Category Archives: Exhibitions Back

The Music Box – part of Live! Queensland Band Culture

Posted on 17 May 2013| by Robyn Hamilton |

The Music Box

Promising something new and exciting every time you open it, The Music Box is a multi-faceted pop-up venue on State Library’s ground floor. Featuring performances, visual displays and audio treats, plus a chance to weave your own story into music history, drop in and see what’s on.

To kick off the Live! Queensland Band Culture exhibition, the Music Box has become a recording booth, and we would like to hear from you! An interactive video questionnaire asks you the following questions:

In what ways is music part of your life?
What was your most memorable live music experience in Queensland and why?
What is your favourite Queensland band?

Whether you have played in a band or followed a band, your memories are important. Whether you have marched and played for Anzac Day, rocked out in your garage, moshed at a nightclub or jitterbugged your way around the dance floor, your stories will help us paint the picture of band culture in Queensland. Tell us about your favourite band moments – the time, the music, the venue. We would like to hear from you!

The Music Box

A program of upcoming events will be posted regularly on The Music Box and online.

: The recording booth

Robyn Hamilton – Queensland Music Coordinator, State Library of Queensland

Bunnies not welcome! The valuable work of Queensland’s Rabbit Boards

Posted on 02 Apr 2013| by Simon Miller |

Chocolate bunnies may be permitted but the real thing has been banned in Queensland since the 1880s. At that time a great plague of rabbits was spreading over the country causing widespread devastation. The plague seems to have originated with a dozen or so wild European grey rabbits released in Victoria in 1859 to provide sport for game-shooting and coursing on the estates of wealthy squatters. As the rabbit menace edged closer to Queensland the State Government was called upon to act. Mr E. J. Stevens, Member for Warrego, introduced a Bill to Prevent the Introduction of Rabbits into the Colony of Queensland in August 1880 and A Bill to Prohibit the Keeping of Rabbits in the Colony of Queensland and to Authorise their Destruction was introduced in July 1885. The government also proposed to build a fence to keep the rabbits from crossing into Queensland from South Australia and New South Wales. This proposal did not meet with universal acclaim, however, work began on the fence in 1886.

Stevensons wire fence. State Library of Queensland. Negative number: 185963

Stevensons wire fence, cartoon from 1884

In 1891 the Rabbits Board Act established a number of boards charged with building and maintaining rabbit proof fences. Rabbit Boards were established in Warrego, Maranoa, Mitchell, Gregory North and Leichhardt in 1892 and the Darling Downs Rabbit Board was split off from the Maranoa Board in 1893. The library holds several publications on the work of the Rabbit Boards. The Maranoa Rabbit Board : a synopsis of its work from April, 1892, to June, 1897 by C. L. Morgan covers the early history of the Maranoa Board and Keeping rabbbits out : Darling Downs-Moreton Rabbit Board by Rae Pennycuick is a comprehensive history of the Darling Downs and Moreton Boards, which were combined in 1964. C. L. Morgan, Clerk of the Maranoa Rabbit Board also published The rabbit question in Queensland in 1898.

The rabbit question quotes a report from the Brisbane Courier describing the road from Broken Hill to Wilcannia to illustrate the need for action against the rabbit invasion.

Emptiness, loneliness, and desolation characterise this plain country. It is a manless land, and the tread of the rabbit has beaten the life out of it … the bleached bones of sheep are strewn along the road, marking the track of gaunt famine, and at every few yards there are deserted rabbit warrens. Bunny has eaten himself out of this land, but his tracks are painfully clear. Of herbage there is none; the salt bush has been eaten bare of leaves, and the sharp sunlight makes the clumps of dry sticks look quite grisly. The trees have been stripped of their bark, and they have withered and gradually died like one possessed of leprosy. About twelve months ago this plain was abundantly covered with grass and foliage. Then came grasshoppers and rabbits. It was a fight for food, and there were three claimants — the sheep, the grasshoppers, and the rabbits. Dainty little bunny ate out the grasshoppers and the sheep, cleared out all the grass, the trees, and the edible bushes, and marched on.

Much of the history in Keeping rabbits out revolves around somewhat dry details of finances, methods of construction and availability of materials, however the foreword, written by Geoff Smith, the then Minister for Lands, points out a more interesting story that is contained within the dry account.

“… it recounts a remarkable commitment by numerous men and their families to ‘keeping rabbits out’ of south-east Queensland. It provides an insight into the dedication and persistence of individuals and families who devoted their working lives to the Rabbit Boards. In many cases, sons or brothers followed relatives into the employ of the Boards, maintaining family involvements that spanned three generations. For many people the control of rabbits was a way of life.”

Rabbit fence party at the Queensland and New South Wales Border. Scenic Rim Regional Council libraries. Image number: ba0881

Building the fences was only the beginning of the process. Boundary riders had to be employed to continuously inspect the fences and repair any damage. Cottages were provided for the boundary riders and their families but these were very primitive and isolated.

Boundary rider George H Stewart was appointed in April 1899 to patrol the Cameronian section along the Gerries Range. In 1900, when the Chairman, Mr F. A. Gore, thought that the cottages at Brigalow, Rocky Creek and Cameronian should have ceilings in the main rooms, the Board supplied timber for the men to erect their own ceilings. Stewart was the only boundary rider willing to try to put the ceiling up. The others felt the job was beyond them and did not want to spoil the cottages or the timber.

… By 1907, Mr Stewart found it almost impossible to make ends meet on the boundary rider’s wages which were still £75 per annum, the same as when he first entered the service of the Board eight years previously. He had seven children. The cost of food had increased and when there were sickness expenses, it was ‘…struggle and pinch to pay up’. … The board decided to give boundary riders an increase of £10 per annum in their wages as from 1 June 1907. Mr G. H. Stewart remained with the Darling Downs Rabbit Board, having given 44 years of faithful service when he resigned from the employ of the Board in 1943.

Loneliness was also a problem. One boundary rider wrote that he wanted to leave the work at once because he could not stand being alone. However, so that it would not put the inspector to any bother, he arranged for his brother to take the work until a permanent boundary rider was appointed. He asked the inspector to visit his fence to see that he had it all in order and free from suckers.

As well as these many all but anonymous boundary riders, the Rabbit Board story involves some of the most prominent citizens of the day. The first chairman of the Darling Downs Rabbit Board was Mr G. G. Cory who held the post for a few months until the first election of Board members and later held the position of Chairman from 1904 until 1917 when he sold his property. Gilbert Gostwyck Cory came to Toowoomba from New South Wales at the age of 19. He obtained work with the Hon. James Taylor and was soon managing his Cecil Plains property on the Condamine. He took up a half share of a property on the Thompson River with his brother Henry and later had his own property on Cecil Plains which he named Vacy Plains which he developed into one of the best properties in the district. Cory was on the committee of the Royal Agricultural Society for 37 years. He was a founding member of the Toowoomba Turf Club and served on the Jondaryan Shire Council for 36 years and was Mayor of Toowoomba in 1891.

Gilbert Gostwyck Cory 1891

The first elected Chairman of the Board was Mr Frank A. Gore, who served as Chairman from 1894 until his resignation due to ill health in 1903. Frank Gore’s Yandilla estate is described in some detail in an article in the Brisbane Courier of 1889. The correspondent was obviously much impressed the the sophistication of the set up.

Yandilla is quite a little township; the several houses for employees, the store, workshops, numerous sheds, and the little church being sufficiently numerous to form a street. In one large machinery shed I noticed a first class thrashing machine, reapers, mowers, and other agricultural implements. There is an engine-house, and in it a 6-horse engine, driven by an 8-horse Cochrane boiler, its duty being to saw wood, cut chaff, and crush corn. … The little private workshop of Mr. F. A. Gore is a model of neatness, and is replete with every possible tool from the most complicated of lathes to the latest shape of gimlet or bradawl. Near adjoining this is the photographic studio, and the many beautiful views I was shown of neighbouring scenery, &c., proved that Mr. Gore is as much at home with the camera as with the scroll-saw, turning lathe, or at the carpenter’s bench. … All the gates on Yandilla, whether big or little, are strengthened by a diagonal iron-rod stay extending from the top of the heel post to the foot of the front head. I challenged this design as faulty, because there was no diagonal wooden strut from the foot of the heel-post to the top of the head front, but Mr. Gore defied me to find a single gate on the estate that had sagged in the slightest, and I must confess I could not, although I closely scanned every one I came across.

Gore family at Yandilla 1884

The work of the Darling Downs – Moreton Rabbit Board continues to this day. Their website has been archived in Pandora.

The Board’s role is to maintain the fence in rabbit-proof condition and to monitor compliance with the Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002. The board provides technical and other advice to landholders in the board operational area to assist with rabbit eradication. The board area is made up of 8 local authorities, and covers approximately 28,000 square kilometres (7 million acres). The board currently employs 17 staff and maintains 8 houses along the fence for the patrolmen and their families. Although most of the patrols are now done by motor vehicle or all terrain vehicles, some patrols must still be done on foot, due to the rugged nature of the terrain.

Rabbit gate at Stanthorpe Christmas 1934

There is an opportunity to explore aspects of pastoral life on the Darling Downs in our exhibition Grass Dukes and Shepherd Kings in the Philip Bacon Gallery until the 21st of April.

Simon Miller – Library Technician, State Library of Queensland

Recreating the Brisbane Band of 1857

Posted on 12 Mar 2013| by Simon Miller |

BRISBANE BAND.

THE public are respectfully informed that the arrangements for giving regular performances have now been completed, and that the FIRST PERFORMANCE OF THE BRISBANE BAND will take place in the Botanic Gardens, on MONDAY AFTERNOON, at four o’clock, and terminate at six. The second performance will take place on SATURDAY AFTERNOON, at the same hour. The performances will be repeated every MONDAY and SATURDAY, from 4 to 6 o’clock.

In announcing their programme they hope to have the attendance of all who can make it convenient to attend.

The Instruments consist of a Clarinet, Cornet, Sextuba and Trombone.

PROGRAMME:

1. Grand March-Annie Laurie .. BOSSINI.

2. Aria from Romeo and Juliet…. BELLINI.

3. Carlslust Polka…. KESSLER.

4. Cavitina from Anna Pollena …. DONIZETTIE.

5. Faust Waltz…. D’ALBERT.

6. Cavitina from Attilla….VERDY.

7. Como Quadrille…. D’ALBERT.

8 Cavitina from Robert Diavolo .. MEYERBEER.

9. Victory Galop…..TINNY.

10. French and English Alliance National Air….H. RUSSEL.

11. God Save the Queen.

ADMISSION FREE.

ANDREW SEAL.

AUGUSTE SEAL.

F. CRAMER.

G. CRAMER.

September 19, 1857.

South Brisbane in the 1860's, with part of Botanic Gardens in foreground

To coincide with the opening of the State Library’s exhibition Live! Queensland band culture we were inspired to attempt to recreate this concert advertised in the Moreton Bay Courier in 1857. Before embarking on a library career, I was a musician in the Australian Army, and continue to play in bands and orchestras around Brisbane. I was approached to arrange the music for the concert and have taken on the project with great enthusiasm.

This concert was the first in a series organised by Mr. R.R. Mackenzie (later Sir Robert Mackenzie, first Colonial Treasurer of Queensland and later Premier). He had found a group of German professional musicians working in Sydney. Andrew Seal (born Andreas Siegel) and his older brother Auguste were born in Wiesbaden, the sons of a prominent bandmaster, who evidently trained them well. At the age of 14 Andrew Seal went to London where he obtained work in the orchestra of the Princess Theatre. Here he caught the attention of the great tragic actor G.V. Brooke who was planning a tour of Australia. Brooke persuaded Andrew Seal to accompany him along with his brother and the four Cramer brothers, also German musicians.

Robert Ramsay MacKenzie

Mackenzie engaged the Seal brothers and two of the Cramers to come to Brisbane for a series of concerts to be paid for by subscription. After the early success of the concerts Mackenzie induced the musicians to stay in Queensland and found work for them. Frederick (or Ferdinand) Cramer, the clarinet player, moved to Ipswich and took up work on the railways. He married and had nine children, as well as conducting the Ipswich Volunteer Band.

His brother Ernest was evidently a fine flute player, but all these musicians were versatile and played a number of instruments. Ernest seems to have eventually returned to Sydney. A notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of January 1913 gives us some information about him.

Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Cramer, of Park road, Camperdown, celebrate their golden wedding to-day. Mr. Cramer was formerly a bands-man aboard the London, during the Crimean War. He took part in the bombardment of Sevastopol, and met Florence Nightingale at Scutari.

Auguste Seal was the older Seal brother but deferred to his younger sibling’s leadership in the band. Auguste often played the double bass in orchestras around Brisbane when he wasn’t playing the trombone with his brother. He is described in one account as a very timid man although there is a court report from 1858 in which both the Seal brothers “were admonished and discharged for using threatening language.”

Andrew Seal was the leader of the group, played the cornet, and also arranged all of the music. He too was a versatile musician, playing violin and viola as well as the cornet and other brass instruments. He became a prominent figure in Brisbane’s musical scene, opening a music shop in Queen Street, teaching extensively, and forming and conducting bands, both military and civilian. Professor Seal, as he became universally known, could justifiably be called the father of band music in Queensland as described in his obituary in 1904.

Of Mr Seal it might have been truly said that he was the father of Queensland brass bands, for most of the local bandsmen have either received some of their training at his hands, or from pupils whom he has tutored. … A man of much talent and activity, the late bandmaster found time, besides performing his duties as conductor, to compose several pieces of music. He was of a generous nature, and he has been a favourite with those with whom he has been associated during his forty-five years in Queensland.

His funeral, described in the Brisbane Courier, was very well attended with many “prominent musicians of the city” being present. The funeral procession “was headed by the Police Band playing the” Dead March” in ” Saul.” During the procession to the Toowong Cemetery a massed band of musicians from the various civil and military bands played Beethoven’s ” Funeral March.”

Professor Seal 1890s. Royal Queensland Historical Society.

Professor Seal in the 1890s.

In reproducing the concert the first puzzle to be solved was in the instrumentation. The clarinet, cornet and trombone are clear enough and those instruments remain little changed since the mid-19^th century. The ‘sextuba’ was a mystery that was only partially resolved by realising that the name had been misspelled and should have been ‘saxtuba’.

The saxtubas were a whole family of instruments invented by that most creative instrument maker Adolf Sax. Sax was a Belgian instrument maker, living in Paris, whose inventive brain came up with the saxophone and the saxhorns, which in a more modern form make up the bulk of brass bands. Both of these instruments were made in families of seven or eight different sized instruments ranging from sopranino to contrabass. This was also the case with the saxtubas, an experimental design that never really took off.

Their design was based on the shape of ancient Roman instruments, the cornu and tuba. They had a curving shape with bells facing forwards over the players shoulder. Although Sax first came up with the design for the instruments in 1845 he doesn’t seem to have built any until 1852 when they first appeared in an opera ‘The Wandering Jew’ by Fromental Halevy. The opera was not a success and when it disappeared it seams that the saxtubas largely vanished as well. It is a mystery how an obscure instrument, first made only five years earlier for an opera in Paris, turned up in the hands of a German musician in Brisbane in 1857.

Saxtuba in E-flat

One practical difficulty for us is that there are only a very few saxtubas left in the world hidden away in various museums. Another difficulty is that there is no indication of which of the family of instruments, that were made in at least eight different sizes, was the one employed. My solution was to substitute an instrument that is known in England as the tenor horn and in Europe and America as the alto horn or Althorn. This is a member of the saxhorn family and its range, between that of the cornet and trombone, would balance the ensemble and match the position that it is listed in the advertisement. This also had the advantage that I could play the tenor horn part myself.

Having settled the instrumentation it was then necessary to find the music from the original program. We are fortunate that the Royal Queensland Historical Society is in possession of original part books hand written by Professor Seal for a larger ensemble of eight instruments dating from only a few years after this first concert and including the four operatic selections from the original concert. I was able to transcribe the parts into a full score in a music notation program and then, based on the score, arrange the music for the smaller group.

Professor Seal's part books

This left a variety of marches and dances to be located. The Faust waltz was discovered in a version for piano and the Como Quadrille was eventually found at the National Library in a version for cornet and piano. The Grand March Annie Laurie by ‘Bossini’ we were not able to find, but we did come across another Annie Laurie March for piano of the same period which I have arranged for the concert. The Victory Galop of Tinny was not found but I did discover a copy of the Overland Mail Galop by Charles D’Albert which featured in the second concert program of the Band performed on September 26^th 1857 which serves as a reasonable substitute. The Carlslust Polka by Kessler has proved elusive and I have substituted the Clarinet Polka which, although probably not composed as early as 1857, is a great favourite of German bands everywhere. God Save the Queen was not difficult to find but the French and English Alliance National Air is one that we have been able to discover nothing about.

Brass band outside the conservatory in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Queensland, ca. 1885

This photograph is one of the earliest we have of a band in Brisbane. The burly cornet player on the left, holding a conductor’s baton is certainly not Professor Seal who was a very small, dapper gentleman. Could the clarinet player, 3rd from the left be Frederick Cramer, who was described at the time of the first band concert as a muscular chap around six feet tall? What of those curling instruments on the right? Are they various sizes of saxtuba? There were a number of bands active in the 1880s including Professor Seal’s Young Australia Band, which gave performances in the Botanic Gardens, but we don’t know if this photo depicts them or another band.

Musicians of the recreated Brisbane Band 2013

The Brisbane Band 1857 recreation concert Brass on the Grass will take place at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens on Sunday 28th of April 2013 at 3:00 pm. The Brisbane Band 1857 performance will be followed by the Brisbane City Big Band which is a subgroup of the Brisbane City Concert Band, the oldest continuously established band in Brisbane. There will also be a preview concert as part of the State Library’s Tea and Music series on Tuesday 19th of March at 10:30 am at the State Library. This concert will feature music from the first concert together with information and anecdotes.

Simon Miller – Library Technician, State Library of Queensland

Anthony Alder painting to be shared with the world

Posted on 15 Nov 2012| by Myles Sinnamon |

Homeward Laddie (1895) by Anthony Alder. State Library of Queensland

One of the most interesting paintings in State Library’s collection is Homeward Laddie, located in the White Gloves Room, 4^th Floor. The painting depicts flocks of Marshall and Slade on Queensland’s Glengallan Station near Warwick. Artist Anthony Alder was originally from England and born into a family of taxidermists. Alder moved to Brisbane where he opened a commercial taxidermy business in 1875. He was also a bird painter of note. State Library has several of the bird paintings in the John Oxley Library collection.

Homeward Laddie is now being digitised for the upcoming Grass Dukes and Shepherd Kings Exhibition opening here in December, 2012. The painting was completed in August 1895 and exhibited at that year’s Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition in Brisbane, where it won first prize for the best “Original Oil Colour Painting”.

Librarian Dianne Byrne is the curator for the Grass Dukes and Shepherd Kings Exhibition that will celebrate Queensland’s pastoralists who transformed the landscape and the history of the state. The painting will be highlighted in the exhibition.

Catherine Cottle – Digital Collections Curator, State Library of Queensland

Tindale and Aboriginal Languages

Posted on 29 Oct 2012| by Des Crump |

The Transforming Tindale exhibition highlights some of the many stories behind photographs taken during Norman Tindale’s anthropological expedition of 1938-1940

Transforming Tindale exhibition, State Library of Queensland.

Tindale’s other major work involved the mapping and distribution of Aboriginal people and their languages – it was a lifetime project that commenced in the 1920′s and finally published in 1974 as Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits and proper names. This research was quite a monumental task as Tindale explored the idea that Aboriginal people did not wander aimlessly but had cultural and familial connections to areas of land and that each group had a ‘tribal boundary’.

Norman Tindale's 'Aboriginal Tribes of Australia' publication.

The full Tindale Collection is housed in the South Australian Museum and comprises journals, papers, sound and film recordings, drawings, maps, photographs, vocabularies and personal correspondence. The State Library of Queensland has obtained copies of the genealogical materials collected from the Queensland communities of Yarrabah, Cherbourg, Mona Mona, Palm Island, Woorabinda, Bentinck Island, Doomadgee and Mornington Island, as well as two northern New South Wales communities at Boggabilla and Woodenbong.

In my role and work with communities, there is great interest in the language materials that Tindale collected during his work as well as the language boundaries he compiled into two maps, both of which are held at the State Library: Map showing the distribution of the Aboriginal Tribes of Australia [RBM 804 1940 06250 E] published in1940 and a more comprehensive version Tribal Boundaries in Aboriginal Australia [MAPSL 804 1974 02500 E] published in 1974 and commonly referred to as the ‘Tindale Map’.

While much of this work is open to critical analysis and there are discrepancies in the boundaries, community language workers often refer to the Tindale Map as a good starting point when identifying the languages of a region and gaining an insight into what research has previously taken place.

An important piece of information for language research is the Community Sheet which highlights the family connections of individuals that Tindale interviewed; in addition, Tindale would note the location and language grouping of key individuals in the extended family trees. Tindale also had a habit of making notes regarding language and culture directly onto the Community Sheet – this information adds to the language revival process in a community.

Extract from Woorabinda Community Sheet No. 44

The image above is an extract from Tindale’s Woorabinda Sheet 44 which features several families from South-West Queensland, notably Taroom, Roma and Mitchell districts. The transcript reads as follows: ‘Ji:man [Yiman] tribe extends from Theodore and Camboon West of the Ranges as far as Taroom and Wandoan.’ This information provides an insight into the Yiman people at the time of contact; the Hornet Bank and Cullin-la-ringo massacres changed the cultural landscape of the region with very little language documented.

A preliminary language mapping exercise of the Tindale Woorabinda Sheets has identified 72 languages present at Woorabinda in 1938, when Tindale and Birdsell visited the community; a further 15-20 languages are not clearly identified within the documents. During the second World War, people from Hope Vale Community were sent to Woorabinda, bringing with them their languages of Far North Queensland, including Gugu Yimithirr which is still spoken at Woorabinda! This information supplements linguistic surveys undertaken during the 1950-60′s and allows researchers to build a comprehensive language profile of the community.

There is a current research project involving the University of Queensland and the Woorabinda community, including the Indigenous Knowledge Centre, which has a focus on ‘language mapping’. The State Library has provided support to the project and is looking forward to outcomes of this important work.

For further details on the Tindale Community Sheets, visit the State Library’s Tindale Genealogical Collection.

Des Crump – Indigenous Languages Researcher, State Library of Queensland

The legacy of Tindale

Posted on 12 Oct 2012| by Gavin Bannerman |

To complement the current exhibition Transforming Tindale, State Library hosted a symposium titled The Legacy of Tindale: Photography and the Politics of Anthropology and Native Title on 24 September 2012. Daniel Browning from ABC Radio National facilitated a full day of lively discussion and deep insights into Norman Tindale and the impact his anthropological work has had.

Transforming Tindale

Speakers from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines talked about their experiences. Vernon Ah Kee, Flo Watson and others talked about sourcing photographs of their family from the Tindale Collection. Professor Bruce Rigsby and Henrietta Marrie talked about their personal interactions with Tindale in-person, reflecting on his personality and examples of his fastidious nature. Exhibition curator Michael Aird elucidated the process behind putting together Transforming Tindale, an outcome of many years researching the Tindale Collection.

An audio recording of the entire symposium is now available online in three parts.

You can also learn more about Michael Aird and Vernon Ah Kee’s approach to the Transforming Tindale exhibition and the legacy of Tindale’s anthropological expeditions in this conversation with Louise Denoon, Executive Manager, Queensland Memory, State Library of Queensland.

Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame Induction Dinner 2012

Posted on 20 Aug 2012| by Simon Farley |

On Thursday 2 August I had the pleasure of attending the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame 2012 Induction Dinner at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

This was a wonderful event and a real pleasure to be a part of. The 2012 inductees are outstanding and the digital stories created to document their lives and achievements are very well done.

2012 Inductees

It was great to hear the Clare Hansson Trio playing. Coincidently we had just recently recorded a digital story with Clare and Tony Ashby, both legends of the Brisbane jazz scene, that will be incorporated into our Queensland Bands exhibition that will go on display at the Library from May to September 2013.

Over 800 guests attend QBLHF Induction Dinner 2012

If you would like to find out more about the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame and this year’s inductees please visit the QBLHF website. You can also experience the Hall of Fame in person in the State Library’s John Oxley Library Reading Room on level 4.

Simon Farley

Manager, Arts Portfolio – State Library of Queensland

Queensland’s Spanish castle

Posted on 26 Jul 2012| by Simon Miller |

With the Queensland Art Gallery’s exhibition Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado opening next door it seems like a good time to have a look at Queensland’s very own Spanish castle and the man whose vision and hard work brought it into being in the North Queensland rainforest.

'Paronella Park' castle at Mena Creek, Queensland, 1948

Jose Pedro Enrique Paronella was born in a small village in Catalonia in 1887. The youngest of six children, he had few prospects in the village and left school early to look for work, first at a nearby small town and then at Pamplona. Having saved some money Jose decided to take his chances in Australia, arriving in Sydney in 1913 at the age of 26. After staying in Sydney for only a few days Jose took a coastal steamer and headed for North Queensland where he had heard there was money to be made cutting sugar cane.

On arriving in Queensland Jose decided to try for work in the copper mines near Cloncurry. There was plenty of work but the blistering heat and poor living conditions led him to give it up after only four months and he returned to the coast. He found work with the cane cutting gangs. It was tough work and not without dangers. There were often accidents and there was risk of diseases. Jose stuck at it and saved his money. There were many Spanish and Italian immigrants working in the cane gangs. These men were hard working and ambitious. Many had come from large families who scratched out a living from small plots of land. They were used to working on the land, and the long hard hours of labour. They were used to high temperatures and soon acclimatised to Queensland conditions. Jose also proved to have a good head for business.

As soon as he was able he purchased his first plot of land. This was virgin rainforest thickly overgrown with vines which had to be cleared. Jose cleared the vines and cut the trees. The stumps were burned and then left to rot with the most stubborn eventually having to be blown up with dynamite. Eventually the land was cleared and cultivated and Jose had his first crop of sugar cane. Once his farm began to make money, Jose sold it and bought a better property. He improved and sold a dozen properties in the next few years and began to amass a considerable amount of money. He looked to diversify his investments, buying a tin mining lease, working himself as well as employing other labourers. He also lent money to other migrants looking to start their own farms.

In 1921 Jose was 34 years old and a wealthy man and applied for naturalisation and became an Australian citizen. He had a dream. When he was a small boy his grandmother had told him stories about castles, and when he worked in Pamplona he had seen several for himself. He wanted to build his own Spanish castle here in the Queensland rainforest. He would set it in lush gardens and open it up to visitors as a tourist attraction. First though, he must return to Spain. Many years ago, before he had left for Pamplona, he had been betrothed to a girl from his native village. It was time to go home and claim his bride.

There was one small hitch though. His betrothed had grown tired of waiting and had already married. Fortunately his former fiance had a younger sister and Jose married her instead. Margarita was not too sure at first, but Jose was rich and successful and also very handsome. Jose made good use of his honeymoon, touring Europe and studying buildings and gardens, tourist parks and cinemas, ballrooms and cafes. Then he took his new wife back to Queensland.

Mena Creek Falls at Paronella Park near Innisfail, 1955

Jose returned to work, buying another cane farm, and searching for the perfect place to build his castle. He found it at Mena Creek south of Innisfail. The area had first attracted timber getters to its large stands of red cedar and one of these, Henry Noone, wanted to buy land in the area, so he surveyed the land and lined up interested buyers before taking the scheme to the government who were then happy to make the land available. Noone bought and developed land on the south side of the creek close to the Mena Creek Falls and the large swimming hole below. The area was already popular with people coming to swim so Noone built a hotel and planned further development.

This was an area of great natural beauty and with Noone developing the south side of the creek, Jose Paronella turned his attention to the north side. It was virgin rainforest near the falls, a tangle of tropical trees, vines and creepers with a steep escarpment dropping to the creek level. Jose had a complete plan in his mind with his castle on the rocky cliff and a cafe and pavilion below. He persuaded the owner of this land that the corner he wanted was no good for growing sugar cane and the money he would give him for it could be used to develop the rest of the land. He clinched the sale and was ready to begin work.

First he build a house for the family to live in. Then worked on sourcing the material for the construction. The creek provided ample sand for making concrete and he was able to buy discarded rails from the canefields to use as reinforcement. The first part of the construction was to build a stairway between the two levels. Then he added ornamental balustrades and concrete picnic tables and seats next to the water and started work on the cafe. He needed clay for the cement render to coat the surface of the buildings. He found suitable clay in a hill on the property and decided to build a tunnel while he dug out the clay which would lead to another small creek and waterfall.

Pavillion at Paronella Park, Mena Creek, Innisfail, ca. 1935

Jose was remarkably energetic and gathered willing helpers so that the cafe was soon completed along with changing rooms for bathers and a toilet block. He could then push on with his central building, a Spanish style castle tower. Building went on with the tower, a ballroom / cinema and a hydro-electric power system built at the base of the falls to provide power. Jose’s dream was taking shape and Paronella Park certainly became popular with the local population. The park was not initially very profitable as it required constant upkeep the keep out the encroaching jungle and maintain the buildings in good condition. The Paronellas relied on Jose’s other business interests to keep them afloat.

With the outbreak of World War II and particularly the Pacific campaign after Pearl Harbor there was an influx of military personnel into the area including large numbers of Americans. Paronella Park was ideally located to take advantage of the need for R&R of all these soldiers. The carpark was soon full of military vehicles. To the war-weary servicemen the Park with its Spanish Castle and exotic gardens growing out of the rainforest must have been an astonishing sight and the park was busy throughout the war.

Interior of the picture theatre at Paronella Park, Mena Creek, Queensland, ca. 1937

After the war there was a boom in interstate tourism and the park continued to prosper but in 1946 disaster struck. A cyclone brought torrents of rain, not unusual in the wettest part of Australia but this time there was a dangerous development. Upstream a large pile of cedar logs were awaiting transport near the creek. The rising flood carried the logs away and they formed a jam against the railway bridge upstream from the park. Eventually the bridge gave way and the flood of water loaded with huge logs rushed towards the park. Concrete balustrades and tables were uprooted and the cafe was flooded and ruined. The flood waters covered the upper gardens, rose to window level in the Hall, sending cedar logs crashing through into the foyer, the kitchen, the ballroom. One log tore a huge hole in the western wall and a section of the ballroom parquetry floor caved in.

Rebuilding work started but the cafe by the pool had to be abandoned. The hydro-electric system had to be repaired and the generator was replaced. The park was closed for six months and it was years before the flood damage was finally repaired. At the same time Jose was becoming obviously unwell and was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He died in August 1948.

The Paronella family continued to run the park until it was sold by Jose’s grandsons in 1977. Recently efforts have been made to revive the Park. The hydro-electric power plant has been restored and efforts have been made to preserve the buildings. The Park gained National Trust listing in 1997.

Building complex at Paronella Park, Mena Creek, Innisfail, 1940

Much of the information in this article comes from a biography of Jose Paronella, The Spanish Dreamer by Dena Leighton.

The library also holds a pamphlet A souvenir of Paronella Park from the 1950s and a recent publication Paronella Park : the dream continues with many recent colour pictures of the Park.

Tea and Music: Musical Odditorium

Posted on 10 Jul 2012| by Robyn Hamilton |

There are a few odd things happening at SLQ this month… to tie in with the Odditorium display in The Parlour, of course! Tea and Music on Tuesday 17 July is a Musical Odditorium, featuring quirky folk duo Cloudstreet. Multi-instrumentalists Nicole Murray and John Thompson will present a selection of folksongs and anecdotes. Between them they play guitar, English concertina, whistle, flute and violin, not to mention an array of unconventional instruments. It’s fun to suit the whole family. Tea and Music starts at 10:30am on the Queensland Terrace and tickets are $12, which includes refreshments.

Robyn Hamilton – Queensland Music Coordinator, State Library of Queensland

New permanent exhibition at the Ration Shed Museum, Cherbourg

Posted on 28 Jun 2012| by Myles Sinnamon |

The Ration Shed Museum is part of the historical precinct in the Aboriginal community of Cherbourg, located in the South Burnett region of South-East Queensland. On Monday 2nd July, a new exhibition will be launched at the Ration Shed – it will be the museum’s first permanent exhibition and represents years of work by the museum and members of the Cherbourg community. The opening launches Cherbourg’s NAIDOC celebrations for 2012.

The exhibition traces the complex history of Cherbourg, from its beginnings as Barambah Aboriginal reserve in 1899 to the proud and resilient town of today. It takes the form of a timeline, placing the detailed history of Cherbourg in the wider context of the history of Aboriginal Australia. As the exhibition notes, at times Cherbourg has been in step with national developments, but at other times Cherbourg people have had to face their own distinct challenges. The exhibition shows the reality of “living under the Act” in Queensland: the restriction of freedoms, the breaking up of families and clans, the deliberate destruction of culture and language, the control of people’s wages and finances. It is a story of strength and survival. For in the face of this repression and domination, Cherbourg people have created a vibrant community with a distinctive identity and the exhibition celebrates this as well.

The timeline is accompanied by many images, which capture this multi-faceted history. The historical shift is evident as these change from black and white to colour, from photographs taken by doctors and visiting officials for Annual Reports to photographs taken by Cherbourg artists, honouring Elders and depicting contemporary life. The exhibition would not have this visual richness without the support of the State Library of Queensland who provided numerous photographs from their collection to feature in the exhibition.

Few Australians have a real knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal history. This sounds like a strong and bald statement but I speak here from my personal experience of someone who has worked for many years in the heritage and museum sector yet really knew so little. In working with members of the Cherbourg community on this exhibition, I have learned more than I could have imagined. It has made me reflect upon the power of history – the power of people being able to express their own history, in their own way. Sharing their story of survival and resilience with the broader community brings healing and pride for the Cherbourg community. But it is a powerful experience for visitors as well. When you visit the historical precinct, history is all around you. You will see the centre of control at the former Superintendent’s Office and the bureaucracy of permits and permissions; you walk through the former Boys’ Dormitory and feel the presence of the many children who lived there over time and visit the Ration Shed itself, where rations of flour, sugar and tea were handed out to the “inmates”. You can watch wonderful films about life in Cherbourg past and present and you will meet an Elder or member of the community who will bring this history alive for you. With this new exhibition, visitors will gain an even broader perspective.

The State Library of Queensland has provided 54 high resolution images of Cherbourg for this exhibition, some of which can be viewed through One Search.

Jo Besley – Principal Arts Development Officer, Creative Communities, Arts Queensland/Department of Science, IT, Innovation and the Arts