Susannah Agnes Kable (1826 – 1911)

Susannah was born in Cornwallis on 07/06/1826 and baptised on 09/07/1826 in Windsor.

​Susannah Agnes Kable

She married to John Shand MacLean in Sydney, St. Mary’s R/C church on 24/03/1845.

marriage notice - Agnes Susanna Kable and John Shand McLean

John was born on 14/06/1816 in Spanish Town, Jamaica.

They had the following 10 children:

  • Hugh Alexander Maclean (1847 – 1913)

  • Malcolm John Maclean (1849 – 1897)

  • Elizabeth Susan Maclean (1850 – 1930)

  • Marianne Charlton Maclean (1852 – 1930)

  • William Henry Charlton Maclean (1853 – 1945)

  • Matthew Finley Maclean (1854 – 1936)

  • Ross Maclean (1856 – 1928)

  • Jessie Maclean (1858 – 1924)

  • Elvina Susan Maclean (1859 – 1931)

  • Eric Burnett Maclean (1860 – 1951)

​John died on 10/11/1862 in “Gyrandah”, Dawson Valley, Queensland.
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is dn-maclean-john-shand.jpg
John Shand Maclean

Susannah died on 20/01/1911 in Brisbane Hospital and is buried at Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland.
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is hs-maclean-nee-kable-agnes-susan.jpg

An artical from”Pioneering Queensland Families (no 54)
John Shand Maclean of Gyranda Station. Article in file.

 C. 1839 possibly on the `St. George’, arrival in Australia.

MACLEAN OF GYRANDA
John Shand Maclean was a member of the clan Maclean of Duart, one of the oldest and strongest clans of the Western Isles of Scotland. He was born in Spanishtown Jamaica, the son of Judge-in-Equity, Hugh Maclean of Skye, in 1816.
Intended by his father to follow him in law, John was educated in Edinburgh and London where he excelled in the classics and languages. The call of foreign fields however proved too strong and brought him firstly to New Zealand where he compiled the first Maori dictionary and then on to Sydney arriving about 1838.
Here he met and married Agnes Susannah Kable. The Macleans first came tothe Moreton Bay area in the late 1840’s taking up a property called “Toolo”. This venture failed and the couple returned south, John teaching at the Kings School and later conducting a finishing school for young men, first at Richmond and later at Windsor. He was also at Bathurst briefly.

However, the bush again called and in 1860 the Macleans joined their in-laws, the Mackenzie Ross’s at “Rockybar” in the Burnett later moving on to take up “Barwood” in 1862. By this time they had 10 children and they again joined the Ross’s at
“Cracow” prior to settling nearby. Exploring the adjacent country-side, John Maclean was intrigued by a mountain range nearby which brought back memories of his youth in the family home on the Isle of Skye and one rugged partion in particular which reminded him of Edinburgh Castle.
A keen student of native languages as mentioned above, he had already studied the Maori language. He sought its name from the aborigines and was told “Gyranda” which he translated as “Rocky Range of Mountains”.

It was here, some 14 miles from “Cracow” homestead he built a commodious slab home and settled giving his run that name. Shortly after arrival John Shand Maclean died 10 Nov 1862 (from a fall from a horse) and was buried in the presence of Henry and William Kable and John Hay Mackenzie Ross. His grave lies beween the homestead and the river -(Lawson). His widow was to carry on despite a disastrous fire which took with it family treasures and portraits and then later returned to “Cracow” in 1874 acquiring this in partnership with her second son Malcolm John. She lived on he 85th year passing away on 20.1.1911 and is buried in Toowong Cemetery.
The family is still strongly represented in the Dawson area. Three generations have been councillors on the Banana Shire. Others of the rapidly expanding family moved on to various parts of Queensland some still retaining pastoral pursuits, whilst others have embraced the legal, medical, teaching and banking professions, the armed services and commerce. Three greatgrandsons were to be decorated by their King and later make the supreme sacrifice in World War 2, whils searving with the R.S.A.F. They were Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Maclean DFC; Flight Sergeant Byron Maclean DFM and Pilot Officer William Henry Ingham Myers DFM. The clan Maclean with its ancient traditions from the 13th century Gilleathain na Tuaidh Gillian of the Battleaxe, has worthy held the name high in its new land.

From Toowong Cemetery – Convict Connections brochure

Agnes Susan Maclean was christened Susannah Agnes Kable, the granddaughter
of First Fleet Convicts Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes and Second Fleet Marine William Charlton and Convict Mary Gittos. Born in Windsor, NSW; Susannah was the eldest of 6 children. Susannah’s father William Nathaniel Kable died when she was 11.
When Susannah was 19, she married John Shand Maclean, the son of an Equity
Court Clerk from Jamaica at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. The first of Susannah’s 10
children was born in 1847. Susannah followed her husband around his various interests. John attempted farming and for a time taught at a gentlemen’s academy in the Richmond area of New South Wales. By 1856, the ever growing family had settled in the Burnett region. Susannah’s final four children were born on various cattle properties in the region.
Tragedy struck in November 1862 when John fell off a horse and died on Gyranda Station near Cracow. Susannah buried her husband between the homestead and the river the assistance of her brother and brother-in-law. Susannah was left with 10 children under the age of 15 and a cattle property to manage. She suffered another setback in the 1870s when a fire tore through Gyranda, destroying all her photographs and heirlooms.
Susannah brought up her large family with the assistance of her brother and sister-in-law on a nearby property. Agnes Susannah, as she was now known, claimed the right to vote in 1905, in her 80th year. She is then registered on the electoral roll living with her youngest daughter Elvina and her school-master husband Charles Marshall at the Nerang State Schoolhouse. Agnes died of nephritis at the Brisbane General Hospital on the 20th of January 1911. She was buried next to her sister-in-law Mary Ann Kable.

 Matthew Finley MacLean (1854 – 1936)

Matthew was born in Windsor on 27/09/1854. In 1960 Matthew and his parents and siblings moved to Queensland.

​On the electoral rolls between 1913 (or before) and 1936 (the year he died) his residence was at subdistrict “The Islands”, District of Moreton.

​There are no records that he married or had children.

He died in Moreton QLD on 13/10/1936.