Category: Queensland State Archives’ Photostream About Fortitude Valley

Townsville Bulk Sugar Terminal after fire, May 1963

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

The Townsville Bulk Sugar Terminal was built in 1958. On 9 May 1963, the shed caught fire. Black smoke blanketed the city and a thick, black molasses-like ooze of melted sugar poured into the harbour. Fire fighters were brought in from Cairns, Ayr, Innisfail and Proserpine, nearby sugar mills, the Army, RAAF and the visiting United States destroyer USS Somers. The fire burnt for 5 days, causing £6 million damage. 77,500 tons of sugar was lost.

Queensland State Archives Item ID436302, Photographic material

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Land Administration Building, Brisbane, 1963

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

From the Queensland Heritage Register.

This four-storeyed masonry government office building was erected between 1901 and 1905. Initially intended as offices for the Lands and Survey Departments, it was finished and occupied in 1905 as the Executive Building, accommodating both the Lands and Survey Departments and offices of the Premier and Executive Council. It is the most prominent Brisbane example of state building activity associated with the economic recovery of the late 1890s, and with the colony’s newly federated status.

In 1898-99 plans were prepared under the supervision of chief architect Thomas Pye of the government architect’s office. Special provisions for the Lands Department included Minister’s offices, drafting rooms, photographic and heliographic rooms, and a Land Court. With the inclusion of offices for the Executive Council and Cabinet, a separate entrance in George Street was designed for ministerial access.

A £2,900 contract for site preparation and foundations was

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SS Galileo Galilei, Brisbane River, 31 July 1963

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

SS Galileo Galilei was an 27,888 t ocean liner. On her maiden voyage in 1963 from Genoa, Italy she visited Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. She continued to operate the Italy-Australia run until April 1977. In 1983 she was sold and renamed simply Galileo. In 1990 she was sold again and renamed SS Meridian, operating cruises between the eastern United States and Bermuda. Finally in 1997 she was sold for the last time and renamed SS Sun Vista. She sank in the in the Strait of Malacca on 21 May 1999.

Queensland State Archives Item ID436302, Photographic material

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New Brisbane Produce Markets, Rocklea, August 1964

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Brisbane’s first Central Market began in 1868 in a Brisbane Municipal Council built shed on the corner of Charlotte and Eagle Streets. It closed in 1881 due to poor patronage.

In 1885, the Council opened the purpose-built Municipal Market in Roma Street, beside the railway station.

Due to increasing congestion, the State Government agreed to move the Central Market to Rocklea in 1964, were the Brisbane Markets are located today.

Queensland State Archives Item ID436307, Photographic material

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Brisbane Airport, Eagle Farm, c 1960

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Two Trans Australian Airlines Convair CV-240s at Brisbane Airport.

Australian National Airways (ANA) commenced an air service from Eagle Farm to Sydney in 1930. Eagle Farm was closed 31 January 1931 and civil air operations moved to Archerfield Airport.

Eagle Farm was taken over by the by the Royal Australian Air Force from 1940 until 1947. Ansett-ANA and Trans Australia Airlines moved their operations to Eagle Farm on 10 March 1947. Traffic began to outgrow the facilities by the late 1960s and Eagle Farm was finally replaced with the current Brisbane Airport in 1988.

Hangar No. 7, dating from the Second World War, was placed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 2005.

Queensland State Archives Item ID436308, Photographic material

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Mango Trees, c 1930

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Mackay Daily Mercury
1 March 1930

WHAT IS A MANGO ?

Stories of Queenslanders visiting Sydney and Melbourne and causing profound astonishment amongst shop keepers by asking for mangoes or papaws, are not new (says a writer in the ‘Daily ‘Mail’), but this one from considerably nearer, Newcastle, is certainly no chestnut. A friend of mine, whose business necessitated a sojourn of several months in Newcastle, was grateful for a present of a case of choice mangoes from thoughtful relatives in Brisbane. His land lady was asked to try one, and, expressing delight at the flavor, a number of seeds were collected and sent to some friends of hers on an orchard outside the city for planting purposes. Having neither seen nor heard of the fruit, information was solicited from a seedsman in Newcastle. His reply was responsible for no little amusement and indignation to the patriotic Queenslander.

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Power transformer under construction, Rocklea, 1963

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

The English Electric Company of Australia Pty Ltd established a factory in the Brisbane suburb of Rocklea in 1956 to build locomotives for Queensland and other states. It also built a large amount of electrical equipment for Queensland electricity generation. In 1970 it became the General Electric Company of Australia.

Queensland State Archives Item ID436305, Photographic material

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