There are intriguing references to a location called Sailors' Gully in Brisbane's Highgate Hill over a 30 year period at the end of the 19th century. A 1930s description mentions runaway sailors living here in tents and later building houses. My research has identified four of the sailors who gave it this name, and revealed their stories.
Places
The Fraught Beginnings of St Andrew’s South Brisbane
In the 1870s, Anglican parishioners of South Brisbane were looking for a large elevated site on which to build a new church, hall and rectory. Their innovative plan wasn't to be completed for 13 years, and then only due to a nasty divorce.
Glenview – An 1883 Highgate Hill House
We've lived in our house now for almost 40 years. In this post I describe Glenview's origins and some of the people who have lived here, as well our journey through restoration and maintenance of this old house.
The story of an intersection: Boundary and Vulture Streets, West End
The corner of Boundary and Vulture Streets in West End has been a centre of local commerce since the 1880s. This post traces the history of the intersection and the people who had their businesses there.
Say Tristram’s Please !
The son of a soldier sent to Australia, Thomas Tristram started his own soft drink business at an early age. After his death, managed by the family, Tristram's became a household name, before falling victim to the changing structure of the industry.
The Trials and Tribulations of Thomas Dixon
Thomas Dixon certainly had a lot of ups and downs. In 1885, he lost all 5 of his tannery and boot-making buildings in a fire, the 1893 flood swept away a tannery building, in 1908 another fire destroyed a major building with all its equipment, and finally a blaze in 1952 destroyed a large amount of stock. Despite weathering a crisis from cheap imports in the 1930s, it succumbed to the same issue 50 years later.
James Cole and the West End Can Factory
James Cole establish a small tinsmith business in 1885. His firm, later the Queensland Can Company, steadily grew over the years at its Vulture Street, West End, location to become a major local employer. The remaining buildings are a reminder of this industrial heritage.
Dornoch Terrace – A Pathway Through Time Part 2
In part 1 of my history of Dornoch Terrace, I looked at its ancient origins as an Aboriginal pathway and early European settlement through the 19th century. This post covers the development of the street into a prestigious "dress circle" in the 1920s and 30s, followed by a period of decline, and finally the emergence … Continue reading Dornoch Terrace – A Pathway Through Time Part 2
Dornoch Terrace – A Pathway Through Time Part 1
Few of those travelling up and down Dornoch Terrace realise that they are following a path that has been in use for tens of thousands of years. Since the arrival of Europeans , the pathway through the bush has been transformed to a rough dirt track, then to a genteel residential dress circle and finally to a heavily trafficked and at times dangerous thoroughfare. This is its story.
Grange House South Brisbane
Grange House has stood prominently on a ridge in South Brisbane overlooking the city for over 140 years. It's had many interesting occupants over that time, many of whom have made significant contributions to Queensland.
Highgate Hill and Its History 