Curd's Hill Estate : Greenslopes

The ‘why’ for changing the street name from Thomas Street was clear as there was (and still is) another Thomas Street nearby. As the district became more populated two similarly named streets may have caused confusion. But why choose Curd Street? I knew of the dairying history of the area – ‘Greenslopes’ referred to the green pastures found in the district. Was Curd a reference to the cheese-making process?

Old Post Office Directories contain lists of residents of a town or suburb. Unlike the modern telephone directories, Post Office Directories can be searched by street name with listings of residents on the left and right had sides of the street. I had begun my searches for ‘Thomas Street’ and variously ‘Coorparoo’ or ‘Mt Pleasant’ as both these names seemed to fit my locality.

Harris' street and road directory, 1917

Searching in the Post Office Directories between 1917 and 1925 I discovered the ‘when’ – Thomas Street is first listed as Curd Street in the 1922/23 volume. Imagine my excitement when I also discovered an Edward J. Curd as resident of this newly named Curd Street.

Now I had a date for the street name change and a person to begin searching for! Who was this man and why was he so important that a whole (though small) street was named after him? Time for me to start digging deeper to see what could be unearthed about this man and his life in my street 90 years ago.

My passion for local history was unleashed! And I have found a connection with my street and developed an interest in the district which has surprised me, along with earning me the nickname of ‘Curd Nerd’.

Katy Roberts – Library Technician, State Library of Queensland

From 19th century photographs of croquet in Queensland, we see women in long white gowns and men in top hats playing croquet in Toowong, elegantly belying the idea of any suggestion of competitive behavior.

Croquet players at the sportsground Toowong 1893

While the sport may have had a reputed dark side, Queenslanders enjoyed the social aspects of croquet.  Newly digitised images from JOL Accession 28591 show that croquet was organised and popular at the turn of the 20th century and proper attire was a must.   A croquet tournament at Musgrave Park in 1911 shows rather formal wear for men and women. The hats worn by the women while playing almost defy gravity. It makes one wonder if the weight of the hat may have had adverse impact on the croquet scores. A favourite is the third hat from the right in the first row in the image below.

Musgrave Park at Croquet Tournament 1911

South Brisbane Croquet Club winners enjoy trophies in 1911

From the same  accession of photographs, we see that croquet tournaments resulted in much sought after prizes that were carefully determined by official score keepers. Note the formal pencil and score card accessories worn by the woman in the back row, left above.

In 1922, Queensland realised the formation of the first Queensland State Association of Croquet with formal rules and registered membership. Constitutions, by-laws and regulations for tournaments were firmly established. Croquet was still on trend in 1935, as shown in a photograph of female players in Kingaroy.

Members of the Kingaroy Croquet Club, 1935

Croquet continues its popularity in Queensland.  There are 45 clubs registered throughout the State for 2013.  Croquet may or may not be an extremely competitive sport in Queensland today, however, by all indicators, it continue to rank high in popularity.

Catherine Cottle – Digital Collections Curator, State Library of Queensland

The Richters led the establishment of the settlement up until 1913 when they returned to Germany, apparently for a short visit or holiday, intending to return in due course.  However, due to the outbreak of the First World War, they were unable to return to Australia and were eventually replaced by Mr. and Mrs. Holmes.

The main reason for the original establishment of the settlement was to assist and guide local residents who were being increasingly recruited for the pearl and beche-de-mer industries as well as to spread the church’s spiritual teachings.  However, as with many other similar missions and settlements, the early years were particularly marked by trouble.

The reserve was expanded in 1922 to include the Kendall River area located to the south.  The town eventually became known as Aurukun which is said to have local meaning associated with a large lagoon on the Watson River, to the south.  At the beginning, the majority of the buildings, including the church and mission house were constructed of local materials by residents using a range of traditional skills.  Over time however, stronger and more permanent buildings were constructed using materials brought in from elsewhere.  This later period, marked by more permanent buildings, appears to have started around ten years after the original establishment of the settlement, that is, around the time of the departure of the Reverend and Mrs. Richter.

Mission House, Aurukun, 1913

This photograph, taken in 1913, shows the mission house in its more permanent form, replacing the earlier structure.  We are able to speculate that those shown in this image may be the Reverend and Mrs. Richter with their children, with this photograph being taken just prior to their departure for Germany.

Brian Randall, Queensland Places Coordinator, State Library of Queensland

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.

Bulumm (John Allen)

By coincidence, 2013 celebrates 100 years since Bulumm sat down with John Lane, a schoolteacher at Canungra, and faithfully provided a list of Wangerriburra words. This vocabulary was documented and originally published as an appendix to the Queensland Chief Protector of Aborigines Report for 1913.  After remaining as an archival document of a forgotten language for ninety years, the Yugambeh Museum used the work of John Lane to recreate and publish the work as a community dictionary – “The language of the Wangerriburra and neighbouring groups in the Yugambeh region” [P499.15 all].

Wangerriburra/Yugambeh;community dictionary.

John Lane’s original notes, including Bulumm’s wordlists are also held in the John Oxley Library –  Grammar, vocabulary, and notes of the Wangerriburra Tribe.

Yugambeh Wordlist

These documents formed the basis for the Yugambeh Language App – a sample of the wordlist is shown in the image above. Everyday words covering topics such as flora, fauna, greetings, family names, body parts, numbers, landscape, etc. can be found on the App. It is hoped that the App will serve as a prototype for other language communities to use and adapt to suit their language revival.

Rory O'Connor and Jackie Huggins at the Launch.

Local media including ABC Radio were there to report on the launch – a podcast featuring a Yugambeh version of the National Anthem can be found at the 612 ABC Brisbane Website. Jackie Huggins did the official honour of launching the App in front of a large audience comprising community members, Elders and invited guests. Logan Regional Council and Logan Library staff have been actively working with the Yugambeh Museum and were also in attendance to show their support. The noted linguist Margaret Sharpe was one of the special guests and she shared her memories of working with the Yugambeh language in the 1970′s.

Mick Scanlon, community linguist and Yugambeh language speaker provides the ‘voice’ to the words of ‘Bulumm’ on the language App which can be downloaded through the Apple iTunes Store or via the Yugambeh Museum website. Mick also gave a fine rendition of “The Wedding Song” in Yugambeh language as part of the launch proceedings.

Screenshot from the Yugambeh Language App

It was a great day – the highlight for me was hearing the Australian National Anthem sung in the Yugambeh language by a choir of schoolchildren from Rivermount College.

Des Crump – Indigenous Languages Researcher, State Library of Queensland

Des Crump, Indigenous Languages Researcher in Queensland Memory at the State Library opened the workshop about language revival and maintenance with a brief overview of resources in the State Library and information about the  state of Indigenous languages in Queensland today.

Des Crump opens Regional Indigenous Languages Research Discovery Workshop

About 20 Elders, Indigenous Knowledge Centre Coordinators, and community representatives then shared information about their many varied languages of the NPA region and discussed how important it was that their languages survive. In the afternoon, Des demonstrated how to use language databases such as Miromaa and Lexique Pro.

The workshop continues today and tomorrow. It includes a showcase of local community language programs and resources, and training in recording and documenting languages using digital repositories.

Des is joined in the NPA by Liz Phillips, Project Officer from the State Library Cairns Office and Olivia Robinson, Manager of Research, Advocacy and Partnerships in Queensland Memory as part of State Library’s Indigenous Languages Project. The project is funded by the Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport.

State Library is grateful for the support of the Northern Peninsula Area Council in providing a venue for the workshop and supporting the IKC Coordinators to attend. It is part of an ongoing partnership to support the network of 20 Indigenous Knowledge Centres located throughout Queensland.

Des Crump – Indigenous Languages Researcher, State Library of Queensland

Megan Cope has created new knowledge for all by using recently digitised State Library military maps.   A descendant of the Quandamooka people from North Stradbroke Island, this Queensland artist explores decolonising methodologies which have become a primary concern in her work.

"Winnam"

Her recent work focuses heavily on the toponymy and geomorphology of heavily populated tourist destinations along the east coast of Australia, to which many Australians forge close personal attachments.

A series of her paintings, titled ‘After the Flood’ and more recently ‘Fluid Terrain’, will be part of the ‘My Country, I still call Australia Home‘ Exhibition (QAGOMA: June 1, 2013). Here, Megan has used digitised Australian Military Topographical Survey Maps from the John Oxley Library as a base to discuss her ideas of ownership, identity, environment and history.  And more specifically, to explore how these notions inform each other and Australians as a people.

Megan uses the  military maps from the 1930s and 40s to reference the social climate of Australia at the time and highlight Aboriginal people’s position within that cultural landscape which appears largely devoid or invisible. She inserts their position back into the landscape via the inclusion of the Aboriginal language (Aboriginal groups and place names) in correlation to the geographic space it is this aspect that is often the most visible at first.

"GunaiKurnaiice"

New watermarks defining a hypothetical or futuristic sea level rise of approximately five meters are also drawn over the military map to explore geomorphic activity that is commonly versed in Aboriginal history and also to highlight our fragile position in the land of fire and flood today.

Megan’s  combination of all of these conceptual and visual layers seeks to decolonise aspects of our history and recreate a dual history and dual landscape.

Centaur (ship)

Just after 4am on May 14, 1943, the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was attacked without warning by a Japanese submarine, despite being well-lit and marked with the red crosses that should have assured her safety.

A torpedo fired at the ship struck the oil fuel tank on its port side, resulting in an explosion that set it ablaze. Water rushed through the hole in her side causing her to roll, then sink, bow-first, within three minutes. The hospital ship was near Moreton Island, en route from Sydney to Cairns, with her final destination Papua New Guinea, transporting medical staff and supplies.

Among the staff were 192 soldiers of 2/12th Field Ambulance and 12 female nurses from the Australian Army Nursing Service. Also on board were 74 civilian crew, eight army officers, 45 other army personnel and a Torres Strait ship pilot. Most of those aboard were asleep at the time of the attack; many were either killed outright or unable to escape the sinking vessel.

Of the 332 souls aboard, only 64 survived. The survivors had to wait in damaged lifeboats and on rafts and wreckage for up to 36 hours before being rescued. According to newspaper reports they “whiled away the hours [of their ordeal] by singing and telling stories. They sang Roll Out the Barrel and Waltzing Matilda and one group conducted a ‘bob-in’ sweepstake on the length of time it would take for them to be rescued”.

The final resting place of the Centaur remained undiscovered until December 2009. Lying 56km east of Moreton Island, the site is protected under commonwealth law by the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976.

Centaur (ship)

In 1948 the Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses was established in Brisbane in memory of the nurses who served in the World Wars and on the home front. The administrative records for the Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses are held by the State Library of Queensland.

Myles Sinnamon – Project Coordinator, State Library of Queensland

The initial yields were high with output in 1893-4 being around two thousand ounces.  As other nearby sources of gold were discovered the field moved and expanded and other settlements were established, including Bairdsville, Top Camp, Lower Camp or Plutoville, all mainly supplied from Coen.  The Lower Camp settlement eventually evolved into the settlement of Wenlock, becoming the main township in the area by the 1930s.  It was officially named Wenlock in 1938.

Gold output varied from place to place, encouraging miners and prospectors to move from field to field in search of higher yields.  The Batavia, later Wenlock, field was to be the most productive goldfield in Cape York during the Great Depression, with six payable mines in operation.  During the Second World War, the Australian Army dismantled and removed significant quantities of equipment and infrastructure from the mines and mills of the Wenlock Field, with the aim of preventing the mines being used by the Japanese in the event of an invasion.

Following the Second World War the Wenlock Field was still to prove productive however on-going challenges such as devastating flooding and an on-going lack of investment had resulted in a decline in production, although some prospecting as well as mining operations continue.  Some of the more well known mines that have operated in the area have included the Golden Gate, Reform, Black Cat Amalgamated, Golden Casket, Black and White and the Zamitt mines.

Wenlock Gold Mine, 1930s

This photograph shows an unidentified mine in the Wenlock Goldfield during the early 1930s, a particularly productive phase in the field’s history.

Brian Randall – Queensland Places Coordinator, State Library of Queensland

That to Mr. W. J. Cracknell, Superintendent of Telegraphs, your committee are indebted for the promise of several highly interesting scientific exhibits at next month’s exhibition, all of which are comparatively unknown in Queensland, viz.:

1. The electric light, to be displayed every evening.

2. Explosion of torpedoes in the creek running through Bowen Park, by means of electricity.

3.Telephones fitted up in the main building, and in the park, by which visitors may, at distant points from each other, converse through the medium of these wonderful instruments.

These early telephones could only be used for communication between two fixed points but January 1878 saw the opening of the first commercial telephone exchange which allowed multiple telephone users to be connected and made the instrument truly practical.  Brisbane’s first telephone exchange was set up at the GPO linking several Government offices in October 1880 and by 1881 there were 36 telephones connected including several private ones. By 1883 a continuous 24 hour service was being provided and 175 telephones were connected.  The first country telephone exchange in Australia was opened in Maryborough in 1882 with 32 subscribers.

The first telephone exchanges employed message boys to operate the equipment, however, the boys quickly earned a reputation as inefficient, unruly and impertinent, and in an effort to improve customer service these first operators were replaced by women specifically employed for the job.  In 1889 positions were advertised for thirteen telephone exchange switch-board assistants, at a salary of 10 shillings per week, 1671 young women applied.  Mrs Dick was appointed as Supervisor.

Mrs William Heddle Dick, First Lady Superintendent of the First Telephone Exchange in the Colony of Queensland

Alterations were made to the building to allow for the employment of female operators, who worked from 8 am to 6 pm, the night shift being deemed unsuitable for female employment.  An article published in The Queenslander and attributed to ‘Delphia’ provides a detailed description of the working environment of these early telephonists.

Group of the first female telephonists in Brisbane, Queensland started in June 1899

The new switchboard on the Telephone Exchange is now in working order; and the female operators are shaping to their novel experience in a manner that augurs well for their future utility, and for the increased convenience of the public service. Mrs. Dick, the lady superintendent, assisted by a monitress, has twelve operators under her charge. Perhaps a more capable-looking assemblage of young women could hardly be found In Brisbane; had the qualification been appearance only, instead of capability, they could well have stood the test. It is somewhat surprising, considering the small amount of salary offered, that such a refined and superior class of workers should have tendered their services, especially when. It is found that some of them come from a distance, as far as Ipswich even, and have to deduct travelling expenses from their earnings. They, no doubt, look upon the appointment as a beginning of better things, and anticipate future promotions in the Government service. It must also be borne in mind that, although they, have passed the necessary education tests, they are ignorant of the telephone duties, until patiently inducted into the method, under the personal supervision of Mr. Hesketh.

The girls enter their offices through a private door on the right hand of the Post Office lane, near Elizabeth-street. After ascending, two flights of narrow stairs, we find the lavatories on the right hand, with necessary fittings, and a comfortable little sitting-room on the left. Around the walls, convenient lockers are fitted up, a separate one, with lock and key, for each operator ; the open doors show a good arrangement for hanging hats and cloaks, and shelves for cups, lunch, books, &c.; outside, they look like wardrobes of polished Maryborough pine. One or two cane lounges, plenty of comfort-able chairs, a large table, and writing secretaire form part of the comfortable furnishings. In one corner a small gas stove is fitted, and a large kettle supplies hot water for the acceptable cup of tea at lunch time. The pretty light tint chosen for the wall colouring gives a brightness to the room and in every way possible in so small a space has the comfort of the girls when off duty been considered. Mrs. Dick is ever on the alert to see that the girls are relieved of duty for a time, when they feel the nervous strain too much, or when the incessant vibration tells upon their endurance. That there will be cause for watchfulness and anxiety in this respect a visit to the switchboard room will show. Such a babel of confused and subdued voices, in the strident, “are you-there” tone. The operators sit in chairs constructed upon pedestals to move slightly from side to side, so as to quickly operate upon the numbers from right to left. Each operator has 100 connections under her charge. To watch the incessant manipulation of the plugs, one would imagine that every telephone-owner spent a good part of his time with a transmitter at his mouth. Ten in the morning is the busiest hour, between 12 and 2 the switching slackens, and increase afterwards up to 4 o’clock.

Interior of Brisbane Central Telephone Exchange, Brisbane, Queensland, 1903

Each operator wears a leather band over the head, with a receiver pressed to the left ear and transmitter near the mouth. The indicators, at the top of the switchboard, rise and fall, showing the number which wants to be switched on. Below are the round holes, bearing the numbers of the telephones—one set called the questioning jacks, the other set the answering jacks. These are connected by plugs, and the connection is made as rapidly as possible. The work to a certain extent is mechanical, but needs the utmost smartness and dexterity, and will prove a trying test to nervous organisations. Being apparently such mechanical work, one is inclined to question the relevancy of such examination posers as the following, which appear on the papers submitted to the applicants as examination tests :—”State what you know of the Brisbane River under the following heads :—Source, course, affluents, outfall, basin, and watersheds.” “Where in Queensland are sugar, wheat, coffee, arrowroot, and cocoa-nuts grown? Where are gold, copper, tin, opals, and pearlshell found?” “The side of a square paddock is 440 yards long. How many palings, each 4 In. wide, will be used in fencing the paddock?” Other arithmetic questions about papering walls, bags of marbles, thousands of oranges, barrels of ale, and boxes of matches, but not one question about modern science, the discovery and development of telephony, or reference to the life of Edison, or the principles of acoustics and the transmission of sound.

The operators look very business-like and comely in their uniforms of dark-blue serge and neat white collars and cuffs. The lady superintendent and monitress wear black. The hours are not heavy—altogether about eight hours a day, with relieving operators to take charge at intervals of rest. At present there are boys employed on the switchboard, as well as the girls, but Mr. Hessketh hopes to replace them in time by the women, and is very sanguine of good results.

Inside the Brisbane Central Telephone Exchange, ca. 1927

The work of the exchange operators continued in much the same fashion until the Brisbane exchange was switched over to an automatic exchange in 1929.  Trunk operators were still required for interstate and international calls until a new type of automated exchange, the Crossbar system, allowed the introduction of Subscriber Trunk Dialling in the 1960s.  The first Crossbar exchange in Australia was installed at Toowoomba in 1960.  In 1963 a new eight story telephone exchange was planned for construction in Elizabeth Street, Brisbane.

Model of the new telephone exchange to be built on Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, 1963

The John Oxley Library holds several titles on the development of telephone exchanges.  The Palace of winged words : the development of telephone exchanges in Australia published by Telecom Australia in 1980 and Resistance on the line : a history of Australian Telephonists and their Trade Unions, 1880-1988 by Jeff Rickertt.

Simon Miller – Library Technician, State Library of Queensland