holding

"Known as ‘Dr Tim’, O’Leary was a highly competent doctor, especially skilled in obstetrics. He empathised with his patients, who appreciated his sense of humour as well as his diligence in caring for them. Red-headed and voluble, he had a fiery temper that upset some people. He was keen on horses and riding and at one time held an amateur jockey’s licence. Survived by his wife and their daughter and three sons, he died of chronic lymphatic leukaemia on 20 July 1987 at Runaway Bay and was buried in Allambie Garden of Memories cemetery, Nerang. Two memoirs, North and Aloft and Western Wings of Care, edited by John Pearn and Graham Anderson, were published in 1988." Source: adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oleary-timothy-joseph-tim-15407

The horses seem to be watching in sympathy.

Was Yasi the most severe cyclone ever to cross the Queensland coast? Maybe not. Striking the Cape York coast on 4 March 1899, Cyclone Mahina is still regarded as Australia’s worst natural disaster since European settlement, with the loss of over 400 lives and dozens of ships. Clement Wragge, the subject of a previous Fossickings post, identified and named this terrifying storm but tragically his warnings were transmitted after the event. With a central pressure of 27 inches (914Mb) compared with Yasi’s 930Mb, Mahina was even more intense than her modern cousin. Moreover, the cyclone generated a combined storm surge and “wave run-up” of at least 13 metres, spreading 5km inland and causing many Aboriginal deaths. A police constable at Barrow Point, 30 km to the south, found himself and his Aboriginal troopers in waist-deep water despite being camped on a ridge 12 metres above sea level. Mahina destroyed several pearling fleets, operating out of Thursday Island, which had taken last minute shelter in Bathurst Bay, only to find this was in Mahina’s direct path. Of more than 320 souls lost from the pearling fleets, the vast majority were from the Pacific or Torres Strait Islands, Japan or South-East Asia. Most of the Aboriginal deaths occurred on land, or indeed as they desperately tried to rescue the stricken pearlers. Only 12 European deaths were recorded. One of the real treasures in Special Collections must surely be the contemporary account, “The Pearling Disaster 1899: A Memorial”, published by the Outridge family who lost two members aboard the schooner “Sagitta”. The National Library of Australia is currently providing access to a digital copy of this book. Hector Holthouse devotes a chapter of his 1971 book “Cyclone” to Mahina, while Ian Townsend’s gripping 2008 novel, “The Devil’s Eye” is based on events surrounding the storm and lists the names of nearly all the non-European victims. All titles are held in the North Queensland collection. Source: jculibrarynews.blogspot.com/2012/12/special-collections-f...

In the book "The Pearl King" by Robert Lehane 2014. is the same photograph with description: " Donning diving dress Arthur Outridge- father of Harold and brother Alfred, both lost with the schooner Sagitta in the cyclone also brother of Percy with Captain W.F. Porter (holding a helmet) of Crest as the Wave from Pearling disaster, 1899 memorial.

Many Chinese migrating to Australia in the 1800s came from rural backgrounds and brought with them agriculture and water management skills. As a result, considerable numbers of immigrants later took up market gardening and wider vegetable and fruit production. This was one of the few industries where little competition, and hence little friction, existed with European workers. From the second half of the nineteenth century, Chinese market gardens became a mainstay of the urban food supply and were found in most cities and towns. Most gardens were leased by groups of five to 10 people, allowing individuals to visit China for a year or two at intervals without closing the garden. After 1878, many Chinese left Queensland’s Palmer goldfield and moved to the nearby ports of Cooktown, Port Douglas, Cairns and Geraldton (later Innisfail), where they established tropical agricultural industries. Chinese farmers cleared Atherton Tableland rainforest to grow maize,and the Hop Wah Company founded the Cairns sugar industry in 1881. Others cleared scrub along the hot, wet, coastal plain to grow sugar cane, bananas, pineapples and mangoes throughout the 1880s. They established an industry that today supplies Australia’s major cities with tropical fruit. Source: laperousemarketgardens.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/tracki...