My grandfather William Stitt Martin migrated from Northern Ireland to Brisbane Queensland at the age of twenty one in 1866, he had just completed his apprenticeship as a master mariner and decided that he would leave the sea and follow his family's tradition, farming. His ancestors for many generations were landowners and gentleman farmers in County Down between Ballynahinch and Belfast.

In 1870 he purchased approximately one thousand acres of land in Burpengary Queensland. On one section he cleared the land, fenced, and built a home and planted a crop. at this stage in 1874 he returned to Ireland to make arrangements to bring his bride to be to Australia and sell his land holdings in County Down. His bride to be Annabella Crichton [my grandmother] arrived in Brisbane August 25 1875 and they were married three days later and took up residence on the farm at Burpengary.

Children born were,William Edmond James 25/7/1877, Catherine 27/3/1880, Victoria 6/9/1882, one male child still born no name registered, buried on farm 1884, Jocelyn Roden 3/6/1886, Mary flavelle 21/2/1888, James 3/9/1890 [my father].

In 1885 my grandfather sold his first farm section of fifty acres to the Webster family of Brisbane, and moved to another section of his holdings on Burpengary Creek, where he built another homestead. later he purchased another section of land at Alfred Street Woody Point Redcliffe [then Humpy Bong] around 1890 and built a guest house "LORNELEIGH' about 1898 to cater for tourists arriving from Brisbane by paddle wheel steamer. William Stitt Martin died 31/8/1907 at the age of 58 and his wife Annabella passed away 5/8/1911 at the age of 61 and both buried in the Redcliffe Cemetery. The family sold the guest house and the remaining properties in Burpengary in 1917.

I am now attempting to trace the families of my aunt's and uncle's children to finish this story of another Australian pioneering family. This is not the end but the beginning I hope, to a never ending story.