Queenie Maud Allport

Queenie Maud Allport (nee Molyneux, sometimes spelled Maude) was born on 3 August 1902 at Holbrook, New South Wales, the daughter of Walter William Beck Molyneux and Maude Matilda (nee Brown). She was one of twelve children, and the only one born with brown eyes. Her family came to Lightning Ridge in 1909 before moving to a settler block in the Pilliga Scrub two years later.

Queenie married Rollo “Roy” Allport on 5 July 1921 at St. George’s Anglican Church, Lightning Ridge. They had three children: John, William, and Ellen. Their home on Harlequin Street was built by Roy in 1924, on land originally taken up by Queenie’s father. Her widowed mother later lived next door from 1936, in a house also built by Roy.

Queenie’s name appears on the ledger at Regan’s Store between 1912 and 1921. During the 1930s and 1940s, travelling Anglican Bush Brethren stayed overnight at the Allport house, where Queenie provided meals and accommodation. She also raised goats that wandered freely through the settlement, giving rise to the laneway behind her home being called “Billy Goat Lane.” She made butter, sold skins, and her sons delivered milk to nearby households.

After Roy’s death in 1959, Queenie moved to Harris Park, near Sydney, to live with her son John and daughter Ellen. She also raised Lance, the son of Fran Reynolds Rathbone, taking him to Sydney to complete his apprenticeship. Queenie died on 9 February 1984, aged 81, and her ashes were returned to Lightning Ridge.

• Queenie Maud Allport @ Find a Grave.

Article: Research by Russell Gawthorpe and Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: Lightning Ridge Historical Society oral history, Lightning Ridge: Turning Back Time - A Heritage Trail, Barbara Moritz, 1998, p. 26.