Salvage and recycling – the Queensland way

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 […]

Royal Visits to Queensland: An historical essay

This article, by Margaret Cook, was originally published on the Queensland State Archives website, March 2011. 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 […]

The Sinking of the S.S. Quetta

Freeman’s Journal Sat 8 March 1890 Wreck of the S.S. Quetta Fearful Loss of Life 123 Souls Perished The R.M.S. Quetta, of the British India Steam Navigation Co.’s Anglo-Australia service, was on Friday night wrecked on the Queensland coast, after striking on a sunken rock not marked on the chart. The Quetta was well known […]

The Story of Charles O’Brien

Records from Queensland State Archives’ collection Photo of Kerry O’Brien courtesy of Artemis Films and Serendipity Production The fourth series of Who Do You Think You Are? (WDYTYA) is screening on SBS ONE in 2012. Episode two, air date 3 April 2012 at 7.30 pm, follows the story of Kerry O’Brien, one of Australia’s most revered television journalists. WDYTYA is a co-production by Artemis International […]

What’s in a name? Mostyn Hanger

Our recent What’s in a Name blog covered some of the many unusual and intriguing names we find in the Archives, and looked at how a name can lead us on a merry trail to discover the stories hiding in the records. Stories that shed light not only on the individual but also Queensland’s past. […]

Abandoned: The incredible tale of a French castaway

Sensitivity warning: Some material on this blog may contain words, descriptions and terms which may be culturally sensitive and that reflect authors’ views, or those of the period in which the content was created, but are not considered appropriate today. These views are not necessarily the views of QSA. While the information may not reflect […]

Referendum Blues

Four days before Australians voted in the 1916 referendum about compulsory military service, a teacher at Richmond Hill State School decided to explore this process of voting when teaching the combined  Fourth and Fifth classes. On Tuesday 24 October Mr William John Williams discussed the concept of a referendum -“what it is, when it is […]

Tragedy at Wickham Terrace

This blog post discusses sensitive topics, including death and terrorism, within a historical context. Reader discretion is advised. On 1 December 1955 Karl Kast, equipped with ‘a revolver, more than 100 rounds of .38 calibre ammunition, a box of detonators and a satchel of home-made piping bombs’ murdered two prominent doctors at their practices on […]

Biography of an archive

Many of the sites and buildings that have housed Queensland government records have an important connection to the history of Brisbane.  Many buildings are heritage listed and  we have records about them in our collection. The Queensland State Archives building, along with some related sites it has been associated with in the past are open […]