Humans can’t be trusted to get things right. Every good project, worksite and swimming hole needs a dog to supervise. Sometimes a project required more than one good boy, sometimes much larger beasts waited politely for their doggy betters to give the go-ahead. Here are the good boys of Queensland in the 19th century.
Author Archives: Karen B
Amateur historian and writer.
The Roma Street Waterhole
“At the back of Rankin and Morrow’s Store, George Street, was large waterhole, a continuation of a chain of these running from the present Market reserve. The town was supplied with water for domestic purposes from this. There was no enclosure of any kind or any convenience of raising water. The waterman simply backed theirContinue reading “The Roma Street Waterhole”
A Good Talking-To.
Judges and Magistrates still have faith in the human spirit. They look at certain defendants, and see something that makes them believe that a kindly intervention early on might just change the defendant’s life. I’ve heard a Magistrate tell a weeping girl, terrified of her parents finding out about an offence, “They might be angryContinue reading “A Good Talking-To.”
Pioneer Life in the 1870s – the William Boag Photographs
In 1871, a photographer named William Boag arrived in the Colony of Queensland, and took his camera and portable darkroom on the road, exploring Brisbane and surrounds, then venturing south-west to Stanthorpe in 1872. Boag had previous experience in studio photography in Sydney, but it was out on the road, capturing people and places thatContinue reading “Pioneer Life in the 1870s – the William Boag Photographs”
A Man Apart.
CONVICT SNAPSHOTS: EDWARD STEELE Imagine being a person of colour in 1808. Now imagine being a person of colour in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1808. Your skin colour would be the first, and often the only, thing anyone noticed about you – a situation that did not change through your whole life, no matter whereContinue reading “A Man Apart.”
New Countries, New World
Convict Snapshot: John McDowall New York, 1771 John McDowall was born in New York in North America in 1771, a subject of the English Crown, like all New Yorkers at the time. As a little boy, he could explore the countryside and farmland of Manhattan, at least until the Revolutionary War and pre-war skirmishes madeContinue reading “New Countries, New World”
Habeas Corpus and a Sudden Visitation of God
Convict Snapshot: George Baxter George Baxter had led a law-abiding and successful sort of life until he got a job with rules he didn’t fully understand. He was a veteran of the 95th Regiment, and part of the Royal Veterans’ Company formed to populate New South Wales with useful, non-criminal settlers once their service wasContinue reading “Habeas Corpus and a Sudden Visitation of God”
Gentlemen with Aliases – Part 2
Meet Victor Hugo, Winston Churchill (the Plain Turkey), Professor toshima et al The 19th century was a time for criminals to adopt aliases that reflected their disruptive outlaw ways – The Wild Scotchman (James McPherson) and Henry Hunter, The Wild Frenchman, rode the backroads in the 1860s, nicking horses and emptying the mails. The SnobContinue reading “Gentlemen with Aliases – Part 2”
What do you have to do to go to Moreton Bay?
A survey of some early cases Criminal sentencing is a polarising topic – it’s not harsh enough on some criminals, too harsh on others. The press and public periodically lament the judiciary’s lack of community awareness. Life means life etc. Modern Australia does not have the death penalty, but it was well and truly onContinue reading “What do you have to do to go to Moreton Bay?”
The Brisbane Flood Anniversary
On the tenth anniversary of the floods that drenched Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley, let’s revisit the first flood to be widely photographed – the 1893 disaster. Views of the floods in Southern Queensland The water came up and the children came out… Of course, this sort of photo disturbs the modern viewer.Continue reading “The Brisbane Flood Anniversary”
Moreton Bay and More 