What was life like for William & Sarah Laws in Brisbane?

After arriving from England in 1868 they must have found life here so much different from their life on the Isle of Wight and Gosport in Hampshire.

Where they would have completed the formalities  (6)

Helen Butler kindly provided the following:
On 14 May 1868, William Laws and family landed in Brisbane  from the" Bayswater". William had paid for the passages out. So under the Land Act of 1868 he was entitled to select land for a farm, free of charge but with conditions attached.
On 18 May 1868, he obtained 76 acres at Brookfield.  This was Portion 183 Parish of Stanley,County of Mogill, District of East Moreton. It was named also Selection (or Homestead) Number 49. It was classified as Agricultural land.
By 1 May 1873, the conditions of residence and improvement were fulfilled.
On that exact date, William  obtained a statement that this was true from a neighbour, Charles Gregory, and another. The improvements were stated as 12 acres cleared and cultivated, and residence and outhouse built. So now William owned 76 acres of Freehold Land, no more conditions about it .  He could go and live somewhere else. He could rent the farm out.  He could even sell the land.

As the family has  a work reference from the Blue Mountain  tin mining company  that was in Stanthorpe dated 1873 he was obviously leaving Sarah to look after the family while he worked.

Being a ship builder no doubt William was a handy house builder too.  From looking at the 76 acres in Brookfield today it was not a very flat block so it looks like there was only a small flattish area next to Moggill Creek that would have been suitable for the house. Life would have been tough for the young family. The following story from  the newspaper  gives a glimpse of life then. (1 )
Brookfield. August 9 1875.
SINCE my last,  we have been favored with the kind of weather that maketh glad the hearts of the farmers, and as a consequence they are pushing forward the planting of their spring crop of potatoes, and at the same time reaping a plentiful crop of maize. The great difficulty with which we have to contend in this district is the fearful state of the roads by which we have to take our produce to the metropolis; and from the present appearance of the road estimates we are likely to remain in that predicament for some time to come—the total amount placed thereon for the various roads from Brisbane to Moggill, Brook field, and Wivenhoe, being some £260. Some time ago a meeting of the inhabitants of the left hand branch of the creek was convened, and a deputation appointed to wait on the Minister for Works, the result being that Captain Whish was sent out to report thereon, and I believe a promise given that some £200 would be placed on the estimates for the repair of that portion; not before it was needed, for that branch of the road is utterly impassable; but if £200, out of £250, is to be spent on this portion of the road, what becomes of the right hand branch of the creek, which has an equal claim, and which is in a worse state than the former, "if that were possible!" And what become of the various by-roads to other parts of the district ? As an instance of the extreme hardship I will just relate a fact for which I can vouch, of the difficulty of taking one load of maize to Brisbane. The owner yoked a team of bullocks and loaded a four-wheeled waggon with 100 bushels, or 60 cwt. From his barn to Brisbane is a distance of fifteen miles ; the first day he had to unload and reload twice ; the second day he capsized the whole concern twice, and had to unload once— thus necessitating the loading of 100 bushels of corn six times, and taking three days to reach Brisbane. If this is not enough to make a man forswear farming I don't know what is ; and the sooner there is a little of the money that is thrown away on ornamental works spent on the roads, where it would be of some use to the bona fide settler, the better for the colony. A public meeting was held on the 4th instant, to take into consideration a letter that had been received from the Board of Education, stating that if the attendance of children was not increased they would close the school for a time. A goodly number of the parents resident in the neighborhood attended, and the most of them had what they considered a serious grievance against the present master—a too liberal supply of the birch being the prevalent epidemic. If a really good master did find bis way to Brookfield the attendance of children, I have no doubt, could be easily increased to 50 or 60. A resolution was passed to the effect that a communication be sent to the Board that the parents will use their utmost endeavors to increase and keep up to the standard the attendance at the school. At the same meeting a vote of thanks was awarded to Mr. W. Laws, for his kindness in receiving and despatching letters by bag without remuneration of any kind. It is rather a strange thing that notwithstanding the fact that the population is some 200 we are yet without a post office. There has been a good deal of sickness prevalent during the last few weeks, and quite a chapter of accidents. One young man was thrown from his horse, falling across a log ; his life was despaired of for some time, but he is now in a fair way towards recovery. Another, a son of Mr. Bumblecomb, received a severe kick on the leg from one of his father's draft horses. Our penny readings are in full swing, and make up a very pleasant evening.

As William was a contractor he was often away. He was contracting to Mr Basford on railways, building lighthouses near Cooktown and was away often according to an affadavit he gave for Clements Tonic in 1902 that appeared in the Brisbane Courier. (2)
FIFTEEN YEARS OF FEVER & AGUE.
A Remarkable Narrative,
The Case of Mr. W. F. LAWS.
(BY A LOCAL REPORTER.)
It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and in the matter under notice below it will be found that, though the ill wind had been raging for a great length of time, still, it was succeeded by a serene and peaceful calm, and the good results to be acquired from the adverse experiences of Mr. William Frank Laws, of Bayne-street, South Brisbane, will be readily understood by those who read his remarks.
"Being a railway and bridges contractor," said Mr. Laws to our reporter, " I have had to forego many of the pleasures and comforts of life in order to pay strict attention to my business, and, of course, you know that we do not always build bridges and railways within such easy distances from home that make it convenient to go backward and forward for meals. On the contrary, a contractor in my line spends a great portion of his life under canvas, and I have had a fair share of it for I have been camping out of doors doing contract work on railways for about twenty years."
"A very healthy way of living," suggested the reporter, who gauged his opinion on the robust appearance of the gentleman he was addressing.
"Sometimes," replied Mr. Laws. "It all depends upon what part of the world you are located in. ' I have had a good deal of sickness in my time through working in unhealthy parts, yet now look so well that people can scarcely credit that I have seen seventy-two birthdays; but it is a fact, nevertheless, and I was very ill once with congestion of the liver, and, afterwards I suffered from fever and ague for fifteen years. '
" Your recovery from those complaints has evidently been remarkably complete," rejoined the interrogator. "How do you account for it ?"
"Well, when I had congestion of the liver I made the. acquaintance, of Clements Tonic, and it did me the world of good. I soon got all right again ; but after my long bout with fever and ague I was left in a frightfully debilitated, condition. I turned away from the sight of food, my appetite being so bad, and a most disagreeable taste was in my mouth. Of course I had to take a little nourishment of some kind to keep myself from collapsing altogether, but I always felt uncomfortable after it, with a sinking feeling in the stomach. I was so weak that I could hardly walk about, and my body was very deficient in flesh, besides which my nerves were completely shattered, there was no life or energy in me, for I always wanted to be lying down, and frequently I went to bed tor two or three days at a stretch; but even then I did not feel contented, as I was never otherwise than restless, the sleep I got being very sparse and unrefreshing, for I could not get rid of a distressing languid feeling no matter how long I laid up. My loss of strength was so pronounced that there did not seem to be sufficient resisting force within me to cause a pain, and my doctors could not understand why it was that I had no specific tortures to indure. They used to ask if I felt pain anywhere, and when I told them I did not they were perfectly astonished.' "My con-dition was probably all the more serious because there was no pain, because it showed how utterly run down and exhausted my system was, and this reflection made me lowspirited to a marked degree. The medicines which my doctors prescribed did not help me along at all well, so I fell back on my old friend, Clements Tonic, and then I effected a rapid recovery. As a stimulating medicine for the nervous system I consider Clements Tonic is pre-eminent, and it un-doubtedly made me sleep well, besides giving me a grand appetite and putting my digestive organs properly to work. All feelings of discomfort and fatigue were left in the lurch after I had taken a few bottles of Clements Tonic, and the strength I gathered from that medicine was really wonderful. My whole system was invigorated, and before long I was in the best of health, and felt like a man with an entirely new constitution." 
'.' You don't mind me reporting your remarks ""Not at all. I owe my health and strength to Clements Tonic, so publish what I say "
In 1880 perhaps they ventured to the city and climbed the Observation Tower( Now the Tower Mill) to see the view to the East (3)

From the Observation Tower  looking East 1880

or to the West (4)

From the Oservation Tower looking West 1880

They experienced the 1893 floods and it is a family story that William won the contract to refloat the 3 ships grounded at the Botanic Gardens  in the first flood but the second flood 2 weeks later refloated them. Supposedly he still got paid but I have never been able to find proof of this.

People inspecting the ships aground at the Botanic Gardens

( 7)

Over time maybe they saw funeral carriages such as these. (5)

1892 Funeral carriage  J.Hislop 

1910 J Hislop funeral hearse

1916 J Hislop funeral carriage
 South Brisbane Cemetery

South Brisbane Cemetery 1910

Then they were both buried in the South Brisbane Cemetery- William in 1911 and Sarah in 1916

What a different life they had  but built the foundations for the family today.

(1)
"Our Country Correspondence," The Queenslander, 28/8/1875, p. 6; digital images, National Library Australia (http://trove.nla.gov.au).

(2) 1902 'FIFTEEN YEARS OF Fever & Ague.', The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), 19 February, p. 11. , viewed 23 Jul 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19138276
(3) State Library of Queensland
(4) State Library of Queensland
(5) State Library of Queensland
(6) State Library of Queensland
(7) State Library of Queensland