As I mentioned in my previous post, on last Saturday of February Annerley-Stephens History Group in conjunction with the Royal Historical Society of Queensland organised the “Stories of Stephens Conference”,
The Stephens Division was established on 16 Oct 1886 from parts of the then existing Yeerongpilly Division. Stephens Division – created on request of inhabitants – was separated from Yeerongpilly which at that time ran as far as present Forest Lake. The new local area covered the present suburbs of Yeerongpilly, Tennyson, Yeronga, Fairfield, Annerley, Tarragindi, Holland Park West, parts of Moorooka and Greenslopes. In 1902, The Local Authorities Act removed divisional boards and created city, town and shire councils. Stephens Shire existed from 1902 to 1925 when the City of Brisbane was created.
Today I’d like to share with you what I heard from speakers.
Stephen Sheaffe: Stephens in a Nutshell
First spoke Stephen Sheaffe who begun the conference and briefly presented the history of the Stephens area. Stephen is a former President of Royal Historical Society of Queensland and current member of Annerley-Stephens History group. I learnt that he was one of the organisers of previous Stephens conference back in 1994. The book “The Annals of Annerley: proceedings of the Annerley Conference, 17 July 1994” which is based on the papers presented at the conference is a great source of knowledge about local history.
Dr Ray Kerkhove: Aboriginal History in Stephens
Dr Ray Kerkhove’s focus is on cultural and heritage projects with Indigenous groups. He has expertise in reconstructing the material culture and early contact history (1820s-1870s) of South East Queensland and the Darling Downs. This year he published his book Aboriginal Camp Sites of Greater Brisbane. At the conference, he presented how a lifestyle of Aboriginal people before and during early years of European settlements looked like. Dr Kerkhove presented very interesting series of photos showing the area of current Musgrave Park and how the green space was decreasing in size and aboriginal campgrounds were transitioned into a small park.
Dr Michael Macklin: Yeronga from Colony to WWI
Dr Michael Macklin presented the history of the Yeronga area. There was a discussion about origins of the name Yeronga. One version is that it was derived from the Aboriginal words yarung (meaning sandy or gravelly) and ba (meaning place) and other that it derives from the name of the house Yerong-lea, the residence of Charles Hardie Buzacott a Postmaster General of Queensland. Or maybe, the name of the house derived from these Aboriginal words?
Dr Pamela Douglas and John Grimes: The Grimes Family
Dr Pamela Douglas and John Grimes talked about the Grimes Family. Based on the family history they presented the life in 19th Century in Brisbane. The Grimes’ arrived at Moreton Bay in May 1849 after a 6-month voyage on the ship “Chaseley” and after some time, they had bought a ridge in Dutton Park to grow potatoes and maize. They were experienced farmers and by 1857 George Grimes had started an arrowroot farm called ‘Fairfield’. Samuel went on to become a member of the Legislative Assembly and his brother George was the second chairman of Stephens Shire.
Dr Pamela Douglas focused on the women’s life which was dominated by child-bearing. Julie Grimes – wife of Samuel – had 11 children, died at the age of 52. At the time, women’s life expectancy was less than 45 years mainly due to lack of medical care.
Dr Neville Buch: Junction Park the hidden heart of the Annerley District
Next speaker was Dr Neville Buch, a professional historian who recently published his newest book about the history of Junction Park State School. During the conference, he focused on changes of two parks – Junction Park and Ekibin Park.
His slideshow was presenting the area and we could closely see how the bush along the Norman Creek was shrinking to the current condition with no bush left. I have also learnt that there was the Ekibin quarry on Stephens Mountain – it was operating from the 1880s until the late 1960s.
Dr James Lergessner: Growing up in Annerley
Dr. James Lergessner has written many books about the history of Moreton Bay area. At the conference, he shared with us his memories of growing up in Annerley. The humorous way made the presentation very entertaining and definitely made me interested in Author’s memoir called “Snippets … from A Baby Boomer’s Diary”.
According to Author, “Snippets embarked as an attempt to try to recall most people’s deep connection with Brisbane the place where numerous Australian baby boomers were born and had become domiciled. It trawls all through the conservative decades of the 1950s and the action packed 1960s; the political upheavals within the 1970s; and the ‘greed is good’ agendas of the 1980s and beyond”.
Peter Hyde and Robert Thompson: Tramways in Stephens
Peter Hyde and Robert Thompson from Brisbane Tramway Museum shared with us a history of Brisbane tramways, especially in former Stephens Shire area. Horse drawn tram services were introduced in Brisbane in 1885 and after 12 years were replaced with electrical trams. First trams in Stephens Shire area arrived in 1908 with the opening of Lang St depot at Dutton Park. In 1915, the line was extended to the corner of Ipswich and Cracknell Roads (see photo below) with further extensions to Aubigny St, Annerley (1923) and Salisbury (1941). After 72 years of operation of electric trams, the Brisbane tram network was closed on 13th April 1969.
Trevor Matthews: Matthews Real Estate
Trevor Matthews is a member of the third generation of the Matthews family operating real estate office in Annerley. Trevor has a great knowledge of heritage buildings in the area. I learnt about people who lived in the area such as Premier William McCormack, Hugh Lunn, George Arthur Bayard, Lady Cilento.
Mr Matthews spoke also about the findings during the repairs after the storm in November 2014. They discovered the old signs hidden for many years behind the new ones. Now they are protected, yet hidden behind the new signage of the real estate agency.
Judy Lofthouse: Family History Research and Annabel Lloyd: House Research
The last segment of the conference were presentations by Judy Lofthouse from Genealogical Society of Queensland and Annabel Lloyd from Brisbane City Archives. Both ladies presented tips how to research either family or house history. The presentations were full of insights and I’m sure they will help me with my future researches.
The Conference was full of historical facts. All speeches were very interesting and made me even more interested in the local history of Brisbane and beyond. I can’t wait for the publication of extended papers on the topics covered during the event. If you would like to obtain the publication in future I will let you know when is available.
