Category: Kangaroo Point

Remember the days when students did road patrols? Seems that students at Kangaroo Point State School were very good at it back in 1954.

Leone E. We  did them at Kangaroo Point State School  and I must say we were diligent doing same as the streets outside our school (Main Street, Kangaroo Point in particular and River Terrace) were very busy even in the 1950’s!!!
Jacinta B.  What was a road patrol, Christa?
Christa G. senior students used to patrol the school crossing outside the school before and after school so kids could cross the road safely. Now done by the ‘Lollipop ladies’
Jacinta B. Ah, that makes sense! thanks for letting me know Christa.
Paul B. Ah, road patrols, I only know them as what the lollipop ladies do, how interesting.
Sandra H. Where I live children still do patrols and all over England it’s always been done.

A family on the promenade of the Brisbane River at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens. Kangaroo Point is in the background. They are wearing summer dresses and hats and two of the children have parasols.
(Photo and description Museum of Victoria collection).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you imagine this? During the ‘Great Flood’ of February 1893 the yacht Harriet found itself in Main Street, Kangaroo Point,

There were devastating floods in Brisbane and southern Queensland in 1893. The February Flood was often referred to at The Great Flood of 1893 or the Black February Flood. It occurred when the Brisbane River burst its banks on three occasions in February 1893. There was another flood later in June of the same year. The flooding was responsible for 35 deaths and forced the hospitalisation of 190 residents.

For more flood pictures see http://• https://kangaroopointhistory.com.au/the-river/floods/

Comments:
Campbell M: The pub and many of the older homesteads are built further up Main St for a reason.

Rabbits were first introduced into Australia in 1788 by the First Fleet and bred for food. The story of how they became a pest is well known leading to construction of rabbit proof fences from 1893-1997.

According to a Letter to the Editor written by “Kangarooster” of 4 January 1919 in The Courier, it was common for boys to keep pet rabbits in their yards in the 1860s. ‘Kangarooster” writes that he lived in a ‘ five-acre tea-tree paddock, having a frontage to Main Street, near the present Pineapple Hotel. Here, when a lad, he enclosed about half an acre with a close-paling fence, and within this area had between fifty and sixty rabbits, accommodated in weather-proof hutches…’

When an Act was passed by the Queensland Parliament in 1880 making it an offence to keep live rabbits, a few fathers paid the fine rather than deprive their sons of what, to them, had been a pleasurable and, in some cases, a profitable hobby.

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.

The official opening of the Adventurers Clubhouse was a very special occasion. On Saturday evening 15 April 1972, two club members rowed the official guest, Lord Mayor, Clem Jones, in a sixteen- foot Indian canoe across the river from Customs House to the clubhouse on the opposite side of the river at Kangaroo Point. Clem then officially opened the clubhouse.

Here’s how the Sunday Mail reported the unique event the next day, 16 April 1972.Top picture: Paddling his own canoe? Hardly likely when the Lord Mayor (Alderman Jones) had Win Henderson (stern) and Rod Jarvis (bow) do it for him. Alderman Jones was paddled across the Brisbane River by these two Adventurers Club directors to open the club’s new Kangaroo Point Premises.

Bottom picture:  CLEM DAREN’T ROCK THIS BOAT Lord Mayor Clem Jones was taken for a ride last night – by canoe across the Brisbane River. He was paddled from the Customs House wharf to Kangaroo Point where he officially opened the Adventurers Club’s new clubhouse.

As well as adventure activities the club promoted jazz and 1972 is therefore considered the official origin of the Brisbane Jazz Club  which purchased the premises in 1985.

You can read more about the Jazz club on our Clubs and Communities page https://kangaroopointhistory.com.au/photo-gallery/community-clubs/brisbane-jazz-club/ ‎

 

City Splashdown – The Sunday Mail, April 16, 1978

Who remembers the City Council’s “Life.Be in it” campaign?

I wonder if this could happen today. This report in The Sunday Mail of 16 April  1978 describes a member of the Adventurers Club parachuting into the river near the Story Bridge. Text is typed below:

Another interesting point is that the 200 spectators were in “a new and as yet unnamed park” – the park was officially opened three months later on 13 July 1978 and named Captain Burke Park.

With legs waving and singing loudly, David McEvoy, 29, yesterday became probably the first parachutist to touch down within Brisbane’s inner city limits.

Parachutist David McEvoy, 29, jumped from a plane flying over the city centre and splashed down in the B river near the Story Bridge.

Windy conditions enabled him to keep his parachute above the water until a speedboat collected him.

David said he had jumped more than 2000 times, 12 of which were into water.

“It isn’t any more difficult, but it’s a pain because you usually get your parachute wet,” he said. Fellow member of the Rambler’s Parachute Club, Peter Nobbs, 30, also jumped and splashed down in the river.

The jumps were part of a “Life. Be in it” adventure day being held on the B riverbank near the Story Bridge.

David said the State Transport Department specified that the men had to land in the river 100 metres from the bridge and 50 metres from the shore.

About 200 people lined the banks in a new and yet unnamed park, to watch the jumps.

Most were there to take part in the adventure day which was organised by the Brisbane Adventurers Club.

Activities included water skiing, canoeing, diving, kite flying and ball games.

The Queensland coordinator of the “Life. Be in it” campaign said he was disappointed with the attendance. He had expected 1500 people.

Mr. Darcy has been involved in the campaign for four years.

 

It’s interesting to note that the peninsula area of Kangaroo Point was referred to as “the Point” as early as 1935. It was also described as a restful residential suburb. How times change!  The impact of the construction  of a major bridge such as the Story Bridge,  then known as the Brisbane River Bridge, hugely impacted on this quiet suburb.

It didn’t matter who you were when land was needed for a highway for the bridge. Among the houses resumed were those of very prominent people, including the parents of J.A. Holt,  the bridge designer; Mr E.K. Tully, President of the Chamber of Commerce; and the Mr E.F. Gilchrist, City Engineer.