Biography of Patrick Shea (1834 – 1916)

Biography of Patrick Shea (1834 – 1916)

Read about Patrick Shea, who arrived in Queensland in 1858 and first settled at Pilton. He later moved to Drayton, then Southbrook, where he took up Rockmount Station. Patrick milked a small dairy herd and travelled to Toowoomba by horse and cart up to three times a week to deliver hand made butter. He and his family played a great part in changing the area from bushland to a prosperous agricultural district.

Latest news and events

Funding for Trove to Continue

April 20th, 2023
Following a groundswell of support from cultural institutions, historians, researchers and the general public lobbying the federal government to continue its funding of Trove, the government has pledged $33 million to save this valuable institution. Read more here. Read more

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