Brisbane Race Days. The Moreton Bay Races, 1846. The first edition of the Moreton Bay Courier contains the first-ever account of the local race day. Four years after the Settlement was opened to people other than soldiers and convicts, the local ‘gentry’ raced their horses at New Farm. “Boasting more than an average of respectability!”Continue reading “A Day at the Races.”
Author Archives: Karen B
Amateur historian and writer.
Footy Fever, 1888-style.
How ‘Melbourne Football’ found a home in Brisbane in the 1880s. As the Brisbane and Sydney teams prepare to play the AFL grand final next weekend, Melbourne footy followers have sensibly aligned themselves into South Melbourne Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club supporters. (After all, they argue, both clubs were proudly Melbourne clubs before expansion.)Continue reading “Footy Fever, 1888-style.”
School Holiday Ideas from Old Queensland.
Stuck for ideas for entertaining the little ones over the school holidays? Never fear, colonial Queensland has the inspiration you need. Swimming. Let your children run free in the surf. Preferably, yards from any supervising adults. Or, if it has been raining too much for the beach, consider alternative options. There’s nothing wrong with allowingContinue reading “School Holiday Ideas from Old Queensland.”
Queensland Ladies Wear the Fashions of the 1800s.
This sketch by Charles Rawson of the Rawson men admiring their wives’ new outfits (all the way from England!), shows how the better-off women stayed in touch with fashion. Decima and Winifred would have been the toast of Mackay in 1877 in their actually-from-England finery. Lesser mortals had to be content with at best, theContinue reading “Queensland Ladies Wear the Fashions of the 1800s.”
The News for 20 September (1851).
Page 1. Classified Advertising. James Swan, of the Courier Office, was selling off a small library of incredibly dull books. The works on offer included The Christian in Palestine, Brown’s Family Bible, Partington’s History and Views of London, D’Aubigne’s History of the Reformation, Fleming on the Papacy, Simpson’s Plea for Religion, Book for Mothers and,Continue reading “The News for 20 September (1851).”
The Amity Convicts – Success Stories and Recidivists.
James Byrne – the man of several names. One of the Amity convicts was recorded as James Byrnes, per Asia 2. He also went by James Burns and John Burns. To further confuse, there were two convicts named John Burns aboard the Asia in 1822. One was tried in Liverpool, the other Surrey. In theContinue reading “The Amity Convicts – Success Stories and Recidivists.”
The Amity Convicts – Lewis Lazarus and Dominic Marley.
Lewis Lazarus. There were two young men named Lewis Lazarus who were sent to Moreton Bay in its early years. Lewis Lazarus 1 (1803-1843) came per the Amity on 14 September 1824.[i] Lewis Lazarus had a short but action-packed life. On 2 December 1817, aged fourteen, he was found guilty of picking the fob-watch outContinue reading “The Amity Convicts – Lewis Lazarus and Dominic Marley.”
The Amity Convicts – Four Convict Artisans.
A series of posts to commemorate 200 years since the Amity arrived at Redcliffe with convicts in September 1824. Robert Butler, carpenter. Felix Fairley’s Bristol Journal of 16 January 1819 noted approvingly that Liverpool’s streets had been cleared of mendicants and beggars. This was due, it said, to the exertions of the Chief Magistrate inContinue reading “The Amity Convicts – Four Convict Artisans.”
The Amity Convicts: Some Useful Trades for the Settlement.
George Gunningham – stonemason. George Gunningham was a tall, fair-haired stonemason from Taunton, born at the turn of the 19th century. George made two mistakes in his life. Both earned him transportation to a penal colony. At the Somerset Lent Assizes of 1823, George Gunningham was convicted of larceny, and given fourteen years’ transportation toContinue reading “The Amity Convicts: Some Useful Trades for the Settlement.”
The Amity Convicts – “a Radically Bad and Infamous Character.”
William Saunders or Sanders was born in Birmingham around 1795, and was a seaman and smith by trade. At the Surrey Quarter Sessions of March 1817, Saunders was convicted of “robbing Bleachgreen”, and sentenced to be transported for fourteen years. Thief. Saunders arrived in Sydney on the Larkins on 22 November 1817. He was 5Continue reading “The Amity Convicts – “a Radically Bad and Infamous Character.””
Moreton Bay and More 