wharves

The tower with the clock circle - but no hands, and indeed with no clock - adorns the Lands Department Building in Bridge Street. It remained without a clock until 1938. Closer view here (c1900) with interesting commentary from State Records NSW:

Andy Brill Thanks Andy!

Andy Brill Good work! I think this is slightly earlier than the c.1910 photo next door, due to the different signs on the Paragon Hotel (Christie's Umbrellas) - close inspection shows that the Paragon hasn't yet been extended west (c.1909 - see extensive research by Nicole Davis here - www.flickr.com/photos/state-records-nsw/6031629514/ ). The additional two floors to the Customs House happened by 1902, so we are looking at 1902-09 so far - c.1905? At that time they were gradually replacing the old curved-roof Victorian ferry wharf buildings with mock-tudor (imho hideous) federation-style ones.

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/51979177@N02] It could well be - the shadows look about right for 3.15 pm on a mid-October afternoon (I don't really know!). I have a feeling electric street lamps arrived in Circular Quay around 1904 too - not evident here, but there is evidence of tram-wire poles.

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/51979177@N02] Good thinking! The Christies Umbrella sign shows up in several old photos - that's how I knew what it said. Of course I can't remember where now ...

Oddly enough this view of Hickson Road has not changed too much - GoogleMapsStreetView - goo.gl/maps/FXXPx

Gladstone was originally known as Port Curtis, which was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 after Sir Roger Curtis who had been Commandant at the Cape of Good Hope when he had called there for victuals and resupply. Port Curtis enjoyed a brief three months of temporary settlement as the administrative centre of the colony of North Australia (1847). George Barney (Barney's Point, Gladstone) commanded the settlement but a change of government in England led to its disbandment. Within a few years pastoral occupation of the hinterland brought about pressure for the port to be a livestock shipping outlet. In 1853 the town of Gladstone was surveyed and the first sale of town and suburban allotments took place the following year. Gladstone served well as a harbor, but the absence of plentiful water and agricultural land hindered its development. A gold rush at nearby Canoona (1858) then overshadowed Gladstone for a period. Although declared a municipality in 1863, Gladstone's growth was slow: a customs house was erected in 1860, the first school in 1864, a Presbyterian church in 1869 and Catholic and Church of England churches in 1874. Gladstone's wharves were at Auckland Point (named after the ship Lord Auckland that brought the first European settlers in 1847), where Auckland Inlet enters Port Curtis. The short waterway involved navigating a strait that was obstructed by submerged rock and passable only at high tide. Intermittent blasting and dredging went on until the 1890s in an attempt to improve access through the passage, with less than adequate results. Funds were spent on alternative harbors at Port Alma and Rockhampton, leaving Gladstone's population convinced they were being unfairly overlooked. Gladstone remained convinced that it had the best potential shipping harbour in central Queensland. The state government appointed the Gladstone Harbour Board in 1914, and the town formed its own Gladstone Harbour League to lobby the Railways minister for fairer haulage rates and for freight from surrounding shires. Progress was slow, and the town's economic mainstays remained the Port Curtis dairy factory (which achieved maximum production during the 1940s-50s) and the meat works. Tourism was still a distant prospect, although Heron Island emerged as a local holiday destination in the 1930s. Flying boats, bound for Singapore and connections to England called at Auckland Inlet from 1935 and a land aerodrome, jointly backed by Gladstone and Calliope Shire, opened in 1956. Source: www.queenslandplaces.com.au/gladstone