Deputy Mayor Councillor Tony Williams will launch the book in Rockhampton on 20 April. Councillor Tom Wyatt, President of the Rat’s in Rockhampton will also talk at the launch.

Call Karen for an invitation.

Purchase the book from your local book store.

Go to  your local book shop to purchase the book click here.

To receive an invitation to the launch call Karen on 33737855.

Attendance at this launch is by invitation so if you have a similar interest in history call us and we may be able to send you an invitation.

To purchase the book go to your nearestbook shop or click here.

The Queensland Caesar – Sir Thomas McIlwraith by Dr Denver Beanland.

Beanland completes his biography of three times Premier’ of Queensland. This was a man of great vision and liberal views. Educated in Glasgow and a student of civil engineering he led Queensland during expansionary three times from 1879 to 1893. Learn how Queensland changed during these times.

History of My Coot-tha by Janet Spillman

Spillman, a long time member of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland and the Brisbane History Group tells the story of Mt Coot-tha. We all know it as the place to view the city from Moreton Bay to the Great Divide. But there is so much more.

The Soldier’s Wall by Lyris Mitchell

During the recent renovation of Brisbane City Hall a great archaeological find was revealed. Behind a wall there was another wall where soldiers of World War II visting Brisbane left their mark. Mitchell researched as many of those names as possible to record these heroes of the past.

Good to see David Jones and Peter Nunan next to the US Army display letting people know about the US submarines at Teneriffe during the WWII.

Jim Lergessner was there from Bribie Island displaying and selling his many books on history.

Historian, Peter Ludlow was also seen selling his many books on the Moreton Bay area.

Anyone who hasn’t already purchased the books on New Farm and Teneriffe (there can’t be many) should purchase these and read a great account of early Brisbane.

We are all looking forward to next year.

Congratulations to Alan Phillips who organised it and for coming all the way from Adelaide to do it. Hopefully the next time the weather will be kinder.

William to some, Ross to most and Bill to no one was gracious and humble in accepting his award. Ross has made a significant contribution to the recording of Queensland history.

Congratulations!

Here is a link to some of his works.

Other winners of this award are:

2005    Raymond Evans
2006    Peter Bell and Kay Saunders
2007    Lorna L McDonald
2008    Judith McKay
2009    Jennifer Harrison and John Steele
2010    Janice Wegner
2011    Geoffrey Bolton

Fern Vale

Title: Fern Vale or The Queenslan Squatter – Abridged
Author: Colin Munro
Editor: Rod Fisher
ISBN: 9781921920158
RRP: $34.95

Buy Link

Has anyone ever heard of Colin Munro, let alone ‘Fern Vale’? Yet this was the first Queensland novel, published in London in 1862. The author, of Scottish origin, was a young mercantile clerk who, after five years in Brisbane, returned to London to seek a wife and write a book. He returned to Brisbane in 1863 to become a storekeeper, merchant and Pacific trader. He later became a farmer and, while pursuing his agrarian dream in Queensland, this extraordinary man played out the purpose of his novel.

Though written as a pastoral romance on the Darling Downs, the book’s real aim was to attract migrants to the new colony during the optimistic 1860s. Taking its cue from the visionary Rev. Dr John D. Lang of Sydney, the novel, set in 1856-57, expounds the controversial issues of labour, industry and capital, as well as the tropical economy, land regulation, aboriginal policy, convict origin and separation from NSW.

Critique
I found the novel much more readable and interesting than expected…a terrific job of sustaining narrative interest and continuity while reducing it to a manageable length…yet retaining Munro’s remarkable descriptive style.
- Pat Buckridge, Professor of Literary Studies, Griffith University.

Surveying Success

Title: Surveying Success – The Hume Family in Colonial Queensland
Author: Hilary Davies
ISBN: 9781921555992
RRP: $32.95

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Colonial Queensland was the stage on which the Hume family achieved success between 1863 and 1901. The scenes were set on the Darling Downs and in Brisbane. After serving in the merchant marine with the P&O Line, Walter Hume migrated to Queensland from England in 1862 to train as a surveyor. Soon he was joined by his widowed mother and four siblings; then in 1866 by his fiancée, Katie Fowler. The varying fortunes of each family member reveal how personality, background and the social, economic and political conditions in the colony determined their success. Walter and Katie Hume coped with isolation from family and the deaths of five infants while working to establish their financial future, secured promotions for Walter and created a place for themselves among the colonial elite.

Critique
This is an exceptional exposé of the social aspiration and elitism of an upwardly mobile family in colonial Queensland.
- Dr Rod Fisher