What is your favourite food ?

I will tell you something I just learnt.

Possums like parsley. 

In particular they are loving ours ! 

In Bendigo it just grew and grew and was out of control. Here it has been more of a struggle. The heat we thought.

Since moving though, it has just been decimated. I couldnt work out what was going on - I even bought a new plant.

Next day. No Leaves. Just stalks.

Pesky little devils.

Time to look for a cloche or something to stop them having a feast.

Other than that revelation, things are going well. We are enjoying exploring the new neighbourhood and deciding where to hang artwork and photos on the walls.

Winter has arrived. Well winter in a Queensland manner of speaking. It is definitely nowhere near as cold as what we are used to, but it is cooler. A decidedly bitey cold wind some days, but we still haven't felt the need to break out the puffer jackets, gloves and beanies to look like a local.

I have been back on the job search treadmill again since the end of May, but have a temp assignment to start in a day or two and run for a couple of weeks. Hopefully there are some other more promising roles on the horizon.

I've been enjoying going to a regular trivia quiz night since moving and hope to get to a few more of the walks with the walking group I have joined. I have also been trying to organise a regular meet up for current and past students from the UTAS Diploma I studied. So far we have had three meetings and it is fun to share study stories, research and help each other. I've joined the Genealogical Society too and been to a couple of meetings.

Last week I caught up with several friends, some who live here and others who were visiting. Some from past jobs in New Zealand and some from jobs here. And there are more in the pipeline.

It's all about networking - right ?

All I really need now is a job....so that I can have holidays - lol. Isn't the ultimate purpose of working a means to fund your out of work life ? If it is something that you truly love as well, surrounded by great people it is even more perfect.

Surely it is my turn soon.

Birthday Treats

Lots of things have caught our eye since we have been living in Brisbane. Finding the time to go to places, or do things gets a little tricky; the hum-drum of life pushes them down the list.

So what better timing than to try to do some as part of Birthday Day activities. That’s what happened.

Favourite dinner and a cake decorated with edible flowers from our garden and then a day full of surprises.

Food, discovering laneways, more food, playing with kittens and cats at not one, but two cat cafes and then watching the sunset on one of the shortest days of the year.

Green Heart Fair

Since most of the boxes had been emptied and collapsed we decided to go ahead with our plan to check out the Green Heart Fair. A promotion of sustainability, the opportunity to find out what services and organisations are operating in our community.

Lauren was feeling a bit rubbish with a sore throat, but such is her commitment to doing her part to save our planet she still wanted to go. As always, parking was the trickiest part, but we were lucky and fluked a space close to the entry.

There were electric vehicles, composting hub information, beekeeping, water conservation, food charities, workshops and presentations. As well there were some food trucks, coffee carts and a small market selling eco and sustainable products. The council had native plants to give away – we got two each and also went to hear Craig Reucassel from the ABC programme War OnWaste speak.

It was a good day, although the clouds were building and Lauren was fading fast so we headed home with our goodie bags.

NOTE: Strep and the common (but nasty) cold were on the doorstep and only one of us remained uninfected.

NOTE: It has come to my attention that as ratepayers we can get 2 native plants EACH year from the Council. This city is growing on me even faster than I thought it could.

Tour Guides again

After an iffy start to their holiday – thanks foggy Auckland – Anne and Mark arrived for a week long holiday. They had booked an apartment in Fortitude Valley since there were no spare beds at our place.

We collected them from the airport and dropped their luggage off before heading out to find something to eat after the long day of travel. Next morning we met and walked through the city along the river to the Botanic Gardens and then to Southbank.

The main reason for their visit was attending the Truck Show later in the week, but we played tour guide when we could as well. My job had been extended, so my plans to have been able to do things with them during the day, or to loan them our car were quashed. However they hired a car and managed to get in a couple of days exploring without getting lost or frustrated in traffic.

We met them for dinner a couple of times through the week and again on the weekend, doing some sightseeing and truck viewing along the way.

Before you could blink it was the end of the week and time for them to squash everything back into their suitcase and head for the airport to begin the journey home.

A home above the road above a river

 A home with a view. Imagine living inside the pylons of a bridge.

That’s just what the toll-keeper and his family did in the north pylon of the Walter Taylor bridge crossing the Brisbane River from Chelmer to Indooroopilly. Up until fairly recently, descendants of the original toll-keeper still lived there.

The bridge is the longest span suspension bridge in Australia (299.7m in total with the longest span 182.9m) and is the only habitable bridge in the Southern Hemisphere. Opened on Valentine’s Day 1936, the bridge gave ready access (for a fee) over the river, which until then had been only permissible by ferry.

Originally called the Indooroopilly Toll Bridge it was renamed in 1956 and bestowed the name of its designer and builder, WalterTaylor.

We went on a walking tour with Brisbane Greeters and learnt a few other things about the area as we walked. Did you know there were Japanese soldiers interred on the banks of the river between the rail bridge and Indooroopilly station ? Have you ever noticed the flood indicator plaques on the base of the pylon as you drive under the southern end of the bridge ? That is an awful lot of water !

The support cables were surplus support cables used to support the incomplete halves of the Sydney Harbour Bridge during its construction. The toll was about 6d or 5c until it was abolished in the 1960’s. Proceeds from the toll were used to repay investor loans which had enabled Walter Taylor to construct the bridge.

Living conditions inside seem quite rudimentary by today’s standards, but photos from when occupied by the toll-keeper and his family show a fairly normal family home; albeit it over three or four levels above the roadway.

Walter Taylor himself was involved in the construction of many building around Brisbane, but he was also a visionary planning and proposing many ventures. Some of these were never built in his life time, but a few have been constructed in the ensuing years including a tunnel under the river ! Two of the projects completed in his lifetime, the bridge and the Graceville Methodist Church are both heritage listed. The fine homes he constructed for his family also in Graceville are still outstanding today.

If you get the chance it is very interesting to hear about the construction, family and history of the area. The stairs are quite steep and it is definitely not pram or small children friendly, it also involves walking about 2km from the starting point and return.

From Glasgow to Toowoomba

So, its been a wee while since I posted anything but I figured this is the week. 

On my Mum's side of the family there is a little bunch of detectives finding all sorts at the moment. We are all 3 x great grandchildren of our common ancestors Thomas Kelsey b1808c and Sarah Hulett b 14 Nov 1807. We've all been searching on our own for 20 years or so, but have slowly been making connections over that time until we have joined forces - and we're still recruiting ! The interesting part has been discovering how intertwined the families were a couple of generations ago, when they were closer to those common ancestors.

Thomas and Sarah were country folk; ag labs. They had five children. One son stayed in the same area working on the land to support his family, the other two sons joined the booming railroad industry, one daughter married a railroad worker and the other a local roading contractor. Their descendants are spread across the United Kingdom in England, Scotland and Wales and across the globe in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

The Scots connection has only been recently uncovered and has also lead to discovering other emigrants to Australia and the United States. Yesterday I was comparing my information to that of another descendant on GenesReunited and noted that a 2nd cousin of my grandmother had a death recorded in Queensland Australia. This was something new, so after looking up passenger lists on Ancestry I discovered that Thomas Laing Kelsey had emigrated on his own from Scotland aged 16 on the Oronsay. Off to Trove I went to see what else I could find out.

I didnt find anything which mentioned Thomas by name. There were a number of articles about a charity ball which had been held on board after the ship arrived in Brisbane while moored on the river. There were two articles though, concerning one of Thomas's fellow passengers. One in the Sydney Morning Herald on 2 August 1929, and the other in The Courier Mail on 6 August 1929 which was more detailed. These two articles also gave some background to the Boy Migrant Scheme under which Thomas had emigrated to Australia.

The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Friday 2 August 1929, page 6

Thomas began his new life in Toowoomba. He later married there and had a couple of children before moving in the 1950's to the Gold Coast. I wonder why he applied to be part of the scheme, how did he qualify ? Both of his parents were still alive at the time he left Scotland. His father had been in the Army so must have had a pension, but perhaps they had fallen on hard times.

Some more detective work is required I think, to find out more and see if there are more  descendants to find and connect with.


This post forms part of Trove Tuesday as suggested by Amy, from Branches, Leaves & Pollen.