On Thursday 17th Jyly 2008 nine members of the Gold Coast Calligraphy Society, accompanied by a Heritage Collections volunteer, who is herself a keen calligrapher,  spent nearly two hours in the John Oxley Reading Room examining various examples of calligraphy, fine binding, private press, marbling and illumination.Of particular interest to the group were a number of selected illuminated addresses from the Library’s Original Materials collections. These included illuminated addresses presented to Sir Herbert Chermside, W A Tully  and Frederick Philip Parkinson, as well as illuminated albums presented to Adolphus Marcus Hertzberg.

All participants declared themselves delighted with their visit, and hope to make it an annual event.

Clients looking at illuminated albums in the John Oxley Library reading room

Example of an illuminated address from the John Oxley Library collection

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The answer to the question asked last week - what is the suburb crossed by Norman Creek and home to historic residence Hatherton? - is Coorparoo.

The suburb of Coorparoo is believed to have been named by local residents at a meeting at Frederick Wecker’s home on 22 March 1875 with those present resolving that the district as well as the newly established school should be named Coorparoo. The word was said to be the Aboriginal name for Norman Creek and the name was subsequently accepted by the Board of Education as the name of the proposed school.The original spelling was “Cooraparoo” but the shorter version was chosen and came into common usage.

An alternative name for the area was Steven’s Town after Samuel Stevens who donated the land for the proposed school however this suggestion was rejected by Stevens himself.

The word “Coorparoo” is also said to be an Aboriginal word describing the sound of wild doves that were common in the area.

Coorparoo, 1914. Image no. 90836

Eastleigh, Brentnall family home. Image no. 99713

Some early settlers and businesses included:

• Thomas Blackett Stephens (1856). By 1859 Stephens had established a wool scour on the banks of Ekibin Creek, near the present site of the Greenslopes Hospital. Stephens Road, South Brisbane is named in his honour. The present day Hanlon Park is on part of Stephen’s original holding.
• Gottlieb Klumpp (1858) purchased 15 acres of land facing the future Chatsworth Road. The Klumpp family’s low set slab cottage was one of the earliest dwellings in the vicinity.
• Abraham James (1880s). James operated a large brick works situated in the vicinity of the present day St. Leonards Street.
• Thomas Brentnall (1884) who was a Methodist minister, journalist and later member of parliament. He purchased land in the vicinity of the present day Coorparoo Junction.
• Edward Deshon (1885) purchased land adjacent to the present Cavendish Road
• Reubin Nicklin

Racecourse Estate, Coorparoo, 1919. Image no. 186938

Some early housing estates included 1880 – St. Leonard’s Estate; Stanley Bridge Estate (1880), Cavendish Estate (1890) and the Racecourse Estate (1919).

Coorparoo has a range of distinctive homes, buildings and sites of interest, including:

• Spanish Mission Revival homes along Cavendish Road. This was a popular inter-war house style introduced from California.
• Ridgelands (1880s), built for the Blundell family
• Cardington (1880s) located at the corner of Norfolk Street and Cavendish Road. This residence was built by Thomas Howling who had purchased the allotments from early settler George Harden.
• Barston Place (1880), built for Scottish born James Burstall and named after his birthplace.
• Coorparoo Shire Hall (1892) located at the corner of Cavendish Road and Halstead Street. The building is now owned by the Coorparoo RSL Club and is now know as the Coorparoo School of Arts.
• Restored Tram Post located at the corner of Old Cleveland and Cavendish Roads.
• Hatherton (1886). This elite residence was built for Reubin Nicklin who previously residence was called Langlands. Reubin and his wife Jane were drowned in the “Quetta” disaster in 1890. The house has subsequently been extensively renovated and changed and is known as the “Queen Alexandra Home” having been used as a Methodist Home for children, teaching classrooms for the local TAFE College and more recently as a community centre.
• Chatsworth (1888), built for William Evans who worked at Stewarts of Stones Corner. Chatsworth Road is named after this residence.
• Langlands (1883), built for Reubin Nicklin. This building is located in the grounds of the present Villanova College and is the oldest surviving masonry residence in Coorparoo.
• Cavendish Road. The name of this road is said to have been derived as a result of the local residents’ preoccupation with card games. The book Cavendish on Whist was said to be often consulted as an authority.
• Roxy Cinema with seating for 1,200

 Coorparoo Methodist Church, ca. 1895. Image no. 172462

Some important dates in the history and development of Coorparoo include:

• 1856 – first bridge across Norman Creek constructed.
• 1876 – Coorparoo State School.
• 1876 – Frederick Robinson was operating a horse-drawn transport service from Coorparoo to Victoria Bridge.
• 1886 – Construction of the Stanley Street bridge.
• 1886 – Methodist Church located at the corner of Cavendish Road and York Street.
• 1888 – the Shire of Coorparoo is proclaimed, encompassing what is now the Coorparoo of today. Coorparoo originally included the present area of Stones Corner, Greenslopes and part of Holland Park.
• 1888 – the railway line extended through Coorparoo
• 1891 – Street lighting was first introduced. Later (1922) electricity was first used.
• 1893 – Floods had an adverse impact on the area. The access bridges were destroyed.
• 1913 (August) – St. James Catholic Church.
• 1922 (October) – Anglican Church

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

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We receive many interesting enquiries at the John Oxley Library.  One recent enquiry asked when the first Birdsville Races were held.  Several books about Birdsville gave a date for the first race meeting as 31st December 1886 however upon checking the Queenslander newspaper no articles appeared, thereby raising doubt about this date being correct.  Further research, involving searching backwards through the Queenslander, revealed an article about the first race meeting at Birdsville in the November 18, 1882 issue.  The actual dates of the first Birdsville Races, as shown in this article, were 20th to 22nd of September, 1882.

Here is a transcript from the Queenslander article.

“Birdsville (Lower Diamantina Race Meeting)

The first race meeting held at the newly formed township of Birdsville, situated on the Diamantina River, eight miles north of the South Australian border, was held on the 20th, 21st, and 22nd of September (1882), and was largely attended, nearly 150 station owners, managers, stockmen, and other employees being present, accompanied by a large retinue of blackboys.  The weather was delightful, the entrances for the various events good, and the finishes in most of the races close and exciting.  Nearly 200 pounds was raised by public subscription, which speaks well for the prosperous condition of the district…

The settling took place in Mr Tucker’s hotel, where the amounts were paid over to the respective winners, the usual toasts proposed and duly responded to, after which a meeting was held in Messrs. Burt and Co.’s large iron store, when a jockey club was formed, to be called the “Border Jockey Club”, forty-two names being enrolled as members.  Stewards were appointed, a working committee elected, and the next race meeting fixed for July, 1883″.  (Queenslander, November 18, 1882, p.702)

Birdsville Racecourse, ca. 1926.  John Oxley Library image no. 63004

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Which southern Brisbane suburb is crossed by Norman Creek and is home to some of Brisbane’s most important historic residences, including a residence called Hatherton?

The name of this suburb and an overview of its history will be published in this blog next week.

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The western Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove takes its name from the 200 acre Grove Estate, developed by Mr. F.F. Holmes and later subdivided, which laid the foundations for the future suburb.  Records show that ash trees grew profusely in the area.

Ithaca, named by Governor Bowen, and St John’s Wood are two of the localities found within Ashgrove today.

Early settlement

Settlers and early residents included Robert Little and Darby McGrath (1856); John McDougall and Joseph Grindlay (1858); William Cooksley and Alexander Bennett (1862) and Alexander Stewart (1876).  Stewart’s residence was called Glen Lyon House and is believed to have been constructed using South Sea Islander labour.  Glen Lyon’s original gateway is said to now mark the entrance to Stuartholme College.

 Early residence at St. John’s Wood ca. 1924. John Oxley Library image no. 82099

Another early resident was Judge Harding whose property was called St. John’s Wood.  There is a royal connection with this property in that Prince Albert and Prince George (later King George V) stayed here when they visited Queensland.  Later, when the Duke and Duchess of York visited Australia to take part in the opening of the first federal parliament, they were entertained at St. John’s Wood. Street names commemorating this royal connection include Royal Parade, King Street, Sandringham Street and Prince Street. Some early business enterprises include Ozannes Dairy (1920s); the Non-Ferrous Foundry Co. (1929) and the W.C. Kerr Ltd. Quarry (1931) which now forms part of the Ashgrove golf course.

Landmarks

Some significant locations, buildings and dates include:

• Marist Bros. Monastery and Marist Bros. College – Glen Lyon was purchased by the Marist Bros in 1930 with the college being established in 1940 as a day and boarding school.  The buildings were commandeered by the Australian Army during World War 2.
• St. Finbar’s Catholic Church, constructed in 1955.  The church building’s distinctive tower serves as a well known landmark.
• Ashgrove State School, established in 1877.  The first head teacher was James Brunton Stephens, a noted early Queensland poet.
• Windsor Road Baptist Church, established in 1888.  The adjacent church hall was erected in 1933
• Frank Waters Park, located in Dorrington Street was named in 1973 in honour of Frank Waters.  Mr Waters was a prominent figure in the Australian Labor Party as well as a distinguished member of parliament.
• T.M. Burke Park, located at the corner of Stewart and Aloomba Roads.  Mr. Burke donated the land to the Brisbane City Council in 1929 with the park eventually being named in his honour (1985).
• Waterworks Road was originally laid down in the 1860s as an access road to Enoggera and the Taylor Range area.  This is now one of Brisbane’s main arterial roads.
• Mt. St. Michael’s College was opened in 1925 and was originally known as Grantuly after the residence that stood on the site and housed the college.  It was renamed in 1941.
• St. David’s Uniting Church was opened on 7 March 1936.
• St. Paul’s Church of England was established in 1952.
• The suburb’s first post office was established on 1 January 1877 with J.B. Stephens as postmaster.
• A mail service began operating by coach between Brisbane and Ashgrove six days a week on 15 Mar 1877.
• The tramline was extended from Red Hill to Ashgrove in 1924.

Tramdrivers and passengers in a tram at Ashgrove, Brisbane, 1923. John Oxley Library image no. 35804

Housing estates and street names

Some early housing estates in the Ashgrove area include:

• Ithaca Creek estate (1870).
• Holmesbrook Estate, adjacent to Waterworks Road (1878).
• Forest Grove Estate - four 10 acre allotments adjoining Enoggera Creek (1891).
• Glen Lyon Gardens estate comprising the area surrounding Glen Lyon House (1924).

A number of street names commemorate early settlers and prominent residents:

• Holmesbrook St was named in honour of the Holmes family.
• Grove St, named after the Grove Estate.
• Fraser St named after one of F.F. Holmes’ Christian names.  Celia Street is named in honour of Mr. Holmes’ wife, while Harry Street is after Mr. Holmes’ son.

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

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In a recent blog post a question was posed regarding the spelling of “Labor” vs “Labour” in the name of the Australian Labor Party.

On 20 November 1918 the Queensland Labour Party changed its name to the Australian Labor Party - Queensland branch, adopting the same spelling of “Labor.”

In view of this, and to overcome the potential for confusion, many historians and others use the spelling “Labor” to refer to the political party and “Labour” to describe the extra-parliamentary movement.

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Gavin Bannermann of the John Oxley Library’s Original Materials Unit has been conducting a series of training workshops within Indigenous communities.

Gavin recently visited Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait and provided training to community residents in general computer skills, scanning photographs and various multi-media applications.
Feedback received from the trainees indicates the course was helpful and well received.

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On 26 June, staff member Dianne Byrne presented an informative and interesting overview of this important recent collection acquisition for a group of students from the Queensland College of Art (Jewellery and Small Objects course).

Dianne provided an insight into the life of early Queenslander John Watts of Eton Vale Station on the Darling Downs.  Watts was a prominent and wealthy pastoralist, later entering parliament where he served in both the Legislative Assembly as well as the Legislative Council.

The necklace was commissioned in the mid 1860s by Watts and manufactured by prominent Sydney silver and gold smith Christian Ludwig Qwist.  It features various Australian flora and fauna, which had significance for Watts.

Also featured is an Advance Australia coat of arms, which is of significance as the coat of arms’ design evolved over time.

The necklace complements other material in the collection relating to John Watts and Eton Vale Station.
The students were also able to view the necklace during their visit.

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