A small group of Heritage Collections staff attended a special tour of the University of Queensland Art Museum’s Exhibition Triumph in the Tropics, on May the 18th. The personal tour was conducted by the curators, Professor Peter Spearritt and Dr Marion Stell.  The State Library lent a large number of items, so it was a great opportunity to see so many on display.

 Professor Spearitt and Dr Stell with John Oxley Library staff members

The Exhibition contains a wonderfully eclectic collection of posters, books, pamphlets, multi media footage, magazines and iconic souvenirs, such as tea towels, cups, ash trays, stickers, plates and jewellery – all representing the selling of Queensland.  

Out thanks to Professor Spearritt and Dr Stell for taking us through the Exhibition and for providing a delicious morning tea after our private viewing.

Share/Save

Continuing our series on the history of the John Oxley Library, in this, our 75th year. 

The first tangible State Government support came in 1933, with provision being made for housing the collection in the Public Library of Queensland’s building in William Street, Brisbane.  In that year the first Advisory Committee was appointed by the Trustees and comprised Mr. G.W. Watson (Under Secretary to the Chief Secretary), Professor H.S. Alcock, Professor J.J. Stable, Hon. W.A. MacNaughton, Miss N. McIver (University Librarian), Mr. W.H. Brown (Public Librarian), Mr. Firmin McKinnon (Associate Editor of The Courier Mail), Mr. R.K. Wetherell, Mr. J.H. Hornibrook and Mr. A. W. Jose.  Mr. H.J.J. Sparkes was appointed the Library’s first secretary and honorary librarian.

  J.H. Hornibrook.  Image No: 173637

At the time of opening to the public, on 5 April 1934, the collection comprised approximately 6,000 books and documents.  Careful collecting continued with early notable successes including the J.H. Hornibrook collection of published Queensland verse and the Forrest Collection of Australiana, comprising some 7,000 items.  This collection included many  treasures including a complete set of John Gould’s Birds of Australia.

  Regent Bird, “Birds of Australia”, John Gould, Vol. 4.

Part Five of the history of the John Oxley Library will be posted next month.

Share/Save

On 16 May the State Library of Queensland hosted celebrations for the 2^nd International Day for Sharing Life Stories.

Professor Brad Haseman speaks to digital story tellers at the State Library of Queensland’s Talking Circle

The event also marked the launch of Story Circle: Digital Storytelling Around the World, a book by local authors John Hartley and Kelly McWilliam.   The book was launched by State Librarian Lea Giles-Peters. Queensland University of Technology academics Professor Brad Haseman and Professor John Hartley talked to a crowd of the digital storytelling community about the power and potential of telling stories using new technologies. 

For more information on State Library’s digital storytelling program, visit the Queensland Stories website or subscribe to the Queensland Stories discussion list.

Share/Save

As part of the on-going white gloves tour of regional Queensland, John Oxley Library staff members visited Sarina. Taking a range of treasures from the John Oxley Library’s collections, relating to Queensland in general, as well as the Mackay area, they were able to provide participants with a close-up and personal interaction with the items.

Brian Randall of the John Oxley Library (centre) with participants at the Sarina presentation

Participants viewing material

The presentation and viewing of the material was held in the Sarina Library and was attended by a number of residents interested in the history of the area. There was lively discussion about the material and the feedback on the importance of touring historical material in this way was very positive.

Please return to this blog for a report on the visit to Mirani as part of the same tour.

Share/Save

As part of the White Gloves tour of original historical items to Mackay we were fortunate to have well known and respected local historian Berenice Wright speak at the two presentations held at the Mackay City Library.

The Mackay City Library had generously made available for viewing, alongside the rare items from the John Oxley Library, two early photograph albums from its collection.

Mackay local historian Berenice Wright

Mrs Wright was able to speak about these two early items, placing them in the context of Mackay’s history and development, which was of great interest to all present.

Mrs Wright has a long standing interest in and knowledge of Queensland’s history and in particular the history of Mackay and region.  In addition to her work in the Mackay historical community she has provided the John Oxley Library with a wealth of information about its Mackay related material.

Thank you to Berenice for her involvement in these White Gloves Tour presentations.

Participant viewing Mackay City Library’s Marten Family photograph album

Share/Save

On Saturday 16 May the State Library of Queensland participated in the 2nd Brisbane Heritage Expo at City Hall.

State Library’s Senior Family History Librarian Stephanie Ryan speaking with Expo visitors.

Librarians Trudy Bennett (Heritage Collections) and Stephanie Ryan (Reference Services) within the State Library of Queensland’s display.

With over 50 stalls showcasing various heritage groups and organisations across Brisbane the event was a marvellous occasion for meeting up with friends and colleagues in the historical community and talking with interested members of the public about the treasures contained in the State Library’s Reference and Heritage Collections.

Many thanks to the Museum of Brisbane for organising and hosting the event. This was a terrific oppportunity to take in the displays of organisations dedicated to preserving our cultural heritage.

Share/Save

John Oxley Library staff members visited Mackay and the surrounding area over the past week.  This was the second White Gloves Tour of a series of planned tours of regional Queensland, as part of John Oxley Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations.

As with the first tour, to Townsville and Charters Towers, a range of collection treasures was toured.  Presentations were held at the Mackay City Library, Sarina Library, Mirani Library and the Gordon White Library, with participants having the opportunity to closely view the historical items on display.

Participants viewing material at Mackay City Library

One of the most significant original items being toured was a letter from the Queensland Governor, Sir George Bowen, written in July 1863 to the Surveyor-General A.C. Gregory, instructing him that the name of the town that has developed on the Pioneer River was to be called Mackay.  This important document could arguably be called Mackay’s birth certificate.

There was great media coverage with five separate interviews given to the various local media outlets.

Over the coming days, we will give details of each of the tour events as well as the donation of a significant item for our collection by the Mackay Museum.

John Oxley Library treasures on display at Gordon White Library, Mackay

Share/Save

The recent Queensland state election saw John Oxley Library Published Materials staff busily sourcing, collecting and organising printed and other material related to the election.  Items collected from around the state include how to vote cards, stickers, flyers and badges from political parties, independents, candidates and lobby groups.  In addition to these physical items, a number of websites have also been collected – copied from the internet around the time of the election.  These websites have been preserved in the PANDORA, Australia’s web archive.

         Librarian Maxine Fisher working on the political ephemera

Examples of websites captured so far for the 2009 Queensland State election campaign collection include those of the Queensland Greens, Lawrence Springborg – leader of the new Liberal National Party, Pauline Hanson – independent

candidate in the Beaudesert electorate, and Premier Anna Bligh’s official twitter page.  The capture of such sites gives us important insights into the issues, policies and debates of the election.  A party or candidate’s web presence can contain information about and images of candidates, how to vote cards, and often videos and electoral advertisements.  The archived versions of sites such as Anna Bligh’s twitter page will remain as an example and an indication to future researchers how politicians at this point in time were adopting web social networking utilities in an attempt to appeal to their audience and communicate, interact and share information with the public and potential voters in new ways.

While library staff are assisted in building our print collections by legal deposit provisions under the Libraries Act 1988 which requires that publishers deposit printed and other physical format material with the John Oxley Library, no such legislation exists giving us free reign to copy and display websites in the archive.  As such, written copyright permissions are obtained from website owners before sites are copied or gathered.  Once a site is gathered, this copy must be compared to the original and any technical problems in the gathered version resolved, so as to retain the look and feel of the original live site.  This can be a time consuming but important exercise, and when the quality assurance process in complete, the

archived version is then made available in PANDORA.

Significant challenges are involved in web archiving: obtaining written copyright permissions, solving technical difficulties, and dealing with the growing and ever evolving web.  Live websites can contain features and coding which can be fiddly, difficult, and sometimes impossible to replicate in the archived environment.  Adding to these challenges is the fleeting

nature of the web, especially around election time, where sites can quickly change or disappear after their purpose has passed.  For example, Anna Bligh’s original Keep Queensland Strong http://www.anna4qld.com.au/ site, captured by State Library on 20th March just prior to the election, is now no longer available on the live internet.  At the time of writing, the url http://www.anna4qld.com.au/ does operate, but links readers to the Premier’s official current government site.  The original Anna Bligh Keep Queensland Strong election site is however, captured for posterity in PANDORA.  You can view it online in the PANDORA archive at http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-95281

Complementing our print collections, State Library’s ongoing commitment to identifying and capturing significant Queensland websites in PANDORA means that an important part of our state’s documentary and web heritage is available now and for future generations of researchers.

Share/Save

Our Heritage Collections reference service throws up many interesting stories from our history.  Here is one that we researched recently.

In 1893 it was Henry Plantagenet Somerset of Caboonbah Homestead who observed a fifty foot wall of flood water strike the 120 foot cliff at Caboonbah. As many as five cyclones that had crossed the coast near Noosa and had brought drenching rain to the Brisbane and Stanley River watersheds. It was when the waters broke over Sapphire Gully that Somerset decided to dispatch two men, one to Esk, the other to Petrie. Harry Winwood was dispatched to Esk with a telegram for the Post Master General - this telegram was never sent, its contents warning of the highest flood on record. H. P. Somerset rowed stockman Billy Mateer with two horses swimming behind the boat to high land adjoining the stock route at Reedy Creek, from here he made his way to North Petrie. Billy was able to get through to the telegraph and relay the telegram message to Brisbane.

“Prepare at once for flood. River here within 10ft of 1890 flood, and rising fast, still raining”. Subsequently Caboonbah was made an official flood warning station with a telegraph line from Cressbrook.

One wonders how many lives were saved as a result.

  Flood waters on Albion St., Warwick, 1893.  Image No: 199833

Engraving of Vernor Family rescued near Fernvale, 1893.  No: 121166

Eagle Street, Brisbane, 1893.  Image No: API-033-01-0005

Share/Save

It is hoped to include the history of the Brisbane suburb of Stones Corner in a future episode of Channel Seven’s Great South East program. Here is an overview of the suburb’s development:

In 1875, James Stone purchased land on the corner of the present day Logan and Old Cleveland Roads from Frederika Klumpp.  In due course, James Stones operated a ginger beer shop from the site.  Over time, the area became known as Stones Corner.

The Stone family had arrived in the colony in August 1857 on board the ship Mary Pleasants, with James being one of the family’s children.

Before the arrival of James Stones the area was known as Burnett’s Swamp.  Stones Corner is now gazetted as a locality within the suburb of Coorparoo.

Some early residents, settlers and businesses include:

• Henry Opperman purchased land in the Stones Corner area in 1857, paying £59.  Opperman eventually sold his land to Frederika Klumpp who, in turn, sold the land to James Stone.
• John Montegue Black.  Montegue Street is named in honour of this early settler.
• Dennis O’Connor.
• H. Narnst, Cash Butcher (1906).
• Watson & Son, butcher (1911), J.F. Rogers butcher (J.F. Rogers later became the owner of the Alhambra Theatre).

Alhambra Theatre, 1949.  Image No: 146464

• Stewarts Department Store established in 1914.

During the 1950s a number of businesses were estblished, including:

• Charles Henderson Motor Repair Shop.
• Johnston’s Store (crockery, hardware, kitchenware, paint).
• Regency Home Furnishers.
• Beard’s Shoes.
• Scientific Hobby Shop Pty Ltd.
• Drouyn’s Music Store.
• Tacey’s Drapers.
• Gardiners Millinery.
• Holt’s Electrical Store.
• Finlayson’s Menswear.
• Handasydes (Holden).

Stones Corner shops, 1956.  Image No: 193003

As the area was progressively developed for residential housing, a number of individual land subdivisions were undertaken, including:

• Baynes Estate comprising 470 allotments (1880s).
• Tram Terminus Estate, between Old Cleveland Road and Norman Creek (1885).
• Knowsley Estate (1887).
• Logan Road Estate comprising 30 allotments (1889).
• Thompson Estate (1890).

Some of the local sites of interest include:

• Langlands House.  The land was originally purchased by Reuben Nicklin with Langlands House being constructed in 1876.  This property was eventually subdivided for housing (500 allotments).
• Langlands Park – named after Langlands House.  At the time the property was subdivided, part of the land was retained as a sporting reserve.  Originally it was to be the home of the Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club and was large enough for two cricket fields.  In due course the cricket club moved on and it is now home to East Tigers Rugby League.  The Easts Leagues Club was built in 1999.

Langlands Park.  Image No: 193241

• Stones Corner Hotel – This was originally called the Junction Hotel and was built by Dennis O’Connor (approximately 1890).
• Stones Corner Shopping Precinct – In recent years, Stones Corner has become known as a centre for direct factory outlets.  This has brought a lot of shoppers to the area, rejuvenating the suburb.

Some significant dates in Stones Corner’s history and development include:

• 1856 – Norman Creek was first crossed by a bridge.
• 1892 – Salvation Army Hall was constructed.
• 1893 (October 6) – Postal services were established at Mr. Maxwell’s shop.
• 1897 – Brisbane’s first electric tram ran from Logan Road, Woolloongabba to the southern end of Victoria Bridge on 21 June 1897.  This was extended to Stones Corner in January 1899.
• 1902 – Public concern was being expressed over larrikin gangs in Coorparoo, Stones Corner, Highgate Hill, Paddington, Spring Hill, Manly and Nundah.
• 1906 – August 10 – the first public telephone in Stones Corner was established in Reynold’s Store.

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

Share/Save