Much of the old station still exists, it’s just hidden by the newer structures, of which the less said, the better. Where the Queen Street Mall ends today. Several gentlemen demonstrating the Colonial Lean, a pose almost universal to men in outdoor studies in old Queensland. I like to think it’s a result of theContinue reading “Old Brisbane Town in Photos”
Category Archives: 1870s
James Duffy – Crime and Misfortune
Inmate No. 3 of the Proserpine. The Proserpine Reformatory couldn’t reform James Duffy. Unfortunately, nothing could. The son of a colourful ticket of leave man, young James led a life of petty crime and misadventure. James was born in Brisbane on 22 July at 1856, the third son of Timothy Duffy and Catherine Fahey. HisContinue reading “James Duffy – Crime and Misfortune”
February 6, 1872 – the Peri tragedy.
On February 6 1872, a schooner was noticed lying waterlogged off Rockingham Bay near Cardwell in North Queensland. Crew from the H.M.S. Basilisk boarded her and found a terrible scene. Three dead bodies, and fourteen starving Pacific Islanders with no food or fresh water. The Police Magistrate from Cardwell, alerted to the horror found inContinue reading “February 6, 1872 – the Peri tragedy.”
The utter misery of the studio portrait.
Les Cartes des visite A carte de visit was a calling card with one’s photograph on it. This novel alternative to embossed cards became hugely popular with the middle classes. After one went to the big ‘at home’ in the sky, it seemed a pity to throw them out, so they were kept by loving families, who lovingly stuckContinue reading “The utter misery of the studio portrait.”
Then and now.
1885: A young boy stands in an unpaved street, in front of a sail-less stone windmill and the Spring Hill Reservoir buildings. The Windmill was built in 1828-9 with convict labour to grind maize (via a treadmill also employing convict labour, the sails having proved unreliable). Damage caused by lightning in 1836, and the closureContinue reading “Then and now.”
Work and Business in the 1860s and 1870s
Separation from New South Wales, exploration and the gold rushes of the 1860s had opened up Queensland. Towns were proclaimed, from the tropical north to the far west, and businesses and infrastructure followed. Railways would gradually cross the colony, replacing the bullock teams and carts that slowly dragged goods across rough bush tracks and over creeks.Continue reading “Work and Business in the 1860s and 1870s”
Moreton Bay and More 