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 A-Z of Old Brisbane: Adelaide Street
One of the main thoroughfares of Brisbane’s Central Business District. Established before Brisbane had a business district. 1842 – Adelaide Street is named. Moreton Bay had been proclaimed as a place of free settlement, and Lieutenant Owen Gorman and his Regiment had been recalled, handing over management to Dr Stephen Simpson until Captain Wickham couldContinue reading “The A-Z of Old Brisbane: Adelaide Street”
The A-Z of Old Brisbane -Albion
From a bush hotel on the way to the beach to an inner-urban suburb. In 1864, Thomas Hayselden advertised for a Publican’s License to turn his property on the Sandgate Road into an “Inn or Public House” under the sign of the Albion Hotel. Sandgate was a popular seaside hamlet, but it was a deucedContinue reading “The A-Z of Old Brisbane -Albion”
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!”
The Star of the Stage.
Brisbane gradually developed a theatre scene in the 1860s. Population growth spurred a desire to see entertainments beyond improving lectures at the School of Arts, travelling circuses and magic lantern shows. 1860s Brisbane played a small, but vital, part in the growth of a theatrical dynasty that would be celebrated throughout Australia and “home” inContinue reading “The Star of the Stage.”
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.”
Footy Fever, 1888-style.
How ‘Melbourne Football’ found a home in Brisbane in the 1880s. As the Brisbane and Sydney teams prepare to play the AFL grand final next weekend, Melbourne footy followers have sensibly aligned themselves into South Melbourne Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club supporters. (After all, they argue, both clubs were proudly Melbourne clubs before expansion.)Continue reading “Footy Fever, 1888-style.”
School Holiday Ideas from Old Queensland.
Stuck for ideas for entertaining the little ones over the school holidays? Never fear, colonial Queensland has the inspiration you need. Swimming. Let your children run free in the surf. Preferably, yards from any supervising adults. Or, if it has been raining too much for the beach, consider alternative options. There’s nothing wrong with allowingContinue reading “School Holiday Ideas from Old Queensland.”
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 