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Explore some digitised highlights of the State Library of Queensland's original material collections.
Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party to the people of Queensland
The Manifesto, dated 9 September 1892, can be regarded as one of the formative documents of the present day Australian Labor Party.
The Manifesto was written at a time of political and social upheaval in Queensland, with the Labor movement looking for alternatives to industrial action to progress its aims. It provides a detailed coverage of the party’s grievances, with a focus upon the ruling class of the time, including squatters, employers, the government and others, who they saw as opposing what they aspired to in terms of working benefits. Electoral and land reform as well as social equity are specific themes. More...
The Archer Brothers in Queensland
The Archer brothers were some of the earliest settlers in Queensland. Charles (1813-1862), John (1814-1857), David (1816-1900), William (1818-1896), Archibald (1820-1902), Thomas (1823 - 1905) and Colin Archer (1832 - 1921) were seven sons of William Archer, a Scottish timber merchant in Larvik (or Laurvik, also Laurvig), Norway, and his wife Julia, nee Walker. There were thirteen Archer children in total, nine of whom spent time in Australia.
The first of the Archer brothers to settle in Australia was David, who arrived in Sydney in 1834. David was joined by his brothers William and Thomas in 1838 and together they resolved to seek pastoral land on the Darling Downs. More...
In 1846 the British government commissioned a scientific exploration and charting of seminal importance to the history of Queensland.
In September 1846 Captain Owen Stanley was commissioned by the Admiralty Office to undertake an Australian and New Guinea expedition with instructions to: conduct the first systematic hydrographic survey of Hervey Bay, with a view to eventual settlement; an exploration of the Torres Strait to ascertain means of a safe passage; to identify a safe anchorage at Cape York; and to examine the southern part of New Guinea and the Louisiade Archipelago. More...
The founding of QANTAS has a very special place in the history of Western Queensland. In 1919 former Australian Flying Corps officers W Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness were commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Defence to survey a route and air strips for the London-to-Sydney Great Air Race. More...
People have always felt the need to record the events in their lives, and never more so than when traveling to a destination not yet known to them. Today we travel quickly from place to place, but in times gone by the slow pace of long-distance travel gave ample opportunity to keep a diary. More...
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Last updated: 18th February 2008
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