1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Birth 1912 / 17254.
"GLEESON, Martin Thomas Michael; mother is Rizpalo Selina; father is Michael William."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1994 / 35442.
"GLEESON, Martin Thomas Michael; born 23/6/1912; 81 years old."3Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1994 / 35442.
"GLEESON, Martin Thomas Michael; born 23/6/1912; 81 years old."4New Zealand Probate Files (Archives New Zealand), Archway Item ID: R9125276.
States that he died in New Zealand on or about 14 May 1994.5New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1938; folio 13725.
"GLEESON, Martin Thomas; and BURROWS, Winifred."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Death 2006 / 20937.
"GLEESON, Winifred Lois; born 15 August 1920."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Birth 1920 / 26051.
"BURROWS, Winifred Lois; mother is Emily Elizabeth; father is Alfred James."3Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 2006 / 20937.
"GLEESON, Winifred Lois; born 15 August 1920."4New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1938; folio 13725.
"GLEESON, Martin Thomas; and BURROWS, Winifred."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Birth 1883 / 12384.
"NORDSTRAND, Frederick Oscar; mother is Celina; father is Peter Jansen."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1970 / 35846.
"NORDSTRAND, Freederick Oscar; 87 years old."3Civil Registration, Marriage - New Zealand, Marriage 1929/1656; , NZ Registrar General.
GLEESON, Katherine; and NORDSTRAND, Frederick Oscar.
1Civil Registration, Death - New Zealand, Death 2002/28393, NZ Registrar General.
NORDSTRAND, Kathleen; born 16 November 1906.2Civil Registration, Birth - New Zealand, Birth 1907/2235, .
GLEESON, Kathleen; mother is Rizpah Selina; father is Michael William.3Civil Registration, Death - New Zealand, Death 2002/28393.
NORDSTRAND, Kathleen; born 16 November 1906.4Website - BillionGraves.com (http://Billiongraves.com).
"Name - Kathleen Nordstrand
Born - 16 Nov 1906
Died 8 Dec 2002
Buried - Kaitaia Public Cemetery
Headstone inscription - In loving memory of Kathleen Nordstrand 16.11.1906 - 8.12.2002 Loved wife of Fred, Mother of Frederick, Grandmother of Bruce, William and Cheryl. R.I.P."5Civil Registration, Marriage - New Zealand, Marriage 1929/1656; , NZ Registrar General.
GLEESON, Katherine; and NORDSTRAND, Frederick Oscar.
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Death 2000 / 15175.
"STEWART, Ronald James; born 7 November 1919."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Birth 1919 / 20662.
"STEWART, Ronald James; mother is Ellen Elizabeth; father is James."3Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 2000 / 15175.
"STEWART, Ronald James; born 7 November 1919."4New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1942; folio 04811.
"MATTHEWS, Elizabeth Ellen; and STEWART, Ronald James."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Birth 1921 / 24909.
"MATTHEWS, Elizabeth Ellen; mother is Hazel Louise; father is Anton Joseph."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1992 / 51774.
"STEWART, Elizabeth Ellen; born 18 September 1921."3New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1942; folio 04811.
"MATTHEWS, Elizabeth Ellen; and STEWART, Ronald James."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Death 2003/28472.
"GOODWIN, Percy Boyd Patrick; born 8 October 1923."
GOODWIN, Percy Boyd Patrick; born 8 October 1923.2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 2003/28472.
"GOODWIN, Percy Boyd Patrick; born 8 October 1923."
GOODWIN, Percy Boyd Patrick; born 8 October 1923.3New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1953; folio 15461.
"MATTHEWS, Violet Hazel; and GOODWIN, Percy Patrick."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Death 2009/5573.
"GOODWIN, Violet Hazel; born 31 October 1929."
GOODWIN, Violet Hazel; born 31 October 1929.2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Birth 1929 / 21293.
"MATTHEWS, Violet Hazel; mother is Hazel Louisa; father is Anton Joseph."3Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 2009/5573.
"GOODWIN, Violet Hazel; born 31 October 1929."
GOODWIN, Violet Hazel; born 31 October 1929.4New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1953; folio 15461.
"MATTHEWS, Violet Hazel; and GOODWIN, Percy Patrick."
1Website - Medium.com (https://medium.com/@raeallen/the-engineer-trapped-inside-a-farmers-body-63eb66a83dc7).
Ian Allen always gave freely of himself and was a staunch advocate of farmer welfare. He served on the Atherton Tableland Maize Marketing Board, the Peanut Board, and the Potato Growers Coop. He also served a term on the Queensland Agricultural Council. His vision for farm produce from the Tablelands saw: A $1 million sale of maize to a Japanese firm; Meeting the Shah of Iran at an Agricultural Council meeting in Sydney; and working on the marketing of potatoes to Singapore.
"Losing his left foot while trying to clear a blockage on a corn picking machine never slowed Ian Allen down.
He once told how he took up ballroom dancing to improve his dexterity. Friend of 80 years, Joe Tomerini once said he thought it was so he could meet women, and whichever is true in the 1950s he met Joycephine Greenfield, a NZ dairy farmers daughter on a working holiday. The two become well known at dances across the north and were married in early 1956.
Born in Atherton at Nurse Austin’s Clinic, to Margaret (nee Rae) and William Stephen Allen, Ian was the youngest son in a family of six children.
He grew up on the family farm near Tolga on the Atherton Tableland in North Queensland, and spent most of his life in the area, buying his own farm just across the road.
A bright student he went away from home to high school in Cairns where he seemed destined for a career in engineering. In 1944 however his father fell ill, and since his older brother Bill was away with the army during WWII, Ian had to return to Tolga to run the family farm.
This interruption to Ian’s education didn’t stifle his love of learning, and over the next 30 years all five of his and Joyce’s children received tertiary educations at a time when such was uncommon in FNQ farming families.
In another era Ian would have been considered a Renaissance man, teaching his children to play chess, read Shakespeare, and tell the difference between a Whitworth thread and a British Standard Fine when taking the engine out of a tractor. While his educated children were more familiar with calculators, he could normally calculate volumes of silos or dams just as quickly with log tables and a slide rule.
An engineer trapped inside a farmer’s body, many of his contemporaries described him inventing and building shelling machines for velvet beans, pullers for peanut plants, and tree pushers for dozers. A number of farmers described him as the “go to guy” when they had mechanical problems they just couldn’t work out for themselves, or which they felt needed a better solution.
In the 60s he opened his own machinery business, with Case self-propelled combine harvesters arriving in boxes and Ian assembling them on the floor of an old peanut factory. “It’s just like Meccano” he said at the time “you just start putting the pieces together and eventually you will have a combine harvester”.
In later years he was disappointed with the deregulation of these farmer owned organisations. The destruction of the infrastructure such as silos and rail that these organisations had built up was also a sore point. Ian felt the losers were the farmers themselves.
Suffering from Alzheimer’s and cancer, Ian died in Cairns Base Hospital of complications following a fall and a broken leg. He was buried in Atherton in the red Tableland soil he had given his life to. He left behind a culture of innovation and a history of service .
Obituary: Ian Rae Allen
Farmer and Innovator
Born: Atherton, Qld August 8 1929
Died: Cairns, Qld, June 11 2013."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Death 1998 / 13348.
"BOYD, James Andrew; born 30 January 1931."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1998 / 13348.
"BOYD, James Andrew; born 30 January 1931."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Death 1980 / 43413.
"FISHER, Frederick Sydney; born 4/3/1911; 68 years old."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Birth 1911 / 1094.
"FISHER, Frederick Sidney; mother is Ellen; father is Sidney."3Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1980 / 43413.
"FISHER, Frederick Sydney; born 4/3/1911; 68 years old."4New Zealand Probate Files (Archives New Zealand), Archway Item ID: R18750898.
Identified that he died at Opotiki on or about 26 December 1979.5New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1934; folio 04611.
"MARTIN, Julia Evangleen; and FISHER, Frederick Sydney."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Birth 1911 / 26833.
"MARTIN, Julia Evangeline; mother is Katherine Mary; father is George Henry."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1992 / 54584.
"FISHER, Julia Evangeline; born 30/11/1911; 80 years old."3Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1992 / 54584.
"FISHER, Julia Evangeline; born 30/11/1911; 80 years old."4New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1934; folio 04611.
"MARTIN, Julia Evangleen; and FISHER, Frederick Sydney."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Death 1983 / 38038.
"O'NEILL, Terence Charles John; born 2 September 1912."2FreeBMD Index (http://freebmd.rootsweb.com), Birth Sep 1912; Pembroke; 11a; 2745.
"NEILL, Terence C.J.; mother's maiden surname is FORD."3Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1983 / 38038.
"O'NEILL, Terence Charles John; born 2 September 1912."4New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1940; # 03333.
"MARTIN, Loretta Marie; and O'NEILL, Terance Charles John."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Birth 1916 / 23929.
"MARTIN, Loreto Maria; mother is Katherine; father is George Henry."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1981 / 47543.
"O'Neill, Loretta Marie (aka Loreto Maria); born 23 October 1916."3Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1981 / 47543.
"O'Neill, Loretta Marie (aka Loreto Maria); born 23 October 1916."4New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1940; # 03333.
"MARTIN, Loretta Marie; and O'NEILL, Terance Charles John."
Edmund William Patrick GLEESON
1Civil Registration, Birth - New Zealand, Birth 1911/621; , .
GLEESON, Edmund William Patrick; mother is Elizabeth; father is Martin.2Civil Registration, Death - New Zealand, Death 1960/26194; , NZ Registrar General.
GLEESON, Edmund William Patrick; 49 years old.3New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1946; folio 05788.
"GLEESON, Edmund William Patrick; and DONOVAN, Annie Gladys."
1Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Birth 1915 / 8335.
"DONOVAN, Annie Gladys; mother is Rosina May; father is William."2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1989 / 36735.
"SMITH, Annie Gladys; born 6 March 1915."3New Zealand Probate Files (Archives New Zealand).
Identified that she died at Auckland, on or about 6 June 1989.4Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1989 / 36735.
"SMITH, Annie Gladys; born 6 March 1915."5New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Marriages 1836-1956 CD-ROM, Marriage 1946; folio 05788.
"GLEESON, Edmund William Patrick; and DONOVAN, Annie Gladys."
1Information provided by Dan Gleeson of Waiuku, New Zealand in 1960s to Kathleen Cosgrave (nee Sherlock).
2Civil Registration Index - New Zealand (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/), Birth 1948 / 101051.
"GLEESON, Dennis Patrick; mother is Annie Gladys; father is Edmund William Patrick."3Information provided by Dan Gleeson of Waiuku, New Zealand in 1960s to Kathleen Cosgrave (nee Sherlock).
4Civil Registration Index - New Zealand, Death 1964 / 32584.
"GLEESON, Dennis Patrick; 16 years old."
1Newspaper - New Zealand Herald, 20 Jan 2020.
"GLEESON, Bernadette Ann. Sadly passed away on the 16th January 2020, surrounded by her family. Dearly loved daughter of Anne (late) and Edmund Gleeson (late), and Step-dad Ted Smith (late), adored sister, aunty and friend to many. A funeral service will be held in the Main Chapel of Morrison Funeral Home, 220 Universal Drive in Henderson on Tuesday 21st January at 3:00pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Cancer Society."