Citation
‘Young Hopeful Men’; Henry Hector McFie 1869-1957, Peter MacFie, 1998, Biennial Local History Conference, Tasmanian Historical Research Association Papers & Proceedings, Vol. 45, No 2, June, 1998.
Outline
The life of tailor Henry Hector Mcfie and his wife Hannah Elizabeth Chapman in Devonport, Tasmania from 1887 to his death in 1957. Includes the politics leading up to Federation and the community affairs of the growing town.
‘….. Young Hopeful Men…..’ Henry Hector McFie 1869-1957: The dapper Devonport tailor, community leader and politician 1998.
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Excerpt
The life of Henry Hector McFie encapsulates the enthusiasm and formative years of the north-west coast of Tasmania. His life extends from the late Victorian era, through Federation, the growth of the communities centred on the Mersey River and the township of Devonport, two world wars, the Depression, to his death in 1957. Typical of his era, his political life included years of voluntary committee work on clubs and local government, failed attempts at national and state elections and success in winning and holding a state seat. A reputation for stubborn independence and support for regional issues earned him the title ‘Fighting Mac’. His later conservative, liberal stance belied an early membership of the Australian Labor Party.
Henry McFie was born in Hobart in 1869. He was the son of Capt Edward (Teddy) MacFie, a master mariner, and Susan Crisp, and the grandson of Hector Macfie [sic], a tailor transported from the Isle of Bute in 1829, and Bridget Connor.[1] Henry was the third of six children.[2] He was educated at Broomfield’s Private Academy, then McPhee’s Model School, later the Battery Point State School. He was apprenticed to Redpath, the ‘well known Hobart tailor’, of whom no information now appears to exist. He then spent two years with Mathers, the former drapery business, of Liverpool Street Hobart.[3] After travelling to the mainland working in his trade, he returned to Tasmania, and in 1886 worked for William Wells, a Quaker tailor, and friend of the Mathers, at the Don River Trading Company.[4] The next year he moved to West Devonport, then called Formby, and opened a tailoring business that ran from 1887 to 1940.
On 12 October 1892, Henry married Hannah Elizabeth Chapman, one of the seventeen children of William Chapman, Devonport harbour master and pilot. William had arrived at Torquay in 1855 and, with his sons, operated a barge service, punting goods from the upper reaches of the Mersey to larger ships waiting near Torquay. Another daughter married William Holyman.[5] Henry and Hannah had a family of five surviving children, Chloris (1894), Hector (1896), Mynie (1898), Malcolm (?) and Douglas (1906).[6]
A keen sportsman, Henry was on the inaugural committee of a number of associations. As a member of the Devonport Rowing Club he rescued a young coxswain, Nevin Burt, in 1894.[7] In 1896 he captained the newly-formed Devonport Cycling Club.[8] Men and women rode bicycles into the countryside including Wesley Vale and Latrobe.[9] At Devonport the Club held a Chinese lantern parade and fancy dress costumes… worn by some riders, together with the lanterns loaned by Mr Draeger, made a pretty spectacle, though a potato was thrown hitting one rider in the eye.[10]
Photographs of the Cycling Club reveal its members belonged to the local small business community. A group shows E. Norris, with his father, William, painters and decorators; Henry H. McFie, tailor; E. A. U. Padfield, proprietor of the Residential Family Club overlooking the Mersey River; D. A. Nicholls, draper, Catholic supporter and member of the Devonport Town Board (DTB), who with H. H. McFie was influential in pushing for the new Town Hall; Charles Cowle, son of a local businessman, and T. A. Laurence, a Pharmaceutical and Dispensing Chemist, who shared shops adjoining McFie’s.[11]
In 1896 Henry co-founded and acted as secretary for the Devonport Progress Association, which developed the Oval as a sports ground and bike track.[12]
He also co-founded and captained the Mersey Football Club. A report following a football match at East Devonport reveals the ‘fighting’ qualities of the local matches. During the first game of June 1897, a constable had trouble keeping the ‘heavy crowd back’ and the Post suggested the ground needed to be roped off. Two weeks later a repeat game between Devonport and Mersey at East Devonport was conducted with ‘extreme latitude’, and was an ‘exhibition in brutality’.
“The game was fought with such stubbornness and determination that it only needed a few nullah-nullahs in the hands of some of the players to give those unacquainted with the warfare of aboriginals a fair idea of a tribal fight. During the game a couple of players met to settle an old score, but after some wrestling, not strictly in the Greco-Roman style, they were separated. They came to blows later on, and it is probable that one will carry for a few days the ‘trophy’ he received.
The ‘Merseyites’ lost: 3 goals 14 behinds, 32 points, to 2 goals 1 behind, 13 points. Best players listed were Roberts, Henry, Ferguson, McFie and E. Norris until injured.[13] A few days later a well-attended meeting of the North West Football Association met to discuss the ‘conduct at recent matches’ of two players. H. H. McFie, who did not appear, was disqualified for 12 months, and William Sayer, a relative by marriage, was suspended for one month.”[14]
…..
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References from this excerpt
[1] Family records.
[2] The first three were registered as ‘MacFie’, the last three as ‘McFie’; descendants have chosen either spelling.
[3] Cyclopaedia of Tasmania, Hobart, 1899, vol 2, p262.
[4] Gardam, Faye, Sawdust, Sail and Sweat, Devonport. 1996, p110.
[5] Ramsay, Charles, With the Pioneers, Devonport, 1995, p208.
[6] Family records, pers comm.
[7] CT op cit, p262
[8] ibid, p262
[9] Ramsay, p265
[10] NW Post 16/11/97, p2
[11] Family records, CT vols 1-2, Devon Historical Soc., Devonport 1890, Devonport, nd.
[12] Ramsay, op cit p248
[13] NW Post 29/6/97 p6
[14] NW Post 3/7/97
Indexed items
A. Mathers and Co
advice to aspiring politicians
ALP
ANA
Annual Friendly Societies Demonstration
athletics
Australian Labor Party
Australian Natives’ Association
Barrington
Battery Point State School.
Boer War Patriotic Committee
Braddon, Edward
Broomfield’s Private Academy,
Burt, Nevin
Butters, John
Chapman, Hannah Elizabeth
Chapman, William
chopping races
Connor, Bridget
conscription
convicts
coroner
cricket
Crisp, Susan Ida
Curwon, W. G.
cycle races
cycling
Depression era
Devonport
Devonport Band
Devonport Bluff
Devonport Brass Band
Devonport Chamber of Commerce
Devonport Cricket Club
Devonport Cycling Club
Devonport Eisteddfod
Devonport Electric Light
Devonport Federation League
Devonport High School
Devonport Musical and Literary Society
Devonport Oval development
Devonport Presbyterian Church
Devonport Progress Association
Devonport Rowing Club
Devonport Show
Devonport Town Board
DFL
Don Oddfellows
Don River Company
Don River Trading Company
Draeger, Mr ?
DTB
Earle, John
East Devonport
Eastman, G. S.
Fannon, H.P.
Federation League of Northern Tasmania,
Federation movement
Federation Sunday
Ferguson, ?
Fighting Mac
Finlayson, Queenie
football
Formby
Formby Hall
Giblin Hall
Goslin, John F.
Greens, R. C.
Haines, Chloris (Mrs Harry)
Haines, F.H.
Haines, Harry
Hayes, Herbert
Heaton, A.
Henry, ?
Henry, John
Holyman, William
Howroyd, Charles R.
Hughes, Billy (William Morris)
Hurst, James A.
Innis, J. H.
Innis, W. P.
Isle of Bute
Justice of Peace
Keating, J.H.
Kentish
Latrobe
Laurence, T.A.
Licensing Board
Lillico, A.
Lofts, George
Luck, John
Lyons, A.
Lyons, Joe (Joseph Aloysius)
Macfie, Bridget (Mrs Hector)
Macfie, Hector
Mathers family
Mathers, Androw
McFie, Captain Edward John
McFie, Chloris
McFie, Douglas
McFie, Hannah (Mrs Henry)
McFie, Hector
McFie, Henry Hector
McFie, Henry Hector jr
McFie, Malcolm William
McFie, Mynie Lillian
McFie, Susan (Mrs Teddy)
McFie, Teddy
McPhee’s Model School
Mersey Football Club
Mersey Regatta Association
Nationalist Party
Nicholls, D.A.
Nicholls, H.A.
Nicholls, Herbert
Norris, E.
Norris, William
North West Football Association
Padfield, E.A.U.
Parkes, Sir Henry
Protestant Alliance Lodge
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria’s Jubilee
Rechabites
Recreation Ground
Red Cross
Redpath, John
Residential Family Club
Roberts, ?
Rooke St., Devonport
Rothesay
Sayer, William
schools
Southern Tasmanian Federal League
Steele St Primary School
Steele Street Drum and Fife Band
Stewart St., Devonport
Torquay
Turner, G. A.
Ulverstone
United Axemen’s Association
vandalism
Warden of Devonport
Wells, William
Wesley Vale
West Devon
West Devonport
Workers’ Political League
World War I
WPL Devonport branch