PUBLISHED: The Brisbane Courier - Tuesday 22 Apr 1879
Says the Redbank Plains correspondent of the Queensland Times :-" It is my painful duty to record the demise of Mr. George Verrall, who was the oldest settler in this district, having purchased his property on the Plains at the first sale of Crown lands, held about 1850. He owned some 800 acres on the Ipswich Reserve, taken up under the 1868 Act, besides increasing his first selection on the Plains by 1000 acres. He arrived in Sydney in 1844, and resided on the Clarence river some time ; but, having met with disappointments in the mother-country, he left to try his luck in Queensland, and arrived in Ipswich about the middle of 1849, on the suburbs of which he engaged in agriculture for a few years. In the following year he purchased a farm on the Plains, where he resided up to the time of his death, and where he proved himself to be a most useful and energetic colonist. He was among the first to introduce the culture of wheat into West Moreton, and grew it successfully on Redbank Plains for many years. His orangery, &c, was the first of any note in this part of Queensland ; and, taken altogether, his farm was a model for neighbors to copy from. He has left a widow and fourteen grown-up children to mourn their loss, but, fortunately for them, they had a father above the average of mankind, who, by his in dustry, perseverance, and frugal habits, left them all well provided for. Mr. Verrall was born in Sussex, England, and was 73 years of age when died. He was a kind husband, an indulgent father, a successful farmer, genial and warm hearted, honest to the core, and carried with him the goodwill and kind wishes of all who knew him."

Contributor - Donna O'Brien # 49526077