This week marks 110 years since a disastrous fire destroyed twelve businesses and stores and four hotels in Oak Street in the central business district on Oak Street, Barcaldine, Queensland during the night on 10 August 1909.

The fire started in the unoccupied business of Mr Otto Joseph Dias in the small hours of the morning, the flames spreading quickly through the other wooden building until a gap was created in the line. The alarm was raised by nearby railway workers.

Newspapers reported the fire appliances possessed by the Barcaldine Fire Brigade were primitive and could not stay the ‘conflagration’. “Bucket brigades were formed, and water was used copiously, but without material effect…”
The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 – 1929) Sat 14 Aug 1909 Page 18

The following week the Capricornian reported…

“Messrs. Storie, Short and Noble are busy adjusting the losses in connection with the recent fire. Messrs. Wah Sung and Co. purchased a building at Ilfracombe which they have removed here and are erecting on the site of their former premises. Messrs. J. Arthur, R. Park, and O. Devery are also expediting the matter of rebuilding. Mr. J. Tomi, who was probably the heaviest loser by the fire picked up from the debris several pieces of silver and gold and a shapeless mass weighing nearly 3 oz., which was probably his watch, chain, and pendant. Hotel business is being conducted in the stables of Devery’s Hotel and in Kemp’s Hall at the back of the recent Welcome Home Hotel. Mr. Park occupies a portion of Mr Graham’s chemist shop, Mr. C. B. Plumb has taken one of Mr. Hoskins’s shops, Mr. Colman carries on his business in O’Regan’s butcher shop, Mr. Hudson is tailoring in Mesrs. T. E. O’Brien and Co.’s shop, and Mrs. McLoughlin has the shop next to the West End Hotel. Messrs. Vesper, McBride, Tomi and Fong Sang are not quite prepared to resume business”. The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 – 1929)  Sat 21 Aug 1909

Eleven years earlier in 1898, John Tomi’s general store in Oak Street was photographed. John Tomi was a draper, clothier and importer, establishing the business in 1884.

Situated between the Carriers Arms Hotel and J. R. Humphrey’s saddlery the fire destroyed the building.

Anne Scheu | Collections Engagement | Queensland Memory

This real estate map from 1889 advertises land for sale at the Richter Estate, located in the Brisbane suburb of Annerley. The allotments were situated along Ipswich Road, Richter Street (now Devon Street) and two unnamed roads (Ferndale Street and Cracknell Road).

Extensive publicity was published in Brisbane newspapers.

“This splendid estate situated about two and a half miles from the city, and commands lovely views of the Brisbane River and surrounding districts. Omnibuses pass the ground every few minutes.” (The Telegraph, 21 November 1889, p.8)

A higher resolution image of this map can be viewed and downloaded through our One Search catalogue.

Prints of this map are also available through the Library Shop.

You can browse a compendium of our previous maps of the week on our blog.

Browse our collection of digitised real estate maps on Historypin.

Find your Annerley house in the Frank and Eunice Corley collection

From the 1960s to the 1970s, Frank and Eunice Corley drove the suburban streets of Queensland in their pink Cadillac, taking photographs of houses and selling them to homeowners. A database containing over 61,000 photographs can now be searched and viewed online. There are 1,226 photographs for the suburb of Annerley.

Myles Sinnamon – Engagement Officer, State Library of Queensland

On 15 August, donors and library-lovers came together in support of State Library of Queensland at the fourth annual Crowd Giving event. The Queensland Library Foundation fundraiser attracted around 70 donors and raised $30,000.

Emceed by Courtney Talbot, Foundation Vice-President, and Andrew Baker, General Manager Private Clients at Perpetual Private, the concept was simple – three State Library project leaders pitch their project to donors for five minutes. Donors then ask questions to fully understand scope and impact. Once all three pitches were made the donors rank their favourite projects 1-2-3 on a secret ballot, with the project with the most votes being declared the ‘winner’ of the night.

With $30,000 gifted to the Foundation we’re pleased to say all three projects will receive $10,000 each and become a reality.

Rachel Spano, Senior Conservator, made the winning pitch on the night, which will see scientific analysis undertaken of State Library of Queensland’s collection of seven Richard Daintree photographs taken in the 1870s. This remarkable collection will undergo extensive surface evaluation which will pave the way for future conservation and preservation needed to restore them to their original beauty.

Jacinta Sutton, Program Officer in Queensland Memory, had the second most popular project and will commence production on Queensland’s first history dedicated podcast telling stories from our distant to our recent past. The funding will enable State Library to produce a series of five podcast episodes focused on regional Queensland stories, taking the mic to the outback and bringing our unique content to the podcast airwaves.

And, with the support from a philanthropic donation, Louise Denoon, Executive Director Public Libraries and Engagement and her team will offer a travel bursary for a Pacific Islander Librarian to attend the prestigious Next Library 2020 conference, an international gathering of forward-thinking library professionals, innovators and decision-makers,to be held in Brisbane next year. The recipient of this grant will also spend 10-days professional development at State Library.

Crowd Giving is leading the way in library giving circles, engaging individuals, corporates and foundations to jointly support social change.

Thank you to all our supporters who helped make Crowd Giving 2019 such a success, and to Courtney Talbot and Andrew Baker for their continued advocacy and trust in our ability to inspire possibilities through knowledge, stories and creativity.

We look forward to updating you on the progress of these three fantastic projects throughout the year and hope to see you at Crowd Giving 2020.

For more information, contact Foundation@slq.qld.gov.au or visit slq.qld.gov.au/foundation.

By Kate Hall, Senior Grants & Philanthropy Officer, Queensland Library Foundation.

Naming a café was a big deal for Greek proprietors. Many aligned themselves with their new homeland, choosing the Empire, Regal, Royal, Australia or Allies Café. Such names said, “We’re Aussies” despite the accent that greeted customers as they walked through the door. Similarly, ABC Café is thought to have stood for All British Café.

From as early as the 1910s, some proprietors ‘hitched their wagon’ to the growing love of Hollywood and all things pertaining to the silver screen. This inspired names like the Niagara Café, the Golden Gate, California, Monterey, Broadway and Hollywood Cafés. Also part of this American fantasy were the bevelled mirrors, chrome soda fountains and American-style booths that characterised classic Greek café style.

Greek names were relatively rare, although Marathon Oyster Saloon and Olympia Milk Bar were not unknown, and Paragon Café was common. The word paragon means model of excellence, and this articulated the Greek proprietor’s goal – to serve the best food, produced under the most hygienic conditions, using the latest technologies. With its polished maple panelling and leadlight back bar, the Paragon Café that Londy Bros built in Dalby in 1932 embodied the vision of many Greek migrants. ‘Paragon’ has become almost synonymous with the Greek café.

Bridge Cafés were so named because they were by the town bridge, Canberra Café was applied to shops that opened in 1927, the same year as Parliament House, and White Rose, Busy Bee and Blue Bird Cafés were symbols of hope and happiness. Blue Bird Café was a particularly popular name during the war years when blue birds featured in song lyrics. Somewhere Over the Rainbow (1939) and The White Cliffs of Dover (1941) looked forward to the bright future migrants had long imagined.

So what to call the State Library’s impending exhibition about Greek cafés? This task was met with deliberation equal to that of the Greek proprietor choosing a name for his shop. MEALS AT ALL HOURS was a likely contender because this signage was common on Greek cafés. Fish ‘n’ Chips and Banana Splits had a nice ring to it. And ‘birds’ and ‘bees’ offered potential. In the end, like the motto that accompanies Orphan Rock as the emblem of Katoomba’s Paragon Café, one name ‘stood alone’. Meet Me at the Paragon, of course. The exhibition opens 27 September at the State Library. Make a date to meet us there.

Toni Risson – Curator of Meet Me at the Paragon, State Library of Queensland

In preserving the history of Queensland’s LGBTQI+ communities, State Library of Queensland has developed a fascinating collection including photographs, recorded oral histories, posters, t-shirts, flyers, magazines and more. Here are some highlights from our collection.

Shayne Wilde collection, 1980-2010

Shayne Wilde was an active member of QAGLR (Queensland Association for Gay Law Reform) and the Pride Collective in Brisbane during the 1990s, as well as being involved with numerous other community and activist groups. Shayne’s extensive collection (14 boxes to be precise) contains a plethora of materials including papers associated with QAGLR (Queensland Association for Gay Law Reform) and ACGLR (Australian Council for Lesbian and Gay Rights), t-shirts, posters and other ephemera.

This collection can be requested and viewed onsite at State Library.

LGBT Lives: Oral Histories, 2011

In 2010, a series of interviews were conducted as part of the LGBT Lives: Oral Histories project to create a permanent record of LGBTQI+ history in Brisbane. The audio files from several of these interviews are now available to listen to online through our One Search catalogue.

Brisbane Marriage Equality Rally photographs and video, 10 September 2017

On September 10, 2017, thousands turned out for a rally in Brisbane’s CBD in support of marriage equality. The Brisbane Marriage Equality Rally was in response to the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, a national survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to gauge public support for the legalisation of same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage would be legalised later that year on 9 December. A collection of 58 photographs and film footage from this rally can be viewed online via our One Search catalogue.

Ephemera collection

In everyday life, ephemera (such as flyers, invitations, concert programs, badges, tote bags, menus, ticket stubs and stickers) are items we often discard, however as time passes these ‘ephemeral’ items can become historically significant. You might be surprised to learn that State Library of Queensland collects ephemera on a wide variety of Queensland topics, including material related to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer + community. There is also a separate collection for the Brisbane Pride Festival. These ephemera collections can be requested and viewed onsite at State Library.

Equal Love Brisbane collection

Equal Love is a nationwide organization formed in 2004 as a response to the Howard Government’s amendment of the Marriage Act prohibiting marriage between people of the same sex. In 2014, Equal Love Brisbane donated a collection of t-shirts, badges, stickers, flyers, posters and other memorabilia related to their activism and campaigning for marriage equality. Our blog story from 2014 provides further details on this collection.

Greg Weir oral history 2010-2011

In this recorded oral history, one of Queensland’s best-known political activists Greg Weir discusses his involvement in a number of civil liberties movements and as one of the central organisers of the campaign for gay law reform. Listen to Greg’s story online.

PFLAG Brisbane [Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays]

Produced by the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, back issues of this newsletter from 2005 onwards can be viewed online via our One Search catalogue.

Collection of posters on gay and lesbian themes. Set 1.

As the title indicates, this collection contains a variety of colourful posters from various events, including rallies, Pride Week celebrations, dance parties and more. This collection can be requested and viewed onsite.

Please note – more LGBTQI+ themed posters can be found in other collections, such as the AIDS Archive collection.

Prejudice and Pride Exhibition Material 1980-2010

In 2010, the Museum of Brisbane, in association with Queensland Association for Healthy Communities and State Library of Queensland presented the exhibition “Prejudice & Pride, Recognising the contribution of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities to Brisbane”. The Museum of Brisbane facilitated the donation of material from various contributors following the exhibition. The collection includes papers, ephemera, t-shirts, audio visual material, realia, and photographs relating to the Brisbane LGBT communities. The majority of this collection can be viewed onsite at State Library of Queensland.

A few items from this collection can be viewed online through our catalogue including, a 2004 short documentary film by Nick Poteri and Kris Taifalos called Why Pride?, which contains footage and interviews from the Pride event that year, as well as posters from Brisbane Queer Film Festival.

How you can help document Queensland’s LGBTQI+ history

State Library is responsible for collecting and preserving a comprehensive collection of Queensland’s cultural and documentary heritage for all Queenslanders. If you have material that you’d like to donate, visit our website to find out more.

Queensland is the only state in Australia without an Upper House, although that wasn’t always the case. The Legislative Council, its official name, was a completely undemocratic and unelected body with members appointed for life by the Governor. Its opponents called it the House of Fossils and by the twentieth century they were determined to bring it down.

A serious attempt was made in 1917 by way of a referendum, the difficult choice for voters depicted by amateur cartoonist H.M. Challinor in Scylla and Charybdis.

It was abolished altogether in 1922, despite the referendum only 5 years earlier. The cartoons of A.J. Hingston and Harry Julius reveal the fierce resentment and frustration behind that most radical of political solutions.

See these cartoons and more in Swings and Roundabouts, an exhibition of 100 years of Queensland political cartoons, held in the slq Gallery from 10 August to 27 October 2019. Swings and Roundabouts accompanies Behind the Lines 2018.

The Cartoonists

Arthur James Hingston (1874 – 1912). This Federation era cartoonist spent his whole career in Brisbane, barring a few short years in London. His work appeared regularly in the fiercely pro-Labor Brisbane Truth and in The Worker.

Harry Julius (1885 – 1938) was a Sydney cartoonist and illustrator who created a series of lively election posters for the Queensland Labor Party in the 1920s. His spirited depictions of the fossils inhabiting parliament were a response to the Opposition’s campaign to restore the Upper House.

Henry Binney McAll Challinor (1858-1926) was an amateur artist, but his work is not without a certain charm. A public servant, he worked as Clerk of Petty Sessions in various shires from Beenleigh to Cooktown. His cartoons covered a wide range of subjects, including the vexed question of how to navigate the Upper House referendum of 1917.

Links

3409 Arthur James Hingston Cartoons 1899-1910 – this collection consists of 112 works of art by A.J. Hingston, including cartoons, caricatures and paintings. The majority of the cartoons appeared in the Brisbane Truth, either as editorial cartoons or as illustrations to news stories, between 1899 and 1910.

4679 Australian Labor Party Posters 1920-1970 – this collection of posters and leaflets includes political posters, political cartoons, election posters and election campaign material, many from the 1920s, some with illustrations by Harry Julius.

27362 H.M. Challinor Cartoons [Works of Art] 1876-1919 – this collection consists of 25 cartoons by Challinor, some signed with his own name, but many using his nom-de-plume of “Jack Corcoran”. They deal with a wide range of subjects, including: the referendum to abolish the Queensland Legislative Council; White Australia; the fate of returned soldiers after the first World War; retrenchment of the Civil Service; and post-war social problems.

The Palms Café, established in 1951 by Jerry Palmos, was located in Brisbane’s CBD at 171 Queen Street, next to the Regent Theatre.

Born in Greece in 1905, Jerry Palmos came to Australia from Ithaca at the age of 16. He originally settled in Sydney, working as a prawn fisherman, before moving to Brisbane where he met and married his wife, Elizabeth McNeil. Between 1937 and 1941, Jerry Palmos purchased his first shop, located on the corner of Lytton Road and Heidelberg Street at East Brisbane. In partnership with his brother George, he later acquired the Day Dawn Café in Queen Street, the South Pacific Café in Stanley Street South Brisbane, the High Hat in Fortitude Valley, the Black & White Milk Bar on the corner of Queen and Edward Streets, and the Colony Club in Edward Street.

In her 2019 book, Brisbane’s Greek cafes : a million malted milks, Toni Risson describes the interior of The Palms – “The Palms was a narrow café with a carpeted floor and stylish modern cubicles along both walls. On the back wall, overlooking the café, was a mural that featured an arched mirror clock flanked by palm trees”. The Palms was sold in 1958.

Exhibition – Meet me at the Paragon

State Library’s upcoming exhibition, Meet me at the Paragon will explore how the creation of American-style cafés enabled Greek migrants of the early to mid-1900s to carve out a new life in a foreign land. The exhibition will open on 27 September 2019.

As avid supporters of the International Year of Indigenous Languages celebrations, State Library of Queensland and the Lutheran Archives entered into a partnership to digitise and to provide online access to Aboriginal language children’s booklets created in the 1970s.

These charming booklets, with titles such as Kija [Crabs], Wambiji [Platypus] and Kuku Ngujuji [Funny Stories] were translated into Kuku Yalanji and Guugu Yimidhirr, both languages from the Far North Queensland region near Cooktown.

The journey from discovery to digitisation to access began in late 2017 when Wujal Wujal’s Indigenous Knowledge Centre Coordinator Dawn Harrigan, Traditional Owner Marie Shipton and State Library Indigenous Services Program Officer Lauren Erickson undertook a professional development trip to the Lutheran Archives in South Australia. LA Director Rachel Kuchel provided access to a stunning collection of old photographs, historic documents, church correspondence and more; focused on the old Bloomfield River and Hope Vale Mission settlements dating back to the late 1800s. What an amazing collection!

The visit stirred poignant memories for Marie, who quickly discovered the colourful booklets she helped to transcribe into Kuku Yalanji over 40 years earlier, when she was a young teacher’s aide at the Bloomfield River State School. As Marie proudly read the books aloud in her traditional language, we knew we had an opportunity to help preserve these Aboriginal languages and provide access to future generations of children.

Fast forward to 2019 and State Library’s Specialist Librarian Catherine Cottle championed a collaboration with the Archives, who generously loaned the original booklets to State Library for digitisation. Queensland’s Department of Education’s Katherine Capper lent her copyright expertise to the project.

With many thanks to the partners and staff at State Library, digital copies of the booklets are now available: 32007 Lutheran Archive language books from Hope Vale, Bloomfield River State School and others. Check out the collection now online through State Library’s OneSearch catalogue!

Lauren Erikson and C. Cottle – State Library of Queensland

The Balonne Central Café opened on The Terrace in St. George on the 3 April 1912. T.C. Andrews was the first proprietor. Paspalas & Co. took over the café from 1924 to 1953, employing Ioanis Thanasis Tzonakas (Tsonakas) to assist them. Ioannis (alias Jack) was paid £3 a week and full-time accommodation above the café. By the early 1930s Jack was a co-owner of the café until 1953.

Ioanis Thanasis Tzonakas (Tsonakas), also known as John Jonacas, was born in Vounichora, Fokida, Greece, (βουνιχώρα, Φωκίδα, Ελλάδα) in 1901. He migrated to Australia in October 1924 and chose to settle in St George, taking up the café employment offered to him. Within two years he had sponsored his half-brother Nick (Nicholas) to Australia and half-sister Yannitsa Skoufa (nee Jonacas) in 1950. Yannitsa’s twin brother Andreas followed.

From the early 1930s to 1953 Jack was the co-owner of the Balonne Café, a typical ‘Greek’ style cafe of its time. He was a keen huntsman and fisherman and enjoyed the lifestyle of the area.

Cementing his position in the town Jack was a generous man donating to charities, including the St. George & District Patriotic Fund and the Greek Relief fund during the 1940s. At the time he also supported the Communist effort, signing a Petition against the Council who in his opinion were attempting to control the opinions of employees.

In 1945 he applied to Council to show ‘moving pictures’ in the town hall, however it is not known if permission was granted. He was a good singer and played the fiddle, singing songs in his first language, Greek. In 1950 he was made Vice-Patron of the St. George football club.

In 1953 Jack started a general hardware/building supplies store in Grey St, naming it Jonacas & Co. His business partners were George Andrews, a sign writer and John Goldman, an engraver. The business catered to all tradesmen, stocking modern home appliances, furnishings, tools, paint, ‘Naco’ steel sheds and was an agent for ‘Victor Pianos’. Jack also painted homes in ‘Spanish style’.

He died at the age of 69 in 1970 and is buried in St. George General Cemetery.

The personal details describing Jack’s life are contributed by his niece Efstathia (Effie) Skoufa-Klesnik.

Jack’s family album collection features his brother Nick Jonacas and other locals from St. George during the period of the 1920s to 1950 and includes photographs of the café.

When Nicholas Lucas was named the proprietor, the Balonne Central Cafe was renamed The Balonne Inn Café and Milk Bar.

Collection: 31188, John Thanasis Tsonakas (Ιωάννης Θανάσης Τσονάκας) photograph album, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Exhibition – Meet me at the Paragon

State Library’s upcoming exhibition, Meet me at the Paragon will explore how the creation of American-style cafes enabled Greek migrants of the early to mid-1900s to carve out a new life in a foreign land. The exhibition will open on 27 September 2019.

Guest blogger: Tony Brett Young.

My Aunt Thora gave it the rather dismissive description ‘The Two Minute Silence’. That’s how long she reckoned it took to read the Longreach Leader, the weekly newspaper that has circulated through a wide area of the central Queensland outback for almost 100 years. Mind you, my Aunt Thora lived in Barcaldine, 67 miles down the road from Longreach, and she always believed the Leader didn’t give enough coverage to Barcy affairs.

I’m talking about the early 1950s when my family lived in Longreach, and the Leader was the region’s main news and advertising outlet. As I grew up, I came to love our local paper, an early pointer to my future, a lifelong career in media. In its own way the paper painted a comprehensive picture of those outback towns and their proud communities – towns such as Barcaldine, Blackall, Aramac and Muttaburra – through its reporting: of local council affairs, police and the courts, of school events, through its social columns, and of the local churches and the CWA; and through its rather clunky advertisements, the small ads and its notices.

There was a section for the ‘man on the land’ with information about wool yields and prices, about sheep blight and rainfalls. There was a memorable headline which seemed to incorporate two of the most significant interests for Aussie bushmen – rain and betting: ‘Rain chances within three months improve to even money’.

There was also another section, ‘Mainly for Women’, the style of which would be frowned on today. It carried tips for cooking and sewing and dressmaking. And of course I was a regular reader of Uncle Peter’s rather formal ‘Children’s Corner’. He rather quaintly referred to us readers as ‘Cornerites’.

It seemed from the Leader that much of Longreach life was focused on the town’s Shire Hall. The Council did its business and held its meetings there of course, but it was also the venue for balls, fancy dress events, fetes, receptions for visiting dignitaries, school concerts, and when the Roxy Cinema burnt down, for films. The Leader would report council plans for extensions of the local sewage system, decisions about road improvements, its library services and so on – all the activities which are important to local people. And the Council would use the Leader for important notices. For example it would occasionally publish a blacklist of names of landowners who had not paid their rates. There was the stark warning that their land would be sold if the outstanding dues were not repaid by a certain date.

But of course the town’s shops and businesses were central to the local economy, and the Leader reflected this with its advertisements for a range of local outlets from around the region. There was the usual mix of stock and station agents such as Dalgety, machinery merchants like Winchcombe Carson, and local pubs including the Imperial and Commercial. Then there was ‘the house for hardware’, Meacham and Leyland, Comino’s Cool Comfortable Central Café where you could always ‘enjoy a cold drink’, and Mynette Salon, run by the kindly Mrs Coar where you could buy “teenage frocks in plain, waffle and floral nylon…”.

Sport played a big part in the Leader’s coverage with details of the many local race meetings – previews and results – but also of national racing events such as the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups. I remember a big fuss being made in 1953 of a visit to Longreach by the so-called Yankee All-Stars Rugby League team who came to play a Central Western side. This was part of a trailblazing attempt to try to make Americans aware of Rugby League, but the tour ended in something of a disaster. None of the 22 tourists had played the game before and it showed. In 18 matches in Australia, the All Stars won just three, lost 13 and drew two. The Central Western side was also too good for the Yankees and in front of a big crowd at the Longreach Showground the visitors were easily defeated.

The Leader didn’t just confine itself to the big sporting occasions. It faithfully reported school events, such as cricket matches. There was one memorable match between the Reds and the Blues when a boy called Rossberg took eight wickets for his team, including four in four balls. The Leader confessed it did not have the full bowling analysis for Rossberg.

Not a lot escaped the beady-eyes of the Leader’s reporters, both staff and its network of correspondents. The Personal columns would report in detail on the comings and goings of local people, those who had been on holiday and where they had been, visitors who had come from the ‘big smoke’ to stay with family and friends, and those who had come for Show Week. You would even be given an indication of the comparative affluence of visitors and locals as the reports told how they had travelled, by car, train or plane.

Then there were the small ads that covered every topic from staff vacancies to church services, from house sales to entertainment events. Particularly forbidding were those notices to trespassers, mainly placed by local graziers: “Warning! Trespassers on this and surrounding sheep properties, or those interfering with stock, will be prosecuted without respect of person or persons.” And the final threat: “No excuses accepted.”

As an avid reader of the Leader, I was particularly thrilled on one occasion to see my name published, as the winner of the school fancy dress competition. I went as Atlas, the mythological Titan who held the world on his shoulders. I carried a globe and was dressed in leopard-skin swimming trunks borrowed from a family friend. It was the idea of my father, who had been educated in the classics in England. I suppose Atlas was a change for the judges from the usual fancy dress parade of cowboys and Mexicans. On reflection, it’s fortunate the Leader did not publish a photograph of my winning outfit. In another year (also at the suggestion of my Dad), my brother, a friend and I went as the three wise monkeys – ‘Speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil.’ We won first prize for that as well, but I can’t remember if it made the paper that year.

On occasions, the Longreach Leader could be saucy. I remember one story – with no real local angle to justify its inclusion – about Antarctic humpback whales swimming north and ‘making love off the West Australian coast’. That was certainly bold stuff for the ‘50s.

Yes, there was always lots to read in the Leader, in spite of my Aunt Thora’s description of it as the ‘two minute silence’. I think secretly she actually loved it, and on one occasion I remember her saying: “If it isn’t in the Leader, it hasn’t happened.” Long after she’d left Barcaldine having retired to Toowoomba, she would continue to subscribe every week to the Longreach Leader. And after reading them from front to back she would place them in a pile ready for the regular visits of her son, Rob, from Sydney. I suspect it was just to make sure he remembered where he came from, and didn’t become too superior about his life in the big city.

Tony Brett Young

The Longreach Leader newspaper is available to search online between 1923 and 1954 via Trove. Editions from 1923 to current day are also available on microfilm and hardcopy at State Library of Queensland.

Further reading from Tony Brett Young

• Alaric – outback home of veterans
• Under your very nose – the attractions of Longreach
• Radio Days
• Mentioned in passing: the story of Nell Tritton

Milton (Miltiadis) Dimitrios Samios bought the cafe in 1935, renovating it, adding carpet and supplying the waitresses with green uniforms and head piece. At the time of purchase the café earnings were about £90 per week. As the business expanded Milton employed three men and six women in the café, and within a year was earning £200 a week. (pg. 476) 

The cafe displayed stacks of chocolate bars lined up on top of the counter and an assortment of lollies in the glass cabinet. Ornaments and toys were stored on the lower shelf of the counter and tinned food, jars and cardboard boxes line the shelves behind the family. A large sign to the right of the counter advertised a brand of cigarettes.

Denis Conomos’s 2002 publication The Greeks in Queensland: a history from 1859-1945 has been an invaluable source helping to bring the Samios story to light. Below are various references to their story living in Dalby.

The increasing integration of the Greeks into the general community was becoming more pronounced in the smaller country towns than in the larger ones across Queensland. (pg.509) Milton Samios was vice-president of the town band and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. (pg.514)

The absence of a Greek school in smaller communities increased further integration of the children into the general population. (pg.510) Jim attended the Roman Catholic Church but when he reached the appropriate age, the priest, Monsignor Nolan requested Jim be confirmed into the Catholic Church. Milton told him his Church wouldn’t permit his son to be confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church. After this incident Jim was enrolled to attend the Anglican Sunday School while his sister Helen attended the Convent School. (pg.516)

During the war years a shortage of labour and other prevailing conditions affected café trading hours. In Dalby, Greek café owners agreed to close one day of the week. To help Milton run their business, Constantina Samios employed the services of an English nanny to look after the children. At 6pm each evening she would return the children to the café so Constantina could take them upstairs and prepare them for bed. (Pg.546-548)

Milton and Constantina were active participants in organising the Greek Appeal Day in Dalby, 2 May 1941. A street procession lead by Greek families dressed in national costume made their way to St Joseph’s Hall where a concert was held. Between 2,000 – 2,500 Dalby people attended, helping to raise £450 for the Greek cause overseas. By the time the concert was held, Greece had fallen to the Germans. (Pg. 562-564)

Source: The Greeks in Queensland: a history from 1859-1945/ Denis Conomos 2002, pp.476-564

Exhibition – Meet me at the Paragon

State Library’s upcoming exhibition, Meet me at the Paragon will explore how the creation of American-style cafes enabled Greek migrants of the early to mid-1900s to carve out a new life in a foreign land. The exhibition will open on 27 September 2019.

Guest blogger: Mark Clayton.

Notions of personal responsibility and safety mustn’t have counted for much when I was nineteen, else I mightn’t have risen early one winter’s morning in 1978 thinking – or not thinking, more probably – than I could make it back in time for dinner that same evening and still have time enough for a five-hour motorbike ride (through the dark); for crossing a notorious ocean channel in an open dinghy (having never used one before); for navigating my way through labyrinthine mangroves armed with nothing more than a mud map; and then boulder-hopping my way for another four hours up a precipitous 922 metre high mountain.

The carrot on this occasion was the wreckage of the Texas Terror, an American B-24 Liberator bomber that had crashed into the summit of Hinchinbrook Island’s Mount Straloch in mid-December 1942 killing all twelve on board.

It was still dark and chilly at 4 am on the morning of Saturday 29 July 1978 when we headed off from Townsville’s James Cook University, bound for the tiny coastal community of Lucinda some 2½ hours ride away. It was an uncomfortable bone-jarring journey along the pot-holed Bruce Highway for myself, and my six-foot pillion passenger (who had never been on a bike before). My noisy Yamaha DT250C motorbike held just enough fuel for the one-way trip (there being no intermediate service stations open back then).

Numbed by the cold and vibration we eventually arrived at Lucinda only to find the Mount Straloch summit, eight kilometres to the north, engulfed in heavy cloud. Thinking we’d already suffered too much to turn back we exchanged $15 for a tiny aluminium dinghy; a 4 h.p. Chrysler outboard; a one-minute explanation on how to operate both and, most importantly; a hand-drawn mud map showing the best route through the dense mangroves that fringe the Island’s south-western shores.

There followed another agonizingly slow journey – this time across the channel – before we set out on foot, hoping all the while that we’d navigated up the correct creek branch and ravine. For the next four hours we continued ascending, captivated by the stunning rainforest and encouraged by occasional discoveries, the first being an engine exhaust shroud with the part number ‘32P10047’ still clearly legible. This provided the first clue that we were on the right track because, despite having performed poorly as an undergraduate history student, I had nonetheless somehow acquired a deep understanding of the part-numbering systems being used mid-century by U.S. aircraft manufacturers (yes, I was still single). The ’32’ prefix was used exclusively to distinguish B-24 components (the latter being known otherwise as the Consolidated Model 32), while the ‘P’ simply indicated that this belonged to the powerplant (i.e. engine) sub-assembly. Hours later we come across the mangled form of a radial aircraft engine, and mistakenly began thinking we were almost there.

A forty-one year old diary entry records those feelings of anguish and growing fatigue…

‘If I had to explain it all to someone else I would say ‘climb beyond that point where you’ve lost all hope where, even a fool would give up. Go on until you can touch the cliff face and see beyond to Palm Island.’

Even when eventually we reached the main impact site we looked up to see a memorial cross and another massive piece of wreckage hanging precariously further up the mountain. We might have gotten there if we had continued climbing for another half hour, the prospect of a night-time descent and channel crossing however being enough to banish all thoughts of pressing on.

With the cloud base having lifted hours earlier, we paused just long enough to take in the magnificent views of Halifax and Lucinda, ringed by patchwork cane fields.

Perhaps because the site was difficult to access (and because the B-24 was the largest aircraft used during the war in the South West Pacific) there was lots of wreckage still in situ, including seven Browning machine guns and a Thompson sub-machine gun. The litter also included Australian .303 inch ammunition which is somewhat odd, given that those on board were all Americans. And everywhere so it seemed there were red (tracer) and green (incendiary) tipped .50 calibre machine gun rounds. Amongst the charred and shattered wreckage I even found a toothbrush (‘Made U.S.A.’), a poignant reminder that a dozen others – not much older than ourselves – had perished here. Elsewhere we found bomb racks, fuel tanks, engines, wheels, radios and lengths of twisted wing and airframe, the American Air Force star insignia still evident on one piece. The shattered rubble testifies to the violence of the impact.

One hundred metres below the main crash site at around 460 metres was the most substantial and recognizable piece of airframe, the massive starboard tail fin with the plane’s yellow serial number (123825) clearly visible against the camouflage-green background.

The factory-new Texas Terror was being delivered to the American 90th Bomb Group’s base at Iron Range in North Queensland when it crashed during a violent storm. It had cost the American taxpayer $289,276 having departed Hawaii for Australia on 3 November 1942. A search at the time failed to find the missing aircraft until, almost a year later, two Aborigines searching gullies on Hinchinbrook Island for alluvial tin reported finding some burned U.S. currency in the creeks at the southern base of Mount Straloch (it is alleged since to have been carrying a payroll for U.S. servicemen in New Guinea). This was the fourth B-24 (and crew) that the 90th Bomb Group had lost in almost as many days.

Amazingly someone had recently sawn off one of the bomber’s twisted propellers leaving a trail of scratched rocks which we only noticed during our descent. A pair of these blades – we later learned – had been retrieved two years earlier at the behest of a local Franciscan priest, Father Publius Cassar, who then had them erected as memorials in the Lucinda Catholic Church (one having since been relocated to the Lucinda foreshore).

As a teenage landlubber I hadn’t given any consideration to tidal movements which, by good fortune, was to favour both our outbound and return crossings.

We arrived back in Townsville at 7.30 pm having consumed nothing all day other than a cup of cocoa and some raspberry yoghurt. The day’s diary ends on a more sobering note…’never [before] have I been so cold and foolish’.

Mark Clayton

Guest blogger: Elisabeth Gondwe – President Oral History Queensland.

Oral History Queensland (OHQ) delivers the 2019 Oral History Australia (OHA) Biennial Conference at State Library of Queensland, starting 10 – 13 October. Registrations are still open inviting you to an exciting program including keynote Katrina Srigley, Gaa Bi Kidwaad Maa Nbisiing/The Stories of Nbisiing: Relational story listening and storytelling on Nbisiing Nishnaabeg territory. The workshops scheduled for 10 October with Hamish Sewell and Alistair Thomson are filling up quickly.

A forum will explore Oral histories in the future with presentations by Geert Vermiere of Milena Principle; podcaster, academic and journalist – Siobhan McHugh; Sarah Rood – Way Back When.

Hamish Sewell of Soundtrails and panellists Lorina Barker, Kerry Charlton, Sadie Heckenberg and Katrina Srigley will explore Indigenous Oral History: the challenges and opportunities.

The program also offers optional day tours on the final day. The tour to Logan City and surrounds will interpret the colonial history and landscape of the Eagleby Wetlands, Tamborine and Veresdale Hotel. This tour is possible through Regional Arts Development Fund and the partnership between Queensland Government and Logan City Council supporting local arts and culture in regional Queensland.

By developing an Oral History compass as a story telling tool, concept artist Greg Manning has identified 16 points on the compass based on the themes and questions Sir Joseph Banks was asked, subsequent to his voyage with James Cook on the Endeavour in 1770. (Public Records Office London. Home Office 107/1 “A Second Report form the Committee of Enquiry into Transportation”. 10 May 1785.) Image – Banks compass courtesy of Greg Manning 2019.

The words Greg has symbolically placed on the compass points in the second image are designed to activate discussion about local place names around and within the Logan landscape and explore their relationships.

Did you know Mt Cotton was named for Sir Sydney Cotton, a convict supervisor at Moreton Bay? Previously, Sir Sydney was knighted for his actions in the 1857 uprising in India, writing an account of his experience in ‘Nine years on the North West Frontier of India‘.

Logan City is bisected by a road bearing the name of Sir Patrick Lindesay, Acting Governor of NSW. He later left NSW to lead British military excursions and incursions around Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Patrick Logan died with the knowledge that his detachment, the 57th Regiment left Moreton Bay for India. The Regiment was remembered for the recapture of Mangaluru, after a local freedom movement claimed a brief victory against British occupation.

The other tour will take delegates to Djarranggaree on Minjerribah / North Stradbroke Island and includes sightseeing and a presentation talk at the North Stradbroke Island Museum.

More details are available on the conference website and Oral History Queensland welcomes your attendance! We hope you will join us in beautiful Brisbane!

Elisabeth Gondwe, President Oral History Queensland

With spring in the air and the weather warming up, some of us, over a certain age, may remember Brisbane’s Warana Spring Festival. The John Oxley Library recently received a lovely donation of photographs from a former Miss Warana, Julie Cable, who was then known as Julie Younger.

Julie, a private secretary from Toowong, was crowned by the Tourism, Sport and Welfare Services minister, Mr Herbert, and was sponsored in the quest by Collins Foods International. She had already won the titles of Miss Miami Surf Girl 1971 and Miss Wests Rugby League 1973.

A highlight of the crowning ceremony was the attendance of actors from the popular Australian television series “Matlock Police”, including Michael Pate and Paul Cronin, who sadly passed away on 13 September this year.

The Warana Day parade through the streets of Brisbane was held the day after the crowning. The collection also includes a photograph of Julie assisting at the crowning of Miss Warana 1974, a year later.

We are very grateful to Julie for donating copies of her photographs to the library and reminding us of Warana, which I am sure, holds a special place in the memories of many Queenslanders.

32078 Julie Younger Miss Warana Photographs collection is available to view onsite at the State Library of Queensland

Lynn Meyers – Specialist Librarian, State Library of Queensland

Further reading:

• Wonderful Warana: Queensland’s Own Spring Festival

Situated at 276-278 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, the American Bar was operated by George Sklavos between 1911 and ca.1929. George Sklavos was born in the Kytherian village of Mitata in Greece in 1882. He travelled to Australia in 1900, working in New South Wales before moving to Queensland and establishing the American Bar, one of first milk bars in Brisbane.

Having spent time in the United States, George introduced American style foods into his business. In her 2019 book, Brisbane’s Greek cafes : a million malted milks, Toni Risson described the café – “Signage on the façade advertised the fountain drinks on offer – milkshakes, sodas, and ice-cold fruit juice drinks, all dispensed from an electrically refrigerated unit that stored chilled water, soda water, milk, and ice cream.”

In February 1923, the American Bar made national news, after a young woman burst into the cafe hotly pursued by her husband brandishing a revolver. The Telegraph (16/09/1923) reported – “The astonished cafe patrons had hardly time enough to grasp the meaning of the affair when two policemen dashed through the door and grappled with the gunman.” The woman had been shot in the back before entering the cafe. During the trial, the Daily Standard (16/04/1923) stated that the husband had also fired his gun into the cafe as he stood in the doorway.

George sold the American Bar ca.1929 to David Webster and later established the Atlas Café in Adelaide Street, opposite City Hall. He died on 1 March 1949. His funeral took place at the Greek Orthodox Church of St George in Charlotte Street and he was interred at Toowong Cemetery. Prior to his death he lived at ‘Megaron’, 320 Bowen Terrace, New Farm. According to Toni Risson, half of George’s estate was donated to restoring the village church in Mitata, Greece.

Exhibition – Meet me at the Paragon

State Library’s latest exhibition, Meet me at the Paragon will explore how the creation of American-style cafes enabled Greek migrants of the early to mid-1900s to carve out a new life in a foreign land. The exhibition runs from 27 September 2019 until 15 March 2020.

James Birrell, one of Queensland’s preeminent architects, recently passed away. Birrell was responsible for some of Queensland’s best known buildings from the 1950s onward. His work includes the innovative car park on Wickham Terrace in Brisbane’s CBD, the former Toowong Library, the J.D. Story Administration Building and the Union College Building at the University of Queensland, the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library and
University Hall of Residence at James Cook University and the Centenary Pool Complex at Spring Hill.

Born in Victoria in 1928, James Birrell attended Essendon High School and later graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1951. At the age of 27 he was appointed Brisbane City Council Architect in 1955. Over the next six years, Birrell oversaw an extensive range of public building projects, including libraries, car parks, even public toilet blocks. The majority of his buildings from this period have since been altered or demolished.

Between 1961 and 1966 he was responsible, among other buildings, for Union College, the J.D. Story Administration Building and the Agriculture and Entomology Building at the University of Queensland. In 1964, he wrote a biography on Walter Burley Griffin, the America architect best known for designing Australia’s capital city, Canberra.

Birrell later went into private practice in Queensland and New Guinea and became a planning consultant to the Indonesian Government.

In 2005, James Birrell received the RAIA Gold Medal, the highest award of the Australian Institute of Architects, in honour of his distinguished service as an architect.

In 2014, Birrell was prominently featured in State Library’s exhibition, Hot Modernism, which focused on Queensland’s mid-20th century architecture. In this short video produced for Hot Modernism, architect Russell Hall discusses the Brisbane City Council Carpark on Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill, designed by James Birrell during his time as City Architect for the Brisbane City Council. It was constructed between 1959 and 1960 and was the first parking station constructed by the Council. The structure was eventually added to the Queensland Heritage Register in January 1995.

State Library of Queensland is fortunate to hold several collections highlighting James Birrell’s extensive career as an architect. These include:

• James Peter Birrell Papers 1952-1985 – Photographs, newspaper clippings, correspondence and personal records relating to the life and career of James Birrell.
• James Peter Birrell Photographs 1957-1961 – Four albums containing photographs of architectural projects.
• James Birrell Oral History 2012 – In this two part interview Birrell discusses aspects of his life including his architectural training, work in Queensland as the Brisbane City Council and University of Queensland staff architect.
• James Birrell Architectural Plans 1970-1990 – The architectural plans in this collection represent the works undertaken in the years he was in private practice, working on projects in North Queensland, New Guinea and later, in the Maroochydore district. They include various commercial projects; Great Keppel Island Tourist Resort; James Cook University; Maroochy Shire Chambers; Private Hospitals; Town plans (Livingstone Shire). He also undertook many projects in Papua New Guinea, and even as far afield as New Hebrides.

2019 Brisbane Open House

Two of James Birrell’s designs, the Wickham Terrace Carpark and the Centenary Pool Complex, will be featured as part of 2019’s Brisbane Open House on 12 and 13 October. State Library of Queensland will also be hosting a White Gloves Experience allowing you to browse the collections of papers, photographs and architectural plans of James Peter Birrell. Details for these events will be on the Brisbane Open House website.

Amateur and professional historians, family historians and other researchers in search of the more recent history of the Torres Strait will be excited to discover that the Thursday Island based newspaper, Torres News, is now available to search online from 1957 to 2015.

The Torres News is one of over 100 historical Queensland newspapers made available through the National Library’s Trove Newspapers.

The digitisation of this newspaper was of particular interest to me, as my parents met and fell in love while working on Thursday Island from 1969 to 1970. My mother, Elaine Street was a young British nurse working at the Thursday Island Hospital and my father, Michael Sinnamon worked at the National Bank of Australasia.

After a quick search of the Torres News via Trove I was able to uncover a few interesting articles in the paper’s social columns related to my parents’ brief time on Thursday Island.

For my father I found notices of his arrival on the island as well his eventual departure. The 20 October 1970 edition, states my father’s farewell party was hosted by Mr and Mrs Jack Fell. Mrs Fell was Rita Mills, part of the well-known Torres Strait Islander singing trio, the Mills Sisters. I remembered seeing photographs of Jack and Rita Fell in my mother’s collection, so this connection made sense.

As an aside, the availability of the Torres News online, provides a wealth of information on the Mills Sisters, including their performances at places such as Parliament House in Canberra in 1989 and at London’s South Bank Centre in 1993, as part of the Corroboree Sights and Sounds of the First Australians. In 1995, the Mills Sisters received the prestigious Red Ochre Award for outstanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artist for lifetime achievement. They were the first Torres Strait Islanders to receive the award.

Although my mother and father’s stay on Thursday Island was brief I can find multiple references to my father regularly playing competitive lawn bowls and a brief wedding notice was published on 24 August 1971. The notice refers to my mother as “Sister Elaine Street (Charlie Brown)”. Charlie Brown was my mother’s nickname at the Thursday Island Hospital with other nurses also adopting names from the Charles M. Schulz Peanuts cartoons.

You can start your research of the Torres News (1957-2015) via the Trove Newspapers website. Please note this collection is imperfect and some issues are unavailable.

Myles Sinnamon – Engagement Officer, State Library of Queensland

The 2019 John Oxley Library Fellows are Louise Martin-Chew and Matthew Wengert who plan to jointly develop a proposal for an exhibition and a book about the Queensland Government Printing Office. This institution spans and illustrates the history of Queensland. To develop this project and tell its many stories they will draw on their respective backgrounds – Martin-Chew is an art writer and curator, Wengert an historian and publisher. Both have a long term interest in Brisbane’s history.

It is the beginning phase of our research into the visual history of Queensland’s Government Printing Office (QGPO). Last month we conducted interviews with two retired staff members. What emerges from our discussions with these two individuals, who worked at senior levels for decades in the QGPO, is a passionate belief in their work as printers. It goes deep.

The QGPO was established by 1862 and in its own purpose-built premises by 1887. For close to a century they printed almost everything required by the Colony (and then State) of Queensland … every invitation, timetable, brochure, poster, tourism pamphlet, report – and parliamentary hansard. As a result, the web of potential objects produced by the QGPO is vast, although not necessarily easy to find, particularly when the client and ostensible “publisher” could be any governmental agency.

At the outset we knew that we could not look at every item the government printer produced; instead we adopted the driver of a focus on art and design, the beautiful and memorable items produced at a high level by the QGPO. Already it is evident that its employees knew the quality of what they were producing, and the pride that remains palpable in the memory of both these ex-printers is the result. Visitors, including young photographer Peter Fischmann––who spent some days there in 1982, drawn to document the scale of the machines, the operation and the ambition of this place, its building and its workers––became aware of the camaraderie of the team and the collective effort invested in its output.

Druce Williams was an artist at the QGPO from when he started there as a boy of 15 during the war (1945). He worked there until his retirement in 1991, some 46 years. He attributes the artistry he developed to the tutelage of lithographer Jimmy Burrows. Interestingly, Williams occupied a position once held by the young artist Lloyd Rees (1895-1988). In Rees’s later writing he credited his time at the QGPO to placing him within the art milieu which eased his passage south.

The quality of the work produced by Brisbane’s QGPO is superb, visible today in the posters produced for the Queensland Tourism Bureau, the innovative design and quality of the drawings in The School Papers, books for children like writing copy books, social studies texts and Soon We’ll Read. Then there were the invitations designed for the visit of Queen Elizabeth in 1954 and more. Even the Golden Casket Lottery tickets which were produced from very early describe, in their development, sophisticated design.

George Gee, who was a camera operator at the QGPO from 1948 to 1982, was aware that the Brisbane operation was a leader in this field. The QGPO had invested in equipment but also had a background of expertise in lithographic printing. When Gee started in 1948, printing in colour was innovative and new: “We were experts at it”.

What is evident already is that the material that will tell the story of the QGPO’s innovation in art and design is available in abundance, the research within ready reach, so we won’t have to dig too deep. The major issue we face is to crystallise it in an interesting and cohesive way, creating a highly legible and engaging showcase of the “Designs, Devils and Details” that inspired this project.

Louise Martin-Chew and Matthew Wengert – 2019 John Oxley Library Fellows

Further reading:

• Historic Queensland building’s ‘printers’ devils’ to be discovered (Brisbane Times)

Nicholas Gianis Veneris (Nicholas Hellen) migrated from Kythera at the age of fourteen in 1898, arriving in Bundaberg in the early 1900s. He bought his first café in Bourbong Street in 1903-1904. He sold it shortly afterwards to John Stavrianos Comino and moved to Mt Perry where he worked as a baker and sometime later as a cultivator of oysters. Following a near-death drowning on the Kulan River, Nicholas purchased a property with an established café and fruit orchard in Many Peaks, 90 kms south of Gladstone in the Boyne Valley in 1915-1916.

In time he was to become one of the first Greek immigrants to serve as a Councillor for the Calliope Shire Council.

Together with his brother Vince, Nicholas established a profitable farm at Many Peaks where many Greeks and Australians worked alongside each other including Aboriginal workers.

Denis Conomos in his book The Greeks in Queensland : a history from 1859-1945 states ‘few Greeks in Queensland enjoyed their leisure time as much as the families of the Hellen brothers on their farm at Many Peaks’ Vince’s wife Elenie recalls being ‘joined by family from nearby Bundaberg… and their families and the Greek workers on the farm would have parties on weekends when they sang and danced and played Greek games, especially games from Smyrna.

Source: The Greeks in Queensland: a history from 1859-1945 / Denis A. Conomos, 2002 Pg 105, 314

Exhibition – Meet me at the Paragon

State Library’s exhibition, Meet me at the Paragon explores how the creation of American-style cafes enabled Greek migrants of the early to mid-1900s to carve out a new life in a foreign land. The exhibition runs until 15 March 2020.

Meet Me at the Paragon, a free exhibition exploring Queensland’s Greek café phenomenon, is now open in the Phillip Bacon Heritage Gallery at the State Library of Queensland until 15 March 2020.

On 29 September, representatives from the Greek community were invited to attend a special viewing of the new Meet Me at the Paragon exhibition, along with a white gloves experience.

State Librarian and Chief Executive Officer, Vicki McDonald welcomed guests and provided a brief overview of the exhibition. This was followed by a tour of the exhibition by co-curators Toni Risson and Chrissi Theodosiou.

A successful day filled with discovering a new dimension to the Greek history of Queensland and great reminiscences of visitors concerning family members. For example Chris Zavros was delighted to discovered that he could obtain a copy of a photograph of his uncles from the John Oxley Library photographic collection.

Maureen Cholakos and her daughter found a delightful picture of her as a child.

Mark Zaphir identified his uncle Jim Lathouras in the below photograph of Greek soldiers marching down Brisbane Streets in their traditional uniform. Staff members are currently updating our records to identify Jim Lathouras.

For more information visit

• Meet me at the Paragon website
• Photographs from the Meet me at the Paragon Community Day
• Histories of several of Queensland’s Greek café on the John Oxley Library Blog
• visit the One Search library catalogue
• Greeks in Queensland Flickr album