried at the end of May in the Supreme Court in Brisbane,
Gilbert gave as his defence that he was drunk on the night of the
attempted robbery and further could not have climbed the verandah
post as his hands were swollen from punching someone. He was found
guilty of attempted enter and theft and was sentenced to four years'
hard labour.
Archer was also a witness in Wagner v. Coulter in the District Court
in June of 1904.
After
the attempted robbery the O'Tooles moved house, relocating to Gibbon
Street in the same suburb.
However, by 1906 they had moved further north, to Rockhampton, where
Archer was employed by a printing firm, the Federal Press.
He was back with the presses and the papers. He was also back in
court, this time bringing charges against a neighbour for use of
indecent language.
Peter
Reidy, who lived next to a friend of Archer's, Joseph Skinner, had
been harassing and insulting the two men and their family members.
Skinner, like Archer, was a member of the Christadelphian
congregation, a point to which Reidy appeared to take exception.
Reidy became increasingly violent in his speech, eventually
threatening the men with harm and even saying he would “bleed and
eat” them, interspersed with swear words which the newspaper report
would not print. Reidy was known in the district as an aggressive
drunk.
At the trial his wife and daughters refused to answer when asked if
they had to “clear out” when Reidy got drunk. Reidy claimed at
his trial that his argument was not with Skinner but with O'Toole,
although he admitted to not being on friendly terms with Skinner
after Skinner's dog ate the Reidy's chickens. He also said that
Archer was known to pat the dog and tell it how good it was. The dog
had subsequently been poisoned. It was not known by whom, although I
think there may have been strong suspicions. Reidy, a slight man of
sixty-seven, tried to use his size as a defence, that Archer and Joe
Skinner as “big men” had nothing to fear from him, although it
was pointed out that drink makes someone dangerous and he could
easily use a stick or rock to assault them if the mood took him.
Amongst
the abuse hurled at Archer was the accusation that he was an
Orangeman. One of Reidy's daughter denied calling him an “Orange
dog”, although she did admit to calling him a Christadelphian
(which he was) and also “Parson Jack”.
I find the accusation of Orangeman hard to believe. We have had
Orangemen in our family, I am ashamed to say (though not on the
O'Toole side), and I grew up hearing the bigotry and hatred that
resulted. Had Archer really had Orange sympathies, he would not have
printed the service times and church announcements for ALL
denominations when he ran the Balmain Leader. The inclusion of
Catholic times and information would have been anathema. Yet there
they were, happily alongside the other denominations. Reidy was found
guilty, bound over, fined and ordered to pay costs. He was unemployed
at the time, so this would have presented difficulties for him and
his family. Shortly after this case Archer and Gertrude O'Toole moved
from Campbell Street to 104 Kent Street, where they remained for the
rest of their lives.
Archer
was in Court once more in his life that I can find, this time serving
as a juror. He was empanelled on 22 November 1909 to hear the case of
Gilbert Pershouse, charged with theft. The jury found Pershouse
guilty.
It
was around 1906 that Archer became noted in the newspaper as a very
vocal advocate for the Temperance Union. He was serving as Secretary
for the Queensland Temperance Alliance in Rockhampton.
In 1907 Archer was working as a reporter for the Morning Bulletin
Rockhampton and had on one occasion to defend his positions as a
Temperance man and journalist. The accusation was that he was using
his journalism to further his Temperance views and was a supporter of
the conservative politician, Robert Philp (Philp was anti-union and a
free trader, both views that did not correspond with Archer's
activities). Archer used a public Temperance meeting to confront his
accuser, a Mr. Goss. The mayor of Rockhampton presided over the
meeting, allowed each man to say his piece and then declared the
matter closed.
Throughout
the years Archer featured in the newspapers, as well as writing for
them. His public lectures seem to have been quite popular and were
favourably reported. Times were different then, so it was not unusual
to see reports on the various Sunday School picnics and other church
functions, and Archer is usually mentioned when Christadelphian
functions were reported. He also presided over prizegivings, was
active in politics and frequently spoke at public debates, often from
the floor.
I am sure there was more than one politician who would groan on
seeing Archer in the audience, knowing that direct questions would be
on the way. Archer was also a member of the Capricornia Federal
Electoral League and served on the executive of that organisation.
Archer
was a strong advocate for his community and joined the push in 1907
for a school to be built in Rockhampton for girls and young
children.
In 1912 Archer served as an auditor for the Queensland Typographical
Association.
When
the war came things changed for Archer and Gertrude. Their eldest
child, Stanley, signed up and went off to fight. In 1916 he was
reported injured but then no further news came. Archer put his
formidable talents into finding what had happened to his son. He
spoke to all the politicians he knew, he wrote letters, he sent
telegrams. Eventually his persistence paid off, but the news was not
what the family would have hoped. Stanley was missing presumed dead.
A fuller account of Stanley's service and his fate can be read on my
ANZAC Stories post about him.
Archer
was down but not out. The family threw themselves into raising funds
for the Red Cross. Lectures and raffles were organised and the
O'Tooles were always in the lists of donors or organisers.
Archer was a member of the Christmas Cheer Fund Committee and, along
with his fellow Committee members, financed an illustrated address at
the School of Arts, delivered by Mr. A. Watson, Vice-president of the
Brisbane Chamber of Manufacturers. The subject was “The
unconquerable British Empire – never to be humbled by human
agency”.
In
1921 Archer and his friend Joseph Skinner were named trustees of a
legacy left to the Rockhampton Christadelphian ecclesia by a Mrs.
Margaret Weston. The money was to be used for the building of a Hall
for the sole use of the Rockhampton Christadelphians, any residue to
be sent to the poor Jews of Jerusalem. A site was purchased on the
corner of Denham and Murray Streets and the hall duly built.
It was called the Weston Hall, although if you look on Google Earth
the sign on the front says merely “Christadelphian Hall”. This is
the same building, erected in 1921. I should like to know if it is
still known amongst the congregation as the Weston Hall or if the
name has disappeared over time.
 |
| Christdelphian Hall, Rockhampton, corner of Murray and Denham Streets. Image from Google Earth |
Archer
continued to be very active, writing letters to the papers, working
as a journalist, working on committees, raising funds for the
Benevolent Society. He reported on the election and Referendum
results in November 1928 and somehow found time amongst everything
else to grow fruit and vegetables. His date palms featured on the
Horticultural page of the Morning Bulletin.
 |
| Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 16 Feb 1935 p12. Image sourced from Trove |
Gertrude,
meanwhile, kept and sold poultry, including turkeys, geese, English
Ducks and canaries. She frequently placed ads in the Morning Bulletin
for her birds.
Archer
died on 16 November 1938, aged 76. His obituary gave a good rundown
of his employment history. Strangely it mentioned all his children
except for Clarice.
 |
| Morning Bulletin Rockhampton 24 Nov 1938, p.25. Image from Trove |
Archer was buried in North Rockhampton Cemetery,
compartment 2, section 6, grave 68.
Gertrude
followed eighteen months later, dying on 24 July 1940. She was buried
next to her husband in compartment 2, section 6, grave 67.
Archer
and Gertrude worked hard all their lives. They raised their children,
spread their faith and did what they could to benefit their
community. Archer never shirked his responsibilities and was always
willing to stand up for himself and for others.
