50 Amazing Photos of Queensland in the Late 19th Century

   

1891 saw the Great Shearers’ Strike at Barcaldine leads to formation of the Australian Labor Party. The issue in the strike was whether employers were entitled to use non-union labour. There were troops and police called in, some sheds were fired, and there were mass riots. There was a second shearers strike in 1894. Union sponsored candidates won sixteen seats at the Queensland elections in 1893.

The 1893 Brisbane flood caused much destruction including destroying the Victoria Bridge. The land where the Brisbane Cricket Ground now sits was first used as a cricket ground in 1895, with the first cricket match played there in December 1896.
 
In 1897, Native (Aboriginal) Police force disbanded. In 1899, the world’s first Labor government, with Premier Anderson Dawson as the leader, was elected into power only to last one week. In July 1899 Queensland offered to send a force of 250 mounted infantry to help Britain in the Second Boer War (Second Anglo-Boer War). Also in that year, gold production at Charters Towers peaked. The first natural gas find in Queensland and Australia was at Roma in 1900 as a team was drilling a water well.
 
The Mahina Cyclone of 1899 strikes Cape York Peninsula, destroying a pearling fleet in Princess Charlotte Bay. The cyclone claimed the lives of around 400 people, making it Queensland’s worst maritime disaster.
 
These amazing photos from Queensland State Archives show what Queensland looked like in the 1890s.
 
Hay stacking, Green Hills Farm near Warwick, 1894

 

300 acre wheatfield, Canning Downs near Warwick, 1894

 

Fitzroy Bridge, Rockhampton, circa 1894

 

Interior of wool shed, Jondaryan, 1894

 

Merino sheep ready for shearing, Jondaryan, 1894

 

Reaper, binder and stooks at Green Hills Farm near Warwick, 1894

 

Fairymead sugar mill, Bundaberg, circa 1896

 

Gold sluicing, Mary River, near Gympie, circa 1896

 

Bales of wool from Claverton Station loaded on dray with workers nearby, circa 1897

 

Bourbong Street with Post Office in the distance, Bundaberg, circa 1897

 

Brilliant Extended Mine, Charters Towers, circa 1897

 

Brilliant St George Mine, Charters Towers, circa 1897

 

Castle Hill from across Ross River, Townsville, 1897

 

Charters Towers from the railway station, circa 1897

 

Cherry orchard with horsedrawn plough, Accommodation Creek, 1897

 

Columbia - Smithfield Gold Mine, Gympie, circa 1897

 

Cootharaba Mill, Gympie Goldfield, circa 1897

 

East Street, Rockhampton, circa 1897

 

East Street, Rockhampton, circa 1897

 

Four miners at face of reef in Gympie Goldfield, circa 1897

 

Gathered miners at Brilliant Mine, Charters Towers, 1897

 

General Post Office, Queen Street, Brisbane, 1897

 

Gill Street, Charters Towers, 1897

 

Gympie Goldfield (No.2 S.G. Eastern Underground), 1897

 

Homestead and yards of East Talgai, 1897

 

Looking across Ross River to Mount Stuart, Townsville, 1897

 

Looking down Flinders Street, Townsville, 1897

 

Looking eastwards from Castle Hill, Townsville, 1897

 

Mount Morgan, circa 1897

 

SS Aramac at the wharf, Cairns, 1897

 

Victoria Bridge from Treasury Building towards South Brisbane and Mt Coot-tha, Brisbane, 1897

 

View of Cairns, 1897

 

View of Charters Towers, 1897

 

Warwick Town Hall, 1897

 

Wool bales from Claverton Station at Wyandra Railway Station, circa 1897

 

AMP society building, corner Queen and Edward Streets, Brisbane, 1898

 

Brisbane from Parliament House towards Victoria Bridge, 1898

 

Handmilking at a dairy farm near Walloon, circa 1898

 

Packing grapes at Atkins vineyard, Roma, circa 1898

 

Petrie Bight showing National Hotel and Customs House, Brisbane, 1898

 

Roma Street Railway Station looking towards Mt Coot-Tha, Brisbane, 1898

 

Sheep shearing at Yandilla, 1898

 

Two horse single furrow plough and farmhouse near Rosewood, circa 1898

 

Wheat stack, Roma, 1898

 

A woman with a stack of cheeses at Mrs Bergann's Farm, Teutoberg, Blackall Range, circa 1899

 

Hay carting at Clarke's farm, Danderoo, 1899

 

Strawberry field group picking at Simpson's strawberry field, Blackall Range, circa 1899

 

Threshing at Wallumbilla, 1899

 

Tram and crowd scene in Queen Street near George Street, Brisbane, 1899

 

Veritz Farm near Peachester, date palmstand orange Trees, circa 1899