AustLit

During the nineteenth century, building in Queensland was often dynastic, with the Petrie family being the most successful of the local building contractors. Unlike their competitors, their business was multi-faceted, with specialist departments for quarrying, masonry and brickmaking, carpentry and joinery. This arrangement was similar to Colonial Architect Charles Tiffin's use of day labour to construct the first stage of Parliament House, with on-site workshops established for masonry, carpentry and joinery, and a quarry leased at Woogaroo. Following the colony's financial crisis of July 1866, construction work on Parliament House slowed and by mid-1867 the unfinished building was moth-balled. The cessation was brief, with preparations made within months to resume work, but this time by contract...' (Introduction)

'As we now have experienced four years of the centenary commemorations of the Great War of 1914-1918 it behoves historians to examine the effect of that conflict on the population. There exist a number of studies on the working class, but how, for example did the intellectual leaders of the time assess our situation? All the universities had established war committees to offer the expertise of the staff for the war effort and that ranged from chemists and engineers to work for munitions production on the practical side while on the propaganda aspects of warfare, it was the history professors and others in the humanities who had first hand experience of Germany and could therefore inform the public concerning the political-cultural background to the conflict. In addition we recall that there were already in existence voluntary Archbishop St Clair George Alfred think tanks in all capital cities of the Donaldson. then British Empire/Commonwealth (Anglican Archives, Brisbane) called the Round Table of which some of the most highly educated citizens were members.' (Introduction)
 

'Dr William Branwhite Clarke (1798-1878) was one of the key figures of nineteenth century Australian science, his meteorological studies and geological field investigations of New South Wales being of special note. Clarke maintained almost 40 years of correspondence with hundreds of people interested in the natural and scientific world and is known to have received or written almost 900 letters in total. He wrote over 700 journal and newspaper articles, and scientific papers including the article 'Plain Statements and Practical Hints Respecting he Discovery and Working of Gold in Australia'' (Introduction)