Famine to thriving family
Storyboards covering the past 350 years of Langtree family history have been put together for a reunion this month.
ONE million Irish starved to death during the Great Famine which began in 1845. Another million fled to other parts of the world.
The five-year potato famine decimated Ireland’s population of five million.
Among those to leave their homeland in search of a new life were George and Margaret Langtree, whose descendants will gather in Cairns this month for a family reunion.
By 1849, after four years of failed crops, George and Margaret, tenant farmers of Oldcastle in County Meath, had had enough.
Suffering extreme poverty, starving and with no future, they sold their meagre belongings and migrated to Australia with their seven children.
In the 1860s, one of their sons, John (Jack) Langtree, ended up in Far North Queensland, working on the Palmer River gold diggings. He assembled a bullock team to cart freight from Port Douglas to the mining camps and later to the Atherton Tableland.
John married another Irish immigrant, Catherine Shinahan, from Borris in County Carlow.
“They married at Butchers Hill cattle station, 80km south of Cooktown, where their first home was a slab hut on the banks of Scatterbrain Creek,” says one of the reunion organisers, Terry Behan.
“John and Catherine had 10 children, who were born in several places, including Cooktown, Port Douglas, Mount Garnet, Montalbion and Cairns. Most settled in Gordonvale and Cairns.”
Terry says Langtree descendants now number in their hundreds and more than 100 will gather at the Cairns Colonial Club on Saturday, June 16.
“They are getting together to honour their forebears, who were among the true European pioneers of North Queensland,” Terry said.
“Their story started 170 years ago in Ireland and ended here in Cairns.”
Among them is former Cairns Post printer Ray McKeown, who worked with the newspaper for 50 years from January 2, 1940 until retiring on January 5, 1990.
“At 94, Ray is now the elder of the Langtree tribe and will do the welcome speech at the reunion,” Terry said.
Storyboards covering the past 350 years of Langtree history have been put together for the reunion, which will also include a dinner, photos, a talk on the family history and a singalong. The program begins on June 16 at 5pm.
To join the celebrations, contact Narelle Cathcart at bryoeditor@gmail.com or Terry Behan on 0417 731 428.