Andrew Brand, Free Settler "Hamilla Mitchell" 1859

OBITUARY.
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THE LATE MR. ANDREW BRAND.
(By B.G.E.)
On Thursday morning, 12th September, at his Spring Valley farm, at the age of 63, Andrew Brand, of Linton, passed to his rest. Of Scottish parentage and birth, he came with his parents at an early age to this colony, settling first at Greenough. Removing shortly afterwards to the Northampton district, he remained there for the rest of his life, becoming one of the most respected and successful of the pioneer settlers of that district. Sober, energetic, a straight-goer and kindly-hearted, he was one of whom his friends might well be proud and were there more like him it would be the better for the country.
On his first arrival here, some fifty
years ago, a mere lad with all his
life before him, his first work was on
a Greenough farm ; then he laboured
for some time in the Northampton
mines, finally an opportunity offered
to join in a pastoral enterprise. This
he accepted as his life's work, and it
led on to fortune. But it was a long
and a hard struggle first, for those
were not the days of carpet slippers
and eiderdown quilts. Scarcely any-
thing had as yet been done to sub-
due the wilderness. The runs were un-
fenced, the homes unbuilt, but few
wells sunk, and only the roughest of
bush tracks for communication. The
wild native tribes still roamed the
hills, attacking the lonely shepherds
and scattering the sheep, whilst there
were white men, and not a few, who
were not less treacherous than the
blacks. But Andrew Brand in the first
flush of his early manhood, keen-eyed
as a hawk, and with limbs that never
tired, feared neither toil nor traitors.
Like the man who, single-handed, fac-
ed the mountain with a pick, saying.
"Stroke by stroke," so Andrew Brand
sought help from none, but alone and
stroke by stroke, carried his life's en-
terprise right through to a successful
issue. Yet there were disasters that
might well have crushed a less heroic
worker. On one occasion his whole
season's clip of wool was destroyed by
fire, causing a financial shock from
which it took him long to recover.
Then the plague of scab fell upon the
flocks of the colony, involving many
in ruin and more in loss, and notwith-
standing the utmost care, Mr. Brand's
sheep were infected like the rest. Yet
even worse than the scab was the ad-
ministration of the law respecting it
and the loss and suffering illegally and
undeservedly caused by this remained
in the heart of Mr. Brand as a most
bitter remembrance of a cruel wrong
to the end of his life. But this oppress-
sion also with invincible fortitude and
determination he faced and overcame.
At this period, it is said, he seemed
never to find time for either sleep or
food. On foot or on horseblack, he was
ever at work, guarding, searching and
developing his pastures and flocks.
But it is not in human nature to bear
the toil, exposure and anxiety of such
a life through so many years and yet
remain unworn and unweakened. The
human machine, like any other used
too roughly or loaded too heavily,
will wear out and break down, and so
it was with Mr. Brand. Scarcely was
the work done when the worker also
was finished, and the reward came too
late for its enjoyment. The harness of
life had not been put away when the
end of effort and of life itself came.
The central organ of life—the heart--
was the first to give way, and all the
painful complications which result
from its failure were quick to follow.
For such a condition there was no
cure and but little help ; yet in his
last days he had the consolation of
being surrounded and ministered to by
all those whom he held dearest in the
world. His wife, who had so long
and faithfully sustained him in his
work, was ever at his side, and the
children for whom he had toiled so
hard were with him at the last. And
so leaving his life's work as it was,
and enclosed within the loving circle
of his home, Andrew Brand closed his
eyes to the light of day and entered
upon the new scenes of another world.
The funeral took place on the day
following the death, and the long pro-
cession that winded its way through
the pleasant country to the cemetery
among the hills was eloquent testi-
mony to the respect so generally felt
for the deceased pioneer. The wattles
in golden dress showered their floral
tributes upon the pall as it passed,
and the bell bird and the magpie, to
whose songs he had so often listened,
sang their sorrowing resquiescat in
pace. The family and many old friends
were there as chief mourners, and at
the graveside the coffin was hidden
beneath the wealth of wreaths, and em-
blems sent in sad good-bye by many
friends.
The funeral service, so humble in its
confessions and grand in its faith,
was read by the Rev. E. Saunders, of
Geraldton, and the hymns "Art Thou
Weary ?" and " Abide With Me" were
softly sung amidst the falling tears,
then the Benediction was given, and
slowly the mourners dispersed.
The chief mourners were : Mrs. A.
Brand (widow), Mr. Geo. Brand, Mr.
Andrew Brand (sons), Mrs. H. S.
Smith, Mrs. J. G. Wilcox, Mrs. R. H.
Worthington, Mrs. A. W. Patten
( daughters ), Mr. A. W. Patten (son-
in-law). The pall-bearers were : Mes-
srs. G. Varley, W. Lucas, W. Rosser,
T. Drew, J. Cunningham and D. Beetson.
The following sent floral tributes :—
Mrs. Brand (wife), Mr. and Mrs. H. Smith and family, George and Andrew (sons), Mr. and Mrs. W Drage, Mrs. Patten, sen., Mr. and Mrs. A. Patton, Mr. J. Magee, Frank and Loleen Beetson, Mr. and Mrs. W. Lucas, Drage Bros., Mr. and Mrs. Worthington and family, Mr. and Mrs J. Mitchell, Mr. and Mrs. Stone, Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox, Mr. and Mrs. J. Drage, Mr. and Mrs. Beetson and family, Miss Cunningham, Mr. and Mrs Spence, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Williams, Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Reynolds, Mr. and Mrs, E. J. Sims, Mrs. Shires and family, Mr. F. Blood. Mr. and Mass Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. Rowlands.