The State Library of Queensland’s John Oxley Library celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, first opening to the public on 5 April 1934.  A range of programs, exhibitions and events will mark this important anniversary and these will be outlined progressively throughout the year. 

We continue our series on the history of the John Oxley Library, as follows:

 The aims of the Oxley Memorial Library were to collect and exhibit a range of historical material as generally outlined in its articles of incorporation.  Brisbane’s Mayor (Alderman W.A. Jolly) and the Garrick Professor of Law at the University of Queensland (Professor F.W.S. Cumbrae-Stewart) were appointed trustees of an Oxley Memorial Fund.

W. A. Jolly.  Image no. 109729

 Public Library of Queensland, 1931.  Image no. 185381

During the early 1920s, Queensland’s population was small (less than 800,000) and Brisbane had less than 240,000 residents.  In comparison with the rest of Australia, Queensland appeared somewhat stilted in terms of art, culture and education.  No state controlled secondary school had existed before 1912 and by the early 1920’s there were only seven, as compared with 28 in New South Wales and 31 in Victoria.  The University of Queensland had only been established in 1911 and by 1924 had just 450 students.  The Queensland Art Gallery, opened in 1895, had only a small collection and limited funding, in stark contrast with the National Gallery of Victoria which enjoyed an income from bequests in excess of £8,000 per year.  The Brisbane Public Library, opened in 1902, had a total collection of some 46,000 works, around a quarter of the size of the collections in the public libraries in Sydney and Melbourne.  In the case of the State Library of New South Wales, the Mitchell Library, dedicated to the collecting of Australiana and history, held a collection of approximately 112,000 items, mainly the bequest of David Scott Mitchell, as well as his endowment of £70,000.  In contrast, the Brisbane Public Library’s Australiana collection was said to only fill a few shelves.

Therefore, in this context, the idea of developing the Oxley Memorial Library was ambitious. 

Part Three of the John Oxley Library’s history will be posted next month.

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The John Oxley Library is delighted to announce the acquisition of an important historical work of art.  The painting, which recently was acquired at auction in the face of much competition, depicts the aftermath of the infamous “Cullin-la-ringo Massacre” of white settlers by Aborigines which took place on 17 October 1861 at a station located between Emerald and Springsure in Central Queensland.

The Wills Tragedy: the arrival of the neighbouring squatters and Mon collecting and burying the dead, after the attack by the blacks on H.R. Wills ESQ. Stationed Leichhardt district, Queensland October 19th 1861 by T.G. Moyle,
Watercolour, 47 x 74 cms.
John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland [ACC 8085]

Cullin-la-ringo was the leasehold property of Horatio Spencer Howe Wills, a former newspaper publisher and politician, who had arrived there with his large party of family, servants, and livestock only 11 days earlier, following a journey from Brisbane which had taken eight months.
Work had begun on the construction of stock yards, huts and store-rooms, and Wills and his men were resting after their midday meal, when the property was attacked in the early afternoon.
Nineteen of the twenty-five members of the party were murdered. The six survivors included overseer’s son James Baker, Wills’ son Thomas Wentworth Wills, shepherds Edward Kenny and Patrick Mahoney, and stockman John Moore who managed to avoid being seen and who reported the massacre afterwards. Moore was the only surviving eyewitness to the event.

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On the 11th of February Ms. Louise Denoon, Executive Manager of Heritage Collections at the State Library of Queensland, and Professor Anna Haebich, Historian in Residence at the library and Griffith University Research Professor, visited the Downs Club in Toowoomba to collect an exciting new donation, the Davenport Album.

Club President Mr. Peter Marks and Mr. Lex Bailey formally presented the Album, which contains rare early photographs of old Darling Downs homesteads and places of interest, attributed to photographer Heinrich Muller.  Mr. Lex Bailey is a past president of the Downs Club who has a long standing interest in the history of the Darling Downs and who realised the importance of this album to the area’s history.

Mr. Peter Marks and Mr. Lex Bailey presenting the album to State Library representatives Louise Denoon and Professor Anna Haebich (Historian in Residence, John Oxley Library)

The album has its own interesting history. In 1877 it was given to Mr G. H Davenport prior to a return trip to England by his friends who included well known property owners in Toowoomba and the Darling Downs Mrs Jas Taylor, Mr W. Graham, Mr. F.H. Holberton and Mr. J. Grimes. At the time Mr. Davenport owned Heddington Hill Station, which was originally part of the much larger Clifton Station. Then in 1935 it was chosen by Mr. M. Y. C. Pascoe as recompense for his duties as executor of Mrs. Davenport’s estate. His widow later donated it to the Downs Club. In 2008 the club officials agreed to present the album to the John Oxley Library in recognition of its major significance for all Queenslanders.

The Album will undergo restoration and conservation work before being added to the state’s extensive Heritage Collections. The photographs will be digitised and made available on Picture Queensland. The Downs Club will be presented with a bound copy to put on display at their premises. The Toowoomba Regional Council Library will receive a disc copy of the Album.

Heritage Collections and the Downs Club are keen to hear of any other information about the album.  Please contact via the blog.

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The suburb of Indooroopilly, in particular the Indooroopilly Bridge, will feature in a forthcoming historical segment about Brisbane’s bridges, on Channel Seven’s Great South East program. 

The derivation of the suburb’s name is open to debate.  The Aboriginal word Yindurupilly is said to refer to gully of running water or Nyundur-pilly, said to mean gully of the leeches.  The first European name given to the area was Witton said to derive from the English locality Witton Flats.  The parish of Indooroopilly was officially named in the late 1850s.

  Early view of Indooroopilly.  Image No: 80004

Some early settlers, residents and businesses in the Indooroopilly area include:

• Mr. J. Henderson, Mr. F.T. Smith, Mr. Anderson and Thomas Murray-Prior were amongst the first purchasers of land in the area, from 1859.
• McDougall Station.  Initially, much of the land between Toowong and Moggill was known as the McDougall Station.
• Louis Stamm.  When the McDougall Estate was broken up, Louis Stamm was one of the first purchasers.
• Mr. H.C. Rawnsley purchased land south of Witton Creek in 1860.  In 1861 he built a residence which he called Witton Manor.
• Lou Bagster’s Family Butcher, Station Road, Indooroopilly (1900).

L. Bagster & Co. Butchers, ca. 1895.  Image No: 10572

• Stamford Hotel established at the corner of Westminster Road and Station Road, Indooroopilly (1900).
• P.J. Madden from Gympie moved into the area and discovered silver and lead deposits (1922).  The University of Queensland now uses the Finney’s Hill Silver Lead Mine for training purposes.

Finney’s Hill United Silver Mine, 1922.  Image No: 152987

• Stamford Picture Theatre, later becoming the El Dorado Cinema was established in 1926.

  Stamford Picture Theatre, 1926.  Image No: 17353

Some important buildings in the area include:

• Greylands, constructed in 1876 by Graham Lloyd Hart, a prominent lawyer.  Hart  purchased 43 acres in the area and built a residence which he called Greylands, living there until his death in 1897.  David Lahey, a timber merchant, lived in Greylands from 1910-12 and it was here that his daughter, Vida Lahey, painted the Monday morning laundry scene that is held by the Queensland Art Gallery.

 Greylands, ca. 1932.  Image No: 17920

• Walter Taylor Bridge – spans the river from Indooroopilly to Chelmer and was opened in 1936.  It operated as a toll bridge until 1966.  (Walter Taylor was a designer and constructional engineer who was prominent in the 1930s and was a strong promoter of the construction of the Indooroopilly toll bridge).
• Albert Bridge – This railway bridge was constructed in 1876 but was destroyed by floodwaters in 1893.  It was subsequently replaced.

  Albert Railway Bridge, ca. 1911.  Image No: 194777

• Brigidine College opened in 1929 as a Catholic girls secondary college operated by the Sisters of St. Brigid.
• Nudgee Junior College, opened in 1938 to alleviate a boarding accommodation shortage at Nudgee College.  The college was taken over by the US army during the Second World War as a military hospital.
• Indooroopilly Island is home to a large colony of flying foxes.
• The residence now known as Ross Roy was built for tea merchant Daniel Collings (1897).  The residence is located at the Hart’s Road entrance to St. Peter’s Lutheran College.  It was purchased from the Collings family in 1910 by pastoralist William Ross Munro who renamed it Ross Roy – Ross from his own name and Roy, the name of his eldest son. 

Dining room at Ross Roy, 1922.  Image No: 167175

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

• 1875 (14 June) – The Brisbane to Ipswich train service began.  Indooroopilly Station was originally called Witton Station.
• 1889 ( July 8) – Indooroopilly State School was opened.
• 1893  - the area suffered a major set back as a result of the Brisbane River floods.
• 1928 – an Indooroopilly to Taringa bus service was in operation (Burnt Brothers).
• 1945 - St Peter’s Lutheran College is opened.
• 1954 – Indooroopilly State High School was opened.
• 1970 (October) – the Westfield Indooroopilly Shopping Town was opened.

Some early housing estates in the area include:

• Witton Township Estate situated adjacent to Witton Creek and comprising land surrounding Witton Manor (1880).
• Indooroopilly Bridge Estate (1880s). Wharf Street indicates the location of the ferry/punt that traversed the Brisbane river.
• Greylands Estate (1918) comprising 92 allotments.

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

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A new digital story about Souths Rugby League Club, titled The Ground I Walk On is now available on Queensland Stories.

In this digital story, celebrating 100 years of the Souths Rugby League Club, past members, officials and players talk about how Souths played a major part in their lives and the community of West End. They discuss the history of the club and the future of Souths’ homeground, Davies Park.

 Jim McClelland, Chief Executive of Souths’ Logan Magpies Rugby League Club surveys the ground

Link to entry on Queensland Stories: http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/servlet/LogicRouter?PAGE=object&OUTPUTXSL=object_enc36ui.xslt&pm_RC=REPOMODS01&pm_OI=171&pm_GT=Y&pm_IAC=Y&api_1=GET_OBJECT_XML&num_result=0

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Did you know that the first published novel set in Brisbane was the futuristic tale, The Curse and Its Cure by Dr Thomas Pennington Lucas?

This two volume set was published in Brisbane in 1894. In the first volume, The Ruins of Brisbane in the Year 2000, the story begins with the narrator, an Australian, sailing up the Brisbane River in his motorised yacht, sometime after the year 2000. The Brisbane he sees is overgrown with rampant vines and foliage and is the home to many species of birds and wild animals – including tigers! On the way, he links up with an American couple, Mr and Mrs West, and shares with them his knowledge of Brisbane history and the circumstances that led to its ruin. The reader learns of local catastrophes that occurred prior to the Year 2000, including:

• a civil war between Queensland and the southern colonies. The place of battle was Fort Lytton. The southern colonies – ably led by the experienced General Churchill – crushed Queensland. Afterwards a Colonial Convention was held, resulting in the formation of the United States of Australia;
• the massacre of all but a few of Australia’s Aboriginal people.

 The ‘curse’ in the title of the book refers to selfishness and greed, and Brisbane’s downfall is attributed to this curse. Politicians, pastoralists and the citizens of Brisbane were all guilty of succumbing to greedy, self-centred lifestyles.

The cure to this curse is love, and in the second volume, Brisbane Rebuilt in the Year 2200, the reader learns how the city is rebuilt and transformed into a Christian utopia of peace, prosperity and good health.

Good health was an ongoing concern of this author, because as well as writing prose and poetry, Dr Lucas was also a medical practitioner and scientist. He published a range of medical articles and books, many of them held in the John Oxley Library’s collection.

Dr Lucas was particularly interested in the tropical fruit, the pawpaw or papaya. He owned a sixteen hectare farm at Acacia Ridge where he grew them and conducted experiments into their remedial properties. During the course of his experimentation, Dr Lucas developed a special ointment, which he called Lucas’ Papaw Ointment. It is still produced today by the family business at Acacia Ridge.

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As in past years, the State Library of Queensland is again calling for nominations for its three prestigious awards - the John Oxley Library Award, the Library Board of Queensland Award and the John Oxley Library Fellowship valued at $20,000.

Full details of these important awards, including information about past recipients can be found by following this link:

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/about/ppp/lb-award

Nominations opened Monday 26 January 2009 and close at 5pm, Friday 20 March 2009.
More information
• Telephone: +61 7 3842 9847
• Fax: +61 7 3846 1535
• Email: kate.hall@slq.qld.gov.au

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On Australia Day, the State Library of Queensland became the 19th cultural institution to join The Commons on Flickr; some of the other participating institutions include the Library of Congress, the State Library of New South Wales and the National Galleries of Scotland. This exciting project encourages the Flickr community to help describe the photographs, either by adding tags or leaving comments.

The key goals of The Commons on Flickr are firstly to show some of the hidden treasures in the world’s public photography archives, and secondly to show how public input and knowledge can help make these collections even richer.

                                                                             
Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, 1928. Image No: 68926                    Diving for pearls, ca. 1948. Image No: 17435

The first 150 State Library images uploaded to The Commons show a glimpse of Queensland life through the themes of early Australian aviation, the Queensland house, famous visitors to Queensland, sport and recreation and more. The images, all from the John Oxley Library collection, will continue to be added on a regular basis. If you know something about the images or you just like them, you are invited to add tags or leave comments.

If you are interested in tracking the progress of the State Library’s Flickr Commons content – please add us to your Flickr contacts (if you are already a Flickr member) or sign up to Flickr (it only takes a few minutes) and subscribe to new uploads via RSS feeds.

                                         
Sandgate, 1900-1910. Image No: 99205         Riding to school, Glass House Mountains, 1928. Image No: 22973

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