- History of Brisbane
Brisbane ,Queensland ,Australia , is named for Sir Thomas Brisbane (1773–1860), Britishsoldier and colonial administrator born inAyrshire ,Scotland . Sir Thomas Brisbane was Governor of New South Wales at the time that Brisbane was named.European exploration
Prior to European settlement, the Brisbane region was occupied by Aboriginal tribes.
The region was first explored by Europeans in 1797, when
Matthew Flinders made a landing at what is now Woody Point inRedcliffe . A permanent settlement in the region was not until a quarter century later, when New South Wales Governor Brisbane was petitioned by free settlers inSydney to send the worst convicts elsewhere.On
October 23 1823 , Surveyor GeneralJohn Oxley set out with a party in the cutter "Mermaid" fromSydney to "survey Port Curtis ["now Gladstone"] ,Moreton Bay andPort Bowen , with a view to forming convict settlements there". The party reached Port Curtis onNovember 5 . Oxley suggested that the location was unsuitable for a settlement, since it would be difficult to maintain.As he approached
Point Skirmish into Moreton Bay, he noticed severalIndigenous Australians approaching him, led by several white bedraggled timbergetters. The white men turned out to be shipwrecked timbergetters by the names ofThomas Pamphlett ,Richard Parsons , John Finnegan andJohn Thomson who had left Sydney onMarch 21 of the same year to sail south from Sydney along the coast in search of cedar but during a large storm were pushed north of Sydney but did not know this, so went north trying to get back to Sydney, eventually getting shipwrecked on Moreton Island. They had been living with the Indigenous tribe for seven months.After meeting with them, Oxley proceeded approximately 100km up what he later named the
Brisbane River in honour of the then-Governor Brisbane. Oxley explored the river as far as what is now the suburb of Goodna in the city of Ipswich, about 20km upstream Brisbane'scentral business district . Several places were named by Oxley and his party including Breakfast Creek (at the mouth of which they cooked breakfast), Oxley Creek and Seventeen Mile Rocks.Brisbane was home to the Jagera and Turrbal Aboriginal clans. Before European settlement, the land, the river and its tributaries were the source and support of life in all its dimensions. The river's abundant supply of food included fish, shellfish, crabs and shrimps. The good fishing places became campsites and the focus of group activities.
Establishment of a Penal Colony
In 1824, the first convict colony was established at Redcliffe Point under
Lieutenant Miller . Meanwhile, Oxley andAllan Cunningham explored further up the Brisbane River in search of water, landing at the present location of North Quay. Only one year later, in 1825, the colony was moved south from Redcliffe to a peninsula on theBrisbane River , site of the present Central Business District, called "Mean-jin" by the local Turrbul inhabitants. The settlement was named "Edenglassie" (in honour ofEdinburgh andGlasgow ,Scotland ) by British pioneers but was subsequently renamed to match the river. The official population of Brisbane at the end of 1825 was "45 males and 2 females".The colony was originally established as a "prison within a prison" - a settlement, deliberately distant from
Sydney , to which convicts who reoffended while serving their sentences could be sent as punishment. It soon garnered a reputation, along withNorfolk Island , as being one of the harshest penal settlements in all of [New South Wales] .Free settlement
As a penal colony, private settlements near the area was forbidden for many years. As the inflow of new convicts decreased steadily, the population began to decline. In 1838, the area was opened up for free settlers, as distinct from convicts. An early group of
Lutheran missionaries fromGermany were granted land in what is now the northside suburb of Nundah. In 1839 the first three surveyors, Dixon, Stapylton and Warner arrived in Moreton Bay to prepare the land for greater numbers of European settlers. From the 1840s settlers took advantage of the abundance of timber in local forests. Once cleared, land was quickly utilized for grazing and other farming activities. Theconvict colony was eventually closed.The free settlers did not recognise the local aboriginal ownership and were not required to provide compensation to the Turrbul Aboriginal people. By 1869 almost all of the Turrbul people had died from gunshot or disease. The few remaining survivors escaped the region with the help of a settler,
Thomas Petrie , (now associated with the suburb of Petrie in the Moreton Bay region, north of Brisbane).Development in the early years of the colony of Queensland
Queensland was formally established as a self-governing colony of Britain separate from
New South Wales in 1859.Originally the neighbouring city of Ipswich was intended to be the capital of Queensland but it proved too far inland to allow access by large ships and so Brisbane was chosen as the capital instead. However it was not until 1902 that it was officially designated a city.
The
1893 Black February floods caused severe flooding in the region and devastated the city. Raging flood waters destroyed the first of several versions of the Victoria Bridge. Even though gold was discovered north of Brisbane, around Maryborough and Gympie, most of the proceeds went south to Sydney and Melbourne. The city remained an underdeveloped regional outpost, with comparatively little of the classical Victorian architecture that characterized southern cities.The first railway in Brisbane was built in 1879 when the line from the western interior was extended from Ipswich to Roma Street Station. First horse-drawn, then electric
Tram s operated in Brisbane from 1885 till 1969. Tramway employees stood down for wearing union badges on18 January ,1912 sparked Australia's firstGeneral strike , the1912 Brisbane General Strike which lasted for five weeks.In an effort to prevent overcrowding and control urban development, the
Parliament of Queensland passed the "Undue Subdivision of Land Prevention Act 1885 ", resulting in Brisbane and other Queensland cities having very low population densities and covering large areas compared to similar Australian cities.This legislation, together with the advent of efficient public transport in the form of steam trains and electric trams encouraged the spread of the city. Although the initial tram routes reached out into established suburbs such as West End, Fortitude Valley, New Farm and Newstead later extensions and new routes encouraged housing developments in new suburbs, such as the western side of Toowong, Paddington, Ashgrove, Kelvin Grove and Coorparoo. This was a pattern of development to continue through to the 1950s, with later extensions encouraging new developments around Stafford, Camp Hill, Chermside, Enoggera and Mt Gravatt. Generally the train lines linked established communities, although the Mitchelton line (later extended to Dayboro), before being cut back to Ferny Grove) did encourage suburban development out as far as Keperra.
Subsequently, with the availability of affordable private motor cars, land between tram and train routes was developed for settlement, for example
Ekibin , Tarragindi, Everton Park, Stafford Heights and Wavell Heights.Amalgamation of Local Government Areas
In 1924, the City of Brisbane Act was passed by the Queensland Parliament, amalgamating the Cities of Brisbane and South Brisbane; the Towns of Hamilton, Ithaca, Sandgate, Toowong, Windsor and Wynnum; and the Shires of Balmoral, Belmont, Coorparoo, Enoggera, Kedron, Moggill, Sherwood, Stephens, Taringa, Tingalpa, Toombul and Yeerongpilly to form the current City of Greater Brisbane, now known simply as City of Brisbane, in 1925. To accommodate the new enlarged city council the current
Brisbane City Hall was opened in 1930. Many former shire and town halls became the nucleus of Greater Brisbane's public library network.Brisbane during the Second World War
Due to Brisbane's proximity to the
South West Pacific Area theatre ofWorld War II (Second World War), the city played a prominent role in the defence of Australia. The city became a temporary home to thousands of Australian and American servicemen. Buildings and institutions around Brisbane were given over to the housing of military personnel as required. The present-day MacArthur Central building became the Pacific headquarters [ [http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/ozatwar/amp.htm Oz at War (1)] ] of U.S. GeneralDouglas MacArthur , and theUniversity of Queensland campus at St Lucia was converted to a military barracks for the final three years of the war. St Laurence's College and Somerville House Girls' School in South Brisbane were also used by American forces. During this time St Laurence's College was moved to Greenslopes to continue classes. Newstead House was also used to house American servicemen during the war.Brisbane was used to mark the position of the "
Brisbane Line ", a controversial defence proposal allegedly formulated by the Menzies government, that would, upon a land invasion of Australia, surrender the entire northern part of the country. The line was, allegedly, at a latitude just north of Brisbane and spanned the entire width of the continent.On
26 November and27 November ,1942 , rioting broke out between US and Australianservicemen stationed in Brisbane. By the time the violence had been quelled one Australian soldier was dead, and hundreds of Australian and US servicemen were injured along with civilians caught up in the fighting [ [http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/ozatwar/bob.htm Oz at War (2)] ] . Hundreds of soldiers were involved in the rioting on both sides. This incident, which was heavily censored at the time and apparently was not reported in the US at all, is known as theBattle of Brisbane .Post-War Brisbane
Immediately after the war, the Brisbane City Council, along with most governments in Australia, found it difficult to raise finances for much-needed repairs and development. Even where funds could be obtained materials were scarce. Adding to these difficulties was the political environment encouraged by some aldermen, led by Archibald Tait, to reduce the city's rates (land taxes). Ald Tait successfully ran on a slogan of "Vote for Tait, he'll lower the rate." Rates were indeed lowered, exacerbating Brisbane's finances.
Although Brisbane's tram system continued to be expanded, roads and streets remained unsealed. Water supply was limited, although the City Council built and subsequently raised the level of the
Somerset Dam on the Stanley River. Despite this, most residences continued to rely heavily on rainwater stored in tanks.The limited water supply and lack of funding also meant that despite the rapid increase in the city's population, little work was done to upgrade the city's sewage collection, which continued to rely on the collection of
nightsoil . Other than the CBD and the innermost suburbs, Brisbane was a city of "thunderboxes" (outhouse s) or ofseptic tanks .What finances could be garnered by the Council were poured into the construction of Tennyson Powerhouse, and the extension and upgrading of the powerhouse in New Farm Park to meet the growing demands for electricity.
Work continued slowly on the development of a town plan, hampered by the lack of experienced staff and a continual need to play "catch-up" with rapid development. The first town plan was adopted in 1964.
1961 saw the election of
Clem Jones as Lord Mayor. Ald Jones, together with the town clerkJ.C. Slaughter sought to fix the long term problems besetting the city. Together they found cost-cutting ways to fix some problems. For example new sewers were laid 4 feet deep and in footpaths, rather than 6 feet deep and under roads. In the short term, "pocket" or local sewerage treatment plants were established around the city in various suburbs to avoid the expense of developing a major treatment plants and major connecting sewers.They were also fortunate in that finance was becoming less difficult to raise and the city's rating base had by the 1960s significantly grown, to the point where revenue streams were sufficient to absorb the considerable capital outlays.
Under Jones' leadership, The City Council's transport policy shifted significantly. The City Council hired American transport consultants Wilbur Smith to devise a new transport plan for the city. It recommended the closure of most suburban railway lines, closure of the tram and trolley-bus networks, and the construction of a massive network of freeways through the city. Under this plan the suburb of Woolloongabba would have been almost completely obliterated by a vast interchange of three major freeways. Although the trams and trolley-buses were rapidly eliminated between 1968 and 1969, only one freeway was constructed, the trains were retained and subsequently electrified. The first train line to be so upgraded was the Ferny Grove to Oxley line in 1979. The train line to Cleveland, which had been cut back to Lota in 1961, was also reopened.
Brisbane has been inundated by four severe
flood s of the Brisbane River – in 1864, 1893, 1897 and 1974. A comprehensive flood mitigation scheme was instituted for the Brisbane River catchment area in the aftermath of the 1974 flood. Since then the city has remained largely flood free.Brisbane hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1982 and the World's Fair in 1988.
Later in that decade, emission control regulation had a major effect on improving the cities air quality. The banning of backyard
incinerator s in 1987, together with the closure of two localcoal firedpower station s in 1986 and a 50% decrease in lead levels found inpetrol , resulted in a lowering of pollution levels.Brisbane's historical timeline
*1770 Capt.
James Cook sails up Queensland coast with botanistJoseph Banks ; namesCape Moreton , Point Lookout and Glass House Mountains. Takes possession of eastern Australia, naming itNew South Wales .
*1799 Capt.Matthew Flinders explores Moreton and Hervey bays; names Red Cliff Point (now Redcliffe), Pumice-stone River (nowPumicestone Passage ). Also lands onCoochiemudlo Island .
*1823 Emancipated convicts John Finnegan, Richard Parsons andThomas Pamphlett shipwrecked off Moreton Is while looking for timber (a fourth person,John Thomson , died at sea). Following a quarrel, Parsons continues north while others stay on the island.
*1823 Surveyor-generalJohn Oxley arrives at Bribie Island to evaluateMoreton Bay as a site for penal settlement. Discovers Finnegan and Pamphlett who guide him to theBrisbane River ; namesPeel Island , Pine River and Deception Bay.
*1824 Oxley discovers Parsons and returns him to Sydney.
*1824 First commandant Lt. Henry Miller arrives at Red Cliffe Pt from Sydney with soldiers, a storekeeper and their families, John Oxley, botanist Allan Cunningham, stock and seeds.
*1824 First settler born in colony named Amity Moreton Thompson.
*1825 Shipping channel via South Passage found; settlement moves to Brisbane River; first convict buildings built along William St.
*1825Edmund Lockyer of 57th Regiment explores Brisbane River. Notes flood debris 100 feet above river levels at Mount Crosby, finds first coal deposits. Names Redbank after soil colour.
*1826 Capt.Patrick Logan takes over as commandant of colony. Achieves extensive stone building program using convict labour. Discovers Southport bar andLogan River
*1827 Allan Cunningham leavesHunter Valley to seek link via New England Tableland toDarling Downs .
*1827 Indigenous resistance leader "Napoleon" exiled to St Helena Island. Aborigines raid maize plots, resist advances. Frequent conflict until 1840s.
*1828 Cunningham discovers gap inGreat Dividing Range , providing access from Moreton Bay to Darling Downs. Also explores Esk-Lockyer basin and upper Brisbane Valley in 1829.
*1829 Moreton Bay Aborigines seriously affected by smallpox.
*1830 Capt. Logan mysteriously murdered near Esk, commemorated in folk songConvict's Lament .
*1831 Moreton Bay settlement population reaches 1241, including 1066 convicts.
*1833 Ship "Stirling Castle" wrecked onSwain Reef ; first of many ships to wreck on Queensland coast over next 40 years.
*1836Quaker missionaries report Moreton Bay Indigenous population infected withvenereal disease from American whalers.
*1837 Brisbane's pioneering Petrie family arrives in Moreton Bay.Andrew Petrie (builder and stonemason) is clerk of government works; stays on with wife Mary and five children after penal settlement closes. SonJohn Petrie becomes Brisbane's first mayor; other son Tom writes sympathetically about local Indigenous people.
*1839 Calls to cease convict transportation successful; Moreton Bay is closed as a penal settlement. 2062 men and 150 women served sentences at the settlement, half of them being Irish; 10 percent died, 700 fled, 98 never recaptured.
*1840 Escaped convict John Baker surrenders after 14 years of living with Indigenous Australians.
*1841 Indigenous people Merridio and Neugavil are executed at Wickham Terrace windmill for themurder of surveyor Stapylton and his assistant in Logan.
*1842 New South Welsh GovernorGeorge Gipps proclaims Moreton Bay a free settlement. Land is offered for sale from Sydney.
*1846 Squatter and entrepreneurEvan Mackenzie succeeds in making Brisbane a port independent from Sydney.
*1846 Recorded population of Moreton Bay area is 4000 Aborigines and 2257 migrants.
*1848 First 240 government-assisted British migrants arrive in Brisbane. First Chinese labourers arrive.
*1849 Rev Dr J.D. Lang, local clergyman and journalist, brings his first English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish migrants with unauthorised promise of land grants. Government rations issued to prevent starvation. Lang envisages a colony of self-sufficient, thrifty and hard-working farmers, workers and artisans.
*1849Brisbane School of Arts established.
*1849William Pettigrew arrives in colony. He later becomes the mayor of Brisbane in 1870 and is a member of theQueensland Legislative Assembly between 1877-94.
*1850 Areas beyond inner Brisbane suburbs, such as Bulimba, Coorparoo, Enoggera, Nundah, Sherwood and Stafford are used for agriculture and grazing until the 1880s.
*1850 Displaced Aborigines from Bribie Island, Redcliffe peninsula and Wide Bay make gunyah camps inBreakfast Creek /Eagle Farm region (until 1860s).
*1850Arthur Lyon sends sample of cotton from New Farm toThe Great Exhibition in London.
*1851Influenza epidemic hits Brisbane (lasting in 1852).
*1855 Nearly 1000 German migrants arrive in Brisbane after political unrest and the introduction of compulsory military training; most settle in the Nundah area.
*1862 Old Government House is completed.
*1866 11 September, food riots that were instigated by the recently retrenched workers.cite book |title=A History of Queensland |last=Evans |first=Raymond |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Port Melbourne, Victoria |isbn=9780521876926 |pages=85 ]
*1867 Parliament House opens.
*1885 Horse drawn tram system commences operation.
*1893 Brisbane floods.
*1897 Electric trams introduced.
*1899Queensland Museum leaves the old State Library Building to move into "Exhibition Hall" (later called the Old Museum), at Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills.
*1901 Celebrations held to mark Federation, on New Year's Day.
*1901 Fire alarms and pillar hydrants introduced to Brisbane city streets.
*1902 Central Railway Station in Ann Street,Brisbane completed.
*1902 Brisbane officially designated city status by theGovernment of Queensland .
*1909 Government House opens at Bardon
*1909University of Queensland opens near Parliament House.
*1922 Queensland Government purchases privately owned tram system and establishes the Brisbane Tramways Trust.
*1925 Amalgamation of 25 local government areas to form the City of Greater Brisbane.
*1925 Queensland Government transfers responsibility for the tram system from the Brisbane Tramways Trust to theBrisbane City Council .
*1927Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary founded
*1928 Sir Charles Kingsford Smith lands in Brisbane, fromSan Francisco ,USA , after the first flight across the Pacific Ocean.
*1930Brisbane City Hall opened.
*1939 Forgan Smith building completed at the St. Lucia campus of the University of Queensland. (Forgan Smith building was named after the, then, Premier of Queensland)
*1942 General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Brisbane and takes offices in the AMP building (later called MacArthur Central) for the Pacific campaign duringWorld War II
*1946 Following a delay caused byWorld War II theUniversity of Queensland began its move from George Street, Brisbane, to its St Lucia campus, which it completed in 1972
*1964 Adoption of first Brisbane Town Plan
*1965 Queensland Institute of Technology (laterQueensland University of Technology ) established
*1968Brisbane City Council announces conversion of tram and trolley-bus systems to all-bus operations
*1969 Tram and trolley bus systems close, new Victoria Bridge opened
*1974Brisbane River flooding, the result of continual heavy rain from "Cyclone Wanda ", causes major damage across city
*1982 Commonwealth Games
*1984Queensland Performing Arts Centre opened at theQueensland Cultural Centre
*1986Queensland Museum moves to theQueensland Cultural Centre
*1986 Tennyson and Bulimba coal-fired power station closed down
*1988State Library of Queensland leaves the old State Library Building to move to theQueensland Cultural Centre
*1988 Expo 88 held at reclaimed industrial land at South Brisbane
*1989 Queensland Institute of Technology changed status toQueensland University of Technology . (The decision to upgrade the QIT to a University in it own right was a result of the high quality and excellence of the teaching and research within the QIT, and was taken prior to the Dawkins reforms)
*1991 International Convention ofLions Clubs International
*2001 CHOGM conference, scheduled for Brisbane, but postponed after heightened security concerns resulting from terrorist attacks onNew York City . Instead it was held in Coolum in early 2002
*2001Goodwill Games
*2002 7th annual conference of theWorld Wide Web Consortium
*2003 International Convention ofRotary International References
* [http://thecouriermail.com.au/extras/oq/book2index.html Our Queensland: The Great Unknown] Comprehensive local newspaper outline of regional history.
* J.R. Cole, Shaping a City: Greater Brisbane 1925-1985, Brisbane 1984
* G. Greenwood and J. Laverty, Brisbane 1859-1959, BCC, 1959External links
* [http://www.heritageaustralia.com.au/search.php?state=QLD®ion=23&view=1094 Australian Heritage Historical Towns Directory -- Brisbane]
* [http://www.brisbanetramwaymuseum.org/ Brisbane Tramway Museum]
* [http://www.filmakers.com/indivs/BlackSoldierBlues.htm Black Soldier Blues]
* [http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/OQMG/professional_bulletin/1999/spring1999/QM%20Supply%20in%20the%20Pacific%20During%20WWII.htm QM Supply in the Pacific During WWII]
* [http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00014.cfm Sharing the Burden: Women in Cryptology during World War II]
* [http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/homefront/overview.html The Home Front - World War 2]
* [http://www.defence.gov.au/news/navynews/editions/4805/feature/feature07.htm Brisbane’s role in WWII focus of new book] regarding Brisbane as a large submarine base in World War II
* [http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/servlet/LogicRouter?PAGE=object&OUTPUTXSL=object_enc36ui.xslt&pm_RC=REPOSLQEAD&pm_OI=34361&pm_GT=Y&pm_IAC=Y&api_1=GET_OBJECT_XML&num_result=0 Portfolio of Photographs of the City of Brisbane and Suburbs, 1860 - 1902] - digitised and held by John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
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