A public research seminar is to be held on 17 July 2008 at Noosa Junction.  Representatives from the John Oxley Library, Queensland State Archives and the National Archives of Australia will provide an overview of each institution’s collection holdings.

View over Hastings Street area of Noosa Heads, ca. 1920. John Oxley Library image no. 196825

The presentations will also focus on strategies to access information, with a range of practical examples provided.

Laguna Lodge at Noosa Heads, ca. 1920. John Oxley Library image no. 196824

There will also be opportunities for interaction and discussion with the presenters

Details of the seminar are as follows:

Thursday 17 July 2008

9.30am - 3.30pm (refreshments included)

The J Hall, 60 Noosa Drive, Noosa Junction

Bookings Essential - RSVP by Friday 4 July 2008 (info@archives.qld.gov.au Telephone: 07 - 31317777)

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The Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party, dated 9 September 1892 (the Manifesto), held in the collections of the John Oxley Library, has been registered by UNESCO for its national cultural significance.  UNESCO is also considering a submission from the State Library to record this document as being of international cultural significance.

The Manifesto, one of the formative documents of the present Australian Labor Party, was written at a time of political and social upheaval in Queensland, with the labour movement seeking alternatives to industrial action to progress its aims. It provides a detailed coverage of the party’s grievances, with a focus upon the ruling class of the time, including squatters, employers, the government and others, which it saw as opposing what it aspired to in terms of working benefits. Electoral and land reform as well as social equity are specific themes.

According to labour folklore, the Manifesto was read out under the so called Tree of Knowledge at Barcaldine following the Great Shearer’s Strike, Barcaldine being at the centre of the industrial strife that took place in the early 1890s.  The town was the centre point for contact and communication for the strikers, who were later to form the vanguard of the labour movement. Whether or not this event actually took place, the Manifesto stands as one of the planks upon which the labour movement based its aims of the attainment of political power and parliamentary representation.

Subsequently, Barcaldine has become known as the birthplace of the Labor Party in Queensland with the Tree of Knowledge surviving until recently as a physical reminder of the events of the time. The Manifesto was an important link in the chain of actions and events in Queensland that culminated in the formation of the first Labor government in the world. This was the short-lived Anderson Dawson Labor Government that came to power in 1899.

The Manifesto was written by Charles Seymour, who was heavily involved in the formative years of the labour movement in Queensland. It was signed by the party’s president, Thomas Glassey, who was also the first person to be popularly elected on a labour platform in Queensland.

“Labour” or “labor” - how should it be spelled?  Is there a reason for the different spelling of “labour” as “labor”?  For the answer see the blog entry on this topic in the next few days.

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John Oxley Library staff members participated in a 3 day seminar held at the Thuringowa Library 21-23 May 2008. This seminar coincided with two weeks of heritage activities organised by the Townsville City Council, which concluded on Saturday 24 May.

Simon Farley from the State Library’s Heritage Collections Unit, Greg Cope from the National Archives of Australia, Brisbane Branch, and Niles Elvery from Queensland State Archives presented collection overviews, gave talks on immigration records and provided advice on managing archival collections.

Christine Ianna, Senior Conservator with the Queensland State Archives also attended on the first day of the seminar, covering issues relating to the preservation and storage of archival materials. This was a enjoyable three days. Many thanks to the people of Townsville and surrounds who made it to one or all of the seminars.  Special thanks to Niles Elvery for coordinating the event and to Annette Burns and her colleagues at Townsville CitiLibraries for ensuring the seminar was a success.

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The State Librarian Lea Giles-Peters and Heritage Collections Executive Manager Louise Denoon attended the annual Queensland Day Dinner hosted by the Royal Historical Society of Queensland in cooperation with the Professional Historians Association (Queensland). This event was held on 6 June 2008 to celebrate Queensland Day and to present the John Douglas Kerr Medal of Distinction.

This prestigious award is both a tribute to the lifetime scholarship of John Douglas Kerr as well as an acknowledgement of individual excellence in historiography, historical research and writing in the context of Queensland history in any of its themes and disciplines.

This year the John Douglas Kerr Medal was presented to Dr. Judith McKay for her long standing scholarship in the area of Queensland historical research and writing.

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The State Library of Queensland recently archived the websites of Queensland local government councils affected by the amalgamation.  The websites were captured in PANDORA – Australia’s web archive – during the early months of 2008.

PANDORA – “Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia” – is a growing collection of significant Australian online publications and websites.  Built collaboratively – with ten Australian cultural collecting agencies contributing – PANDORA is now becoming a significant source of Australia’s online documentary heritage.  In 2004, PANDORA was placed on the Memory of the World Australian Register.

Many of the 94 Queensland council websites copied into the archive by State Library have since disappeared from the live internet.  Now captured for posterity, the council websites will be available for future generations of researchers, and make a valuable contribution to documenting the heritage and history of local government in Queensland.

The State Library of Queensland has archived over a thousand Queensland websites and publications into PANDORA, covering various aspects of Queensland life, history and culture.  State Library currently contributes several hundred titles each year.  The Library’s participation in PANDORA ensures that Queensland’s online documentary heritage will be preserved.

The PANDORA archive is freely available on the internet.  The collection of Queensland council websites can be found at: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/col/9261

For further information about the PANDORA archive, or to suggest a site to include in the archive, please contact the State Library of Queensland on tel. (07) 3840 7880 or email pandora@slq.qld.gov.au
 

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Students from Greenslopes State School, Wandarrah Pre School and St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School recently visited the State Library to take part in one of our many public programs.

The students contributed their own photographs to the Family Album Exhibition presently on display in The Studio on level 1 of the State Library (the exhibition runs from 10 June to 13 July as part of the Out of the Box festival).

A number of the students from St. Aidan’s are pictured here attending a Heritage Collections workshop where they viewed family albums and other historical images from the John Oxley Library’s photographic collection.

Go to http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/info/teach for more information about the Family Album interactive exhibition as well as school tours at the State Library.

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Kedron is another suburb to be featured on Channel Seven’s Great South East program, with the recently filmed segment to be broadcast during June 2008.

The suburb’s name derives from the name of the watercourse that runs through the area, Kedron Brook.  The name Kedron appears to have first been used by early missionaries who had settled in the Nundah area.  These early missionaries called the creek which traversed their land Kedron Brook, basing the name on a Biblical reference.

Bridge over Kedron Brook, ca. 1925.  Image No: 57690

Justice Alfred Lutwyche, Queensland’s first judge was one of the area’s early residents, naming his residence Kedron Lodge, taking the word Kedron from the already named creek.

 Kedron Lodge, ca. 1937.  Image No: 69664

The official usage of the name appears to have been started by local shopkeeper and postman, John King who adopted the name Kedron for the locality in the early 1890s.

Early settlers and residents in the area have included:

• Missionaries who settled in the Nundah area in 1838.  The missionaries were granted approximately five hundred acres of land along Kedron Brook.
• Alexander Barron and family (1856)
• Judge Alfred Lutwyche purchased 50 acres and built his residence, naming it Kedron Lodge (1862)
• Henry Craig who settled on land now occupied by Lutwyche Cemetery (1864/5)
• Paul Maggs and family (1860s)
• William Shaw and family (1865).  The family’s residence,  Shaw’s Villa, overlooked Kedron Brook
• Gallagher family
• Scriven family
• Robinson family

Some significant industries and businesses that have operated in Kedron include:

• Edinburgh Castle Hotel built by George Orr (1868).  The hotel was originally situated on the opposite side of Edinburgh Castle Road.

 Edinburgh Castle Hotel, ca. 1929. Image No: 1866

• Kedron Tannery (1887 – Michael Gallagher).  This tannery was very successful and  became known Australia wide for the quality of its products.
• Edinburgh Tannery – (1889 – Paul Maggs).  This tannery was situated alongside Kedron Creek at the end of Nundah Street

Gallagher’s Tannery, 1902.  Image No: 6530

• John and Abigail King’s general store (1891) on the present site of the Commonwealth Bank (Gympie Road)
• Peter Smith’s newsagency (1892)
• James Barron, blacksmith on the corner of Gympie and Stafford Roads
• Jack Taylor’s “Shoeing, General Smith, Coachbuilders, Motor Body Builders and Painting”
• Hart and Neilan, blacksmiths
• Claude Barron, blacksmith
• Jack Landers screened films at the Kedron Park Raceway
• Wintergarden Theatre (1923)

Some sites of interest in the area include:

• Lutwyche Cemetery, on land originally owned by Henry Craig.  The cemetery dates from 1878 and was originally known as Kedron Brook Cemetery.  The name of the cemetery was later changed to Lutwyche Cemetery to commemorate Judge Lutwyche.
• Kedron Park Racecource, once situated adjacent to the Kedron Park Hotel.

Kedron Park Racecourse, 1922.  Image No: 6813-0001-0001

Significant dates in the history and development of Kedron:

1866 – 30 Nov. – Church of England (St. Andrew’s) established.
1886 – The enactment of anti-pollution regulations began to counteract various noxious industries that had been established in the area.
1904 – Part of Kedron, with Lutwyche and Wooloowin incorporated into the Town of Windsor.
1913 – Presbyterian Church established, commencing with a Sunday School but gaining full church status in 1945.
1923 – Catholic Church established in the area.
1925 – Methodist Church established with the first services held in the Wintergarden Theatre.
1926 – 2 Oct. – Kedron State School (staff – James Lennon - headmaster, Florence Hawkins, Ruth Pilkington, Roy Bayliss and Marcella Fitzgerald).
1930 – 29 Jan. – St Anthony’s established.
1934 – Kedron Bowls Club established.
1955 – Kedron Park resumed for educational building purposes – Kedron Park Teachers College, then Queensland University of Technology and now the site of Queensland Emergency Services.
1956 – Padua College established.
1956 – Mount Alvernia established.
1956 – Kedron State High School established.

Find more photographs of Kedron in the State Library’s collection.

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The State Library celebrated the donation of a unique photograph album at a recent official handover event.  The Lavarack Family Album documents the public and private life of Sir John Dudley Lavarack, first Queensland born Governor of Queensland, and his wife Sybil Lavarack.

Our current Governor of Queensland, Her Excellency Quentin Bryce AC, was instrumental in securing this outstanding donation for the State Library and was a special guest at the event.  Various members of the Lavarack family attended including; James Laverack (son of Sir John) his wife Sue and their children John and Shelley, Dr Peter Lavarack (grandson of Sir John), his wife Beverley and their son Anthony.

The State Library presented two bound replica copies of the album to the family who have subsequently offered to donate additional collection material.

You can view the digitised version of the Lavarack Family Album online at Manuscripts Queensland.

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