Clik here to view.
An exhausted Noel Coward visits Brisbane
Noel Coward (left) with the Governor of Queensland Sir Leslie Wilson (right) at Brisbane's Her Majesty's Theatre, November 1940 On November 20, 1940, Noel Coward, English playwright, actor and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Queensland Places – Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, Ipswich
The Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, located in Nicholas Street, dates from 1921 and remains an imposing building and landmark in the Ipswich streetscape. The impetus for the building came from the newly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Shirting” the Issues
The democratic process has provided us here at the John Oxley Library a plethora of opportunities to collect contemporary materials. From our last State and Local elections and from ephemera, websites...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Queensland Places – Merluna Station, via Weipa
Merluna Station, located around 120 kilometres to the south-east of Weipa, can trace its history well back into the 19th century. On 1 January 1908, Leopold Tamerlane Watson applied for and was issued...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Acquisition – Photograph of Murphy’s Creek in the Lockyer Valley
The John Oxley Library recently received a beautiful sepia photograph of a family group relaxing on the banks of Murphy’s Creek in the Lockyer Valley, ca. 1900. Murphy's Creek, ca. 1900 The serenity of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘REVOLTING DAUGHTER’: BEATRICE GRIMSHAW
Beatrice Grimshaw Author and adventurer Beatrice Grimshaw was one of the New Women of the 1890s. Born in 1870, she left home at the age of twenty-one to work as a journalist. Living at a time when...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Recreating the Brisbane Band of 1857
BRISBANE BAND. THE public are respectfully informed that the arrangements for giving regular performances have now been completed, and that the FIRST PERFORMANCE OF THE BRISBANE BAND will take place in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Telling it from the image: T.H. Jones & Co., Ironmongers of Ipswich
T.H. Jones & Co, Ipswich, ca. 1860 It is, let us guess, late afternoon in the business precinct of Ipswich in the early 1860s and our focus is on an obscure hatted figure perched, or perhaps posed,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Internship at Queensland Memory
As a Masters of Museum Studies (UQ) student I have had the opportunity to undertake a ten day internship at the State Library of Queensland within the Queensland Memory department. You may ask; “Why...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Queensland Places – Eborac Island Lighthouse
The Eborac Island Lighthouse is located on the small and isolated Eborac Island in the Adolphus Channel, in the south-east portion of the Torres Strait. As with other lighthouses around the Queensland...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tales of the Orient Line, the Oronsay and the Australian journey
Oronsay Post-World War II shipping lists, a major shipping line of the time, its vessels, and the voyage to Australia, were the focus of recent presentations. These were conducted by the State Library...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Accessions: Foot Fashions Ledgers (1937-1957)
This accession contains nine business ledgers with accounts of Foot Fashions. Foot Fashions, situated at 141 Queen Street (in the T&G Insurance building) sold women’s shoes. The store was a few...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Acquisition: Terry Swann Works of Art of Yarrabah and the Torres Strait
The John Oxley Library has been fortunate to receive five beautiful paintings by Terry Swann, one of Australia’s foremost contemporary watercolourists. Mrs Swann was born in Sydney but lived for many...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Young Scholars Inspired by Historical Photographs and Realia
Twenty-one students from the National Young Scholars program for gifted students came to State Library on Saturday 16 March for a creative writing workshop organized by the Queensland Writers Centre....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Queensland Places – Weipa – Napranum
The town of Weipa began as a Presbyterian Mission outpost in 1898, where it was to remain until an outbreak of malaria caused the community to be relocated to nearby Jessica Point, now known as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Scotsman an Irishman and a Tasmanian set up shop
It might sound like an old joke but this is really the story of a shopping revolution and how it played out in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. By the 1890s, three men, James McWhirter (the Scotsman),...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bunnies not welcome! The valuable work of Queensland’s Rabbit Boards
Chocolate bunnies may be permitted but the real thing has been banned in Queensland since the 1880s. At that time a great plague of rabbits was spreading over the country causing widespread...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tales of the Orient Line, the Oronsay and the Australian journey
Post-World War II shipping lists, a major shipping line of the time, its vessels, and the voyage to Australia, were the focus of recent presentations. These were conducted by the State Library of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tall and proud – Brisbane City Hall Clock Tower
“If one would see the real beauty of Brisbane; if one would escape the tyranny of hard footpaths and noisy streets; if one would find seclusion in the very heart of the city, it is to be found at the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Queensland Places – East Street, Ipswich ca. 1860
This quiet, peaceful scene shows East Street, Ipswich in around 1860. The lengthening shadows indicate late afternoon with few people about. Perhaps it is a Sunday with most people inside resting for...
View Article