George Butler

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. Pat Spence who writes:
George Butler was born in Mackay in August 1874 where his parents had settled temporarily before taking up permanent residence on Magnetic Island in 1876. George's sister Ellen 'Nell' was also born in Mackay in 1872 and his youngest sister Rhoda was born in Townsville in 1877. All his other siblings were born in Lancashire before the family sailed to Australia on the Royal Dane in 1870.

George and his brothers helped their father build a boat from island timber called the 'Hepzibah'. It was used to ferry supplies from Townsville for the family and to carry coral mined by Henry Butler and his brothers to the mainland to be used in the manufacture of concrete to build the Townsville Courthouse. This building, the original courthouse, is now [in 1999] the Townsville Museum located at the corner of Sturt and Stokes Streets.

George had several boats in his lifetime including the Nell Bay which he used in 1900 to take his bride Elizabeth Sophia Dunwoodie to the lighthouse at Bay Rock for their honeymoon. Bay Rock had a lighthouse keeper and a number of goats on the tiny islet to the north of Cleveland Bay to share their honeymoon. The lighthouse (in 2005) a small iron structure was rebuilt at the Townsville Maritime Museum and was still located there in 2004.

Later George bought the Tivoli from Townsville businessman Harry Page. He used these boats for charter, for ferrying holiday makers to the island, trips to the reef, and fishing excursions. A photo of the Tivoli apears in the photographic collection of the Knowledge Centre (Townsville City Library) Flinders Street 2004. It shows "George Butler's Electric Launch Tivoli which plied between Townsville from the bottom of Wickham St and Picnic Bay Magnetic Island 1909". (Image No 0008361 File Location Shipping No.61).

George had a Master Mariners Certificate which was valid for the entire Queensland coast from Thursday Island to Brisbane.

In 1929 George Butler was contracted by the London University and the Yonge Expedition which was to study the Great Barrier Reef. He took the geographers from the group on the Tivoli to Low Isles and arranged supplies for the party during their stay on the island. Each day George rowed a woman from the expedition to a particular spot to paint the coral and the islands in the distance. Later the members of the Yonge Expedition sent George a barometer from London and a copy of the print produced from the painting.

When he married George bought the house known as Cleveland Villa at 5 Strand Townsville. The land was one of those sold at the earliest sale of Townsville land. The house was said to have been built by Robert Towns after whom Townsville was named.
George Butler and his wife Elizabeth are buried in the Townsville Cemetery at Belgian Gardens.

More About GEORGE BUTLER:
Fact 1: 26 Aug 1874, birth certificate 74/002159

George married Elizabeth Sophia Dunwoodie, daughter of Samuel Dunwoodie and Mary Lynch, on 18 Dec 1900 in St Josephs, Townsville, Queensland Australia. (Elizabeth Sophia Dunwoodie was born in 1876 in Brisbane, Queensland Australia and died on 4 Jul 1955 in Townsville, Queensland Australia.)