Spring Hill is absolutely packed with history! The oldest European building in QLD, grand old houses, towering churches and dreadful crimes. #springhill #brisbanehistory #queensland
@@grahambishop263 If you live anywhere out in the sticks here in Cane Toad County then even trying 480p will have the video stuttering like old King George! 🙄
@walkaboutwithrob I always do. You're absolutely right mate! There are many such 'locked' places of our history in Brisbane, and like you said; they could easily make them accessible - would cost them diddly squat compared to the unwanted rubbish they squander BILLIONS on! AND: it would let us all look back at the history that we have...It's as if they want to bury the past...and you know the old saying about doing that, right?
I've learnt more about Brisbane and surrounding suburbs more from watching U for a few months then being here for years ! Thank you , you should get a grant from the current government, as a care taker of reminding us of the story 👍👍👍👌👌
Just a side note Rob, the rock you were looking at in the quarry is called Brisbane Tuff and is unique to the area. I always wonder how many people who look at the inner city curb stones made from this rock realise they're looking at a stone they will see nowhere else in the world.?
My maternal family line came from Spring Hill, my grandmother lived at 105 Bradley Street, Spring Hill for 54 years. I spent a major chunk of my formative years in that area. My relatives including my mum knew every person, story and some even created history. My grandfather had a SP racket going at 105 Bradley Street and this would have mortified my deeply religious church going grandmother. My uncle was a young trouble maker who got drunk and wound up in fights at local pubs. He fled the cops on foot because he knew the back street hiding places better than anyone. I found his history on Trove and learned he was the first person to be tried by the courts in both QLD and NSW on the same day. I loved the energy of 1970s Spring Hill and the way it represented something much more earthy and wonderous than the northern suburbs of Brisbane. Nan's house has long since been demolished and brick shit boxes now stand where her wooden cottage used to be. I know Spring Hill from the stories passed onto me by my family because it was always for them a place of connection and love.
I've been to Opera in the Reservoir 4 times, great way to see inside. Very concerned about it falling into disrepair now. Edit: completely agree with your final thoughts!
10 out of 10 for mentioning Cecilia McNally, she was such an identity around the suburb for a very long time and the street her former home is on the corner of was named after her. It was a very sombre day in Spring Hill when the news came through that she had died. Well done for including her.
I have been to a performance in 2018 in the old windmill. It was breathtaking. I never understood how the Government could NOT put the money in to preserving it. The acoustics are amazing.
Your story of first living in Spring Hill was like us. We moved up from Melbourne 10 years ago and the first place we lived was in Spring Hill Mews. I remember the few weeks we were there walking through the streets exploring and walking to rail centre each day to work at QR. great area to explore.
Great video Rob! I 110% agree with your viewpoint in regard to Brisbane City Council and their senseless closure of many of the historic buildings in Brisbane. I too grew up in Sydney, and Sydney celebrates its old buildings and history and puts them to good use with tourism so everyone can enjoy. Brisbane on the other hand have one pathetic Brisbane Open House weekend which books out in 10 seconds and offers like 12 tickets of entry into popular attractions like the old windmill which get snapped up in 5 seconds of being released. What an absolute embarassment of a city council. Anyway, great to see someone shining a light on all that. Especially love the end of your video, you are a crack up!
Thanks so much for your videos Rob. I used to live in Indooroopilly but had to move to Newcastle in 2010. I love watching your video as some bittersweet nostalgia for the city I loved to live in. I mean this in the most respectful way, but I believe you might be becoming one of the modern colourful characters of Brisbane
I love this video. The only thing I wish you had included was the Springbok Riots of 1971 which occurred right near the Windmill with the Springbok rugby team staying in the Tower Mill hotel. I think that's a very dark but interesting part of our history. :)
The windmill and reservoirs were open to the public during the Brisbane Open Weekend, prior to covid. I think it was usually held around October. Admittedly that was only for 2-days out of each year, and they haven’t restarted it.
The 22nd of September 1976 was a Wednesday and I was working in the photographic section at the Main Roads Dept across the street from a small group of shops, including a milk bar where I'd bought my lunch that day, and barbers shop where he shot his first victim with a .22 caliber rifle. One of his victims was the very pretty 13 or 14 year old daughter of the barbers, who helped out in the shop after school sweeping the floor and doing chores. Her father used to cut my hair and I often spoke to her but she was very shy and rarely answered. She was the only child of elderly migrant parents and her father never recovered from the shock of losing his daughter.
I feel you so mach on the open buildings topic, another sad example of this is the literal birthplace of our state ( The deanery of St. John's Cathederal ). We so badly need to get with the programme up here we are missing out.
Another fantastic video Rob, thank you! I believe the Coat of Arms statue at 16:56 is the same one which once featured as part of the ‘Welcome to Brisbane’ fountain (nicknamed ‘The Urinal’) that existed where Wickham and Ann Streets split at the eastern entrance to Fortitude Valley
I've stayed in that windmill hotel before too. Bit of a novelty being that it's round instead of box shaped. I was walking along the road up at spring hill late one night after clubbing. Some car sped past, a door flung open, a duffel bag fell out and all I heard was 'get the guns' before the occupant grabbed it and it sped off. This was back in the '90s. Crazy times.
Love love love this ❤ such a walk down memory lane. Yes, I agree with you. The windmill and reservoirs should be open to the public. I nearly spat out my coffee when you said "bite me." That was my go-to comeback in the 80's 😂 You, my friend, are one of the colourful characters of our time. Long after we are all gone, your legacy will remain 😊
@shellebelle53 Thank you so very much for your kind feedback. I always look forward to your thoughts. I try to inject as much humour into each show as possible as local history can otherwise be a bit of a dry subject. Spoon full of sugar... well, rum works too.
So well made Rob and funny. Absolutely fascinating about a suburb I thought I knew. Your info is fresh and relevant as are your opinions which we live to hear. I remember the fair but it must have ceased while I lived in Sydney or Melbourne. In the days when people didn't spend thousands on travelling away from home for holidays, my parents took us to the Centenary Pool and I remember the feeling of sitting in that gigantic children's pool and seeing nothing but warm pale blye water all around.. it is one of a handful of big memories of being young. Many years later I went with a group of teenagers at night and it was still an important place, a very fancy pool indeed. I've also been to the baths.and yes, probably every other state in Australia embraces its history and takes care. I always smile when Brisbane sells itself as a vibrant city. Oh and deconsecrated is that word. Each video is better than the last, my excuse for saying that I have a new favourite each time. I'm surprised you haven't been snapped up to make a series but yeah, it's Brisbane lol. Thanks so much for this great work.
5:30. That cliff, the old quarry face, was where Qld Police forced hundreds of protesters off during the South African Rugby Sprongboks team tour in 1977. The anti apartheid protests were here because the team was being accommodated in the dormitory of the Terrace Boys School. The Police, Joh’s personal mob of bastards back then, used horses during twilight to shove the bulk of protesters toward that cliff. No official numbers for wounded among the protesters, the media played the game by not reporting the police tactics or injuries. Myself, (M 15yo) my family and friends were extremely lucky to breakout from the main push and not be forced toward the cliff. The lothing, and malcontent I still hold against politicians and police of that era knows no bounds. An extraordinarily backward state of affairs.
They opened up the old aqua duct in Paddington Sydney and turned it into a beautiful floreal park ! Brisbane used to be ahead of it’s time , now it’s like Melbourne Sports Mad !
Many years ago, there was a guy who published a book or books about houses, who lived in them, when they were built. Sorry I don't have any more information 😔. I just remember thinking how interesting it would be.
i stayed in the very same tower last november 2023 you did when you first came to brisbane and i thought of you as i looked out my balcony at the windmill wondering why i hadn't heard any of its significance from you yet, but thought it was only a matter of time until i do! & sure enough!
It amazes me how many old homes and businesses in brisbane burn down or bulldozed overnight in the 19 years I've lived here. Historic listed building are written in vanishing ink. Council don't seem to give a dam
Great Videos Rob. Love everyone of them. I lived in Spring Hill from 1998-1999. Phillips St and from my bedroom window saw the steeple of the church. Now when I visit doctors on Wickham tce, I love to look at the Mill and see the oldness of it all.
Another informative look at Brisbane. I said G'day to you outside the hospital. I was quite embarrassed that I didn't remember your name. The flying foxes still hang out in the park at times.
Great video Rob! Spring Hill is a fascinating area. Totally agree that the more should be made of the Windmill Tower and reservoirs - I've suggested previously(Courier Mail letter to the editor) more be made of Brisbane's Convict era, the reservoirs would be an ideal place for a Brisbane Convict Era Museum, I've been inside them and the brickwork is stunning and such a centre would compliment the nearby Windmill Tower, one of two surviving Convict built buildings in Brisbane, Also I've been fascinated by how water was supplied to the reservoirs and as you mentioned they were gravity fed with water coming from the Enoggera Reservoir. This pipeline surely was a great feat of Victorian era engineering! Maybe you could do one of your walks retracing its path - were there any pumping stations along the way? I've gone a bit of the way retracing its path and there's some remnants here and there. I think the pipeline came along waterworks road - is the pipe still there? Cheers
I still haven't been in that windmill!! I wonder if on those Brisbane open days where council opens up some heritage houses etc this windmill is available for tours.
Great episode Rob, I love the Spring Hill area, and agree that it's a massive shame the Windmill and Reservoirs aren't open to the public. Not sure about the clickbaity thumbnail though.
Great video Rob. Ive been there many times and attended the City Tabernacle Baptist Church on Wickham Tce for years. Parking became an increasing problem and those in the morning congregation have been allowed to park in the carpark of the United Services Club next door for years. It is a very conservative church with a lot of history. Even though I was an ordained Baptist minister, I no longer have anything to do with the church. I was not allowed to attend because I am gay, medically proven during electronic shock therapy organized by a Dr Len Knott, a psychiatrist who practiced at The Brisbane Clinic also on Wickham Terrace. He was President of the Baptist Church in Queensland at the time. The whole 13 years I saw him and his successor Dr Rod Hall, homosexuality was declassified as an illness in 1973. I saw both Drs for a total of 13 years from 1975. What a waste of money! I am gay and now proud of it. Enough of all that...
Hardly compares to the old Byzantine brick water cisterns under Istanbul. (Complete with fish!) But these old buildings could certainly be put to some better purpose for very little cost as the man says.
@AwesomeFish12 only Brisbane council 🤣. I'm a professional grass digger, I go at night 🌙 😂 and no one would even know I've been digging old coins n' relics. 👍✌️
I know a dude whose dad was injured during that 76 shooting, his name was mentioned in the article shown. Imagine shooting up the place over a model plane club, sheesh.
Nice vid. Like the subtle tribute to The Go-betweens, senonomous with Spring Hill. Oh those were the days…The Alliance, saw my son's punk band play there in the downstairs bar
Your recent visit to Brisbane City Hall and this video continues to show how out of touch the Brisbane City Council is and their total indifference and neglect in honouring Brisbane's rich history. Very sad indeed. 🙁
Could of tied Newstead house and the breakfast creek hotel in with the windmill and captain Logan.... breakfast creek hotel is apparently haunted upstairs. Back in the early days they would let out the rooms on the top level...one was a renowned drunk who would always become an embarrassment...one night they locked him in his room so he tried to get to the bar by climbing out of the window and scaling the drainpipe down but he fell to his death...there's also the old navigation tower nearby made of concrete..was to help ships come into the river due to the Rocks that protrude in that section of the river
They were also whipped by the cat o' nine tails & chained by the feet so you couldn't step off whilst stepping to power the mill...each row did 13-16 hours continuosly (if I remember correctly) before the next row took over from the previous...if you fell down or couldn't do anymore then if it wasn't death from being overworked it was 300 lashes minimum then back on the chain row captain Logan was a sadistic man
This was packed full of information and so much history with the windmill and the buildings next to it that would be amazing to see inside. Fancy them not being looked after and opened to tourist.. Always wondered about that..
My dad knows a lot about Brisbane and if you want to know more history about Brisbane, I can check with my dad and see if he can help you with anything you need to know more about.
That rock is trcite a volcanic rock. Not uncommon as Brisbane is situated in an extinct super volcano. Its lss erupion formed mount warning. That rock was used by Petre as a damp cause on many of Brisbanes sandstone buildings. Petres pocket is named after The olde bloke two of his sons drowned in creek street.
@@walkaboutwithrob Oh i was watching a documentary on super volcanoes and iy mentioned the huge one that Brisbane is built in, which starts just north of Mount Coolum and goes south to Mt Warning. It was a huge hot spot that Australia moved north over. Interestingly enough the Glass House mountains are not volcanos. Just intrusions from a huge magma chamber they came up through the country rock but never erupted (Ozgeographics)
