It is thought that he came to Queensland in 1889 from Sydney, when he brought up to Townsville for the Hayles brothers, the boat with which they commenced their ferry service to Magnetic Island.
[1] By c. 1900 the Garner family had settled in Cardwell, and in the early 1900s were engaged in ferrying stores, plants and equipment for the Chinese who were establishing banana plantations along the Hull River, and lightering plantation produce to the coastal steamers offshore, for transport to southern markets.
[1] Late in 1910, ET Garner made application to select portion 10v, parish of Hull, a block of just under 160 acres (65 ha) along Muff Creek, with a coastal frontage (now known as Garners Beach), extending from a promontory on the coast just north of Middle Beach, northwest to Cedar Creek.
In December 1910, ET Garner was granted a 20-year lease on the block from 1 January 1911, and was issued with a license to occupy it as an Agricultural Farm (AF 755).
Several shipping companies – Adelaide Steamship, Howard Smith and AUSN lines – regularly picked up plantation produce off the various beaches or stream-mouths.
They transported intending settlers, goods and supplies upstream, and farm produce downstream and out to the shipping company boats offshore.
When sugar farms were established in the hinterland in the early 1910s, the Garners commenced lime production, blasting coral from King Reefs with gelignite.
This was burnt at Garners Beach, and transported by boat to South Johnstone, for sale to sugar cane farmers.
Four 4-roomed houses of silky oak with galvanised iron roofs (prefabricated buildings shipped from Townsville) had been constructed, and improvements included outbuildings and a lime kiln.
The principal shipping companies, with many of their vessels commandeered for war purposes, curtailed their coastal trade, and Clump Point settlers like the Garners lost access to southern markets.
However, until the completion of the North Coast railway line from Brisbane to Cairns in 1924, ET Garner still found work for his boats, which his daughter helped him to run.
The loss of markets was compounded by a severe cyclone in 1918, which devastated the district, destroying houses, plantations, boats and a newly completed government wharf near Clump Point.
It is understood that the galvanised iron huts were erected in the 1920s as fishing/holiday accommodation for use by the Garner family, their visitors and paying holiday-makers, but served a more charitable purpose during the 1930s.
[1] By October 1939, EH Garner was making little use of Wilford Hill other than to run a few dairy cattle, devoting most of his time to operating a hire boat, taking fishing parties to the Great Barrier Reef.
[1] ET Garner died at Tully District Hospital on 4 July 1945, aged 86 years, and was buried the next day at the Clump Point Private Cemetery.
[1] Garners Beach Burial Ground was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 23 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.
[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.