One of the nearby streets is named Redarc Street which I always thought was an unusual name but gave little thought to its origin or meaning. Some streets are obviously named after people or families but this is not the case for Redarc Street. Recently it became clear what it referred to and it linked perfectly with my previous blog about Mr Wilkins and his house called 'Irvinebank' - see Exploring My Suburb (1). The photo below was taken with an iPhone early one evening with just a hint of light still in the sky and railway people will see the signals in the background on the railway line which runs parallel to Mildmay Street. But I digress - Redarc Street links to Mr Wilkins and his stores which were located throughout Queensland and also in Newcastle. Redarc is a contraction of Red Arcade which was the name of Mr Wilkins stores not an actual arcade. Red Arcade stores were located in Queen Street Brisbane near the Post Office, in Ipswich in Nicholas Street, as well as in Townsville, Toowoomba, Maryborough and Mackay.
Red Arcade stores sold various household goods as well as lamps, tools, toys, books, stationery and basketware, and Wilkins was an importer of china, fireworks, glass and earthenware fancy goods. The Queen Street store is said to have had 'a novel cash tramway...worked by electric motor carrying documents for scrutiny or change to customers.' The store also had large realistic animals that made noises. The Ipswich store opened on the 1st of December 1894, the Brisbane store opened around 1891 and Mr Wilkins original business, a stationary store, opened in 1874. So suburban Redarc Street refers to the Red Arcade stores owned by Mr Wilkins (1836 to 1905) who arrived in Queensland in 1861 from Victoria and settled in Fairfield in 1892.
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I'm not totally sure but I think I took this photo in late 2007 while driving from Rockhampton to Brisbane. I had just started my train driving career and needed to attend training in Rockhampton during the week. The weekends were free so a drive home was possible, but I didn't do it every weekend. I decided to not use the main highway so I turned off at Booyal (near Childers) and travelled through Dallarnil, Biggenden, Ban Ban Springs, Goomeri and Nanango to head to Ipswich. The location is Mount Walsh near Biggenden. Again with just a pocket camera I pulled over just south of Biggenden, on the road to Ban Ban Springs and took one image. It was later in the afternoon, the sun lighting the hills, a bit of cloud for interest, and a very typical country fence post and barbed wire in the foreground. I use this photo as my desktop image from time to time... Mt Walsh near Biggenden - 2007
Recently Victoria and I stayed in Brisbane for a weekend. On Sunday morning we went for a walk from the hotel down to QUT then back along the river to see where the redevelopment works are starting to take shape. A new walkway is being built on the waterfront beside the Riverside Expressway which will join up with the walkway leading towards Milton and Toowong. Along the walkway there are some open areas which are still to be developed and also some art displays and information. I don't quite recall the context of this piece but it is a very large kingfisher. The kingfisher is one of my favorite types of birds and although much smaller they are related to the kookaburra. When I was much younger I kept a kingfisher at home for a few days. I found him on the ground after a storm during which he had been blown into a wall and could not fly. I kept him in a cage I made from chicken wire and fed him insects that I caught during the day - his nickname was Fred. With nothing broken and his senses regained I opened the cage and he happily flew away. The very large version kingfisher shown below reminded me of my little friend Fred, and the unimposing "peep peep peep" sound they make. Kingfisher - Brisbane The Sacred Kingfisher (like Fred)
I'm sure I must have been an explorer at some point in time as I love walking around new and different places to see what interesting things are there. Things that are probably overlooked by many others, particularly with the now common head-down screen-focused way of life. The image below shows some houses in the neighborhood around 1910. The image is from the State Library of Queensland (negative 47394) and shows part of Wilkins 'Irvinebank' residence and estate. Given how prominent the property must have been I decided to try and find if anything remained to indicate its location. It didn't take too long to work out the property was just a few streets away, and some of the buildings in this photo still exist roughly 110 years later. Further research into the property revealed it had its own lake with carp and black swans, and peacocks roamed the grounds. On the owners birthday he would give a garden party for the local children which included a fireworks display. I am still trying to determine the exact location of the lake and also the extent of the ornate gardens which once existed here. As I discover more about my interesting neighborhood, including this property and others, or anything else interesting and unusual, I will share it here. 'Irvinebank' Fairfield ca 1910 - State Library Queensland
I've decided to redesign part of my web page and bring selected photographs into their own blogs. This way I can say more about the image, perhaps where and when it was taken, and what I like about it. The image below was taken in July 2005 on a closed section of railway line west of Toowoomba. I only had a small pocket digital camera with a small zoom lens, but still managed an interesting view. The camera is sitting on the head of the rail on a very straight and flat section of line with the railway lines and trees all making a straight line to the center of the image. The slightly wavy top to the right hand rail is magnified by the zoom lens. Closed Railway Line - Western Queensland - July 2005
I am sitting on a flat grass covered playing field and nearby there are groups of people playing hockey. I seem to be in the middle with players on both sides playing separate games. There is a lot of activity and I am just sitting observing what is happening around me.
I am aware that this is a somewhat dangerous place as hockey balls could come flying at me from any direction at any time and I almost need eyes in the back of my head to watch every game simultaneously. I am also aware that hockey balls are hard and when hit with force they travel fast and hurt if they hit you. A woman hits a ball and it comes straight for me, but without thinking or even looking at it I put out my hand and grab the ball in mid-air. I throw it back to her and again she hits the ball straight at me. Again I grab it without fear or thought but this time I keep it and say to her "if you want it back you have to come and get it". It was obvious she was toying with me and her actions were trying to scare me - I was not going to play that game! Then from another angle another hockey ball comes flying in my direction but again I put up my hand and stop it. The ball just hits my hand, stops dead, and falls to the ground. It does not hurt my hand and it does not even feel like it touches my hand. From another angle, this time along the ground, a hockey ball approaches at speed and this time I block it with my foot. This continues for a while, hockey balls approaching at speed from various angles, and all blocked by my hands or feet, without thinking about it or even looking in the direction they are coming from. When I woke up I felt like Neo from The Matrix, dodging and blocking bullets as they are fired at him. It felt like a message about being responsive to whatever is thrown at me, no matter what angle it comes from, just trusting that it can be stopped easily. You don't have to think about it, just feel what is coming and act accordingly. One day I stepped into the shower and closed the glass door behind me. I turned on the water as I have done hundreds of times before and turned to face towards the door. The door was not perfectly clean and had a slight soapy residue or a watermark from the previous day. As I looked at the center of the door I became aware of an image that looked like a ghostly face. It was far from perfect but had reasonably well defined features such as an outline of the head, two eyes and a crooked nose. I tried to discount that it looked like a face but could not and felt like it was indeed a face and more-so that it was watching me. I started to shower but could not continue with the supposed face watching me. I took the soapy sponge and made a number of anti-clockwise circular movements over the apparent image on the glass. The ghostly face was oval shaped and likewise my cleaning motions took the same shape to ensure all traces were gone. At the end I made one random dab, not sure why, and stood back to make sure the face was gone... When I stood back I instantly saw something that could only be described as a fingerprint, same oval shape generally made with circular motions, and one part near the bottom which was my random dab for no particular reason.
What could be better to put my imprint over the ghostly figure on the shower screen door..!! |
AuthorI love to understand things, how they work, why they happen - I'm always learning and keen to investigate... Archives
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