We’ve all seen them somewhere before, although most of us would not have given them a second thought. Weird, curly, slightly alien leaves carved in stone on the borders of headstones, atop classical columns, and adorning the edges of friezes. You don’t realise how ubiquitous the Acanthus mollis is in architecture until you start lookingContinue reading “The Everywhere Plant: Why is the Acanthus so Common in Funerary and Civic Architecture?”
Tag Archives: Brisbane history
How Many ‘North Brisbane Burial Grounds’ Were There?
This article is a reminder of why the mindful use of historical placenames matters. The former convict settlement of Brisbane became a free town in 1842, and during the following year two burial ground reserves were set aside there. The one in South Brisbane was a rectangular five-acre block split into seven separate denominational sections,Continue reading “How Many ‘North Brisbane Burial Grounds’ Were There?”
The 50th Guardian Angels Day
An article commemorating the 50th ‘Guardian Angels’ grave cleaning day at the South Brisbane Cemetery.
Colonial Columns: Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum (1869)
A vivid description of the ‘Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum’, written back in 1869.
Constance Clyde of Dutton Park: Author and Suffragette
Learn about the life of Constance ‘Clyde’ McAdam – author, sometime Suffragette, and eventual Brisbanite.
Colonial Columns: Consecration of the Church of England Burial Ground (Brisbane, 1862)
An article describing the consecration of the Church of England Burial Ground in Brisbane, 1862.
Australia’s Next Top Bizarre Death-Contraption
Read about the bizarre methods of execution proposed by 19th-century Queenslanders.
Slim Halliday: Man or Spiderman?
Did Arthur ‘Slim’ Halliday REALLY jump from a cellblock roof to escape from Boggo Road?
‘To Preserve and to Protect: Policing Colonial Brisbane’ – Book Review
Book review for ‘To Preserve and to Protect: Policing Colonial Brisbane’ by Anastasia Dukova, 2020.
When Steele Rudd Met the Kenniff Brothers at Boggo Road
Author Steele Rudd had the unenviable task of informing the Kenniff brothers about the mixed outcome of their appeal against their death penalties.
Christopher Dawson 