A snapshot of the celebrations across Queensland. Brisbane – a Regatta and the Races in a delicious breeze. THE advent of the New Year was celebrated by the citizens of Brisbane in a manner worthy of the occasion. The weather was delightful; the sun was very warm, as must be expected at this season ofContinue reading “Happy New Year (1866, that is)!”
Category Archives: Entertainment
A Sack of Ghosts, Desiccated Canaries, Kilts v Trousers
THE STRANGE WORLD OF THE EARLY 1870s, AS SEEN IN THE CLASSIFIEDS The School of the Arts, hitherto a rather stodgy institution, offered the most peculiar entertainments in the early 1870s. Not since the outbreak of wizardry in the 1850s had Brisbane flocked to anything like Chapman’s Wonders: Legerdemain effects involve sleight of hand, presumablyContinue reading “A Sack of Ghosts, Desiccated Canaries, Kilts v Trousers”
Harry Shepperson: the stationer who ran away with the actress.
NOTABLE BRISBANE PIONEERS Henry William Shepperson was a well-known and respectable book-seller and stationer in Brisbane in the 1860s and 1870s. He produced beautiful calendars and religious pamphlets for St John’s Anglican Cathedral. Harry was active in the Masons, and was married with children, two of whom sadly died in infancy. He was an enthusiasticContinue reading “Harry Shepperson: the stationer who ran away with the actress.”
Foot Races, Amateur Theatrics and an Influx of Wizards: Pre-Separation Entertainment in Moreton Bay.
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.”
Mr Higgins and his menagerie.
Charles Higgins had an eventful life in the Colony of Queensland. He kept pet tigers at Toombul, when it was then in the country. He ran a menagerie of exotic wild animals in George Street in the heart of Brisbane Town, suffered a severe mauling at same, donated iguanas to the Museum, and featured in a numberContinue reading “Mr Higgins and his menagerie.”
Moreton Bay and More 