glorious

St John's Cathedral is a heritage site with cultural splendour unrivalled in Brisbane. With gothic-revival architecture, the foundation stone was laid in 1901 and the cathedral was finally finished 108 years later in 2009. The Cathedral features wood-carvings, stained-glass, 350 million year old limestone and the only fully stone-vaulted ceiling in the southern hemisphere. The Cathedral's font contains pillars of fossiliferous limestone 350 million years old from Frosterley, United Kingdom, in which skeletons of Coral polyps and bi-valve shells are clearly visible. Every window in the cathedral is of significance: from the large early 20th-century Wheel window to the collection of William Bustard's work, and then the later vibrant windows of David Saunders. The Millennium Window, designed by Scott Maxwell and made by Warwick Blair, was installed in 2001. The Cathedral has 12 huge bells dating back to 1876. You can hear them ringing before the 9.30 am Sunday service and for weddings. St John’s contains one of Queensland’s more notable collections of memorials to the First and Second World Wars. There is an ANZAC-emblazoned flag hanging in the South Transept that was the very last flag flown at the evacuation of the Anzacs from Gallipoli on 19th December 1915. Source: www.visitbrisbane.com.au/the-city/things-to-do/arts-and-e...

Only a short drive from Brisbane are a patchwork of towns and villages in the hill country they like to call the hinterland. In early European days before air-conditioning, they offered a refreshing retreat from coastal heat for people used to more temperate climates. Their purpose was a bit like the hill stations of British India. Among the least-known to outsiders are two tiny settlements, so close to Brisbane they could easily have been swallowed by urban sprawl if not for a national park. The closest, on the edge of the rainforest is Mount Nebo. A bit higher and right in the rainforest centre, is the magnificently named Mount Glorious. Source: www.traveller.com.au/beyond-brisbane-its-glorious-gaiq

Slab House This is a low-set, single-storeyed, timber-framed structure with hardwood slab walls and floors and a hipped roof of unlined corrugated iron. Adzed timber rafters and tie beams with few battens support this roof, and the galvanised iron guttering is of early half-round profile. The principal uprights are morticed and tenoned to a bottom plate and carry a top plate, and the whole rests on timber stumps. Split hardwood slabs, both vertical and horizontal, provide the infill between the frames. There are no internal doorways. Slab partitions to ceiling height divide the structure into three rooms, each of which opens onto a verandah which runs the length of the building on the southwest side. The outer edge of the verandah floor is carried by a ground log. The former kitchen features a cooking alcove and chimney of corrugated iron attached to the end wall. This alcove is clad externally with vertical slabs and has a stone floor. Beyond the kitchen a small iron-roofed lean-to supported by timber posts is attached to the rear of the fireplace. The building remains substantially intact and has been furnished as a private museum, illustrating a typical bedroom and kitchen of the pioneer era. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_Hut_Farm