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Richard Alfred Tills (1860–1937) was the fourth Mayor of Cairns, Australia and the twelfth Chairman when Cairns was classified as a Borough, a member of the Barron Divisional Board, and President of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce. Born in Kingston upon Hull, England, Tills was a carpenter, architect and one of the pioneers of North Queensland. ==Early life and career== Richard Alfred Tills was born in the July quarter 1860 in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.〔Richard Alfred The Trustees of FreeBMD 2013 http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl〕 He was the eldest son of Alice Harrison and Alfred Tills, originally a carpenter,〔Database online. Class: HO107; Piece: 1531; Folio: 200; Page: 7; GSU roll: 174761.〕 but a newsagent by the time Richard was born〔Database online. Class: RG 9; Piece: 3596; Folio: 34; Page: 32; GSU roll: 543159.〕 and later a grocer.〔Database online. Class: RG10; Piece: 4794; Folio: 60; Page: 18; GSU roll: 847350.〕 Richard had two younger brothers, twins, Charles William and John Henry—John died at the age of 3. Richard worked as a master joiner in Hull〔Database online. Class: RG11; Piece: 4750; Folio: 135; Page: 34; GSU roll: 1342147.〕 before emigrating to Australia under the Assisted Immigration program, arriving in Mackay on 2 November 1882 at the age of 22.〔Index to Assisted Immigrants http://archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/CollectionsDownloads/Documents/Assisted-Immigrants-1848-1912-S-Z.csv〕 After brief stints working as a carpenter in Mackay and Townsville,〔Cairns Post, Saturday 11 May 1907 Character Sketches (no. 1) The Candidate for Cairns Richard Alfred Tills〕 Richard became an early pioneer of North Queensland arriving in Cairns in 1883. Within six months of his arrival at Trinity Bay, Cairns, he had qualified as a contractor and worked on the construction of numerous buildings in Cairns.〔 Several years later, he assayed mining, prospecting on the Mulgrave goldfield,〔(Gold! ). Cairns Museum. Retrieved 1 August 2013.〕 south of Cairns, where he erected a water-wheel battery.〔 After processing 600 tonnes of stone from various mines, a disillusioned Tills returned to work with timber. Tills moved to the Atherton Tableland and established a sawmill at Redlynch, eight miles from Cairns, on the Cairns-Mareeba railway line, with Charles Michael, Robert Warren and three times Mayor of Cairns, Louis Severin.〔The Courier Mail Wednesday 9 June 1937 Obituary Mr R.A. Tills〕 By 1889, Richard Tills was the sole proprietor of the Cairns Saw Mill.〔Cairns Post (Qld. : 1884 – 1893) Saturday 3 August 1889 Cairns Saw Mill Co.〕 In 1899, he moved the sawmill to Cairns along the Mulgrave tramway line. The five acres site was situated on Alligator Creek, a site eminently suitable, as the tramway line passed just in front of the works, and Alligator creek ran within a hundred yards of the back of the mill—having a depth of 14 ft at high tides, the creek was very useful in floating logs up and down from and to the Cairns inlet. The main shed was 150 ft x 60 ft, and the offices, timber shed, and workshop (a two storey building) was 30 x 24 ft. A shed was erected to stack timber during the rainy season. In 1899, Tills had fifteen men employed at the mill and a similar number engaged getting logs.〔The North Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld. : 1892 – 1905) Monday 2 October 1899 R A Tills Saw-milling Establishment〕 During the early part of the century, there was a trend away from the construction of buildings with timber to reinforced concrete or cavity brick as a response to significant damage caused by frequent cyclones in the area,〔http://queenslandplaces.com.au/cairns〕 though there was no reported downturn in business at Till's sawmill. In 1906, a prospectus was issued for the floatation of a company to take over the timber business and saw-mills he owned with Mr T Griffith.〔Morning Post (Cairns, Qld. : 1897 – 1907) Wednesday 24 October 1906 Cairns Timber Company Floatation〕 He sold his timber business in March 1907.〔Morning Post (Cairns, Qld. : 1897 – 1907) Monday 18 March 1907 Timber Business Sold〕 Richard Tills was a founding member of the Cairns Artillery Volunteer Corps on 8 February 1886,(),〔Cairns Post (Qld.: 1884 – 1893) Thursday 5 November 1885 Local Items〕〔Cairns Post (Qld. : 1884 – 1893) Saturday 25 June 1892 North Queensland Celebrities〕〔National Archives of Australia Item Barcode 9109688 http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=9109688〕 which was formed in response to the Russian scare of 18836—the Russians had moved into the Pacific, Germany and had annexed the northern part of New Guinea, concerning the Queensland colonial government. It forced the government to consider the idea of colonial defence and voluntary defence organizations. The Volunteer Corp was initially formed under a Volunteer Act and later the Defence Act. It was initially composed of 30 men and three officers.〔Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 – 1954) Friday 15 April 1932 Military Reminiscence〕 Tills quickly rose from the rank of Sergeant,〔 to Lieutenant in 1886,〔The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933) Monday 15 February 1886〕 to Captain in 1891.〔The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 – 1939) Saturday 25 July 1891 Queensland Defence Force〕 He was Commanding Officer of the Corp from 1886.〔 Richard's son, Alfred fought in the First () 〔National Archives of Australia Service Number – Q186363 http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=4631424〕 and Second World Wars () .〔National Archives of Australia http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=8391295〕〔Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 – 1954) Thursday 17 October 1918 Pte. Wounded Again〕 The Cairns Post provided reports about Alfred's time in WWI (), publishing letters he sent his father from Belgium in their section The Soldiers' Postbag (), as well as announcements of him being wounded in 1917 (),() and 1918 (). Richard's nephew, John Alfred Tills also served in the First World War— he was killed in action at the age of 21. Tills' height was referred to on multiple occasions by the media〔Morning Post (Cairns) 26 August 1907〕—he was reportedly the tallest soldier in the Volunteer Artillery Corp. at 6 ft. 8in tall. A 1907 recount〔 reported “In a personal article on the recent Brisbane Exhibition, entitled “Pen Pictures”, the “Sun” thus refers to the Mayor of Cairns:- “A veritable son of Anak, one of Amalek’s prodigious progeny, is Richard Alfred Tills...Tills is 6 feet 5 inches and weighs 16 stone. He walks along Queen Street towering above the crowd, and making small men feel as little as Tom Thumb...would have been an imposing figure in Parliament”. Richard Tills was one of the officers of the first Masonic Lodge to be formed in Cairns. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Richard Alfred Tills」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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