Karen B

STRAY LEAVES FROM THE NOTES OF A “NEW CHUM.”

Some of Windmill’s finest writing is to be found in this wild flight of the imagination, published in the Moreton Bay Courier on April 14, 1849. Our Windmill Reporter conjures up an imaginary journal of a recent arrival, detailing the New Chum’s journey to the Alpine region of the Northern Darling Downs. Windmill anticipates flyingContinue reading “STRAY LEAVES FROM THE NOTES OF A “NEW CHUM.””

175 years ago, the Moreton Bay Courier was born

On Saturday 20 June 1846, the Moreton Bay Courier was published for the first time. Four years had passed since free settlers had been allowed in to the district, and some enterprising individuals decided that a local newspaper would be just the ticket for an outpost of New South Wales, some 500 miles from theContinue reading “175 years ago, the Moreton Bay Courier was born”

Their lot is not a happy one.

Just look what they have to wear. Pity the modern police officers patrolling the Queen Street Mall on a hot summer’s day, lugging around their belts full of assorted law enforcement goodies – comms, tazers, pepper spray, truncheons and the like. All the better to be prepared for a turbulent populace. At least the modernContinue reading “Their lot is not a happy one.”

KANGAROO POINT INTELLIGENCE

Before the Windmill, our intrepid reporter was stationed at Kangaroo Point, across the river from Old Brisbane Town. His location did not provide him a great deal of material for his columns, but he took the opportunity to provide some fine comedy about his fruitless search for copy. For historical context, the gruesome murder ofContinue reading “KANGAROO POINT INTELLIGENCE”

The Fatal Effects of Intemperance.

It was 1847. The convict settlement was gone and free settlers had begun to come in to Brisbane Town. A few small houses and stores had begun to crop up on the main street – Queen Street – and at remote places like South Brisbane and Kangaroo Point. A few rough pubs and inns cateredContinue reading “The Fatal Effects of Intemperance.”

Another Despatch from the Windmill Reporter.

Moreton Bay Courier, 25 December 1852. From our Windmill Reporter Pistol HOT weather, and hard work at Charet’s[i] celebrated gold field in this neighbourhood, make me little inclined to communicate with you after my long silence, more especially as I am rather alarmed about one Pistol[ii], whose admiring friends run about frightening all the oldContinue reading “Another Despatch from the Windmill Reporter.”

The Hard Times

Tales from Early Queensland The first European inhabitants of Queensland consisted wholly of those who had no choice in their destination. They were the convicts, soldiers and officials who made up the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement. Upon its demise in 1842, very few remained to take part in the opening-up to free settlement. The ColonialContinue reading “The Hard Times”

History in our midst – the Mooney Memorial Fountain.

On Eagle Street, an ornate Victorian drinking fountain sits in the midst of towering buildings, Moreton Bay fig trees and oblivious foot traffic. It was erected in the memory of a young volunteer fireman, James Mooney, who died of scalding and burns in March 1877, trying to save a block of buildings in Queen Street.Continue reading “History in our midst – the Mooney Memorial Fountain.”

The Windmill Reporter Predicts a Flood, 1848.

TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCH. (From our Windmill Reporter.) The Flood. I am happy to inform you that my elevated position has given me an opportunity of reporting to you the intended proceedings of the flood which has been for the last six years expected in Brisbane. The right wing of the flood will land at South Brisbane,Continue reading “The Windmill Reporter Predicts a Flood, 1848.”

The Five Stages of Inebriation and the 19th Century Scribe.

The court reporters of the 19th century had a distinctive turn of phrase. Flowery and humorous when describing the fairly harmless activities of the town tosspots, their penny-a-lining output is best illustrated by “The Five Stages of Inebriation,” a series of photographs taken in the 1860s by Charles Percy Pickering. (These gems, currently reposing theContinue reading “The Five Stages of Inebriation and the 19th Century Scribe.”