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Berry and MacFarlane Monument, Sherwood
Sending young men off overseas to wage war over wealth lying beneath the ground is, unfortunately, not a new occurrence. At the very start of its existence Australia was in the throes of war. The...
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El Nido, Hamilton
Spanish Mission styled houses are fairly rare in Brisbane. We have previously looked at the attractive Santa Barbara at New Farm, designed by architect EP (Percy) Trewern and built in 1930.Percy...
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Gasworks Plaza, Newstead
Let there be light.Before electric light there was gas lighting in Brisbane. The Brisbane Gas Company started producing in 1865 at its site at Petrie Bight, and Brisbane's expanding population over the...
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Changing face of Brisbane - Corner Ann St and Wickham St, Fortitude Valley
A quick pictorial for Christmas.Three views of the intersection of two of Brisbane's busiest streets - Ann St and Wickham St at the lower end of Fortitude Valley.1953The building in the foreground is...
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Changing face of Brisbane - cnr Maxwell St & Merthyr Rd New Farm
What does the passing of years do to a Brisbane streetscape? Here are before and after photographs to show fifty years of change in the near-city suburb of New Farm.Here is the corner of Maxwell St and...
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Winchcombe Carson Woolstores, Teneriffe
We have previously looked at the huge Winchcombe Carson building in Teneriffe - once a woolstore, now an upmarket apartment complex. What I didn't tell you then was that the building was designed by...
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Abbotsford Rd Bridge, Albion Fiveways
We have seen evidence of Brisbane engineer Walter Taylor earlier in this blog. The bridge across the river at Indooroopilly that now bears name is his most-remembered work, but he was also involved in...
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Queen & Edward (4)
What was I (along with hundreds thousands of others) doing outside Brisbane's newest Apple store at 10:00 am last Friday, waiting for its official opening. It wasn't to pick up the latest iGadget - my...
View ArticleAustralia Day Floods - 40 years ago
Some events leave a lasting memory, and the 1974 Australia Day floods in Brisbane and Ipswich was one that had that effect on me. It wasn't that I personally had any major problems - it was just the...
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Greystaines, Hamilton
Here is another riverside heritage property in well-heeled Hamilton. This time it is a building that was purpose-built as a block of six flats, although it has now been converted into a single...
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Mama Luigi's Restaurant, Spring Hill
Back in the 1960s Brisbane's dining out scene was quite sparse, unlike today where there is a cafe or restaurant in almost every suburb. In those days there were a couple of decent restaurants in the...
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Francis Lookout, Corinda
On top of a hill in the leafy suburb of Corinda is a peaceful parkland containing around a dozen graves. It was once the private cemetery of one of the area's founding families, the Francis clan....
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Rathdonnell House, Auchenflower
One of Queensland's early movers and shakers in the field of education was Randal Macdonnell, a Master of Arts from Dublin University who came to Australia in 1854in order to fortify his "delicate...
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The Gresham, Adelaide St
While on a brief visit to the city recently I had a moment of deja vu so powerful that I thought I was hallucinating. Strolling northwards along Queen St towards Creek St I caught a flash of a sign...
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Alderman Clem Jones
It seems that today's politicians frequently disappoint us. So often they over-promise and under-deliver, regardless of which party or faction we are talking about. Therefore it seems rather surprising...
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Four Bridges, Indooroopilly
(Photo: SLQ 172302)The first bridge across the Brisbane River at Indooroopilly (above) was completed in 1876 to allow the rail connection between Brisbane and Ipswich, and later the Darling Downs. It...
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Abbotsleigh and Abbotsford, Bowen Hills
I owe Miss Florence Lord, the author of the three-year series "Brisbane's Historic Homes" that featured in The Queenslander way back in the 1930s, grateful recognition. Her work spanned 180 residences...
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The Greek café/milk bar
I have made a brief reference to the ubiquitous Greek café previously. Today we are taking a closer look, largely thanks to work done by Leonard Janiszewski, a historian, and Effy Alexakis, a...
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Hamilton Syphon
You could be forgiven for thinking that Brisbane's current inclination to tunnel under the city to solve infrastructure problems is a new thing. The Clem Jones tunnel under the river has been...
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Rock 'n' Roll George
Here in Australia we don't celebrate eccentrics the way some other cultures do, but occasionally there comes along one who is too hard to ignore. One like Rock 'n' Roll George, a bodgie from Brisbane's...
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