By: Rodney Nancarrow18th Aug 2025 11:34PMThe four passengers aboard the schooner Independence were Henry Blakesley Snr aged 45, his wife Caroline Blakesley nee Twamley aged 59, their daughter Caroline Elizabeth Blakesley aged 26 and Henry Blakesley Jnr aged 25. The family arrived in Noosa with a plan to set up a timber company.
Henry Jnr remained in the Noosa district until about 1876. He held three blocks of land in the Tewantin township, as well as a 315 acre selection on the western shore of Lake Cootharaba. During his time in Tewantin, Henry took an aboriginal partner who went by the name Sydney Wrathermann. Henry and Sydney had a Noosa born child, Violet Ingleby Blakesley born 1867. Henry fathered two other children in Noosa, Cora and Frederick Blakesley, but it is uncertain if their mother was Sydney or another aboriginal woman. In 1876 he became Captain Henry Blakesley and turned his attention to the beche-de-mer fisheries (sea cucumbers) of the northern reefs of Queensland and New Guinea.
Henry Snr and his wife Caroline took up a selection on the Mooloolah River and were involved in timber getting in that district. They were joined on the selection by Caroline Jnr who had married a timber worker, Thomas Collins in January 1867. In 1869 Caroline Jnr and her newborn twins all died during childbirth. Henry Snr buried all three beside their hut on the bank of the Mooloolah River.