The woman on the riverbank. On Friday 6 July 1883, a group of boys rowing up the Brisbane River noticed a person lying on the riverbank at North Quay. They pulled over to check, and discovered that it was a young woman, who had clearly been dead for several days. The lads went to fetchContinue reading “A Disorderly House, a Fire and a Murder.”
Category Archives: Prostitution
The Hard Times
Tales from Early Queensland The first European inhabitants of Queensland consisted wholly of those who had no choice in their destination. They were the convicts, soldiers and officials who made up the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement. Upon its demise in 1842, very few remained to take part in the opening-up to free settlement. The ColonialContinue reading “The Hard Times”
Psyche Goes to Gaol
Mary Maher might have been unfortunate, might have haunted the streets, but she was far from forlorn. Mary Maher had a decent job as a cook in Brisbane’s hotels in the 1910s. She liked a drink, and found herself increasingly unable to indulge in moderation. Sadly this cost her a number of jobs and residences,Continue reading “Psyche Goes to Gaol”
The Scandalous Mrs Bailey.
The brief reign of an adventuress in Brisbane Town. Brisbane Town in 1847 was a rough and ready place. Free settlement had been permitted since 1842, but settlers faced an almost complete lack of amenities and commerce. Prior to the skilled immigration movement of Dr Lang, women fell into several distinct categories: wives of GovernmentContinue reading “The Scandalous Mrs Bailey.”
Mug Shots: The Miner from New Orleans
William Warren was born in New Orleans in 1830 and arrived in Australia in 1853 aboard a ship (also) called the New Orleans. While his family and past friends experienced the war between the States, William was in Northern Queensland, eking out a living as a miner, occasionally coming to the attention of theContinue reading “Mug Shots: The Miner from New Orleans”
Snippets: “You can hang me if you like.”
Snippets of news from the 19th century.
The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets – The Murder of German Ada
German Ada could have been saved from a fatal beating at the hands of James Gardner on the night of 21 August 1883. A neighbour heard her screams as a stammering man threatened her, and went to find the nearest police officer. This constable, on being told that violence was occurring at an address inContinue reading “The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets – The Murder of German Ada”
The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets — Bridget Byrne
Bridget Byrne was born in Ireland about 1853, and found herself in Brisbane in the 1870s. Circumstances drove her, like so many other young women at the time, to the streets. It was a time when there was no social security and the only work a woman could do was as a domestic, a shopContinue reading “The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets — Bridget Byrne”
The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets – the life of Norah O’Donnell
Norah O’Donnell was born in 1851 in Limerick, Ireland to Michael and Catherine (Kirby) O’Donnell. She was part of a large family – ten other children – who emigrated to Brisbane in 1862, as part of the assisted migration scheme. Apart from the deaths of Bridget at 22, Mary at 42 and Norah herself atContinue reading “The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets – the life of Norah O’Donnell”
The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets – the death of Bridget Lynch
Bridget Lynch was found lying unconscious and near death in an old shed in Mrs Tyrell’s house off Margaret Street, Brisbane on the 26th February 1884. She’d been living there for several weeks with John Agnew, a man who treated her poorly. Once upon a time she’d been a servant of Mrs Tyrell. Bridget wasContinue reading “The Forlorn Women Haunting Our Streets – the death of Bridget Lynch”
Moreton Bay and More 