So writes Private James Vercoe Solomon (Jim) to his family from Zeitoun Camp at Heliopolis in October 1915. Obviously concerned about his family, Jim writes about his desire for his younger brother to act on his family’s behalf while he, Jim, heads off to the Dards’ (Dardanelles). Jim asks his brother William Edward Solomon (Will) […]
In the course of creating the workshop and seminar on how to find your First World War Soldier, Queensland State Archives staff regularly came across references to Corporal Sizer, as he was mentioned frequently in newspapers of the time. With our curiosity stirred, we wanted to find out who this Corporal Sizer was and whether […]
By the latter half of 1915, national enthusiasm for enlistment was on the wane, publication of casualty lists and word of the Gallipoli horrors were by then reaching Australia. In response recruiters began to employ a variety of methods to increase numbers. One notable event– part of the ‘snowball marches’ taking place across Queensland and […]
Few Brisbanites would know that the still-working Victoria Barracks, on Petrie Terrace, began its life in the heart of Brisbane Town in the 1800s. Free settler discontent with the raucous behaviour of those living and working at the garrison resulted in the building of new barracks on the elevated site now known as Petrie Terrace […]
Born in St George, Sister Norma Violet Mowbray served as a staff nurse during the First World War with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) leaving from Brisbane with the No 1 Australian General Hospital on board HMAT A55 Kyarra on 21 December 1914. Sadly, she died from pneumonia in Cairo on 21 January 1916 […]
In August 1915, in the midst of the Gallipoli Campaign, the name ‘Dardanelles’ was used to advertise a new estate in an expanding Brisbane suburb. The Dardanelles is the name of the main sea lane through which troops were transported to the Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey in 1915 and 1916. Land in this estate in the […]
One of the fascinating and unexpected aspects of exploring our First World War records is discovering different types of fund-raising events no longer seen today. One that caught my eye was a ‘motor gymkhana’. The Automobile Club of Queensland held a Patriotic Motor Gymkhana on 10 October 1914 with the Motor Cycle Club and the […]
Fire presented a grave risk to the timber-built shops which were commonly built in Brisbane 150 years ago. Three separate fires occurred in the centre of Brisbane city in 1864 and inquests held at Queensland State Archives provide details of the origin of the fires, property lost or destroyed and witness statements. On 11 April […]