Karen B

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.”

Vice-Regal Families

Being Governor of the Colony of Queensland was not an easy task. The Colony separated from New South Wales in 1859, with the arrival of Sir George and Lady Bowen, transitioning to a State in 1901 with Lord and Lady Lamington. In between those dates, the men and women of the first families were testedContinue reading “Vice-Regal Families”

Life on the Rivers

A leisurely tour of river views from the 19th century. No raging torrents or floods, just peaceful river views.

Marriage and crime

Bigamy is much less common today. Paperwork is digitised, and marriage is no longer the sole criteria under which two mutually attracted adults may live under one roof. And for that, women should be eternally grateful. One hundred years ago, an unhappy or hasty marriage was for life. The law was written to preserve theContinue reading “Marriage and crime”

Richard Daintree Photographs

Englishman Richard Daintree joined the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s. He had no success in prospecting, but became a geologist, surveyor and photographer. Here are some of his photos of outback Queensland in the 1860s. Gold prospecting was a long, hard, often fruitless slog. Daintree’s photographs of the area, and the characters who workedContinue reading “Richard Daintree Photographs”