Hope
Postcard from the Lorenz Family Albums. Reference code: 5892
Queensland was created from the hopes of hundreds and thousands of people who moved here seeking a better life. They left behind loved ones and familiar places to live amongst strangers in a foreign land. With hard work and cheap land, many achieved their dreams. The hopes of others were dashed by natural disasters, economic depression and plain bad luck.
Flowery government propaganda ensured a continuing flow of starry-eyed newcomers. The preferred migrants were British. Germans were a second best. Chinese and Pacific Island labourers were barely tolerated.
Few colonists considered the hopes and dreams of the Indigenous people they displaced from the land. Violence, malnutrition and disease slashed their numbers by ninety percent from an estimated 200,000 people to 25,000 in 1900.
Moving to Queensland
How it feels to leave home and country to live in a strange new land.
Portrait of Robert Christison, 1877. Reference code: TR 1867/150
Boom and Bust
One of Australia’s worst natural disasters smashes the North Queensland pearling fleet.
Three sisters (left to right): Louisa, Moarah and Mary, on Darnley Island (also known as Erub), 1899. Image No: 49780
Beautiful one day
The art of government spin has a long history in Queensland.
Detail of promotional map of Queensland, 1898. Call No: RBM 840 1898 10771
Last updated: 28th November 2011
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