DESCENDANTS of George and Susan Harrison last week gifted their family bible to the Historical Society of Beaudesert.
The family were welcomed to town for a morning tea at the Historical Museum on Brisbane Street
Several family members delivered the bible, including sisters Marion Belle Osborne and Edna Dean (nee Harrison) who said the bible had been in storage for some years but was now back where it belonged, in the region her pioneer ancestors had settled in Cedar Grove.
“When George and Susan arrived in Queensland it was still considered part of NSW,” Ms Dean said.
“When my mum died my brother took the bible but he died 18 months after that and his wife didn’t want it.
“We really wanted it to find a home where it could belong to the family and here is where it belongs.”
The original Cedar Grove Harrisons had made the arduous journey from Liverpool, England, arriving in 1860.
Their son, Samuel, was born on the way over and the first entry in the bible records his marriage in 1884 to Elizabeth Dennis.
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In 1869 George established Broomfield, a homestead on the Logan River where they went on to have 11 more children. By 1887 the family had built a home at Cedar Grove.
Ms Osborne said by the time the bible came into Ms Dean’s possession it was in a state of disrepair, so the sisters decided to have it restored last year.
As was often the case with family bibles, the large book contained a record of births, deaths and marriages, with one page having a single entry – “Peace declared, 11th Nov, 1918”.
The bible was restored by Sage Old Books at Kin Kin and delivered in a custom made Solander box.
Also present at the official handover was former Laravale dairy farmer and Wongaburra administrator Alwyn Todd, who is related to the Harrisons by marriage.
Museum curator Ian Moss thanked the family for their donation and said the bible would be displayed behind glass and under lock and key.
“If anyone wants to see it, we will get it out but it will have to be handled with cotton gloves,” he said.
