Today, Sunday is a day of leisure for many, while others work and earn penalty-rate wages. This situation evolved slowly over a long period of time from the position of any work or public leisure activities on a Sunday being an anathema to most and often illegal. There was along the way angst, stale bread, and ripped up cricket pitches.
West End Brisbane History
Charlie “Chiller” Jones – a Kurilpa Lionheart
Charles Julius Jones survived leg injuries from a shark attack in the Brisbane River as a boy, and shrapnel wounds to the legs on the Somme in WW1, only for tragedy to strike on his return home to West End, Brisbane.
War Comes to West End
After the outbreak of war in 1939, Air Raid Precautions committees were formed all over Australia. This post looks at the West End, Brisbane, group and how the war impacted them and their community.
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.
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.
Tom Garrick and his West End Theatres
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.
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.
Toonarbin
Stately Toonarbin built in the 1860s is one of the district's oldest houses and predates the creation of Dornoch Terrace on which it now stands.
Highgate Hill and Its History 