Updates
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oncewasacreek, once more!
I was beginning to think I’d never write this post. After eight years of inactivity (or ten if you ignore the two hopeful posts in 2018), this project seemed to have run its course. I’d come to accept that I might never get around to reviving it. But, I am delighted to say, oncewasacreek has…
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The next generation of map overlays
Historical maps and survey plans were central to oncewasacreek from its inception. Reading about Milton’s lost creek in the archives of Trove and in Matthew Condon’s book Brisbane was intriguing, but seeing Western Creek depicted on one of the early maps — probably it was McKellar’s map from 1895 — was for me a revelation.…
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Movement at the horse paddock
Recently, while driving along Rainworth Road past the south-east corner of the governor’s property, I noticed something new. Running through this grassy area, which I understand to be the governor’s old horse paddock, were two rows of newly planted trees. Interspersed among the new trees, which still were housed in their protective plastic tents, were…
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Tiger, brandy, oyster saloon: A new way to read the Brisbane Courier
It’s reboot time! It’s been eighteen months since I last posted here, and four years since I started my PhD. But my thesis now is nearly out of the way, which means I can return to more recreational forms of writing. It also means I can unveil what I have been working on to keep…
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Navigating the history of Norman Creek
While I continue to neglect my own website, I did recently find time to contribute to someone else’s. In collaboration with Trish FitzSimons, who recently produced a wonderful series of short films featured in the Museum of Brisbane’s Navigating Norman Creek exhibit, and with support from the Brisbane City Council’s Community History Grant, I contributed…
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May Day mayday! A tale of extraordinary weather and extra-ordinary lasagne.
It’s been a long time between posts. As per the forecast, my PhD has reduced this blog from a bubbling stream to a lifeless dry creek bed. But any stream can be revived with a little rain. And with a lot of rain, it all comes flooding back. ‘A lot of rain’ is one way…
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Brisbane Biodiversity Forum, Tuesday October 21.
Things have been pretty quiet here recently, and I’m afraid that they are likely to remain so, at least for a little while. I’ve just commenced a PhD at the university of Queensland, so naturally enough, that’s where nearly all of my mental energy is being channelled. And rather than keeping things simple by basing…
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Up hill and down Dale: Where did Elizabeth drown?
In the fourth episode of Uncovering Langsville Creek, I told the story of Elizabeth Dale, who on 31 January 1905 drowned in a waterhole in the Toowong Cemetery. I was intrigued by the notion that there was once a waterhole in this otherwise dry and barren land, so I set about trying to determine its…
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The Western Creek floodgate: a reality after 125 years
Way back in January, I reported that the City Council had begun constructing a floodgate at the mouth of Western Creek. This is the spot where the Milton Drain meets the river, right next to where the dilapidated shell of the old floating restaurant still stands. If you have passed by this spot in the…
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Creeks and Catchments seminar, 21 June
Are you interested in creeks and catchments? And history? Of course you are! Well, if you are free on the afternoon of Saturday 21 June, you might want to come along to a seminar called ‘Creeks and Catchments’ being presented by the Brisbane History Group in conjunction with the Griffith Film School. I will be…
Got any book recommendations?