Highgate Hill and Its History

Stories from Brisbane's Inner Southside Past.

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Making a Splash 2 – South Brisbane’s Early Swimming Baths

December 3, 2022December 18, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / 4 Comments

With a sad history of regular destruction of Brisbane's floating baths by floods, advances in pumping technology allowed Brisbane's swimming pools to move from the river. This post looks at these early pools on the southside.

Making a Splash – Brisbane’s Floating Swimming Baths

November 5, 2022January 19, 2023 / Paul's Blogs / 3 Comments

Brisbane's sticky climate and a lack of reticulated water made the prospect of swimming baths very attractive. Brisbane had a total of twelve floating baths on the river almost all were by floods.

The Dutton Park Garden Theatre

June 4, 2022July 25, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / 4 Comments

Dutton Park on Gladstone Road was briefly leading Australia in popularising moving pictures with crowds of up to 7,000 attending a screening in 1909. It then returned to being a rubbish dump.

Tom Garrick and his West End Theatres

April 2, 2022July 25, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / 5 Comments

Thomas (Dad) Garrick, after a nautical career, became a pioneer of cinema in Queensland. His family company established the Lyric Theatre in West End in 1912 and in 1923 they built the Rialto in Hill End. Only the Rialto survives, repurposed as commercial premises.

A Walk Down Norfolk Road

February 25, 2022July 28, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / 2 Comments

Norfolk Road in South Brisbane has 6 heritage listed houses as well as a number of other 19th century dwellings. Each one has a story to tell.

Early South Brisbane Street Names and the Montague Mystery

December 4, 2021August 3, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / 11 Comments

When South Brisbane was surveyed for the first land sales in the 1840s, the streets were named after prominent British aristocratic politicians. At the northern was Montague Street that later became Montague Road. But who was it named after? Could it have been an error?

The Three Torbrecks

November 6, 2021November 14, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / 3 Comments

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.

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Nicholas Walpole Raven and the West End Pub With No Beer

September 4, 2021November 14, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / 8 Comments

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

August 1, 2021March 11, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / 16 Comments

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.

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The West End School of Arts

July 3, 2021October 11, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / 4 Comments

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.

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Recent Posts

Recent Posts

  • Dishonourable Real Estate Practices of the 1880s
  • Making a Splash 2 – South Brisbane’s Early Swimming Baths
  • Making a Splash – Brisbane’s Floating Swimming Baths
  • All That Glitters – Brisbane Gold Rushes
  • George and Amelia Croft’s South Brisbane Amphitheatre
  • Life with Brisbane’s Trams
  • The Dutton Park Garden Theatre
  • The Lang Family of Rosecliffe Street
  • Tom Garrick and his West End Theatres
  • A Walk Down Norfolk Road
  • “Hamlet’s Ghost”
  • Early South Brisbane Street Names and the Montague Mystery
  • The Three Torbrecks
  • Sheep, a House and Three Churches
  • Nicholas Walpole Raven and the West End Pub With No Beer
  • Brisbane’s Princess Theatre
  • The West End School of Arts
  • Beer, Books and a Bookie – the Story of a Highgate Hill House
  • The Davies Park Story
  • Alexander Brown Wilson, Architect.
  • Ferdinand and Josephine Papi – an Edwardian Power Couple
  • Kurilpa – Water, Water, Everywhere
  • Alfred Hockings and his “Rosaville” Nursery
  • “Dorra Tor” – Plywood, Politics and Punters
  • The Fascinating Story of the First Victoria Bridge
  • Omnibus Families of the Southside
  • Brisbane’s Omnibuses
  • Holy Hawthorne Street
  • Vulture Street – From Dotted Line to Bitumen
  • The Origins of Orleigh Park

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