Recently digitised at the State Library of Queensland is a 10 minute long, early 1940s film documenting the brief existence of Paxton Farm in the Slacks Creek area, now Springwood. The communal farm was established in 1941 by members of The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The footage was taken by J. K. Brown, a … Read more
In a simpler and more innocent age Brisbane had the Warana Festival, a great annual Spring extravaganza which began in 1962 and included a 2 hour parade through the city streets featuring decorated floats, marching girls, entertainers, and bands, under the blue Brisbane skies. Warana, which is an aboriginal word for “blue skies”, endured until the early 1990s … Read more
State Library of Queensland has recently acquired a set of survey, subdivision and estate sale plans for the Glencairn Estate, Indooroopilly: The estate lies between the Brisbane River and Harts Road, Indooroopilly. The entire area was owned, before subdivision, by Henry Cooke Morrow, the Managing Director of Morrows Ltd, confectioners and biscuit makers, whose large … Read more
Accession 30928 Patricia Phyllis Mary Ward was born at Wynnum in 1916, the youngest of the strongly Catholic family of five daughters and one son of William Sedden and Margaret Meadows. William Sedden came to Australia from England in 1904 and took up grazing at Charleville, where he married and raised his children. In 1928, … Read more
Accession 30875. A recent acquisition for State Library of Queensland’s Original Materials collection are two photographs by Glen O’Malley, a photographer from North Queensland. Glen has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1975. He has had over thirty solo exhibitions, including Ich Folgte Einfach Nur Den Stufen at Galerie Thorsten Billib, Berlin in 2004 and has … Read more
Guest bloggers: Rachel Kersley and Casey Manthey In 2013, the State Library of Queensland received donation of the 29247 Dayne Cory Records, a collection of ballet memorabilia primarily relating to the Ballet Theatre of Queensland (BTQ). For many years, Dayne Cory was one of the cornerstones of the Ballet Theatre of Queensland, and this extensive … Read more
2016 marks the 40th anniversary of a limited release single, by a then unknown Brisbane band, which would become one of the seminal anthems for the punk rock movement. Recently State Library of Queensland was fortunate to acquire a copy of this extremely rare 7″ vinyl single. The song, (I’m) Stranded by The Saints, was recorded … Read more
Guest blogger: Lauren Erikson – Project Officer, Indigenous Library Services, State Library of Queensland In 1996, Bloomfield Valley resident Camilla Darling conducted a number of interviews with local Kuku Yalanji elders and non-Indigenous settlers of the Bloomfield Valley, in an effort to document the rich and varied history of this remote rainforest region in Far … Read more
State Library of Queensland holds an extensive collection of published and unpublished resources relating to World War Two. The most recent addition to this collection is a photograph album donated recently by the descendants of Leonard Christian Williamson (1909-1950). Mr Williamson, a Staff Sergeant by rank, served with 3/14 Australian Field Ambulance. Born in Rockhampton … Read more
A recent addition to the art collection of the John Oxley Library is this fine portrait of Queensland’s 8th Governor, Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington (1860 – 1940). The portrait, purchased in June at an auction in the United Kingdom, is the work of Robert Duddingstone Herdman, a second-generation Scottish artist who … Read more
