Queensland

Opals and Agates – or Scenes under the Southern Cross and The Magelhans – N. Bartley

A first edition of this unusual reminiscence by Nehemiah Bartley, Queensland identity of the later 1800’s.

Published by Gordan and Gotch, Melbourne etc in 1892.

Octavo, 311 pages, with nine illustration. Original embossed red cloth covered boards with gilt titling to front and spine. Re-cased professionally with spine laid down. A couple of marks to boards, a little age internally, still a good to better copy. Priced accordingly.

Well, Bartley got about and knew many people of consequence in the day. The style of writing is very usual, with a seemingly obsessive attention to detail and a rather meandering structure.

He opens with much time in Tasmania, with an interesting image from Beattie of snow on Mount Wellington and three masters in the dock. Time in the Pacific Islands with good references to Tonga and Samoa. Back to Swann Hill in Victoria and then up to Queensland. Mount Morgan and the gold rush, many identities and locations. Bullock driving a list of the largest nuggets then found (including Scotland!) and some rather strange lightly connected content … poetry, the Brisbane Cup and the Melbourne Cup.

Bartley’s reminiscences from 1840-1890 – Australia and Beyond

$90.00

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More About Cairns : Echoes of the Past – J.W. Collinson – First Limited Numbered Signed Edition

The second of Collinson’s books about Cairns and the Far North .. an a little bit of New Guinea.

Signed limited edition number 337 0f 500. Printed in Brisbane by Smith and Paterson, 1943.

Small octavo, 134 pages with six illustrations. Original brown cloth covered boards with gilt lettering to, rubbed somewhat. Internally very clean and tight a pretty good copy.

Charming first person narrative of goings on in early Cairns from the Jungle to the Business Centre. Kuranda and the Falls; early Pioneers; the Wreck of the Ranelaigh etc. Interesting section of gold in New Guinea … quite a few ounces taken in some unusual locations.

Collinson, regarded as a classic of the Far North ….

$80.00

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Aerial, Geological and Geophysical Survey of Northern Australia – Period Ended 31st December 1936

A comprehensive report on all undertakings in 1936 covering all regions in Northern Australia … Western Australia, the Territory and Queensland. Published by the Commonwealth Government, Canberra in 1937 – 830 copies produced at the time.

Folio, 91 pages with 12 large coloured charts at the rear .. some on a massive scaled. All staple bound as issued. Repaired tear to front cover otherwise a near perfect copy, the charts almost as new and the colours very vivid … printed on high grade paper compared with the narrative which is on the usual fragile government stock.

There so much to describe regarding the content that any attempt to precis is rather daunting. The descriptions of the plates gives a good idea of coverage.

Plate 1 Geological Sketch Map of the Pilbara District, Western Australia; Plate 2 – ditto Kimberley, WA; Plate 3 ditto Daly River District, Northern Territory; Plate 4 ditto Cloncurry District, Queensland; Plate 5 ditto Croydon Gold-fields, Queensland; Plate 6 Tennant Creek – Peko Area, Northern Territory; Plate 7 – Tennant Creek, Magnetic Survey, Profiles and Drilling Results; Plate 8 Croydon Geophysical Survey; Plate 9 Dugald River, Queensland; Plate 10 Brock’s Creek, Northern Territory; Plate 11 Portland Roads, Queensland; Plate 12 Miscellaneous Profiles.

Magnificent geological report in terms of its detail and raft of quality coloured geological maps.

$240.00

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The Border and Beyond – Camooweal 1884 – Queensland History – Lillian Miller.

Much more than a local history or if it is the best we have seen and read.

Lillian Miller was the wife of Rocklands Station Manger Robey Miller. The forward is by the great Sir James Balderstone, Chairman of Stanbroke Pastoral and BHP .. he knew them well.

Self published 1984. Folio, softcover 161 pages illustrated throughout many from period photographs. Very clean inside, a very good copy signed by the author.

Camooweal is situated in north west Queensland, 105 kms from Mount Isa and close to the Northern Territory border. The local area covered by this work is known as the Barkly Tablelands and, was named by William Landsbourough on his great inland explorations aligned to finding Burke and Wills. A tree on the Rocklands Station was cut and marked by Landsborough. William Hodgkinson also explored the area.

Great work on many topics including the massive local cave networks.

Detailed history about a remote part of Australia.

$50.00

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Brisbane Centenary Medal – Discovery by John Oxley 1823 -1923

John Oxley (1784-1828)officially discovered the Brisbane River naming it after the then Governor of New South Wales in 1823. He had some assistance from three shipwrecked sailors, Parson, Finnegan and Pamphlett who had been taken in by a local aboriginal group. Oxley was looking for new locations for convict sites and recommended Moreton Bay on his return. In 1824 he returned and discovered the Bremer River a major tributary.

The medal 3cm in diameter of light white metal shows the Brisbane Shield with its connection to the land and sea … Brisbane Centenary 1823 and 1923. On the obverse boldly “To Commemorate the Discovery of the Brisbane River by Lieut Oxley in 1823”.

Accompanied by a card tag with a typical profile image of Oxley related to celebrations carried out the following year. Amazing that this has survived.

The Discovery of Brisbane Celebrated nearly another hundred up!

$70.00

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Gold Mining in Queensland – Four Hand Coloured Magic Lantern Slides – 1890’s

Four rare original magic lantern slide issued by George Washington Wilson (G.W.W.) in the late 1890’s. Hand coloured to a high standard.

Original 3.5 inch square, standard size, lantern slide. Original label from G.W.W.. Fine quality image – no damage except the odd ageing to the securing tape, easily replaced.

G.W.W. sent their top photographer, Fred Hardie, to Australia in the 1890’s to take images for their business in magic lantern slides. Hardie travelled from South Australia to Cairns, Queensland mainly by train but occasionally by horse and trap. Very active at the time. G.W.W. went out of business just before WWI, through competition and a waning in interest in the product. The slides produced are quite scarce, and rarely seen coloured. The bulk of the G.W.W. catalogue eventually ended up at Aberdeen University.

The slides comprise:

Alluvial Gold Diggings – Cradle at Work – Aberdeen Reference 30591; Alluvial Gold Digging Queensland – Good Prospect – Reference 30592; Sinking in a Payable Reef – Reference 30593 and Gold Digging – The Whim – Reference 30595. Note we have an uncoloured slide of 30594 The Whip which is being sold separately.

Rare Hand Coloured Images of Queensland Gold Mining Activity.

SO SORRY SOLD

$390.00

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Opals and Agates – or Scenes under the Southern Cross and The Magelhans – N. Bartley

More About Cairns : Echoes of the Past – J.W. Collinson – First Limited Numbered Signed Edition

Aerial, Geological and Geophysical Survey of Northern Australia – Period Ended 31st December 1936

The Border and Beyond – Camooweal 1884 – Queensland History – Lillian Miller.

Brisbane Centenary Medal – Discovery by John Oxley 1823 -1923

Gold Mining in Queensland – Four Hand Coloured Magic Lantern Slides – 1890’s

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