Your Brisbane: Past and Present

Royal Mail Hotel, Tingalpa

2012-01-18T10:57:00.001+10:00

I have just read that some mindless idiot has torched the Cobb & Co stagecoach that stood outside this hotel.

The pub used to be on the coach route between Brisbane and Cleveland, hence the hotel's name and the reason for the coach to be parked outside. I don't know whether the coach was original or a replica, but it doesn't matter.

For someone to think that it is funny or for people not to have something better to do than to burn things down doesn't say much for today's society.

By the wonders of Google Maps, I can show you a photograph of what the coach used to look like.

(Photo: Google Maps)

And now:

(Photo: couriermail.com.au)

This is just a one-off post - normal transmission will resume shortly.

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Holy Name Cathedral site

2011-11-29T07:00:00.000+10:00

Here’s a man whose name has graced these pages several times before. He is the long-serving former Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane Sir James Duhig.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #195199)

Duhig was a priest for almost seventy years and archbishop for nearly sixty. His biographer, Catholic scholar and historian Father TP Boland, says that his “kindness and gentleness, his fondness for children, and his compassion were well known”. Duhig was a grand communicator, both orally and in writing, and an indefatigable traveller throughout his religious life. He mixed just as easily with royalty as with the common parishioner, and his commitment to education in Queensland was exemplary.

But it is not these admirable qualities for which James Duhig is most remembered. He had a significant impact on the architecture and the development of Brisbane as a city. His attraction to property and his ambition to increase the reach of his church saw him responsible for the construction of over 400 buildings in Brisbane, including hospitals, schools and churches. He became known as “James the builder”, and this is the story of the project that was at once his fondest dream, but also his greatest failure.

By the time he reached the position of Brisbane’s archbishop, his church was moribund due to the declining health of his predecessor Robert Dunne. There was no retirement for an archbishop then – his duties ended only at death. Dunne’s final years dragged on, and the business of the Catholic church suffered through lack of action. Once on the throne, Duhig’s remarkable energy sparked an immediate upswing in activity. Even as he commenced building churches and schools, James Duhig wanted to replace the venerable Cathedral of St Stephen with a more elaborate and striking cathedral to signify the importance of the Catholic faith in Brisbane.

Archbishop Duhig’s home was the opulent Dara, situated on Ann St opposite All Hallows’ school, an area known then as Duncan's Hill. The original Dara was built in 1850, but after being purchased by the church for use as the archbishop’s residence, a new Dara was constructed in 1891. Duhig’s ambition to erect a grand cathedral was so powerful that he demolished Dara in 1928 and moved to Wynberg at New Farm, his residence for the rest of his life and still the home of the Catholic archbishop. His intention was to erect the Cathedral of the Holy Name on the site formerly occupied by Dara. Pictured below are the first Dara (bottom image) and Duhig's Dara (top).

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #159874)

But the rapid expansion in the church had come at a cost. The proposed cathedral was out of reach financially. Already heavily in debt to the banks as a result of his building programme, Duhig needed to find another way to fund the cathedral project. He thought he found it in, of all places, western Queensland.

Oil.

James Duhig, for all his other attributes, had the heart of a gambler and invested in oil exploration ventures at Roma. In Boland’s book this heartfelt excerpt from a Duhig letter appears:
"If we find oil, I shall never again have any worries about Church financing, for it will mean finding not thousands but millions. It would be a great Godsend to me, because I have had my share of worries, trying to provide Churches and Schools in the Diocese in which practically nothing was done for twenty-five years before I cane to it... I am praying hard that God may prosper us, because it will mean so much to our education, our charities and other works,"

(From "James Duhig" by TP Boland; University of Queensland Press; 1986)

Needless to say, the oil was a fizzer, not a gusher, but it doesn’t seem to have dampened Duhig’s willingness to speculate – later, interests in gold mining emerged, and even Queensland’s Golden Casket lottery scheme was a wishful source of funds.

Despite the lack of proper funding, Archbishop Duhig could not let go of his dream. He engaged his favoured architects, Hennessy and Hennessy, to prepare drawings for an immense cathedral, larger even than St Mary’s in Sydney, using Benedict stone for the exterior. The partnership between archbishop and architect that was so close and mutually beneficial in its early days was to end in acrimony and court action later. The Benedict stone venture, which included a factory and payment of licence fees to the US parent company, also had a negative impact on Duhig's finances.

On Sunday 16^th November 1928, foundation stones for the cathedral were laid on site. A crowd of more than thirty-five thousand people turned up to see Duhig and other church and local dignitaries proclaim the commencement of construction. The photograph below shows the crowd gathered at Centenary Place, next to the cathedral site. The buildings in the centre background are part of All Hallows’ school.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #6869-0001-0002)

Duhig, increasingly desperate to build the cathedral but low on capital, tried to raise money from Catholic congregations across the state, but those funds were never going to be enough. According to Boland, Duhig contemplated selling land around St Stephen's and even the Pugin Chapel from the 1850s was on his "for sale" list. Fortunately there were no buyers.

To provide stability for the foundations, the proposed new cathedral site was levelled and a retaining wall was built around the property. It was constructed by the Brisbane City Council in return for a portion of the site that was given to the council to facilitate the widening of Ann St. Here is a photograph of a portion of the wall behind a vehicle of the day.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #104864)

Duhig was able to find enough money to complete the crypt by 1935. I remember passing it in the fifties as a child, thinking that it must be full of coffins and skeletons.

(Photo: Courtesy Brisbane City Council; BCC-B54-34951)

Then came the Depression, and following that, World War II. If the project was still alive at the start of the Depression, these two events certainly saw an end to it.

Archbishop James Duhig died at Wynberg in 1965, and the crypt and the retaining walls were then only tangible symbols of the cathedral that never was. The site was sold to developers in 1992, and the crypt was demolished to allow for the construction of a residential building - an apartment block called "Cathedral Place".

Today, St Stephen's is still the cathedral, and the only the retaining walls in Ann St and Gotha St remain to remind Brisbane’s population of James Duhig’s impossible dream.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Above is a current photograph taken from Centenary Park, looking across Gotha St towards the site where the cathedral was to be built. The council-built retaining wall can be seen underneath the apartments, with All Hallows at the right rear of the image.

Click here for a Google Map.

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COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON. THAT'S OUR FINAL POST FOR 2011.

SEE YOU IN 2012.

Telecommunications House

2011-11-25T07:00:00.000+10:00

Something is missing in life these days. Jokes! Time was when if a group of mates got together, someone would come up with a line like "Did you hear the one about the commercial traveller?" These days humour seems (to me anyway) based on cynicism and sarcasm, not the yarns that used to be rolled out. I'm not really complaining, just noting it as a point of interest.

Well, did you hear about the Commercial Travellers Association of Queensland? (No joke here either, sadly!) The Association was formed in 1884, and after a period of meeting in hotels they decided to obtain their own premises. With that end in mind, land was purchased in Elizabeth St around 1905. Claude Chambers was engaged, and this is a drawing of the proposed building that was opened in 1907.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #10076) 1906

The building was designed with a dining room and bar on the ground floor, and bedrooms for members to stay in when required.

Here is a photograph of the building taken shortly after completion.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #157392) 1907

The CTA was a very progressive organisation, it would seem. A few years after the erection of this building, they built next door a "samples room" building (now demolished), where members could lay out their wares for inspection by prospective buyers. The Association also provided insurance products, savings plans and scholarships for members and their families. As the nature of business changed after WWII, the CTA sold their building to the commonwealth government in 1963. What was then the Post-Master General's department, now Telstra, took occupancy of the building which was renamed Telecommunications House. Here it is today.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

These days the building houses a number of offices.

Click here for a Google Map.

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National Mutual building (former), Queen St

2011-11-22T07:00:00.000+10:00

One of the advantages of a Queen St frontage is that many of the city's ceremonial pieces take place right outside. So it is with today's building, the former National Mutual building. It is situated near the GPO and next to the former CML building, both of which we have already seen in these pages. In the first photo from yesteryear, a large crowd is crammed into Queen St to watch an American fleet march in 1941 - the awning of the National Mutual building is in the background.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #106194)

And an earlier photograph from the Brisbane Courier of 1933 shows the busy Queen St traffic of the day - the National Mutual building is the one with the second awning from the bottom.
(Photograph: Brisbane Courier)

The land on which the building stands was purchased by National Mutual in 1883, and on it they built their first Queensland headquarters. That building was demolished to allow for the construction of the new seven-storey offices in 1926. The architects were Gibbs, Finlay and Morsby and the builder J Green.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

National Mutual occupied the building until 1981, when they moved to a new tower built in Edward St during the height of the battle between National Mutual and AMP for dominance of the Australian life insurance market. National Mutual subsequently demutualised and was picked up by Axa from Europe, but they have recently sold out to, ironically, AMP.

This building became the office of Custom Credit, but more recently was bought by Queensland based mega-sized bancassurance company Suncorp.

Click here for a Google Map.

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Fortitude Valley Child Health Centre

2011-11-18T07:00:00.000+10:00

A hundred years can sound like a short time or a long time, depending on your perspective. In looking at the achievements of mankind, a lot has been accomplished during the last one hundred years, especially in the field of medicine. A quick look at the Australian Bureau of Statistics tells me that in the year 1900 infant deaths in Australia were at the rate of 103 per 1,000 live births. By the year 2000, that rate had been reduced to a remarkable 5 deaths per 1,000. As at 2010 the figure stands at 4.9 deaths, and we have no reason to think that it will stop there, particularly if we pay more attention to indigenous communities.

One could hazard a guess at the reasons, and I am sure that many of the thoughts that come into our minds would be quite accurate. But what about the pioneers? The actual people on the ground who made a difference in those early days. We had a couple here in Brisbane - Dr Alfred Turner, the first resident doctor of the Royal Children's Hospital in 1908 was one. He saw 100 children a week free of charge and was instrumental in developing a diptheria antitoxin. Matron Florence Chatfield, who opened Queensland's first baby clinic in rented premises in Fortitude Valley in 1918, was another. Those humble beginnings were the forerunner of today's building, the Fortitude Valley Child Health Centre, which opened in 1923 with Chatfield in charge. A couple of early photographs of the building follow.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #56878) 1927

(Photo: Courtesy Brisbane City Council; BCC-B120-30647) 1924

In 1922 Queensland's Labor government introduced the Maternity Act, which had four main aims:

to decrease the death rate of mothers and babies,
to increase the birth rate,
to increase outback settlement,
and to train mothers in how to care for children

Funds from the Golden Casket were diverted to allow the construction of this first clinic in 1923; this significant deal having been brokered by Charles Chuter from the Home Secretary's Department. Land was bought from businessman TC Beirne, and Cecil J Virgo from the Department of Public Works designed the practical building. Virgo, amongst other buildings, was also the designer of Coorparoo State School. As can be seen from the following current photographs, the building was later enlarged with the addition of an extension on the RHS, skilfully blended into the rest of the design. Unfortunately the first floor balcony has been closed in, probably to allow for the installation of air conditioning.

(Photos: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Although other Queensland Health Services have now been located here, a Child Health Centre continues to occupy most of the ground floor.

Click here for a Google Map.

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Craigellachie, Windsor

2011-11-15T07:00:00.000+10:00

In the early days of Brisbane there was quite an influx of Scottish tradesmen, principally as a result of the influence of Dr JD Lang. SS Fortitude brought Scottish immigrants to Moreton Bay in 1849, and many more followed. Twenty year-old John Grant, a stone mason, arrived on board the William Miles in 1855. Also on that voyage was the McPherson family, and Grant was destined to marry Jane McPherson, the oldest daughter. The McPhersons initially worked on the McConnel family's Cressbrook station in the Brisbane Valley, but later returned to buy their own property at Bald Hills.

After marrying at Ipswich in 1859, it appears that John and Jane Grant were diligent and therefore prospered. John and Jane had nine children, although one of their sons died at the age of two. In the late 1880s they bought land at Windsor, and around 1890 John constructed the family home there. He built it from Brisbane tuff, probably excavated just up the road from his house at the Windsor quarry.

The house was called "Craigellachie" after the Scottish town in the middle of the whisky belt. Clan Grant has the battle cry "Stand fast Craigellachie", so the name of the house obviously had significance for Brisbane's Grant family.

(Photo: © 1982 National Trust of Queensland; Ray Sumner & Frank Bolt)

Not all the Scots turned out to be upstanding citizens of the new colony. Jane Grant's brother, James Alpin McPherson, spent his initial years here at school, then as an apprentice in the well-known Petrie family's construction business. In 1864 he left his apprenticeship and turned to life as a bushranger. Known colloquially as "The Wild Scotchman", James McPherson robbed mail coaches, hotels and cattle stations throughout Queensland until he was captured and imprisoned in 1866.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #109649)

James McPherson was released from the prison on St Helena Island in 1874. He married in 1878 and by 1890 he and his own family were living in Burketown, Far North Queensland, so it is doubtful that he ever visited the home of his sister and John Grant. James McPherson was killed in Burketown as a result of a riding accident in 1895. It is claimed that some of McPherson's exploits were woven into the novel "Robbery Under Arms".

Craigellachie remained in the Grant family until 1974. At some stage it was converted into flats, but a renovation in the mid-seventies saw it restored to a family home again. This is the way it looks now.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Click here for a Google Map.

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Teneriffe House

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000+10:00

James Gibbon, a property speculator in Brisbane's early days, was responsible for the name of the suburb where I live - Teneriffe. Gibbon was a parliamentarian referred to as "Streetcorner Jimmy" because in his non-political life he had a penchant for buying up prime real estate around the traps. In 1854, he bought a fairly large parcel of land between New Farm and Newstead and on it built his own residence that he named Teneriffe, apparently after Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The house was designed by WH Ellerker and built in 1865 for the sum of £1715. It is perched on a hill overlooking the Bulimba reach of the Brisbane River, and when he lived there (between 1865 and 1882), Streetcorner Jimmy would have been master of all he surveyed.

(Photo: http://www.newfarmhistorical.org.au)

The house gave its name to the hill upon which it was constructed and then to the suburb that grew around it once Gibbon's land was subdivided. The suburb has metamorphosed through farming, commercial and residential phases since then. It even lost its identity for a while, as the powers that be in place-name head office decided that it would cease being a suburb. The name Teneriffe stuck around as a locality (a locality is what they call it when the residents refuse to stop using the name of a defunct suburb!) for a while until, as a result of community pressure, it was reinstated to its former exalted status. This allows those of us who live here to have a party every year to commemorate the Ascension of Teneriffe.

Gibbon's house was sold to businessman Robert Wilson in 1882, and sub-division of the extensive surrounding land occurred around this time. Wilson also undertook some renovations, including the addition of another wing and a billiard room.

(Photo: © DSEWPaC; 1996)

Further alterations took place later, including the resumption of a tract of the property's former orchard by the Brisbane City Council, who then turned it into leafy Teneriffe Park. The park still borders the house, and it's a lovely cool walk through there down to the river. The house was converted into flats in the late 60s, and still is in that form today.

Streetcorner Jimmy lives on in local street names too. There should be a memorial to him on the corner of James St and Gibbon St - but there isn't.

Click here for a Google Map.

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Coorparoo Markets

2011-11-08T07:00:00.000+10:00

I never really thought of myself as over-industrious, but now as I think back, I must have had a reasonable amount of get up and go. I worked in the local corner store after school for some years, then during one school holidays at Christmas I built trains at Rocklea. Then in my last holidays after finishing secondary school, I picked up a job working in the groceries section of Myers at Coorparoo. The shopping centre was opened in 1960 by premier of the day Frank Nicklin, whose father and grandfather had lived nearby in the early days of the suburb. I worked there in 1966, and this is the way it used to look.

(Photo: www.brisbanetimes.com.au)

Right behind the grocery section on the ground floor was the cafeteria. Staff were allowed to have lunch there (of course we had to pay, but we did get a discount). This is just how I remember it. When I rocked up to my first day's work, I found that one of my new workmates was the son of my high school headmaster. We became quite friendly - I think he had a bit more regard for me than his old man did!

(Photo: Courtesy Brisbane City Council; BCC-B54-18443)

Since those days, the centre has gone through many changes. Myer converted their department store into a Megamart that sold furniture and electrical goods. That tanked and it was taken over and rebadged by Harvey Norman. That store also failed, and the building was shut down around 2007.

Recently it was given a new lease of life by some entrepreneurs who renamed it Myermarkets Coorparoo. Tenants were largely food and vegetable vendors. However, I understand that the site has been purchased by Brisbane City Council who are busy constructing the Eastern Busway. Perhaps a park-and-ride facility is in the future, I'm not sure. This is the way it is looking at present.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Click here for a Google Map.

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Coorparoo State School

2011-11-04T07:00:00.000+10:00

The first white settlers arrived in the Coorparoo area around 1856. The suburb wasn't known as Coorparoo then, it was part of Bulimba. The first school was built some twenty years after that - it was, according to the school's web pages, a one-room building with hardwood floors and a shingle roof. The school opened in January 1876, and by the end of the year it had over 100 pupils. Among the early students was George Nicklin, the father of long-serving state premier Sir Frank Nicklin. George Nicklin probably had to walk from the family home Langlands (now part of Villanova College), but his parents later moved to Hatherton, just next door to the school. The following photograph shows the little school in 1916.

(Photo: Courtesy BCC; BCC-B120-81055)

The name of the suburb is surrounded by some confusion. The school takes credit for the name Coorparoo, saying that it was bestowed on the school by the first headmaster. They say the suburb was named after the school. Others say that the name comes from an aboriginal word that could mean either "place of the mosquito" or the name they used for the area surrounding Norman Creek. If the latter, it could be onomatopoeic for the sound made by the doves that inhabited the place. Whatever, it is one of those delightful indigenous words that rolls off the tongue if you are a local, but completely baffles anyone else.

(Photo: Courtesy BCC; BCC-B120-81026)

As the suburb grew, so did the school. During the depression era when public works were in full swing, the original timber school house was demolished to make way for a new brick school designed by Cecil J Virgo. A two-storey building was constructed, and it is shown from the rear (above) and from the front (below).

(Photo: Courtesy BCC; BCC-T120-1700.3)

Of course, the school has continued to grow since then, with its peak year for enrolments being 1958 when it was flooded by baby-boomers, having a student population of around 1600.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Today's picture of the school is above. The area is now a solid middle-class suburb quite close to the city. This fabulous school building deinitely goves the local environment some class.

Click here for a Google Map.

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St James's Catholic Church, Coorparoo

2011-11-01T07:00:00.000+10:00

This is one of the first buildings that I can remember looking at and thinking "Now that is impressive!" I was only a kid, and I used to pass this church on the way to visit relatives. I knew it was a church, but that wasn't why I thought it impressive. It was the scale of the thing - the sheer size of it that captured my attention. This photograph is from 1932.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #1026000

Who else but Archbishop James Duhig would have been the prime mover behind the construction of this church? In fact he presided over the opening of two churches on this site - the first was a combination church and school that opened in 1913, shown below.

(Photo: http://www.stjames-coorparoo.org.au/our_history.htm)

Then the current church that was inaugurated in 1928. This is the way it looks today.

After the completion of the original church, a presbytery was also constructed on the eastern side of the same property. Here is a picture of it from 1915.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #158103)

The parish was taken over by the Augustinians in 1952, and in 1958 the presbytery became a priory of the Augustinian community. The building was renovated to provide more room for the priests - look at what they did to it!

The Augustinians are involved in two schools within the parish. There is St James's Primary School behind the church, and the well-known Villanova College a short walk away.

Click here for a Google Map.

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Norman Hotel, Woolloongabba

2011-10-28T07:00:00.001+10:00

How would you like your business to be known as "Brisbane's worst vegetarian restaurant?"

The hotel below doesn't mind it - in fact it advertises itself that way. It is the Norman Hotel at Woolloongabba, one of Brisbane's excellent steak restaurants.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

"The Norman", as it known to locals, was designed by John B Nicholson and built by F Steffans in 1889 for Robert Heaslop. The hotel was situated on the Brisbane to Ipswich road in an area that was growing quickly, with both residential and commercial properties emerging following the completion of the railway and horse-drawn tram lines to Woolloongabba. Ipswich Rd is today one of Queensland's busiest. The photograph below shows the hotel in 1988.
(Photo: Brisbane City Council; BCC-T120-988)

Heaslop was the publican at the Norman for a few years before leasing it out. In 1900, the brewery company Perkins & Co bought the hotel. At that time, the brewer was in competition with arch-rivals Castlemaine Brewery, and both companies were setting up "tied houses" around Brisbane. Later the two breweries combined to form Castemaine Perkins, the makers of the famous XXXX Beer.

In 1987, the well-known Queensland hotel family, the Cavills, bought the Norman. The hotel had been going through a difficult patch, but the Cavills did some refurbishment, added a steak house at the rear of the property, and set about making the place a desirable venue. Amongst other hotels, the Cavills had previously run Queensland's iconic Breakfast Creek Hotel, also famous for its steaks, and so were well-placed to do this. They ran the hotel until 2006 when it was sold. It is now owned by the Independent Pub Group.

The Norman thrives today, despite the set-back of a serious fire on the premises that occurred when some renovations were taking place in 2008. The ensuing damage has been repaired and the pub is once again trading at full capacity.

Click here for a Google Map.

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John Mills Himself

2011-10-25T07:00:00.000+10:00

John Mills was a printer in Brisbane in the early twentieth century. Initially he and a partner owned a business in Adelaide St called Mills & Green, but the partnership terminated and Mills moved to this Charlotte St premises alone. The business name on the front of the building says "John Mills Himself", leaving his customers in no doubt about the new venture.

You may notice that the building on the left has the name "John Reid and Nephews" - they were an engineering firm, and only the facade of their original building remains, super-glued onto the Telstra building behind. I don't know which John was there first, or whether the second John had a subtle sense of humour. Perhaps that was just the way businesses were named in those times. The building to the right, now the Singapore Restaurant, was once the George Weston & Sons building.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Mills bought the Charlotte St land in 1918 and constructed the building, designed by JH Burley, in 1919-20.

It is a couple of doors away from the Pancake Manor, formerly St Luke's Anglican Church, so this is quite a heritage precinct. As a result, there has been a bit of a stink recently because a laneway behind this building and a building known as the Elizabeth St Printery have been trashed to accommodate another glass tower. Alarmingly, before the period for Brisbane's citizens to lodge objections had even closed, the developers were given a certificate of immunity by the Queensland Heritage Council! It is hard to have confidence in any authority that acts in this manner.

(Photo: http://www.loveourlaneways.com)

The demolished building was home to a trendy coffee shop and the laneway promoted "sub-culture appreciation". So, no Melbourne-style laneways for Brisbane - at least not in this location. Ironically it is Melbourne's Grollo family that is developing the site.

Click here for a Google Map.

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Kinauld, Highgate Hill

2011-10-21T07:00:00.000+10:00

The village of Dornoch lies within the county of Sutherland in the Scottish highlands. Two men from Sutherland, Messrs Angus Matheson and Alexander Macintosh, were amongst the first inhabitants of an area that we now call Highgate Hill, and it was they who named Dornoch Terrace after the little village from which Matheson originated.

Alexander Macintosh built a house on the land he owned on Dornoch Terrace, and he called the house Kinauld after his old home in Sutherland. This first Kinauld was a long, low timber house, and Mr Macintosh lived in it until his death in 1877.

The Scots connection then came to the fore again, because Macintosh's widow decided to build a new dwelling on their land, and she engaged the services of another Scottish neighbour, the architect AB Wilson. This house is the Kinauld that is still present on Dornoch Terrace, and here is a photograph of it from 1996.

(Photo: Courtesy J Houldsworth & DEWHA; rt51155) 1996

At the rear of the house the land slopes downwards, and blasting was necessary to make room for the new residence. Rock residue from the blasting was then used to terrace the land. Kinauld II was also constructed from timber, with plaster interior walls and cedar doors and fittings. In 1932, The Queenslander called it "one of the best finished houses in Brisbane" in its series of Brisbane's Historical Homes.
(Photos: © 2010 the foto fanatic)

Although not evident from my recent pictures, the house is quite large. Four bedrooms, a sitting room, a writing room, a dining room, maid's room, kitchen and storeroom and a bathroom were all included at the time of construction. The Macintosh family owned the house until 1953. Subsequent owners made alterations to the interior, removing plaster and cedar, fireplaces and stained glass. The building was converted into flats at one stage.

However, recent owners, in conjunction with architect Robert Riddel, set about restoring the residence, as well as making additions in keeping with the original design of the house.

Click here for a Google Map.

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Naval Stores, Kangaroo Point

2011-10-18T07:00:00.000+10:00

When the perceived threat of invasion by the Russians was at the forefront of the minds of Queenslanders, a navy was established by the purchase of a couple of ships from Scotland, the Gayundah and the Paluma. Having the ships based in Brisbane meant that spare parts and other kit required to maintain the vessels needed storing. The solution was the construction of the Naval Stores buildings at Kangaroo Point between 1886 and 1888. Here is an early photograph of the buildings, shown in front of the cliffs. Shortly after these buildings were finished, a Naval Office was established on the other side of the river at the bottom of Edward St. (Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #127388)

These historical buildings can still be seen, although these days they fulfill a different service. It is testament to our determination to keep them that they have survived despite several near-disasters. The 1893 flood rose well above the ground floor ceilings and although the 1974 floods didn't reach that level, they were very serious too. In 1985 significant damage occurred when the buildings were involved in a fire, a photograph of which can be seen below.
(Photo: "Brisbane Ablaze"; K Calthorpe & KD Capell)

The buildings became the property of the Royal Australian Navy, and were used by them until 1959, then they were used by the Army until 1984. The Brisbane City Council purchased the site in 1987, and now the buildings are used in the tourist and hospitality industries.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

At the right-hand end of this building there are markers that show the height of the 1893 flood and also the 1974 flood. It is quite sobering to stand next to them.

Click here for a Google Map.

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Sandgate Town Hall

2011-10-14T07:00:00.001+10:00

Sandgate, north of Brisbane, is a suburb situated on the shores of Moreton Bay. Land sales commenced there around 1853. its location on the bay made it attractive to day-trippers from Brisbane, so it was connected to Brisbane with a rail line in 1882. In the same year, Richard Gailey designed a Municipal Chambers and Town Hall - this is it.

(Photo: Courtesy Brisbane City Council; BCC-SGT-7321)

In 1910 the Gailey-designed town hall burned down, and it was decided to build a new premises closer to the post office and the railway station. Architect TR Hall was the Sandgate Town Clerk, and he designed the new building. Hall was later to design the Brisbane City Hall with his colleague GG Prentice.

(Photo: Courtesy Brisbane City Council; BCC-SGT-13762)

The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 14 October, 1911 - 100 years ago today.

(Photo: Courtesy Brisbane City Council; BCC-SGT-15)

Builder J Gemmel constructed the town hall for £5000, and it was opened by the governor of Queensland in October 1912. Here is a photograph of people attending a ball around that time.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #99618)

This is a photograph of the nearly completed town hall - the clock faces were not installed in the tower until 1923, and they are missing in this next photograph. The clock was built by Gillet & Johnson in England in 1877, and is one of the oldest in Queensland. Prior to its installation here, it had been in service in the Ipswich Town Hall.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #54037)

Sandgate was folded into the Brisbane City Council in 1923, and since that time the suburb has been part of the BCC. Over the past eighteen months the Sandgate Town Hall has been refurbished, enabled by almost $4 million in funds that came from both the Brisbane City Council and the federal government.

(Photo: wikipedia.com)

The refurbishments are finished and the building is back in business as a multi-function facility for residents - it won't be long before the bingo sessions are in full swing again!

(Photo: Courtesy Brisbane City Council; BCC-C120-9574.2)

There will be an official reopening in December, and celebrations are planned to commemorate the building's centenary next year.

Click here for a Google Map.

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Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Woolloongabba

2011-10-11T07:00:00.000+10:00

My parents were married in this church in August 1948. It's the Holy Trinity Anglican Church at Woolloongabba, and this picture dates from 1949.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #202768)

I think both my parents must have come to the marriage with issues. My father was 26 and lived at nearby Annerley; he worked up the road from the church at the timber merchants Hancock & Gore. He had returned from serving in New Guinea during WWII, and like many returned servicemen was to deal with PTSD for many years afterwards. My mother was only 19, and she was working at the Metro Cinema in the city. She was still recovering from the shock of losing both parents and a little brother in a train crash just outside Brisbane a couple of years earlier. Despite these travails they raised five happy and healthy children and had a successful marriage right up until my father died from cancer. Mum lives not too far from me and is still independent, although she is just recovering from eye surgery.

(Photo: DERM, 2009)

This church building was the third built on the site - the first one, having been designed by Richard Gailey, was erected as far back as 1870. That building was destroyed in a storm and was replaced by a second timber church in 1875.

After WWI the rector of the church became keen on building a more imposing building on the existing site which is perched on a hill not far from the Gabba Fiveways. Parishioners apparently agreed, because a collection was established to accrue funds for the project. Some commentators have stated that the Anglicans had become jealous of the prominent Catholic churches that were being constructed in prime locations around Brisbane by Archbishop James Duhig, and wanted a showpiece for their own flock to be proud of.

The impressive Spanish Mission-type building was designed by architect Eric Ford of Chambers & Ford. Although the intention of the parish was to demolish the existing church, they were saved that cost when the church burned to the ground in December 1929. The foundation stone of the new church was laid in March 1930 by Archbishop Sharp, and it was dedicated in October of that year. A freestanding bell tower was added in 1949, and can be glimpsed at the rear of the church at the left hand side. This is the way the church looks today. (Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Some information on the interior of the church, including technical details of the church organ, can be seen here.

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Farrington House, Alderley

2011-10-07T07:00:00.000+10:00

Spectacular? I would think so! This house was listed for sale recently, and the indications are that it did sell. I don't know the details, but to give you an idea, the property was sold in 2003 for $3.15 million.

(Photos:http://www.brisbane-real-estate-guide.com/)

The house is known as Farrington House, and it sits atop a hill in one of Brisbane's near-northern suburbs, with 360 degree views as far as Moreton Bay. It has three levels, 7 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and can garage 6 cars.

Farrington House was built in 1882 or thereabouts for wealthy Brisbane biscuit manufacturer Frederick Waters Wilson. His company FW Wilson Steam Biscuit Co (I have no idea what a steam biscuit is, but there were also other manufacturers such as Arnotts, Excelsior and Swifts) was a well known maker of biscuits and also wedding cakes. The house has often been referred to as the "wedding cake house". Although the house is listed on the State Heritage Register, there are no details about the designer or the builder. Here is a photograph of Farrington House from 1932.(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #16893)

Farrington House had several owners until it was bought by the Baptist Union of Queensland who called it Clifford House, a residential facility for the elderly from 1948 to 1956. After that, it became a boarding house, and subsequently fell into disrepair. One of my blog readers tells me that the local children treated it as a haunted house during this time.

Farrington House has been a private residence for the last several years. Obviously it has been renovated since those earlier days, and I think that it looks pretty special now.

Click here for a Google Map.

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Oakwal, Windsor

2011-10-04T07:00:00.000+10:00

It seems that Queensland has been quite well served when it comes to our judiciary. Here is a residence built for a judge who, at the request of the governor of Queensland, was brought out here from England in 1863 to become chief justice of the colony. From all reports, he did a superb job for fifteen years, was knighted as a result (in 1869), then retired back to England. His name was James Cockle, and this is the house "Oakwal" that was built for him in 1864.
(Photo: © National Trust of Queensland and Richard Stringer)

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #17923)

The reason that Queensland's Governor Bowen implored England to provide a judge who could be made chief justice was that he was unhappy with the antics of the resident Supreme Court judge at the time, Alfred Lutwyche. Bowen felt that, although his bench work was without controversy, Lutwyche was a volatile man who had politicised the judiciary by making derogatory comments about the parliament and politicians that usually found their way into the newspaper. By contrast, James Cockle was a "dignified, imperturbable and scrupulously impartial judge, highly respected by the Bar and the general public", according to his biography.

Oakwal was designed by James Cowlishaw (who later bought the house from Cockle) and built in sandstone by master mason John Petrie for about £4000. Most of the original 16 hectares bought by Cockle has been sub-divided, and the house is now encircled by newer residences. Here is a current photograph. (Photo: Google Earth)

Interestingly, shortly before the construction of Cockle's residence, Alfred Lutwyche had built his own house "Kedron Lodge". It too was built from sandstone and constructed by John Petrie, and is not too far from Oakwal. It looks like this. (Photo: © National Trust of Queensland and Frank Bolt)

The contrast between the two residences is as marked as that between the two men. Cockle's single-story home seems to have been adapted to the Queensland climate with the addition of wide verandahs surrounding the house, while Lutwyche's home was a very English, Tudor-styled two-storey building. The combination of the two men turned out to be a boon to the local court scene, however. Sir James's biography says this about them: "With courtesy but great firmness he persuaded Lutwyche to stop airing in the press his grievances against parliament; later the two became firm friends." They collaborated on important issues of law reform for the colony.

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Queen Alexandra Home (former), Coorparoo

2011-09-30T07:00:00.008+10:00

In 1937, Queensland premier Sir Leslie Wilson officially opened the Queen Alexandra Home for Children at Coorparoo. He is pictured here unveiling the memorial plaque at the front entrance to the Home.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #106392)

The building was first constructed in 1886 as a residence for Reuben Nicklin, the Brisbane manager of Butler Bros, a saddlery firm. It was called "Hatherton", designed by John Hall and Sons and built by Abraham James. In 1890, Nicklin and his wife were on their way to England on the ship RMS Quetta, which ran aground near Thursday Island off the coast of North Queensland. The Nicklins, grandparents of later State Premier Sir Frank Nicklin, perished in this disaster. Hatherton remained in the Nicklin family until 1911, when it was acquired by the Methodist church. Staff and children were transferred from the former facility at Indooroopilly to Coorparoo in December 1911. Below is a photograph of Matron and her charges from 1913, followed by an early picture of the building.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #187118)

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #200443)

A new wing was added to the Home in 1919, and in WWII it was used as an education venue for pupils from Somerville House. The children's home facility was terminated in 1960, and the building was acquired by the state government. It was then known as Alexandra House, and was a domestic science facility. Later, the building became known as the College of Catering and Hospitality Services, and after that COTAH (College of Tourism and Hospitality).

Here is the building today. It is now a community centre, although there is a conspicuous lack of information at the location itself. It looks to be in good nick though.

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Rowes Building

2011-09-27T07:00:00.007+10:00

Not too long ago we looked at the Rothwells Building in the city. The building we see today stands next to the Rothwells Building and was constructed at the same time by the same builder. Here is a photograph of the two buildings together, and their similar heritage can readily be noticed. The building on the right, the Rowes Building, was destined to become one of the best-known and busiest in the city.

The Rowes Building was constructed in 1885 for Thomas MacDonald-Paterson, a solicitor and member of parliament. It is a five-storey masonry building with a basement. MacDonald-Paterson used the ground floor as his offices and leased those above for offices or warehousing.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

In 1903 William Effy leased the basement, ground floor and first floor balcony of the building and his mother, Minna Rowe, moved her successful Rowes Cafe from its former Queen St address into these new premises. By 1909, the ground floor dining room had capacity to seat 380 customers, and it must have succeeded in attracting large numbers of diners because Effy was able to buy the building in 1914. The cafe hosted morning teas, lunches, dinners and private functions, and for more than sixty years was an icon in Brisbane hospitality. Here is a photograph that shows both the cafe and the dining room, and below that, one of its special dinner plates, custom made in England for the cafe. (Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #120400)

(Photo: http://vernon.qm.qld.gov.au:8080/)

Further expansion occurred in 1925 when well-known architects Hall and Prentice were engaged to refurbish the building to the tune of £162,000. A ballroom was constructed over the basement garage, providing another arm of entertainment for the establishment.

In 1958, the building was converted into a shopping arcade and ownership was transferred to National Mutual. This building and its mate, the Rothwells Building, were given a major facelift in 1984, and both buildings are listed on the State Heritage Register. These days it is called Rowes Arcade - it links Edward St to both Queen St and Adelaide St, and it has a huge food court under Post Office Square that is a haven for city workers.

Click here to see a Google Map.

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St Luke's Anglican, City (former)

2011-09-23T07:00:00.022+10:00

Elsewhere in these pages I have pondered on the future of church buildings in the light of falling attendances and the trend towards secular lifestyles. Although the reasons for deconsecrating churches might be different in these times, the act of getting rid of these buildings is not new. Take, for example, this building situated right in the middle of Brisbane's CBD. It is now a 24/7 restaurant known as Pancake Manor, but it was formerly an Anglican church.(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

JS Murdoch, who had collaborated with RS Dods on Webber House (also for the Anglican community), designed this Romanesque Revival-style church and it was constructed in 1904. The building with its steep roof is in the foreground of this photograph of Brisbane from 1924.(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #APE-065-01-0020)

In fact, this building had several concurrent lives as a church. Not only was it purpose-built as a mission church to provide support for the poor and homeless, it also acted as the Anglican Cathedral between the demolition in 1904 of St John's Pro Cathedral in Queens Park and the opening of St John's Cathedral in Ann St in 1910. Additionally it was also used as the place of worship for the members of Brisbane's Greek Orthodox community until their own church was completed. The following image from around 1926 shows Greek Orthodox worshippers outside St Luke's. (Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #62015)

The Greek community eventually built their own church in Charlotte St. It was completed in 1929, and must have been a beautiful building. It no longer exists, and the Greek Orthodox congregation has moved across the river to South Brisbane, but this is what their Charlotte St church looked like in 1955.(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #202766)

St Luke's was also very involved in the community during war time, providing a venue for dances and Sunday teas for soldiers. It remained an active church until 1977 when it was no longer needed by the Anglicans, and in 1979 it was converted to a restaurant.

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West Burleigh and Tallebudgera

2011-09-20T07:00:00.006+10:00

As white settlers started to pour into the new colonies of New South Wales and Queensland, one of the earliest industries was timber harvesting, and a great source of cedar and other timbers was the place now known as the Gold Coast Hinterland. The areas of West Burleigh, Tallebudgera and surrounds were quickly inhabited, firstly by timbergetters, then by farmers. In 1878 the Tallebudgera Post Office was opened - it was privately built and owned. The following photo shows it in 1917.

(Photo: http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au)

The old building was purchased by the Gold Coast City Council in 2002, and they undertook a restoration project that was completed in 2004. The restored building was officially opened in 2005. Here is a current photograph.

The sign in the left of the image above is enlarged below. It records that Stephen Tobin was the first post master, paid a salary of £12 per annum. Violet Ruddy was the last post mistress when the post office was permanently closed in 1958.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Today the current post office is located next to the West Burleigh General Store, itself an historical building. It was opened by Alf Fletcher in 1935 to serve the inhabitants of the local area. Here is a photo of that building from 1994, and below that is a current picture - you can see the post office to the right of the store.
(Photo: GCCC; Image No LS-LSP-CD109-IMG0111)

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Tourism started to become important to the area after completion of the railway from Brisbane to Southport in 1889. When this line was extended to Tweed Heads in 1901, a station was opened at West Burleigh. That station was only a few hundred metres from the general store, and although (sadly) the railway line closed long ago, the old station house still exists as a private residence. This is it - the awnings over the windows at the side of the building are a clue to its origins.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

And here is the railway station pictured during the years of WW!, with a group of soldiers waiting for the train.(Photo: GCCC; Image No LS-LSP-CD308-IMG0024)

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The Manor Apartments, Queen St

2011-09-16T07:00:00.002+10:00

Many of the grand old buildings that remain in Brisbane's CBD were built by banks or insurance companies. The one we see today was built in 1930-1 by Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society, more commonly referred to as CML. Although CML no longer exists, having been gobbled up in industry rationalisation, the building still stands in Queen St. Here it is, photographed during its construction.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #406756)

The next image shows how successfully the architects, Hennessy and Hennessy, incorporated the style of the building to the existing streetscape. The GPO is on the right of the CML, and on the left is the former National Mutual Life Association (see what I mean?) building, now a Suncorp office.(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #204345)

Almost the whole of this side of Queen St between Edward and Creek Sts was redeveloped between the wars, with AMP and Commonwealth Bank also erecting offices there during this time.

An interesting aspect of the CML Building was the use of Benedict stone for the building's exterior. Benedict stone was made in Brisbane by licence from the parent company in the USA that had invented the product. The licence was held by Brisbane's Catholic Archbishop Duhig who at that time was planning to build a new cathedral in Brisbane. That project was later scrapped because funds were scarce.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

The stone was made from cement and crushed Brisbane tuff quarried at Albion and mixed at the Benedict Stone Works at Newstead, also owned by Duhig. The resultant stone varied in colour from green to pink tones, as can be seen in the photograph above.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #103758)

Above is a photograph of the Benedict Stone building at Light St, Newstead from 1934. CML went on to use this stone in other offices around Australia. (Photo: www.manorapartments.com.au)

One of the features of the Brisbane building is the large number of gargoyles present around the top of the building and also on the facade (see photo above). In 1983, the building was purchased by Queensland Newspapers. They did some restoration work and called it Newspaper House, but more recently the building has emerged as The Manor Apartments, a serviced accommodation facility.

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Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Nundah

2011-09-13T07:00:00.000+10:00

Former Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, James Duhig, is no stranger to these pages. That's because many of the impressive churches that he had built on hilltops around Brisbane are such landmarks. Duhig loved property, and he loved building churches. Here is one that he had constructed at Nundah in 1925-6 - Corpus Christi.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Corpus Christi Nundah was constructed by SS Carrick to a design by Hennessy, Hennessy, Keesing & Co for £16,840, and it was officially opened in November 1926. Duhig and the architects had a mutually beneficial relationship, completing many projects together, with Jack Hennessy being a personal friend of the archbishop's.

Duhig's property interests included a quarry at Albion and the Australian licence to make the Benedict stone that, although not used at Corpus Christi, was used by Hennessy and Hennessy throughout the country. Thus the archbishop and the architect were colleagues even on non-catholic projects. Architectural historian Miles Lewis describes it this way:

"In Brisbane the Roman Catholic Archbishop, James Duhig, was planning the construction of his Cathedral of the Holy Name, to the design of the Sydney architects Hennessy & Hennessy. Jack Hennessy prevailed upon Duhig to sign a contract with a company, Concrete Constructions Ltd [CCL], which had an interest in Benedict Stone. Duhig had seen the material in the United States in 1926, notably at Soldier Field, and after some initial reluctance he became a convert. Hennessy sent the engineer A S MacDonald to America to investigate the process, and MacDonald came back with a recommendation that Duhig establish a Queensland company to obtain the licence and to make Benedict Stone locally. This was done upon the basis that Duhig or his nominee would provide the capital for the factory, and would pay 5.4 pence per cubic foot in royalties to the parent company. Works were established in Light Street, and were opened by the Governor on 9 August 1929. The American company sent out an engineer, William Jackson Brown of Baltimore, to manage the plant. But by the time the first block of Benedict stone was laid, late in 1929, both Duhig and CCL were under stress, and the ultimate result was that the Cathedral project foundered.
Benedict Stone continued to be manufactured in Brisbane, where it was used for the Shell Building, and the Tattersall’s Club extension of 1939. Australia-wide it was used especially in the various offices of the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Co designed by Hennessy & Co. "

Many say that the strikingly domed Corpus Christi church at Nundah was to be a model for the proposed cathedral.(Photo: DSEWPaC & J Houldsworth; rt51334)

Both Corpus Christi and the plans for the proposed cathedral included a dome, which was thought to be a homage to St Peter's in Rome.

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Holman St Ferry Terminal, Kangaroo Point

2011-09-09T07:00:00.001+10:00

A number of ferries operated across the Brisbane River before the arrival of the first Victoria Bridge in 1865 and then the Grey St and Story Bridges in the 1930s. The second Kangaroo Point ferry commenced operation circa 1845 with a horse-drawn punt traversing the river to Holman Street. Around 1919 a terminal was constructed for a cost of £34 to provide shelter for ferry passengers at that river crossing, and here it is.

The old terminal did not escape the terrible 2011 floods. Here is a picture of it well under water last January. The river is on the far side of the terminal - all the water in the foreground is floodwater.
(Photo: © J Huang; State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #27858-0001-0061)

The rain finally stopped and the flood retreated, and Queenslanders set about cleaning up. Arguments about insurance claims and criticism of how long it took to send the millions of dollars worth of donations to the needy continue still. Many have not been able to return to their houses, and many more are living in unrepaired houses.

The fate of a little ferry terminal seems insignificant in comparison, but at least it is still with us and still in service to the people of Brisbane. I used it the other day - here it is, fully recovered.(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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Sunnyside, Kangaroo Point

2011-09-06T07:00:00.000+10:00

Brisbane's first suburb was Kangaroo Point, across the river from Brisbane Town. It rivalled South Brisbane, firstly for industry and then for residential sites. One of the early real estate investors was a Sydney man, Joseph Thompson, who held considerable assets in the area, including the semi-detached Silverwells. Next to Silverwells, Thompson had the house pictured below constructed. He called it Sunnyside.
(Photo: DERM)

The house was built in the mid-1890s overlooking the river with direct views to the city. Thompson was an investor rather than a resident, and the land between the house and the river was leased to the shipping firm AUSN who built workshops there, within easy reach of their office in Mary St in Brisbane.

One of the tenants was Charles Foster of the ironmongery firm, Foster and Foster. He moved to Sunnyside from his former residence Shafston House, which he still owned.

Upon the death of Joseph Thompson in 1902, the property was left to his son, who sold it in 1920 to a Fortitude Valley dentist, Robert Wright, and it remained in the Wright family for many years afterwards. I photographed it recently, and this is the way it looked, apparently after having had a makeover.(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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Avalon, New Farm

2011-09-02T07:00:00.006+10:00

Not all older buildings are historical showpieces for the wealthy, and neither should they be. Here is a building that was constructed in 1929 that was built for the well-to-do but then provided cheap accommodation for the not-so-well off.(Photo: http://www.ricardofelipe.com; Painting by Leslie Edwards, 2004)

"Avalon is an apartment building located at the crossroads of sleaze and affluence in Brisbane."

This is a quote from a book I discovered at my local library. The book is "Avalon: Art & Life of an Apartment Building", and the Avalon referred to is a block of flats in New Farm. The book was edited by Ricardo Felipe, himself an Avalon resident, and it is a collection of characters, stories and photographs of the flats. Many of the recent residents have been artists, and this web page gives an insight into the book and the exhibition that accompanied its launch a few years back. The book is an veritable treasure trove! The building was constructed with absolute luxury in mind, and has progressed through bohemian, sleazy, illegal and artistic incarnations since then.

Architect Robert Riddel lived opposite Avalon in his house La Scala for fifteen years. He describes the building as "an ambitious development" - it has 26 small flats (named alphabetically from A to Z), each about 40 sq m, and was probably the largest apartment building in Brisbane until the construction of Torbreck in the 1960s. After a fire that destroyed a boarding house and other dwellings, Avalon was constructed to a design by the architects of the city hall, Hall and Prentice. All flats have one bedroom with a kitchen and terrazzo-tiled bathroom, and a lounge area separated by a wall or curtains. The ceilings are of ornate plaster, the internal structure is Oregon and Silky Oak, and the internal walls are rendered brick. There is a long corridor down the centre of each of the two levels that is a full 6 feet (183 cm) wide.(Photo: http://www.ricardofelipe.com)

The site of the complex has been one of the most notorious spots in Brisbane. For many years the corner served as a drive-by prostitute pick-up place, and for a time there was a meth lab in Avalon itself. A couple of murders eventuated from the sordid streetwalker activity, but the place has largely been cleaned up in recent times.

The venerable building remains. Now a little run-down, with the ground floor shops being a burger bar and a laundromat, some elements of its inter-war style can still be seen. Conspicuously standing on a corner at the intersection where Fortitude Valley becomes New Farm, it has for years fascinated passengers who have passed by in trams, buses or cars. And, as evidenced by Felipe's book, many are the stories it could tell!(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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Toombul Shire Hall

2011-08-30T07:00:00.001+10:00

Earlier in this blog we discussed German Station, the site of the first free settlement at Moreton Bay. The mission was inaugurated by a group of German clergy who came here in 1838. Later, the area around the station became known as Toombul shire and then Nundah. In a somewhat confusing situation, Nundah is now a suburb and Toombul is what is known as a "residential locality", meaning that it does not have full suburban status, but for historical reasons the name remains in use. Toombul shire came into being around 1883, and in 1891 the municipal offices for the shire were built, to a design by the firm of John Hall and Son who had designed the South Brisbane Town Hall. The following photograph was taken in 1993.
(Photo: Courtesy Brisbane City Council; BCC-L11-936)

The Toombul Shire Council ceased to be upon the formation of the Greater Brisbane Municipal Council in 1925, and that body took over the custody of the former shire offices. The Brisbane City Council undertook heritage renovations in 1987, and the building is still a community hall to this day. Here is my recent picture of it.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

The busy Sandgate Road traffic which once passed by the front door has been diverted by a tunnel, and so the old building is quite accessible now. The building to its left, which houses an accounting office, has been built in a similar style, giving the area a nostalgic look.

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Fire station, Fortitude Valley (former)

2011-08-26T07:00:00.001+10:00

Fortitude Valley's first fire station was located at Ballow St. One of Brisbane's biggest fires occurred a couple of blocks away at the Overells department store in February 1904, and unfortunately a person died in the blaze. The proprietor of the store, Mr Overell, was critical of the response time of the brigade; however an inquest into the death, after considering telephone records and log books, found that there was no unnecessary delay. During this time planning was already underway for a new and larger station to be built on the corner of Chester and Harcourt Sts. The land had been purchased for £400 in the previous year, and the new premises were opened in January 1905. This is what it looked like.(Photo: "Brisbane Ablaze"; K Calthorpe & KD Capell)

When it was no longer required as a fire station, it went into private enterprise, firstly as a milk depot around 1929, and subsequently as a fruit market. Milkman Harry Broadrick and his horse Psycho, who pulled the milk wagon around the streets, were local identities in the Teneriffe and Newstead area. In the 1990s, the building was converted into flats, pictured here in 1998.(Photo: "Brisbane Ablaze"; K Calthorpe & KD Capell)

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

The building is still with us, which is quite remarkable when one considers the rebuilding that has occurred in this area. After a recent makeover, it looks quite inviting too.

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Shafston House, Kangaroo Point

2011-08-23T07:00:00.013+10:00

Here's a building with an interesting history, and it has also been linked with some interesting people. Robert Creyke, an Anglican cleric, commenced the building originally called Ravenscott around 1851 on a riverfront property at Kangaroo Point. But before it was completed, the property was acquired by grazier Henry Russell in the following year. Russell finished the residence, renaming it Shafston, and lived in it for a time; then it was bought by Louis Hope, a grazier from Kilcoy, who apparently didn't ever live there - he rented the house to tenants. One of his tenants was Dr Henry Challinor, who was the medical officer aboard the ship Fortitude that brought Dr Lang's immigrants to Brisbane. Challinor later became a member of the Queensland Parliament.

The next owners, Charles and Mary Foster bought the property in 1883, and are reputed to have demolished the original structure and commissioned FDG Stanley to design a new house on the land. This was the basis for the Gothic structure that stands there now. Charles Foster remained at Shafston until 1896 when it once again was rented to tenants for several years. The next resident owners were Mary & James McConnel, son of David McConnel of Bulimba House where James was born. The McConnels called on RS Dods to make some further alterations to the interior of the building. The McConnels remained at Shafston until 1913 or thereabouts, and it then became a training centre for the Creche and Kindergarten Association.

After WWI, the property was acquired by the Commonwealth who renamed it Anzac House, using it as a repatriation hospital until around 1969. Here is a photograph of Shafston that was taken in 1930.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #65163)

After 1969, the property was used by the RAAF as offices and a mess, and a lot of internal restructure occurred at that time. The next photograph is from around 1979.
(National Trust of Queensland, "Historic Homes of Brisbane" by Janet Hogan; photo R Stringer)

In 1988, Brisbane entrepreneur Gary Balkin leased the property, hoping to convert it into a hospitality venue to run in conjunction with his paddle-wheelers the Kookaburra Queens. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to obtain the necessary government approvals for this venture, and the building was converted into a residence again.

Then, in 1994, the lease was transferred to another entrepreneur, Keith Lloyd. Lloyd had been variously an insurance agent, a night-club proprietor and a ship-builder before redeveloping Shafston House into a college that was mainly intended to cater for international students. Now known as Shafston International College, it is freehold property once again - here is a current photograph. The building is a landmark feature for Brisbane's ferry and CityCat passengers.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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Queensport Rocks Park

2011-08-19T07:00:00.001+10:00

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #191799)

Time was that the Brisbane River was lined with industry. Boat-building, petrol refineries, meatworks and all manner of other businesses made the riverside home over decades. Access to water would be the main reason; whether for transport purposes or for use in their manufacturing process. Another reason, in the city's early days, was so that rubbish could be chucked into the river. The photo above was taken in 1908 and shows a fellmongery and wool-scouring plant on the river at Murrarie.

Around the same time, a meat works was operating in the area of Murrarie where the Gateway Bridge crosses the Brisbane River. Some photographs of that enterprise from the 1890s are shown below.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #203981)
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #37706)

Recently, a beautification process was completed on the former site of the meat works. In conjunction with the upgrading of the motorway by erecting a second bridge, funds were provided to convert the area to a park. Here it is.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Now a place of picnic tables and playgrounds, the Queensport Rocks Park is a welcome change from the former industrial site it once was.

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Eulalia, Norman Park

2011-08-16T07:00:00.001+10:00

You probably think that taking the photographs for the "Present" part of this blog is pretty easy - just swanning around with a camera, firing off shots here and there. For the most part that's true, I'll admit. But there are problematic parts to this endeavour too. Rain, for one. The rain we get in Brisbane tends to be the tropical downpour rather than the drizzle you might see elsewhere, so it's almost impossible to make a decent image, as well as being dangerous for photographer and camera alike. Then, of course, there is the ubiquitous white vehicle parked in front of the structure to be photographed. A giant white expanse can ruin any picture. But for today's post, I faced a different problem, and here it is. A dog. A very big dog. Who was hiding behind the gate while I approached, and then stood up on his hind legs with front paws on the gate just as I was about to click the shutter. And barked - not just a yap, but a deep, loud, spine-tingling BARK - the sort that makes the hair on your neck stand up. Scared me witless, it did!
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

It's a pity that's as close as I could get to a picture of today's subject, because it is one of Brisbane's loveliest homes. But as well as a patrolling dog, the property is surrounded by mature trees, so taking a photograph of the building is very difficult. You can just make out some of the timber fretwork and a pavilion in the background of the photograph.

The house is called "Eulalia", and it was built in 1889 for Judge Patrick Real. It was a lavish house built on the crest of a hill in an area of 22 acres owned by Real that must have had great beauty at the time. Here is picture of the house taken in 1932,
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #19262)

Patrick Real's story is one of those that show that a poor immigrant with intelligence and a healthy work ethic can make a great deal of himself, despite the challenges that life can bring. Born in Ireland in 1846, he emigrated at age four with the rest of his family, but his father died on board the ship before arrival in Australia. When they arrived here in 1850, Patrick's mother took the family to Ipswich, south-west of Brisbane to live. Patrick finished his schooling at age twelve and was apprenticed to a carpenter, then he worked in the railway workshops at Ipswich.

His biography says that he became interested in the law around 1870. Because of the family's financial constraints, Patrick was forced to study whilst working and supporting his mother. Unable to pay a fee to join the Bar, he truncated five years articles into three, and was admitted to the Bar in 1874. Patrick Real was a lifetime teetotaller and non-smoker, about 191 cm (or 6'3" in the old language) tall, combative and intelligent. He quickly became a barrister of note, being one of the highest earners of his time, and in 1890 he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court.

Eulalia was designed by John Hall and Associates and built by Ipswich builders Morley Whitehead. The luxurious property contained a croquet lawn and tennis court, and reportedly held many fine gatherings. The area around the property still bears several reminders of Patrick Real - Patrick St, Real St and Judge St are legacies of the man who became Queensland's Senior Puisne Judge in 1903. He retired in 1922 and died at Eulalia in 1928.(Photo: Copyright DSEWPaC)

After the judge's death, Eulalia had a mixed history. It was vacant for many years, even regarded by the locals as a haunted house. Subsequent owners the Hancock family, successful timber merchants, restored the house and then converted the grounds into a museum, the Early Street Historical Village. The Hancocks were supporters of the National Trust of Queensland, with Mr Stanley Hancock being president for a time. Regrettably, Early Street closed some years ago - I don't know who owns the property now.
(Photo: Courtesy Brisbane City Council; BCC-L11-959)

The state's Heritage Register describes the property this way:
"It has several rare and highly decorative architectural features, including the verandahs surrounding the bay windows and their finely detailed verandah posts and brackets. These features, combined with the fine quality of interior finishes and fittings, including cedar joinery, internal pilasters and columns, and flooring of tessellated tiles give Eulalia considerable aesthetic significance."

It's just a pity that the house is now so difficult to see!

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St Brigid's Convent, Red Hill

2011-08-12T07:00:00.008+10:00

In 1877, the first St Brigid's Church was built at Red Hill. A few years later, the Sisters of Mercy established a school there, and they made the daily trek from All Hallows' in the Valley to the church to teach the students. In 1902 the Sisters of Mercy purchased, in Upper Clifton Terrace near the church, land that included a residence known as "Kenilworth". The purchase price was £1610, and the Sisters intended to construct a convent there.

Architects Eaton and Bates were commissioned to construct the convent, and work commenced in mid-1902 and was completed the following year. Records show that the construction cost was £3100, and a further £500 was needed for furnishing the building. This is the result, as photographed in 2000.
(Photo: DERM)

Eaton and Bates had quite a successful practice, including many works for the Catholic church. As evidenced by this building, they favoured wide verandahs, important for fighting the hot Queensland sun.

The convent evidently housed up to eight or nine Sisters of Mercy at any one time. The school closed in the mid-1980s, and nuns remained in residence at the convent until the building was sold in 1999.(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

I'm not sure how the building is being used today - in fact, it looked as though it may have been vacant when I took the current photo above. The well-positioned block and nearness to the city are apparent. The web pages of conservation architect Robert Riddel (who has also worked on St Brigid's Church) indicate that conservation work and improvements were performed for the new owners after the sale by the church.

It would be a superb family home.

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Walter Hill Fountain, Botanical Gardens

2011-08-09T07:00:00.004+10:00

The Moreton Bay penal settlement moved to the present site of Brisbane in 1824. By 1828, a site bordering the Brisbane River had been earmarked for a Public Gardens, and it also served as a farm to produce food for the colony. In 1855, several acres were declared as a Botanical Reserve, and the man pictured below was appointed as its first curator. He was Walter Hill, and he remained in this role until 1881.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #17483)

Walter Hill was responsible for the original laying out of the area known today as the Botanical Gardens. He was born in Scotland in 1819 and came to New South Wales in 1852, originally intending to be a gold miner. But that didn't last, and Hill accepted the position of curator in Brisbane. He was not without experience - back in Scotland he had been an apprentice gardener at Balloch Castle, and also worked at the Edinburgh Gardens and Kew Gardens before emigrating.

As well as being the curator of the Gardens, Hill was also appointed as Queensland's first Colonial Botanist when secession occurred in 1859. This involved expeditions to the far north of Queensland, searching for native plants. He was also responsible for introducing the Queensland icons of jacaranda and poinciana, now beloved by gardeners. Perhaps his biggest contribution to the State's economy was his belief that sugar cane could be successfully grown here, and he was responsible for its introduction. Hill conducted his own experiments in crushing the cane and boiling the resultant juice to prove that it could be granulated into sugar. He was also credited with bringing mango, pawpaw, ginger, tamarind, arrowroot and cotton to these shores; as well as cultivating the Queensland nut.

Despite all his fine works in Queensland, he was regarded as somewhat of a prickly fellow, and it was after a falling out with superiors in 1881 that he retired from his government positions.

When reticulated water from the Enoggera Dam first reached Brisbane, Colonial Architect Charles Tiffin designed a drinking fountain which was erected in the Botanical Gardens to provide fresh water to the public. It was built by renowned stone mason John Petrie in 1867. Here is a picture of it from 1910.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #24215)

Some time later, the fountain was named the Walter Hill Fountain, in honour of the irascible curator and botanist. Whilst it no longer provides water, it remains as a monument to Hill in today's Botanical Gardens which owe so much to his planning and work. Here is a current photograph.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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Story Bridge Hotel, Kangaroo Point

2011-08-05T07:00:00.001+10:00

As befits one of Brisbane's oldest suburbs, Kangaroo Point has had its own hotel for many, many years. Originally called the Logan Hotel, after a reconstruction in 1886 it became known as the Kangaroo Point Hotel. Then, when the Story Bridge was opened in 1940, it was renamed the Story Bridge Hotel, the name it is still known as today. Here is a photograph of the Kangaroo Point Hotel that was taken in 1915.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #111182)

The family of the current owners purchased the hotel in 1967, and since then it has become a well-recognised, multi-award winning hospitality venue. It was awarded "Best Bar Presentation and Service" at the AHA's recent awards night, having bested such luminaries as the Shangri-La in Sydney and Melbourne's Hilton Hotel. A list of earlier awards can be seen here - not bad for a pub that was once the home patch of wharfies and labourers, and had the reputation as one of the toughest pubs in town. The change has coincided with the trend towards inner-city living and the gentrification of riverside suburbs.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

The recent photograph shows the current appearance of the hotel with the Story Bridge in the background. Although extensively renovated in 2003, the original appearance of the hotel has been retained. The large number of nearby apartment buildings should ensure that it does not run short of clientele.

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Cliffside Apartments, Kangaroo Point

2011-08-02T07:00:00.003+10:00

Now that Brisbane styles itself as "the river city", riverside land and buildings have assumed great status. Apartment buildings now line every reach of the river, upstream and down.

An early trendsetter in recognising the potential of the river for upmarket accommodation was the remarkable Mrs Doris R Booth, who, in 1935, commenced construction of Cliffside Flats at Kangaroo Point. Before we look at the building, I think we should consider the woman. Her biography makes fascinating reading, but it's too long to reproduce here - this is the summary of her career(s) from that source:

autobiographer/memoirist
general merchant
goldmine owner
goldminer
Member of Upper House
nurse (general)
women's activist

That list does not mention the hospital she set up in New Guinea to treat dysentery cases (as a result of which she was known as "The Angel of Bulolo" and received an OBE), or the landmark court case she fought and won in order to protect her property from her estranged husband. What an extraordinary woman! She published her memoirs, Mountain Gold and Cannibals, in 1928.

Doris Booth (nee Wilde) was born at Kangaroo Point in 1895 in a house named Cliffside. Following their marriage in 1919, she and her husband moved to New Guinea, where they managed a plantation and then mined for gold. Over time, the marriage deteriorated and Doris gradually assumed control of the family businesses. She left her husband in 1932, but was forced into court in New Guinea in 1933 when her husband sued for restitution of property. Following the conclusion of the matter in her favour, she purchased land adjacent to the family home at Kangaroo Point, and in 1935 requested architect/engineer R Martin Wilson to prepare plans for a multiple dwelling complex on that site. Tenders for the construction of the building were called in 1936, with a warning that contractors must visit the site to ascertain the degree of difficulty, including the use of an air-compressor for drilling the rock, as no explosives would be permitted. The successful tenderer in July 1936 was George Mitchell, and the building was completed in June 1937. At the opening of the building the Telegraph newspaper described it as being an example of the most advanced flat design in Australia. Here is the architect's drawing of the proposed dwelling.(Drawing of proposed flats, Kangaroo Point, 1936. Architect: RM Wilson. Wilson Collection, UQFL 112, 588. Fryer Library, University of Queensland Library. Used by permission.)

And here is my recent photograph of the building today.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Despite the present proliferation of apartment blocks in this area, not to mention the nearby presence of the Captain Cook Bridge and the freeway, this attractive building still holds its own. Doris Booth sold the apartments in the mid-sixties, a few years prior to her death. Anyone who lives there now would be extremely fortunate, I think. Here is a photograph that I found on Google Maps that was taken from the building and shows its fantastic views.
(Photo: Google Maps and summer.a; "View from Cliffside Apts")

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Dunaverty, Albion

2011-07-29T07:00:00.003+10:00

Twenty year-old Archibald McNish Fraser arrived in Brisbane from his native Scotland in 1880, just in time for the boom time in the colony. He had served an apprenticeship in the building trade prior to emigrating, and so set himself up as a builder, then established a real estate business. Here is an advertisement he ran in the Brisbane Courier in June 1886:
GENTLEMEN in search of Desirable SITES for RESIDENCES will find it to their advantage to call on A. MᶜNISH FRASER, 149 Queen-street, next Finney, Isles, & Co.'s, upstairs. Beautiful Site at Sherwood, 10 acres, next the station. Oxley: Grand Site, 18 acres, fronting the river, next Mr. Collins's residence. Also magnificent Property of 5 acres, overlooking tho Racecourse, Eagle Farm, planted with Fruit Trees. Prices tempting. A. MᶜNISH FRASER will at any time drive intending purchasers to the above and others equally as good.
In 1887, he built his house "Dunaverty" in Albion. The house features fine detailing including a thistle motif in the iron fretwork and replicated in interior wood-work.

(Photos: "More Historic Homes of Brisbane", National Trust of Queensland & Ray Summer)
Fraser achieved considerable success in his business ventures, and remained at Dunaverty until the early 1890s. His firstborn, a son, was delivered at the house in March 1891. Fraser bought several allotments of land at the newly surveyed suburb of Yeronga in the same year, but whether he intended to move there is not known. Along with other entrepreneurs, Fraser was caught in the inevitable "bust" that followed the boom of the 1880s, and had to sell not only the Yeronga land but also the family home.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Dunaverty still stands at Albion in Brisbane's near northern suburbs. After Fraser and his family left their home it was purchased by investors and remained a tenanted property for many years. Unfortunately, during a period when the house was vacant, a good deal of the interior cedar and iron-work was stolen.

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Albion Fire Station

2011-07-26T07:00:00.004+10:00

We have previously looked at purpose-built suburban fire stations, the majority of which were constructed from timber, and there are a few of them remaining at Wynnum, Morningside, Coorparoo, Yeronga and Nundah. There is only one older suburban station made of brick still standing in its original form, and it is this one at Albion. (Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

The brick construction and the impressive dimensions of this building indicate that it was designed to be a regional station for the northern suburbs. It replaced an earlier fire station at Windsor and another at Hamilton. The foundation stone of the building was laid on 1 December 1925 and the completed station was opened on 17 January 1927. The foundation stone can be seen under the ground floor window on the left. The first line reads "Ready Aye Ready", the brigade's motto, and the rest of the tablet records the date and the names of the dignitaries attending. The name of the station is still present in the central bay of the building at the top, although the fire station was decommissioned in 1961.

The building was probably quite popular with the officers stationed there. As well as space on the ground floor for two appliances with requisite firefighting equipment, there was also space for a dormitory, a mess room, a kitchen, a room with private facilities for the district officer, and a billiard room large enough for a full-size table. The upper floor contained two flats for officers and their families.

The following photograph shows the fire station nearing completion, where some wag has placed only part of the name of the station on the facade, spelling "on fire".
(Photo: "Brisbane Ablaze"; K Calthorpe & KD Capell)

Here is the view from the station, looking past the Albion Flour Mill to the city. The building is now leased to commercial tenants.
(Photo source: unknown)

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Albion Flour Mill

2011-07-22T07:00:00.003+10:00

In a social studies lesson at primary school, I remember learning that the staple food of Australians was bread. That was the forerunner to learning about growing wheat and grinding it to make flour. I wonder if bread is still considered to be our staple food? To the extent that the bookends that hold in the fillings for the American-style hamburgers and chickenburgers that seem to be our contemporary cuisine are made from bread, I suppose that it is possible.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #10189-0002-0139)

If we accept that bread was at least an important food item in Brisbane, then it stands to reason that we would need mills to produce it. An early mill was built and operated by convicts on Wickham Terrace, and pictured above just after its construction in 1930 is another one, this time in the near northern suburb of Albion. It was built by Stuart Brothers for £8,500. The mill building was originally five storeys, and was later expanded. The photo below shows the current form of the building and you can see the different brickwork resulting from the addition of another floor as well as sort of bolt-on extensions at the front and side.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

The blog woolly days says that White Wings self-raising flour was produced here from 1957, and the grain silos in the picture below were erected in the sixties. The mill later was bought by and produced Defiance flour.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Well, as you can see from the signs in the recent pictures, the site is to be redeveloped into... you guessed it - apartments. But there is a difference here. This will be a Transit Oriented Development (TOD); one that integrates medium- to high-density living with commerce, as well as a bicycle station and railway station. The Albion railway station is right next door to the old mill, and will be included in the revamped complex.

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Albion, the suburb

2011-07-19T07:00:00.003+10:00

The construction of the Breakfast Creek Bridge and the installation of the electric tram line to Clayfield were instrumental in opening up some of Brisbane's near-northern suburbs. Albion, just beyond the bridge, was one of those that were sparsely populated before the advent of the electric tram in 1901; prior to that the horse-drawn trams stopped at Breakfast Creek. One of the early buildings in the area was Whytecliffe, built in 1876 and pictured below in 1930.(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #199905)

Whytecliffe was used as a WAAF barracks during WWII and later became a wedding reception venue. It has now been amalgamated into a retirement village. This is the way it looks these days.(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Here is a picture of Albion from 1909, with a group of people boarding a tram. The building on the left with the rooftop ornaments is the Albion Hotel.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #APO-034-0001-0026)

Now that the trams have gone, there are a couple of bus routes that run through here. And the train station is right behind the hotel, but that doesn't prevent four lanes of traffic choking this very busy area.(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Pictured below are the Albion Hall in 1909 and the Albion Hotel in 1929.(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #47138)

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #1901)
And here are those two buildings today.

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

We will look a bit further at Albion in the next few posts.

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Teneriffe Village, Teneriffe

2011-07-15T07:00:00.002+10:00

The unusually shaped building in the following photographs is a former woolstore and is now an apartment and retail complex.

(Photos: DERM)

I live right across the road from this building. The photographs above are not dated, but I would estimate that they were taken ten to fifteen years ago. The foreground of the bottom picture was a garden shop and nursery in that photo, and now contains a new three-storey apartment block, offices and a restaurant.

Originally the Dalgety Woolstore No 3, the building in our photos then became the Queensland Primary Producers Woolstore No 8, whose sign is still on the fascia at the front. The sign was repainted recently, proudly adopting the state's colours.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

After its life as a wool store was over, the building was sectioned off into retail space and became known as Paddy's Markets, a popular place for Brisbane shoppers to locate all sorts of bric-a-brac.

If we go further back in time, there was a brewery on this site. It was operated by Queensland Brewery, later taken over by Carlton United, and it produced Bulimba Beer. The brewery functioned here between 1883 and 1906 when the land was sold to Dalgety, who started the woolstore presence in the area. They built a couple of warehouses on the site, which then faced a number of wharves on the river, and a railway line ran along this street to facilitate the transport of bales of wool. Those buildings were demolished in 1955 to allow a street to be extended through the property. It was then (1955-7) that the present structure was erected.

The building now contains residential apartments with retail tenants on the ground floor. Everything from a convenience store to a hairdresser to a recruitment office, a bar, a bottle shop and four (count them, four!) restaurants are present to satisfy the requirements of this medium density residential area.

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Rothwells Building, Edward St

2011-07-12T07:00:00.008+10:00

If they grew up in Brisbane, males of my vintage will recognise the Rothwells name - Rothwells Outfitting Limited was the foremost menswear store in Brisbane for many years. It was formed in 1897 by Thomas Rothwell (below).
(Photo: Courtesy of Redcliffe Museum)

Thomas Rothwell was born in England and emigrated to Australia where he commenced work as a journalist before becoming an accountant. He was involved in the formation of the RACQ, and he also conceived the construction of Anzac Avenue, a long roadway leading towards Redcliffe that is lined by trees planted in memory of the district's WWI fallen soldiers. That road now passes through the suburb of Rothwell, named in his honour. He became a Companion of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his charity work for returned servicemen. Although he passed away in 1928 the business continued for another sixty years before coming to an ignominious end.

His menswear store was housed in its own building in Edward St near the Adelaide St intersection. The building was erected in 1885, before Rothwells came into being, originally leased to a drapery and importing firm who bought the building in 1896 and then leased it to Rothwells. Rothwells bought the building themselves in 1909, and here is a photograph of it from 1934 showing Rothwells' signage.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #69453)

As well as tailoring and selling menswear, the firm also promoted itself as regalia makers - this means that they manufactured and sold the clothing and accoutrements worn by Masons. Below is a newspaper advertisement for a man's suit, made-to-measure at the price of £4/15/0, or $9.50 as a direct conversion to today's decimal currency.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #102943)

When I started work in the mid-sixties, Rothwells was still operating as a menswear retailer. The office where I worked was only about 100 metres from the store, and I spent many a lunch break perusing the stock there. The dinner suit that I wore at my wedding in 1975 was sourced there and I still have it. Here is a recent image of the building, which still stands in Edward St.(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

However, that's not the end of the Rothwells story. During the Gordon Gecko-style excesses of the 1980s, Western Australian corporate raider Laurie Connell acquired the company, closed the menswear stores and converted it to a merchant bank. Connell was a Porsche-driving, racecourse-loving entrepreneur (the type my father would call "a spiv") who succeeded in driving the company to the wall in the 1987 stockmarket crash despite a shonky deal with Brian Burke, the disgraced former Premier of Western Australia, that had attempted to shore it up. The resultant Royal Commission cost a further $19 million or so, and found that a director of the company and an auditor from a national accounting firm had conspired to defraud the public by falsifying the company's financial accounts. Connell died during the trial, one of Australia's longest and costliest.

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University of Queensland Experimental Mine, Indooroopilly

2011-07-08T07:00:00.002+10:00

There's gold in them thar hills! Well, perhaps not gold, but certainly silver and lead. The "hills" were at the present-day suburb of Indooroopilly, and at the time of discovery the location was known as Finney's Hill. In 1919 two men, G Olson and PJ Madden found what they suspected was precious metal and applied for a mining lease on the area. By November of that year, they were mining the site, initially underground and then later in open cut format as the following images from 1921 show.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #80152)
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #15297)

The mine operated for about ten years, and it's probably fair to say that the returns to the mine's investors were not as great as they had hoped. Mining operations ceased in 1929, and the plant and equipment were sold. The high costs of mining the product and the low prices being received at market made it uneconomical to continue. There are reports that even a diviner was used in an attempt to discover more commercial deposits, but to no avail.

But here is a photograph I took the other day. There were people in hard hats, there was equipment in use. What is going on there?
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

After mining ceased in 1929, the land reverted to the Brisbane City Council and was unused until, in 1951, someone had the idea of using the old mining site to train mining engineering students. The University of Queensland applied for a mining lease, and the site was given over to the students, who had to rehabilitate the old mines. Many of the shafts and tunnels were in disrepair after so many years of neglect, and the first process was to re-establish a safe working environment.

These days the site is a registered mine once again, and is of enormous practical use to engineering students in the surveying, ventilation and safety aspects of mining.

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Nundah Cemetery

2011-07-05T07:00:00.000+10:00

When Moreton Bay's first free settlers arrived, they settled in an area that they called Zion's Hill. The settlement was a mission station, established to bring Christianity to the indigenous population, and those first settlers were German. The settlement became known as German Station and is now Nundah. Zion's Hill was located near where the large Centro Toombul shopping mall now stands. The mission was placed on a gentle hill above a small river that they named Kedron Brook, apparently a reference to a place from the Bible called Kidron or Cedron, a brook near Jerusalem. The graveyard that they initiated near their little settlement was later surveyed and became the Nundah Cemetery. Here is my recent photo, tweaked a little to give somewhat of an old world feel.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

It is thought that the first burial here occurred in 1845, and it officially became a cemetery reserve in 1862. The oldest remaining headstone is from 1855. The nearby mission petered out by 1850, but the German Station Cemetery remained in use, administered by trustees. The Brisbane City Council took over the running of the cemetery in 1930.
(Photo: Courtesy DSEWPaC and J Houldsworth)

The photo above was taken in 1996, and it shows the somewhat jumbled and crowded nature of the graves. The pavilion in the photograph was built in 1914 and restored in the 1980s. The cemetery was closed in 1963.

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Goanna salve

2011-07-01T07:00:00.006+10:00

Excerpt from Brisbane Courier, Monday 23 October, 1922

FATAL FRACAS.

MR. J. C. MARCONI KILLED.

A FRACTURED SKULL

Mr. J. C. Marconi, the well-known manufacturer of certain ointments, received fatal injuries during a fracas in Elizabeth-street, near the Sovereign Hotel, about 5 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Mr. Marconi, his eldest son, and a friend were walking along the footpath in Elizabeth-street, and passed some men walking in the opposite direction Evidently recognising one of the men, Mr. Marconi said, "Good day" and "How are you?" One of the men, it is stated, made an opprobrious remark, and Mr Marconi's son turned round to question the speaker. This started an altercation, and Mr. Marconi's friend, seeing that matters were becoming serious, went off to summon the police. Mr. Marconi proceeded to the assistance of his son and is said to have received a blow which felled him to the ground. He was unconscious, so the Ambulance Brigade was summoned, and after giving first aid removed him to the General Hospital, where he was admitted, but died about 6.30 the same evening.

A post-mortem examination was held on the body at the morgue yesterday morning by the Government Medical Officer (Dr. Espie Dods), who found that death had been caused by a fracture of the base of the skull.

The late Mr. Marconi was a public spirited man, a member of the Balmoral Shire Council, and on one occasion stood as an Independent candidate for the electorate of Bulimba. He is survived by his widow, three sons, and three daughters, the youngest being six years of age.

Up to a late hour last night no arrest had been made in connection with the incident.

(Photos:grabthegoanna.com)

The unfortunate man who was killed in this incident was Italian immigrant and entrepreneur JC Marconi. He arrived in Australia in 1866 and lived at Bulimba. Whilst travelling in the outback, he observed an aboriginal man treating a snakebite wound with goanna fat. Marconi liked the idea, and after experimenting with some added ingredients, launched his Goanna Salve onto the Australian market in 1910. The manufacturing and sales were carried out from his home in Oxford St, next to the ferry terminal.

What's more, the ointment really worked. It became very popular during WWI, when diggers found that it helped almost every ailment from tinea to piles. Some even used it to oil their guns. Marconi payed a bounty for goannas, and until they were protected in 1918 kids from all over Queensland would capture them, render off the fat and send it to his factory. Interstate goannas were then hunted for a time, but gradually the ointment was produced without the goanna oil ingredient.

After JC Marconi's unfortunate death, his family continued to produce and sell their Goanna products until 1982, when the business was sold to another entrepreneur, Euan Murdoch, who had formed Herron Pharmeceuticals in 1980. Herron is a Brisbane based manufacturer of vitamins and pharmaceutical products, now part of the Sigma Pharmaceuticals company. Sigma have since moved the manufacturing part of the business to Victoria.

A couple of footnotes to the story. Marconi was well-known and very popular in Bulimba. After his death, children made up the following little schoolyard chant:
"Old Marconi's dead,
Knocked on the head.
Goannas are glad,
Children are sad.
Old Marconi's dead."

Marconi's assailant, Arthur Eddington, was caught and arrested by police. After a hung jury in the first trial, he was tried a second time for the unlawful killing of Marconi and found guilty, although the jury recommended clemency because the death resulted from a melee. Eddington was sentenced to a year's hard labour.

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Brisbane - the River City

2011-06-28T07:00:00.010+10:00

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #1330)

John Oxley (above) is commonly regarded as the discoverer of the Brisbane River and the man behind the establishment of the Moreton Bay penal settlement. Modern Brisbane embraces the river as part of the identity of the city, and Oxley is writ large in that identity.

In 1823, John Oxley was sent from Sydney by Governor Brisbane to find a location to start a new convict settlement. It was intended to send re-offending prisoners away from Sydney in order that the remaining convict population would not be influenced by recidivists.

Oxley sailed northwards to check out three sites: places we know now as Bowen, Gladstone and Brisbane. He sailed past Moreton Bay initially, but after deciding that neither of the more northern spots was satisfactory, he returned to Moreton Bay to investigate it.

Although James Cook and Matthew Flinders assumed that there would have been a significant river that emptied into Moreton Bay, it remained elusive. Oxley was convinced such a river existed, and he intended to find it. On 29 November 1823, Oxley rounded Bribie Island and anchored in the bay. Imagine his surprise to hear his ship hailed from the beach... in English! A group of aborigines was visible, including one who was larger and lighter in skin colour that the rest. He was Thomas Pamphlett - a shipwrecked former convict.

Pamphlett was a member of a party of four who left Sydney on 21 March 1823 and sailed south to collect some cedar to take back to Sydney. These four men were Pamphlett, John Finnegan, John Thompson and Richard Parsons; all former convicts now working for a William Cox who had sent them off to fetch some timber for construction work on his property. They encountered a strong storm that blew them off course, and they spent three weeks at sea trying to make their way back to Sydney. Thinking that they were south of Sydney, possibly somewhere off Van Diemen's Land, Pamphlett's crew sailed north-west, eventually finding land on what is now Moreton Island. The strong winds and currents had probably blown them almost to New Zealand, and the direction they took to return to Sydney brought them to the east coast of Australia at Moreton Island. During these travails, their ship ran out of water and one member of the group, John Thompson, died and was buried at sea.

It was not until that chance meeting with Oxley eight months later that the men became aware that they were actually some 1000 km north of Sydney. Upon reaching land after the storm, they had still been convinced that they must travel northwards to reach Sydney. The three remaining voyagers managed to sustain themselves by foraging for food and with the help of local aboriginal people who treated them hospitably. In fact it would be inconceivable to imagine that the three white men could have survived without the aid of these indigenous people who unhesitatingly provided not only food and shelter, but also medical care and travelling advice. All three men spoke fondly of the aboriginal people they had met and their generosity of spirit towards the white men. As for the aborigines, they were genuinely distressed when they realised that their companions of many months were leaving them, possibly to never return.

During their attempts to follow the coast northwards in hope of reaching Sydney, Pamphlett's group had followed a large river for some distance, unable to cross it until they found an aboriginal canoe at the mouth of a creek that fed into the river. A bronze sculpture of an aboriginal canoe has been erected in a park near the site where the men discovered the craft. Here is a photograph of it - it contains a spear, a dilly-bag, a fish and a crab, much the type of cargo that would be aboard such a canoe.

(Photos: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

This creek is now called Oxley Creek and the place where the canoe was found is in the picture at right above. On the left is the bridge that crosses Oxley Creek at that spot, now called Pamphlett Bridge. The creek flows into a large river that is, of course, the Brisbane River.

These journeys allowed Pamphlett to show Oxley and his crew how to enter the Brisbane River, which is obscured at its mouth by islands and sand bars. This provided Oxley the opportunity to explore the river right up to Termination Hill, the site of present day Goodna, about 80 km from the mouth of the river, and led to his recommendation that Moreton Bay should become the place for the new settlement. Oxley felt that the most suitable initial site would be Redcliffe Point because of the ease of landing ships there, as opposed to navigating the difficult entry to the Brisbane River. We now know that the first settlement only lasted at Redcliffe Point for about a year before being moved upriver to the current site of Brisbane.

Today, reminders of John Oxley abound in Brisbane. There are streets, rivers, suburbs and even libraries and hospitals named after him, as well as monuments and plaques dotted all over the place. Nothing wrong with any of that, but spare a thought for poor old Thomas Pamphlett, John Finnegan and Richard Parsons who came across the Brisbane River first and then showed Oxley how to find it. Spare another thought for the peaceful and generous indigenous inhabitants who had spent thousands of years hunting and fishing in this area. They thought there was plenty for everyone, even white ghosts who emerged from huge sea-going canoes. Unfortunately the subsequent arrival of white settlers had a disastrous effect on the lives of these people within a very brief time.

The hardships and adventures that Pamphlett and his colleagues experienced in their lifetimes would take much more space to recount than I have available here. Their story must endure as one of the great tales of the establishment of white settlement in Australia. Thomas Welsby, who we met in an earlier post, wrote a history of these adventures, relying heavily on the notes taken by John Uniacke, Oxley's assistant on the voyage, who interviewed the men at length after their rescue. Welsby's story can be read here, at the chapelhill history blog site.

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Wonglepong

2011-06-24T07:00:00.016+10:00

Well, if you visited a town called Wonglepong, you'd want a photo to prove it, wouldn't you? It is a small town only about 70 km south-west of Brisbane, but to visit it is almost to step back in time. The name of the town seems so unusual, yet I have been unable to trace its origins. It is probably aboriginal, but maybe not. Someone has posited that it means "forgotten sound" in an indigenous dialect. How could you forget the sound "Wonglepong?" What I did find out is that the population of Wonglepong is just under 400 and that 93% of them speak English as their first language. If my maths is correct (no certainty, that!), then 28 people from somewhere else in the world have ended up in Wonglepong! I wonder why?

And I did find a building to photograph - here it is. It's not exactly in the centre of Wonglepong - it was erected in a paddock just outside the town. In fact, it is hidden from view just off the main road, but although the weather was atrocious and the gate was locked, I proceeded with my artistic endeavour to bring you this picture.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Well, I hear you ask, what is it? It is the Wonglepong QCWA Hall, purpose built in 1935 to hold meetings of the district's Queensland Country Women's Association. You can see the Association's logo over the front door. The QCWA is the Queensland branch of a significant organisation of rural women - just ask the contestants from last year's Masterchef!

But the story of the construction of the hall indicates how rural people are so community-minded. After holding meetings for some years in the home of member Ann Franklin, the Wonglepong Association decided to raise money to build their own hall. It has been erected on land provided by the Franklin family on a 99-year lease, and the timber for its construction may have come from the Franklin's property. The wood was milled at Franklin's sawmill in Canungra, and the hall was built by volunteer labour supervised by Ann Franklin's son. Members donated the furnishings for the hall, and although I could not see the interior, there is a photograph that shows some delightful timber work.(Photo: DERM)

According to the people at the Queensland Heritage Register, the building is virtually unchanged since its completion, apart from re-painting, re-roofing and re-stumping. (That reminds me of the yarn about the old bushy who had kept the same axe for twenty years. He only had to fit twenty new handles and ten new heads :-) Boom Boom!) The minutes of every meeting have been recorded and are still in existence, and although membership in nearby QCWA branches has declined, this one apparently still meets regularly.
(Photo: Courtesy bonzle.com)

Wonglepong cemetery contains the grave of local artist Edwin Bode (above), who travelled through Queensland painting homesteads in return for food and lodging. He lived locally for the last decade of his life, and after he died in 1926 the people of this area donated this sandstone tombstone in the shape of an artist's easel, brushes and palette.(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #60672)

As a born and bred city boy, I marvel at the rural community. We city folk complain about the lack of rain because our front lawn turns brown, but for these people it affects their livelihood. We complain about potholes in the road while they don't even have paved roads in many places. We have hospitals, doctors and dentists within easy reach, but many country towns do not have any of these essential services. Many of us, I am sure, still identify Australia with the romance of the bush, but we have absolutely no concept of what that actually entails. I dips me lid, Wonglepong.

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Hinze Dam, Advancetown

2011-06-21T07:00:00.005+10:00

Water is such a fickle commodity. We had a prolonged drought during which water had to be rationed, then we had a glut of rain that swamped Queensland, causing massive flooding all over the state. Some homes were flooded, flooded again, then flooded a third time for good measure. It seems that anything to do with water has been jinxed.

During the drought the state government was accused of not doing enough, then when they tried to build a dam at Traveston, north of Brisbane, the proposal was vilified by the locals and then vetoed by the Feds. A dam that has just been completed has not been connected to the water grid because it would be too expensive to do so! We built an expensive water desalinator that is presently in mothballs because we have since been inundated. There was talk of recycling sewerage - not a popular move in some quarters, but necessity can make the most unpalatable truth palatable.

The Hinze Dam was built in 1976 to supply water to the burgeoning Gold Coast region. It was named after the family of one of Queensland's most colourful politicians, Russell Hinze, the Minister for Everything in the Bjelke-Petersen government. Like Big Russ's belt, the dam has increased in size over the years - it was enlarged in 1989 and is being super-sized currently. The dam wall is being raised 15 metres, and that will double the capacity of the dam. Here are a couple of photos.
(Photos: SEQWater)

If the world ever forgets about squabbling over oil, we could have wars about water instead. I can remember several militant letters to the newspaper that questioned why we were sending "our" water from Brisbane down to the Hinze Dam when its level fell below 30%. Similarly, citizens of Gold Coast were up in arms when it was proposed to let water run uphill to Brisbane's dams when they were in poor shape. If global warming results in the widespread loss of water resources, then I predict all sorts of apocalyptic outcomes.

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Brighton Terrace, West End

2011-06-17T07:00:00.001+10:00

(Photo: © 1982 National Trust of Queensland)

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

These four identical semi-detached houses were built in the late 1880s as an investment for Emile Gaujard, a wholesale and retail tobacconist. The houses are on two separate allotments, so that altough they appeared to be a set of four terraces, they could be sold separately in pairs.

The houses were later split into twelve flats, but in 1990 they were restored to their original configuration of four residences, each with six rooms and three bathrooms.

This is the last in our series of West End houses.

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Astrea, West End

2011-06-14T07:00:00.007+10:00

(Photo: © 1982 National Trust of Queensland)

Here is another set of semi-detached houses built in the 1880s boom in Brisbane - this time a two-storey construction in West End. It is pictured below in 2008.
(Photo: DSEWPaC; rt5119)

Like many of the other houses built at this time, it has had a varied history. After existing as separate residences for twenty years or so, in 1909 it was converted into a single residence and christened Astrea by its owners. It was subsequently neglected for many years until being converted back to two separate houses in 1981.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

My photo above shows the dwellings now. They feature gables and intricate fretwork, as well as leadlight and cedar panelled entries.

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Wanda Walha, West End

2011-06-10T07:00:00.004+10:00

(Photo: © 1982 National Trust of Queensland)

Just up the road from Arthur Morry's house (see the last post) is a house that he may have designed for his then neighbour, grocer and timber merchant William Wilson. The house is called Wanda Walha, and it was built in 1886, and pictured above in 1914. Here is a 1996 picture of it.
(Photo: DSEWPaC & J Houldsworth; rt51103)

It's a shame that the large trees at the front of the house are getting larger, because they block most of the house from view. The verandah on the upper level has some lovely cast iron features, and the timber gable over the entrance downstairs is also attractive.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Nonetheless, it is pleasing to have the building still here, however little one can see of it!

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Nassagaweya, West End

2011-06-07T07:00:00.008+10:00

West End is an inner-city suburb on the southern side of the river, and it is one of the oldest in Brisbane. In the next few posts, we are going to look at a collection of its fine old homes, starting with this architect's own residence.

(Photos: © 1979 National Trust of Queensland)

Arthur Morry was an architect in Brisbane in the later years of the nineteenth century. He subsequently became the mayor of South Brisbane and then a member of the state parliament. It is reported that Morry designed the Brisbane Synagogue, although that is not known for certain. Morry was certainly the supervising architect for the construction of the temple.

Morry designed his own West End residence around 1885 and lived there until 1895. It still stands, and here is a photograph of it from 1996.
(Photo: DSEWPaC, J Houldsworth; rt50885)

I'd be flat out describing this house, other than saying that it is unique. It is a mixture of gables and verandahs, still in remarkable condition, at least externally. These are my recent pictures of the house.

(Photos: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

The house is positioned on a corner block in West End, and it hasn't changed in the 30-odd years since the top photo. The name of the house, Nassagaweya, is proudly painted on the front gate. Nassagaweya is a town in Ontario, Canada, and this name was given to the residence by a subsequent owner, John Gillies, who named it after his birthplace. Gillies passed away in 1946, and I understand that his descendents remain in the house. Lucky them - it looks like fun!

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HMQS Gayundah

2011-06-03T07:00:00.005+10:00

The colony of Queensland established its own navy in the late nineteenth century because it felt threatened by a heavy Russian naval presence in the Pacific. The first couple of vessels were ordered from Newcastle-on-Tyne, and were designed especially to operate in the shallow waters of Moreton Bay. One of these ships was the Gayundah, an aboriginal word meaning "lightning" - no doubt because of her incredible 10.5 knot top speed. The Gayundah arrived here on 28 March 1885, and her presence can be felt yet. Here is a photograph of the ship in the Brisbane River in 1890.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #181456)

Here is another representation of her, this time moored near the Naval Stores at Kangaroo Point; St Mary's Anglican Church is at the top of the cliffs in the background.
(Photo: Courtesy Redcliffe Historical Society Inc)

The Gayundah was heavily kitted out with guns, all the better to repel the enemy, but she was never required to perform those duties. In fact her first bit of action was a mutiny! Because of a pay dispute the man who commanded the vessel on the voyage to Australia, one Capt Henry Townley-Wright RN, was ordered to relinquish her to the ship's first lieutenant, but he refused. He moored Gayundah in the middle of the Brisbane River and threatened to sail her to Sydney. The stalemate was broken by Brisbane's police commissioner boarding the vessel and arresting Townley-Wright at gunpoint.

In 1903, the first ship-to-shore radio transmission occurred in Australia. It was between the Gayundah and a radio station set up on the lawn of the church in the image above, St Mary's at Kangaroo Point. By this time the ship was part of the Australian Navy, having been seconded from Queensland after federation. Gayundah continued to serve as a naval vessel, mainly for training purposes, in Queensland as well as other parts of Australia until 1918 when she was decommissioned. During WW1 Gayundah acted as a minesweeper and sea-going tender.

In 1921 she was bought by Brisbane Gravel Pty Ltd and started her second career, this time as a sand and gravel barge. She sank at her moorings at Milton in 1930 but was refloated, and she lasted until 1958 when she was sold to the Redcliffe City Council. Then she was completely stripped and sailed to Woody Point where she was deliberately grounded to serve as a breakwater on 2nd June of that year. Here is a photo of her remains.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #80003)

The Gayundah is resting right across the road from another Brisbane landmark, the Palace Hotel, famous for hosting the Bee Gees' first regular gig.
(Photo montage: Greg Isaac; courtesy photo.net)

The hulk of the Gayundah remains at Woody Point, slowly submitting to rust. The name "Gayundah" lives on, too - one of Brisbane's cross-river ferries has been endowed with the name of this venerable vessel.

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Doggett's Cottage, Fortitude Valley

2011-05-31T07:00:00.007+10:00

Henry Doggett, known by most as Harry, was the mayor of Brisbane in 1913. He was originally a builder and bricklayer, and he built his family home in Arthur St, Fortitude Valley in the 1880s. This is it.(Drawing: Anne Green, "Not to be Trusted"; Boolarong Publications, 1979)

I found a drawing of the house in an old book lent to me by a friend (thanks Janet!).

Not a lot is known about Harry really. The next street to the west of this was named Doggett St in his honour. Harry died in 1927, but the house was held within his family until the 1970s; then it was used for commercial purposes for a time. It is now a private residence once more.

The house was built of brick on a porphyry base, and its wonderful condition now is testament to Harry's skill in constructing it 130-odd years ago.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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Warrawee, Toowong

2011-05-27T07:00:00.010+10:00

It's remarkable how strong childhood memories can be, and how long they live on in the human memory banks. My father was one of Brisbane's great rat-runners. (A rat-runner is a driver who uses back streets, rather than main roads, to navigate the city.) In the sixties when he was frequently driving me to some destination or other, he had all sorts of devious tricks to avoid the heavier traffic and the traffic lights on arterial roads. He thought they were a nightmare then - I'd hate to think what he would be saying about the congestion and confusion on those roads today.

Anyhow, one of his favourite routes was around the back of the suburb of Toowong, steering clear of Milton Road and Coronation Drive. He used to dart up Miskin St and around Dean St, past the cemetery and along Frederick St, thereby missing most of the Toowong and Milton traffic. He wasn't Robinson Crusoe - those streets themselves are now quite busy and have flyovers, roundabouts and traffic lights to bedevil motorists. Dad would be horrified.

On Dean St there was a house that I would gaze at admiringly. To me, it was the epitome of a posh residence, and I mean that in a positive way. To a kid living in a cement box in an outlying Housing Commission area, this house represented absolute luxury. The dual staircase at the front and the chimney on the roof spoke to me of opulence and extravagance. The cast iron balustrading and the columns on the verandah indicated taste and class to my teenage brain. Here's a photo - look for yourself.(Photo: © 1979 National Trust of Queensland)

(Photo: DERM)

Much as I admired it then, I had no knowledge of its history; and I don't know much more about it now. The house is Warrawee, built in the 1880s on a large hilltop estate at Toowong. From what I see at the Queensland Heritage Register, it was built on land that was owned by an Albert White, and then rented to an executive of an insurance company. Apparently it was rented during much of its life. If I recall correctly, the house was used in at least one television advertising campaign for a home lender, and it has appeared in numerous real estate magazines and newspaper real estate sections. Here is a photograph of the southern side of the property.
(Photo: DERM)

The land that surrounds the house was eventually sub-divided, and the area is now very suburban. A street to the rear of the residence was named Warrawee St after the property. These days the house is shielded from the busy road by a clump of trees, thus precluding wistful looks from kids being driven past by their dads. This is a recent photograph taken from the front gate.(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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EDIT July 2011: I can now advise that this house is for sale. You can see the details and some wonderful photographs of the house here.

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St Andrew's Anglican, South Brisbane

2011-05-24T07:00:00.005+10:00

He was Italian and Catholic, and he had designed several buildings for the Catholic Church. Then he was commissioned to design a church for the Anglican community at South Brisbane. He was Andrea Stombuco, and this is the church that he designed - St Andrew's, pictured in 1947.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #201119)

It seems to happen frequently with grand churches. The diocese runs out of money before the architect's dream can be fully realised. That happened here - construction work started in 1878, but ceased before long because funds were depleted. They started on it again in 1882, finishing it in the following year; but Stombuco's plans included a tower and a spire that have not been built to this day. An extension designed by HWK Martin was added in 1887. Further work was done to enlarge the nave in 1931 under the supervision of Lange Powell. Here is the church today, this time from the eastern side.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

St Andrew's inhabits one of the busiest areas of South Brisbane. Roads on either side are main through-roads, and parking is scarce. I suppose things might be more relaxed on Sundays when the main congregation attends church, but on the day I was there I felt that I was risking life and limb to take today's photograph.

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Glen Lyon, Ashgrove

2011-05-20T07:00:00.005+10:00

Leafy Ashgrove is one of Brisbane's more desirable suburbs. Only 5 km or so north-west of the CBD, it contains lots of beautiful Queenslanders (houses, not people; although I hasten to add that the people are probably beautiful too!) along its tree-lined avenues. Alexander Stewart, an early settler near Enoggera Creek which flows through the suburb, had quite a remarkable house built on his property. It seems that the residence was probably designed by architect James Cowlishaw around 1876, although Cowlishaw's involvement is not absolutely certain. Here is the house, pictured on Stewart's 100 hectare estate in 1890. The property was named Glen Lyon, after Stewart's Scottish birthplace.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #APA-016-01-0010)

Stewart, a prominent businessman, passed away in 1918 and Glen Lyon was sold. The property was sectioned off into housing blocks to be sold to the public. The grand house and the gardens were snapped up by the Catholic church. They rented it to the Marist Fathers who used it as their monastery. After renting for a couple of years, they bought the house in 1930. The following picture dates from 1931.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #199270)

The next photo shows the original billiard room that was converted to a chapel.
(Photo: © 1979 National Trust Queensland)

The house was sold by the Marists in 2003, and I believe that it is now in private hands. My photograph below shows the residence now, photographed from the same aspect as the top photo. The smaller building to the left of the house was probably the original servants' quarters.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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Enoggera Reservoir, The Gap

2011-05-17T07:00:00.001+10:00

Water is the subject of much discussion these days. We have finally been made to realise just what a precious commodity it is, and we are paying a price for our previous profligacy. Too high a price, I think. Whilst I understand that it must be treated as a limited resource, I object to the multiple layers of government and therefore public servants that have been created to do the managing. We now have argy-bargy between local and state governments about the cost of water, and a new scapegoat "Urban Utilites" whose job it is to be blamed by everyone else. As it happens, I just opened my "Urban Utilities" water bill today, and I may not shower for the next week or two. After all, it is nearly winter.

Brisbane gets its water from all over the place. There are multiple dams linked into the water grid, and engineers can control the flow from each one. If we go back to drought conditions, we can summon up desalinated water or recycled water to add into the mix.

Brisbane's (in fact Queensland's) first major dam is the Enoggera Dam, about ten kilometres from the CBD in the suburb of The Gap. This dam was commenced in 1864 and finished in 1866, and was built to replace the previous water supply that emanated from Wheat Creek in the city. Here is a photograph of the Enoggera Dam from around 1888.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #103357)

After the dam was finished, a couple of service reservoirs were built on Wickham Terrace to hold water for Brisbane residences. The dam's engineer, Joseph Brady, designed a very efficient dam that had three outlet pipes to draw water, rather than the usual single or dual pipe systems. This photograph is from 1912.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #103359 )

The dam gathers water from Enoggera Creek, a tributary of the Brisbane River, and is set amongst bushland in what is now Brisbane Forest Park. Being relatively close to the city, it has long been a favourite spot for a walk or a picnic. These folks were heading for a picnic at the reservoir back in 1900.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #103338)

After the construction of the Wivenhoe Dam, which was not only meant to supply enough water to last South-East Queensland until eternity, but also prevent flooding in the area (neither aim has been achieved!), the Enoggera Dam was decommissioned in 2003. But the ensuing drought saw the infrastructure being brought back into service, and I dare say that it might be operating for a few years yet. Here is a recent picture.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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Cremorne, Hamilton

2011-05-13T07:00:00.002+10:00

(Photo: © 1979 National Trust Queensland)

This is one of the most spectacular timber houses in Brisbane. It is perched on the side of Hamilton hill with views across the Brisbane River and beyond. The house was built circa 1905 for JD O'Connor of the eminent publican family. The design was from Sydney-trained but Queensland-owned firm Eaton & Bates, who favoured pavilions and deep verandahs, both extremely suitable for our sub-tropical climate, and both are used extensively in Cremorne.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #80450)

The following photograph was taken in around 1906 and gives an idea of the extensive views - the Brisbane River is in the background. Three generation of the O'Connor family lived here until the property was sold in the 1990s.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #80451)

JD O'Connor and his brother Denis owned or had interests in hotels throughout Brisbane, among them the Wickham, the Treasury and the Prince Consort.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Cremorne is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register, where it is described this way:
"The house is almost L-shaped in plan, and has a corrugated iron roof which is a complex of hips, gables, ridges and pavilions, with decorative gablets and finials, and three brick chimneys. There are verandahs, with separate roofs, on all four sides. Several of these have been enclosed. The open verandahs all have simple timber balustrading and timber frieze, and ceilings of narrow tongue and groove timber. Most of the walls are single-skin tongue and groove timber, but where exposed to the weather, are clad externally with chamferboards."

Naturally I haven't been inside the house, but apparently the interior is just as grand as the outside. Pressed metal ceilings and stained glass windows are present, fireplaces with marble surrounds in some rooms, as well as timber arches in many entrances.(Photo: © 1979 National Trust Queensland)

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Australian American War memorial, Newstead Park

2011-05-10T07:00:00.003+10:00

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

It seems to me that there are only a couple of reasons why Japanese is not my native language. The first is the heroic action of the diggers on the Kokoda Track and the second is the Battle of the Coral Sea. Both of these significant events repulsed the southward movement of the Japanese armed forces who were desperate to reach Port Moresby. Once there, the next step would have been the invasion of Australia.

Last week was the anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea. It occurred between 4 May and 8 May 1942, and from a naval history perspective it was significant because it was the first naval battle where the opposing ships didn't fire on each other directly. In fact, they didn't even see each other - the battle was fought by planes launched from aircraft carriers.

Opposing the Japanese Navy in the Coral Sea was an Allied force of American and Australian ships. The assistance of the Americans in this battle has never been forgotten. In 1951, the Australian-American Association erected the first American war memorial in Australia at Newstead Park (the grounds that surround Newstead House, which was occupied by American forces during WWII). Here is a picture of the man who sculpted the eagle on the top of the memorial, Tom Farrell of Ipswich, at work on the project; below that is the finished eagle.
(Photo: www.ipswich.qld.gov.au)

(Photo: http://www.qldwarmemorials.com.au)

The following photograph shows a service held at the memorial in 1954 to commemorate the Battle of the Coral Sea. The American officers are Admiral Halsey and Commander Kitchell.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #195462)

And here is a photo that shows the 12-metre memorial in its setting at the northern end of Newstead Park, next to Breakfast Creek. It was taken in 1961.
(Photo: nla catalogue; #4590773)

I took another photo of the memorial recently, and the change in Brisbane's skyline can be seen in the emergence of apartment blocks along the riverfront.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

The long rectangle on the right side of the Australian American memorial indicates the name of this area of the park, Lyndon B Johnson Place. To the right of that (out of picture) is the memorial to the Australian Corvette naval ships.

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Lahey's timber tramway, Canungra

2011-05-06T07:00:00.001+10:00

As free settlers commenced to arrive in Brisbane, there was a requirement for building materials. The Gold Coast hinterland proved to be a rich source of much needed timber. One of the early timber families in the area was the Lahey family, who constructed a sawmill at Canungra in 1884. The Laheys built up considerable land holdings nearby, and carted the trees felled on their properties to the sawmill by bullock team. Sawn timber was also hauled to the rail head in the same fashion. The following photo shows dressed timber being carted across Bennoble crossing to the railway. It dates from 1916.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #423513)

As the timber near the sawmill was harvested, trees had to be cut further afield. This meant that fetching the logs to the mill involved longer distances and greater travelling time. The Lahey family's solution to this problem was mechanisation, and they set about constructing a private tramway to the mill. In 1900 they commissioned a detailed engineering survey that was performed by George Phillips. The tramway needed a powerful locomotive to handle the steep grades and heavy loads, and this is the one they used. It is a Climax geared locomotive that was ordered from the United States in 1900, and arrived in 1903. It is photographed below in 1905, being used on this occasion for a picnic excursion.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #69499)

One of the engineering problems encountered for the construction of the tramway was traversing the Darlington Range to reach the mill in Canungra. The solution was to drill a tunnel through the sandstone mountain. The construction of the tramway was performed by a Mr Clark, who was able to cut through the sandstone, although it took a couple of years. The tunnel was in use by 1903 and here is a photograph of the locomotive approaching it with a full load of fresh lumber. This image is from 1912.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #APE-026-01-0010)

Because the tunnel was cut through tough sandstone, there was no requirement for lining or support. The tunnel was some 91 metres in length, and is straight - hence each end of the tunnel is readily seen from the other. The total track laid for the tramway over its active life was more than 26 km.

By the 1920s, the timber in the area was mostly exhausted, and the tramway was only used occasionally. The line was dismantled around 1933 and the bogeys and other equipment were sold by 1935. During WWII the tunnel was used to store explosives from the nearby Kokoda Barracks at Canungra.

In 2001 the tunnel was reopened for pedestrian and tourist activity following a government grant. Recent heavy rain has temporarily caused closure of the tunnel because of land slippage in the area, but this is the way it looks now.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

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The Hinde family, macadamia pioneers

2011-05-03T07:00:00.001+10:00

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Do you like macadamia nuts? I do! Somewhere amongst the trees in the photograph above is the grand-daddy of all macadamia trees. It is located on a property once owned by the Hinde family, situated at Gilston in the Gold Coast hinterland. The gate was locked and I didn't want to walk in uninvited to find the tree, which has been marked with a metal tag.(Photo: DERM; 2008)

Michael James Hinde selected this land that runs along the Nerang River in 1879. While walking from there to visit the woman who was to become his wife, he found some native macadamia nut seedlings which he replanted on the property that he had named Colliston. He was principally an orange grower, but when his orange trees started to decline in the 1920s he planted macadamia trees in between the orange trees. The macadamias came from those original seedlings.

Commercial macadamia plantations began to emerge in the early part of the twentieth century in Queensland. A small orchard of about thirty trees was established on Colliston. Some co-operation developed between the Hinde family and the state department of agriculture on the cultivation of the trees as well as their potential for commercial production. MJ Hinde's brother George also provided an article for the Queensland Agricultural Journal that showed where the trees grew natively around the Gilston area. There were three species of macadamia tree growing on Colliston, and one outshone the others for commercial use. It became known as the H2 Hinde tree. The H2 Hinde tree on Colliston is the parent tree from which all other clones of this variety were propogated. The H2 Hinde variety is the dominant stock kept by nurseries, and it is estimated that 90% of all grafted commercial trees stem from this species of macadamia. By pure chance, over Easter I was visiting some friends who have relatives in the macadamia nut business around the Glasshouse Mountains. I had an opportunity to ask about their trees - every one of them is an H2 grafted plant.
(Photo: http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/35977894)

The photo above shows a large family group at a picnic at Gilston around 1927. Fourteen of the group are Hindes, and the figure at the left rear of the photograph is George Hinde.

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Country war memorials

2011-04-29T07:00:00.025+10:00

In terms of casualties, WWI is still the most costly war fought by Australians. From a population of fewer than 5 million, more than 416,000 men enlisted. More than 60,000 of them died, and a further 156,000 were injured, gassed or taken prisoner. I suppose that it is evidence of our "Britishness" at that time that so many Aussies volunteered to go off to fight in a foreign war, virtually on behalf of England. The attrition rate among the AIF soldiers was amongst the highest, if not the highest, of any country involved in WW1. The Australians left at home were proud of their boys who volunteered for this conflict and grief-stricken at the heavy losses that resulted.

Of these volunteers, rural Australians were over-represented. Many small country towns found that virtually all their able-bodied men went off to this war. Many didn't return, and those that did return were often in poor shape physically and mentally.

Just as in the city, country towns dug deep to build memorials to those who served, especially honouring those who paid the ultimate price. Beaudesert, south-west of Brisbane, was one such town. It erected a monument showing the names of the 524 men who enlisted, including the 91 of them who died. Here is the monument photographed on the day of its unveiling, 28 September, 1921. The governor, Sir Matthew Nathan was in attendance at the ceremony.(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #45691)

The monument was designed by Melbourne firm Standard Masonry Works, and the construction was supervised by Brisbane architect AH Conrad. It cost £1340 to build, making it the fourth-most expensive WW1 memorial in Queensland. The Queensland Heritage Register makes the following comment about the cost of the monument:
"The cost of the monument and the number of enlistments is reflective of the strong patriotism of the district. The number of enlistments is above both the state and national averages and the cost is comparatively high for a rural district."
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

It seems that Queensland WWI memorials commonly displayed a statue of "the Digger", whereas in other states it was more usual to use an obelisk. The Beaudesert memorial has both. I was able to photograph it recently (above) - it stands on a triangle at the intersection of two major streets in the town centre, and is now unfortunately flanked by American-based fast food outlets.

The following image shows a Digger statue at Pimpama, a little town situated between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. This statue is situated in the grounds of the Pimpama Uniting Church, and the old Pimpama cemetery is in the background.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

Click here for a Google Map for Beaudesert, and here for Pimpama.

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Anzac Cottages

2011-04-26T07:00:00.002+10:00

The recent floods and cyclone in Queensland have caused havoc at many locations in the state. Following these disasters, there has been a rush of community goodwill to those affected, and stories of people donating money, clothing, goods and labour are legion.

This is not a new phenomenon. Perhaps families are more insular these days - many of us don't know our neighbours and are therefore surprised when they provide assistance out of the goodness of their hearts.

In the aftermath of WWI, from which many Australian servicemen did not return and many more returned with terrible injuries and poor health, there was a similar outpouring of grief and then philanthropy for survivors and sufferers.

One way this was manifested was in the construction of Anzac cottages, built in many states - often with donated land and materials as well as volunteer labour. The first ones seem to have been built in Western Australia, but about fifty were built in Queensland (forty of those in Brisbane), many of them constructed with funds from the state lottery, the Golden Casket. The following photograph at the State Library is recorded as being a group of volunteer workers on the job of building one of these houses.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #23417)

The first Anzac cottage was built at Wynnum, and was opened in August 1917 by the governor. Parliamentarian Harry Coyne initiated the concept of funding the houses from the Golden Casket, and Casket draws number three, four and five were earmarked for this purpose. All sold out quickly, and the draws were held at the Stadium, the forerunner of Festival Hall.

One of these cottages has been heritage listed. It is known as Strathearn and is situated in the Brisbane suburb of Alderley. Here are a couple of pictures of it.

(Photos: Courtesy DERM & EPA)

Strathearn was number 37 of these cottages, and was completed in July 1920. It was provided for a Mrs Mary Warner and her five children. Mrs Warner was widowed when her husband John died in March of that year. The government's CHIMS pages say this about his service in the Great War:
English born John Thomas Warner was 42 when he enrolled at Enoggera, although he gave his age as 38 years old. Private Warner was buried in a shell explosion at Ypres in 1917. Rescued the following day he was sent home. He died during March 1920 and was buried in a war grave in Toowong.

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Anzac Day 2011

2011-04-25T07:00:00.047+10:00

(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

I arrive with the intention of photographing another monument when I see him, vigorously cleaning this one. He is totally involved in his work, whistling a bright little tune. I stop to chat.

"How are you?" I ask. "Good son, good!" is the reply (I'm over sixty!).

The monument he is working on is dedicated to the Corvette class of ship in the Australian Navy. "Are you cleaning it up for Coral Sea week?" I ask, thinking how clever I was to put together navy and monument to come up with an event that is just a couple of weeks away.

"No!" he says, somewhat indignantly, "It's Anzac Day on Monday!" I give myself a mental slap on the forehead. Of course it is. I'm feeling a little embarrassed, so I stay silent. He turns to me with a smile. "And it's my birthday on Tuesday!"

"Happy birthday" I manage, weakly. "Yes," he says, "After the 8 am service here on Monday, I'll march and then have a few beers. Then I can have another beer on Tuesday." There's a bright gleam in his eye.

"I'll be eighty-six!" he proudly announces. "I've cleaned this little beauty every year since we put her up in '88." I look at the central plaque on the monument, the one he is cleaning as we speak. It was unveiled by Brisbane's Lord Mayor Sallyanne Atkinson in 1988. He's cleaned and polished this monument each year for almost a quarter-century. A sacred duty for Anzac Day. "I used to live at Newmarket, so it was no trouble, but now I live at Kallangur and it's a bit harder to get here." I do the mental arithmetic. Kallangur is about 35 km away - that's a 70 km round trip. "But I still do it," he continues. "I'm one of the younger ones, the others are a bit too old."

I also check the time. It's 7 am, and it's only just full daylight. He must have left home in the dark to get here for his important chore. He has made good progress with the cleaning too, he's obviously no slacker. "These are all the Corvettes," he says, pointing at the plaque on the right hand side of the monument. It contains three vertical lists, each list is an honour-roll of ships' names.

"See the names?" he asks me. I look. "They're all Australian towns", I say. "Country towns, country towns!" comes the reply. I look again. He's right, of course - no capital cities here, they are all Australian provincial towns.

"This one's mine," he says, pointing. I see the name Cootamundra four names from the bottom of the first list. It is positively gleaming from freshly-applied elbow grease. "It's the brightest one, " I say to him. "'Course it is," he says, "Why wouldn't it be!" Big smile. "And my mate served on this one - he's dead now," he says. He points again, but I don't know which name he means. It might be Ipswich, I'm not sure. It's not important - they're all his mates really.

"Well, have a good day Monday" I say, meaning the Anzac Day march.

"Could be my last one!" he says, still polishing energetically as I walk away.

I hope not. I really hope not.

Kurilpa Library,West End

2011-04-22T07:00:00.000+10:00

"Kureelpa" is an aboriginal word that allegedly means "place of the water rat". I say allegedly because the aborigines were known to have a sense of humour on these matters, at times misleading the whites about the meaning of words from their language. There are also reports that "kureelpa" means field mouse - they were plentiful in the area that is now West End and South Brisbane, and was formerly referred to by the anglicised name Kurilpa. You can still see evidence of Kurilpa: the pedestrian bridge from the CBD to South Brisbane has been christened the Kurilpa Bridge, and there used to be a state electoral district of that name. There is also the heritage listed Kurilpa Library, prominently situated on Boundary St at West End. It is pictured below, from 1962.
(Photo: Courtesy BCC; BCC-B54-18613)

The library is an imposing brick building designed expressly as a library by the city architect in 1929, and built by the Brisbane City Council in the same year. That architect was AH Foster, who had trained under well-known Brisbane architect GHM Addison. Foster also designed the Valley Baths. Kurilpa Library was the first municipal lending library in Queensland.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

I think there is something formal and permanent in this building, unlike some of the later libraries. The clock tower gives it something of a civic feel too. I like it.

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German Station, Nundah

2011-04-19T07:00:00.002+10:00

It may surprise some to know that the first free settlers in Brisbane were German. They were missionaries who came here at the behest of Rev JD Lang in order to "civilise" the indigenous population. The first mission was formed at Zion's Hill in 1838, and was a joint effort between Lutherans, Presbyterians and Pietists (a Lutheran offshoot). Zion's Hill was the name the missionaries themselves gave to the mission station they established on Kedron Brook just north of Brisbane Town, which became known to others as German Station. We now call the suburb Nundah. The first fifteen members of the missionary band arrived in April 1838 and a further number arrived in June. At the time of landing in Moreton Bay the party was comprised only of adults, but it didn't take too long for the children of these first free settlers to arrive - there were eleven babies born by 1841, the first children of free settlers in Queensland.

The missionaries set about making themselves self-sufficient, planting crops and raising cattle. They also studied the language of the aboriginal inhabitants, the Jagera and Turrbal people; indeed, they were far more assiduous at this than the English soldiers and convicts had been. The initial relationships with aborigines were quite cordial. The sketch below was made in 1846 by Carl Gerler, one of the missionaries, and it shows a group of aborigines being schooled by a missionary teacher as well as the cattle-raising and farming activities developed by the whites.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #67294)

Although these families formed a cohesive and productive group, the success of the mission would only be judged by the conversion to Christianity of significant numbers of the native population. In this regard the mission was deemed a failure - the aborigines preferred their own Dreamtime stories and were not to be seduced by the fairy tales of the missionaries. Funding to the community by the New South Wales government was withdrawn in 1843, after only a few short years of operation. There were other factors at work too - the English inhabitants of the colony were suspicious of these "foreigners" and jealous of the large parcel of ideal farming land that had been handed to them. The mission station was gradually run down, although many of the German immigrants remained in the area. The photo below shows the remnants of the mission station housing, taken around 1895.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #APE-032-01-0001)

There are still reminders of these early settlers in the names of some of the streets in the area: Gerler, Rode, and Zillman are a few. In 1938 the centenary of the first mission was celebrated with the unveiling of a memorial to the settlers by the premier of Queensland and other dignitaries. Here is a photo taken then.
(Photo: Courtesy UQ Library)

The memorial is situated next to the main thoroughfare, Sandgate Rd, which has now been diverted around the old Nundah shopping centre evident in the picture above. The memorial is marooned on an island and thousands of cars whiz by it daily without a thought for these Brisbane pioneers.

(Photos: monumentaustralia.org; D Watson)

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Natural Arch, Numinbah Valley

2011-04-15T07:00:00.002+10:00

Mostly we look at man-made items in these pages, but today I'm showing a series of pictures of a natural location in south-east Queensland. Why? Well, I was struck by the way we mortals treat things of natural beauty. Mostly we commercialise them; sometimes we despoil or deface them; but rarely (in my experience, anyway) do we leave them just as they are. This is one beautiful spot that has been a favourite of mine for many years, and has changed very little in that time. It's in the Springbrook National Park in the Gold Coast hinterland. There's no admission fee, no compulsory bags of food to buy, no shops that charge extraordinary amounts for food and drink. It is certainly beautiful, and it is peaceful too. The first photograph I have is from around 1938.
(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #API-075-0001-0004)

And here is a colour image from 1958.
(Photo: Courtesy Gold Coast City Council; LS-LSP-CD508-IMG0001)

The following description accompanies the above photograph:
The natural bridge was formed at the lip of an old waterfall, which developed over a hard resistant basalt salt flow. Softer, brecciated (broken up)lava flow or agglomerate beneath the basalt was eroded by the swirling waters of the falls to form the cave behind. Just upstream of the waterfall, a deep pool was scoured in the basalt by the abrasive action of the swirling rocks. Eventually the hole broke through to the cave beneath, allowing the creek to plunge through, and leaving the lip of the waterfall as an arch. The cave has since eroded back further from the foot of the new waterfall. The deposit of silt and stones in the floor of the cave may have resulted from a mudflow in the creek, formed by a landslide upstream.
(Photo: © 2011 the foto fanatic)

And here is my recent photograph (above), taken using a long exposure with my camera mounted on a tripod.

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