The koala is an Australian icon. So, when Australian states came to choose their animal emblems in the late 1960s, the fight was on. Two states in particular were prepared to take it to the final round. The prize? The right to declare the koala as their own. The action kicked off when the topic […]

Guest blog by Mark Clayton **Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains an image of people who have passed away** Thirty-three year-old Queensland dairy farmer Bernard O’Reilly became a national hero when in February 1937, while searching alone in the rugged McPherson Ranges of South East Queensland, he discovered […]

The quarantine camp at Wallangarra, c. 1919. From QSA Item ID18186. For the second time restrictions have been placed on Queenslanders to curtail the spread of a virus. The first time was just after the First World War, when the influenza pandemic, or Spanish flu, spread to Queensland. The influenza pandemic killed more than 12,000 […]

Because it’s Queensland’s (unofficial) birthday! It was on 6 June 1859 when Queen Victoria signed the Letters Patent to create the new colony of Queensland, separating us from New South Wales. However, it wasn’t until a proclamation of the separation was made that Queensland was born, and that proclamation (pictured below) was made on 10 […]

Original Soldier Settlement House, painted by Anne Huth Nestled in the heart of the Boyne Valley, just an hour’s drive south from the Central Queensland city of Gladstone, sits the township of Ubobo. Sustained by its farming, sawmilling and tourism industries, the area offers an insight into an interesting chapter of Australian history – the […]

BP is the world’s fifth-largest oil company, turning over $303.7B in 2018 and producing 4.1 million barrels of oil per day. One of the petrochemical industry’s ‘supermajors’, BP was once perilously close to never existing at all. The story has its beginnings in the small Central Queensland town of Mount Morgan, just South of Rockhampton […]

by donna davis, July 2019, Creative in Residence at Queensland State Archives. I am very excited to be undertaking a position as Creative in Residence (CiR) at the Queensland State Archives (QSA). I started in May and have so far had the opportunity to undertake research, visit conservation labs, meet with specialist archivists and see […]

Welcome to Stories from the Archive’s guest blog! This guest blog is by Lorraine Digney of the Genealogical Society of Queensland. Lorraine will be taking you through the journey of a personal discovery in the Queensland State Archives. As a new user to the Archives, Lorraine talks of the trials, tribulations, and revelations of exploring […]