Clemesha, Samuel

Husband of Mary Cunneen m.27/04/1887 [Ref:1887/000007]

Father of –
Arthur Wordsworth – 16 Jan 1888, d 22 Sep 1909
Mary Isabel – 26 April 1889
Samuel William – 7 Feb 1892
Adelaide Beatrice – 16 April 1894
Ida Gladys – 16 April 1897, d 8 Aug 1901
Evelyn Olive – 4 Oct 1900, d 24 March 1901
Alfred Barclay – 11 Oct 1903

Sam Clemesha, as well as running the ‘Mt. Cornish
Hotel’, at one time, ran a blacksmith shop. He employed what have been referred to as the `Musical Blacksmiths’, for among the men working there was a man who played the cornet, another who played violin and a pianist. One man, Gill, used to perform with the circus but decided to stay in town.
[Extract: Muttaburra Saw Us]

The Longreach Leader Saturday 10 April 1943
THE LATE SAM CLEMESHA
WELL-KNOWN PASTORALIST

One of the best, and kindest and most respected men the Central West has ever known has passed by the death at Warwick of Mr. Samuel Clemesha, of Zara in the Hughenden district – an identity long associated with Muttaburra and Mount Cornish, and whose name for over half a century was linked with the life and activities of the pastoral industry. In the early ‘eighties, Mr. Clemesha, a young New South Welshman, attracted by the lure of minerals to Queensland, carried his swag from Port Douglas to the tin-mining centre of Herberton. Twenty years later he was one of the best known men in Central and North-Western Queensland, the owner of considerable property, both in this State and New South Wales. Sam Clemesha was born, at Maitland. N.S.W.in 1860, and after his family had moved to the New England district, his father put Sam to the blacksmithing trade at the age of 15. In 1884 he came to Queensland and after a series of adventures which took him to Herberton, Port Douglas, Cairns and Rockhampton, he was for a time employed at his trade of blacksmithing at Tambo, later working at Blackall and Clermont. His next step was to Winton and then to Muttaburra, where he stayed at the Mount Cornish Hotel, of which in later years he eventually became owner. In 1898 he took up the Silverwood selection, two years later purchasing the properties known as Zara and Bervock. He also was at one time or another owner of the properties Potosi, Iora, Springvale, Railview, and in 1931 he bought Innisfail Downs in the Julia Creek district.
In public life Mr. Clemesha became a notable figure, being a member of the old Aramac Divisional Board, and later the Aramac Shire Council. In 1920 Mr. Clemesha was honoured by the Council. A record being placed in the minutes of his long and valued service to the shire, and he was granted a free pass over the Aramac tramway for life. As a further appreciation of his services, one of the sidings of the tramway line was named “Clemesha,” to perpetuate the name of one who had taken such a big part in the erection of the line. Mr. Clemesha was for 20 years a shire councillor: was for ten years president of the Muttaburra Amateur Turf Club: 31 years a member of the Muttaburra Hospital committee; and in addition to being actively connected with every movement which had for its aim the advancement of the Muttaburra district, he was for 16 years chairman of the Muttaburra State School committee. He was a Past Master of the Aramac Mason’s Lodge, and was a Justice of the Peace both in Queensland and New South Wales. Brief as this outline is of the colourful life of Sam Clemesha, it tells pointedly of the success of a self made, man. “Mark my words.” said a friend of his youth, “Clemesha is going to make good; he’s the right stuff.” And yet another old westerner has this to say of Sam Clemesha, “That name is not foreign. Nothing foreign about Sam. He’s one of the whitest – true as steel and straight as a die, and British to his very marrows.” Thus a strong link with the romantic story of Mount Cornish has been broken by the passing of Sam Clemesha, but his notable career in one of the most striking and shining examples of the great opportunities offered the man of enterprise, courage and integrity. The late Mr. Clemesha is survived by his widow, two daughters, Mrs. Cameron of Glencoe, St. George, and Mrs. Tom McHugh, Warwick, and son, Mr W. Clemesha, Railview, Prairie.
[Source: THE LATE SAM CLEMESHA. (1943, April 10). The Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 – 1954), p. 3. Retrieved September 16, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article125796296 ]