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Charles Kingsford Smith (1897–1935), affectionately known as 'Smithy', was an aviator who pioneered more long-distance routes than any other pilot. A decorated fighter pilot in World War I, Smithy was passionate about flying and his record-breaking flights captured the public imagination. However, aviation was often hazardous and in 1935 Smithy and his co-pilot, JT Pethybridge, disappeared while on a flight from England to Australia. Source: www.naa.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/learning-resource...

Emma Miller (26 June 1839 – 22 January 1917) was an English-born Australian pioneer trade union organiser, suffragist, and key figure in organisations which led to the founding of the Australian Labor Party in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In Queensland, Miller worked as a gentlemen's shirt maker and seamstress. Along with May Jordan McConnel, she formed the first women's union in Brisbane, the Brisbane Women's Union, in September 1890 supported by a campaign by William Lane in the Brisbane Worker newspaper.[2] As a seamstress she gave evidence at the 1891 Royal Commission into Shops, Factories and Workshops, that highlighted the existence of many sweatshops that exploited women workers.[1] Through this period Miller was an active participant in the Early Closing Association. With the great strikes of the 1890s, Miller was active in supporting the 1891 Australian shearers' strike and in setting up the Prisoners' Relief Fund for the twelve arrested strike leaders. While William Lane chose to set up in 1892 the New Australia community in Paraguay along socialist lines which attracted many labour activists, Miller believed Lane was "opting out of the struggle" and became a foundation member of the Workers' Political Organisation, a forerunner of the Australian Labor Party in Queensland. She became colloquially known as "Mother Miller", as she was the most dominant female figure in the Queensland labour movement.[1 In August 1917 the Worker magazine published a poem in memorial to Miller.[6][7] In 1922, a marble bust of her by James Laurence Watts was unveiled at the Queensland Council of Unions.[1][8] A statue is located in King George Square in Brisbane,[9] and there is also an Emma Miller Place located off Roma Street in Brisbane. In 1987 the Queensland Council of Unions established the Emma Miller Award, which is presented each year to women who have made an outstanding contribution to their union.[10][2] Bust of Miller held at Queensland Council of Unions In 2003, Miller's life story was featured in the exhibition "A Lot on Her Hands", presented by the Australian Workers' Heritage Centre.[11] The electoral district of Miller created in the 2017 Queensland state electoral redistribution was named after her.[12] Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Miller

Italians have literally shaped the landscape through sugarcane plantations. They built up the North and impacted more broadly on the state’s economic, social and cultural fabric and space. At the same time, they have been embroiled in labour and racial debates. Regional and homeland origins have defined the identities and loyalties of Italians. However, from the start, Italianness as a heritage and feeling has infused the Queensland countryside, towns and cities. Tracing the story mirrors several trajectories from colonial to state, and helps define Queensland’s position within the global and transnational movements. Escaping la miseria (poverty) Italians left Europe in search of work. By 1859 some Italians were already working in Queensland building railways, as miners, wood-cutters, sugarcane farmers, and priests (the latter on Stradbroke Island and at Warwick). The largest proportion remained in Ingham in the Hinchinbrook Shire. Their presence from 1891 generated heated debate in parliament and the press about their capacity to assimilate. By 1907, racist rhetoric was being used by the Bulletin newspaper, for instance, to question the racial hygiene of Italians, calling them ‘bucolic’, ‘dull-witted’, ‘primitive’ and ‘impoverished’. Such attacks provide a backdrop to the 1924 Royal Commission into alien labour in north Queensland. The Worker, among other newspapers, complained that the Federal Government was allowing ‘Mediterranean scum’ to invade the sugar planations. Until the 1970s Italians were considered less preferable than British and Northern Europeans in Queensland. In Ingham and across North Queensland, Italians were labelled ‘black’ because of the association of the sugar fields with non-white labour. The economic success of Ingham’s Italian community proved toxic despite the support of local police and many Anglo-Australians. Italians became ‘enemy aliens’ with the 1939 National Security Act, especially when Mussolini declared war in 1940. About 15% of Australia’s Italians were rounded-up for internment, including women and children. What can only be described as a ‘social war’ ensued, led by the Returned Services League. After World War II more Italian families arrived in Queensland. The era of the canecutter was over by 1972. At this time Italianness experienced a renaissance not only in Queensland but across Australia. By the 1970s, Italian names were found in the strata of business, politics and society, and Italian words - spaghetti, pasta, zucchini, pizza, gelato, cappuccino, vino - were integrated into the everyday experience of Queenslanders. Source: www.qhatlas.com.au/content/italians-queensland