Karen B

From Female Factories to Flying Piemen – “F” stories.

Female Factory, Queen Street The Female Factory was built during the Logan era of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement to house the unruly female offenders that Sydney was dying to get rid of. Security in the Queen Street facility was somewhat wanting, and, in order to protect the female convicts from unwanted attention from maleContinue reading “From Female Factories to Flying Piemen – “F” stories.”

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. L: R Crump’s Family Butcher Shop on Boggo Road, c. 1894. R: Fairfield and Dutton Park area, 1920s (BCC). Fig TreeContinue reading “The A-Z of Old Brisbane – Fairfield, Fig Tree Pocket and Fortitude Valley.”

The Cat Nuisance.

The Goat Nuisance was a long-standing torment to colonial Queenslanders. Goats provided milk, small-cart transport, and a free mowing service to their doting owners. To those who lived in the vicinity of a goat-owner, the manure, noise and destruction of innocent flowerbeds was intolerable. Cats were kept to keep the mice and rats down, andContinue reading “The Cat Nuisance.”

“Poor devils like myself.”

Mentally Ill Prisoners at St Helena. John Haslem. Contemporary views of Muckadilla. On Monday 20 October 1879, the mail coach was on the outskirts of Muckadilla, a settlement between Roma and Charleville, when a man approached on foot. He presented a double-barreled gun and yelled, “Stop, bail up.” The coach didn’t immediately stop, apparently toContinue reading ““Poor devils like myself.””

Railways in Old Queensland, in Pictures.

I don’t know much about trains. (Early on very still mornings, I can hear the distant sound of a train horn at Grovely Station.) However, I am aware of the profound impact of rail travel in old Queensland. Goods that had previously travelled at the speed of a bullock train could arrive in hours onContinue reading “Railways in Old Queensland, in Pictures.”

Who stole the pawnbroker’s golden balls?

In the early 1860s, things went a bit bonkers – politically, legally and socially. It was as if the thrill of Separation in 1859 went to everyone’s collective head. Governing the new colony was a fraught affair. The elected members – largely of the squatter class – struggled with the mechanics of Government and aContinue reading “Who stole the pawnbroker’s golden balls?”

The man who loved horses.

Highway Robbery at Kangaroo Point Samuel Fletcher loved horses. To be precise, he loved horses that weren’t his own. A horse was an expensive proposition – why pay for one? That was Samuel’s mindset back when he was a lad in Nottingham – he worked as a groom[i], and was surrounded by fine horses allContinue reading “The man who loved horses.”

All for refusing a drink.

“Like most of his class, he continued constantly drinking.” Moreton Bay Courier, 1847 Henry Caldicott’s life was looking up. He had some money in his pocket, a ticket of leave, and some time off. He’d come from a station on the Logan after boiling down season and was in Limestone (Ipswich), and ready for aContinue reading “All for refusing a drink.”

A true Brisbane pioneer.

One of Brisbane’s notable early townsfolk was a man who set up a thriving business and raised a well-known family. He bought and sold a fortune in property, and when he passed away he was remembered as a pioneer of Old Brisbane. And he wasn’t English or Irish. His name was Dabee Singh, and heContinue reading “A true Brisbane pioneer.”

John Oxley meets Thomas Pamphlet, November 1823.

On Saturday 29 November 1823, John Oxley was taking soundings off what is now called Bribie Island. He was on a surveying journey to this this little-known part of the colony with a view to the suitability of the area for yet another penal establishment. (Nice to know that we owe our city to theContinue reading “John Oxley meets Thomas Pamphlet, November 1823.”