Out of the Port
Pack your lunch and join us for the Out of the Port series. These talks aim to build awareness of our incredibly rich and diverse history and heritage while encouraging dialogue amongst researchers.
State Library of Queensland, John Oxley Library, and the Department of Environmental and Resources Management Heritage Branch come together to present a monthly series of talks promoting new research on Queensland.
The talks are held every third Wednesday of the month in slq Auditorium 2 at our South Bank building.
Straw, sticks and bricks: Queensland house histories
Discover how the wetlands, forests and clay of the Mary River helped shape the architecture of Maryborough, and how your own home may have been influenced by the environment. Leading historian and architect Don Watson examines how local building traditions in Maryborough relate to surveys undertaken prior to the discovery of gold in Gympie.
Brisbane City Council archivist Annabel Lloyd and Mary Howells, historian in the Heritage Branch of the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, reveal the resources which help in researching the history of a house.
This is an Out of the Port free lunchtime talk, presented by State Library’s John Oxley Library and the Department of Environmental and Heritage Protection. Hosted by Radio National’s Kate Evans.
When Wed 16 May, 12.30pm
Where slq Auditorium 2, level 2
Duration: 1:32:26hr
Download audio: mp3 [85 MB]
Windows media (audio): broadband
280kb] Irish in Queensland - their cultural legacy
Many Queenslanders can trace their ancestry back to Ireland due to the vigorous programs of migration in the 19th century that enticed working class Irish men and women to our shores. What was life like for these early settlers? Why did they come here? What is their enduring legacy in Queensland’s society and culture? Historian Dr Jennifer Harrison and Director of Mercy Heritage Centre Peter Connell discuss how the Irish have left their mark on the Queensland consciousness.
This is an Out of the Port free lunchtime talk, presented by State Library’s John Oxley Library and the Department of Environmental and Resource Management. Hosted by Radio National’s Kate Evans.
Speakers: Dr Jennifer Harrison and Peter Connell
When: Wed 14 March, 12.30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 1, level 2
Duration: 1:33:14
Download audio: mp3 [107 MB]
Windows media (audio): broadband Please note: There is a 3 minute delay before the lecture begins
Irish in Queensland resource list [new window 
61 kb]
Transcript [new window 432 kb]
Cyclone Mahina
In 1899, one of the most intense cyclones ever recorded smashed into the Queensland coast and killed more than 300 people. Cyclone Mahina destroyed the Thursday Island pearling fleets and is credited as being the world's highest storm surge.
Join journalist Ian Townsend as he explores some of the myths and misconceptions about this cyclone, revealing stories of the people who were there.
Ian is a journalist with ABC Radio National, producing radio documentaries for Background Briefing. He's won three Eureka Science Prizes and a Human Rights Award for journalism, and written two novels. His recent novel, The Devil's Eye, based on the Bathurst Bay pearling fleet disaster of 1899, was research with a fellowship at the State Library of Queensland's John Oxley Library and went on to be long-listed for the 2009 Miles Franklin Award.
This was an Out of the Port free lunchtime talk, presented by State Library’s John Oxley Library and the Department of Environmental and Resource Management.
When: Wed 19 Oct, 2011. 12.30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 2, level 2, State Library of Queensland
Duration: 01:09:32 hours
Windows Media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3[65mb]
Beneath the veneer: furnishing Queensland interiors in the late 19th century
Colonial Australians were generally known for their staunch loyalty to British goods and fashions for the furnishing of their home interiors. As the Australian colonies approached Federation, growing local manufacturers, including furnishings businesses, argued that a new nationalist loyalty should drive consumers to "buy local".
Using a number of case studies for Brisbane, Tracey Avery focusses on the complex issues of politics, climate, labour and economics that impacted on the furnishing choices of Queenslanders.
Tracey is Director, Strategy and Policy at Heritage Victoria, a Victorian State Government agency within the Department of Planning and Community Development. She was a Co-Project and Curatorial Manager, James Cook Museum, Cooktown for the National Trust of Queensland and was Cultural Heritage Manager at the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).
A PhD candidate in Architecture at the University of Melbourne, she has published on interior and object design history, most recently a chapter in the Design History Reader (Berg, 2010).
This was an Out of the Port free lunchtime talk, presented by the State Library's John Oxley Library and the Department of Environment and Resource Management.
When: Wed 21 Sep, 2011. 12.30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 2, level 2, State Library of Queensland
Duration: 00:51:16 minutes
Windows Media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [48 MB]
Out of the Port – Beating Heart
Before ‘suburban sprawl’ threatened to choke its existence, Flinders Street was the focus of social, political and economic growth in Townsville for over a century. Join Trish Fielding as she explores how people once lived, worked, shopped, socialised, celebrated and protested in Townsville’s main street, sharing the photographs and community memories that illustrate a story of struggle, strife and spirit.Trisha is currently studying a Masters in History with the University of New England. Her thesis will focus on maternal and infant welfare in early 20th Century North Queensland. Trisha works for CityLibraries Townsville and her first book Flinders Street, Townsville: A Pictorial History was awarded a High Commendation at the National Trust of Queensland Awards in 2010.
Speaker: Trish Fielding
When: Tues 17 Aug 2011, 12:30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 1, level 2, State Library of Queensland
Duration: 00:59:40
Download audio: mp3 [56 MB]
Windows media (audio): broadband
Out of the Port - Ernie Lane: The making of a Queensland rebel, with Dr Jeff Rickertt
In the pioneering years of the Queensland labour movement, Ernest Henry Lane was one of the fieriest firebrands of them all. Yet he was shipped to Brisbane in 1884 as a model immigrant, an industrious young man who carried the convictions of a childhood steeped in loyalty to Queen and empire. So, what went wrong? In this talk, John Oxley Library Fellow Dr Jeff Rickertt delves into the turbulent world of colonial labour politics to explain the making of Ernie Lane as one of the nation’s most resolute rebels.
Dr Rickertt is a Brisbane historian with an abiding interest in the State’s rebels and radicals. He was a contributor to and assistant editor of Radical Brisbane: An Unruly History and is co-editor of the Queensland Journal of Labour History. As the 2010 John Oxley Library Fellow, Dr Rickertt is working on a political biography of Ernest Henry Lane.
Speaker: Dr Jeff Rickertt
When: Wed 20 July, 12:30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 2, level 2, State Library of Queensland
Duration: 00:57:03 minutes
Windows media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [58MB]
Out of the Port - Out of the closet and into the museum
In June last year, the city of Brisbane was somewhat astonished to find itself the host of the first ever lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history exhibition.
Many voices were heard at the award-winning Museum of Brisbane exhibition, Prejudice and Pride, and iconic places were celebrated.
Join curator Carol Lowe as she recounts how the community took on ‘doing their own history’.
Prior Prejudice and Pride Carol was the History Project Officer for Queensland Association for Healthy Communities, which initiated this ground-breaking work. Carol’s has also worked on the Museum of Brisbane’s award-winning exhibition Remembering Goodna which told the story of Wolston Park, Queensland’s psychiatric hospital.
Speaker: Carol Lowe
When: Wed 15 Jun, 12.30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 2, level 2, State Library of Queensland
Duration: 00:57:03 minutes
Windows Media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [54MB]
Out of the Port - Death at the Beach
The iconic Queensland beach, loved for its sun, surf and sand, can turn deadly without warning.
Join Dr Jonathan Richards as he delves into the darker side of our coastline, discussing fatalities on Queensland beaches and coastal waterways as recorded by coronial inquests held between 1890 and 1960.
From the common drowning and shark attacks, to crocodile and stinger attacks, learn about the murky underbelly of our much loved beach.
Dr Richards, a lecturer in Australian history at the School of Humanities, Griffith University, specialises in archival research into violence and death in Queensland. He is the author of The Secret War: A True History of Queensland's Native Police, short-listed twice for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.
Speaker: Dr Jonathan Richards
When: Wed 18 May, 2011. 12.30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 2, level 2, State Library of Queensland
Duration: 01:00:29 hours
Windows Media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [56.7 MB]
Wrecked! A survey of shipwreck sites on the Queensland coast, with Paddy Waterson
Throughout history, Queensland’s treacherous coastline has claimed nearly 1,400 vessels. The maritime industry is at the heart of Queensland’s and Australia’s historic development and shipping was the principal mode of transport for goods and people until well into the 20th Century.
The high volume of sea trade coupled with the treacherous nature of our coastline resulted is a many vessels being lost or abandoned. Today, these shipwrecks continue to attract attention, both from a historical and a touristic viewpoint. Yet, despite its profile there is much we do not know about our maritime heritage. The Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) is conducting a five year survey of Queensland’s historic shipwrecks to draw together all the available information, establishing a more complete picture of where the wrecks are and what they can tell us.
Join Paddy Waterson, Queensland’s appointed Historical Shipwreck Practitioner, as she brings some of these stories to the surface.
Paddy is a Principal Heritage Officer with the Heritage Branch, DERM, working throughout Queensland, especially in the Far North, Wide Bay/Burnett and South-Eastern Districts. Initially trained as a general archaeologist/historian, Paddy has since completed postgraduate qualifications in forensic osteology and maritime archaeology.
Presented by State Library of Queensland and the Department of Environment and Resource Management Heritage branch.
Speaker: Paddy Waterson
When: Wed 20 Apr, 2011. 12.30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 2, level 2, State Library of Queensland
Duration: 1 hour
Windows Media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [57 MB]
Language & Landscape: European Words in Aboriginal Spaces
For thousands of years the Australian landscape was covered with networks of Indigenous placenames that described and evoked features of the environment. As colonisers swept across the Australian countryside they introduced English names to previously well-known places and landmarks, making it more like their home world. From the Glasshouse Mountains to the Brisbane River, the Great Dividing Range to the Darling Downs, the use of English names rendered the unknown more identifiable to the European settlers, while simultaneously turning the Aboriginal into an artefact and providing the very basis for terra nullius. Join Dale Kerwin as he discusses language and landscape and the impact on the Queensland Indigenous population at this intriguing Out of the Port session. Dale is a proud Goorie from the Worimi Nation in New South Wales. He is committed to furthering knowledge about Aboriginal cultural heritage and inscribing Aboriginal ontology on the body of Australian history.
Speaker: Dale Kerwin
When: Wed 16 Mar, 12.30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 2, level 2, State Library of Queensland
Duration: 1:08:31 hours
Download audio: mp3 [64 MB]
Windows media (audio): broadband
Brisbane floods with Helen Gregory
Join Queensland historian Helen Gregory for an intriguing conversation about floods in Brisbane and learn more about why history matters. Hear about the frequency of floods, the warnings, heroes, scandals, generosity, despair, hope and renewal. How have the significant floods of 1893 and 1974 been remembered and what has been forgotten? What legacy will 2011 leave?
Part of the Out of the Port lecture series.
Presented in partnership with the Department of Environment and Resource Management Heritage branch.
When Sat 19 Feb, 2011. 2pm
Where slq Auditorium 1, level 2
Duration: 1:23:11 mins
Windows media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [ 80 MB]
Boggo Road Gaol – a new chapter? with Robert Riddel
With the closure of what had become the ‘hell hole’ of Queensland’s prison system and infamous for the rioting of its inmates, so began a new chapter. The site was then master planned as a science park, urban housing development and public transport interchange. The former women’s prison of 1903 was preserved intact but after 20 years its future is unresolved. The talk explores the potential of this significant site which contains one of the landmark groups of buildings that defined ‘Victorian’ Brisbane.
Robert Riddel
Robert Riddel is an architect with a background in conservation and adaptive reuse. He has taught architectural history and recorded many of the best built works of our city as well as designing a few of his own. He is a member of the Urban Design Board and a keen advocate for a better Brisbane.
When Wed 17 Nov, 2010.12.30pm
Where slq Auditorium 2, level 2
Duration: 56 mins
Windows media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [ 55 MB]
Cooks + Books
Reading between the lines of recipes shows how food tastes in Queensland have broadened over more than 150 years. The talk explores the stories behind significant Queensland cookbooks held by the State Library — from early manuscripts in the John Oxley Library to contemporary glossy publications in the Slow Food Library of Gastronomy—to illustrate aspects of our culinary heritage. The cookbooks not only instruct in the preparation of food, but also provide insights into everyday life, promote products, raise funds for particular causes, advocate better nutrition, or extend our cultural horizons.
Susan Addison and Judith McKay
Susan and Judith are co-authors of the book A good plain cook: an edible history of Queensland, originally published by Boolarong Publications in 1985 and re-published by the Queensland Museum in 1999. As John Oxley Library Fellows 2009−10, they were able to extend their research and focus on the rich holdings of the State Library.
When Wed 18 Aug, 2010. 12.30pm
Where slq Auditorium 2, level 2
Duration: 55 mins
Windows media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [54 MB]
Missing! German heritage of Queensland with Anna Haebich and Mark Schuster
German immigration from the 1840s to the present has had a significant influence on Queensland history and culture. Yet only traces of German heritage remain in our public collections and a comprehensive history is yet to be written. Anna Haebich and Mark Schuster discuss the reasons for this absence and describe some of the significant heritage that has survived. Notable is Mark’s private collection of German musical heritage and other items from the Toowomba region. Ways to preserve and promote Queensland’s German heritage will also be addressed.
Anna Haebich
Anna Haebich is a Research Intensive Professor at Griffith University. Her family arrived in Queensland from Schleswig-Holstein in 1864. As historian-in residence at the State Library of Queensland for Q150, Anna made several discoveries of German items in its collections. She has written about searching for her ancestors in Germany and is now working on a book that will vividly depict the lives and heritage of German immigrants to Queensland.
Mark Schuster
Mark Schuster is a true German-Queensland character. For the last 25 years he has sought out the hidden folklore (music, songs, yarns and customs) of the German-Queensland farming community in southern Queensland. He has lived, researched and recorded this hidden heritage before it passes away. He has accessed the treasure troves of people’s memories and passions for the German diaspora in often isolated locations. Playing squeezebox, zither, reciting broken German-Australian poetry are just some of his passions. This ‘artsy’ scientist will enthrall you with the amazing stories of our pioneer Queenslanders. He is the custodian for the Queensland chapter of the German community in their multicultural journey to becoming Queenslanders.
When Wed 20 Oct, 2010. 12.30pm
Where slq Auditorium 2, level 2
Duration: 1 hour
Windows media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [57 MB]
Illegal immigration: nineteenth century style with Gordon Grimwade
In the late nineteenth century, Chinese overlanders walked over 2000 kilometres from the Darwin area to North Queensland in search of permanent work. Travelling in small groups these unemployed miners and artisans carried limited food and water. Many died en route. They had to avoid hostile Aboriginal attacks and find their way on poorly marked tracks. When they reached Queensland they ran the risk of arrest and six months jail. Some were deported back to Darwin. Others were marched to the border and told to find their own way back.
This presentation provides an overview of the experiences of some of those overlanders, their encounters with the border police and identifies some of the sites relating to an aspect of tropical Australian development that has eluded the history books.
Gordon Grimwade
Gordon has lived and worked in north Australia for many years. His work on Australian Chinese archaeology has ranged from Chinese temples, gold mines and pig roasting ovens to developing displays on Chinese settlement and culture. As the State Library of Queensland’s John Oxley Fellow for 2008 and the recipient of a Northern Territory History Grant Gordon has, more recently, been delving into archival records in Brisbane, Darwin and Adelaide and criss-crossing the northern savanna researching the untold tales of colonial illegal immigration and border police.
When Wed 15 Sep, 2010. 12.30pm
Where slq Auditorium 2, level 2
Duration 1:06 hours
Windows media (audio): broadband
Download audio: mp3 [63 MB]
Photography and Aboriginal identity in south-east Queensland
When looking at photographs of Aboriginal people taken over 100 years ago, the viewer often considers the huge changes to Aboriginal society and the landscape. This is especially true when considering photographs that come from areas such as south east Queensland, an area that is now highly urbanised. Regardless of the change that has occurred to the landscape and to Aboriginal culture, historical photographs have played an important role in enabling Aboriginal people to assert their connection to community and country. Michael Aird discussed the methods he uses to identify people in historical photos. He also spoke about how Aboriginal community members have played an important role in helping to attach valuable information to these photos.
Michael Aird
Michael has worked full-time in the area of Aboriginal cultural heritage since 1985, graduating in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Queensland. His main interest is urban Aboriginal photographic history, curating several exhibitions as well as being author of several books and articles. In 1996, he established Keeaira press, an independent publishing house. For five years, Michael was Curator of Aboriginal Studies at the Queensland Museum and continues to work as a freelance curator and anthropologist.
Speaker: Michael Aird
When: Wed 21 Jul, 2010. 12.30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 2, level 2
State Library of Queensland
Duration: 1:06 hour
Download audio: mp3 [64 MB]
Liking the unloved
Liking the Unloved uncovers the story behind the planning and construction of one of the most prominent landmarks in Brisbane’s CBD, the Riverside Expressway. Do you like it or loathe it? Most people have an opinion on this one but Don’s enlightening story might lead you to change your mind.
Don Watson
Don is an architect with the Queensland Department of Public Works. Co-author with Judith McKay of A directory of Queensland architects to 1940 and Queensland architects of the nineteenth century: a biographical dictionary, Don has taught at The University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology.
Speaker: Don Watson
When: Wed 21 Apr, 2010. 12.30pm
Where: slq Auditorium 2, level 2
State Library of Queensland
Duration: 1 hour
Download audio: mp3 [56 MB]
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Last updated: 15th March 2012
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