On Saturday the 6th July 1912, Brisbane had its first aeroplane flight. The pilot was Mr A. B. (Wizard) Stone the American daredevil who was barnstorming around Australia. According to the report in the Brisbane Courier on July 8 of that year, the event was one “of scientific and historic interest, a chapter in Queensland’s share of the romance of the conquest of the air”. To witness this historic event 8,000 spectators gathered at the main oval at the Brisbane Exhibition grounds.

Image number 65111

Visitors could pay an extra shilling to inspect the Metz Bleriot monoplane, a structure 28 feet from wingtip to wingtip and a length of 25 feet. It had a 50 h.p engine, 7 cylinders and its propellers were said to reach up to a speed of 1200 revs per minute. The plane weighed 156 pounds on the ground. Up in the air, with the passenger and fuel the aircraft reached a weight of up to 9cwt.

Crash of the bleriot. Image number 60453

Lady MacGregor, the Governor’s wife, and lieutenant Governor Sir Arthur Morgan were two of the eminent citizens there to witness the first flight. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, with clear skies and a light breeze the bird-like machine was guided out of the tent on the oval. After warming up, the monoplane was sent soaring 200 ft into the air. Stone flew the plane 3 times around the exhibition grounds amid great cheers from the crowd, and with each turn increasing altitude until he reached 400 feet.

After successfully flying for ten minutes he began his landing in a very steep decent with alarming consequences. The machine hit the ground sharply and one of the four wheels fell off and in a flash the monoplane did a somersault and crashed into the ground, smashing in half.

To the amazement of the crowd, the pilot made a miraculous exit from the wreckage and except for a few cuts and bruises was uninjured. Stone declared the oval unsuitable for flying being “practically a well from which it was difficult to rise and into which it was still more hazardous to descend”. The crowd surged onto the oval to view the pilot and his broken plane.

Stone was daring and adventurous and lucky to survive some of his many flying “mishaps”. Despite this, the “Wizard” was well respected and admired by many including Bert Hinkler whom he met at a travelling show in Bundaberg in 1912. Hinkler became his apprentice and mechanic and whilst with Stone, grasped every available minute to study the principles of flight and technical information he would later put into practice.

To find information on the history of flight, search our collection using the terms aviation, aviators, aeronautics, air pilots and flight.

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Did you know that the site of Brisbane’s proposed new Supreme and District Court complex was the location of our city’s first water supply?  The site, bounded by George, Roma and Turbot streets, was the location of the Roma Street Reservoir which was constructed by convicts in 1838 to create a water source for the new colony.  Convicts, under the direction of Captain Logan, built an earth dam across the creek between Roma and Little Roma Streets.  A pipline made of hollow hardwood logs carried the water down the hill to the soldiers’ barracks near Queen and George Streets, and from there to the commandant’s house in Queens Gardens.  The engravings below from 1865 show the reservoir in the bottom image in the right foreground.

  View of Brisbane, 1865.  Image No: 19422

In 1842 Brisbane was opened to free settlement and as the population grew added pressure was put on the reservoir.  Many complaints about the putrid quality of the water appeared in the pages of the Moreton Bay Courier including the following:

“We need only point to the neglected condition of the public reservoir at North Brisbane, upon which that section of the town is chiefly dependant for its supply, to prove the utter indifference hitherto displayed in this respect.  Constructed for the purpose of collecting and preserving the waters that drain from the hills in the vicinity; reserved from sale as a public property for the purpose, the reservoir is still abondoned to the destructive ravages of wanton neglect.  Its embankments are gradually being washed away, and the water that should be saved for a time of need is allowed to drain off whithersoever chance may guide it.  The basin is open alike to the uses of herds of cattle, of stray pigs, dogs and horses.”  (Moreton Bay Courier, 23/3/1850, p.2)

“Sir - I must crave space in the columns of your journal to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the present state of the Reservoir, and quality of the water we are compelled to drink.  It does not need any scientific knowledge to see at once the impurity of the water - full of animal and vegetable life, and thickened by the visits of cattle, horses, ducks, &c., stirring up the mud and giving it a body.”  (Moreton Bay Courier, 24/10/1857, p.2)

The Roma Street Reservoir remained the main source of water until 1866 when thankfully the Enoggera Reservoir was constructed.

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We’ve just finished installing the latest Treasures Wall exhibition on Level 4 – Meriba Gidhal: Torres Strait Island Treasures of the Margaret Lawrie Collection.  The install is the culmination of many months of preparation, and it is very satisfying to finally see all the collection and loan items up on display. 

 ”Amipuru” by Ephraim Bani, 1967.  Call No: TR 1791/349

Exhibition installation can be an exhausting few days – climbing in and out of the wall; carrying table-tops and fitting mounts;  getting artworks hanging in just the right spot; adjusting lights; stretching and bending and squeezing in to small spaces! But at the end of the day it is lovely to look back on what you’ve done and see the transformation of an empty space in to a colourful display.  It’s one of the highlights of our job.

For the Exhibitions Conservation team, the preparation of items for Meriba Gidhal has primarily involved mounting and framing the watercolour paintings and pencil drawings, and preparing the loan items for mounts. For every item there are photographs taken and condition reports written, mount assessments done and light levels established. Behind the scenes has been a flurry of activity. We breathe a sigh of relief that everything has been safely installed, and we now begin work on the next one!

 Watercolour by Kala Waia.  Call No: TR 1791/345

 The exhibition opens tonight and will be on display until February 28, 2010.  Enjoy!

 Rhiannon Walker - Exhibitions Conservator

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The new Kurilpa Bridge, linking Kurilpa Point in South Brisbane to Tank Street in the Brisbane CBD, was officially opened on Sunday 4th October by the Queensland Premier Anna Bligh. The name of the bridge comes from an Indigenous name for West End.

The $63.3 million Kurilpa Bridge, designed and constructed by Baulderstone Pty Ltd., is the world’s largest tensegrity pedestrian and cycle bridge which balances tension and compression components to produce a light but incredibly strong structure.

The cables and flying struts are designed to resemble the ropes and spars of sailing ships and boats. There are two large viewing and relaxation platforms, two rest areas, and a continuous all-weather canopy along the entire length of the bridge.

The bridge completes a pedestrian and cycle loop between the city and South Bank via the Goodwill Bridge and serves as a link between the cultural precinct and the Brisbane CBD.

State Library has a large collection of photographs of bridges, including bridge openings.

  Official opening of the Indooroopilly Toll Bridge, 1932. Image No: 181335

  Crowds of people gathered for the opening of the William Jolly Bridge, 1932. Image No: 34276

The Kurilpa Bridge is the most recent of the Brisbane bridges. Why not check out our photographs of other Brisbane bridges on slideshare or The Commons on Flickr.     
 

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Last Friday evening, State Library was first to screen the Common Ground 2009 slideshow. The slideshow contained over 400 images from cultural organisations which have images in The Commons on Flickr and was curated (chosen) by Flickr members.

Common Ground event, Queensland Terrace

Greg Poppleton (Sydney Educational Radio’s Phantom Dancer) mixed some amazing tunes to accompany the historic images on the slideshow.

“The images are amazing. There are happy, sad, funny and cute images and also ones that make you think and ones that are unexpected. Some show ordinary people doing ordinary things, while others are extraordinary and make you gasp. They demonstrate not only the differences between the collections from which they are drawn, but also the things that are the same, the common ground” (Liz Holcombe, Australian War Memorial).

This event was also hosted, around the globe, by other members of The Commons.

In Australia, The Powerhouse Museum and the State Library of New South Wales joined forces in Sydney and the Australian War Memorial in Canberra also participated.

In the Northern Hemisphere, George Eastman House, State Library and Archives of Florida, Oregon State University Archives, Brooklyn Museum together with the New York Public Library and the Swedish National Heritage Board all hosted events at various times over the weekend.

If you missed the event, you can still see the images in this slideshow on Flickr Commons and read the Common Ground wrap-up on the indicommons blog.

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A two hour presentation on Irish records filled the State Library’s auditorium 2 to capacity this morning, proving once again that there are more than a few sons and daughters of Erin in our midst with a passion for tracing their family history.

Senior Family History Librarian Stephanie Ryan covered the range of materials available to researchers including maps, directories, county records, books, indexes, reports and online resources such as Ask about Ireland.

Interesting insights into the historical context of Irish immigration to Australia were provided and key documents were considered such as Griffith’s valuation of Ireland 1848-1864 and reports on the potato famine of the 1840s, including the Devon Commission: Report from Her majesty’s Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of the Law and Practice in respect of the Occupation of Land in Ireland: with minutes of evidence, supplements, appndices and index, 1845.

The State Library’s Family History Unit has a guide titled Resources for Irish history: a select list available onsite and a range of other useful information guides available via the State Library of Queensland’s website.

Thanks to Stephanie for her entertaining, informative talk and to all who attended.

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  Attendees from the John Oxley Library. From left Elisabeth Faaoso, Janette Whitehead, Dr Leanne Day, Dr Judith Mckay(JOL Fellow) and Dianne Byrne.

Following on from my colleague Leanne Day’s comments posted on the John Oxley Library Blog on 8 September I would like to offer some more observations about the wonderful two-day conference organised by the Professional Historian’s Association titled  Journeys through Queensland’s history: landscape, place and society held in Brisbane, on 3-4 September 2009.

It was difficult to choose a paper to highlight as all were pertinent to my role as a service provider engaged in helping clients access our John Oxley Library Queensland history resources. The conference was one of the best I have ever attended and I found the enthusiasm and knowledge of all the speakers to be exceptional with each providing a fascinating insight into Queensland’s history. I will restrict my comments to the paper presented by Dr Brian Sinclair:

Tracking heritage and guaging the significance: assessing heritage significance of the Etheridge Railway

Dr Sinclair spoke about the Etheridge Railway which was constructed from Almaden to Charleston (Forsayth) between 1907 and 1910 as a private railway. It was managed and later purchased by the Queensland Government. The line was constucted cheaply as a branch of the Chillagoe Railway to supply the Chillagoe Company’s underutilised smelters with copper ore.

Although the railway’s mining use was short lived its value to communities and pastoralists in the Etheridge district persuaded the government to maintain the line.

Today the Savannahlander, a tourist railmotor, is the only commercial traffic on the Etheridge Railway. It travels westwards from Cairns to Almaden before leaving the Chillagoe Railway and heading south on the Etheridge line.

In August 2008 Dr Brian Sinclair of the Cultural Heritage Branch of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) journeyed aboard the Savannahlander as part of the process of assessing the Etheridge Railway for inclusion in the Queensland Heritage Register.

  Derailed locomotive on the Chillagoe to Forsayth railway. Negative No: 31994

In the John Oxley Library we have a lot of materials documenting the history of railways in Queensland. From John Kerr’s classic text Triumph of the Narrow Gauge to a range of books, pamphlets, ephemera and photographs.

Dr Sinclair’s paper has furthered my knowledge in this area and I thank him and all the other presenters for their fabulous insights into aspects of Queensland’s unique history.

Janette Whitehead

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The drowning of two sailors from a capsized boat competing in an ad hoc event on 11 November 1911 near the mouth of the Brisbane River initiated community action and a public meeting. The Sandgate Yacht Club was formed to formalise sailing on Bramble Bay. Sandgate Yacht Club, founded on the 14th February 1912 is the oldest established boating club in Sandgate and one of the oldest sailing clubs in Queensland. The club is located at Allpass Parade in Shorncliffe, on the northern banks of Cabbage Tree Creek. Regular races occur every second Sunday during the season and consist of Flying Fifteens and 505’s. Races are typically held out the front of Nudgee Beach, just to the south of the Cabbage Tree Creek entrance.

  Sailing day at Sandgate.  Image No: 54060

  Sandgate Sailing Club, 1922.  Image No: 99633

  Cabbage Tree Creek, Sandgate, ca. 1925.  Image No: 196385

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The 10th International Congress on Medical Librarianship was held in Brisbane at the University of Queensland from 31 August - 4 September.

Conference delegates at the State Library

On Tuesday 1st September conference delegates from around the world toured the State Library of Queensland and viewed a display of medical related collection items from the John Oxley Library.

This collection comprises interesting material on the subject, including photographs under various catagories such as “Health in Queensland” or “Brisbane - Hospitals”, or “Dentistry” as well as an array of books, journals, posters and boxes of Health Department ephemera.

 Sister Kenny demonstrates her methods. Image no. 54002

Of particular interest to the delegates were archival collections such as the personal papers of the first woman to study medicine in Queensland, Dr Eleanor Bourne and original documents and reports relating to the work of Sister Elizabeth Kenny and her controversial methods for curing polio.

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The John Oxley Library collection includes an extensive range of material relating to immigration and ships, particularly 19th century immigration vessels associated with the history of Queensland.

The collection consists of photographs, newspaper cuttings, published histories, shipboard newspapers, immigration records and original shipboard diaries. Original materials are listed on the State Library’s Manuscripts Queensland catalogue at: ww.slq.qld.gov.au/coll/qhist/manq/manqfind.

Try typing “William Smith” into Manuscripts Queensland and see an example of one of these diaries that has been fully digitised from an 1864 voyage to Australia on the ship “Young Australia”.

 William Smith Diary 1864  The Young Australia

You can also type the words “Young Australia” into our Onesearch catalogue to discover photographs of the ship and published accounts of this particular voyage: http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=SLQ&reset_config=true

On Friday 7 August a seminar including speakers from the Queensland State Archives and the State Library of Queensland’s Reference Library and John Oxley Library was held in auditorium 1 at the State Library of Queensland.

 Stephanie Ryan, Senior Family History Librarian.

Senior Family History Librarian Stephanie Ryan provided an excellent overview of the resources held in the State Reference Library and focused on why people decided to start a new life in Australia and what it was like on the voyage out. Information Guides such as Immigration and Shipping: getting started and Immigration and Shipping: more than lists are available on the State Library’s website at:  http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/about/pub/info_guides/collections/fh#3.10

 Simon Farley, John Oxley Library.

Simon Farley highlighted the rich array of resources held in the John Oxley Library collection including original shipboard journals, shipping registers, and hundreds of photographs of ships and immigrants. The audience were interested to hear excerpts from a number of these original diaries.

 Louise Howard, Queensland State Archives.

Louise Howard from the Queensland State Archives concentrated on the fascinating public records held at QSA including immigrant’s files, photographs of new arrivals while at the immigration depot, and letters to government authorities relating to conditions on board ship during voyages to Queensland. The State Archives have a Brief Guide on this topic at: http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/downloads/BriefGuides/BG16Immigration.pdf.

Many thanks to the presenters and all who attended this interesting seminar.

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