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THE two worst fires in Stanthorpe’s history would have to be the 1914 and 1928 fires, which in so many ways tore the heart out of this town. 1914 At 10.30 pm on Sunday night, 28 June 1914 the alarm was raised about a fire in J.J. Clifford’s stationery store. At this time Stanthorpe did not have the fire brigade and it also did not have a reticulated town water supply. With the alarm sounding, literally hundreds of Stanthorpians rushed to the town center, many in their pajamas, to fight the fire. Clifford’s store was across the road and to the left of the current Post Office. Fortunately, it was a still night with very little wind. A bucket brigade was quickly formed, but the intensity of the fire rose more so in the flammable wooden buildings. Those not involved in the bucket brigade rushed into the stores to carry stock and furniture away from harm’s way and a great pile of items was formed across the street. The fire was strong and it began to spread to neighboring businesses. The flames got so high that they also threatened buildings across High Street. The flames could be seen from 20 kilometers away. During the course of fighting the fire, buildings were torn down by ropes, hauled by volunteers, in order to stop the spread of the fire. A safe from the bank, containing money and records, weighing 900 kilograms was hauled out onto the street. Two hours later, nine businesses had been destroyed. These included Mat Day’s Commercial Hotel (on the corner of High Street and Railway Street), McKenzie’s tailoring shop, N. Correy’s refreshment rooms, J.J. Clifford’s stationery store, E.J. Wren’s tobacconist shop, and billiard saloon, Savage and Sons, tailor’s shop, Commercial Bank of Sydney, A.G. Wareham’s general store, and J. Cusson’s billiard saloon. In all, the business district on the eastern side of High Street from Railway to Lock Streets was wiped out. A whole block of shops. All that could be seen the next day was 18 chimneys standing, surrounded by burnt rubbish, where there had been active businesses. For days afterward High Street was still full of salvaged furniture and produce and destruction. Clifford's and Wren’s lost their buildings, furniture, and stock. Other businesses, fortunately, had salvaged stock and furniture through the efforts of Stanthorpe citizens. Mr. Wareham began trading again the next day from The Good Templar Hall in Railway Street and Mat Day also recommenced his hotel business in a shop across the road from The Good Templar Hall. Source: warwickstanthorpetoday.com.au/stories/2015-06-04/stanthor...

England v Australia 1928 : test cricket comes to Queensland By JOL Admin | 18 July 2013 The year 1928 saw the culmination of a long campaign to bring test cricket to Queensland. The admission of Queensland to the Sheffield Shield competition in 1926 had opened the door. International cricket had been played in Queensland since 1883 when an English touring side visited the state and played a match against the Queensland team but efforts to bring test cricket to Brisbane for the England tour of 1907-08 were unsuccessful. The facilities at the Brisbane Cricket Ground were not up to scratch and Queensland cricket authorities returned to the Exhibition Ground which had not been used for first-class cricket for some years. This move proved successful and on 30th November 1928, the first test of the series against England began at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground. The Brisbane Courier eagerly anticipated the first test. Supporters of cricket in Queensland have had their way after a long uphill fight, and Brisbane is to have a Test match. Two main reasons used to be advanced against holding one of the Tests in this city. The first was that the status of Queensland itself as a cricketing State did not warrant any change. That reason has lost weight, since Queensland now competes for the Sheffield Shield, and is recognised as a State of great cricketing possibilities. The other reason was that the wicket in Brisbane was not good enough for Test cricket. That objection also has been removed, for during the last visit of an English team to this city it was amply demonstrated that the wicket at the Exhibition Grounds could compare very favorably with the wickets in the South. Once a distinguished English cricketer opposed the holding of a Test in Brisbane "because Brisbane was too hot." Such an objection is not seriously raised nowadays, and we doubt whether that particular player was in earnest. There remains then for the success of Brisbane's first Test match only liberal patronage on the part of the public. There were no Queensland players in the starting eleven for Australia although local allrounder Ron Oxenham was the 12th man and took a catch to dismiss Sutcliff in the second innings. The side also included Victorian slow bowler Bert Ironmonger who was born in Queensland. Three Queensland players were featured in the other matches of the series. Otto Nothing, a medium-pace bowling allrounder played in the second test in Sydney. Ron Oxenham played in the last three tests and was joined in the last test in Melbourne by slow bowler Percy Hornibrook. This was the first time two Queenslanders had been on the Australian test team and both contributed to Australia's only winning performance of the series. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/england-v-australia-1928-test-cri...

In the early 1900s, people began riding up to Mt Glorious from the eastern valleys below and began growing bananas and other crops. The first building at Mt Glorious, erected around 1909, was Tom Lindsay’s “Gentle Breezes”. In October 2009 the Mt Glorious community celebrated the centenary of European settlement at Mt Glorious. Preparation for the centenary included some historical research and gathering of stories concerning Lindsay and others who followed. The following is an extract from resident Ruth Lowe’s, Tom Lindsay: first settler’s house on Mt Glorious, Centenary celebrations 2009. "Helen Horton’s book Brisbane’s Back Door mentions the early development of Mt Glorious and describes how Thomas Lindsay “rode up the Cedar Creek spur by Mt O’Reilly to a place he liked on the top of the range. He called it Gentle Breezes.” After taking over the selection in 1908 he moved up to the land and lived in a tent. He appears to have worked, with the help of Charles Patrick in clearing the land and putting in a dairy herd. Helen Horton continues: “Later Charles Patrick accepted Lindsay’s further offer to take his family and live in the five-roomed slab hut, with separate kitchen, which had by this time replaced the tent. (See above photo). With a verandah at the front, it was reasonably comfortable, but it had a separate kitchen made of stringybark sheets that was quite some distance from the hut.” “The first house on Mt Glorious was built ‘around 1911’ [erased and replaced with ‘1909’] by Mr Tom Lindsay. The house took him from 12 to 18 months to build …” The letter continues: …”the family accepted the offer and moved to Mt Glorious around 1912.” At that time their family numbered eight children. In his description of the eventful wagon trip up the mountain with the furniture Bill Patrick mentions ‘the baby’, who was probably Phyllis Patrick, born 16.5.1910, mother of Pat Berlin the author of the letter." Source: www.mtnebo.org.au/history-of-european-settlement/