27th April 2024 | Speaker: Tamsin O’Connor
2024 marks the Bicentennial of Moreton Bay, a notorious penal station established on the northern fringes of the vast territory the British had claimed as New South Wales.
By extension it is also the foundational moment for Brisbane Town the future capital of Queensland. My presentation explores how the people of Brisbane marked the centenary milestone in 1924. The Melbourne press was predictably quick to remind Brisbane of its “Unpropitious” penal beginnings, but the city’s centenary organising committee were determined and resourceful in their efforts to rise to their historical occasion.
It will likely come as no surprise that convicts did not feature on the programme or that the participation of indigenous Australians was coerced and controlled. The opening event was staged at our very own Newstead Park, the putative site of Oxley’s landing in 1823.
By extension it is also the foundational moment for Brisbane Town the future capital of Queensland. My presentation explores how the people of Brisbane marked the centenary milestone in 1924.
As a social historian I am chiefly interested in how the tone and emphasis of the various celebrations reflected wider cultural and political life in the 1920s. And as the curator and co-convener of a special Bicentennial Conference, to be held at Griffith University later this year, I cannot help but observe how the themes and trajectories that preoccupy us in 2024 would have been inconceivable to the men and women of 1924. The past really is another country.
About Tamsin O’Connor
Tamsin O’Connor is an adjunct lecturer at the University of New England. Her academic research focuses upon the Penal Stations of Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Moreton Bay. She is currently co-convening an academic symposium to mark the Bicentennial of Moreton Bay to be held in September 2024 at Griffith University and her research for this paper was inspired by that project. As one of the original owners of Coronet Court, Tamsin has also developed a reputation as both a custodian and an historian of Brisbane’s Art Deco heritage. She gives regular public presentations and tours on all aspects of her historical research.
2:30 PM | Uniting Church Centre, 52 Merthyr Road, New Farm
Entry Fee (cash preferred) | $5.00 members | $10.00 non-members | includes afternoon tea.
All Welcome!