William Pettigrew was a sawmiller, who arrived from Scotland in Queensland in 1849 In 1853 he erected the first steam sawmill in Queensland He was mayor of Brisbane 1870-1871, and member of the Legislative Assembly 1877 to 1894.

Historian, statistician and writer. A long-serving Councillor of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland and a founder of the Professional Historians' Association (Queensland). An authority on Australian railways and the sugar industry, he published extensively in the Australian Railway Society's Bulletin, and wrote Triumph of narrow gauge: A history of Queensland railways. In 1959 he began the compilation of an historical database on Queensland railways, a resource which he regularly updated and re-supplied to Australian libraries from 1966 until his death.