Tag Archives: Characters

Oddities from January 1860

Sometimes, research into other subjects sends you down a rabbit hole. My rabbit hole was January 1860 – every newspaper story from that month seemed to be trying to outdo the previous one for sheer absurdity. Good luck finding a sober copper in Ipswich: Tuesday, January 24.Before the Police Magistrate, Messrs Broughton, Lucas, H. Challinor,Continue reading “Oddities from January 1860”

A Brief History of bushranging in Queensland. Part 3.

1865 – The year that everything changed. We cannot omit to notice a very happy result of the advantages likely to accrue from telegraphic communication, adverted to by a gentleman who charged himself with what may be deemed the representation of the moral and religious aspect of the question. This gentleman stated that he foresawContinue reading “A Brief History of bushranging in Queensland. Part 3.”

The Cranky Cobbler of Brisbane Town

James McAuliffe was a native of Carlow, Ireland. A compact 5 ft 3 ¼, he had brown hair, hazel eyes and a ruddy and freckled complexion. He was educated enough to read and write and was married with two sons and a daughter when, out of desperation or foolishness, he stole some clothing. Brought beforeContinue reading “The Cranky Cobbler of Brisbane Town”

All the news fit to print – September 5, 1850

A glance through the Moreton Bay Courier of September 5 1850 shows the reader the era in Brisbane Town in a nutshell. Rosewood was out in the never-never, and locals banded together to discourage (in their worldview) indigenous raiders. This was the time when relations between determined free settlers, and dispossessed indigenous people was at itsContinue reading “All the news fit to print – September 5, 1850”

A much-persecuted man with a weakness for fowls.

Isaac Alder had a long, hard-scrabble life. Born either in England or on the Hawkesbury, probably in 1826 or 1828, Alder worked as a drover and itinerant butcher in New South Wales and Queensland. He went by a number of aliases, including John King, Isaac Peter Houlder, Wright Houlder, John Smith, Isaac Alder, and JohnContinue reading “A much-persecuted man with a weakness for fowls.”