State Library’s Simon Farley accepts a copy of Toowong: a tram ride from the past for the John Oxley Library collection

 Dr Denver Beanland addresses the crowd.

In November State Library of Queensland librarians Simon Farley and Stephanie Ryan attended the launch of Toowong & Districts Historical Society’s latest book at the Toowong Bowls Club. The book was officially deposited with the State Library and a signed copy accepted on the day by Simon Farley.

A large crowd attended the launch including guest speakers the Honourable Andrew Fraser MLA, Treasurer of Queensland and President of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Dr Denver Beanland.

Toowong: A Tram Ride From the Past is a collection of stories including family histories, tales of growing up in the local neighbourhood , of going to school and later to work, and about involvement in community life. The book includes accounts of life in Toowong during WWII and of the experience of living through the depression of the 1930s.

The book costs $25.00 (plus postage and handling @ $5.50 per book).

The Toowong and Districts Historical Society has three other books still for sale. These are titled Toowong Snapshots in Time, Toowong Down the River Road, and Toowong The Road to Everywhere. Originally priced at $25.00, these have been discounted to $45.00 for the set (plus postage.)

Contact the Toowong and Districts Historical Society Inc. c/- P.O. Box 187 Toowong QLD 4066 or email c/- of the secretary l.chamb@bigpond.net.au

All of these titles can be accessed in the John Oxley Library Reading Room on level 4 of the State Library of Queensland’s building at South Bank.

Many thanks to Leigh Chamberlain (pictured above signing the State Library’s copy of the book) and to all of the members and friends of the Toowong & Districts Historical Society involved in the production and launch of this valuable work of local history.

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 Elizabeth Fa’Aoso (left) and Tania Schafer at Link-Up’s opening

Indigenous Resource Officers, Tania Schafer and Elizabeth Fa’Aoso from the State Library of Queensland’s Heritage Collections Unit attended the opening of the new Link-Up (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation premises on the 28^th November 2008.

Link-up’s new address is 54-56 Peel Street, West End Brisbane.  Free call 1800 200 855 or visit http://www.link-upqld.org.au.

Link up (Qld)  is committed to reuniting Indigenous people with their families and communities.   Link-up launched their Binanma Education Resource Kit as part of the opening celebrations. Contact Paul Paulson at paul.paulson@qld.link-up.org.au for more information.

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Recently Heritage Collections’ staff conducted an in-house training session in the John Oxley Library about the Queensland Post Office Directories and the many ways in which they can be used for historical research.  The main points are outlined below.

These directories were published in Queensland from 1868 to 1949, and were the equivalent of the present-day telephone books.  They provided a convenient listing of private residents, professionals, firms and institutions in the state.  Today they can be used to trace the history and movements of those listed.

  Qld Post Office Directory, 1868. National Archives, J2364:6727

As economic life in Queensland became more complex, there was a need to know who were the members of the legal, medical and ecclesiastical professions.  It was also necessary for residents fo trace the whereabouts of businesses, and for the post office to know the addresses of residents and firms.  The leading publishing houses in each state of Australia were charged with the task of producing the official post office directories. 

 Compilation of the directories must have been a huge task, given the challenges of distance and communication.  The introduction to Sands and Kenny’s Commercial & General Sydney Directory, states that : “As far as practicable information has been obtained from individuals, at their private addresses, or at their accustomed places of businesses, by competent parties, who have been both diligent and careful”.

In other words, collectors visited streets and individual houses and firms, as modern market researchers do today.  People had to pay to have their names included in the directories so they are not a completely comprehensive list.  In addition, heads of households are only included, so it is often difficult to trace women.  Women do appear, but usually if they are single or widowed.

Content of the directories varies over time with the earlier directories containing basic information such as listings of residents of Brisbane and country towns, as well as an alphabetical name directory for the whole state.  Later directories contain more complex information, including specialist directories for professions, trades, and pastoral stations.  Advertisements for firms were also included.

Advertisement from the 1889 directory.  Image No: 13064

Overall the basic format is as follows:

Brisbane Directory:  This comprises an alphabetical listing of the streets of Brisbane with the residents and firms listed for each street.  North and South Brisbane appear as separate directories.  Occupations of residents are provided in some cases.

Country Directory:  A list appears for each town with residents and firms listed alphabetically.  Bigger centres such as Rockhampton and Townsville have street listings the same as Brisbane. 

Alphabetical Directory:  Complete alphabetical listing of residents and firms for the whole state.

Trades Directory: The comprises an alphabetical list of trades and occupations, with firms and individuals listed below.  The directory is similar to the Yellow Pages of today. 

Medical Directory:  Includes doctors, chemists, dentists, hospitals (both private and public), hospitals for the insane, benevolent institutions, refuges and homes.

Legal Directory:  Includes barristers, solicitors, judges, and police magistrates

Eductional Directory:  Includes orphanages, industrial schools and reformatories, schools of art, grammar schools, technical colleges, private schools and colleges, church schools and private teachers of music and art.

Ecclesiastical Directory:  Lists churches by denomination and the name of clergymen.

Government Directory:  Lists government officials for all levels of government.

Stations Directory:  Alphabetical list of pastoral stations, including the name of the owner, nearest post town, and number of stock.

As can be seen, these directories are a treasure trove of information.  They are available on microfiche on Level 3 of the State Library.  An incomplete hard copy set is also available in the John Oxley Library reading room on Level 4.

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Director of Client Services and Collections Vicki McDonald and Heritage Collections’ librarian Simon Farley show Mr Li Daolin, Ms Zhu Shufen and Mr Zhao Liang the first volume of John Gould’s Birds of Australia.

Heritage Collections’ librarian Irene Sourgnes opens the concertina-folded pages of artists’ book Plastic Surgery by Guan Wei.

Shanghai Library is the largest library in China and one of the ten largest libraries in the world. In October 2006, the State Library of Queensland signed the ’Windows of Shanghai’ Memorandum of Exchange and Co-operation with Shanghai Library.

This memorandum has seen co-operation and exchange activities in the fields of library materials and expertise, sharing of service resources and staff visits.

On Friday 5 December a delegation from Shanghai Library visited Brisbane and were taken on a tour of the State Library’s South Bank building after meeting with the State Librarian and members of SLQ’s Executive Group.

The visitors included Mr Li Daolin, Deputy Chairman of Shanghai Library Council, Mr Zhao Liang, Deputy Director of Shanghai Library’s Computer Systems and Network Centre and Ms Zhu Shufen, Director of Shanghai Library’s Finance Division.

During their tour the  delegates viewed a display of treasures from the Heritage Collections in the Fox Family White Gloves Room. A number of these collection items, including photographs, books and manuscripts from the John Oxley Library, as well as Artist’s Books from the Australian Library of Art, highlight the rich array of Chinese connections in Queensland’s history.

More exchanges of staff, information and books will be undertaken over the next two years, especially as 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the Queensland Shanghai Sister-State relationship, and the Shanghai Expo will take place in 2010.

For more information on the ‘Windows of Shanghai’ Memorandum of Co-operation and Exchange go to: http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/about/ppp/partners/window_of_shanghai

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Visitors to this blog may have noticed some changes in the sidebar area.

You can now subscribe to a comments feed, which augments the existing feeds for blog posts and the State Library of Queensland website news. (Help with RSS feeds is available.)

Also available now is a monthly archive, listing links to posts published each month. This should provide more direct access to earlier posts.

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