Month: November 2018

Kangaroo Point is one of the earliest areas settled in Brisbane and is generally regarded as Brisbane’s oldest suburb.

Before British settlement Kangaroo Point was occupied by the Turrbal people. It was the home for many of the Turrbal people who used the Brisbane River, known by them as Mairwar, for food and a means of travel. It was only a small population, maybe 300 people, the whole river population down to the bay was about 2000.

“jungle fringed with mangroves, with higher
lands of open forest covered with grass”

That’s how John Oxley, Surveyor General of NSW described the raised area of land which is now Kangaroo Point in 1823. He had been sent north from Sydney Town by Governor Brisbane in search of a new penal settlement for the more troublesome convicts. Oxley left Sydney in the Mermaid on October 23, 1823 and charted Moreton Bay on 25 November.

He discovered the meandering River with the help of escaped convict John Finnegan and named it the Brisbane River after the Governor.

Following a second expedition by Oxley in the brig Amity in 1824 a new penal colony was established at Redcliffe.

No spare ferries back in 1905! When the steam ferry broke down, row boats were used while it was repaired.

 

The Kangaroo Point cliffs,  a popular scenic spot for locals and visitors, were the scene of a tragic fatal accident involving a fireman doing his job.

On Saturday night 13 May 1950 Kenneth Towerton, a 29-year-old South Brisbane fireman fell to his death while trying to put out a grass fire at the top of the cliffs. He jumped over a 4ft 6in picket fence to trample out the fire unaware that it bordered the cliff edge which was obscured by smoke and hurtled down the jagged cliff face. When rescuers found him at the bottom of the cliff he was conscious, even laughed and joked, but died in the ambulance on the way to hospital. A spectator saved two other firemen from jumping over the fence by grabbing at their coat tails and pulling them back.

Council agree to repair the fence and improve cliff safety.