Melissa Fagan at Brisbane Square Library

Melissa Fagan at Brisbane Square Library

Brisbane Square Library is hosting an event with Melissa Fagan, Sunday 10 February 11am-12noon as she discusses her book, What Will Be worn: A McWhirters Story, about the iconic department store in Fortitude Valley. For all who know Brisbane, McWhirters, a once celebrated department store in Fortitude Valley, is an icon.

For Melissa Fagan, it is also the starting point for this remarkable exploration of her mother and grandmother’s lives, and a poignant reminder of the ways in which retail stores and fashion have connected women’s lives across decades. Behind the dusty shop counters of an Art Deco treasure, Fagan discovers both what has been lost and continues to shine. Ultimately this tender exploration of self and family, so exquisitely written, speaks of the ways in which life so often surprises us and of how the legacies of others can truly enrich our own relationships and lives. Melissa Fagan will share her research and discoveries in writing What Will Be Worn: A McWhirters Story in this engaging talk.

To reserve your place, visit eventbrite.com.au or phone the Brisbane Square library on 3403 4166 to book your seats.

Latest news and events

Dr Ray Kerkhove launches new publication

March 20th, 2023
Dr Ray Kerkhove, a HGRC past Visiting Fellow, has a new publication titled How They Fought: Indigenous Tactics and Weaponry of Australia’s Frontier Wars. As he states ‘The history of Australia’s Frontier Wars is becoming a hot topic for debate and research. It is now part of our national educational syllabus. However, there are very few […] Read more

Female ex-convicts in Queensland’s benevolent asylums

February 18th, 2023
Jan Richardson’s research on female ex-convicts admitted to Queensland’s benevolent asylums at Dunwich and Rockhampton has been published in the Journal of Australian Colonial History and is now available for download from the UNE Convict History Research Collective website. Jan’s article — ‘Out of sight, out of mind: Ex-convict female paupers incarcerated in Queensland’s benevolent […] Read more

Dr Henry Reece – HGRC Visiting Fellow

February 16th, 2023
The HGRC welcomes Dr Henry Reese. Henry’s project is titled ‘The trial of Joseph Vos: A blackbirding scandal in 1890s Queensland’. Henry proposes to research and produce a scholarly article and short podcast series based on the life and 1895 trial of Joseph Vos. In the mid-1890s, Captain Vos claimed to have used recorded sound […] Read more

Please sign petition to save Trove

February 14th, 2023
Trove, Australia’s expansive digital repository of published work, may shut down after Federal Government funding runs out in July 2023. Historical researchers from Australia and internationally access Trove daily via its online access to digitised sources. The digitalisation and searchability of historical newspapers, books, images, maps, music, and more, held by over 900 cultural institutions across Australia have […] Read more

QSA Talks – The Artemisa (recording)

January 27th, 2023
In this recording of her QSA Talk, Griffith University Visiting Fellow Dr Dorothy (Dot) Wickham discusses her research into the Artemisia, the first immigrant ship of free settlers from England. The Artemisia’s maiden voyage arrived in Brisbane’s Moreton Bay area in mid-December 1848, with about 240 men, women, and children on board. Many stayed in […] Read more