As a Brisbanite born and bred I was fascinated by this beautiful coffee table book. To be honest, I was looking for some of my relatives at the beginning (because we all want to be related to someone famous) but the more I looked, the more I was engrossed by the history and beauty of the Brisbane that was and what it has become.
A collaboration between QBD the Bookshop and the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Lost Brisbane contains more than 500 black and white photographs that show not only how the city and river have changed over time, but also how suburbs and coasts have developed and grown. I had an excellent time explaining to my niece all about horse-drawn vehicles after we looked at some of the images together and she noticed the horse-drawn carriages in some of the images.
Out of all the images in the book there is one picture that particularly sticks out in my mind- a cluster of women in the 1890’s wearing hats and long dresses (complete with bustles) looking out at a flooded main street. The differences between society then and now struck me while looking at this image. Not only were there horse-drawn carts trying to get through the flood waters, it was like they were wearing their ‘sunday best’ to view the devastation the flood had wrought.
An incredibly interesting read, I would recommend this book to anyone who lives in Brisbane, has lived in Brisbane, wants to live in Brisbane, or who loves Australian history.
