beard

MR. EDMUND BIGNELL. This gentleman, one of our pastoral pioneers who have made the western wastelands of the colony teem with productive- ness, if not blossom like the rose, took up country in the Warrego district about thirty years ago, the greater portion of which the period he owned Widgeegoara station, between Cunnamulla and the New South Wales border. Here he displayed much enterprise and energy in improvements, both in country and stock. He was the first to introduce a boring plant into that part of the colony. About 15 years ago boring for surface water was carried out with much success on Widgeegoara, and more recently several fine flows of artesian water have been struck. Mr. Bignell was a constant attendant at the big sheep sales in Sydney, where he purchased largely the best merino blood obtainable, with the result that the Widgeegoara clip has been wonderfully improved. Immediately on the passing of the Land-grant Railways Act last year, Mr. Bignell exerted himself to form a syndicate to construct the proposed line from Charleville to Cunnamulla, and as the lands available for the purpose were extremely limited, most of the country being locked up in leases, his idea was that the lessees should form the syndicate and surrender the required area of land. The determination of the present Government not to proceed with any lines adjacent, to which there is no sufficiency of land open, blocked the project, otherwise, judging from the projector's enterprise and energy in other directions, there is no doubt it would have been brought to a successful issue, in which case the cause for such measures as the Railway Bolder Tax would have been largely, if not wholly, done away with. Mr. Bignell, who was respected and esteemed, no less by his servants than his neighbors, died on the 23rd of last month. Source: 10 Jul 1893, Darling Dawons Gazette trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/171208328?searchTerm=%...

Probably
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium
"Leopold II[a] (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.

Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Leopold I and Queen Louise, Leopold succeeded his father to the Belgian throne in 1865 and reigned for 44 years until his death, the longest reign of a Belgian monarch to date."

Evil man.

Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga yes indeed!

John and Ann Collins settled at Mundoolun in a slab hut in 1846. The couple had five children. The family went on to own Tamrookum, Rathdownie, and Nindooinba. Sons Robert and William later formed the North Australian Pastoral Company in the Northern Territory. A world tour by the brothers led to their interest in the preservation of national parks. Robert later became the Independent Member for Albert in the Queensland Legislative Assembly and Queensland branch president of the Royal Geographic Society in an effort to further his dream of establishing national parks. He did not live to see the proclamation of the Lamington National park in 1915, which he and Romeo Lahey had worked towards. John Collins died in August 1898 and Ann in January 1901. The family then commissioned the design and construction of a church in honor of their parents. John Buckeridge who was the official Diocesan Architect of Brisbane designed the church. Construction was supervised by Robin Dodds, who designed another important local church, All Saints at Tamrookum, for his son Robert Martin Collins in 1915. St Johns was completed in 1901 as a memorial to John and Ann Collins. It is one of a few privately owned chapels in Queensland. The church and the adjoining cemetery are both on the State Heritage Register. The remains of John Allen are held in the Mundoolun Cemetery. He is otherwise known as Bullum and is best remembered for the work he undertook in documenting the language of the Wangerriburra tribe. Source: professionalsjimboomba.com.au/2012/09/the-history-of-mund...