Brisbane Schemes And Dreams

This volume of eleven papers had its origins back in June 1992 when the Brisbane History Group presented a seminar entitled ‘150 years ago: Profiles of Brisbane in 1842’ at the Commissariat Stores. Most of the papers delivered on that day were published in a previous volume, Brisbane: Squatters, settlers and surveyors, BHG Papers No.16. Although it was intended that the focus of this collection would be primarily immigration, the more general term arrivals has been chosen to more accurately reflect the inclusion of some of the earlier chapters dealing with exploration, survey and settlement. Written by amateurs, professionals and academics, the chapters look at the achievements, contributions and, sometimes, the failings of a number of these early ‘arrivals’. Themes include: • John Thomas Bigge’s report and its significance for the future settlement and development at Moreton Bay • the difficulties in establishing a settlement • the work of the valiant and largely unsupported missionaries at German Station • the arrival and impact of the first free migrants to travel directly to Moreton Bay • the voyage of the Fortitude and the trials and tribulations of the Lang migrants • the life of John Clements Wickham and the many roles he performed • the life of soldier, surveyor and sugar industry pioneer Captain Claudius Whish • the rector’s daughter who helped impoverished silk ribbon weavers in the English Midlands emigrate to Australia • the effect of the short-lived immigration policy which sought to ‘populate’ Queensland with skilled tradesmen • the effectiveness of emigration agents in promoting Queensland to the Scots • the story of a Brisbane wharf which witnessed changes in shipping, cargo and the ultimate demise of the city’s industrial heritage Not all the schemes and dreams were successful, but overall the chapters tell of groups and individuals who were prepared to rise to each new challenge in their determination to make a better life for themselves in early Brisbane.

This study evolved from the author’s examination of a series of sketches undertaken by a young Englishman during his sojourn in Brisbane, the seat of government of the newly created Colony of Queensland. Initial research revealed a somewhat hazy outline of his ancestry and early life, until an independent researcher in the UK, preparing a photographic study of his subsequent built legacy, discovered a key piece of the jigsaw. This book is the culmination of the author’s subsequent research, carried out in three corners of the globe, which now shines a definitive light on the lineage of Richard Harding Watt. He was a wealthy business man and developer of a number of distinctive heritage listed buildings in Knutsford, perhaps best known as the model for Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Cranford.

Three major fires, a flood, a cyclone and an outbreak of typoid. To fight fire, there were buckets, chains and puddles. To fight disease, there was a quarantine system relying on ships' doctors and captains, who knew that infection whould doom them to weeks under canvas on an island in Moreton Bay. To fight the food, there were only government loans and hope ...

Brisbane: Utopian Dreams and Dystopian Nightmares tells the stories of little-known, and rather peculiar aspects of Brisbane’s colourful history. Eleven Brisbane authors from the 19th and 20th centuries wrote about how wonderful, ‘utopian’, Brisbane could be — or how dreadful, ‘dystopian’, it could also be. Some writers imagined a future utopian Brisbane where inequality has been eliminated, where everyone is prosperous, living in the most beautiful city with wide, tree-lined boulevards, wonderful opera-houses and museums, bubbling fountains and grand squares. They saw Brisbane becoming the centre of the civilised world, a model for humanity. Other writers depicted Brisbane as having been annihilated, violently wiped off the face of the earth except for a few stone ruins overgrown with lantana. These dystopian images saw Brisbane residents enslaved in a racial nightmare, beset with poverty and violence, their lives being precarious at best. What led to these utopian and dystopian visions? Who were the visionaries? What do they tell us about a little-known part of Brisbane’s quirky history? These are images of a wonderful or dreadful Brisbane that never eventuated — but could have. This well-illustrated book reveals all in a witty, but sometimes disturbing way.

This collection of conference papers focus on the themes of putting dreams and visions into action, and sharing examples of, and developing good practice in, health promoting schools and networking the results. This positive intervention by Queensland Health aims to overcome all health obstacles to positive learning outcomes.

The year 2019 marked a number of significant anniversaries for the People’s Republic of China (PRC), each representing different ‘Chinese dreams’. There was the centennial of the May Fourth Movement — a dream of patriotism and cultural renewal. The PRC celebrated its seventieth anniversary — a dream of revolution and national strength. It was also thirty years since the student-led Protest Movement of 1989 — dreams of democracy and free expression crushed by government dreams of unity and stability. Many of these ‘dreams’ recurred in new guises in 2019. President Xi Jinping tightened his grip on power at home while calling for all citizens to ‘defend China’s honour abroad’. Escalating violence in Hong Kong, the ongoing suppression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and deteriorating Sino-US relations dominated the headlines. Alongside stories about China’s advances in artificial intelligence and geneticially modified babies and its ambitions in the Antarctic and outer space, these issues fuelled discussion about what Xi’s own ‘China Dream’ of national rejuvenation means for Chinese citizens and the rest of the world. The China Story Yearbook: China Dreams reflects on these issues and more. It surveys the dreams, illusions, aspirations, and nightmares that coexisted (and clashed) in 2019 in China and beyond. As ever, we take a cross-disciplinary perspective that recognises the inextricable links between economy, politics, culture, history, language, and society. The Yearbook, with its accessible analysis of the main events and trends of the year, is an essential tool for understanding China’s growing power and influence around the world.

Despite a European training and an early career working with Peter Behrens, a migration from Vienna to the Australian state of Queensland positioned the architect Karl Langer (1903-1969) at the very edge of both European and Australian modernism. Confronted by tropical heat and glare, the economics of affordable housing, fiercely proud and regional architectural practices, and a suspicion of the foreign, Langer moulded the European language of international modernism to the unique climatic and social conditions of tropical Australia. This book will tell Langer's story through a series of edited essays focused on key themes and projects. Published as part of the Bloomsbury Studies in Modern Architecture series, which brings to light the work of significant yet overlooked modernist architects, it is both an examination of an architect's work and international legacy, and also a case study in the trans-global dissemination of design ideas. Studying the architect's built and proposed work, both regional and metropolitan, the scale and reach of Langer's practice will be considered for the first time, showing how, given his continued influence on the contemporary culture of tropical design, Langer has been unjustly ignored by the historiography of both Australian and Modernist architecture to date.