Maitland Brown’s Fruit Bowl

The Greenough Farmers’ Club organised a social in St Catherine’s Hall on 28th June 1904 to acknowledge their former President, Maitland Brown. This fruit bowl was suitably inscribed, but the function had to be cancelled due to the death of Mrs Brown.
The fourth son of Thomas and Eliza Brown, Maitland was born on their property at York on 17 July 1843. He was educated at home. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to his brother Kenneth at Glengarry to learn about the sheep industry. On the completion of his contract Brown accompanied Gregory to the North West, where he gained a reputation as a skilled bushman. On his return he helped establish Newmarracarra, where horses were bred for export to India and Mauritius. In December 1863 Maitland shipped the first load of horses from Geraldton. The trade flourished until 1884. In 1865, Brown eagerly volunteered to Governor Hampton to lead a party of men north in search of missing explorers Panter, Goldwyer and Harding. On bringing their bodies back to Perth he was acclaimed a hero, and as a reward appointed Stipendiary Magistrate of the Victoria District in 1866. In 1867 he became Resident Magistrate of the Greenough District. He was only 23, and was known amongst his squatter friends as the ‘boy magistrate’.

Whilst serving his first term as Government Resident at Geraldton in 1869 the farmers on the Greenough faced destitution through the destruction of their wheat crops by rust. Brown came up with a scheme that would solve two problems at once. Geraldton was continually threatened with being buried by the drifting sand dunes. The Greenough farmers needed to earn money. Brown proposed to the Government that these men be employed by the Government to stop the sand drift. By careful observation Brown had noticed that the most successful method was to cover the sand with cut brush and vegetation to hold the drift and allow for a natural regrowth. That the project went ahead was solely due to Brown’s conviction and enthusiasm. Brown married Amy, the daughter of Reverend Howard, in St George’s Cathedral, Perth, and raised a family of two sons and four daughters.

Brown served as MLC for Geraldton from 1874 to 1883 and Government Resident for Geraldton from 1886 to 1904. That year he retired due to ill health and moved to Perth. Maitland Brown died on 9 May 1905.

The fruit bowl was donated in 2015 by Peter Carew-Reid (a descendant of Maitland Brown).