Highgate Hill and Its History

Stories from Brisbane's Inner Southside Past.

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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.

-27.487136 153.014870

Children on the Loose

January 19, 2019May 13, 2022 / Paul's Blogs / Leave a comment

How much society norms regarding the rearing of children have changed is brought home by these stories from not that long ago.

The Yodelling Milk Money Thief and Other Scoundrels

March 18, 2018March 18, 2018 / Paul's Blogs / Leave a comment

Over the years descriptions of a number of unusual Highgate Hill thefts have appeared in newspapers including a yodelling milk money thief and an audacious gas meter thief.

Tennis

December 9, 2017August 21, 2020 / Paul's Blogs / 2 Comments

The first night tennis tournament in Brisbane took place in Highgate Hill in 1924

Who Shot “Spider” Raper? 1926

February 4, 2017August 4, 2020 / Paul's Blogs / Leave a comment

The shooting of a notorious criminal at Highgate Hill made big headlines in 1926. Was the man who pulled the trigger guilty of murder?

Highgate Hill Reservoir 1889

December 17, 2016September 21, 2021 / Paul's Blogs / 6 Comments

Problems with water reticulation in Highgate Hill were solved by the building of a reservoir in 1889. It was gravity fed from Gold Creek dam which had the world’s first concrete stepped spillway.

Glenview – A Highgate Hill House circa 1883

June 24, 2016January 28, 2023 / Paul's Blogs / 14 Comments

If you’re lucky, a search through Trove digitised newspapers can reveal much about a house’s history, especially in the period when houses were known by their names. Here's what I found out about our house.

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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