Chapter 6.3

Cecilia Jessie Mosman/Lady Palmer 1844-1885
Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer 1819-1898

Cecilia Mosman/Lady Palmer 
(c. State Library of Queensland)
Cecilia was born at Burrowel in 1844. While she was raised by Archibald and Harriet Mosman her biological mother was Harriet’s cousin Charlotte Farquharson (see Chapter 4.1).  

After Archibald and Harriet married in 1847 her family moved to Bank Cottage in Armidale to be closer to Archibald’s property at Glenn Innes. It would have been a crowded house as with her two brothers there were soon nine young children in the Cottage. Fortunately the Cottage had many rooms and large grounds for the children to play in. 

While her brothers were sent to boarding school at The King’s School in Parramatta Cecilia and her younger sister Harriet Ann were educated at the Cottage by governesses. 
 
Cecilia wouldn’t know that in 1862, when she was 17, her biological mother Charlotte died of tuberculosis. Unfortunately she was to succumb to the same disease several years later. 
 
Also in 1862 Archibald moved the family to Byron Lodge, Randwick, Sydney where his youngest daughter, Alice Eliza, was born about a year later. Sadly Archibald died 5 months later. Harriet was left with several young children. Less than a year after Archibald’s death she moved her young family to Annan Grove Cottage, Petersham, Sydney 
 
When she was 18, Celecia became engaged to Arthur Hunter Palmer, grazier, and upcoming businessman and politician. They married when she was 20 and he was 45. She would have needed her mother’s consent for both the engagement and the marriage. Her late father’s prior consent can be assumed. 
 
So how did they meet and how did she get parental approval for a marriage of such different generations? Was it an arranged marriage as in those days family, business, and politics were intertwined?
 
Archibald had known Arthur Hunter Palmer well when he was manager of the nearby New England properties of Henry Dangar and they had business contacts. In 1847 Arthur had helped Archibald with his marriage settlement trust. So there was plenty of opportunity for Archibald to introduce Celecia to Arthur Palmer or for them to meet socially. 
Arthur Palmer 
Cecilia and Arthur were married from Annan Grove Cottage, Petersham, Sydney in June 1865. Their first child was born at the Cottage 11 months later. We don’t know if the newlyweds lived at the cottage during that time or if Cecilia moved back with her mother for the birth while Arthur was elsewhere. 
Heritage listed “Oakwal”, Windsor, Brisbane 
(c. Wikipedia)
Later in Brisbane, Arthur established his growing family in “Oakwal”, a large house on 41 acres at Windsor, Brisbane, which he had leased from Chief Justice Sir James Cockle for £250 pa while Cockle was overseas. 

Despite the large age difference the marriage seems to have been a success and they had six children, three boys and three girls, who survived their early years. In those days political wives kept in the background so little is known of Cecilia 's life except her growing family. A contemporary commentator said that she was “slight, dark, and very reserved, yet her intimates spoke of her always as a very sweet woman."

Arthur Hunter Palmer was born in Armagh, Ireland, the son of Lieutenant Arthur Palmer RN. He had the privileged education of an English upper class family in Ireland and moved to Australia in 1838 as an unassisted migrant. 
Arthur Hunter Palmer
He started work as a jackaroo but very soon became manager of one of the large New England pastoral holdings of Henry Dangar. He was later entrusted with the care of all of his properties and affairs while Dangar and his wife visited England in 1852.
 
Arthur was not a stranger to prior romantic entanglements at a mature age. In 1857 at age 38 he eloped with his employer’s daughter Margaret Dangar aged 24. They were quickly hunted down and she was “returned inconsolable, in disgrace & untouched” to her family who shut her in her bedroom and had the windows bricked up! Despite this Arthur continued to work with Dangar until the end of his employment contract. 
 
He became a Queensland grazier when he purchased a 100 square mile property near Emerald. In 1866 he entered Queensland politics and between 1867 and 1870 held various portfolios. From May 1870 to January 1874 he was Premier of Queensland. He was the first Lieutenant Governor of Queensland from November 1895 to April 1896. 
Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer 
He was a capable and conscientious administrator, and gave Queensland many years of devoted service. A contemporary thought “He was masterful, quick to wrath, easily appeased, and those who knew him best said he had a heart of gold.”  Another considered that “No man was more familiarly known in politics, and his blunt, brusque way came to be regarded as a matter of course."
 
During his time in politics he continued to be financially active and was involved in various and sometimes controversial schemes, some involving Thomas McIlraith, who had become his brother in law when he had married Harriet Mosman, Cecilia’s younger sister. In many ways Palmer and McIlraith had similar personalities and business and political careers. 
Arthur was embroiled in the controversy affecting his administration of the Queensland National Bank in the early 1880’s and his close financial relationship with Sir Thomas McIlraith. At that time a public comment was made “These gentlemen are the most pronounced politicians of the most offensive and belligerent type ever known or experienced in our comparatively small community…. They are offensive politicians of the purest water.”

While a Parliamentary inquiry exonerated Palmer, it had a very serious impact on McIlraith’s life who probably moved his family to live in London to avoid having to answer in person to the inquiry. 

In 1881 Arthur was knighted and the girl from Armidale became Lady Cecilia Hunter Palmer. Not bad for a girl from Armidale. 
 
Cecilia contracted tuberculosis and after an illness of two years she died at Oakwal in 1885 at age 40 after 20 years of marriage. It is sad and perhaps ironic that this disease that didn’t differentiate between rich and poor had also taken her biological mother over 20 years previously. 

Cecilia was held in such regard that when she died flags on Queensland public buildings and ships in Brisbane harbour flew at half mast. Her funeral procession was half a mile long and was reported to have included about forty private carriages conveying prominent citizens including the Governor. Businesses on the route were closed.  Again not bad for a girl from Armidale. 
Easton Gray
Unfortunately Cecilia didn’t live long enough to enjoy life at Arthur’s magnificent new home “Easton Gray” at Toowong, Brisbane. There are reports of magnificent parties being held there by her three single daughters, “the Palmer sisters”!

Around 1898 Arthur Palmer’s health worsened and because of protracted illness he was no longer able to attend Parliament. In March 1898 it was reported that he contracted Dengue Fever and died a few days later at Easton Grey. 

His press obituary observed that “The death of Sir Arthur Palmer removes from political life in Queensland a figure which for over 30 years has been conspicuously associated with the growth and progress of the colony…..Sir Arthur was always regarded as an honest and capable administrator. His manner was brusque but it was felt by those with whom party warfare brought him into conflict that his intentions were good and his purpose honourable.”

When he died his children were all over 16 and remained at Easton Gray. They lived quite different lives. The three daughters Mary, Barbara and Estelle never married. Press reports suggest they were centre of the social scene when they were in their 20’s with several large parties held by “the Palmer sisters” at Easton Grey. 

The three boys appear to have lived at Easton Grey until their marriages. William, the eldest didn’t marry until he was 35 and had one daughter. His main career was at Charters Towers as Inspector of Slaughterhouses and Stock for the district. Arthur was a successful Engineer who also married late at 34 and had one boy. Carl was a business manager who again also married late at 38. His wife, Minnie, died from childbirth a year later leaving him with a daughter he called Minnie after her mother. 
Squadron Leader B H Palmer with PM Robert Menzies 1940
(c. Wikipedia)
Carl remarried when he was 46 and had one son whose names, Beaufort Mosman Hunter Palmer reflected his joint family heritage. Beaufort was a Squadron Leader in WW2 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for action on Bouganville where he led an operation that destroyed several Japanese tanks while commanding a squadron of CAC Boomerang fighters. His war ended in late May 1945 when he stepped on an old American anti-personnel mine and his leg was subsequently amputated. After a long rehabilitation he regained his Wings in the 1970’s and died in 2011 aged 91.


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