Ernest George Beck Elphinston Dalrymple
foundHeadstones #newPhoto #symbology #headstoneStory
ca. 1820 — 4 November 1844
Ernest George Beck Elphinston Dalrymple (Toowong Cemetery Symbology Display)
Headstone
Fragments of Ernest George Beck Elphinston Dalrymple's headstone discovered in a Toowong Cemetery Archaeological Dig in 2014 (Top) and 2023
- Erected: North Brisbane Burial Grounds, Episcopalian section. After 4 November 1844
- Moved to: North Brisbane Burial Grounds, Reserved Area. ca. 1914. Recorded as Ernest Elphinstone Dalrymple
- Demolished and disposed of in: Toowong Cemetery, Portion 29A. ca. 1930
- Discovered: Toowong Cemetery, Portion 29A near Section 72. ca. May 2014 and 2023
- Moved to: Toowong Cemetery Symbolism Display. ca. 2016
Inscription
Sacred
to the memory of
Ernest Elphinston Dalrymple
sixth son of
Elph…
Died 4…
A…
Note the inscription mentioned in the ECHOES OF THE PAST article below.
Sacred to the memory of Ernest Elphinstone Dalrymple, sixth son of Sir Robert Dalrymple, Horn Elphinstone, Bart, who departed this life November 4, 1844, aged 24 years.
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Death registration: Ernest George Beck Elphinston Dalrymple
Death date: 04/11/1844
Mother's name: - Buried 08/11/1844
Father/parent's name: -
Registration details: 1854/BBU/67
DEATH.
At Brisbane, Moreton Bay, on the 4th instant, in the 25th year of his age, Ernest, sixth son of Sir Robert Dalrymple Horn Elphinstone, Bart., of Horn and Logie Elphinstone, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
ECHOES OF THE PAST
A NOTABLE PIONEER
(By "Gooragooby," Dalveen.)
Some two years hence—1940—a worthy occasion presents the Darling Downs with an opportunity of attracting all Australia's attention, when the proposed project for commemorating the centenary of the first free land settlement in what is now Queensland, and the foundation of its pastoral industry, may be brought to a complete consummation.
The late Mr. Thos. Hall, in his "Early History of Warwick, etc.," announces that a smart officer named Ernest Elphinstone Dalrymple, on furlough from a Highland regiment stationed in India, paid a visit to his ancestral home in Aberdeen, Scotland, in the late thirties. He had travelled all over India, Ceylon, and North America, and was a brilliant platform speaker, having the happy way of attracting and holding an audience. During his son's visit Sir Robert Horn Elphinstone Dalrymple gave a social to his tenantry so that they could meet the visitor, whom many of them had known in his youthful days. Ernest had now developed into the thoughtful, campaign-scarred man, and as he had always been a keen observer the social was to be made doubly attractive, because he was to make the speech of the evening. After touching in an interesting way about the East, also on the slave conditions of North America, foretelling the Civil War which afterwards convulsed the United States, he alluded to Allan Cunningham's exploration of the Darling Downs. In a fascinating speech he pointed out the many opportunities the people had of improving their prospects in life by going to the new colonies, and much to the surprise of his father and the audience, announced his intention of selling his commission, forming a party of Aberdonians, and making his way to the Darling Downs, in Australia. What tremendous after effects this speech had! ... With the public mind interested Ernest Dalrymple had no trouble in quickly forming a party of ten young fellows, in which Dalrymple was placed in charge. Some of the members were Patrick and George Leslie, George and John Gammie, George McAdam, and James Fletcher—early pioneers of the Downs, every one of them."
Ernest Dalrymple was the moving spirit in settlement on the Darling Downs, or to be more precise he was the inspirer of it all. He was second to Pat Leslie in the earliest arrivals, being in charge of Leslie's cattle as well as his own. In July, 1840, he made North Talgai his headquarters, and shortly Goomburra another of the out-stations of the original Canning Downs passed from the Leslies to Dalrymple, after whom the creek on which Allora now stands was named. Dalrymple sold it to the Aberdeen Company, for whom John Deuchar managed in the early forties. Elphinstone, a rail siding three miles on the Warwick side of Clifton, was named after one of Dalrymple's Christian names. It was to Jubb who, in the forties and fifties, kept a hostelry on the eastern fall of the Main Range, that Dalrymple complained, "that Providence had in his case omitted the one great blessing of all—namely, health."
He was not spared long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labour, passing away at Brisbane on November, 4, 1844, at the age of 24 years. From this it would appear he was only 18 years of age when he prevailed on a number of Aberdonians to throw in their lot with him, and try their fortunes in Australia. The men of his day, so history affirms, maintained that his early death was a tragedy, and a severe blow to the Darling Downs, for he possessed judgment and mental balance far beyond his years.
Of the burials recorded in the Moreton Bay (later Brisbane) Anglican Church's register No. 6 was that of Ernest George Beck Elphinstone Dalrymple. He was buried in the old cemetery at Milton, where his grave was to be seen 50 years later at least. It was in a reserved portion, and for many years was not disturbed by subsequent attention by the sextons. In the memorials of the dead, preserved in the Brisbane Cathedral (St. John the Evangelists' Church), the first in point of time is a black marble tablet with a white border, the work of Patten, a Sydney monumental mason, and bears the following inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Ernest Elphinstone Dalrymple, sixth son of Sir Robert Dalrymple, Horn Elphinstone, Bart, who departed this life November 4, 1844, aged 24 years."