The Townsville Bulk Sugar Terminal was built in 1958 and could hold 10% of Australia’s annual sugar production. On 9 May 1963, the sugar in shed caught fire. Black smoke blanketed the city and a thick, black molasses-like ooze of melted sugar poured into creeks and the harbour. Fire services were brought in from Cairns, […]
Mrs Eliza Baxter – who lived in a house on the premises of the Victoria Steam Saw Mill in the Drayton district with her husband, her stepmother and her son – became another victim of the deadly crinoline fashion on 24 March 1865. At about 7 am, Eliza – in her dress and a crinoline […]
To most of us the 3Rs connote literacy and numeracy, but did you know the initials also used to apply to the Queensland Railway Refreshment Rooms? Originally run by enterprising locals, the Railway Department, Refreshment Rooms Branch was created in June 1916. The official public announcement that the Queensland Government would run the railway refreshment […]
Copenhagan [has been rendered] … a city of turmoil … and the same exciting scenes recurred in Amsterdam. Beatlemania is coming … So watch out Australia. The Courier-Mail, 8 June 1964 Beatlemania was in full swing in 1964 and the spectacle was coming to Queensland. While the thought of the Fab Four visiting Brisbane was […]
You may have seen in the news recently that Sweden – one of those countries that recycles almost all of their household waste and even imports waste from other countries to recycle – has opened a shopping centre that only sells recycled, upcycled and repurposed goods! This news story got me thinking about the methods […]
In 2010, Queensland Parliament celebrated its 150th anniversary. Over the course of those 150 years, this institution of governance underwent changes in both its location and its structural composition. It has, however, consistently represented the interests of a diverse group of people and a geographically large terrain. Queensland Parliament met for the first time on […]
The first royal visitor to Australia was Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria (later to become the Duke of Edinburgh). A Royal Navy Captain on a world tour on board HMS Galatea he visited Queensland in March 1868. During his visit, The Brisbane Courier reported a restless, feverish excitement as seemed to pervade all classes during the whole time. […]
