Mr. David R. McConnel, who was found dead in his bed at Toowoomba this morning, was for some years Director of the Brisbane Central Technical College in the early period of the Institution's existence. The college, which was founded in 1881, was under the control of a committee, and was subsidised by the Government until the latter took over technical education.
Mr. McConnel, who was a master of arts, left Queensland when the college became a State institution, and went to California, where he took a post graduate course. He later took up a position in Albania and eventually returned to Australia.
The deceased gentleman was a son of the late Mr. David Cannon McConnel and was 88 years of age. Mr. D. C. McConnel was the first pastoralist to take up land on this side of the Dividing Range. He later settled at Cressbrook, near Esk. Mr. D. R. McConnel lived in the old home at Indooroopilly and upon his determining to go to U.S.A. Mrs. McConnel, who was Miss May Jordan, a daughter of the late Mr. Henry Jordan, a well-known Minister for Lands in the olden days, gave the home to the Methodist Church for use as an orphanage. It was used in this way for a little while, and later the Queen Alexandra Home at Coorparoo was substituted for it.
'McConnel, David Rose (1854–1940)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/mcconnel-david-rose-34787/text43791, accessed 12 November 2024.
11 August,
1854
Edinburgh,
Mid-Lothian,
Scotland
22 October,
1940
(aged 86)
Toowoomba,
Queensland,
Australia
Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.