Burton, Matthew

BURTON, Matthew jnr (1826-1873) was born at Sutton on the Forrest, Yorkshire, England, son of Matthew Burton, farmer, and Elizabeth Sunley. He had trained as a joiner by 1854 when he married Sophia Gill at Manchester in 1854. After arriving in Brisbane in May 1855 he built several houses including one of brick in Creek St which he rented. In November 1859. Burton served on a committee chaired by JD HEAL which organised a welcome to the Governor by a Brisbane’s working men to celebrate the inauguration of Queensland. From 1863 until 1865, he was in partnership with James POLWARTH as BURTON & POLWARTH for Quarantine Buildings, Stradbroke Is. Following the financial crisis of 1866, he was contractor at St Lawrence, Central Queensland, where he built three pilot and boatmen’s cottages when the port was established in 1868 and the telegraph station in 1869. On returning to Brisbane he became a publican in 1871, designing, building and operating the first Normanby Hotel which gave its name to the adjacent intersection on Brisbane’s northern fringe. The hotel was reconstructed in 1890 by NICHOLSON & WRIGHT.