Pointer, Hugh

Hugh Campbell Pointer is believed to have been only the third Australian born Mayor of Toowoomba when elected to the position in 1899.

Born in Sydney in 1856, he was educated at St Peter’s and after leaving school learnt the butchering trade. Hugh Pointer arrived in Toowoomba in 1873 and joined as a partner in the old established butchering firm of Campbell Brothers.

In 1903 he retired from the butchery trade and established a stock, station and commission agency business. He was elected an alderman of the East Ward in 1898 and retired from municipal life two years later.

He lived in Hume Street and was a Justice of the Peace. In 1881 he married the daughter of John Montgomery, a railway contractor.

Historian Mr Ron Douglas has records, which show that in 1881 Hugh Pointer had a business in Ruthven Street, located on the site of the G J Coles [now Crazy Clarks] store.

The same location also at one time housed the butchery business of Boland and McHugh. Edmund Boland was also a former Mayor of Toowoomba.