Digitised Versions Of Out-Of-Print Books And Documents From Private Collections.

 

A short overview of the Dutch exploration of Torres Strait

Author: Colin Sheehan (2018)

This work presents a brief history of Dutch exploration of the Torres Strait, the Gulf of Carpentaria and the eastern coast of Cape York. Of special interest is the bibliography that lists  material written in languages other than English related to early European contact history of Australia.

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Reports from Zion Hill Mission

Translated by Colin Sheehan

These are translated excerpts and summaries from the Gossner Mission journal pertaining to the Lutheran Mission at Zion Hill (Nundah) in Moreton Bay, 1838-1844. The Gossner missionaries were among the earliest European observers of Moreton Bay Indigenous people, giving accounts strongly coloured by colonial gossip, and were adopted as Brothers into local groups.
The name of the journal Die Biene auf dem Missionsfelde (The Bee on the Mission field) reflects the Gossner ideal of missionaries as practical labourers rather than trained theologians. For context see Regina Ganter ‘Gossner (1836) and the Berlin Mission Societies’ and ‘Zion Hill Mission (1838-1848)’ in German Missionaries in Australia – A web-directory of intercultural encounters

A transcript of Christopher Eipper’s journal can be found at Jen Willetts,’Free Settler or Felon? The Journal of Rev. Christopher Eipper

Gossner Mission Journal Zion Hill Extracts

Griffith University Logan Campus Site History

Author: Harry Spratt

Queensland Studies Centre September 1997

Published by the Queensland Studies Centre, Faculty of Arts, Griffith University Qld 4111

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Book of Public Labour Performed by Crown Prisoners commonly known as Spicer’s Diary

Transcribed by Marilyn England September 2013

Spicers Diary gives a snapshot of daily life in Brisbane Town in 1828. Peter Beauclerk Spicer, superintendent of convicts, compiled a journal describing penal settlement life during that year. His daily entries record receipt of livestock, building materials and stores, the number of hospital patients, punishment of convicts, ship arrivals as well as the arrival or despatch of convicts from Sydney.

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Captain Patrick Logan’s Diary

Transcribed by Marilyn England November 2013

Captain Patrick Logan of the 57th (West Middlesex) Foot Regiment was posted to Moreton Bay in March 1826, as Commandant of the Penal Settlement. Logan remained Commandant until October 1830, at which time he disappeared while exploring the Mt Beppo Region in the Brisbane River Valley. His body was found in a shallow grave. He had been bludgeoned to death. Officially Logan’s death is attributed to an Aboriginal attack but convicts at the time believed he was murdered by escapees of the penal colony.

Logan’s diary contains regular entries related to the daily running of the settlement as well as details of his exploration of the region.  Included is a letter written by Lt George Edwards of the 57th Regiment informing Lt Colonel Allan, Commander 57th Regiment in Sydney of Logan’s death in 1830. The diary continues to be written by Patrick Logan’s son Robert, who later followed his father into the 57th Regiment. The entries begin from July 1848 and end in 1854.

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Register of convicts at Moreton Bay 1824 -1839

This Register was compiled by Marilyn England 2014.
If you have an ancestor who was a Moreton Bay convict we would love to have his or her story for our records.

Research Methodology
With thanks to State Archives, Runcorn, Queensland for having so much information on line such as the 10 books comprising the Chronological Register of Convicts (including their Colonial conviction) and some Hospital Records.
In the Register this information has been marked CR., and Hospital Records when space permits.
The Register was then upgraded after obtaining information from the 1828 Census.

Sometime names did not match owing to prisoners apparently using an alias in many cases, or inconsistencies in primary records, therefore, despite taking every care to stay as close as possible to all available data, and although most of the names are correct, all records cannot be guaranteed to be 100% correct.

Information have also been taken from:
Book published by Redcliffe Historical Society profiling the first 29 convicts who came with Lieutenant Miller.
Spicer’s Diary (sometimes shown in Register as SD, Spicer or Spicer’s Diary depending on space). Some of the names in his diary are not in the above records, were they an alias, or was it an error on Spicer’s part?
Book of Trials 1935-1939 at State Archives (shown as BofT). All trial records after 1835 are from the Book of Trials, but sometimes there was no room to add BofT.
Captain Patrick Logan’s Diary from State Archives at Runcorn.
Bateson Charles. Patrick Logan, Tyrant of Brisbane Town, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1966.
Harrison, Jennifer. The very worst class: Irish Women Convicts of Moreton Bay, Irish Convict Lives, Ed. Bob Reece,
Crossing Press Sydney 1993.
O’Keefe, Mamie. Convicts at Moreton Bay 1824-1859. Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 2001
O’Keefe, Mamie. The Runaway Convicts of Moreton Bay read to Royal Historical Society Queensland 22 April 1976.
Steele J.G., Brisbane Town in Convict Days 1824-184, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 1975.
Tynan, Patrick J. Dr David Keith Ballow, Watson Ferguson & Co. Brisbane.
Voytas Suzanne Elizabeth 1828, Docmaster, Brookvale, NSW.
Author not named, Stories of Australian Colonial Days, Universal Books Pty. Ltd. Sydney. Date unknown.
Letters to Colonial Secretary, Sydney from Moreton Bay.
Information supplied by descendants when available.

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Stradbroke Island: Facilitating Change

Authors: Regina Ganter (Editor), Ann Ferguson, Margaret Iselin, Peter Jull, Vincent Martin, Scott McDougall, Dale Ruska, Donna Ruska, Penny Tripcony, Faith Walker

Proceedings of a Public Seminar held by the Queensland Studies Centre with Quandamooka Land Council May 1997

Published by the Queensland Studies Centre, Faculty of Arts, Griffith University Qld 4111

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Whose Island? The Past and Future of North Stradbroke

Authors: Regina Ganter (Editor), Ellie Durbidge, Donna Ruska, Raymond Evans, Tiiti Gill, Jennifer Craik, Michael Liddle

Proceedings of a Public Seminar held by the Queensland Studies Centre September 1992

Published by the Queensland Studies Centre, Faculty of Arts, Griffith University Qld 4111

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