Nundah & Districts Historical Society Inc.

Nundah & Districts Historical Society Inc. The Society was founded in 1984 and aims to maintain records, photographs, maps and documents of the All are welcome to access the records.

The Society was founded in 1984 and aims to maintain records, photographs, maps and documents of the Nundah districts, and of the pioneers of the district. These records include a wide range of photographs, maps and documents pertaining to the area covered by the 1883 Toombul Divisional Board. The suburbs included in the area are Airport, Albion, Ascot, Banyo, Breakfast Creek, Clayfield, Doomben,

Eagle Farm, Eagle Junction, Hamilton, Hendra, Kalinga, Meeandah, Myrtletown, Northgate, Nudgee, Nudgee Beach, Nundah, Pinkenba, Toombul, Viriginia, Wavell Heights, Whinstanes, and the former suburbs of Albion Park, Cribb Island, Lower Nudgee and Serpentine. The resources are extensive and continue to grow due to the generosity of members of the public who donate photographs, documents or maps or allow the society to copy articles. The Archives is available for those researching local history, whether for a school or university assignment or for general interest.

Before commercial flights, there was Lores BonneyLores (Maude Rose) Bonney was the last survivor of Australia's golden a...
19/06/2026

Before commercial flights, there was Lores Bonney

Lores (Maude Rose) Bonney was the last survivor of Australia's golden age of aviation. Mrs Bonney lived for a time at Bowen Hills and learned to fly in secret at Eagle Farm, as she was afraid her husband may not approve of such a pastime.

When she gained her pilot's licence, her husband was so proud he bought Lores her own plane, a de Havilland Gipsy Moth bi-plane which she christened "My Little Ship". A few days later, she used the Moth to fly from Brisbane to Wangaratta in Victoria, setting a new Australian record for the greatest distance flown in a single day.

The plane had an open cockpit, no radio and cruised at the speed of today's family car. Lores was the first woman to fly around Australia. This indomitable Queenslander made world headlines with a series of flights that placed her among the great pioneers of aviation. Her achievements rank with those of Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, Amy Johnson and Bert Hinkler.

Info source: collated from info held at Nundah Historical archives
Photo source: courtesy of State Library of Queensland

For anyone who grew up flying in Australia between 1957 and 1968, Ansett-ANA was an absolute icon of the skies.Photograp...
18/06/2026

For anyone who grew up flying in Australia between 1957 and 1968, Ansett-ANA was an absolute icon of the skies.

Photograph taken at Brisbane Airport year unknown, and courtesy of Mr Ron Trim, President, Woodford Historical Society and Museum

If you can help with information, it would be greatly appreciated.
17/06/2026

If you can help with information, it would be greatly appreciated.

Mid-1960s “Red Rattler” Commute MemoriesIn the mid-1960s, Brisbane's daily commute was a sensory assault of soot, sweat ...
17/06/2026

Mid-1960s “Red Rattler” Commute Memories

In the mid-1960s, Brisbane's daily commute was a sensory assault of soot, sweat and social awkwardness. Steam locomotives still dominated the suburban lines, gradually yielding to the diesel engines of a new era.

Commuters mostly rode in wooden, two bench facing each other seating, side-door opening “Red Rattlers” where open windows invited a constant spray of airborne coal dust.

Manual compartment doors lacked central locking and often were difficult to open, especially so for younger children travelling to school. Impatient passengers regularly opened doors before the train stopped. Compartment doors sometimes had a mind of their own.

One memory of mine from my teenage years is of a door in the compartment I was sitting in swinging wide open between Toombul and Nundah. As no-one else was sitting in my compartment, I somehow had to move to the opposite bench seat to get my hand out the window in order to slam close the door.

Cramped face-to-face benches forced strangers to tightly interlock their knees to maximise leg room. Overflow passengers packed the narrow compartment aisles balancing without handrails unless they could brace against one of the two side doors.

Reading the morning paper required strategic, vertical folding to avoid hitting a neighbouring fellow passenger’s face during page turns.

The mid-1960s rise of the miniskirt brought an abrupt shift to traditional social etiquette. As hemlines climbed from the knee to the thigh, the low, tightly packed benches turned daily transit into a visual minefield. For women, sitting elegantly in the confined space was nearly impossible. For the commuters trapped directly opposite them, deciding where to look became an exercise in acute social awkwardness.

On hot days with windows wide open, passing trains sometimes brought other issues if youths threw eggs or other projectiles at passing trains.

On one such never forgotten by me occasion on a Saturday afternoon race train on my way back to Eagle Junction from Brunswick Street before arriving at Mayne Junction, eggs were thrown at my passing train and landed all over my clothing.

Covered in egg, the station staff at Mayne Junction could do nothing to assist other than telephoning through to Bowen Hills to see if the station staff might spot the culprits.

I had to console myself knowing that the racegoers looking a picture of sartorial elegance on the way to enjoy a day at the races were spared the indignity of egg splattered clothing or hats.

Info: Author’s own memory
Photo: courtesy of the State Archives of Queensland

The late afternoon commute at Eagle Junction Station was normal until 6:09 pm on Thursday, 4 January 1951.The stationary...
15/06/2026

The late afternoon commute at Eagle Junction Station was normal until 6:09 pm on Thursday, 4 January 1951.

The stationary Pinkenba train sat at the platform packed with passengers heading home. Suddenly, the Gympie Mail rounded the bend just 30 yards away. Sparks flew as the driver slammed on the brakes, but the heavy locomotive skidded 98 feet smashing directly into the rear carriage. The impact reduced the last two wooden carriages to matchwood, trapping passengers in a tangle of twisted metal, wood and splinters.

Ambulances rushed to the scene. Firemen and police wielded axes to hack through the debris, pulling the screaming and injured from the wreckage. With the platform covered in debris, emergency workers turned the station’s manicured lawns into a makeshift open-air hospital, treating 11 casualties under the evening sky and with one passenger sustaining serious injuries.

As the drama unfolded, a massive crowd of onlookers rushed onto the station’s overhead timber footbridge. Onlookers packed tightly against the railings, leaning over to get a view of the destruction below. By all accounts of physics, the bridge should have splintered under the sudden, immense weight.

But it didn't flex. The structure that had been built decades earlier from hardwood timber held fast and bore the weight of the entire neighbourhood, preventing a second disaster on that fateful night.

Info: courtesy of Trove - Queensland Times, Fri 5 Jan 1951, p1
Photos: courtesy of State Library of Queensland

When toiling convicts first hewed out a rough riverside track along what is now known as Kingsford Smith Drive – to conn...
12/06/2026

When toiling convicts first hewed out a rough riverside track along what is now known as Kingsford Smith Drive – to connect the main Moreton Bay Penal Settlement to the agricultural outpost and the women’s prison at Eagle Farm - little would have they imagined that their road now serves as a major economic and commuter corridor.

Photographs: courtesy of State Library of Queensland - the road transformation over time

Hamilton Road (now Kingsford-Smith Drive) in the 1880sThis gem of a glass slide (along with numerous others) belonged to...
11/06/2026

Hamilton Road (now Kingsford-Smith Drive) in the 1880s

This gem of a glass slide (along with numerous others) belonged to 72-year-old Brisbane man Ian Overett's grandfather, Cyril Windrum. It has been lovingly and painstakingly restored by amateur photographer and restorer, Paul Williamson of Buderim.

Info source: www.abc.net.au
Photo contributor to article: Ian Overett

Fruit canning was once a great Queensland industry.In the early days of convict settlement in Brisbane, extensive fruit ...
06/06/2026

Fruit canning was once a great Queensland industry.

In the early days of convict settlement in Brisbane, extensive fruit growing was carried out at the Women's Prison at Eagle Farm (the site of the old control tower at Eagle Farm Airport) for the settlement in Brisbane Town Later, when free settlers arrived, they moved into the Pinkenba, Myrtletown and Nudgee areas to take advantage of this proven productive area.

Before long, it was realised that the tropical pineapple grew well in the area. William Cooksley had 8 acres under "pines" on the site where St Augustine's Anglican Church now stands in Racecourse Road, Hamilton.

As more growers came, there were more pineapples grown that could be sold, so some progressive farmers decided to can their "pines", and a local industry was born.

Around the turn of the 20th century, the enterprising Jackson family of "Bramble Farm" Cribb Island started canning their pineapples and carried them to the Brisbane Markets or the Shorncliffe Pier, depending on the wind and tide, in their flat-bottomed barge "The Bramble".

With still more growers arriving and the area being extended to the Sunshine Coast and Gympie districts, it was necessary to set up a large cannery to cater for the larger crop and a market had also been found for pineapple juice. In the late 1940s, the Golden Circle Cannery was established.

The sickly sweet smell from the discarded skins pervaded the area and could be smelt as far away as Sandgate Road. The residue left after the juice was extracted, and the skins, were carried away to piggeries to feed the pigs and, in one case, cattle being fattened on a farm at Myrtletown.

Of course progress caught up with Pinkenba, Myrtletown and Nudgee. Peach trees, grapes, tomatoes, peanuts, cotton and vegetables have given way to the Brisbane Airport.

Info: Nundah Historical archives
Photos: courtesy Qld State Archives top photo and Qld State Library bottom two photos

It is comforting to know that many of Banyo’s earlier homes do still stand proud, often finding new life through highly ...
04/06/2026

It is comforting to know that many of Banyo’s earlier homes do still stand proud, often finding new life through highly creative restorations.

No detail on where this Banyo beauty was located, whether it was preserved or was in time demolished.

Photo: courtesy of the State Library of Queensland

Courtesy of Brisbane City Council Heritage Places site, “Emoh” at 44 St Achs Street, Nudgee, was built on Portion 231 ad...
03/06/2026

Courtesy of Brisbane City Council Heritage Places site, “Emoh” at 44 St Achs Street, Nudgee, was built on Portion 231 adjacent to the Nudgee Railway Station in 1912 (as written by Brisbane City Council on the history of this house), on land that was purchased by Ambrose Holland in 1863 (or in 1866 as stated by BCC).

Ambrose was related by marriage to James and Mary Robinson and their family of Nudgee, having married James’s sister, Ann, in the March of 1859 in Brisbane. The couple lived and farmed on their Nudgee land, and it is assumed they grew pineapples and small crops.

In 1875, Ambrose sold his Nudgee land to his brother-in-law, James, adding to his already significant Nudgee land holding.

In 1877, Ambrose and Ann moved to Hopetoun (now Kilcoy), having selected land there. The couple lived in Hopetoun until Ambrose’s death in late 1904. He was buried in Kilcoy Cemetery.

Ann moved to Clayfield to live with her brother, Thomas Robinson and his wife Catherine (Maddock) until late October 1905. Ann is buried in Nundah Cemetery.

Info: courtesy of Brisbane City Council and Kilcoy Districts Historical Society
Photos: courtesy of BCC Heritage Places and SLQ

Address

1A Bage Street
Nundah, QLD
4012

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 3pm
Thursday 12pm - 4pm
Saturday 9:30am - 11:30am

Telephone

+61472733630

Website

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