Glass House Mountains family celebrate milestone after 1928 arrival in the district
The Morgan family of Glass House Mountains are marking a special family reunion this December that celebrates 95 years since the arrival to the district of young brothers Jim, George and Jack in 1928.
Speaking with GC&M news, Lorraine (Morgan) McNamara said in tracing back her immediate family history, she discovered that her dad George and his two siblings made the decision to migrate to Australia and specifically to the Glass House Mountains area, mainly due to having their great uncle John Allan Morgan (known as Great Uncle Jack) already living in the village. Lorraine said their Great Uncle Jack moved to Glass House Mountains in 1903, so in reality the Morgan family had a direct 120 year link to the township.
“Uncle Jacky had written that Australia had good, warm weather and held great promise for new settlers, so the brothers came over on the ‘Largs Bay’. It also seemed there was some link with the Fullerton family as the boys also knew of Hector Fullerton – so they had a couple of connections that drove the decision to move here,” Lorraine explained.
The Morgan boys were relatively young in deciding to leave family and friends in England to travel by sea for the approximately six week trip from London to Brisbane. At the time of arrival Jim was 22, George was 16 and Jack was only 15. Over the following few years, George found work around Glass House Mountains with several local farmers, eventually owning land in 1934 with his brothers on Railway Parade, growing pineapples until he went to war following his call up in 1941. Morgan Crossing in Glass House Mountains is named after the family and is located on the borderline of the original farm property. The family owned approximately 300 acres and along with other well-known farming families of the district, built up a successful pineapple enterprise. The family pineapple farm is still in operation today, now managed by Lorraine’s brother Keith and his daughter Trudy. Records show the family have farmed pineapples in the area for over 87 years.
Keith has also been working on restoring the family’s original and first ever 1958 Grey Massey Ferguson Tractor which will be ‘showcased’ at the reunion. Lorraine said at the time of purchase it was a relatively ‘new thing’ to have a tractor locally and neighbours came from all around the district to watch demonstrations of what the tractor could do!
Around 50 descendants are set to attend the milestone family function which will be in early December at the Glasshouse RSL, where George as a WW2 veteran was a foundation member. As well as being a foundation member of the Glasshouse RSL, known back then as the local RSSAILA (Returned Sailor’s Soldier’s Airmen’s Imperial League) in 1947, George also went on to become treasurer for an extraordinary 33 consecutive years from 1965-1991. George ‘the Gentleman of Glass House Mountains’ was an active member of the RSL sub branch for over 50 years – remaining involved from 1947 right up until two years before his death in 2001.
Following refurbishments, in 2020 the Glasshouse Country RSL was ‘reopened’. At the reopening event, members and guests gathered to pay tribute to George, and his long running commitment to the club which was recognised by the naming of a room in the refurbished building – The Morgan Room.