Mum was moving into a retirement unit, and we sat on her bed as she tipped out a box of old photos and cuttings. I picked up some yellowed pages, stapled together in the corner. I flipped through the pages until I came to a longer entry for “FRANZ, Frederick Leopold Theodore”. I read how he was part of a missionary group who arrived in Australia in 1838 where they founded a mission in Moreton Bay at what is now … Continue reading
On 3 September 1894 the ship Cambus Wallace, buffeted by strong winds, was wrecked at Jumpin Pin on the ocean side of an isthmus connecting North and South Stradbroke Island, about 24 kilometres north of Southport. Thomas Welsby, who arrived on the scene soon after, described the result, ‘In less than twenty-four hours the Cambus Wallace had become broken, torn, and smashed beyond all recovery, nought remaining to be seen but heavy breakers spuming over a sand embedded vessel … Continue reading
1849-1850 was a distinctive stage in the free settlement of Moreton Bay which had begun in 1842. For the first time significant numbers of people arrived in Brisbane, most not government assisted immigrants. Different groups created vigorous conflict which determined the colony’s future. They also necessitate checking various records to track their arrival. When the government-assisted Artemisia, the first ship to bring immigrants direct to Moreton Bay came in December 1848, it brought news of the Fortitude’s imminent arrival, which … Continue reading
Brisbane, a city built along a river, has documented flood events since colonial settlement. John Oxley in his exploratory journey up the Brisbane River in 1824, observed evidence of previous floods, but the Great Flood of February 1893 was considered the most destructive.[1] Three years before that event was the Flood of 1890, which occurred over a period of 3 days from the 11th to 13th March. At the time, a Mr Childs, an old Breakfast Creek and Newstead resident … Continue reading
I’ve become very interested in the early settlement of Fortitude Valley since discovering I have ancestors who lived there before and after Queensland separated from New South Wales in September 1859. Denis James Guerin, with his wife Margaret, and eight children, moved to Moreton Bay between 1856 and 1857 to take up a job as a weigher with HM Customs. This was quite a change for the Guerins as before leaving Sydney, Denis was the licensee of the Corporation Arms … Continue reading
