Since the early 1960s, the Torbreck apartment building on Highgate Hill has been a Brisbane landmark. The original Torbreck on the site was demolished in 1958 but another was built nearby by the same family in 1908.
Places
Nicholas Walpole Raven and the West End Pub With No Beer
The eccentric Nicholas Walpole Raven spent years trying to get a licence for the hotel he built on Montague Road. Eventually he used a loophole and established the West End Club which soon fell foul of the law.
Brisbane’s Princess Theatre
The Princess Theatre is a survivor. It's gone through numerous cycles of popularity and obscurity and come close to destruction by fire and demolition but the show goes on.
The West End School of Arts
The School of Arts in Boundary Street, West End, played an important role in the community for 80 years. Today it is all but forgotten. The Kurilpa Library, built as an extension to the School of Arts in 1928, carries on an over 130 year old tradition.
Beer, Books and a Bookie – the Story of a Highgate Hill House
An imposing house from stone at the peak of Highgate Hill, built in 1893, was home to just 3 families over a large part of its life. As a rental property, it's been the home to many.
The Davies Park Story
Davies Park has been a place of sport and leisure for 120 years. Well known for Rugby League football, its also seen patriotic carnivals, prize fights, speedway racing, square dancing and much more.
“Dorra Tor” – Plywood, Politics and Punters
There's a quiet corner of Highgate Hill bordering South Brisbane where many surviving old houses boast spectacular views. One of these is the home "Dorra Tor" which has a fascinating history. Thomas Blacket Stephens Thomas Blacket Stephens arrived in Brisbane with his wife Anne nee Connah in around 1856. He established a fellmongery and tanning … Continue reading “Dorra Tor” – Plywood, Politics and Punters
The Fascinating Story of the First Victoria Bridge
Due to political bastardry, bad contracting, financial crisis and the forces of nature, the first Victoria Bridge took 10 years to build at more than double the expected cost. Twenty years later it was replaced. Here's the fascinating story.
Holy Hawthorne Street
Once the location of two bora rings, there are now three churches on Hawthorne Street in Woolloongabba. The spiritual nature of the location disappeared with modern development and the building of the freeway which cuts the street in two.
Vulture Street – From Dotted Line to Bitumen
Vulture Street started life as a dotted staight line drawn across a map of Brisbane in the 1840s. It took another 40 years to become a useful through road.
Highgate Hill and Its History 