William Pettigrew
26 August 1825 — 28 October 1906
William Pettigrew (13‑66‑2)
William Pettigrew born on 26 August 1825 was the son of an Ayreshire farmer. He trained as a surveyor and as such arrived aboard the Fortitude in January 1849. He became a sawmiller, importing the first steam‑powered sawmill in 1853. Pettigrew was elected to the Brisbane Municipal Council three times in the period 1863 – 1881, including the mayoralty in 1870–1871. There is an overlap between his municipal duties and membership of the Queensland Legislative Council from 1877–1894.
He was a member of a number of societies; including the Queensland Philosophical Society, the School of Arts Committee (along with Samuel Walker Griffith) and was a life‑member of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society. He was also a land speculator.
His wife Amelia Boughay, a fellow Fortitude passenger whom he had married in 18 February 1859, pre‑deceased him on 1 September 1893 and is buried here. He died on 28 October 1906 and was interred in at Bowen. William Pettigrew was a strict Presbyterian, who kept the Sabbath sacred to the extent of walking to church and banning musical instruments from worship.
William Pettigrew, Brisbane, ca. 1875 — State Library of Queensland.
Wife of William Pettigrew, Brisbane, Amelia Boughay, (1824-1893) born London, died Brisbane. — State Library of Queensland.
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