Henry Bassett Lane

Henry Bassett Lane was born in 1856 at St. Germans, Cornwall, England & arrived in Australia on 'The Golden City' with his parents in 1866.

The family first went to work at 'Cooyar' in the Rosalie district, then moved to 'Daandine'. As a lad on Daandine,  Henry showed signs of keen mental proficiency, which was recognised by the Manager, Mr. James Hunt, who took on the task of educating the boy, studies being undertaken at the homestead when the lad had finished work for the day. As a youngster he also showed considerable promise as an expert rider, and this was one of the features which persuaded Mr. Hunt to become his mentor, as he saw in him the possibilities of him developing into an efficient station manager.

At the age of 18 Henry Lane became Daandine's head stockman. During the 25 years he worked on Daandine he made droving trips from there to "Buckingham Downs," in the Gulf country, another property owned by the company which held Daandine. In 1898, Henry left Daandine to become manager of "Marmadua", and in 1899 he took over a position as stock and horse overseer on "Loudoun" for Mr. H. C. White. Loudoun at the time was a well-known horse stud, breeding horses for the Indian market, being paid £20 a head on the property for every remount supplied.

In 1908 he left "Loudoun" and went to his own property, "Belah Park," Nandi, which he selected. When he entered into occupation of it the land was covered with dense belah and brigalow scrub. He made the property, which consisted of 2000 acres, his residence, and cleared it, and went in for pastoral pursuits. 

While he was on Daandine and Marmadua, he had under his charge the lad who was to develop into the famous Aboriginal boxer, Jerry
Jerome. Jerome was about 10 years old when Henry Lane first met him, and he taught the boy to ride.

Henry Lane married twice. His first wife was Miss Annie Dale & together they had three children. His first wife predeceased him, & he married again at the age of 42. His second wife, who also predeceased him, was Miss Isabella Pearie, of Nanango, & together they had two children.

Henry Lane died in 1939 at the age of 83 years.