https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/166954160?searchTerm=Sar...
The Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate
- Thu 24 Jan 1935 Page 2
Pioneer Passes
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Knew Early Gosford
Mr. Douglas, Mangrove Ck.
With the passing on Thursday night
of Mr. William Albert Douglass, a
highly esteemed resident of Mangrove
Creek all his life, the Brisbane Water
district has lost another of its fine old
pioneers and gentlemen.
The late Mr. Douglass, who was in
his 75th year, had suffered from a
painful illness during the last year of
his life, but he retained his cheery
smile to the end.
Born at Upper Mangrove Creek in
1860, he set out for the Northern
Rivers at the age of 24, and engaged
in mixed farming, but two years later
he returned to his beloved Mangrove
Creek, and again took up his occupa-
tion as a farmer, which he followed
until recent years.
The late Mr. Douglass, who frequent-
ly visited Gosford in the pioneer days,
was a noted horseman and breeder, and
possessed an almost uncanny ability at
breaking-in.
He took an active interest in the
early race meetings at Gosford, and
rode many a winner at the old course
near the present showground. He could
remember 55 years ago, when he used
to water his horses at a running
stream across the main road where the
Hotel Gosford now stands, and where
there was then a good flow of water.
At this time Gosford was quite a small
centre, and what buildings the town
boasted were in the vicinity of the site
of the present post office.
Mr. Douglass claimed that he had
seen Gosford grow from a small tim-
ber getting hamlet.
In 1883, at North Grafton he was
married to Miss Sarah Taylor, a mem-
ber of a prominent northern family,
who survives him. There are five sons,
Messrs Andrew, Spencer, Amos, Mal-
colm, and Roy; and one daughter, Har-
riet (Mrs. G. H. Starkey), of Man-
grove Creek, to mourn the loss of a
devoted father and friend.
The funeral left Mr. R. H. Creigh-
ton's funeral parlors on Friday after-
noon for the Upper Mangrove Creek
Church of England cemetery, Rev.
David Rees, of St. Albans, conducting
the service, and Mr. R. H. Creighton,
of Gosford, the funeral arrangements.
There were a large number of rela-
tives and friends at the graveside.
Mrs. Douglass and family express
their thanks for the kindness and sym-
pathy shown in their sad bereavement.
