Collecting and preserving the history of Kangaroo Point, East Brisbane, Woolloongabba and South Brisbane.
Students from East Brisbane State School getting some cricket tips from J. Farquhar at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (Gabba) next to the school in 1933. John Farquhar (1887-1977) was a highly-regarded cricketer who played 16 first-class matches for Queensland between 1913 and 1927. (The Courier Mail, 6 October 1933)
The photo shows a young schoolboy being vaccinated for diptheria at the East Brisbane State School in 1940. He was one of 150 children immunised by the City Medical Officer of Health, Dr. R. Weaver. ( Courier Mail, 6 March 1940).
At the height of the 1921 diptheria epidemic, there were 23,199 notifications (annual notification rate of 4.265 per 100,000 population, and in the decade between 1926 and 1935 there were 4,043 deaths from diptheria. (www1.health.gov)
School-based diptheria vaccination programs began in Australia in the early 1930s. Routine childhood vaccination virtually eliminated diptheria in most industrialised countries.
What’s special about this clock? It used to hang in a classroom in the Kangaroo Point State School. Many past students remember it well. Here are some of their memories.
Leone E. Looks like clocks we had at Kangaroo Point State School in the 1950s.
Colleen F. It feels like the clock I learned to tell the time on at Kangaroo Point State School. Early 1950s.
Greg M. It certainly looks like the clocks we had at Everton Park State School. Maybe they had the Education Dept contract?
Laurie C. The ubiquitous state school clock!
Nev M. They seemed to be in the classrooms until the 70s. Each week the teacher would wind up the clock with a key.
Here’s the rest of the story.
Andrew C. It now hangs in a house in Carindale. Still working.
George C. In 1971 I was staying with my in-laws at 2 O’Donnell Street (a Dodd’s/Flower heritage house) which had rented accommodation. One Irish couple Joe and Eileen lived in the middle section. Joe laboured at the school site and saved the clock from being dumped.
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.
The Norman Creek Bridge at East Brisbane seems to have been a traffic accident hot-spot for many years. Interesting how this accident between a bus and tram was reported when you compare it to today’s style. Personal details, addresses, marital status were all made public!
March 8 is International Women’s Day. In previous posts we’ve looked at the achievements of Dr Lilian Cooper, Queensland’s first female surgeon who arrived in Brisbane from England in 1891 and lived in Kangaroo Point for many years. For ten years she was the only woman practising medicine in Queensland.
Today we’ll look at Irene Maud Longman (1877-1964) who was the first female member of the Queensland Parliament. She was also one of the first trained kindergarten teachers working in Queensland with a long career in early childhood education. In 1929, at the age of 52, she won the seat of Bulimba for the Country and Progressive Party after a strong campaign and promise to use her position to lobby for services to improve the lives of women and children. She gained a huge swing of 10% against her male opponent in what had been considered a safe Labor seat. She was to be instrumental in establishing the first women police in Queensland and creating a separate, private and safe venue for Children’s Court hearings.
Irene had a strong background in politics and was a powerful public speaker. She was a member of the Queensland Women’s Electoral League and president of the Queensland Branch of the National Council of Women from 1920-1924. Her two brothers were also members of Parliament.
However, life as a female parliamentarian in a male-dominated environment proved to be challenging for Irene. She was not allowed to use the dining room in Parliament House and had to eat her meals on the verandah. There were also no female toilets in the building at that time.
She served only one term as the Member for Bulimba, losing her seat in the landslide which swept away the Moore government in 1932. She was disappointed that no woman succeeded her into State Parliament during her lifetime. The next female member was Vi Jordan who served from 1966-1974.
Irene continued pursuing her interest in politics and community welfare. She was vice-president of the Lyceum Club, a club for women interested in the arts, science, contemporary issues and the pursuit of lifelong learning which had been established in Brisbane in 1919. She was also vice-president of the Queensland Women’s Peace Movement and president of the Association for the Welfare of Mental Deficients Queensland. She died on 29 July 1964 in Brisbane.
The federal electoral division of Longman created in 1996 is named after Irene Longman.
Here’s how the Brisbane Courier reported a hotel break-in on 8 June 1891. It’s a crime report with a bit of flair, quite different from the way it’s done these days.
Looting a Bar
Pineapple Hotel EnteredWhen Mr. Peter McGuinness, licencee of the Pineapple Hotel, Kangaroo Point, entered the bar of his hotel on Tuesday morning, he at once saw that it was not as he had left it the previous evening. A window had been raised, and a case knife lying on the sill showed how its catch had been turned back. All the bottles opened the night before were empty, and glasses were lying about promiscuously that had been made use of in drinking the liquor. A number of bottles of brandy and whisky was missing, and the foot marks of five or six people were to be seen about the floor and on the counter. Mr. McGuinness judges that the theft occurred at about 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. At the closing hour on Monday night there was a number of semi-larrikins about the hotel, but up to the present the police have been unable to fix upon any of the persons concerned in the affair.
(Brisbane Courier 8 June 1891)
Comments:
Jeff W. It’s interesting and also delightful to read the descriptive journalism of the past – far more entertaining and enlightening of the events of the period.
Imogen I. “glasses were lying about promiscuously” – this made me laugh!
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).
This excerpt from the ‘Society Sidelights’ page of Sunday, 20 August 1905:
A very non-modern comment regarding Dr Lilian Cooper’s practical outfit when travelling in her new car to visit patients. (Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom.)
Read more about Dr Lilian Cooper: https://kangaroopointhistory.com.au/stories/people/dr-lilian-cooper/
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.