Queanbeyan & District – Land & People
Dennis Mortimer 1 was using a drawing of portion of a telescopic head, from the New York Twin Towers Buildings, as a symbol of sadness in his paintings before the 2000 disaster when terrorists stole two planes and crashed them into the New York Twin Towers causing them to collapse on day, nine-eleven. 2
PICTURE: Rutledge Street looking towards Christ Church. In this copy of a photo taken in 1870, John Gale’s home and business is on the right and Billy Roohan’s timber slab home was opposite. Photographer: Henry Beaufoy Merlin, 1870.2
The buttocks of George’s women are beautiful. He really had a love of the human form especially women. The arms, the breasts, every muscle showed his technique and modeling skills as the clay was moved under his caressing hands.
PICTURE: The above digital photo was taken in December 2001 (146 years after John Gale’s vision) from the lawns of Parliament House, Canberra, during the “Centenary of Federation–Peoplescape Exhibition,” which celebrated 100 years of Federation in Australia (1901-2001). Annie-Mercy Gale was one of the Peoplescape images. Annie-Mercy bought her own newspaper, “The Observer” in 1894 – and employed her father, John Gale, as editor. Gale used Annie-Mercy’s newspaper to lobby for the Queanbeyan-Canberra Capital Site. 1
William Greg O’Neill founded the Queanbeyan Oddfellows Lodge, or to give it its full title: the Happy Home Lodge of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, in 1856 and within six months, the head count of Odd Fellows in the Queanbeyan District was at least 60.1
During the great depression of the 1930s four Aussie blokes met on the road and as they walked they kicked rocks and ate the dust that rose from under their feet.
Queanbeyan District has always been known for its fine horseflesh so it was not surprising that bushrangers including Ben Hall and Frank Gardiner were attracted here in the 1860s.
One of the many prominent Australian Aboriginal families who now call Queanbeyan (NSW Australia) home is the Baxter Family led by matriarch Elder Ethel Baxter, who has iconic status, and loves to quote her brother Harold Williams’ famous line:
“if you want respect you have to earn it – black or white”. 1
It often takes someone else to initiate a spoken question to which an answer has never been sought even though the question has silently lurked in the deep recesses of the mind over a long time, “What is the mural on the wall made of”. 1
Our beautiful Queanbeyan River winds around our beautiful town of Queanbeyan and our Central Business District (CBD) but who knows about it?
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