Wolston Farmhouse Open Day

This is short notice, but a rare opportunity because the venue isn’t usually open to the public.

You may have noticed “Dr Simpson” appears on our website homepage map. It is to the east of Coopers Plains, half way to Ipswich. The map is a small part of the 1846 “After Baker with additions” map of the Moreton Bay District:

Wolston House is a heritage-listed museum and former homestead at 223 Grindle Road, Wacol, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1852 to 1860s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.^[1] It is now a historic house museum operated by the National Trust of Queensland.  (Wikipedia/Wolston_House)

There’s a small entry free. No booking necessary. I plan to be there when the gates open at 10am with some friends. Do join us.

Wolston House Open Day

Changed Time Notice

This month, due to booking congestion, we will meet at 1pm instead of our usual 4pm.

Saturday November 18^th
1-3pm
Coopers Plains Library Meeting Room (rear of the library)

All welcome. Please RSVP or comment below (you may need to click the heading of this post to bring the comment field up.) or by text to 0405587988. For more information about what’s on the agenda, please read the last newsletter HERE

Memories of Stephens Conference
Archiving Collected Information
Peak History Body Memberships
Brisbane-Queensland Commemorations 2023-2025
Elizabeth Blomberg and the Dutch Houses Story Collection Initiative

You’ll notice this is the “November News”, not a “fortnightly” newsletter. It’s actually been three weeks since the last newsletter because there are more than four weeks in a month. The inconvenient irregularities of the Gregorian Calendar calendar has interested me for some time. I recently gave a presentation to Queensland Skeptics on the Fixed Calendar that solves these problems. I digress, I know, but this prompts me to simplify my job as informal Chair of the CPHG and make an executive decision. From now on, there will be only one Newsletter per month, issued two weeks before the monthly meeting (on the 3^rd Saturday). The joys of being a committee of one! I jest, of course, and am patiently waiting for volunteers to come and lighten the load.

Conference

Our neighboring history group in Annerley held its biennial conference last month and many interesting presentations were given. Many valuable connections were made as well. For a wrap up, see the Annerley-Stephens History Group’s website. A printed copy of the presentations are usually published and sold at the Annerley Library some time after the events. (https://annerleystephenshistory.org/the-2023-memories-of-stephens-conference-wrap-up/) The ASHG will have a History Room at the Yeronga Community Centre, Villa St., Yeronga from early 2024.

Archiving

The work of history groups such as ours is to collect and archive historical information for research. The avenues for contributing information are (currently) our Facebook group, our website and our monthly meetings at the library. At our October meeting, Dr Neville Buch explained that digital records need to be kept on external hard drives for storage at the library. Also, Pandora (National Library of Australia) https://pandora.nla.gov.au/ created capacity for websites to be saved.

Peak History Groups and Bi/Centennial Commemoration Planning

Last month I joined the CPHG up to the Royal Queensland Historical Society, the Annerley-Stephens History Group and History Queensland Inc. History Queensland Inc.’s role is to support the many local history groups across the state by providing things like Public Liability Insurance. We will use the Zoom account that comes with membership to hold a meeting mid-November to bring together peak history bodies and consider the apparent lack of action on the bicentennial of British settlement in Queensland and the centennial of the formation of the Greater Brisbane City Council (see the previous newsletter or our website for more information about this campaign).

Dutch Houses Story Collection Initiative

Elizabeth Blomberg, a Dutch resident of Brisbane, has volunteered to oversee the collection of stories of people associated with the Dutch Houses of Coopers Plains. She is archiving conversations in the chat group we have set up on Facebook. There will be a launch of the Initiative to bring members of the community and dignitaries together and promote awareness of the Dutch presence and its history in Brisbane.

Cowpers Camp Convict Station Search

Thanks to contributions in the Facebook chat group, progress is being made to pinpoint the convict camp location. At the last meeting, Neville, Allan and Simon looked more closely at the photograph of the bunya pine said to have been planted by the convicts at the entrance of the camp in the Sunday Mail, 1929. It appears to have been taken from across the rail line facing south west. This would place the tree on the corner of Edith St and Musgrave Rd. This led us to surmize that the location of the camp covered the area west of Edith St, south of Musgrave Road and north of Stable Swamp Creek; an area of about 1 hectare.

Events

Brisbane Motor Museum

Look out for the Coopers Plains History Group visit to this brand new museum in Banyo.

https://www.brisbanemotormuseum.com.au/

Cooper Plains History Group

is booked to meet every 3^rd Saturday at 4pm (except this month it’ll be at 1pm) at the Coopers Plains Library Meeting Room until May 2024, after which the schedule may change.

Next Meeting:
Saturday November 18^th
1-3pm
Coopers Plains Library Meeting Room (rear of the library)

All welcome. Please RSVP by text to 0405587988 or comment below (you may need to click the heading of this post to bring the comment field up.) Thanks to the friendly and helpful staff of the Coopers Plains Library for printing out these newsletters and offering them to anyone who wants to keep in touch without going online.

Brisbane-Queensland Commemoration planning for 2023-2025
Cowpers Camp Convict Station Search
Dutch History Cafe update
Meet on Zoom

Coopers Plains History Group and its umbrella organization, the Brisbane Southside History Network, is pursuing an investigation into an apparent absence of planning by the state and local governments to Commemorate the Bicentennial of Queensland’s beginnings and Brisbane City Council’s formation from 2023 to 2024. History groups are planning events, but …

Layout of Brisbane Town Moreton Bay c 1839 – www.flickr.com

In late November, early December, 1823, the explorer John Oxley and crew of HMS Mermaid surveyed Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay. In mid-September 1824, Lieutenant Henry Miller landed the brig, Amity, on the shores of Redcliffe Peninsula in the Gubbi Gubbi tribal area and established the First European Settlement which they called Humpybong. It was relocated in November to Edenglassie – the first name given to Brisbane where the CBD now stands. History Redcliffe is currently planning ways to mark the 200th anniversary of this historic event. November saw the arrival of NSW Governor Brisbane in Moreton Bay for a brief inspection of the colony’s beginnings. This year and next will see the Bicentennial of these significant events in our history. 2025 will see the Centennial of the formation of the Brisbane City Council in 1925.

Cowpers Camp Convict Station Search

1919 reprint of Moreton 40 map_MBMP-0004-024

A lively discussion from many members on our Facebook group chat The Convict Station is helping us pinpoint the exact location of the penal colony era convict station that was the first settlement in our area of southern Brisbane. Join the group to contribute, or write to us. The information will be archived and announced on our website. Would you like to see a plaque placed there? We need volunteers to join a committee and apply for grants. Use the same contact details to get in touch and volunteer.

The Dutch History Cafe dream has morphed into a joint CPHG and DACC (Dutch Australia Cultural Centre) collaboration to launch a Story Collection to bring together people who feel associated with the 1950s Queensland Housing Commission project of houses built by a Dutch company and Dutch immigrants. 9 Macdevitt Street, which we identified as very original and having potential for public display, is currently being sold back the Department of Housing by the developer that owns it, we understand. This could mean a group that wanted to run a history cafe and community orchard out of it might be able to persuade the state government to rent it at a peppercorn rate.

Events

Harry Gentle Research Centre

Jan Richardson and Tamsin O’Connor, in conjunction with the Harry Gentle Research Centre are planning a conference in recognition of the bicentenary of early settlement in SE Qld. Further details on this will appear under ‘News and Events’ on their website.

https://harrygentle.griffith.edu.au/news/ Email: harrygentle@griffith.edu.au

Royal Queensland Historical Society

2023 Separation Day Celebrations: Sunday, December 10^th, 5- 7pm. On the occasion of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Commissariat Store Museum, CBD.

https://www.queenslandhistory.org/events Phone: (07) 3221 4198

Brisbane Motor Museum

Look out for the Coopers Plains History Group visit to this brand new museum in Banyo.

https://www.brisbanemotormuseum.com.au/

Cooper Plains History Group

is booked to meet every 3^rd Saturday at 4pm at the Coopers Plains Library Meeting Room until May 2024, after which the schedule may change.

Next Meeting:
Saturday October 21^st
4pm
Coopers Plains Library Meeting Room

All welcome. Please RSVP by commenting below (you may need to click on the title of this post to bring the comment field up). Thanks to the friendly and helpful staff of the Coopers Plains Library for printing out these newsletters and offering them to anyone who wants to keep in touch without going online.

New Logo
Yeronga History Bus Tour
Dutch House Stories Collection Initiative

This plaque commemorates the wool teams of the 1850s that travelled from Ipswich to the Port of Cleveland on what is now Boundary Road. It sits on the corner of Beaudesert Road.

There is no such plaque commemorating the convict station a little further north on what is now Musgrave Road. Wouldn’t it be good to see that erected in memory of the first European settlement in the Coopers Plains area?

The Brisbane History Group’s bus tour of Yeronga was very instructive. We spent all afternoon weaving around the back roads, guided by Annerley-Stephens History Group members Steve and Glenda Sheaffe. We saw the original Shire of Stephens Town Hall which is now a private home and countless other landmarks.

Soon, CPHG and DACC (Dutch Australia Cultural Centre) will launch a Story Collection Initiative. We hope to bring together people who feel associated with the 1950s Queensland Housing Commission project of houses built by a Dutch company and Dutch immigrants.

We now have a new logo to go with the group’s new name.
It features an WWII ‘igloo’, a Dutch House and a steam train the cuts through central Coopers Plains.

And this is the group’s new homepage image, featuring a map of the earliest roads that intersected at Cowpers Plains Convict Station.

Events

Annerley-Stephens History Group:

Memories of Stephens Conference 2023; Saturday 21 October 2023 at Our Lady’s College, 15 Chester Road, Annerley – It will be a great day and all lovers of local history are welcome to attend, but please register soon to avoid disappointment as places are limited.

https://annerleystephenshistory.org/local-history-conferences/

Brisbane Motor Museum – Look out for the Coopers Plains History Group visit to this brand new museum in Banyo.

https://www.brisbanemotormuseum.com.au/

Next Meeting:
Saturday October 21^st
4pm
Coopers Plains Library Meeting Room

All welcome. Please RSVP by commenting below (you may need to click on the title of this post to bring the comment field up). Thanks to the friendly and helpful staff of the Coopers Plains Library for printing out these newsletters and offering them to anyone who wants to keep in touch without going online.

Dutch History Cafe
New Logo
Library Collaboration
Bicentennial Events
History Tours & Events

August 24th’s outing to the Heritage Park at Eagle Junction

First the bad news. All hope seems to be lost for setting aside one of the best examples of Brisbane’s mid-century Dutch built Housing Commission homes at Cornerstone Living. The vision was for 9 Macdevitt Street – a very original building – to become a History Cafe, displaying information about local history, including Dutch immigration and the Dutch East Indies Government-in-Exile at Camp Colombia (Wacol). It was to be run as a self-funded not-for-profit community enterprise with an orchard and outside facilities for neighbours to come together and socialize. Unfortunately the owner/developer Consolidated Property has decided to sell it on the open market.

The house currently serves as the Catchment Centre, or offices of the Oxley Creek Catchment Centre. They have been given an eviction notice of about 2 months. Six months ago, Mr Don O’Rorke, CEO of Consolidated Property, met me and Mr Paul Budde, Chair of the Dutch Australia Cultural Centre, and expressed his support for the project, even kindly offering some funds to market the concept. We were not informed. It appears that profit is overriding the community’s interests yet again. I managed to contact the Brisbane City Council’s Senior Historian, Dr Ross Mahoney in the Architecture and Heritage department. He has had a Heritage listing application on the property under consideration for several years now. On hearing the news of its imminent sale and (very likely) demolition, no sense of urgency was apparent. He reminded me that as a post war home, it is not even covered by Council’s character overlay. As such, it was always going to be a big hurdle that required a great deal of support. Sadly, that has not materialized. This is a significant disappointment, as it brings an end to 4 years of lobbying and a petition signed by more than 1,000 people. I would like to thank Mr Paul Budde for his support.

What do you think of this image as a logo for the group’s new name?

And this, for the website’s homepage?

We’ll be voting on these at the next meeting:

Saturday September 16th
4pm
Coopers Plains Library Meeting Room

All welcome. Please RSVP in the comments below. Anyone who wants to add to this month’s agenda, please comment below (you may need to click on the title of this post for the comment field to appear). Thanks to the friendly and helpful staff of the Coopers Plains Library for printing out these newsletters and offering them to anyone who wants to keep in touch without going online.

Events

There are some great history events on this month. Here are just two of them on Brisbane’s Southside:

Royal Historical Society – The Mermaid, the Castaways, and European Exploration of the Brisbane River. Saturday 9th, Commissariat Store Museum, William St, CBD. Book soon ($25-35)

Brisbane History Group – Yeronga Heritage Tour. Saturday 23rd, Queen Alexandra Community Centre, Cooparoo. Download the flyer here. ($25)

See you there!

Tradecoast Central Heritage Park
Thursday 24th August
11:30 am
87 Schneider Road
EAGLE FARM
QLD 4009

TradeCoast Central Heritage Park Interpretive Centre is at the heart of three heritage sites at the location of Brisbane’s former Eagle Farm Airport. On this visit, we will focus on the stories of Brisbane’s convict era from the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement. at the Convict Women’s Prison and Factory. (The other two sites are World War Two sites – Allison Engine Testing Stands and Hangar 7.)

You can bring a picnic or enjoy a meal at one of the food outlets, knowing there will always be plenty of room to spread out over the green grass of the park which covers what was once a Convict Factory, a women’s prison, and a busy airport runway.

The Interpretive Centre is open from 10am to 4pm weekdays. Entry is free. Parking is available via Backhouse Place, at the southern end of the park, and Amy Johnson Place, at the northern end. Meet at the Museum. To arrange carpooling or get a lift from Coopers Plains at 11am, leave a comment below (click this post’s heading if you don’t see the comment field below) or send a message via the Contact Page.

http://www.tradecoastcentralheritagepark.com.au/

Note this is an unofficial excursion and as such, in agreeing to participate, you accept all responsibility for all risks involved.

Pine Lodge Presentation
Brisbane History Group
Harry Gentle Research Centre

On Monday 14th, I gave a presentation about the history of Coopers Plains area to residents of the Pine Lodge retirement centre in Rocklea. Pine Lodge was created by the local Russian community and is situated next door to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God Parish Church. It was well received and I learnt some new facts when I prepared it the day before; notably the conflict of tribal land claims over south Brisbane between the Turrbal and Yagera people. I covered history up to the 1900s and ended with an interesting video about transport by WalkaboutwithRob which I found on the Mapping Brisbane History website on Transportation Systems. Some interesting memories were shared and I invited the residents to put pen to paper and send in any reminiscences they have.

I visited the Brisbane History Group at Riverhills Plaza where they have their library of archives stored. I spoke with the Treasure, Andrew Darbyshire at length who familiarized me with the group’s history. It was founded by Rod Fisher in the 1980s. We discussed the origins of Brisbane and the upcoming bicentenary of settlement in the SE Queensland area and the development of the city of Brisbane. Henry Miller was the first Commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement. Jennifer Harrison’s book on the history of convicts, “Fettered Frontier” is available at the BHG library.

Andrew also informed me that History Queensland provides Public Liability Insurance to member groups. This may be useful information for the Dutch History Cafe project. PLI is often the most expensive outlay of a small business. There is some concerning news regarding 9 Macdevitt Street, as OCCA has been given notice to leave for no explicable reason… it fact it seems quite disruptive. We’ll discuss it at the next meeting.

As I grow into the role of Chair of the CPHG, for my own sake, but also other members, I am interested in mapping the local history groups, libraries and museums in our area. Our next meeting is:

Saturday August 19th
4pm
9 Macdevitt Street,
Coopers Plains

All welcome. Please RSVP in the comments below. Anyone who wants to add to this month’s agenda, please comment below (you may need to click on the title of this post for the comment field to appear).

A name change and a new logo.

Archival material was on display at the library last month.

At a well-attended meeting last month, the group resolved to register with the Office of Fair Trade under the name Coopers Plains History Group – dropping the word ‘Local’. It also resolved to open a bank account and pursue plans for preserving the Dutch House as a history cafe.

We need a new logo as a consequence of the name change. The committee will vote on this at the next meeting. In anticipation of this, if you know anyone with some basic graphic art skills that can provide some designs, please get in touch by commenting below please (you may need to click on the heading above first to find the comment field). We had the meeting at 9 Macdevitt Street, Coopers Plains which is currently used as a Centre by Oxley Creek Catchment Association (OCCA).  We toured the property inside and out with some who were able to reminisce about the times it was built; Hank Blessing, Allan Waller and Amanda Kelly. Also with us was Neville Buch, John Prpic, and Bruce Cifuentes – we discussed the possibilities and it occurred to us to try and procure some original fittings from the other Dutch Houses that are soon to be demolished.

Last week, Consolidated Property informed OCCA their tenancy is to be terminated in two months. This was unexpected, as they have new quarters being built, ready for occupancy in July next year. We are waiting to hear from the developers as to what their intentions are.

The display of items from our archives at the library has been replaced by some interesting samples from the Woodturners Association of Queensland. I (Simon) had the opportunity to search through our archives for the first time last week. I was searching for the group’s old official certificate of incorporation. I am pleased to report that the files are well organized, thanks to the previous custodians of the history group, although there is room for further sorting.

Our next meeting will be at the Dutch House again at 4pm on Saturday 19th of August. Come along and find out what the news is. We meet every third Saturday. In September and October, we’ll meet at the library.

9 Macdevitt Street