The Buss brothers and their family were well known in the sugar manufacturing business around Bundaberg. They were also drapers. The following helps to put the Buss family into which Edith Warland married into a context.
Based on details from various sources below, Thomas Buss and Frances Helen Thorpe of Faversham, Kent, UK, appear to have migrated to Australia in 1843 with several children, as noted from the death notices of each in the QLD BDM:
Note that a Margaret Jane Buss was born to Thomas Buss and Margaret Jane Ewings in Brisbane on 10 February 1866 (QLD BDM Ref 1866/B/5444 and The Queenslander (Brisbane) of 17 February 1866). It is not yet known who this is.
Charles William Buss married Annie Catherine Brady on 27 August 1884 (QLD BDM Ref 1884/C/125). They had two children:
Annie Catherine Buss (nee Brady) died on 21 November 1887 (QLD BDM Ref 1887/C/350). Charles William Buss then married Jessie Hill Fleming on 29 March 1892 (QLD BDM Ref 1892/C/124). Charles and Annie's daughter Olive Helen Mary Buss married Henry St John Pratt on 12 January 1910 (QLD BDM Ref 1910/C/126, also see a report of the wedding in the Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser of 13 January 1910). Charles William Buss was recorded as being 'of Ashfield plantation'. The Bundaberg Mail and Burnett advertiser of 3 March 1911 noted that Charles and his wife, 'and Miss Annie Buss' would be leaving for England and the Continent the following week.
Charles William Buss, a retired planter of West Bundaberg, died on 22 April 1944 (Source: QLD BDM Ref 1944/C/1391, The Courier-Mail, Brisbane of 1 February 1946.) His obituary was carried in the Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser of 27 April 1944:
Mr Charles William Buss died at his residence, West Bundaberg, on Saturday, aged 84. Mr Buss is the last surviving member of the buss family, pioneers of the sugar industry, particularly in the Woongarra, which was developed mainly as a result of Buss Bros' enterprise. Charles William Buss was born in England on September 27, 1839, and arrived in Queensland on the ship Golden City, four years later. After remaining in Brisbane for a time he moved to Maryborough. Later he went to Sydney with his father and one sister. From there he went to Melbourne. In 1874, he returned to Maryborough where he worked in various callings including drapery and grocery stores, and (illegible word) he came to Bundaberg in April 1884. He managed Pemberton sugar mill, owned by his brother, Fred Buss. Later, he moved across to Ashfield and entered into partnership with his brother Fred of this plantation. With an additional partner, Mr F Turner, a juice mill was erected on the plantation. This partnership lasted for five years, when Mr Turner bought the interests of Buss Bros. He is survived by two daughters, Mrs H St John Pratt, Stanthorpe, and Mrs E K Campbell, Bundaberg.
Along with his brother Charles, Frederic Buss was identified with the sugar industry in the Bundaberg district (Source: The Daily Mercury (Mackay) 22 June 1926) He was recorded in May 1892 advocating a scheme for the formation of central mills (Source The Townsville Daily Bulletin of 20 September 1932). Frederic Buss married Maria Howard on 3 October 1870 (QLD BDM Ref 1870/C/342) and they had a number of children, including one who married her cousin:
Thomas Thorpe Buss married (1) Alice White (the daughter of William Henry White and Mary Trebble)(1858 - 26 February 1889 (QLD BDM Ref 1889/C/3340). The children born from Alice White were:
Alice Buss died on 26 February 1889 at the age of 31. Thomas Buss then married Grace Louisa Bussey (the second daughter of Thomas McEvoy Bussey) on 30 May 1893 (QLD BDM Ref 1893/C/1261). The child born from Thomas Buss' marriage to Grace Louisa Bussey was:
Thomas Thorpe Buss died at his residence, North Isis, on 29 June 1896 aged 46. Grace Louisa Buss (nee Bussey), married W Haig Philp of East Haldon, Gatton, on 2 July 1904. (Source: The Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser of 9 July 1904).
George Buss (1853 - 8 September 1927 (QLD BDM Ref 1927/C/2613)). Married Edith Warland - see below.
A Thomas Buss, the son of James Buss and Charlotte Ledger, died in 1876 (QLD BDM Ref 1876/C/943). This appears to be the father of the family above, as the Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette of 2 December 1876 noted that 'A telegram has been received from Mr Buss, of Maryborough, to the effect that he has now no doubt that the body found at the Two-mile is that of his father. We still think, however, that the shaft should be baled out'.
Edith Warland was the daughter of Thomas Alfred Warland (1828 - 1880) and Sarah McLean (1827 - 1859).
Edith Warland met George Buss (1853 - 8 September 1927) and they married on 15 July 1881 (QLD BDM Ref 1881/B/7372) at St John's Church, Brisbane. The Brisbane Courier of 1 August 1881 noted that Edith was the daughter of the late Mr Thomas Warland of Sydney. George and Edith Buss had several children:
The Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser of 23 July 1898 recorded the (good) examination results of Edith Bona Warland Buss of the Girls' Grammar School.
The Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser of 29 June 1911 included the following notice:
The firm of Buss and Turner, Limited has been registered with a capital of of £25,000, divided into 25,000 shares of £1 each, whereof 17,000 shall be allotted as fully paid up to the vendors as follows: 11,334 to George Buss, 2,125 to Frederick Buss, and 3,610 to James E. Turner. The objects briefly stated are to purchase or otherwise acquire and take over as a going concern the business; now carried on under the style of Buss and Turner by George Buss, Frederick Buss and James Turner of Bundaberg, of all or any property and assets, liabilities, and obligations of the vendors in connection therewith and thereafter to carry on the business of wholesale and retail drapers, boot and shoe merchants, grocers, ironmongers, etc. The subscribers are George Buss, draper, James E. Turner, draper, G. A. Buss, sugar manufacturer, Garnet L. Buss, draper, Basil S. Buss, draper's clerk, James Simpson, draper, and James Hamilton, all of Bundaberg.
Beryl Bernice Buss (1884 - 1968) became engaged to Paul Gerard Metzler ( - 12 September 1949) (third son of the late Peter Martin and Dorothea Metzler of Sonneberg, Germany) as announced in The Sydney Morning Herald on 27 May 1911. They married on 16 August 1911 at St Andrew's Cathedral in Bundaberg (Source: The Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser of 19 September 1911). They had three children:
The Daily Mail (Brisbane) of 4 November 1921 ran the following notice which may or may not be the same person:I, Paul Gerard Metzler, of Russian Nationality, born in Ustinowka, Government Saratow, and resident 30 years in Australia, now residing at Kureelpa, Nambour, intend to apply to the Home and Territories Department, Melbourne, for naturalisation.
Paul Gerard Metzler's death notice was carried in The Sydney Morning Herald of 13 September 1949. (NSW BDM Ref 16737)
Edith Bona Warland Buss married John R D Walker, of Aberdeen, NSW, in Sydney in 1913. (NSW BDM Ref 38/1913). They had the following children:
Basil Stockton Buss (1889 - 1946) married Annie Bride Quigley (the daughter of Andrew Quigley and Margaret Hynes) on 11 January 1915 (QLD BDM Ref 1915/B/16166). They had a son:
Sergeant Roy Buss, the son of George Buss, sent a 'chatty' letter from France during his time in World War 1, published in The Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser of 28 October 1916. The article noted that 'at the outbreak of the war, Sergt Buss was a medical student at the Sydney University, and although on the eve of sitting for the reamining subjects of his final examination, he joined the A.I.F., and holding the rank of Sergeant in the A.M.C. left with one of the early forces. The following references to the A.M.C's share and experience in an offensive are both interesting end informative'.
Basil Stockton Buss volunteered to join the AIF for World War 1, according to The Daily Mail (Brisbane) of 24 February 1917.
The Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser ran the following article concerning the death of Roy Buss on 1 June 1917.
DEATH OF MR. ROY BUSS. The sad intelligence reached Mr. George Buss late on Wednesday evening of the painfully sudden death in Adelaide of his youngest son, Mr. Roy C. S. Buss, a promising young man of 25 years of age. The unexpected news created a great shock, not only to the bereaved parents and members of the family, but to a wide range of personal friends and admirers. Mr. Roy Buss was a medical student, with every prospect of a bright career before him. He had passed his fourth year in medicine at the Sydney University, when, owing to eye trouble, he was ordered to take six months' rest prior to entering upon his final examination. Being imbued with a highly patriotic temperament, he resolved to enlist for active service abroad, and became attached to the A.M.C., holding the rank of Sergeant. He saw eighteen months' service in France, and was sent back to Sydney for the purpose of concluding his medical course, and returning with full surgical and medical diplomas. Accompanied by his father, he reentered the University in Sydney, and there was every reason to expect that he would acquit himself handsomely. He had occasion to visit Adelaide from whence the next tidlngs of him was the brief telegraphed news of his death. Arrangements were at once made to convey the body to Sydney and Mr. George Buss, accompanied by Mr. Garnet Buss, left by mail train last evening to be present at the last sad rites. The sympathy of the community goes forth to the bereaved family in their hour of mourning.
According to The Daily Mail of 2 June 1917, 'an inquest was held to-day on the body of Roy C. Buss, tho returned soldier from Bundaberg (Queensland) who was found dead in a bedroom at the Grand Central Hotel on Wednesday, with an automatic pistol at his side. The Coroner found that Buss came to his death from a pistol shot self-inflicted, but the evidence did not show whether intentionally or not. Deceased had been discharged in order that he might complete his medical studies'.
Garnett Leslie Buss (1886 - 1973) married Mabel Howard Buss ((24 December 1886 (QLD BDM Ref 1887/C/1000) - 1 August 1970 (QLD BDM Ref 1970/C/3809)), the daughter of Frederick Buss and Maria Howard, on 30 July 1919 (QLD BDM Ref 1919/C/1729)). They had one child:
George Buss died on 8 September 1927 at Bundaberg (QLD BDM Ref 1927/C/2613). The Telegraph (Brisbane) of 28 September 1928 reported on an action between the Queensland Trustees Ltd and Garnet Leslie Buss, executors of the will of the late George Buss, retired draper of Bundaberg on the one hand and Edith Buss, widow of the deceased. According to the article 'The fact was that in his will the deceased did not treat the widow as well as he should have done'.
Annie Bride Buss (nee Quigley), the wife of Basil Stockton Buss (1889 - 1946) died on 30 March 1928 (QLD BDM Ref 1928/B/4087).
Basil Stockton Buss married (2) Wilhelmina/Williamina Millar (born 1904, daughter of William Millar ( - 12 March 1946) and Sara O'Neil) on 18 August 1928 (QLD BDM Ref 1928/B/4097). They possibly had a daughter Beverley Stockton Buss.
In May 1929, Basil Stockton Buss was recorded living at Riverview Flats, Vulture Street, South Brisbane. He was in court on a charge of not possessing a licence for a wireless. (The Telegraph, 22 May 1929).
Basil and Williamina Buss were in court in June 1929 as a result of a motor car accident that happened on 2 May 1928 (before they were married - Williamina was recorded as 'a spinster, surnamed Miller - in which a young boy was injured; Basil (recorded as 'an orchardist') was the owner and Williamina the driver of the car involved. A claim of negligent driving was found against Williamina.
Reginald Basil Buss, the son of Basil Buss' first wife Annie, married Keitha Miriam Fitzsimon on 4 January 1938 (QLD BDM Ref 1938/B/30439).
It is believed that Basil and Williamina separated some time before 1946 - see below. Both Beverley and Ima (likely Williamina) placed 'in memoriam' notices in local newspapers for several years for Basil and Williamina's father William, suggesting they may have lived together separatley from Basil.
According to the Daily Standard (Brisbane) and some other newspapers, Edith Buss and her daughter Vivian Wanda Adams (nee Buss) appeared in court in May 1930 regarding Vivian's 'claimed ownership of a Cadillac motor car, held by her mother'. The case received a level of publicity that the family had hoped to avoid, according to the newspaper reports at the time.
Edith Buss died on 18 December 1932 (QLD BDM Ref 1932/B/19277). Vivian was the sole executrix named in her mother's will.
The Telegraph (Brisbane) of 22 June 1934 recorded that Basil Stockton Buss and Mary McMahon appeared in the Licensing Court charged with selling liquor without a licence at the Corner House, Wynnum Road, near Wynnum. Both pleaded not guilty. The same newspaper of 19 July 1934 noted that Basil Buss was fined £25 in default imprisonment for his actions.
George Alfred Buss' son Frederic Harold Buss became the Mayor of Bundaberg in the 1930s; he married Beth Katherine Gibson (died 14 April 1966 (QLD BDM Ref 1966/B/80221) in May 1939.
The Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser of 25 January 1947, reported that Leslie Howard Buss, 'the only child of Mr and Mrs Garnet L Buss, 'Harringe', Bundaberg', married Richard Lindsay George, the eldest son of the late Mr W George of Maryborough and of Mrs A E George of Brisbane on 22 January 1947. The article noted that 'more than usual interest centred round the wedding ... of a member of one of Bundaberg's best known families. Crowds of onlookers linked the approaches to the church (says the Bundaberg News and Mail)'. The article continued:
The bridesmaids were Misses Betty Walker and Freda Buss, who were frocked alike in icy blue nylon over moire taffeta. ... The two small flower-girls, Ann Boreham and Diana Stewart, who preceded the bride up the aisle, wore frocks identical to those of the bridesmaids. ... The best man was Mr. Ian George (Bombay) and Mr. Gordon Walker was groomsman. The ushers al the church were Messrs. Bill Buss, Dick Osborn, Neville Hall and Graham Campbell. ... When the bride left the reception she wore an off-the-face high crowned hat of navy ballybunta straw, edged with white grosgrain ribbon, with her navy crepe frock. The bodice of the frock showed white trimmings of silk braid. The honeymoon will be spent on a motor tour to Jervis Bay, New South Wales'.
Basil Stockton Buss, the son of George and Edith Buss, died on 29 August 1946 (QLD BDM Ref 1946/B/8219). According to the Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser of 30 August 1946, Basil Stockton Buss, aged 55, the proprietor of the Corner House Cafe at Wynnum, was found burnt to death in his bed that morning. The article noted that 'police believe that Buss fell asleep while smoking a cigarette and the bed clothing ignited. He was badly burned and there was nothing to indicate that he attempted to escape. Buss lived alone in the cafe'.
A probate notice in The Courier-Mail of 25 October 1946 noted that Williamina Buss of 457 Ipswich Road, Annerley, Brisbane, was the sole executrix. It also noted that Basil Buss was 'late of Preston Road, Wynnum', storekeeper.
The Brisbane Telegraph of 21 August 1951 ran the following article concerning George Buss' will.
SETTLEMENT QUESTIONS BRING LEGAL ARMY TO COURT. Ten barristers, argued before the Full Court today during the hearing of a special case brought over the interpretation of an indenture of settlement and a will made by the late George Buss, draper, of Bundaberg. George Buss died, aged 74, in 1927. Parties in the special case were the Queensland Trustees Ltd., plaintiffs, and Garnet Leslie Buss, Edith Bona Warland Walker (wife of J. R. D. Walker), Beryl Bernice Metzler (wife of Paul Metzler), Vivienne Wanda Adams (wife of George Geoffrey Adams), Williamina Buss [wife of Basil Stockton Buss], Reginald Basil Buss, and Beverley Stockton Buss, and Leslie Hope Walker (as representative of the children of Edith Bona Warland Walker and Beryl Bernice Metzler), defendants. The special case stated that George Buss died in Bundaberg on September 8, 1927, having executed an indenture of settlement on September 23, 1926, and his last will and testament with two codicils the following year. Probate of the will and codicils was granted to Queensland Trustees Ltd. and Garnet Leslie Buss, one of the defendants, as executors and trustees of the will. Amount of the estate in 1927 was £22,826. Queensland Trustees Ltd. were appointed trustee of the indenture of settlement. The settlement transferred certain stocks and shares to Queensland Trustees Ltd., directing that it should stand possessed of the net income of a settled fund in trust for certain beneficiaries. These beneficiaries were Edith Buss (of North Arm, wife of the settlor), Edith Bona Warland Walker, Beryl Bernice Metzler (wife of Paul Metzler), Vivienne Wanda Adams, all daughters of the settlor, and Basil Stockton Buss, son of the settlor. The special case asked the court a number of questions to decide what share or in terest in the one-fifth part of the corpus of the settled fund descendants of each of these beneficiaries should be entitled to. Barristers appearing before the court, which is constituted by Mr. Justice Mansfield, S.P.J., Mr. Justice Philp, and Mr. Justice Stanley, are Mr. B. Fahey, with Mr. C. F. Fairleigh (for the Queensland Trustees), Mr. A. D. McGill, K.C., with Messrs, N. Stable, T J. Lehane, Neil O'Sullivan, B, F. Jeffriess, A. R. J. Gilmour, V. Fogarty, and L. G. Lukin (for the defendants).
The case was settled in December 1951. The Brisbane Telegraph of 10 December 1951 reported that:
Reginald Basil Buss was entitled to the whole of a one-fifth part of the corpus of a settled fund, the income from which his father, Basil Stockton Buss, was entitled to during his lifetime. Basil Stockton Buss was a son of the testator. Beneficiaries under George Buss's will were Edith Buss, of North Arm, his wife. Edith J Bona Warland Walker (wife of J. R. D. Walker of Aberdeen, N.S.W.; Beryl Bernice Metzler (wife of Paul Metzler), of Kilburn Road. Roseville, Sydney; Basil Stockton Buss, of Brisbane; and Vivienne Wanda Adams (wife of Geoffrey Adams), of North Arm. The Court also gave rulings on shares of the estate to go to these beneficiaries and their descendants. A special case brought before the Full Court asked the Court to decide what share of interest in the fifth part of the corpus of the settled fund descendants of a number of beneficiaries under a deed of settlement made by George Buss should be entitled to. The Court consisted of Mr Justice Mansfield. S.P.J.,Mr Justice Philp and Mr Justice Stanley.
George Alfred Buss, son of Frederic and Maria Warland, died on 22 March 1954 (QLD BDM Ref 1954/C/99 and death notice in the Maryborough Chronicle of 25 March 1954).
The wife of Basil Stockton Buss, Williamina Buss died on 5 June 1986 (QLD BDM Ref 1986/4359).
Page created 2019, last updated 8 April 2020. Copyright © 2021 Andrew Warland. (andrewwarland(at)gmail.com)