Collecting and preserving the history of Kangaroo Point, East Brisbane, Woolloongabba and South Brisbane.
I guess in these days of technology we wouldn’t find romance in a butcher’s knife – but things were different in 1922. Here’s an interesting snippet from the Daily Mercury, 18 Feb. 1922.
Typical butchers in early 1900s with meat on chopping blocks and carcasses hanging inside the shop.
Read more at our page on butcher shops in the Businesses section.
This must have been an amazing sight in the 1960s at the busy intersection, known as the Gabba Fiveways where Logan and Ipswich Roads meet Stanley and Main Streets. Trains, trams, buses, trolleybuses and cars are travelled through the intersection.
When a steam train needed to cross, a railway signalman would walk in front waving a red flag and ringing a bell to stop the traffic. He was known as ‘the bell man’ and children loved running alongside the train. It was always a crowd stopper and memorable sight.
The last train ran in 1967 and the last tram in 1969.
Photos: SLQ
Customers are treated to personal service at Coffey Pharmacy, previously Kangaroo Point Pharmacy, located at 687 Main Street, directly opposite the Pineapple. It has been run by the Coffey family for over sixty years.
With over 20 years’ experience, pharmacist Craig Coffey is passionate about sharing the knowledge from his family tradition to care for the residents of KP and surrounding areas. Their motto is to put customers’ health and wellbeing above profit.
Old glass jars filled with raw materials labelled in the original Latin names are a visible reminder of the bygone days of how medicines used to be dispensed.
The first forms of transport in the early days of the colony were bullock drays which could haul heavy loads across rough tracks. Pack horses and pack mules were also used. Once settlement increased and roads were formed, horses and waggons took over from the bullocks.
For many years local businesses delivered their goods by horse and cart and the sound of the clip clop of horses and the smell of their dung became an important part of daily life. Bread, milk, fruit and vegetables, and many general goods were delivered this way until the early 1970’s, although motorised vans already started make an appearance in the 1920s.
Can you imagine painting the iconic Brisbane Story Bridge structure, 44m above the roadway and 80m above the Brisbane River, without safety harnesses or scaffolds, just planks to walk and sit on? Well, that’s how it was done in the 1950s! Seems scary or even crazy to us now, but they were agile and used to it and many even smoked on the job! Obviously they had no fear of heights and enjoyed the views.
These three photos from Sandra Hobbins’ family album show how her father, Eric Hobbins, and his offsider carried out their work for over 25 years from the 1950s. “It took them six years to paint the first undercoat, then back again to do the top coat.” Sandra’s father was also a tap dance teacher, which might explain his agility.
According to Council records, currently (2018) the bridge is repainted every seven years using 17,500 litres of paint and covering 105000 square metres of steel surfaces.
It seems that ladies have been making things for fetes for many years. This news item from 1939 describes a fete (fair) in the grounds of the Mowbraytown Presbyterian Church to raise funds for the mission. The theme for the stalls is rather interesting: the weekly duties of housewives at the time. Specific specific tasks were allocated to each day from Monday to Saturday : washing, mending, baking, fancywork, sweets and market. Presumably Sunday was set aside for church.
Jerry Palmos: From a corner store in East Brisbane to a Brisbane property and café empire. 
The story of Jerry Palmos is a good example of the significant contribution Greek migrants made to the business and cultural development of Brisbane in the early to mid 1900s.
Jerry Palmos was born in Ithaca, Greece in 1905 and came to Australia in 1921, settling in Sydney. He worked as a prawn fisherman, until he moved to Brisbane where he was employed in the office of a cake shop in the Carnegie Building, opposite Barry & Roberts. He met and married Elizabeth McNeil and they had three children.
In 1937 he bought his first shop, a corner shop/milk bar on the corner of Lytton Road and Heidelberg Street, East Brisbane. They owned this shop until 1941.
During the next few years he bought other properties in Brisbane, including the Day Dawn Cafe in Queen Street, the South Pacific Cafe in Stanley Street, the High Hat in the Valley, the Black & White Milk Bar on the corner of Queen and Edward Streets, and the Colony Club in Edward Street. 
In 1951, he bought The Palms Café at the entrance to the Regent Theatre in Queen Street and in 1956 he bought the building where the Colony Club was located. He died in 1975.
The State Heritage-listed ‘Phoenix Buildings’ at 647 Stanley St, cr Merton St, Woolloongabba has an interesting history. Since the 1860s the section of Stanley St between Merton Rd and Annerley Rd has been known as Clarence Corner.
The building consists of a block of six two-storeyed attached rendered brick shops which were built in 1889-1890 for William Davies, a successful mining entrepreneur. It is one of the few commercial buildings designed by renowned architect RICHARD GAILEY who is more generally known for his beautiful designs of many famous Brisbane landmarks including the Regatta Hotel, the CML Building, the Empire Hotel and, of course, the Story Bridge Hotel, Chalk Hotel and Lord Stanley Hotel in our areas.
It was first advertised for rent in July 1890 and had a variety of tenants including a chemist, an undertaker and a bank.
In 1920 a Lebanese immigrant , Calile Malouf , bought the building and established a family drapery business. Malouf and Sons became one of Brisbane’s most successful retail businesses which traded there until
1986. It is now home to a golf warehouse.
Not everyone lived in workers cottages in the early days of Kangaroo Point. There were many well-to-do families who built stylish houses and had a busy social life. One example is the ‘Residence’, a two-storey brick house with sash windows and arched porch, possibly 23 Walmsley Street, Kangaroo Point, home of the Hughes family. (Description supplied with photograph.) The front garden is laid out with flower beds and shrubs,(photo and text: SLQ #70335).
This family group photograph also shows their clothing and the rich furnishings of the room’s interior. To the left of the group is a whatnot stand (an antique stand with shelves for small objects) and a metal photograph frame. The two older girls and Mrs Hughes are all wearing their hair in an upswept style. 
Mr and Mrs George Hughes with their two daughters pictured in the garden of their home. The family are posing together with cane chairs and there is a small cane table covered with a lace cloth.
The residence which was built in 1890-91 is now listed on the Brisbane Local Heritage Register. Here are a two pictures of how it looked in 1999 and 2005.
Ferries have always been an important and popular means of crossing the river from Edward Street or Eagle Street in the city to Thornton Street in Kangaroo Point. Here are some pictorial reminders of the changes over time.
