Bleakley Family

John Close Bleakley was born in Manchester, England. He and his wife Caroline (nee Mason) travelled to Australia with their three children, two survived the journey but one died on the voyage. The family arrived in Brisbane on 15 December 1884 and settled in Ipswich soon after.

John started as a labourer at the Ipswich Railway Workshops in 1893 on 5 shillings a day. He was promoted to the position of a driller and he retired from the Workshops in 1925 on a wage of 16 shillings and 10 pence a day.

John and Caroline had eleven children:

• John William born in Manchester, England on 17 December 1879
• Florence born in England, married William Wensley on 3 June 1929
• Mary born in England, died on the voyage to Australia.
• Charles Abraham born in Ipswich
• Arthur George born in Ipswich
• Rose and Lilly (twins) born in Ipswich. Rose died when she was two weeks old
• Walter
• Ernest Mason
• Violet
• Eliza died when she was six months old

At some point Caroline's parents, Caroline Mason (nee Tobey) and Oliver Mason also moved to Queensland. Caroline Mason was a midwife in Ipswich for many years. Oliver drowned in the Bremer River.

John William Bleakley, eldest son of John Close and Caroline became the Chief Protector of Aborigines (later named the Director of Native Affairs) in Queensland from 1914 to 1942. He was one of the architects of what became known, much later, as the Commonwealth of Australia's "stolen generation" policy for the aboriginal children. In reality he had a profound personal knowledge, deep love of, and very high regard for the aboriginal people, their tribal customs and their lore - as is clear in his book that was published by the family after his death in Nundah, Brisbane on 4 March 1957 titled 'The Aborigines of Australia: John William Bleakley', Jacaranda Press, 1961.

He feared for their future against 'the white invaders' (his term). In particular, his concern was for the welfare of the 'half-castes, quadroons etc; to use the terms used in those days, who were being rejected by the tribe of the mother whilst the white father had 'moved on'. The mother would go 'walkabout' with her tribe, leaving the child to wander the streets of far North Queensland unattended. The mother would often reclaim the child when she returned, only to do it all again. John William's family saw plenty of that first-hand when they were living in far North Queensland. Indeed, they took a few such children into their own home, a couple of whom stayed, and grew up with the family when they moved to Brisbane.