Want to know what happened on this day in history? The office bearers of the Ancient Order of Foresters, Court Fortitude, No. 2701 (Fortitude Valley) for a particular year? What to plant in one’s kitchen garden in August? The signals in use at the Brisbane Signal Station for a vessel from the New Hebrides? When a resident of Walloon could reasonably expect their post? Where one may find a Professor of Music? Look it up in Pugh’s Almanac, of course!
Almanacs go back to pre-Christian times, recording the meteorological and astrological observations for a year, and are still published today. Queensland’s version was Pugh’s Almanac, which was published under that title from 1859 to 1927. The official name altered over the years, but generally ran to something like this: “Pugh’s Queensland Almanac, Law Calendar, Directory, Coast Guide, Gazetteer, And Men of The Time.”
John Oxley Library.
The Pugh of Pugh’s Almanac was Theophilus Parsons Pugh, a dynamic settler whose resume included, but was not limited to, the Almanac, Government Printer, Journalist, Newspaper Editor and Publisher, Magistrate, Politician, Public Servant and advocate for Separation.
Pugh had been born in the West Indies to a Wesleyan missionary family, enjoyed a sound education in the Old County, then emigrated to Moreton Bay in 1855. Pugh’s peers nicknamed him “The Industrious Flea”, as he was smallish in stature, and an energetic and rather excitable man. Just the sort of chap to get an authoritative Almanac under way a mere four years after arrival.
Hello Pugh, can you tell me …?
The Weather for february?
What to plant in my Kitchen Garden this month?
As well as the wealth of detail on the weather, the gardening guides for each month, separated into Kitchen Garden, Fruit Garden, Flower Garden and Field, were written by Walter Hill, the Director of the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane. Careful attention was given to explaining the climate, and the conditions to expect.
What happened in history, and the phases of the moon?
Exhaustive lists of postal routes, terrain descriptions, navigation aids and public office holders swelled the Almanac to over 300 pages. Pugh saw that residents of a sparsely-populated new Colony spread over 1,727,000 square kilometres needed as much practical information as they could lay their hands on.
what happened last year?
The monthly record of the previous year’s events, all crammed together, can startle modern readers. Was the explosion of gas under the Theatre Royal in Brisbane? Hang on, France and cholera?
where to get a shower bath, leeches and coffins?
The Advertisements are a treasure. Here’s a sample from 1868:
All of this 19th century time-capsule goodness can be found online at Text Queensland, together with many scholarly journals, research papers and out of print books.
Moreton Bay and More 