Excellent night, many happy faces, and a fabulous new history book is added to ASHGs collection.
Many thanks to Denver Beanland and Stephen Sheaffe for hosting the evening- and to the volunteers helping to organise the night.
The book was a huge collective undertaking by the chapter authors, editors, Stephen Sheaffe and Gary Osmond, and behind the scenes work by Glenda Sheaffe. See more detais of the book here.
Here’s a quick video of the evening.
A night at the book launch – Janis Hanley
Memories of Stephens is available for just $25.
Books are available for purchase from the our History Room, during its opening hours, and from
Annerley Meats, 502 Ipswich Rd, open Monday to Saturday.
We also offer these books for sale at ASHG events and stalls also offer these.
The books are also available for perusal in our History Room, and at Annerley Junction Library.
We’d love to have you join our group and there a many ways you can be involved – researching, coming to events, participating in events, and following us online. Click here for more details.
Membership cost is currently $10 per year.
Help support a vibrant local history community. Read more about the benefits of joining here.
New members
You can join online, send us an email, or pay in person, See details below.
ASHG actively publishes local history books about the areas covered by the former Stephens Shire. Books are available for purchase from the our History Room, during its opening hours, and from Annerley Meats, 502 Ipswich Rd, open Monday to Saturday. We also offer these books for sale at ASHG events and stalls. The books are also available for perusal in our History Room, and at Annerley Junction Library. Note: Prices listed exclude postage.
This book, compiled by Stephen Sheaffe, yet again expands the collection of stories of Stephens, with a diverse array of topics. These include pre-colonisation views of Yeronga, local scouting, railways, local churches, local Chinese people, Tennyson, a remarkable local GP, World War II stories, graves and cemeteries, houses, state heritage properties and more. Chapters include:
– Yeronga 1823 (Dr. M. Macklin) – Stephens Army of Boy Scouts (D. Marshall) – The Wilderness of Tarragind (G. Dove) – Dr Lindsey Page Winterbotham (Prof. J. Pearn) – The Forgotten (d. Hacker) – From Softstone to Tennyson (J. Wiley) – Chinese in Stephens (Dr. J. Hanley & J. Richardson) – Toohey Forrest Land-use History (Dr. W. Metcalf) – State Heritage Properties in Stephens (G. Sheaffe)
This book celebrates the lives and stories of women from all walks of life who contributed to the rich tapestry of the south-side of Brisbane. It is a compilation of the papers delivered at the 16 October 2021 lASHG local history conference. The book is compiled edited by Pauline Peel, Kate Dyson and Denis Peel. Chapters include:
– The headwomen of the Chepara people (K. Wilshire) – Tracing female convict lives (J. Richardson) – Nurses of World War One (Prof. L. Shields) – Jessica Anderson’s Yeronga (R. Blair & A. Hay) – Calling Paula Gubar a dressmaker …. (K. Forsythe) – The story of the Fairfield Hat Factory (S. Monk & L. Hurse) – The Brisbane Line (Dr J. Powell) – Four Generations of Annerley-Stephens (G. Dove) – Annie MacKenzie (J. Wiley) – Lady Cilento (S. Sheaffe AM) – Local women: a designer, an author & a poet (K. Dyson) – Mabel Alice Love (Kathryn Watters)
This book is an exploration of wartime and its legacy from a local perspective, and it is a revealing chronicle of the people, streets and parklands of Stephens Shire.The papers delivered at ASHG’s 26 October 2019 conference are collected in this book. The book is edited by Stephen Sheaffe. Contents include:
– Yeronga Park (R. Walding) – Burnett, Qld Aboriginal soldier in the first AIF (R. Pratt) – Military camps in Stephens (P. Dunn) – Local History Beyond Appearance (N. Buch) – War Service Homes (C. Black) – Interwar housing a Four Mile Swamp ( K. Dyson) – Annerley Drill Halls on Portion105 (M. Baker) – Finding the first war Service Homes (D. Peel and K. Dyson) – The military hospital at Greenslopes (C. Strakosch)
Echoes of Stories of Stephens contains 18 vibrant chapters exploring our local history . The book is based on Annerley-Stephens History Group local history conference of February 2019. The book is edited by Stephen Sheaffe. Contents include:
– Stephens Divisional board 1886-1903 (T. McKell) – The Yerongpan of the Chepara People (K. Wiltshire) – The Comercial Development of Annerley Junction 1866-1966 (M.Baker) – Cotton Growing in Stephens Shire during the Americal Civil War (M. Macklin) – Brandons Shoe repairs (M. Scully) – Annerley Meats (M.Scully) – The Stephens Croquet Club (V. Layne) – Tarragindi Buses (N. Wilson) – The ‘Sunbeam’, Streetscape Heritage in Fairfield (J. Pearn).
The Stories of Stephens is the collection of papers about the First Nations People of Stephens, A short history of the Shire, Yeronga, and Fairfield as well as stories of prominent names of Stephens. The papers were delivered at the Annerley-Stephens History Group 2016 local history conference. The book is edited by Stephen Sheaffe. Chapters include:
– A Short history of Stephens (S. Sheaffe) – Aboriginal Landscape and History in Stephens Annerley (R. Kerkhove) – Yeronga from Colony to World War – Annerley’s Original Parkland (N.Buch) – Junction Park School (J. Lergessner) – Tramways of Stephens (p. Hyde & R. Thomson) – Strong and Dunn Families (J. Collins) – John Leary Cracknell (M. Morris)
This was the very first collections of stories about Stephens, drawn from the 17 July 1994 Annerley Conference, organised and curated by Stephen and Glenda Scheaffe. It represents the history of Annerley from its beginnings as farmland owned by T.S. Stephens to an important inner-city suburb of Brisbane. The book is edited by John Kerr. The contents include :
– The Stephens family (L. Stephens) – John Soden’s Omnibuses (B. Roberts) – Five Decades of Plicing in Stphens (B. Rough) – Growing up in Annerley between the wars (R. Wood) – Children of the Creek 1935-1940 (G. Jurott)
Children of Stephens $5
(Class packs available)
Children of Stephens is a delightful booklet written and researched by Jarrah Pearce. Jarrah recorded several oral histories to compile a collection of activities for primary school children. Lots of fun, and the booklet brings many insights into Stephens past. Contents include:
– Map of Stephens – Generations – Before the Second World War – Game: Hopscotch – During the War – Game: Beam – Post-War era – Game: Fly
If you would like the books posted out to you, or want to ask any questions about ASHG activities, please use the contact form below.
EVENT FULLY BOOKED: Options for a second talk are being explored
The pocket sized suburb of Ekibin in Brisbane’s inner south now barely exists. Up until 1970 it was a suburb and census district until much of it was usurped by freeway and became part of Tarragindi.
Ekibin has a rich Indigenous heritage, with First Nations people well supported by the wetlands of the creek.
There is also a Chinese past. From the 1880s, Chinese Market Gardens started to appear along Ekibin Creek, and produced rich crops for around seventy years. ASHG’s Talking History event ‘Ekibin’s Chinese Past’ tells the story.
Local memories of these gardens are fading, but this talk aims to give this Chinese past a presence through historical survey plans, drawings, and aerial imagery.
Immigration records help shed light on the Chinese people who lived and worked there.
We are also keen to hear any memories people have of the Ekibin gardens.
If you are curious in the area’s local past and its changing landscape, please join us, Saturday, August 10 at 10:30 am. Book a place by contacting Annerley Library on 3403 1735.
A depiction of the Ekibin Gardens as part of the mural on the wall of Greenslopes State School.
About Dr Janis Hanley
My PHD is in critical heritage — ways the past is represented and remembered, and the voices not often heard.
My interest in Queensland’s Chinese past began with work researching a state listed Chinese Temple site in Croydon, in the Gulf Country.
I grew up in Tarragindi and now live in Greenslopes, so I was curious about my local area’s Chinese past. There was a lot to discover.
My colleague Jan Richardson, PhD candidate, and I have worked together on this and various projects researching Queensland’s Chinese past.
Heritage is best experienced in place – not musty conference halls or footnoted tomes. A Walk in the Warm Zone is an encounter of the living heritage kind.
The walk, created by Pauline Peel and supported by a team of contributors was launched last Friday. It starts in Villa street Annerley and explores the surrounds through the writings of well known author Jessica Anderson.
Heritage resides is the living fabric of communities. We can really only access this heritage by walking streets, paying attention to the surrounds, connecting with others, exploring forgotten corners and sharing stories.
History becomes our-story, through the magic of storytelling as the many threads, and the layers of the past that haunt places, are acknowledged, shared, and become entangled with our own life experiences.
These ongoing encounters maintain a living heritage — adapting, and constantly renewing, as stories are re-told, and places re-experienced.
The walk
A walk in the warm zone, cleverly weaves together place, fiction, memory, and performance, seeking out and enriching this living heritage.
Jessica Anderson’s fictional characters reflect her own experiences growing up in Annerley-Yeronga in the 1920s. All are brought to life. Denis’s performances as Jessica’s Dad, steels the show, bringing both humour and hard truths.
Through the walk, Pauline Peel gently takes us by the hand, leading us to places thick with memory.
Together we visit the backyard of Jessica’s childhood and follow her memories through the back gate into Yeronga Memorial Park. We gather outside her primary school, and sit in the pews of the church she insisted on attending.
Along the way we hear about discoveries made by current owners of Jessica’s house, as well a reminiscences by the team members, Jeanette and Wendie who grew up in the area during WWII and post-war. Their memories of park and school entwine with the experiences of Jessica’s characters.
Finishing up at ASHG’s history room in Villa Street gave us a chance for a cuppa and a chat.
This walk is creative heritage at its best: collaborative, artful, and engaging the senses. It affects, at times deeply, and at other times playfully. It is an inspiring co-created mash-up of performance, creative writing, memory, artefacts and storytelling.
The Inspiration
Pauline writes of her inspiration for telling Jessica Anderson’s stories in this way.
The making
It is founded on considerable research and is a collaboration. PaulineASHGs Villa Street Project brought collaborators, and revealed local knowledge, further developing these ideas. Denis Peel, Jeanette Wiley, Kate Dyson, Wendie Hirsch and various community members contributed to the making of this event.
The talk presents a fascinating and little documented story of ordinary life of the residents of early Brisbane based on the findings from the Cross River Rail archaeological investigation. The presenter, Dr Kevin Rains, draws[...]
