Great Drovers

CUE A Thriving Town 1943 Western Mail CUE IN 1896

The streets of Cue were packed with men, and I ascertained that they were waiting for the eastern mail. The post office officials sorted and delivered the mail, finishing up at midnight. I soon got to know everybody in Cue and the district, and now want to bring all the old names and places back to life that I can remember.

Cue had a lot of streets, but the main street was called Austin-street. The banks, post office, warden court, police station, were all in Austin-street. I will endeavour to recall some of the names after all these years. The chief banks were: WA Bank, Greager (manager), Hawkins (teller); Union Bank, Clifton (manager), Griffith's and Williams (tellers); Australasian Bank, Scott (manager), Henderson (teller).

Well-known hotels were: Metropole (Geo. Payze). Murchison Inn (Geo. Stanbrook) Commercial (Jas. McIven) ; Roscommon (Jas. MacManaway), Cue (Jas. Marks); Crown (Tom Williams), Great Britain (Con O'Brien), Old Spot Inn (Tom Tweedie), The Shy-poo (Count Pallenberg), Hop Beer (Jack Pears).

The Club Hotel was being built, and later was opened by Mick Daly. Most of the hotels were wood and iron, except the Crown and Metropole (the Metropole seemed seemed to be built of quartz stone). The cuisine was good considering that most of the stuff came out of tins. There were 2 things I could not stand, tinned spuds and minced scollops. They always twisted my stomach like prunes and rice.

The Cue Brewery was run by W. J. Phillipson, an 18-stoner, who mostly drove around in a sulky. His off sider was Newton. Harry Marshall opened the Excelsior Brewery later on; Marshall also had an aerated water factory; the other factory was run by Billy Hynes.

The facade of the Church of England was nice quartz stone showing plenty of colour (I wonder if anybody has taken samples after all these years).

Prominent Citizens.
Murchison Chambers had offices locating mining experts, promoters and local offices for Bewing, Moreing and Co, Alex Matheson and Co. Some of the local residents were C. H. Wood, H. L. Reid, J. S. MacSear, C. St Quention. H. C. Hoover was there also for a while, maybe it helped him to Presidency. The local newspaper, the "Murchison Times," was run by Jas Thompson (Truthful James). On his staff were Dan Colgon, Frank Galwey, Wally Chant, Jack and George Mills and Raun. The reporter was Hirst. Hirst was a massive man, weighed approximately six stone and measured five feet (boots and all). When a round of drinks was on they always sat Hirst on the bar counter in case he was overlooked. Dan Colgan started the "Murchison Advocate" and Mills the "Day Dawn Chronicle" later on.

The police force consisted of Inspector Drewery, Constables Walker, Spedding Smith and James Strapp. Jim Strapp is still on deck at the Supreme Court. Warden Dowley had Hargon, Wilcox, Jacob, Lang and Mick Outtrim on his staff. A. Crockyard, A. Reed and Fred Cairns ran the water supply, and the post office was staffed by Postmaster Tom Brass, Andy Martill, Harry Jermon, "Barney" Conlon. Will Cantelo and Lineman Ted Beckwith. All the government staffs increased and va-ried as time went on.

Ships of the Desert.
Jaques MacIntosh and Manford, Timperley, Gale and Co ran for-warding agencies, and Faiz and Tagh Mahomet had a big store known as "Camel Store." The local managers were Durbridge and Wil- liams.

ROY HILL TO CUE.

Drover Wattie Pierce, who has just come over the Roy Hill - Cue track with cattle thus reports to the Murchison Times < br /> From Roy Hill to
No. 15 well (17 miles distance), there is a good supply.
No. 14 well (16 miles) there is a supply sufficient to water BOO cattl
No. 13 (24 miles) no supply, and a well is badly needed between these two wells.
No. 12 (12 miles) the supply is good, and at
No. 11 (15 miles further on) the well is 00ft deep but the supply is poor.
No. 10A (17 miles) and No. 10 (17 miles), the former wants more storage and the latter has no gear on the welland gives a poor supply.
No 9 (16 miles) is good, but at
No. 8 (15 miles) the water is unfit for stock or man, the troughs are all broken, and the well in a bad state. At
No. 7 (17 miles) and
No. 6 (17 miles) the supply at both is good, but the troughing is eaten away and practically useless.
No. 5 (16 miles) the supply wants strengthening.
No. 5A (Bald Hill) to No. 5B the distance is 38 miles and no water between these stages. A bore was at some time put down near Jibbon Pool, about midway between the two wells, but the well was only put down to 20 ft. and left unfinished. This well should be suuk further to split this dry stage. Jibbon Pool is dry. From
No. 5B to No. 4 is 17 miles and to
No. 3 18 miles,
No. 2 16 miles,
No. 1 14 miles.
All these wells are in bad order and considered too far apart. From No. 1 well to Bullon Pool is a 16 mile stage. From here to the first well is 14 miles and described by drovers as a trap to them. To the next well, 35 miles nearer Meekatharra, the supply is stated to be worse than the preceding well. The third well gives a good supply and is 90ft deep. That is practically another 29 mile dry stage. From the last mentioned well there is no stock well for 34 miles, and drovers have to depend on squatters for the water they require. From No. 1 to Cue is 26 miles and there is no stock well.
It might be mentioned here that the Water Supply Department have secured Moreton's well (about 3 miles out of Cue) for stock watering purposes. This will be a great benefit to stockmen, as the stock can be held in the locality until trucking.