A pictorial trip through Brisbane Town, taking in the main areas we now call the central business district. All images unless otherwise stated are from the State Library of Queensland. Queen Street George Street South Brisbane Notable Buildings and Sites Views
Category Archives: Early Photographs
The A-Z of Old Brisbane: Belmont.
A photographic journey through the origins of the suburb of Belmont. Above left: Sorting wool at Belmont Wool scour, Queensland, 1900-1910. Original version: photographic print: black & white, 1900-1910, Negative number: 168815. Summary: Workers sorting wool at the Belmont wool scour in the early 1900s. Large bales are open revealing the fleece. State Library ofContinue reading “The A-Z of Old Brisbane: Belmont.”
The A-Z of Old Brisbane: Bowen Hills
A photographic look at one of Brisbane’s oldest suburbs. Bowen Hills was named (like rather a lot of things and places) after Queensland’s first Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen. It grew into a district in the 1860s, and many of its landmark places and buildings are still in existence, including Cintra House, Bowen Park, theContinue reading “The A-Z of Old Brisbane: Bowen Hills”
A-Z of Old Brisbane: Aspley and Auchenflower.
Aspley Aspley, 12 kilometres north of the CBD, was a semi-rural area until Brisbane’s housing belt expanded in the 1970s. There were land sales in the area more than 120 years prior to that, and the area around the Gympie Road became home to small farm holdings, such as the Matthews’. Gympie Road was theContinue reading “A-Z of Old Brisbane: Aspley and Auchenflower.”
A-Z of Old Brisbane: Ascot and Ashgrove.
Ascot through the years. Ascot and Ashgrove are now inner Brisbane suburbs, being 6 and 5 kilometres from the Central Business District respectively. The history of Ascot is intertwined with the name Eagle Farm, although Eagle Farm is today a separate suburb. In the 1830s, the Female Factory was located at Eagle Farm, and theContinue reading “A-Z of Old Brisbane: Ascot and Ashgrove.”
Bridal Fashion in old Queensland.
Ruffles, flounces and tiny waists never went out of style. Miss Hirst, pictured on her wedding day in 1872, is the very picture of the Victorian bride. She is veiled and ruffled, with butterflies embroidered on the netting over the skirt. In the original photograph, her headpiece had details hand-painted in, and I suspect thatContinue reading “Bridal Fashion in old Queensland.”
The Wedding Party.
There’s nothing like a big family wedding. It’s a chance to get everyone you love together to celebrate the happy occasion of your wedding. It’s a chance for future in-laws to carry out minute social inspections of each other. (The results of which will inevitably be damning, and will be aired after any occasion atContinue reading “The Wedding Party.”
Cheer up, ladies!
It’s just until death you do part… It was a societal norm that one didn’t grin like an idiot when one’s photograph was being taken. The time for exposure in early photographs was such that holding a smile for that long would result in an unhinged appearance. However, we’re so accustomed to wedding photographs showingContinue reading “Cheer up, ladies!”
A Day at the Races.
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.”
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.”
Moreton Bay and More 