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Royal Bank of Queensland, George St
Have you ever thought about setting up a bank or an insurance company? When I first worked in the insurance industry I used to fantasise about starting a new insurance office, but that was merely the...
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Goldsworthy & Perkins Boot Factory, Newstead
It seems that we have just about killed off manufacturing industries in Australia. The remaining local auto manufacturers - Holden, Ford and Toyota - will all be gone by the end of 2017. Jobs in the...
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James Trackson and Brisbane's first motor car
Does your daily commute look like this? If it does, I'll bet that you wish you could go back to a time when Brisbane's traffic was a lot lighter. (Photo: couriermail.com.au)Â Would you go this far back?...
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Cameron Rocks War Memorial
In an earlier post I mentioned the proposed upgrade to one of Brisbane's busiest roads, Kingsford Smith Drive, hoping that the roadworks would not be too detrimental to the area and to traffic...
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Richard Randall's Art Studio, Toowong
(Photo: www.museumofbrisbane.com.au) "Lady with umbrella", Richard RandallRichard Randall, painter, had a short but productive life. Although aged only 36 at the time of his death in 1906 which...
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Mary McConnel and Royal Children's Hospital
It has always been a source of wonder to me that Australia's early free settlers left Europe on a dangerous voyage to an even more dangerous land;not knowing what they would find when they got there,...
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John McConnel and Morven, Shorncliffe
To follow the last post about Mary McConnel, here is a snippet about another member of the McConnel family.John McConnel was the younger brother of David McConnel (Mary's husband) and followed David to...
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Delivering the mail
Australia Post is not my favourite at the moment. The other day I waited at home for a parcel that the Australia Post internet tracker told me would be delivered on that day. It never came. Then in the...
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Frogs Hollow, Brisbane CBD
If you walk down Edward St towards the Brisbane River you will come to a building that we have looked at previously - the Port Office Hotel, named after the old Port Office building (now the Stamford...
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JAM O'Keeffe, builder
We have seen evidence of the work of well-known architect Andrea Stombuco in these pages before.Today we will examine a builder who converted many of Stombuco's dreams into reality. He was an Irish...
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Moana, New Farm
Theodore Oscar Unmack was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1835 and came to Australia in 1853. After several years in Victoria he moved to Queensland in 1860 where he achieved success in business and...
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Evesham, Hamilton
It’s always a welcome occurrence when people provide information for the blog. Most of the information in this post was sent to me by reader Lyndon who has researched the building we are examining...
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Ellersie, New Farm & Thomas Glassey, labour pioneer
We take an awful lot for granted today.Consider the following work history of unionist and politician Thomas Glassey, born in Armagh, Ireland in 1844:First employed in an Irish linen mill at the age of...
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Copyright 101
This blog is all about comparing the old with the new, and because it seeks to do this visually I trawl the internet for images that I can use to tell stories. I try to be careful with the provenance...
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Killila, Lutwyche
This blog's closing post for calendar 2011 concerned Brisbane's proposed Roman Catholic cathedral that was never completed and its prime mover, Archbishop James Duhig.Today's post is the last one for a...
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Junction Park State School, Annerley
Today we are looking at a grand old school building at Annerley - Junction Park State School, pictured here in 2015.(Photo: Heritage Branch Staff; EHP)As mentioned previously in these pages, this was...
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Wynnum Post Office
This humble structure at Wynnnum South, photographed in 1912, was the area's post and telegraph office in the early 20th century. Its appearance suggests that it probably contained quarters for the...
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Wynnum School of Arts
Have you ever wondered about the term "School of Arts"? If so, you are not alone. As a kid I thought the Bulimba School of Arts was a place where one went to study painting. You probably could do that...
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Kalinga Park, Kalinga (formerly Anzac Memorial Park)
Brisbane (then known as Moreton Bay) was originally settled in 1824 by New South Wales's worst prisoners and the soldiers to guard them, all sent forth from Sydney in a bid to reduce that settlement's...
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Matthew Flinders missed the Brisbane River
A recent news article about the search in London for the remains of sailor, cartographer and explorer Matthew Flinders interested me on several levels.Firstly, the existential ones: what do we leave...
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Dear readersI am currently on vacation overseas."Your Brisbane: Past and Present" will return in July.tff
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Cadogan House, Nundah
One of the issues many of us face as we grow older is the increasing number of medical appointments. It's in this capacity that I had my first-ever visit to Cadogan House at Nundah, a marvellous...
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Brisbane flood problems
There's been some rather full-on marine construction work happening on the Brisbane River at Bulimba River Park. A few weeks ago a barge toting workmen's huts and a huge floating crane anchored just...
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