Royal Geographical Society of Queensland

MONTHLY LECTURE 

RGSQ lectures are free and open to the public.

◊September

“18^th century publications in the wake of Cook’s Endeavour voyage: rare holdings in Queensland Collections" by Simon Farley, Fryer Librarian, UQ

The recent discovery of the scuttled wreck of HMS Endeavour at the bottom of Rhode Island Harbour reminds us today of legendary navigator Captain James Cook’s three epic voyages to the South Seas, between 1768-1779. His first pacific voyage (1768-1771) was aboard the Endeavour.

In 2012 the John Oxley Library at the State Library of Queensland purchased, through a private collector located in Brisbane, the first published account of the Endeavour voyage attributed to Midshipman James Magra published in London on 1771 by T.Becket and P.A De Hondt. It is titled A journal of a voyage round the world, in his majesty’s ship Endeavour. In the years 1768,1769,1770 and 1771: undertaken in pursuit of natural knowledge, at the desire of the Royal Society….with a dedication page to Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. This copy has a fine contemporary binding and was once held in the pacific collection of the Hawaiian property developer Donald H. Graham Jr.

Open title page of the Journal. Source: State Library of Queensland.

This presentation will focus on rare books relating to James Cook’s Endeavour voyage collected in Queensland and acquired by Queensland institutions including the John Oxley Library and the Fryer Library. 

September Lecture on the Sunshine Coast

“Gympie Gold and Queensland”

by Bernard Fitzpatrick, the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland

Tue September 26, 7:15 pm – 9 pm

at the University of the Sunshine Coast

Special RGSQ Lecture organised in association with the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Photo: Mary Street, Gympie 1879, courtesy of State Library of Queensland.

Within ten years of becoming an independent colony of the British Empire in 1859, the Colony of Queensland was in financial hardship. In January 1867, the Queensland Government responded by announcing a reward for the discovery of a new gold field.

In a gully to the east of the Mary River, James Nash discovered alluvial gold in September 1867. On registering the find in Maryborough in October 1867 a rush to the new gold field began. A settlement, later named Gympie, sprang up along the small watercourse.

Gympie would become known as “the town that saved Queensland” and gold continued to be mined in the Gympie area until the 1920s. Gympie has become the regional centre of the Mary River Valley agricultural district and in 2016, the Local Government Area contributed around two billion dollars to the Queensland economy. The presentation follows the progress of the Mary River Valley region from its golden days in the mid to late 1800s.

Presenter

Bernard Fitzpatrick is a geographer with a strong interest in regional geography. He has a personal connection to Gympie through various branches of his family, which have had an association with Gympie since at least 1869. He is also the Executive Officer of the Royal Geogrpahical Society of Qld.

 EVENTS

September 6: Visit to the Brisbane Tramway Museum

To book: contact RGSQ at 07 3368 2066 or email at admin@rgsq.org.au. 

Who doesn't remember riding on a rattly Brisbane tram? 

Would you like to ride on one again to relive those memories?  Well then, join us for a tour of The Brisbane Tramway Museum. The Museum has been operational since 1980 and is run entirely by volunteers who make a visit fun & informative.

September 21: Totems and a Temple

To book: contact RGSQ at 07 3368 2066 or email at admin@rgsq.org.au.  

A morning walk through the Boondall Wetlands to view the aboriginal totems along the track. It is about a 2km, flat walk on a well-made track winding its way through the wetlands, with the possibility of a short detour to a bird hide beside Nundah Creek.

October 26:  Southern Moreton Bay Island trip 

To book: contact RGSQ at 07 3368 2066 or email at admin@rgsq.org.au. 

Somewhat less visited than the tourist oriented North and South Stradbroke Islands are the four ‘residential’ islands of southern Moreton Bay – Russell and Macleay, each with populations of around 2,500 and Lamb and Karragarra which each have less than 500 residents. The best known island is Russell probably as a result of the (in)famous land scam of the 1970s based partly on the rumour of a bridge from the mainland.

* The Society's 2015/16 Annual Report may be downloaded HERE.