Old Qld Poetry Timeline
This is a broad guide to the major political and social events in the 100 years in Queensland following separation from NSW, and some of the events in Queensland poetry that accompanied them.
1859
1859
Qld (white pop 23,500) separates from NSW
Chubb, Ode to Governor Bowen
1859
1860
1860
Robert Herbert 1st premier
1861
1861
Brisbane Courier founded (formerly Moreton Bay Courier)
1861
1863
1863
First Kanaka labour
1865
1865
AG Stephens (Bulletin Red Page) born
1865
1866
1866
The Queenslander published (1866-1939)
James Brunton Stephens arrives in Qld
1867
1867
Gold rush at Gympie
1867
1869
1869
TB Christie, Poems and Songs, Forbes, Voices from the Bush
1870
1870
Free education introduced
Vowles, Sunbeams in Queensland
1870
1871
1871
Brunton Stephens, Convict Once
1873
1873
Palmer River Gold Rush
Midgley, Helen Young
1877
1877
Brunton Stephens, Dominion of Australia, O'Doherty, Poems
1880
1880
Sugar Cane introduced to Innisfail
1880
1881
1881
Chubb, Fugitive Pieces
1883
1883
Population 250,000, Sir Samuel Griffith Premier(1883-88)
G. Essex Evans arrives in Australia, William Baylebridge born
1886
1886
Electricity connected, Parliament House
1888
1888
Dunn, Autumn Leaves
1891
1891
Great Shearer's strike, Labour Party founded
Essex Evans, Repentance of Magdalene Despar
1892
1892
Preferential voting introduced in Qld
1892
1893
1893
Major flooding in Brisbane
Maurice Little born
1895
1895
Kenna, Songs of a Season
1896
1896
AG Stephens founds Bulletin Red Page, Brisbane’s 1st cinema opens
Paula Fitzgerald born
1896
1897
1897
Aboriginal Protection Act
Bayldon, Poems
1899
1899
Dawson Premier, 1st Labour Government (6 days)
E.M. England born
1900
1900
Bubonic Plague at Townsville
1900
1901
1901
Federation, Qld pop 500,000, White Australia Policy
Moynihan The Feast of the Bunya
1902
1902
Brisbane proclaimed a city
Brunton Stephens dies, Mathew, Australian Echoes
1902
1903
1903
Samuel Griffith, First Chief Justice, High Court
1905
1905
Female suffrage
Favenc, Voices of the Desert, Martin Haley born
1907
1907
Kanakas cease to be imported
1907
1908
1908
Blocksidge (Baylebridge), Songs o' the South
1909
1909
Valleys win 1st Brisbane Rugby league premiership
Forrest, Alpha Centauri, Essex Evans dies
1909
1910
1910
Frank C. Francis moves to Queensland
1911
1911
University of Queensland established
CB Christesen (Meanjin) born
1911
1912
1912
School leaving age raised to 14
JJ Stable appointed to University of Queensland
1913
1913
John Blight born
1913
1914
1914
World War 1 (1914-1918)
Coungeau, Stella Australis
1915
1915
Gallipoli, State Labor Gov't (1915-29)
Mona Brand born
1915
1916
1916
Conscription Referenda (1916 and 1917)
Cross, A Song of Mother Love, June Saunders born
1917
1917
Electric lighting to Brisbane Streets
Gore Jones Troop Trains
1917
1918
1918
Armistice
Garry Lyle born
1920
1920
Qantas est'd, first flights Charleville-Cloncurry
Gwen Harwood born
1922
1922
Qld abolishes upper house and capital punishment!
James Devaney arrives in Queensland
1924
1924
Stable and Kirwood, A Book of Queensland Verse, O'Neil, Dinkum Aussie
1925
1925
Brisbane City C'cil est'd, 1st Qld Radio Station
Bingham, Marcinelle
1925
1926
1926
Queensland enters Sheffield Shield
1928
1928
First cricket test in Brisbane, Bert Hinkler solo flight
1929
1929
Great depression, Moore (C'try Party) Premier (-32)
Peter Porter born
1929
1930
1930
Devaney, Earth Kindred
Kellow, Queensland Poets
1933
1933
Courier Mail established
1934
1934
Experimental TV broadcast, Brisbane/Ipswich
David Malouf born
1934
1935
1935
Cane Toad introduced
Sweeney, Original Verse
1936
1936
Catholic Poetry Society, Lack, Fields of Amaranth
1936
1938
1938
Queensland population 1,000,000
1940
1940
Story Bridge opens, Brisbane
Meanjin Papers founded (CB Christesen)
1942
1942
US forces arrive in Brisbane, Battle of Brisbane
1944
1944
Fred Patterson (Communist) elected to Parliament 1944
Judith Wright moves to Queensland
1946
1946
Wright, The Moving Image
1947
1947
Joh Bjelke Peterson elected to Parliament
Vallis, Songs of the East Coast
1947
1948
1948
Violent railway strikes
Manifold, Selected Verse
1950
1950
Australian Troops to Korea (1950-1953)
1954
1954
Petrov affair
Rowbotham, Ploughman and Poet
1955
1955
Bauxite discovered at Weipa
1955
1957
1957
Labor party split, Coalition Government (1957-1989)
Collinson, The Moods of Love
1959
1959
Wally Lewis born, Television begins in Brisbane
Byrnes and Vallis, Qld Centenary Anthology
1959
1960
1960
Queensland population 1,500,000
[1] Images marked with * courtesy State Library of Queensland, all others from author’s collection.
