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Fairfield George and Samuel Grimes from Leicestershire, England, came to the Moreton Bay settlement under John Dunmore Lang's immigration scheme in 1849. These brothers farmed first at Kurilpa and then on a property they called Fairfield. From this farmland there eventually developed the suburb of that name. They grew and milled sugar, and grew and marketed arrowroot. In 1885 they bought Hope Island in the Coomera River. Both were prominent Baptist laymen, members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and active in public affairs. Fassifern John Cameron named his run Fassifern after his family's home in Scotland. An inn opened at the junction of Reynolds and Warrill Creeks in 1845, but the 1856 survey for a town came to nothing. Fassifern has been retained as the name for the district rather than for any township. Fassifern, or as it is shown on maps today, Fassfern, was the site for an important battle in Scottish history. This was when Bonnie Prince Charlie tried to rouse support for himself in 1745. It has long been associated with the Camerons. Felton Arthur Hodgson sold part of his run known as Drummer's Camp or Peel's Plains (named by Alan Cunningham) to Captain Mallard and it was given the name of Felton. Fernberg Since 1910 Fernberg has been the name of the residence for Queensland Governors. Sir William McGregor was the first governor to live there. But the house is testimony to the hardworking German settlers who did much for the development of South East Queensland. Johann Christian Huessler, originally from Frankfurt in Germany, arrived in Brisbane at the age of 34 and became a successful merchant and sugar grower. In time he became the German Consul and organized the migration of German farmers to Queensland. He built his house in a forest where it was accessible only by way of a steep track which ran up from Milton. When he had to sell the property in 1872 due to financial difficulties, it was purchased by John Stevenson, a grazier who was a member of the Queensland Parliament. Fernvale The Fernvale name was first used of stores near Stinking Gully in 1870, but the area on the north side of the gully was locally known as Harrisborough after the owners of the land there, John and George Harris. With other places being named after the Harris brothers the name of Fernvale was chosen as the official name for the telegraph and post offices and the name of the gully was eventually changed to Ferny Gully. It seems that the prolific growth of ferns in the gully gave the inspiration for these names. Ferny Grove For many years the area was called Ferny Flats. It was the coming of the railway in 1916 or so which brought the Ferny Grove name. Ferny Hills Ferny was a popular name used by settlers in the 1870s for several places around Cedar Creek and Kedron Brook. Doubtlessly this reflected the presence of a major flora species in the area. The name Ferny Hills was officially gazetted, 1 August, 1972. Fig Tree Pocket If you thought that Fig Tree Pocket received its name from its being a river pocket upon which there once grew a large number of fig trees, you would be right. Finnie John Finnie, a local settler, has given his name to this area of the Darling Downs. Fisherman Island Those on board the Norfolk with Matthew Flinders saw what they thought was a long war canoe being paddled by Aboriginal warriors and prepared for a confrontation, but when they got closer they discovered that the line of men were standing on a water-covered mud flat and their rhythmic beating of the water with sticks was their way of driving fish into a net. With this incident in mind, Flinders marked a nearby island on his chart Fisherman Island. Fitzgibbon Abram F. Fitzgibbon was an Irish-born engineer who became Chief Engineer and then the First Commissioner for Railways in Queensland (1863-64). He was the person responsible for the three foot six inch gauge being adopted in this state. Flaxton The first settler was Joseph Chapman Dixon (1882). He was followed shortly after by Christopher Wyer who built and named his house after Flaxton Hall Farm in the Fen country of England. He became the first mail contractor in the district with the route ending up at his farm, so the service was known as the Flaxton service. The name then came to be used of the district. Place Names of South East Queensland home page
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