CONVICT SNAPSHOTS: EDWARD STEELE Imagine being a person of colour in 1808. Now imagine being a person of colour in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1808. Your skin colour would be the first, and often the only, thing anyone noticed about you – a situation that did not change through your whole life, no matter whereContinue reading “A Man Apart.”
New Countries, New World
Convict Snapshot: John McDowall New York, 1771 John McDowall was born in New York in North America in 1771, a subject of the English Crown, like all New Yorkers at the time. As a little boy, he could explore the countryside and farmland of Manhattan, at least until the Revolutionary War and pre-war skirmishes madeContinue reading “New Countries, New World”
Habeas Corpus and a Sudden Visitation of God
Convict Snapshot: George Baxter George Baxter had led a law-abiding and successful sort of life until he got a job with rules he didn’t fully understand. He was a veteran of the 95th Regiment, and part of the Royal Veterans’ Company formed to populate New South Wales with useful, non-criminal settlers once their service wasContinue reading “Habeas Corpus and a Sudden Visitation of God”
Gentlemen with Aliases – Part 2
Meet Victor Hugo, Winston Churchill (the Plain Turkey), Professor toshima et al The 19th century was a time for criminals to adopt aliases that reflected their disruptive outlaw ways – The Wild Scotchman (James McPherson) and Henry Hunter, The Wild Frenchman, rode the backroads in the 1860s, nicking horses and emptying the mails. The SnobContinue reading “Gentlemen with Aliases – Part 2”
What do you have to do to go to Moreton Bay?
A survey of some early cases Criminal sentencing is a polarising topic – it’s not harsh enough on some criminals, too harsh on others. The press and public periodically lament the judiciary’s lack of community awareness. Life means life etc. Modern Australia does not have the death penalty, but it was well and truly onContinue reading “What do you have to do to go to Moreton Bay?”
The Brisbane Flood Anniversary
On the tenth anniversary of the floods that drenched Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley, let’s revisit the first flood to be widely photographed – the 1893 disaster. Views of the floods in Southern Queensland The water came up and the children came out… Of course, this sort of photo disturbs the modern viewer.Continue reading “The Brisbane Flood Anniversary”
It’s a living!
Work and business between 1860 and 1900. E.W. Cohen was an entrepreneurial chap. He was the Dentist and Chemist at Longreach, and unusually, at least to modern minds, this business included a billiards saloon. And here’s Mr Cohen in the 1880s at his establishment in nearby Arrilalah. Here, he’s the surgeon dentist, druggist and purveyorContinue reading “It’s a living!”
All in the family.
Family and group photographs in Queensland in the 1800s. Father regrets posing for a photograph so soon after being thrown from a horse in the middle of a cyclone. Son regrets being in the same photo as Pater. Wedding day It was not customary to smile for photographs in the 1800s – I suspect ColonialContinue reading “All in the family.”
Classifieds in Old Brisbane Town
Newspaper classified advertisements can provide an invaluable insight into the wants and needs of a time and place. Some are utterly inexplicable to modern readers. Here’s a selection from various decades. THE EARLY YEARS Wants and needs were pretty basic in the first decade of free settlement. Trade, buildings, getting the mail. The Experiment wasContinue reading “Classifieds in Old Brisbane Town”
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”
Moreton Bay and More 