Spenser Hopkins & Dunk

Spenser Hopkins' Family:

From left to right: Margaret (sitting), Dick, Rosa (sitting), Harry, Kate, Helen, Harl, Spenser (sitting), John (sitting)
Photo taken in 1926, three years after Banfield's death.

Family Association with Dunk Island

The Hopkins family's association with North Queensland and Dunk Island began when Thomas Hollis Hopkins (born March 13, 1839 and married to Annie McTaggart) arrived in Townsville. Thomas Hollis Hopkins established Hollis Hopkins Pty. Ltd., a soft goods wholesaler. He prospered and became a leading figure in North Queensland; he was the sponsor of a 1901 petition to make NQ a separate state and on the petition's banner he was described as a "capitalist". He explored the NQ coast extensively, and at one time owned Tam O'Shanter Point, on the mainland opposite Dunk. He was looking to establish an alternative port to Innisfail whose port facilities he considered inadequate. He was also one of the original investors in Qantas Airlines which began operations in NQ after World War I.

Thomas Hollis Hopkins returned with his family to England in 1891 and then sent his eldest son, Spenser McTaggart Hopkins (born December 30, 1878) out to NQ in 1905 to manage the family business, Hollis Hopkins Pty. Ltd. Spenser married Rosa Mary Haig Sykes on March 25, 1908, in Melbourne before moving with his bride to Townsville to take up residence in the family house, Devanha, which was located on the Strand. Spenser lived in Townsville until his death on May 22, 1973.

Spenser also explored the coast extensively in his boat, and he befriended the author and beachcomber, Edmund J. Banfield, who he referred to as "Mr. Banfield" all his life. Spenser used to visit Dunk Island frequently and he took his family to vacation there.

Banfield took Spenser aside in about 1920 and told him that he was deeply grateful for all the support that Spenser had given him over the years, and for that reason, he was going to will the island to Spenser. The land was in two blocks, a 360 acre block which is where the resort now stands, and a 40 acre block which was in Mrs. Banfield's name and which is now the land owned by the family. Banfield told Spenser that the key to living on a tropical island was permanent water, a stream that still flowed even during the worst drought. A little stream, Toorgey toorgey, had continued to flow during the drought of 1915?, and this was on Mrs. Banfield's 40 acre block to which the Banfields intended to retire.

When Banfield died in 1923, Spenser became the owner of all the privately-owned portion of Dunk Island, 400 acres in all. The rest of Dunk is a National Park. Spenser ultimately sold off the 360 acres where the resort now stands.

You can't contact Spenser, but we invite you to e-mail our agent (thopkins07@DunkIsle.com).

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