Meston married Margaret Frances Prowse Shaw in Sydney on 22 August 1871.[1][4]
After a long and varied career, Meston retired to Brisbane where he died (a pauper) of tetanus on 11 March 1924.
Meston was survived by his wife and, out of seven children, by four sons and a daughter.
He is buried in South Brisbane Cemetery.[5]
Professional and public life
In 1874, after travelling from New South Wales, he managed Dr John Waugh's Pearlwell sugar plantation on the Brisbane River. The site is east of Oxley Creek, where it flows into the Brisbane River.
From 1875 to 1881 he was editor of the Ipswich Observer. He was later the editor of The Toowoomba Chronicle.[5]
Although he claimed to be interested in sugar-growing, he never actually did so, and made his living from journalism, speculation and property management.
In January 1889 Meston led a government expedition to the Bellenden Ker Range and explored its summit.
The expedition was considered a success, and this led to further official engagements.
In 1891 he persuaded a stock and commission agent named Brabazon Purcell to recruit Aboriginal men and women to perform in the "Wild Australia Show".[7] They rehearsed in Brisbane before performances in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The show collapsed in Melbourne.
In 1894 he was commissioned to investigate the conditions of Aboriginal Australians in Queensland; despite his consequent proposals, only some of his ideas were embodied in the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897. Meston was, from 1898 to 1903, the Southern Protector of Aboriginals for Queensland. During his time as the Protector, Meston visited many Aboriginal communities and camps across Queensland and as an amateur ethnologist and linguist he documented Aboriginal culture and language. Meston collected words and wordlists from sites across Queensland which were later collated into various notebooks and cuttings. These notebooks are now held by the State Library of Queensland are a valuable resource for those researching Indigenous Language.[8] In 1903 Meston was told that his services were no longer required.
Throughout his life he was a prolific writer and, in addition to the newspapers he edited, he published frequently in The Queenslander, The Brisbane Courier and many other papers.[5]
In 1936, a portrait of Archibald Meston, painted by artist and friend B.E. Minns, was purchased through public subscription and donated to the Queensland National Art Gallery (now the Queensland Art Gallery).[9]
^ abcdStephens, S.E., (1974), "Meston, Archibald (1851–1924)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, pp. 243–244.[1]
^Aird, Michael, Mapar, Mandana and Memmott, Paul (2015). Wild Australia : Meston's Wild Australia Show 1892-1893. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland, UQ Anthropology Museum.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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