All for refusing a drink.

“Like most of his class, he continued constantly drinking.” Moreton Bay Courier, 1847 Henry Caldicott’s life was looking up. He had some money in his pocket, a ticket of leave, and some time off. He’d come from a station on the Logan after boiling down season and was in Limestone (Ipswich), and ready for aContinue reading “All for refusing a drink.”

My Top Fives (so far).

I seem to have been posting since February 2019 (more than five years!), and I can’t help but reflect on some of the stories I’ve come across since I first bit the bullet and began to blog. (Links to the posts are in the title headings.) The following are my personal “top five” in severalContinue reading “My Top Fives (so far).”

Suffering in sunshine and fresh air.

One immigrant family’s struggle. Life in colonial Queensland could be harsh – a cruel reality not suggested to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who uprooted their old lives and took long sea journeys to the new world. The idea that thrift and industry in Queensland could take one away from the generational poverty andContinue reading “Suffering in sunshine and fresh air.”