Category: Queensland State Archives’ Photostream About Fortitude Valley

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

The Bridge was opened by Premier Frank Nicklin on 19th October 1963 and was the longest precast pre-stressed concrete bridge in Australia. The complex construction had involved driving 206 piles, weighing 12 ton each, laying 38 spans of concrete beams to span the 832-metre length.

Just weeks before the opening an expensive Toll was announced, to be paid by all vehicles coming to the island. The 10-shilling Toll was a significant cost and came as a complete surprise, people were very disappointed, and it impacted growth and development for some time. Better roads and increased car ownership had led to a population growth on both the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, but this did not immediately eventuate on Bribie Island.

In 1963 the 10 Shilling Bridge Toll would have paid the cost of petrol to drive a car from Brisbane to the Gold Coast and back, and you

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Student Fun In Procession

Brisbane, May 5. – The annual University Commemoration Day procession through the city streets to-day was one of the brightest shows the students have staged.

There were 30 floats. Crowds estimated at 30,000 gave a delighted reception to the show.

The Golden Casket Commission and the M.L.A. for Kedron, Mr. Bruce Pie, were mildly lampooned in one float. “Spruce Bruce, the loose Papoose” was shown in his bath tub.

“Flying saucer – the only one in captivity – just for Mother’s Day” was the label on a large awkward object of wood and white paper dangling from one truck.

The “Red Dean” of Canterbury (Dr. Hewlett Johnson) was represented by a gawky figure in a red flowing gown, placarded as the “Red Bean.”

Aly Khan and Rita Hayworth, Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rosselini, and the recently proposed investigation into Hollywood’s morals were all featured. “Can you do

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The Bribie Bridge has made it possible for everyone from day trippers to international tourists to easily explore the island and take in its still largely underrated beaches. Few would dispute, however, that Bribie Island has managed to retain its small seaside village feel and escape the glitzy, commercialisation of some parts of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

Change over the decades has occurred, but has been far from radical or swift. A visitor to the island can return to the same ice-cream store for a double-scoop cone ice-cream on the beach that they did 30 years ago, eat fish and chips from the same eatery on the beach or catch a movie from the same small tin shed picture theatre. There are also plenty of new cafes and restaurants to choose from, including gourmet pizza and al fresco dining.

The opening of the bridge not

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Bribie Island’s position midway between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast makes it an easy stop for tourists, who can be sunning on the beach less than an hour-and-a-half after leaving the Brisbane Airport.

Bribie Island remains the only Moreton Bay Island to be connected to the mainland by road. The building of the 831m bridge to Bribie Island half a century ago took two years of work and was considered an engineering marvel at the time, being the longest pre-stressed, pre-cast concrete bridge in Australia.

Construction of the Bribie Island bridge was not without controversy. Locals feared outsiders would trample the island’s natural beauty. Today, it is fairly well accepted that Bribie Island’s attractions make it a tourist drawcard. Each New Year’s Eve, tens of thousands arrive to watch the bridge illuminated by fireworks busting over the Pumicestone Passage. The fireworks display is considered one of the

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Police Watch On Labour Day March

Brisbane, May 1.- Uniformed police and detectives will stand by at the Trades Hall on Monday morning to guard against any counter-demonstration to the official Labour Day march being staged.

A police official said tonight that only one procession had been licensed and no other would be allowed through the city streets.

The police march permit has been granted to the Australian Labour Day Celebrations Committee, controlled by moderate unions. The committee has asked all unions to assemble at 9.30 a.m., ready for the march to move off at 10 a.m.

But the Communist-dominated Queensland Trades and Labour Council has asked all affiliated unions to assemble at the Trades Hall at 9 a.m.

The Celebrations Committee Secretary (Mr. J. Bukowski) warned tonight that all unions would have to abide by the committee’s decision. The Trades and Labour Council request was an attempt at disruption,

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1000 Unionists In May Day Procession

March Watched By Crowd Of 20,000

Nearly 1000 unionists marched in the Labour Day procession through Brisbane yesterday. Best represented was the Waterside Workers’ Federation, with 102 members and the Federations’ band.

Unionists, Government Departments, City Council, and private organisations displayed more than 70 floats. Watched by nearly 20,000 men, women, and children, they paraded through Ann, George, and Queen streets, to the Exhibition Ground.

…

At the Exhibition Grounds, the Acting Premier (Mr. Duggan) said the procession was the best Brisbane had seen. It had enjoyed the best Labour Day audience for many years.

Australia to-day had aroused the interest and envy of many countries, he said. It was our great responsibility to seize on opportunities offered.

To continue reading visit:
The Courier-Mail, 5 May 1953

View the original image at Queensland State Archives:
Digital Image ID 4761

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Record Aust. Day Procession Tipped

A most spectacular and educational procession will mark Australia Day holiday in the city to-morrow morning.

Organisers of the display reported last night that the procession will be well up to previous years’ standards and will be representative of all aspects of industry and national life.

Attractive floats and trade displays will be a feature of the procession which will move from George-street through Queen, Wickham and Brunswick streets, to the Exhibition Grounds where an all-day sports program, featuring the finals of the Australian athletic championships, will be held.

The most typical Australian girl in the procession will be awarded a prize, while pennants will be given to the best display in each group of the procession.

The official ceremony of the Unfurling of the Australian Flag will be performed by the Governor, Sir John Lavarack, at 12.45 p.m.

Children will be admitted to the Exhibition

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Aust. Day Procession “Biggest Yet”

The postponed Australia Day procession and sports to be held on Saturday had not suffered because of the postponement, the secretary of the Australia Day Celebrations Committee (Mr. W. Murphy) said today.

The committee was still confident that it would be Brisbane’s biggest procession, he said. There have been a few alterations to the original programme, which was cancelled on January 29 because of rain.

The procession will have the same features, and no floats have been taken out. It will leave George Street, City, at 2 p.m. for the Exhibition oval.

The chief marshal (Mr. Arthur Laurie) will assemble the procession in George Street and streets off it at 1.1.5 p.m. The mile-long parade will travel through trafficless Queen, Wickham and Brunswick Streets and Gregory Terrace to the Exhibition Grounds.

Admission to the oval will be free for a sports carnival to begin at

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Australia Day Procession Marred By Rain

Brisbane, February 1.- Although heavy rain marred Australia Day celebrations today, the mile-long procession through Brisbane streets was watched by a crowd of 30,000.

The procession began at 10.30 a.m. with a motor cycle police escort and a motor cycle club’s display of more than 50 riders. A nine-man mounted police escort led the major part of the procession.

Police officials said that the procession was a real try-out for the mounted escort, which will perform Royal duties when the Queen arrives. Ten pipe and brass bands, 30 floats and army displays made up the procession.

Among the floats were a four-horse Cobb and Co coach entered by the Royal Geographical Society and the Native Affairs Department’s float of aborigines in war-paint wielding boomerangs and spears.

The aquatic carnival on the Brisbane River was watched by 20,000 people, who stood in the rain to

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Brisbane’s Progress Impresses Queen

“We wish our visit could be a longer one,” the Queen said in thanking Brisbane’s Lord Mayor “for your expressions of loyalty and for the generous welcome you have given my husband and myself.”

The progress achieved since Brisbane was proclaimed a municipality in 1859 testified to the energy and pride of the citizens, Her Majesty added.

“Brisbane has grown from small and humble beginnings to the proud position of third metropolis of Australia and capital of a great and ever growing State,” she continued.

“We must salute the spirit and enterprise which have brought this to pass.

“The past 10 years have been a great period in the history of the British peoples. Citizens of Brisbane have shared in the triumphs and miseries of war and of its aftermath, but they have gone forward with steady confidence in their city and their State.

“Many unsettled problems

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