Henry Tuckett was one of the ten children of James, the son of John and Eliza (née Stancombe) Tuckett, and Mary Ann Draper, the daughter of John and Ann (née Morley) Draper. His parents, who were married on 17 May 1880, raised five sons and five daughters: Emily (b. 11 March 1881), John (b. 10 August 1882), Henry (b. 16 April 1884, known as Harry), William (b. 4 August 1886; d. 17 April 1953), Edward (b. 10 August 1888; d. 2 October 1950), Ida Amy (b. 1 December 1890), Arthur James (b. 22 April 1893; d. 1977), Ellen Mabel (b. 16 September 1896, known as Nelly), Bessie May (b. 29 August 1900) and Grace Winifred (b. 13 September 1901).

James Tuckett Sr came to Australia as a free passenger at the age of 19 on board the 1132-ton Tim Whiffler (Captain Cotter). The ship set sail from London on a bitterly cold day on 6 March 1875 and on 16 June 1875 arrived in the port of Maryborough where it landed 367 immigrants.

After working in Maryborough for a short time, James made his way to Rocklea and obtained employment on John Moffatt’s farm at Oxley Creek. He moved from there to Sir Joshua Peter Bell’s Jimbour Station before returning to Rocklea when his brother John arrived from England. James and John then established their own farm and dairy. A very hardworking and versatile man, James (or ‘Dad Tuckett’ as he came to be called) bred and trained fine trotting horses, excelled in ploughing contests and took an active part in the affairs of the local community. He was the first president and an enthusiastic competitor at the Rocklea Show, a Yeerongpilly Shire Councillor for 28 years (four of them as chairman) and a member of the committee which successfully lobbied for the establishment of the Rocklea State School. James died on 8 February 1938 and was buried in the Mount Gravatt Cemetery (mon. 4E 8 596A). Tuckett Road, Salisbury, bears his name.

Mary Ann Tuckett (née Draper) found time while raising a large family to support various community activities, including the Red Cross during World War One. She was living in the family home at Carisbrook Street, Rocklea, when she passed away on 20 August 1952. Mary Ann was laid to rest beside her husband. Interred in the same plot are the remains of their son Edward (d. 2 October 1950) and his wife Matilda Antoinette (b. 16 September 1895; d. 6 February 1936), the daughter of James Albert and Sarah Ann Elizabeth (née Breeze) Holness whom he married on 5 April 1919. Another son William (d. 17 April 1953) is buried nearby (4E 7 554).
 

Harry Tuckett married Annie Boyland, the daughter of John and Mary Margaret (née Barrett) Bryans, on 25 April 1912 in the Methodist Church at Beaudesert. At that time Harry was a 28-year-old dairyman living in Jimboomba and Annie was the 43-year old widow of George Thomas Boyland who had passed away on 13 October 1908. The Reverend Wilhelm Christian Kleindienst presided at the wedding service in the presence of witnesses, Mary Ann Tuckett and Alfred Samuel Logan.

Harry Tuckett had to curtail his from farming activities in time and died in the Fellnaw Private Hospital, South Brisbane, on 25 August 1936. At his burial in the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery on the next afternoon, the following exercised official roles: HW McDowell (undertaker from Cannon and Cripps), the Reverend Richard P Pope of the Methodist Church, and J Dibble and J Dunstan (witnesses). The funeral left from Harry’s late residence, “Fenwyke”, Boundary Road, Cooper’s Plains.

Annie Tuckett was born to John and Mary Margaret (née Barrett) Bryans in the Lady Bowen Hospital, Brisbane, on 9 August 1868. As previously noted, she married George Thomas Boyland on 1 October 1890. George and Annie became the parents of Daisy (b. 14 August 1891), Silvia (b. 18 June 1893; d. 14 March 1895) and George Thomas (Tum) Bryans (b. 18 December 1895; d. 29 April 1945).

Annie Tuckett (née Bryans) died in the Sherwood Private Hospital, Sherwood, on 5 July 1945 and was buried two days later in the Cooper's Plains Cemetery. The Reverend William Christian Kleindienst of the Methodist Church conducted the service in the presence of EE Abell (undertaker from Cannon and Cripps), and J McGuinness and J Kirby (witnesses). Annie’s daughter, Mrs Daisy Ferguson, was the only surviving child of her first marriage.

The Bryans family

John and Mary Bryans travelled to Australia on the 570-ton New Great Britain (Captain Robert Kerr) which sailed from Southampton on 16 (or 21?) September 1856 and arrived off Moreton Bay on 4 January 1857 with 264 government immigrants (including two newborn infants) on board. The passengers were eventually landed on 12 January. Records indicate that John (an illiterate labourer), the son of Robert (deceased) and Margaret Bryans, and Mary, the daughter of William and Margaret Barrett, were both from Armagh in Ireland, that they were both adherents of the Church of England faith and that they were aged 21 and 22 respectively.

Annie’s siblings were as follows: Robert (b. 7 February 1857; d. 3 March 1857), William (b. 26 March 1858), Mary Margaret (b. 23 April 1860), Sarah Jane and her twin Thomas John (b. 5 April 1863), Elizabeth (b. 7 August 1865; m. Edward Alfred Head 21 January 1887; d. 11 August 1958), and George (b. 5 June 1876).

John Bryans (b. Down, Ireland) died aged 82 on 6 March 1919 and was laid to rest in the South Brisbane Cemetery in the grave that had already received the remains of his wife Mary (4 429) in the presence of the Reverend John Stewart Pollock (Presbyterian minister), and R Shipp and W Gnatz (witnesses). Mary passed away on 30 March 1916.

John Tuckett. The Tuckett story would not be complete without some reference to James Tuckett’s brother John who followed him to Australia. John arrived in Brisbane as a free passenger on the 869-ton Orient Line Woodlark (Captain Largie) on 25 January 1877, having left London on 6 October 1876. He married Isabella Alice Timms, the daughter of James and Ellen (née Toner) Timms, on 16 October 1884 and together they raised a large family: John (b. 27 April 1886), twins Ethel Mabel (b. 20 December 1887; d. 13 March 1889) and Olive May (b. 20 December 1887), Harold Clifton (b. 20 August 1889), George Stanley (b. 28 October 1891), Bertie Cecil (b. 4 April 1894), Percy Llewellyn (b. 19 July 1896), Hazel Isabella (b. 3 January 1901), and Robina Annie (b. 22 November 1902).

John Tuckett died on 2 December 1915 and was buried from the family residence, ‘Primrose’, Brookfield, in the Toowong Cemetery (5 105 27). Isabella Alice passed away on 25 June 1935 at the age of 73 and was laid to rest beside her husband on the following morning. Buried with them lie the remains of another John Tuckett—a grandson they never saw—the son of Bertie Cecil and Muriel Doreen Isabel (née Threlfo) Tuckett who were married on18 May 1936. He died aged only five days on 4 February 1937.