On the first day of this year at noon there passed away from our midst an historical character in the person of the Rev. Edward Tanner.

In the days when this now important district was only known as the northern outpost of Moreton Bay, the deceased gentleman laboured as the first allotted cleric of the Anglican Church. It was early in the fifties when the murmurings of the advocates for separation from the mother colony of New South Wales were increasing to an unmistakable demand therefor that the Rev. Edward Tanner - a young, vigorous and cheerful minister - arrived in the territorially great and sparsely populated district of Wide Bay. Subsequently he went to Mackay, and after years of absence returned to Maryborough as rector of St. Paul's.

It is some 13 years since Mr. Tanner gave up active clerical life, and selected one of the finest sites in the then almost impenetrable jungle called the Woongarra. Since then he has seen the vast scrub give way to a continuity of waving cane-fields and the silence of seclusion supplanted by the shrill sounds of steam whistles and the rumbling of ponderous machinery.

In 1878 Mr. Tanner fought with much virulence a political battle against Mr. Thomas McIlwraith, by whom he was severely defeated. It was a long struggle, in which the "Mail" played a conspicuous part - invective and personal abuse ran high, but the smoke having cleared away the fire of old friendship burned more clearly, and Edward Tanner and ourselves were pleased to grasp each other's hands again.

He was a man of strong feelings, sensitive to a degree not understood by the ordinary man of the world, but he never carried animosity beyond words, and when acts were needed - when good deeds were to be done - he was ever ready to do his share.

As a man he was excessively modest - to most people too retiring in his nature - but those who know him best knew how noble were his thoughts, how true his desire to aid without having his kindness made known. As the Rev. W. Morris truly remarked at the graveside on Monday afternoon, his cheques came to him for charitable purposes with the one request that the donor's name be not mentioned.

The Rev. Edward Tanner as a preacher was one of cheerfulness. Physical infirmity of late years prevented Mr. Tanner from taking more than an occasional part in pulpit duty, but when he did so the congregation was always bettered by his effort.

In the early part of last year Mr. Tanner went to England in search of health. The air of South Wales and the attendance of the best available physicians in England and Paris, however, were powerless to avert approaching dissolution. Consequently he and Miss Tanner - a dearly devoted sister - returned by British India mailship to Queensland. They took up their residence at Wongarra Grange, where Mr. Tanner, after much suffering, awaited death. For two days previous to the final issue the unfortunate gentleman was unconscious, and he breathed his last at noon on Sunday.

The deceased was unmarried - the world of the ties of affection resting between himself and his only sister, whose grief at losing the companion of so many years must be inconsolable. On Monday afternoon the tolling of Christ Church bell betokened the funeral cortege drawing nigh. A long line of vehicles and Polynesian employees followed the casket which contained all that remained of Edward Tanner to its last resting place.

The Rev. W. Morris performed the sacred rites, and in well chosen words bore a tribute of respect and affection to the deceased. The reverend gentleman was 62 years of age at the time of his demise, 24 years of which had been spent in this part of Australia before and since it became dignified by the title of Queensland.