washing

From about midnight on Saturday until yesterday evening very little rain fell, and it was generally hoped that fine weather would set in for a time at all events ; but by sunset last evening steady rain again began, and the night as it fell over the city was perhaps the most gloomy that has yet been experienced. No gas had been available since an early hour on Saturday night, and though some lamps in Queen and George streets were lit by Messrs. Barton, White, and Co. from electricity generated at the Government Printing Office, this served to light but a small portion of the inundated streets. Every effort is being made to supply the immediate needs of the suburban residents driven from their homos, and while many in various districts were accommodated in empty houses, shelter and relief were also afforded at the Town Hall and other public places. Police and Defence Force men worked hard to save life and minimise, where possible, the destruction wrought, and many young men, members of athletic clubs and football and cricket teams, worked with a will, plying in boats the whole of Saturday night from point to point where help was needed. Where the local authorities took the work systematically in hand as in the case of Booroodabin much needless suffering was avoided, but an emergency of such an unexampled nature could not in any case be fully met. Source: The Brisba e Courier, 06 Feb 1893 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3555422

" Clothes damaged by the flood being washed at D. L. Brown"

Downshire Street in The Rocks - GoogleMapsStreetView - goo.gl/maps/j0bdT . NB the distinctive tall chimney.

beachcomber australia Yes, well spotted, this is Downshire Street looking towards Ferry Lane. Part of the Hero of Waterloo can be seen in the distance. The trees are on Observatory Hill. I identified a similar photo by Charles Walton in the State Library of New South Wales State Library of NSW collection a few years ago -
acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=442810

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A telegraph station had been erected at Coen in 1886, when the overland telegraph line from Laura, at the southern end of Cape York Peninsula, to Thursday Island at the northern end, was being constructed. At Coen, a carrier station was erected adjacent to the 1886 telegraph station and connected to it. Like the buildings erected at Mt Surprise, Fairview and Cape York, the Coen Carrier Station was of pre-fabricated steel frame construction, with outer walls of corrugated iron, concrete floors, and fibrous cement roofing. They were partitioned internally with fibrous-cement sheeting to provide equipment, power and battery rooms, and living accommodation for two or three maintenance staff. It is thought that these buildings were designed and pre-fabricated in one of the PMG's workshops in Melbourne, Adelaide or Sydney. Paste: apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=601485

Men, women, and children living on reserves and missions were used as a cheap source of labour. Aboriginal children were considered wards of the state, and removed from their parents’ care to live in segregated male and female dormitories on the reserves. Formal education was limited to fourth grade, followed by training in farm or domestic duties. At the age of twelve, Aboriginal children were usually placed on mandatory twelve-month work contracts with local farms and stations. They were not given a choice about who they would work for, and allegations of physical and sexual abuse and cruelty were the common experiences of many young Aboriginal people. Source: www.qhrc.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/10606/Abo...