Photographs, correspondence, diaries, journals, newspaper cuttings, personal papers relating to the Bell Family, Jimbour Station, various Bell Family properties, Jimbour House, and its occupants.

Typescript letter on Department of Public Lands letterhead, from Joshua T Bell to Collie [Colin Basil Peter Bell] regarding horses and land at Juandah, 25 Jan 1907

Letter to Uncle Alick (John Alexander Bell, c1829-1901), from Joshua Thomas Bell, 21 Feb 1880

Scrapbook for newspaper cuttings produced by Marcus Ward & Co. with [indecipherable] Bell no. 3 written on inside cover. Most likely to be a continuation of the scrapsbooks titled Joshua Bell (1) and Joshua Bell (2) that were collated by Catherine Bell. This scrapbook contains: newspaper cuttings relating to the death of Joshua Bell in 1911; a picture of "J.T.B's 'digs' at Trinity Hall, Cambridge; newpaper cuttings about Joshua Thomas Bells' father, Joshua Peter Bell; newspaper cuttings about Jimbour House and it's sale after the deather of Joshua Thomas Bell; handwritten notes; correspondence; articles about Dalby history. There are 88 b&w photographs including: Trinity Hall, Cambridge; Bell Monument Dalby; Jimbour House; Jinny Maxwell; 151 Moray Street New Farm; Catherine Bell; Joshua Thomas Bell; Joshua Peter Ferguson Bell; Margot Margaret Maxwell Bell; the Bell Monument at Toowong Cemetery; Rakeevan; Enid; Kitty; Ella; and Kitty's house Graceville. After the death of Catherine Bell in 1943 additional newspaper cuttings have been added to the scrapbook, most relating to Joshua Peter Ferguson Bell.

Handmade photograph album with gold embossed title on cover The tour of His Excellency the Governor through Northern & Western Queensland, 1908. Cover has the top left-hand cover torn away thus first words of the inscription on the inside cover is missing: [To Colin] Bell from Ralph Verney in remembrance of a very pleasant tour. Ralph Verney was aide-de-camp to the Governor. The Governor, Frederick John Napier Thesiger, (Lord Chelmsford) accompanied by the Minister for Lands, Joshua Thomas Bell, left Brisbane on June 13 on a tour in Northern and North-western Queensland. Photographs:

1. A change of horses
2. Constable Dick
3. Irvinebank
4. Inspector Malone
5. The native cooks at Forest Home
6. Forest Home
7. An Aboriginal
8. Forest Home
9. His Excellency’s Goat Escort at Georgetown
10. His Excellency’s Goat escort at Georgetown
11. Main St, Georgetown
12. The luggage, Mr Mooney and Mr Smith
13. Floraville Post Office
14. Warandingo
15. The start from Inverleigh Station
16. Our hotel at Burketown
17. Burketown water supply
18. Burketown bore
19. Gregory Downs Hotel
20. Rocklands
21. A Bore at Rocklands
22. Gate in Boundary fence between Queensland and Northern Territory
23. Boundary fence between Queensland and Northern Territory
24. Colin Bell on the left, His Excellency, and Inspector McGrath on the right
25. A midday meal
26. Our Camp
27. The Australian Gum Trees
28. Roughing it
29. A midday halt
30. Colin Bell (1867-1934) on the trip with the Governor, and his brother Joshua Thomas Bell who was Minister for Lands and The Speaker
31. Packing up in the morning
32. On the road [in horse drawn carriage]
33. Coming out of the Leichhardt river [in horse drawn carriage]
34. The Leichhardt River
35. The bath at Rocklands
36. Harnessing up
37. On the road
38. The luggage buggy on the road
39. Starting for the days journey
40. Putting in the horses
41. Native Trackers
42. Native Trackers
43. Colin Bell and Fogarty bringing the horses out

‘Codrington Crawshay’, with note on first page ‘In the possession of the Hon. J. T. Bell. Circ. 1980-9’, typescript, 3 pages, 2 copies, and copy of first page, undated [Extract from ‘The Northern Miner’, Mon 25 Apr 1910]

‘Recollections of the Darling Downs – 45 years ago’ by FRA Rickards, 3 typed copies of a letter from FRA Rickards to JT Bell, with cover note, 2 Nov 1909. Joshua Thomas Bell asked that F.R.A. Rickards write to him with his recollections of the Darlings Downs. The letter, only just over a foolscap page of typescript, from Rickards mentions various towns, farming stations, and people of the area. There are three typescript copies of the letter with the a typescript page attached to each explaining how Rickards wrote to Bell.

‘Recollections of the Darling Downs – 45 years ago’ by FRA Rickards, 3 typed copies of a letter from FRA Rickards to JT Bell, with cover note, 2 Nov 1909. Joshua Thomas Bell asked that F.R.A. Rickards write to him with his recollections of the Darlings Downs. The letter, only just over a foolscap page of typescript, from Rickards mentions various towns, farming stations, and people of the area. There are three typescript copies of the letter with the a typescript page attached to each explaining how Rickards wrote to Bell.

This file has three typescript copies (two are carbon copies) of 'Recollections of Thomas Davis' collected by Steele Rudd, two of which have a note in the top right-hand corner 'In the posession [sic] of Hon. Joshua Thomas Bell circ. 1908-9'. One copy has handwritten emandations.

These recollections were shared with his son, Arthur Hoey Davis (1868-1935) (whose pen name was Steele Rudd) mostly likely in the early 1900's. Thomas Davis was a former convict. His memoir covers the period from 1849 to the separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Davis initially worked with J. C. Burnett's Survey Party. He recounts stories of the places he visited and their history, various encounters with local indigenous groups and individuals, language and culture of the Aboriginal people of the area, kinship system in the Maronoa and Balonne region, and a list of more than 100 names and phrases in the dialect of the people of the Balonne, Dawson and Comet river. Joshua Peter Bell is mentioned several times in memoir. This and other recollections by Thomas Davis were collected by Joshua Thomas Bell in the first decade of the 20th century.

Handwritten letters, most are addressed to 'My dear Collie'. Letters include: to 'My dear Collie' from 'your affectionate Mother, Margaret M. Bell'; letters, incoming and outgoing between Lady Bell and Daly & Schacht Solicitors; letter to Lady Bell from C. V. Hellicar (Solicitor); letters to 'My dear Mama' signed your affect. son Joshua T. Bell' (on letterhead for The Parliament of Queensland Library); letter to 'My dear Mama' from 'your affect. son Oswald M Bell' (on letterhead of Daly & Schacht Solicitors). Most of these letters relate to the financial matters.