Queensland Holocaust Museum

The Queensland Holocaust Museum in Charlotte Street, Brisbane, opened late last year. Located next door to the heritage listed St Stephens Cathedral, it is surrounded by a calming tropical green-space hidden between the towering skyscrapers.

For architectural reasons alone the museum is well worth a visit. It is housed in what used to be a working mill in the centre of the city and the passage that leads you underground to the exhibits is the pathway that horses used to take. It is rather atmospheric and sets the scene.

You already know that the displays are going to be disturbing and the history horrific.   It isn’t helped that the museum space is not open, but rather dark and in a confined area. One room replicates the length and width of a cattle truck which some of our group found too disturbing and had to walk away.

We were lucky to benefit from the personal stories of a tour guide whose parents and grandparents survived the Holocaust. It gave our understanding another perspective and more depth. Even the military tragics gained new knowledge of the history of WW2.

Well worth a visit.

Where: 168 Charlotte St, Brisbane

Open : Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday 9 am – 4 pm

Website: https://hmq.org.au/visit/

Coming soon: Another Museum

A Night At The Museum

Recently enjoyed a night out at the local Museum.

Don’t think museum’s are enjoyable? Think again.

Redland Museum was established just over fifty years ago to house historic artefacts, particularly of a farming nature, and stories about the people, places and events that helped shape the Redlands. It is not a large museum and the building can in no way be deemed flash. A report dated 2022 states there are 2 full time paid employees and nearly 200 volunteers who keep the wheels turning.

During those awful days of Lockdown – which we refuse to honour by giving the cause a name – a new amateur theatre group was established which based itself in the  bowels of the Museum. The idea behind the formation of this group was to produce and perform  productions based on the stories provided within this museum. So far ,information garnered from the catalogues and artefacts within museum walls have led to theatrical productions about the Australian Women’s Land Army, local trailblazing women who have led the way to societal change, and a rather creepy Halloween based play featuring a century old Dentist’s chair belonging to a practitioner of the past.

Last month, as part of the National Trust Australian Heritage Festival, Theatre Redlands presented a short radio play titled ” Snowed Up With A Duchess”, adapted from a script donated years ago by a resident and that’s been sitting quietly in a storage box.

The presentation itself was entertaining and provided a few giggles. However, the finale included a presentation by the museum’s librarian who provided:

a) a history of the original play : when it was written and by whom, and the play’s political context at the time it evolved in the UK in 1907.

b) the history of the script and how it landed as part of the museum’s catalogue.

Honestly, I’m not sure what gave me the biggest kick. Was it the performance or the background information?

An inexpensive evening out, an opportunity to frock up, and with a grazing box included.

Who said museums were dull?

W is for War Memorials/Museums

Yesterday was ANZAC Day in Australia, a day during which the nation commemorates the victims of war and recognises the role of our armed forces. The day commences with a Dawn Service at the local cenotaph to remember the ill-fated campaign where Allied troops landed on the narrow beaches of the Gallipoli peninsula during WW1. This is generally followed by a march past, followed by lunch and other  “festivities.”

Cleveland, Qld

Australian regional memorials have long been at the heart of community commemoration of our servicemen and women.

When driving through most Australian towns, large or small, you can almost always find a war memorial, often at the town centre. They come in the form of granite obelisks, memorial gates, statues and more. They are found in parks, hospitals, post offices, swimming pools and halls. They include honour rolls found in bowling clubs, schools, town halls and other community buildings. Statues of mostly First World War soldiers, known as ‘Digger memorials’, are also a distinctive feature in regional towns.

Surat, Qld

There is a website collating these memorials in Australia. Go here :                       https://placesofpride.awm.gov.au/memorials

I admit to being a total sucker for our country towns. Their buildings, cemeteries, museums and war memorials offer so much more in the way of history than anything printed in the travel brochures or offered at Tourist Information Centres.

During a short road trip last week to see the Dingo Fence, and bonus find the  Rabbit Fence which I will share another time, we visited the Miles Historical Village on the Western Downs. Of particular interest was the War Museum loaded with local information pertinent to Miles in which I learnt that the Americans during WW2 established six artillery storage facilities near Miles, one being a current mine site which on occasion has unearthed refuse artillery. 

Oh, how this kind of useless information fuels my soul……

It must be an age thing but for the first time in twenty years I was unable to crawl out of bed at 4am to greet the dawn. I set the alarm alright, but just couldn’t face it. Instead, I listened to Vera Lynn for the day and read an article about a newly erected monument in rural Blackall, Queensland, of WW1 nurse Sister Greta Norman Towner, “as a reminder of the significant contribution Australian women in service have made to the nation.” Interestingly, this monument stands in the park opposite the statue of her brother Lieutenant Edgar Thomas Towner, VC MC.

And for those Aussie readers with a few free hours on their hands the AWM is calling for volunteers to help preserve war diaries and records within their collection by transcribing. It’s easy and I failed typing in a business course. Go here:https://transcribe.awm.gov.au/

#A-ZChallenge 2024

Australian Trivia

J is for Jolly Swagman

“Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,

Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil,

You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.”

           – Andrew Barton Paterson

So begins Banjo Paterson’s bush ballad “Waltzing Matilda” which has long since become known as the “unofficial national anthem of Australia”.

“The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one’s belongings in a “matilda” (swag) slung over one’s back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or “swagman”, making a drink of billy tea at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat.”– wiki

The song doesn’t have a happy ending. After a fine meal consisting of billy tea and lamb cooked over a fire, with remnants safely stashed away in his “tucker bag”, the grazier arrives with three policemen to arrest the worker for stealing his sheep. The worker drowns himself in a small watering hole. 

“Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,

“You’ll never catch me alive”, said he,

And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,

“You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me”.

According to Paterson’s initial wording of the poem the Swagman wasn’t always so jolly.

So why is the itinerant worker now considered a jolly swagman?

Sydney tea merchant, James Inglis, wanted to use “Waltzing Matilda” as an advertising jingle for Billy Tea, by slipping a copy of the song into the packets of Billy Tea as a promotional stunt. However, the tea manufacturers were concerned that the song ended on a distressing note.

In early 1903, eight years after Paterson wrote the original poem, Inglis purchased the rights to ‘Waltzing Matilda‘ and asked Marie Cowan, the wife of one of his managers, to try her hand at turning it into an advertising jingle. Cowan  made a few minor changes to the words and melody , including adding the word “jolly” to the opening line. 

The addition of that one word changed the entire connotation, elevating our swagman from a starving, thieving, homeless hobo hounded by police to a happy chappy enjoying life on the land. “Jolly” was added purely to enhance advertising prospects.

Incidentally, in Winton, outback Queensland, you’ll find the Waltzing Matilda Centre, a Museum centred around the poem. It’s an absolute gem. Nearby, I encountered my first Coolibah Tree which I had thought was much like leprechauns, unicorns and mermaids. Winton is well worth a visit.

#A-ZChallenge 2024

Australian Trivia

Changemakers at MOAD

Australia’s bush capital, Canberra, is home to the Museum of Australian Democracy, appropriately situated in Old Parliament House.

Affectionately known as MOAD by the locals, you need several days to work through the displays. If I was a resident I would be likely to visit on a fortnightly basis as the subjects are varied and presented in a manner that makes even the driest of subjects fascinating. Two hours in and my head was spinning! (Read: in dire need of cake and coffee.)

There are interactive displays, political cartoons galore, and the children’s area is loaded with fun and colour so don’t be afraid to take the Little People. The corridors are filled with the ghosts of power from the past. (1927 -1988).

I gravitated towards an exhibition focusing on Australian female “Changemakers”.

What is a “Changemaker”? “They are trailblazers who boldly shape new paths for others to follow. They are not afraid to swim against the tide of public opinion. They see a pattern of behaviour that needs to change and set about finding a solution. For them, the issue is bigger than self. They know collective effort is central to transformative change. They thrive on the power of women and proudly stand on the shoulders of women who have gone before them. They devote their own energy nudging others forward.In the face of patriarchy they are system changers and rule breakers”. 

Rose Batty exhibit.

Powerful and inspiring stuff. Sure beats reading about our Prime Ministers , past and present.(oooops).

The other display that held my attention was one devoted to the art of letter writing, from instructions on how to address any concerns with a Minister to open letters to members of the public. 

When I was the size of Christopher Robin I was schooled in the process of letter writing : thankyou notes, Christmas letters, a pen friend in Michigan, and even to idols. ( Can a football player be an idol? Waving to Lord Ted.) I still write more letters than most including several each month for charitable organisations.

I just have to say that the view from Old Parliament House up to the Australian War Memorial is just stunning.

Next Up: Brizzy May takes the Badass Women of Canberra Tour.

A Morning At Highfields Pioneer Village

Highfields is a satellite suburb of Toowoomba situated on the Great Dividing Range, approximately 135 kms from Brisbane City. First developed in the 1860s for timber felling once it was cleared it became prime dairy farming land. Since the 1960s it has become a thriving suburb with all the modern amenities and the benefit of an abundance of mature trees which add to its street appeal.

Highfields Pioneer Village is located on 20 acres on Wirraglen Road and consists of over 60 authentic and well preserved buildings, relocated from surrounding districts, and all stocked with artefacts from earlier days. My parents used to talk of Coolgardie Safes – fascinating to at last see one.

Each of the buildings is dedicated to an area of pioneer life including the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker……silversmith, blacksmith and beekeeper etc. Some of the buildings have been turned into museums – ambulance, radio, fire engine, 11th Lighthorse Brigade – and the number of old vehicles and farming equipment is fascinating even if I am totally clueless as to their use.

My favourite is The Grinke Cottage with its colourful Cottage Garden which has been entered in the Annual Carnival Of Flowers Garden Competition over the past several years in the Cottage Garden category. Just gorgeous.

So proud of myself: I refrained from taking cuttings.

The Anderson Bomb Shelter is also interesting. Over 2,250,000 were erected, many in Australia, and were made homely with bunks inside and flowers and vegetables planted in the protective bank of earth. One joker declared ” there was a greater danger of being hit by a vegetable marrow falling off the roof of an air raid shelter than of being struck by a bomb”.

There is also an old church which is to this day used for weddings.

Honestly, there is a lot to take in here and it can’t be done in a short time frame. I would like to make a return visit and may make the effort on one of the Pioneer Village’s special event days which you can read about here : http://www.highfieldspioneervillage.com.au/events

We finished the morning over hot tea and damper ( with Golden Syrup – wicked, I know) cooked by one of the wonderful volunteers.

The Highfields Pioneer Village is another attraction hit hard by Covid and an ageing volunteer base. So wish I lived closer………

Tip : Add to Must Do List.

Exploring Brisbane During WW2 : A Walking Tour

The 2 hour tour begins at the Museum of Brisbane on the the third floor of City Hall, King George Square.

King George Monument in King George Square with City Hall in background.

City Hall was built in 1930 and at that time was the tallest building in Brisbane. It was an important building during WW2 as it housed a recruitment area, was a distribution point where the Red Cross handed parcels to troops heading overseas, and has a ballroom suitable for 1500 guests. It was standing room only for 3000 when Eleanor Roosevelt arrived in Brisbane.

City Hall

During the early 2000’s City Hall underwent a massive restoration. What do you think they found? In the men’s bathroom in the basement Australian soldiers had signed their names on the wall along with their service numbers, as did many American servicemen who included their regimental details. This has been preserved and a reproduction is located within the museum.

Signature Wall Reproduction

Diagonally across the road from City Hall sits a church, a familiar landmark within the CBD, which was the site of 16,000 marriages between American men and Australian women during WW2.

Proceeding to ANZAC Square and The Shrine of Remembrance we then visited the Memorial Galleries underneath this structure. Most locals are unaware of the Galleries : for twenty years I too was totally ignorant and walked past on my way to the railway station. It is well worth a visit with its interactive displays and the staff are an invaluable source of information.

Self indulgence

Moving on we heard all about the Battle of Brisbane, the “ riot between United States military personnel on one side and Australian servicemen and civilians on the other on 26 and 27 November 1942.”

This was the American PX during WW2 and site of the riots

This concluded our walking tour though not the insights gained about Brisbane and her involvement during WW2. Brisbane had the name of Jazz Capital of Australia thanks to the influence of American soldiers. Who knew? We learnt about the HMAS Centaur, a submarine base in nearby New Farm and the SS Growler, and I was so excited to see my very first Air Raid Shelter, one of only three remaining in the vicinity. I repeat : who knew?

This walking tour is suitable for all fitness levels and we totally enjoyed seeing the city in a totally different light.

For further information go here : https://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/whats-on/walking-in-wartime/

We paid an additional $10 each to also visit the MacArthur Museum.

Absolutely fascinating and I learnt more in a 1 hour talk by a passionate volunteer named John, standing in front of a map of the Pacific, than I did during six years of high school. Toss out the text books. This was easily digestible, understandable, and logical and the personal tidbits made it interesting to boot.

Here’s ol’ Doug’s office :

I worked in the Brisbane CBD for twenty years and knew little of this history. Once again I put it down to COVID making us more familiar with our own backyards. Now that’s a positive from a negative, wouldn’t you say?