From the Internet: Aussie Heritage. New Farm Park. [Brisbane, Queensland]
http://www.aussieheritage.com.au/listings/qld/New%20Farm/NewFarmPark/1310

Free settlement was introduced in 1842. The first allotments in New Farm were sold in 1844. In 1847 Mr Richard Jones, who later became the first Brisbane Member in the New South Wales Parliament, purchased 93 acres of land by the Brisbane River. This parcel included parts of the ‘new farm’ worked by the convicts. He built a house, which he called ‘New Farm’. Another early settler was Mr Henry Mathews [sic] who acquired a block of 5 acres with frontage to Merthyr Road, Bowen Terrace and Brunswick Street on which he established a plant nursery. New Farm continued to develop as an agricultural district within close proximity to the township.

1931 Australian Rose Annual
p45. Editor [T. A. Stewart]. Roses of Australia. Apparently the oldest Australian variety at present known is Matthews Surprise, raised by Henry Matthews, the father of W. J. Matthews. The latter, [the son - Patricia] who is now well up in years, is also a hybridist of repute in Queensland and as his [the son’s] first rose was sent out in 1892, Matthews Surprise [bred by the father – Patricia] must have been raised many years earlier, but the exact year is at present unknown.

Looking at the dates and classes of the roses from the two Matthew men. I feel that it is possible that the 1892 pink tea 'W. J. Matthews' may have been bred by the father, Henry Matthews and named after his son, despite the Australian Rose Annual 1931 reference which says it was bred by the son, W. J. Matthews. Here are the dates, names and classes and published breeders.

1889 Matthews Surprise - Tea. Henry Matthews
1892 W. J. Matthews - Tea. W. J. Matthews
1915 Lottie Forster - poly. (chance seedling) W. J. Matthews
1915 Our Allies - poly. W. J. Matthews
1915 Pearl - poly. W. J. Matthews
1921 Catherine Blackburn - poly. W. J. Matthews
1921 Cranbrook - poly. W. J. Matthews
1923 Mrs. Matthews - HT W. J. Matthews
1924 Baby Dorothy - poly. W. J. Matthews.

Perhaps some of the Queensland Heritage Roses in Australia Inc. people can one day shed further light on the breeder of ‘W. J. Matthews’. Some birth-death dates might be a start.