Hugh Downes

Hugh Downes was born in Victoria in 1847. As a young man, Hugh was a Trooper in the NSW Mounted Police and was stationed in the Riverina district for seven years. He assisted in the hunt for the Kelly Gang and was near the actual scene at the time of the capture.

In 1873, he resigned from the Police Force and went to the Palmer Goldfields in search of gold and stayed there for 12 months. He travelled to India with a string of remounts for the Indian Army, and for a time after that went pearl fishing in the waters in the north of Australia.

After marrying Catherine Dickson in 1879, the family moved to Broken Hill in 1885. Having arrived there shortly after the discovery of silver, and after making a significant amount of money from a land sale, in 1889, they moved to Tibooburra NSW and opened a general store. After living there until 1907, the family drove 950 miles by wagon to Selwyn, near Cloncurry. There Hugh erected the first building in the township, consisting of a store and residence.

Leaving Cloncurry in 1911, the family journeyed from district to district by horse-drawn wagon, looking for a favourable place to settle which was reasonably close to Brisbane.

The township of Bell appealed to the family, and there they built "Rathlea", opened a general store, and conducted business until an illness in 1929 forced Hugh to retire.

Hugh & Kate raised nine children together and remained at "Rathlea" for the rest of their lives.

Hugh died at the home of his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. J. McClelland, "Belmont", Bell. He was 96 years and 11 months old at the time of his death, and he was buried in the Bell cemetery.