Tag Archives: Queensland State Archives Back

Assisted immigration 1848–1912 launch at the Queensland Maritime Museum

Posted on 06 Nov 2012| by Myles Sinnamon |

Guest blogger: Niles Elvery from Queensland State Archives

Queensland State Archives launched its improved Assisted Immigration 1848–1912 Index at the Queensland Maritime Museum on Thursday 25 October 2012.

The Index is an Australian first for family history researchers. It allows them to search the index and gain immediate access to a digital copy of an original record within a few minutes.

The Index has over 260 000 searchable entries making it easy to locate a passenger. Once the PDF index document is opened, a researcher can click on the hyperlink for a particular immigration vessel and access a digital copy of the original passenger list. The digital image can then be saved or printed as required by the researcher.

The digital copies provide the full passenger list for that vessel. Context to the individual voyage is also provided at the end of the list, including: dates and places of departure and arrival; name of the captain and matron; details of how many passengers were on board the vessel and what class of passenger they are; as well as how many births and deaths occurred during the voyage.

Comments from researchers who have used the newly released index have praised it as being ‘simply brilliant’ and ’so easy’.

The launch of the new online index is not only a significant step forward in digitising and protecting Queensland’s documentary heritage, but a giant step toward providing everyone with greater access to the state’s public archival records.

Searching the new Immigration Index 1848–1912 is free and can be accessed by visiting www.archives.qld.gov.au. You can also watch a short video on the website for a demonstration on how to use the new online index.

Passenger list for the 1874 voyage of the Great Queensland now available through the Queensland State Archives website.

Niles Elvery – Manager Public Access, Queensland State Archives

100th anniversary of The Gap State School

Posted on 27 Sep 2012| by Myles Sinnamon |

The Gap State School - Brisbane, June 1961. Queensland State Archives, Item ID: 1603290

The suburb of The Gap was part of the Soldier Settlement scheme which was established by the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act 1917. At The Gap, the Enoggera Soldier Settlement was located opposite the original school site. One of the soldier settlers at The Gap was Charles Morrison Pickering, who later became chairman of the school committee.

Correspondence on land selected by Charles Morrison Pickering at The Gap is located within the collection within the Queensland State Archives Item ID 178824 and a selection of these letters is available to view in Image Queensland, including:

Charles Morrison Pickering’s certificate of qualification to apply for land dated 14 July 1919 (Queensland State Archives Digital Image ID 22532)
Letter to the Soldier Settlement Committee from Charles Morrison Pickering requesting to extend his loan account to purchase a new incubator dated 11 June 1920 (Queensland State Archives Digital Image ID 22535)
Charles Morrison Pickering’s License to Occupy a Perpetual Lease Selection dated 13 March 1921 (Queensland State Archives Digital Image ID 22537)

The school was relocated to its present site in 1961. This was due to the region’s rapid growth from rural community to Brisbane suburb. Photographs, dated June 1961, of this site are available to view in Image Queensland (Queensland State Archives Digital Image ID 18789 and Queensland State Archives Digital Image ID 18790).

The Gap State School - Brisbane, June 1961. Queensland State Archives. Item ID: 1603289

Queensland State Archives holds records which can be used by researchers interested in the history of The Gap State School such as:

school admission registers for The Gap State School for the period 22/01/1912–24/01/1983 (Queensland State Archives Series ID 1474)
an administration file which includes correspondence on The Gap State School dated 20/11/1911-22/07/1958 (Queensland State Archives Item ID 14629)
batch files on The Gap State School created by the Department of Public Works (eg: Queensland State Archives Item ID 127024; Queensland State Archives Item ID 598509; and Queensland State Archives Item ID 598506)

Niles Elvery – Manager, Public Access, Queensland State Archives

Shearers’ Strike 1891

Posted on 05 Jun 2012| by Myles Sinnamon |

For almost four months during 1891, central Queensland was preoccupied with a feud between shearers striking against working conditions and wealthy squatters.

Recognised as one of Australia’s first major industrial disputes, the strike occurred during the overseas-induced depression of the 1890s. Economic instability overseas impacted on falling wool prices in Australia, creating tension between the shearers and the pastoralists who proposed a reduction to the shearers’ wages, which then stood at £1 per hundred sheep shorn. The shearers retaliated by refusing to supply their labour – a crippling blow to the wool industry.

In response to the strike, the pastoralists introduced non-unionist ‘free labourers’ who received the protection of police and troopers. Unionists staged parades and public protests with many arrested and jailed.

In February 1891, the centre of the strike shifted to Barcaldine – the terminus of the rail line from Rockhampton, and at the centre of the Mitchell district, the richest pastoral area of the colony.

Later, the strike committee was arrested at Barcaldine and were later tried for offences such as conspiracy, rioting and sedition. Thirteen of the union leaders were brought to trial at Rockhampton and sentenced on 20 May 1891 to three years at the penal establishment, St Helena. They were admitted to St Helena on 28 May 1891.

Despite the strength of union protest, the strike was unsuccessful. Many historians believe that the Shearers’ Strike 1891 hastened the call for a political movement to represent the interests of working people, which later led to the formation of the Labor party.

Records at Queensland State Archives tell the story of these events, particularly through government correspondence, court and prison records such as:

Photographic record, description and criminal history of William Fothergill, 28 May 1891 (QSA Digital Image ID 16573)

Telegraph from Horace Tozer to Sir Samuel Griffith regarding developments in the Shearers’ Strike and possible actions to be taken, 1 March 1891 (first page shown, full telegraph available in Image Queensland: QSA Digital Image ID 2935)

Other links in Image Queensland relating to the Shearers’ Strike 1891:

• George Taylor convicted of conspiracy: QSA Digital Image ID 16575
• Julian Alexander Salmon Stuart convicted of conspiracy: QSA Digital Image ID 17778
• Record for Julian Alexander Salmon Stuart admitted to H M Penal Establishment, St Helena on 28 May 1891, transferred to H M Prison, Brisbane on 11 May 1893 and discharged on 19 November 1893: QSA Digital Image ID 16583
• Charles Henry Smith Barry convicted of conspiracy: QSA Digital Image ID 17779
• Daniel Murphy convicted of rioting: QSA Digital Image ID 17769
• William Dover convicted of unlawful assembly: QSA Digital Image ID 17773
• Record for William James Bennett admitted to H M Penal Establishment, St Helena on 28 May 1891 and discharged 19 November 1893: QSA Digital Image ID 16584

More documents on the Shearers’ Strike 1891 can be located using the ArchivesSearch catalogue.

This story, and other stories which highlight significant events in Queensland’s history, appear in the Queensland Firsts exhibition available to view online.

Niles Elvery – Manager, Public Access, Queensland State Archives

The Story of Charles O’Brien: Records from Queensland State Archives’ collection

Posted on 11 May 2012| by Myles Sinnamon |

The fourth series of Who Do You Think You Are? is currently screening on SBS ONE. Episode two, aired on 3 April 2012 at 7.30 pm, and followed the story of Kerry O’Brien, one of Australia’s most respected television journalists.

Many of the records highlighted in this episode were located at Queensland State Archives. Kerry O’Brien took a tour of the archives and viewed the original records which helped him to discover the story behind his ancestor’s tumultuous life in Queensland.

The journey began with locating a copy of the passenger list for the Emigrant which records that Charles O’Brien, a farm labourer aged 25, travelled with his wife Anne, 27 and children Mary, six and John, one from County Clare in Ireland.

Correspondence from the Government Resident highlights the difficulties the passengers experienced being quarantined at Stradbroke Island due to a typhus outbreak on board striking down the passengers. Charles was struck down by the illness and hospitalized.

Kerry discovered that Charles’ fortunes slid just as fast as they rose; he became a businessman and hotelier in Fortitude Valley, owning the City Hotel from 1862-1865. However a fire in 1864 at the back of the pub ruined Charles within the year. The insolvency records reveal that he lost everything.

Charles recovered his losses and set up as the publican at the Tattersall’s Hotel in Condamine in 1867. After returning to Brisbane, Charles became the lessee of the Cairns Arms Hotel in Spring Hill during the 1870s however he became insolvent again in 1879. Charles again saw his fortunes rise one last time with his lease of the Commercial Hotel on the corner of Mary and Edward Streets, Brisbane City in 1886.

Electoral records show Charles residing at the Supreme Court caretaker’s cottage from 1892 until his death in 1900. Toowong burial registers record Charles’ interment on 27 March 1900 aged 80.

To read Charles O’Brien’s full story and access digital copies of the documents go to the Queensland State Archives website: www.archives.qld.gov.au. Here you can also access the complete list of records researched for the episode.

Niles Elvery – Manager, Public Access, Queensland State Archives

From Hamburg to Moreton Bay: Germans in Queensland

Posted on 30 Apr 2012| by Myles Sinnamon |

Each year Queensland State Archives celebrates Harmony Day by highlighting the contributions of a particular cultural group to Queensland’s history. On Wednesday 21 March 2012, Queensland State Archives launched a portable display and presented a seminar highlighting the records of Germans in Queensland.

Both the display and the seminar featured contributions to the foundations of Queensland made by the German missionaries and the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt; early immigration records, land orders and immigration agents; pioneering families and their settlements; and the great hardship and grief they faced during the war-time. Items were selected from records created by a range of agencies including the departments of Survey, Land, Education, Colonial Secretary, Police, Immigration, Premier and Chief Secretary, Supreme Court etc.

Research into the records of the above agencies found many interesting stories of the pioneering German families such as Manitzky’s in Teutoburg. According to the Oaths of Allegiance Sworn by Aliens Being Naturalised, German farmer Rudolph Manitzki (also known as Manitzke and Manitzky) was naturalised in 1888.

Dead Farm Files indicate that Manitzky and his family selected an agricultural farm of 80 acres in Teutoburg. When George Gibbings, the Bailiff of Crown Lands visited the property for an inspection on 28 February 1894, Manitzky’s were living in their 4 room house which they built of slabs and shingle-roof and the property was cultivated with maize, potatoes, fruits and vegetables. School Files (Correspondence) for State Schools reveal how the community got together and established a school for their children.

There are many interesting stories of pioneering families such as Manitzky’s waiting to be researched in our collection at Queensland State Archives.

The display, From Hamburg to Moreton Bay: Germans in Queensland, is available for loan to community interest groups at no cost by contacting 07 3131 7777 or visiting www.archives.qld.gov.au

For selected images from the collection of the Queensland State Archives, please see: Germans in Queensland.

Niles Elvery – Manager, Public Access, Queensland State Archives

John Oxley Library

John Oxley Library

Tag Archives: Queensland State Archives Back

Assisted immigration 1848–1912 launch at the Queensland Maritime Museum

100th anniversary of The Gap State School

Shearers’ Strike 1891

The Story of Charles O’Brien: Records from Queensland State Archives’ collection

From Hamburg to Moreton Bay: Germans in Queensland