Karen B

On this day: A Night of Fires, 1866

October 8, 1866 From the Brisbane Courier. GREAT FIRE IN THE CITY. TWELVE HOUSES DESTROYED. A FIRE, only surpassed in magnitude by the two great fires of a year or two ago, occurred in Queen-street last night, being the third great conflagration which has happened in the principal thoroughfare of the city. It took placeContinue reading “On this day: A Night of Fires, 1866”

Tales from the Proserpine: the orphan who lived long and prospered.

The Proserpine was converted from a cattle ship to a prison hulk in 1863, and was repurposed again in 1871 to “to receive boys of the criminal class.”[i] The criminal class included children who had been brought before the Bench as neglected. Neglected children are held, by the sixth clause of the Act, to meanContinue reading “Tales from the Proserpine: the orphan who lived long and prospered.”

Richard Daintree’s Queensland

Richard Daintree (1831-1878) was a geologist and photographer who worked on the Victorian Goldfields after graduating from Cambridge University. In 1865, Daintree moved to North Queensland and began recording his observations, leading to an appointment as Government Geologist for the region. His Victorian works are justly celebrated, but he also managed to capture the earliestContinue reading “Richard Daintree’s Queensland”

Waterloo, Trafalgar and Dunwich

Veterans of the Napoleonic Wars must have been a tough breed. A handful of them lived hard lives in Queensland, still working at hard physical labour in their seventies and eighties. There was no aged pension, and injury or illness in a labouring man removed their only means of earning a living. The Dunwich BenevolentContinue reading “Waterloo, Trafalgar and Dunwich”

Alas, poor Hamlet.

One of the more plaintive entries in the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum Admission Book reads: “I can’t remember anything about my early history – I was put in Diamantina Orphanage when an infant. I was there 11 years. Then was employed by Thomas Allen, Greenmount, 4 years. Then put in Toowoomba Hospital 3 years. Last 2Continue reading “Alas, poor Hamlet.”

Homes, Decor and Gardens in the 19th Century.

How did people live in a certain time and place? What were their homes and lives like? Thanks to the invention of photography, we can see some of colonial Queensland, from the slab and bark huts built by Europeans as they started their lives on the land they had claimed, to the substantial and class-definedContinue reading “Homes, Decor and Gardens in the 19th Century.”

Holidays Ahoy!

Two weeks of sweet Spring freedom are drawing near for the State’s schoolchildren. Let Colonial Queenslanders be your guide to recreation and getaway ideas. So, let’s make sure we’re dressed as formally as possible, and remember to bring your paints and brushes or your new-fangled camera. In and Around Brisbane A Trip to the GardensContinue reading “Holidays Ahoy!”

The Murder of a French Hermit at Sandgate

“An extremely painful sensation pervaded the quiet little community at Sandgate when it became known that Germain Dubrocca, a French recluse of industrious habits and inoffensive disposition, had been done to death in the most violent, brutal, and cowardly manner within a distance of less than three miles of the township. A survey party workingContinue reading “The Murder of a French Hermit at Sandgate”

A Law to Control the Poor

Mug Shots 1875 – Vagrancy Until 2005, Queensland had an antiquated statue on the books called Vagrants, Gaming And Other Offences Act 1931. It was a gloriously haphazard collection of offences, including, but not limited to: The Act’s purpose was “to make better provision for the prevention and punishment of offences by vagrants and disorderlyContinue reading “A Law to Control the Poor”

The Man Who Invented His Life

In December 1865, a man named James Keane recorded his history in the Register of Admissions to Dunwich Benevolent Asylum.[1] It was certainly impressive: “Arrived in Sydney by the Shamrock from Liverpool A.D. 1845. Employed by Messrs. Stenhouse and Hardy Solicitors, Elizabeth Street, Sydney. Was for a considerable time Editor of the “Moreton Bay Courier”Continue reading “The Man Who Invented His Life”