Warry Street House Fire
Fire destroyed a house in Warry Street, Spring Hill on Saturday evening (25/11/06). Emergency services were called to the worker’s cottage just after 8.30pm. According to Queensland Police, the house was unoccupied at the time and well alight when emergency services arrived. The house sustained extensive damage before the fire could be extinguished. Two elderly residents of a neighbouring property were evacuated after part of the damaged house fell against their house. Witnesses reported seeing a man leave the house just before flames took hold; he was later charged with trespass.
In recent years a number of historical properties in Spring Hill have either fallen down, burned down or been demolished in Berry Street, Royal Avenue, Boundary Street (a rare example of a 19th century duplex at number 595-597) and Rogers Street (one of Spring Hill's oldest houses, built in the 1870s). A Churches of Christ property at 363 Gregory Terrace was demolished last year and the adjoining house at 50 Kinross Street was relocated.
Rogers and Kinross Streets, Spring Hill
A Quick Squiz At The Square
Library patrons appeared very much at home in the ultra-schmick surroundings of the Brisbane Square Library when it opened on Monday this week (27/11/06). Plenty of support staff and security were on hand to show people around and point out some of the library's more innovative features, but the regulars had settled right into their meeting rooms and internet consoles by Monday afternoon.
As long as there's plenty of reading material and a comfy chair, bookworms will be happy - but the Brisbane Square Library also has more unconventional attractions including x-box consoles, large plasma screens for sports broadcasts and a designated meeting space for planners to meet with property developers (well-known connoisseurs of fine literature).
For a laugh, you can watch your returned books through windows as they travel along a conveyor belt to a sorting room, or perhaps leafing through some old Council minutes tickles your fancy!
The news lounge is pretty impressive with its selection of international newspapers, but Sky News on the large plasma screen was a bit Orwellian for my taste. The Brisbane history gallery is also worth a look with its collection of historical books about our town, and an interesting slideshow.
The three levels of technology, anomalous furniture and bustling efficiency are a little overwhelming, but I did spy a few nice little areas which would appeal to the frazzled Brisbaneite who's just after a quiet retreat where they can immerse themselves in that book!
Housing Forum
A public forum into housing rights was held at Wesley House last Thursday evening [23/11/06]. Speakers included representatives from Just Rights Queensland, Queensland Shelter, Hart 4000 and the Tenants' Union of Queensland. The basis of the evening's discussion was what the UN Special Raporteur on Housing has called the “hidden crisis” of housing in Australia.
Members of the panel and the audience debated a number of contemporary scenarios relating to homelessness, unaffordable housing and the challenges of the current rental market. Concerns were raised about the Australian Government's blind faith in the free market, and its reluctance to implement policies which could make it easier for everyone to have a home.
Discussion was most interesting when the housing situation in Australia was placed in an international context. For example, in Sweden, the tenants union has the strength to set rental rates, and when the market crashed in Singapore, the government curtailed the banks' ability to foreclose on financially distressed mortgagees.
To find out more about tenancy rights visit the Tenants' Union of Queensland at: www.tuq.org.au.
A Bridge Too Far
A Report On The Brisbane City Council Meeting, Tuesday, 14 November, 2006
Palm pilots were on overdrive, folks in the public gallery booed, and security was so full-on, it felt like a rock concert at yesterday's Brisbane City Council Meeting!
Debate centred on the Hale Street Bridge, which was eventually given the go ahead. Only Cr Helen Abrahams voted no, in a scene eerily reminiscent of last year's vote on the West End Woollongabba plan, which increased height restrictions of buildings in the area to 10 storeys.
It wasn't as hot as last year's meeting, but Lord Mayor Campbell Newman warned of a traffic “meltdown” if Brisbane doesn't adopt additional cross-river capacity.
“The people of Brisbane on the whole, want the bridge,” he argued.
Deputy Mayor David Hinchcliffe said, “The Lord Mayor needs to make a commitment on how much this going to cost and how much ratepayers are going to have to pay to meet these costs. Ratepayers don't have blank cheque or a gold American Express Card they can use with Macquarie Bank.”
He also outlined $15 million of measures to mitigate the effects of the bridge on the community including double glazing and a land bridge at Brisbane State High School, funding for St Mary's and traffic calming for adjacent residential streets. “Even Brisbane City Council engineers recognise some mitigation is necessary,” he added.
“This project will only go forward on the basis that the toll will be removed once costs are met, said the Deputy Mayor.
Cr Helen Abrahams argued that the $2 million allocated to traffic calming was “insufficient”. She also objected to proposals to remove speed reduction measures in Vulture Street.
Cr Abrahams called on all councillors to vote down the bridge.
“This bridge has nothing to commend it and is a backward approach to the transport planning of our city,” she said.
Citing the international issues of global warming and peak oil, Cr Abrahams suggested that Brisbane needs to change its travel behaviour.
“The expressway closure showed that the residents of Brisbane can change their travel behaviour – some people have retained some of their behaviour,” she said.
Cr Abrahams also raised concerns about bullying from the Lord Mayor's office during the IAS process. She referred to driver boycotts of tunnel projects in Sydney and the likelihood of increased numbers of freight vehicles being funneled onto the bridge and subsequently West End. “The people of the West end peninsula are not served by this bridge and a road that separates and divides the community,” she said.
Cr Abrahams considered a more appropriate alternative to the Hale Street Bridge would be a Ped - Bike bridge from Ferry Road to Toowong, which she said would cost $50 million and not $200 million.
Members of the public gallery yelled “Shame Labor Shame!” as the vote was made.
During afternoon tea, the Lord Mayor and Rupert Murdoch's City Hall reporter remained in the chamber to work out the next day's story.
After voting for a bridge that will have a significant impact on West End's environment and aesthetic appeal as a unique Brisbane suburb, the Deputy Mayor announced an initiative that will protect all Brisbane's pre-1946 tin and timber character houses. He also outlined the approved development plans for the former police barracks at Petrie Terrace, which will incorporate a five cinema complex, a supermarket and four stories of office accommodation.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Lord Mayor championed the “significant environmental values” of a disputed area of land in Remick Street, Stafford Heights. A Bluecare Development Application for the land was rejected by Council.
“Aged care shouldn't be at the expense of the environment,” said the Lord Mayor.
Another One Bites The Dust
A historic Moreton Bay fig located on the slopes of Wickham Park, Spring Hill has been felled. A few weeks ago a spokesperson from Deputy Mayor, David Hinchcliffe's office said that the tree is badly distressed and has been fenced off so the arborists can treat it. "Because of its historical significance, every effort is being made to save it," she said.
This week Keith Foster from the Brisbane City Council said, 'Unfortunately this tree is the victim of the drought, other trees in the park are also suffering from the drought. We have implemented a drought management plan to assist these trees through this period."
Queensland Schools Miss Out On Mitigation
The North Brisbane Greens say that Kelvin Grove State College students are being treated as second class citizens by the State Government and Brisbane City Council, as air conditioning and double glazing have been offered to Brisbane State High School as part of its $15 million Hale Street Link mitigation package.
"State High will get some protection from the increased traffic fumes as a result of the approval of the Hale Street bridge, but what about all the other schools in Brisbane that will suffer from ambient air quality reduction from Campbell Newman's Lego set frenzy of road building?" said North Brisbane Greens branch Convenor and environmental lawyer Larissa Waters.
"The mitigation package is inequitable because Kelvin Grove State College is located on the very busy Kelvin Grove Rd which, like all major arterial roads in the area including Hale Street itself, will experience dramaticallyincreased levels of car growth in direct response to the BCC and State Government's new river crossing and the broader TransApex road plan," Ms Waters said.
Larissa Waters said that Treasurer Anna Bligh and the ALP cabinet had violated the Queensland Department of Education's own policy of not air conditioning public schools in Southeast Queensland.
"The Greens support the current policy of Education Queensland. Our kids must be kept cool but we should do this by having better building design, rather than energy-guzzling air conditioning which makes the planet hotter in the long run by contributing to global warming. Nevertheless, the State Government along with Brisbane City ALP Councillors who voted for Hale Street Link, have now created an inequitable exception to that policy. This is despite the majority of inner city residents telling their Councillors they don't want this bridge."
"It is not fair on the parents and children attending Kelvin Grove State College that they miss out on the mitigation measures offered to parents and children attending Brisbane State High School on the other side of the river, when the reality is that Hale Street Link now guarantees the whole inner north west as well as South Brisbane will be locked into a pattern of increasing car use for the foreseeable future."
"The state government has let the Council put our kids' health at risk by locating major new roads right next to schools. Our planet's health is also at risk by encouraging greater car use and requiring energy-intensive mitigation measures like air-conditioning in schools next to new roads. And all this comes at huge financial cost to rate payers! Campbell Newman and the spineless Labor Councillors who supported Hale Street Link should instead be planning for a sustainable future for Brisbane by mandating improved public transport with new routes and more regularity, and safe bike lanes and walking paths," said Ms Waters.
Save The Mary River Monster Auction
Save the Mary River has a monster auction planned for November 26 in Gympie at the Showgrounds, starting 8.30am, as a major fundraiser to fight the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam.
All donations would be appreciated and you can book items with Tom Grady
Auctions (he is donating his auction service) on 5482 4777.
Items should be delivered the day before the auction (3-6pm at the showgrounds).
If you cannot find something to donate, come along as a buyer on the day. All
money is accounted for and will help save a vital community.
AIRPORT LINK COMMUNITY MEETINGS
Two community meetings will be held on Saturday 11 November 3.30 pm, Kalinga Park and Saturday 25 November 3.30 pm, Melrose Park (Rose Street, Kalinga). There will be short presentations by a representative of communities against the tunnels, local resident and political leaders. In addition, information on how you can influence government and have your voice heard, will be available.
Mythbusting With Major Michael Mori
Major Michael Mori presented an in-depth and lively update on Guantanamo Bay and the case of Australian detainee David Hicks at the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre last Friday [3/11/06].
“I am not a Defense spokesperson and I am not here to represent Donald Rumsfeld,” he said to the mixed audience of high profile Brisbane legal professionals, civil libertarians, peace activists and politicians, before dismantling the following myths surrounding the David Hicks case:
Myth: David is fine.
Myth: David is responsible for the delay
Myth: David will get a fair trial.
Myth: David has committed serious offences.
Myth: David will get off scot free if we let him go now.
“Guilt by association carries a lot in the media but not in a court of law,” said Major Mori.
The Australian Government says that David has committed serious offenses, but he has not violated Australian, US or International Law. “I challenge the Australian Government to look at the 1957 Geneva Convention Act, and tell me what law he has broken,” said Major Mori. “I never thought I'd be having to battle the Australian Government,” he later added.
David Hicks has served five years and endured two years of solitary confinement, but he is yet to have a trial. The charges against him - conspiracy, aiding the enemy and murder by an unprivileged belligerent (previously unlawful enemy combatant) – were squashed by the US Supreme Court.
This year saw the the establishment of the Military Commission Act 2006 (MCA). Military Commissions cannot be used to try US citizens and the MCA, although it declares complicity with the Geneva Conventions, undermines the authority of the Supreme Court. Audible amazement reverberated throughout the auditorium when Major Mori explained that according to the MCA, a prosecutor does not have to reveal sources, methods or activities by which the evidence was obtained. Therefore the burden is on the defense to prove that prosecution evidence is unreliable.
“When David asked me what does Australia say I've done wrong, I said nothing, it's political,” said Major Mori.
"You have to ask yourself, why is it that a Taliban spokesperson is at Yale and an Australian citizen is in Guantanamo Bay? I find that offensive."
Major Mori, who was appointed by the United States Department of Defense to represent David Hicks, is one of the 2005 recipients of the American Civil Liberties Union's Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award - along with a swathe of military awards and medals. His presentation was organised by the Australian Lawyers Alliance.
Pond Predicament
The Lower Pond in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens (off Alice Street)
Fountains within Brisbane's CBD are not the only water features that have been drained due to the drought and subsequent water restrictions. Ponds within the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens are suffering as Brisbane City Council gardeners struggle to maintain these havens for inner city flora and fauna.
Referring to the top and bottom large ponds off Alice Street, Mr Graham Woods, Open Space Coordinator for the City Botanic Gardens said that the top pond has been drained for extensive restoration work and will be re-filled in approximately three to four weeks. “Water lilies and fish species will be re-introduced once the pond is filled,” he said. “The fauna and flora from the top pond was re-located to the bottom pond prior to draining and reconstruction works.”
The Top Pond in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
Yesterday afternoon [5/11/06] my husband rescued a very distressed turtle that was struggling to get out of the top pond. We placed the turtle in the more pleasant environs of the bottom pond, where he was able to swim freely and hopefully find some food. “It is going to take some time to fill these ponds and any public assistance with ensuring the native fauna's survival is welcomed,” said Mr Woods. If you see something that requires attention, contact the Brisbane City Council Call Centre on ph: 3403 8888.
"Get me out of here!"
Two of the City Botanic Gardens' historic ponds have also dried up due to the drought and water restrictions. “We are just coping with keeping the main ponds full,” said Mr Woods. The ponds were filled with water lilies - including the spectacular lotus (Nelumbo sp.) - which bursts into large, silken, white blooms in late summer and were also home to a variety of wildlife including turtles, dusky moor hen, eels, green frogs and bearded dragons.
“Brisbane City Council has prioritised its watering program and both recycled water and hydrant testing water is utilised across the city to water significant landscaping and trees,” said Mr Woods.
“The impact on native fauna has been minimal as Brisbane City Council has staged the maintenance of the ponds over the last two years, therefore giving the wildlife within the City Botanic Gardens a watering hole at all times during this critical time.”
Mr Woods also advised that Local Asset Services and QUT are presently working together to install rain tanks underground to assist with watering the gardens and topping the ponds.
As for the lovely lotus in the historic ponds, according to Mr Ross McKinnon, Curator of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt Coo-tha the lotus contain rhizomes, so they will bloom again when the ponds are refilled. This is not the first time the lotus have disappeared from the ponds. Mr McKinnon, who was once Curator of the City Gardens, recollects instructing a group of students in the early 1970s about the lotus and its seeds' aphrodisiac qualities, only to find all the lotus gone the next morning!
The two ponds were formerly part of a natural watercourse from which four ponds were created in the 1850s. A large swamp cypress, (Taxodium distichum) which is a native of the everglades in Southern USA, separates the two ponds. A Lindsay Daen sculpture depicting Jemmy Morell and Brolgas sits within one pond. Jemmy Morell was a sailor who lived with the Aboriginals for 17 years after being shipwrecked on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1840s.
The Lindsay Daen sculpture of Jemmy Morell and Brolgas sits in one of the empty historic ponds
Lovers' Lament
The Brisbane City Council recently announced the completion of the first stage of a $12 million “facelift” for the Sandgate foreshore. These works are part of a $24 million Brisbane Foreshore Parklands Project, which Council says will improve foreshore parklands in Wynnum and Manly and Sandgate and Shorncliffe.
Sandgate's 'Lovers' Walk' will be officially opened on Wednesday 6 December, 2006 and locals will again be able to stroll from Flinders Parade all the way through to the Shorncliffe headland.
“A Concerned Resident” had a few things to say about the refurbished 'Lovers' Walk' in a letter to the Editor of the Sandgate 'Community News', which was published on the front page of the November 2006 edition:
“Re-Imagining 'Lovers' Walk"
What kind of image does the phrase 'Lovers' Walk' conjure up for you? A meandering lane, winding its way through a lush countryside? A place where people can stray from the path, to secret places where the only illumination is provided by the moon? If it does, it probably means that you are an old-fashioned person of limited imagination. You know, the kind of person that hankers after the way things used to be.
Luckily, the planners and politicians that decide what's good for us are not hampered by such narrow and outmoded ideas. They are possessed of a truly post-modern mindset that lets them re-imagine the world without falling prey to silly romantic notions like common folk do.
Or some such rubbish. What do they think they are up to? Lovers' Walk indeed! More like a concrete rat-race. Hemmed in by concrete barriers on both sides and with electric lights glaring overhead, it is hard to imagine a place less likely to encourage lovers.
With all the time and money spent on it you'd think that they'd come up with something the equivalent of the Taj Mahal in grace and beauty. Thinking of which, leads me to the idea that if this lot had planned the Taj Mahal they'd have whacked a brick dunny in front of it.
A lot of fuss is made about the vandals that destroy trees along the Sandgate/Shorncliffe foreshore and many schemes have been proposed to bring them to account. It is true that this is a serious problem that needs attending to. But even more serious is the problem of officially sanctioned vandalism that destroys large areas of foreshore by covering it in concrete and bricks in the name of progress.”
Here! Here!
Back in June, the Queensland Heritage Council applied to de-list part of the Sandgate Post Office, which was built in 1889, and other than the GPO, is the oldest operating Post Office in Brisbane. Partial de-listing is usually code for “facsodomy” (you know, when you save the front and stack enormous units and shops behind – just look at the Queen Street Mall). Thankfully commonsense prevailed, and the Post Office will remain intact – for the time being.
According to William Job in 'The Building of Brisbane: 1828 -1940', The Sandgate Post Office is “a good example of high Victorian architecture and expresses the status of the Post Office in the nineteenth century.” The Sandgate Post Office was built two years after the construction of the Fortitude Valley Post Office (now the slightly 'yesterday' GPO nightclub dahling). Both were designed by G. Connolly and the Queensland Colonial Architects Office, as evidenced by the similarities in design i.e. double story, triple arched windows on the first floor and high narrow windows on the ground floor.
Connolly was one of many architects who made many parts of Brisbane beautiful, from the seaside to the CBD. Their appreciation of a building's holistic beauty, along with its place in the streetscape, is something our contemporary developers might explore rather than destroy.
In other property news at the end of the Shorncliffe Line, the Heritage Listed Sandgate Baptist Church (built in 1887 by Richard Gailey) was sold a few months back – apparently it went for about $1.2 million. Raphael's restaurant on Eagle Terrace has also been refurbished.
A Nineteenth Century Company Town
On the shores of windswept Lake Cootharaba, about a two kilometre walk from the camping ground at Elanda Point, you'll find the rare remains of a small settlement. An old chimney, tank stand, mango and guava trees and boiler are some of the more obvious remnants from the nineteenth century company town Mill Point.
Lake Cootharaba from Mill Point
According to Noosa Council/Queensland Government information boards at the site, after prospering during the Gympie gold rush, 'McGhie, Luya and Company' invested £2000 in establishing a sawmill at Mill Point, which by the 1880s employed up to 150 men. The sawmill covered around 25 hectares and included workshops for blacksmiths and carpenters, stables, hotel, post office, a school and houses for around 60 families.
At its peak, the sawmill produced 3 ½ million super feet of timberin one year. Timber getters collected kauri pine and red cedar in Cooloola and Kin Kin scrubs, which was initially transported to the sawmill by bullock teams and later, a tramway. The sawn timber was floated on a paddle steamer downriver to Colloy - on the north bank of the Noosa River at Tewantin. It was then taken by steamer to Brisbane. About another two kilometres north along the easy walking track is Kin Kin Creek, the contrast between the unfelled north side and the cleared land to the south is a striking example of 'before and after'.
An Old Chimney and Tank Stand
The saw mill closed in 1892 and the property was transferred a number of times. The early 1890s were a time of economic depression and severe flooding occurred in the area in 1893. Dairy farmers worked the land from 1910 until 1975 when Elanda Point was gazetted as a national park. The Queensland Government took ownership in 1983.
A team of archaeologists from the University of Queensland, headed by PhD candidate Karen Murphy, have undertaken several field surveys at Mill Point throughout the past couple of years. You can view the field diary on the internet at:
http://www.atsis.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=42042&pid=42037
The Boiler
Last month [November, 2006] Ms Murphy presented a lecture at the Queensland Museum and discussed the historical treasures unearthed by her team of archaeologists at Mill Point. So far the team has uncovered items such as basic cutlery and dinnerware (with a 19th century cable pattern) and beer, whiskey and schnapps bottles.
Interestingly the only brand of Worcestershire sauce bottle they found was 'Lea And Perrins'. Ms Murphy said that this could be explained by the fact that the company dictated what was delivered to the settlement. 'Holbrook's' Worcestershire sauce bottles were often found in gold mining settlements. The community clearly dined on fresh shellfish and beef, as evidenced by the pieces of bone and numerous oyster and, pipi shells which have been uncovered. There are plans to also research the traces of the original indigenous uses of the area.
Jars of 'Holy's' ointment - a multi-function product which claimed to cure sore breasts among other ailments – were found, along with bottles which would have contained patent medicines and tonics with high concentrations of narcotics. Members of the community obviously took pride in their appearance, as two brands of hair loss tonic, perfume bottles, a comb, a metal heel from a shoe, buttons and an earring were also found.
Ceramic dolls' faces originating from Germany and miniature tea sets give an insight into how the children played, and the discovery of slates and slate pencils testify to the school that existed at the settlement. Household items including ink bottles, a padlock, porcelain lamp stand and the top of a ceramic baby's feeding bottle were also found. Many clay pipes have been retrieved – this was the common way to smoke tobacco before cigarettes were invented just prior to World War One.
The archaeaology of this fascinating site and the personal items uncovered, give an insight into the every day life of the workers and their families and provide an intimate link to the people who lived at Mill Point in the late 19th century. The history of the place, which was founded during a boom and abandoned just as swiftly after only twenty years, illustrates its relevance today for towns which are driven by a solely commercial imperative!
Miss Australia Comes To Town
These lovely ladies aren't making their debut at City Hall, they're promoting the 'Miss Australia: A Nation’s Quest' exhibition currently on show at the Museum of Brisbane!
The exhibition traces the history of the quest from 1908 through to its final year in 2000. It's worth a look, just to see the floaty frocks and an incredible collection of bejewelled tiaras and trophies! Keep a look out for Alexander Downer's (Senior) remarks about Miss Australia 1961.
'Miss Australia: A Nation’s Quest' runs until 4 February 2007 at the Museum of Brisbane at the Brisbane City Hall.