Summary

This collection includes the 1903 to 1908 personal diaries of Harriet Edwards who lived at St Albans Station near Nebo, south west of Mackay. Harriet, daughter of Robert McKenzie and Mary Johnston, was married to William Edwards.

The Edwards Family, having left their home on the Isle of Wight, arrived in Rockhampton in November 1870 on the Royal Dane. Brothers William and Harry Edwards opened livery stables in Mackay in 1881 then established a butchery in Wood Street, Mackay around 1885. Within twelve months of opening the butchery, they had ten men working for them and were killing five bullocks a day. The Edwards brothers eventually sold the Wood Street business to Herman and Albert Ghodes, who also had a butcher shop in Gregory Street.

In the years after William's death in 1908, Harriet continued to run various family businesses in partnerships with Harry and later her son, who also died young. Harriet died at the age of eighty-five on 17 September 1951 and was survived by another son, James Henry Edwards.