Brisbane: Schemes and Dreams

Brisbane History Group (edited by Barry Shaw & Jennifer Harrison)

Themes include:
• John Thomas Bigge’s report and its significance for the future settlement and development at Moreton Bay
• the difficulties in establishing a settlement
• the work of the valiant and largely unsupported missionaries at German Station
• the arrival and impact of the first free migrants to travel directly to Moreton Bay
• the voyage of the Fortitude and the trials and tribulations of the Lang migrants
• the life of John Clements Wickham and the many roles he performed
• the life of soldier, surveyor and sugar industry pioneer Captain Claudius Whish
• the rector’s daughter who helped impoverished silk ribbon weavers in the English Midlands emigrate to Australia
• the effect of the short-lived immigration policy which sought to populate Queensland with skilled tradesmen
• the effectiveness of emigration agents in promoting Queensland to the Scots
• the story of a Brisbane wharf which witnessed changes in shipping, cargo and the ultimate demise of the city’s industrial heritage