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.
West end local 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.
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.
Highgate Hill and Its History 