Presenting... Civilising Brisbane

CHRISTMAS MEETING – PLEASE BRING A PLATE TO SHARE FOR AFTERNOON TEA

This event will be held online and in person at the QFHS Family History Resource Centre, 46 Delaware St, Chermside and by Zoom - i.e. a hybrid meeting. Please register your planned attendance whether you are attending in person or by Zoom.

DUNCAN RICHARDSON WILL BE PRESENTING IN PERSON AT RESOURCE CENTRE

Three Colonial Women who changed the face of a city. In the second half of the 19th century, Diamantina Bowen, Sister Ellen Whitty and Eliza O'Connell battled indifference and prejudice to improve health care, the arts and education in Brisbane. Crossing the sectarian divide, they often worked together and their letters and diaries reveal a fascinating story of struggle to improve lives in a rapidly growing town.

Presenting... times vary between 1pm and 7.30pm Please check the calendar carefully. You are welcome to attend as a visitor.

Note: This event is held in QLD time, AEST: no daylight saving. (GMT+10)

Image: Cover of Civilising Brisbane by Duncan Richardson.

Duncan Richardson migrated to Australia in 1970, taught in Botswana from 1987 to 1988, and returned to work in Australia as a part-time teacher. His fiction has been published in various anthologies such as Obliquity, Futurevisions, Subtropical Suspense, Lighthouses and Within/Without Walls. In 2008, his verse play The Grammar of Deception was produced and broadcast by ABC Radio National.

Duncan has published several children's books, including readers for Macmillan, Wennabees and Yum-Worms(2005), Revenge (2005), Jason Chen and the Time Banana (2008) and Dinomania (2014). He was a part time English as a Second Language teacher and regularly runs writing workshops for adults and kids. His first history book, “Year of Disaster: Brisbane 1864” was released in 2017, followed two years later by “Captives of the Spanish Lady” about the flu quarantine in 1919, and “Civilising Brisbane” in 2021, about three colonial women who changed the face of the town.

(He spoke to QFHS in Feb 2022 about “Beyond Distinguished Gentlemen”, early Brisbane, and in Apr 2024 about “Captives of the Spanish Lady”).