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1750 IN CITY'S BIGGEST MARCH ON FRIDAY ON Friday 1750 men of the A.I.F. will march through the city streets in the greatest A.I.F. march since the war began. The route will also be the longest so far. The Lord Mayor (Ald. Chandler) said that he hoped that the people of Brisbane would give the men a rousing reception. Business people should show their interest by decorating their premises with flags and bunting. The only march approaching this one was that in December last, when 1722 men went away in four trains. The men will be drawn from the 7th and 8th Divisions at Redbank and Grovely, and will march through the city at ll a.m. The Governor (Sir Leslie Wilson) will take the salute at the City Hall. The troops will assemble at Roma Street and will march down past the City Hall into Adelaide Street, up Adelaide Street to Wharf Street, then along Queen Street to George Street, and back to the Roma Street station. Bands will accompany the men. Source: Courrier Mail, 08 Oct 1940 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/40935495

Torres Strait pearl-shelling was almost entirely dependent on imported indentured labour from both Asia and the Pacific, the crew of the Combination's Three Cheers fleet being typical – 3 Europeans, 40 Japanese, 23 Filipinos, 12 Malays, 35 South Sea Islanders and 20 New Guineans.40 By the late 1890s, divers were having to go deeper for shell, and the majority were Japanese, who were the very best. Deep water full-dress helmet diving was not only dangerous, but a highly skilled occupation, and it took two or three years to train good men. Source: www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21533369.2005.9668351

This cyclone was widely regarded as the worst to hit a populated area of Qld. The towns of Babinda, Innisfail, Cairns, Ingham & Cardwell were destroyed. The cyclone swept inland over the Bellenden-Ker Range & the Atherton Tableland. Contemporary reports list 37 dead at Innisfail, and 40-60 aborigines killed nearby. Innisfail (population 3,500) had only 12 houses left intact. At Bingil Bay a surge wave took the creek from the bridge 400 m upstream, and at the Bingil Bay Mission Beach area all structures were destroyed and debris reached a height of 7metres in the trees. It was reported that the cyclone continued for 4 days. Source: www.babindainfocentre.com.au/more-info/cyclones/1918-cycl...

In the early hours of Monday morning on January 21, 1918, a category 4 cyclone launched into Mackay carrying violent winds and a 3.6 meter storm surge. There were reports of 2 to 3-metre waves breaking in the main street of the town. Damage was widespread. Of the 1400 houses in Mackay at the time, 1300 were destroyed or significantly damaged. Thirty people lost their lives as a result of the cyclone, most of them in Mackay township. The massive cyclone that all but destroyed Innisfail a couple of months later is considered the worst cyclone ever to hit a populated area in Queensland. The category 5 storm crossed the coast on Sunday evening the 10th of March. Such was the devastation, that only 12 buildings are reported to have remained standing after the cyclone. In the nearby settlements of Mission Beach and Bingil Bay, every single structure was destroyed and massive storm surges and tidal waves were reported. The town of Babinda was also almost completely destroyed. At least 100 people were killed as a result of the cyclone, many of them Aboriginal residents at the Hull River Mission. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/deadly-cyclone-season-1918