How 1849 came to Brisbane

From the Windmill Reporter When the iron tongue of the Experiment’s bell announced to the universe the arrival of midnight, strange and diabolical sounds issued from the neighbourhood of South Brisbane. A combination of roaring, yelling, singing, and huzzaing, mingled with the spirited barking of youthful dogs, and the melancholy howling of the more agedContinue reading “How 1849 came to Brisbane”

From Kangaroo Point to the Mountstuart Elphinstone

As seen by the Windmill Reporter, 3 November 1849. Our Windmill Reporter was a regular feature in the early days of the Moreton Bay Courier. Claiming to reside in the Old Windmill in Spring Hill, the writer observed local growth and progress. In this dispatch, the author notes the first signs of civilisation at KangarooContinue reading “From Kangaroo Point to the Mountstuart Elphinstone”

February 20, 1872 – the death of Andrew Petrie.

DEATH OF MR. ANDREW PETRIE, SEN. The death of the oldest free resident in our community and colony, is an event not to be allowed to happen without notice; and the aged, revered, and useful citizen who has just left our world for a better was no ordinary man. The name of ANDREW PETRIE isContinue reading “February 20, 1872 – the death of Andrew Petrie.”

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.”