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The Diaries of the explorer-settlers Joseph Hann and his son, William were donated by the late Edgar Clarke of Maryvale Station to the Library of James Cook University of North Queensland in the 1960's. Since that time, another descendant of the Hanns, Harry Clarke of Fanning River Station has laboured to transcribe the almost unreadable records left by his ancestors. Without his infinite patience and unflagging enthusiasm which took well over a decade, these diaries would have remained forever undeciphered, and the full story of the Hann's several journeys would have been lost to scholarship and history.

William Hann was born in Wiltshire, England on 26 February 1837 and arrived in Australia in 1851 with his parents, Joseph and Elizabeth (nee Sharpe) Hann, two brothers and a sister. After some years in Victoria the family moved to northern Queensland and settled on Bluff Downs in the Burdekin country. In 1864 William took up Maryvale, on a branch of the Clarke River adjoining Bluff Downs, in partnership with his brother Frank and Richard Daintree. The Hann brothers were the first to take wool to the new northern post of Cleveland Bay [Townsville] which had been founded in 1865. The 'Townsville Daily Bulletin' of April 6th 1889 reported on his tragic accidental death. "A gloom was cast over the town when it became know that William Hann had lost his life while swimming in the bay, directly in front of the 'Queen's Hotel' where he had been staying with his wife, Mary, and business partner, John Watson. William Hann died on 5th April, 1889, aged 52 years and was buried in the West End Cemetery, Townsville." A daring horseman and a first-class bushman, Hann was notable among the first generation of North Queenslanders." -- Australian Encyclopedia, 6th edition (Australian Geographic c1996.)