Brisbane, Where I Live, Part 2.

I thought I'd be able to do my Brisbane post in two parts but no there will
be a Part 3.
The post I wanted to do including the three historic bridges that cross the
Brisbane River need a special post on their own due to the amount of
information and photos I want to use.
There are now eight bridges that cross the Brisbane River. There is a pedestrian
bridge, a railway bridge and the eighth new bridge for bicycle, pedestrian and
bus use only which will be opened in early December.
The three historic bridges are the Victoria Bridge, the William Jolly Bridge and the Story Briidge.
...........................View of Brisbane City from Mt. Coot-tha.

Mount Coot-tha offers panoramic views over the city of Brisbane and beyond
to Moreton Bay and it's islands to the East, and the Glasshouse Mountains
and the D'Agilar Range to the West.
It is surrounded by the 220 hectare Mt Coot-tha reserve which is an oasis
of natural bushland and native wildlife. The Taylor Range of which
Mt Coot-tha is a part, forms a backdrop of hills to the city of Brisbane.
In 1880, the area formerly known as the "One Hill Tree" was declared a Public
Recreation Reserve and it's name was officially changed to Mt Coot-tha.
The original name was derived by virtue of a solitary Eucalypt tree that
stood at this southern most point on an otherwise bare knoll. The adopted
name 'Coot-tha' or 'Kuta' was taken from the Aboriginal name for the area
which meant 'honey' or 'the place of wild honey'. The 4 free to air TV stations
are also located on Mt Cootha.
Mount Coot-tha is about 7km from the City and is about a 15 minutes drive
from the CBD.

...............................The look-out at the top of Mt. Coot-tha.

A superb example of nineteenth century ornateness. The Mansions were
erected as six elegant townhouses in the 1890s. By any measure they were
a superb example of a Free Classical terrace. The deep arcaded verandahs
on both floors give the building a very distinctive appearance. The building
now contains a number of up market shops including a restaurant (with
views over the Botanical Gardens), an antiquarian print gallery, a bookshop,
an antique shop and the National Trust of Queensland Gift Shop.

.....................................The Mansions

General Post Office, also known as the GPO, is an Australia Post building.
The Queensland Museum was housed in part of the General Post Office
building from 1873, until the museum moved to the William Street building
in 1879. Located at 261 Queen Street the General Post Office is located on
the site of the city's original female convict barracks. Construction on the
building was started in 1871 and completed in 1879. It is recognised as a
fine example of a late Victorian Classical Revival building.

When the Central Railway Station was built in Ann Street at the end of
the nineteenth century the architects quite consciously placed its tower
in the centre of the block so that the towers of the Post Office and the
Railway were aligned.
Although the project had started 59 years earlier it wasn't until 1930,
with the creation of Anzac Square, that the entire streetscape was completed.
As if to establish the perfect symmetry of the precinct the War Memorial
Shrine, and the bronze equine statue commemorating the Boer War, was
aligned with the towers of the General Post Office and the railway.





















The Tower on Central Railway Station..........The Tower on General Post Office

.........................The General Post Office in the centre of the City.

The Treasury was erected in three stages between 1886 and 1928.
The first stage of the building to be completed was the William Street and
part of the Queen St frontages. When completed in September 1889.
The construction of stage two, which completed the Elizabeth Street section,
was commenced almost immediately and was completed by February 1893.
The final stage of construction saw the completion of the Queen and George
Street frontages. This was commenced in 1922 and officially opened in 1928.
The building is faced with sandstone ashlar except for the inner walls of the
arcade. These brick walls are finished with lined and unpainted render
imitating ashlar. Each phase of construction has used a different type of
sandstone. A colour difference is discernible between the Highfields stone
used for the first phase of construction, and the Helidon sandstones used for
the later stages.

.......................................The Treasury Building.

Statue of Queen Victoria (from the United Kingdom) in front of the Treasury Building.

The Conrad Treasury Casino houses a hotel, four restaurants, seven bars, and a nightclub. The casino and hotel occupy two of Australia's grandest heritage
buildings, the Treasury Building, and the nearby Lands Administration
Building. The buildings are separated by Queens Gardens, near the centre of
the Brisbane central business district. A 700 vehicle carpark is concealed
beneath the park. With ornate colonnades, striking sandstone walls and
six-storey atrium, the historic Treasury Building houses a three-level gaming
emporium of 80 gaming tables and over 1300 gaming machines.
It opened in April 1995.

....................................... The Conrad Treasury Casino.

The Tower Mill was built in 1827 under the authority of the feared and
cruel penal colony commandant Captain Patrick Logan.
The mill is interesting from several perspectives:

* It is Brisbane’s oldest surviving structure.
* It was the first use of industrial technology in Queensland.
* It has a strong connection to the early convicts as it was both built by
convicts and later operated by them as a treadmill.
* It suffered from design and implementation problems. It was originally
built as a windmill but failed at that task so it was converted to a treadmill.
It was later realized that the sails had been installed back-to-front.

Its many and varied uses over the years reflect our own need to adapt to change:

* After free settlement, the mill was used as a signal station.
The “electric telegraph” was used to send advices from Lytton at the mouth
of the Brisbane River to the mill. Signal flags were then flown to indicate the
arrival of ships.
* Between 1861 and 1866 it was used as a clock. A copper spherical shell on
an iron armature was added. The ball was raised and dropped each day to
signal One PM.
* It housed the Queensland Museum in the mid-1860’s.
* From 1893 to 1922 it was a Fire Brigade lookout.
* It was used for pioneering experiments with radio and television.
In fact, the first successful experimental Australian television transmission
was from the Tower Mill to the nearby suburb of Red Hill.
Today the mill has been preserved as a historical landmark.





















.............................Two views of The Tower Mill.