Battersby Park, Caboolture (Qld.)

Battersby Park on the corner of King Street and Beerburrum Road Caboolture was named after Matthew Battersby, who had a blacksmithing shop on here. Matthew Robertson Battersby was born in 1841 in Perthshire Scotland, when he was 12 years of age he moved to Glasgow where he learned the trade of a blacksmithing. He immigrated to Brisbane with his wife in 1865 and started his own business in 1869. He purchased land in Caboolture and at Beerwah in 1878 and 1884 and became involved in the local community. He was a trustee of the Caboolture Cemetery and on the local school committee. For eleven years he held the contract for shoeing the Cobb & Co horses between Brisbane and Gympie. Matthew was chairman of the divisional board from 1881 to 1888. In 1888 he was elected to represent Moreton in the Legislative Assembly. He was unopposed in 1893 and 1896 before being defeated by Mr Campbell. After selling his business it became the site of the Royal Hotel, the hotel opened in 1886. After several changes of publicans, Mr Henry Patrick Carmody, came to Caboolture from Brisbane in 1918 to take over the managership of this hotel. He changed the name to Carmody’s Royal Hotel and held the licence until 1995 when it was demolished to make way for the Caboolture CBD.