How did we entertain ourselves in those first days of free settlement? In the rough and ready early years, sawyers, blacksmiths and stockmen from out of town congregated in places with names like the Sawyer’s Arms and the Bush Commercial Inn. Apart from hard-working men getting really quite drunk together, organized public entertainments took aContinue reading “Foot Races, Amateur Theatrics and an Influx of Wizards: Pre-Separation Entertainment in Moreton Bay.”
Category Archives: Early Photographs
School Days
Mrs Esther Roberts was Queensland’s first schoolteacher, brought up to the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement in 1826 to instruct the children of the 57th Regiment under Captain Logan’s command. The curriculum is lost to time, but it is safe to assume the children (8 boys and 8 girls) were taught reading and writing, some mathematics,Continue reading “School Days”
February 13, 1863 – Fearful gales and wild weather
As the Severe Weather warnings roll across Queensland, a timely reminder that this is not unusual. At all. Throughout the whole of yesterday the wind blew strongly in fitful squalls from the eastward and south-east, and the rain fell without intermission, occasionally pouring down in drenching showers. As it had also rained through the previousContinue reading “February 13, 1863 – Fearful gales and wild weather”
The Sporting Life 1870-1890
Football Australian Rules The more things change… The great difference between these teams over the years is professionalism. The early teams played in their spare time for the sheer fun of it. Their uniforms lacked coherence and they weren’t as fit as the teams today, but the people and their relaxed attitude are pretty much theContinue reading “The Sporting Life 1870-1890”
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.”
People in the 1860s and 1870s
The colouring of this photo gives a wonderful immediacy to this photograph of a group of settlers near Gympie. Frustratingly, we don’t know why they are, and can’t trace any of their journey through archival records. This post will introduce you to some of the people of Queensland in the 1860s and 1870s, captured inContinue reading “People in the 1860s and 1870s”
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”
Leisure in the 1860s and 1870s
As the decade began, more people had access to cameras, and set about recording their daily lives with a passion. Of course, the middle and upper classes had more access to both leisure and photography, so much of the activity recorded here is of a class of people who could afford to record their activities.Continue reading “Leisure in the 1860s and 1870s”
Haunting images and odd details in 19th century photographs
The first photo is haunting. It is called “The Gold Escort” and features the first two Police officers killed on active duty in Queensland, and their murderer, Gold Commissioner Thomas Griffin. The people in the photograph are (seated, left to to right: Sergeant James Julian, Constable Patrick William Cahill, Constable John Francis Power, Gold CommissionerContinue reading “Haunting images and odd details in 19th century photographs”
Moreton Bay and More 