Brisbane in the 1870s – Moreton Bay and More

Fifty years of the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, in colour.

The Botanical Gardens in the City of Brisbane began as part of the Government Gardens. Originally the garden was a mixture of crops and early acclimatisation planting, tended to by convict labour. When Thomas Dowse (Old Tom) arrived in the fledgling settlement in 1842, he saw the Government Gardens in their glory. A few yearsContinue reading “Fifty years of the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, in colour.”

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.”