The A-Z of Old Brisbane – Fairfield, Fig Tree Pocket and Fortitude Valley.
Fairfield
Fairfield’s European history began around 1850, with the establishment of dairy farms in its wetlands. The photographs here show the gradual development from farming to suburb through the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Photograph of a painting of the Wurtemburg Farm at Fairfield in the 1880s.
High-set timber house on Fairfield Road, 1910.
L: R Crump’s Family Butcher Shop on Boggo Road, c. 1894. R: Fairfield and Dutton Park area, 1920s (BCC).
As the name suggests, this suburb is tucked away in a bend in the river. Europeans started to move into the area in the 1860s – 1870s, but the relative distance from the rest of Brisbane kept the population low until the late 20th century. I was charmed the first time I saw a bus with the name “Fig Tree Pocket Rocket” pass by in Adelaide Street.
View from Oxley to Fig Tree Pocket, 1890.
Horse and sulky at Fig Tree Pocket, early 1900s (BCC).
Alsatian dog and koala at the Lone Pine Sanctuary, 1950s (BCC). Visiting celebrities were apparently unable to escape being taken to Lone Pine, and having their photo taken with a koala. Jimmy Carter was peed on by a koala there in the 80s. He was incredibly diplomatic about it.
Fortitude Valley.
Fortitude Valley has one of the older European footprints, having been settled by, and named after, the Fortitude immigrants in the late 1840s. Not long afterwards, the camera came into use, and thus we have a record of life in Fortitude Valley from the mid-1860s to today.
The home of Daniel and Elizabeth Allen, 1867.
The Finney Isles & Co Store, 1868.
Fortitude Valley Forrester’s Hall, 1875.
Royal George Hotel, 1876.
James Pepperell’s Valley Cooperative Store, 1884.
The first Bank of New South Wales, Fortitude Valley, 1890.
Fortitude Valley residents saving their belongings during the 1893 flood.
Moore’s Cash Store, Commercial Road, 1894.
The Fortitude Valley Parsonage, 1880s (BCC).
A busy street scene, Brunswick Street, 1898.
Men and boys outside the Fortitude Valley polling booth for the 1899 Federation Referendum
The Fortitude Valley Post Office, opened in 1900 (BCC).
The Fortitude Valley Police Station and Gaol, 1906 (BCC).
Moreton Bay and More 