George Barney Petrie
1839 — 21 June 1878
George Barney Petrie (13‑5‑3)
George Barney Petrie was born in 1839 at the Moreton Bay settlement, the youngest son of Andrew Petrie and his wife Mary, née Cuthbertson. His family arrived in Sydney in 1831 and in 1837 his father was appointed clerk of works at Moreton Bay penal settlement. The family stayed on in the district after it closed.
After learning the ropes in the family building and contracting business George assumed responsibility for the carpentry side of the business from his eldest brother John. Typical of the period, coffins were made in the carpentry workshop which expanded to encompass all aspects of the undertaking trade.
The Petrie family had arranged burials since 1840 but it wasn’t until 1864 that George Barney Petrie started to conduct funerals under his own name including that of Queensland’s second Governor, Colonel Samuel Wensley Blackall on 3 January 1871. George died on 21 June 1878 of ‘fits’ and was buried the same day.
Advertisement and etching for John Petrie & Sons, stonemasons in Brisbane, 1889 - State Library of Queensland