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Who was Heaslop ?

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Two men and a boy examine an eight foot sheet of corrugated iron embedded in the ground to a depth of 3 ft, 6 inches by the cyclone. Note repairs already effected to Crosbie's Hotel in the background. [Description supplied with photograph]

Heaslop–Douglas Shire Council Collection
A dead horse and damage to the Port Douglas Court House as a result of the cyclone of 16 March 1911
Who was Heaslop?
 

Message From: Will Heaslop Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2006

 Subject: re: Who was Heaslop ?

I came across this site searching Heaslop on internet and I am wondering about the connotation of the question. I wonder what the connection between Heaslop and the photograph is and, although I may be quite wrong, I assume that this is your query also. I have two suggestions.

           1. My maternal grandfather William Rogers Isaacs "built the wharf" at Port Douglas so I was always told as a child. He died in 1965 (four days short of his 90th birthday). Sometime later my mother sent a collection of old photographs to a Nth. Qld. historical society and my recollection is that it was to Pt Douglas; however it could have been Gordonvale.

I remember that one photo. was of a sheet of roofing iron driven into the ground similar to another photo on your site but my recollection of the photo. sent was that some broken palm trees also featured in the photo.
I may be confusing two photos, however, If you are looking for a connection between Heaslop and the photo, then I think that this would be it. ( I realize the wharf was built in 1904 and the cyclone photo is apparently from 1911 but G/father did get around quite a bit with his work over the years. At one stage he moved a large shed on a wharf (???Pt Douglas 1911- I don't know). He built wharves in Gladstone and Port Alma (Rockhampton) also.
Interestingly, in Jan.1967, I spent a morning in Pt Douglas and was directed to Mr Ramsey (Alec, I think) who lived in an old house more or less opposite the wharf. We talked for a long time (and that's a story in itself ! ) but he could not tell me much about the wharf! ( I was at that time travelling around Atherton Tableland/ Daintree township /Pt Douglas etc with my cousin Ted Isaacs whose father (also Ted) was the then manager of Goondi Sugar Mill at Innisfail).

2 An alternative suggestion is that another Heaslop may have taken/ provided the photo. My paternal grandfather had a brother (Samuel Heaslop) who settled in Cooktown in the gold rush days. There are still descendents living in Nth. Qld.

I think suggestion 1 is the more likely. I hope the above answers your apparent question.
           
Yours sincerely,                            
William (Rogers) Heaslop

Many thanks for the letter Will... If any one else  has any stories regarding time in the Douglas Shire please contact us