The Northern Territory Genealogical Society(NTGS) recently announced that a very valuable member ,Jacqueline O'Brien, OAM, had died at the age of 94.
By Peter Simon
I have an unusual reason to remember her with great affection . Jacqui trained as a nurse in Sydney, worked at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord ,where she became the Principal Tutor Sister. She was a Tutor Sister at Royal Darwin Hospital and for many years a member of the Nurses Board.
She had made a significant contribution to the Charles Darwin University Nursing Museum
The wife of the late longtime Territory surveyor,public servant and extensive researcher into NT nomenclature, Vern O'Brien,she,like her husband ,contributed much valuable archival material and books to NTGS.
In her case they were files and papers related to her nursing in Darwin.
Jacqui was the granddaughter of the fabulous woman known as the Wolfram Queen of the Northern Territory , May Brown(1875-1939).
May , born Sydney , daughter of an Italian composer and music professor,became a pioneer miner who ran several hotels ,owned many racehorses , bet heavily on the Melbourne Cup ,led a flamboyant life , literally threw money -gold sovereigns-about. A political activist , she signed telegrams and letters sent to politicians,Mrs Wolfram Brown
Married three times
Her first husband - George Seale-was regarded as Australia's best all round athlete, a former Australian amateur boxing champion ,owner of the Sydney Gymnastics Club,also into rowing,football and cricket.
Six months after his untimely death she married a Territory wolfram miner, George Burns,and helped him work mines with the help of Chinese labourers . She nursed miners when malaria swept through in 1909, her husband dying in 1912 .The price of wolfram skyrocketed during the war and she became extremely rich through the help of a long standing Chinese friend, Mee Wah.
In 1913, she married pastoralist Charles Brown who died from malaria in 1926 while droving cattle on the Birdsville Track.
Over the years she ran several hotels,including the Victoria Hotel, in Darwin.
When I wrote a feature article about the extraordinary Wolfram Queen , I recalled that her first husband had taught her to box and she was not backwards in going the knuckle on pub patrons who played up .
I told how she used to slip across the road from the Victoria Hotel to watch a movie at The Star Theatre . She more or less had a reserved seat there . But arriving one night , she found a woman sitting in her spot so she grabbed her and yanked her out .
Laughing, Vern O'Brien, warned me his wife ,Jacqui , very protective of her grandmother's image and reputation ,wanted to biff me after reading the article .Still chuckling ,he advised me to cross to the other side of the road if I saw her coming.
Almost penniless when she died in Sydney, the Wolfram Queen was buried next to her first husband who had taught her the noble art of fisticuffs.
