With a broken arm and plenty of time on my hands I’ve decided that it’s a great time to explore Brisbane. So my intention is to explore my way through the suburbs, station by station, A – Z. If you’re a senior like me then you’ll quickly discover how cheap a hobby this is.
Day one, Letter A
First Stop – Alderley.
Set on the north side of Brisbane just over 7 km away from the city, Alderley nestles in the green hills between Kedron Brook and Enoggera Creek or by its other name, Breakfast Creek.
The area, once inhabited by the Turrbal peoples still seems to hold the spirit of its people, and as you walk through its many parks you feel it would once have been place of great bounty and natural beauty and as such a popular meeting and corroboree place.
But it is not this heritage that inspired my footsteps it is instead the photo below of Simpsons Knackery held in the Brisbane City Council Archives
For the moment the story of the knackery can wait for there are at least two walks I would suggest you take in Alderley or if you’re keen and weather permits, one long one. The first will take you up into one of the surrounding hills and have you skirting Bank Street Reserve where you will discover many a stately homes. Unfortunately, many of the gardens currently display a disappointing lack of care, with vestiges of time-worn Cottage Gardens running to neglect.
On the day of my walk I was thrilled to come across a sign about an upcoming street party to be held in the Greenhills Park in nearby Braeside Street. The magnificent views from this park, when I found it, hinted at more than just community gatherings but also larger gatherings, for the Green Hills in 1915 were the site of the Army Training camp for WWI.
On the way up the hills I suggest you take regular pauses to look back at views, sometimes the best view is as you cross the the roads so take care. Look for some of the following houses listed in the Local Heritage Register 103 Banks St., 10 Braeside St., 26 Braeside St. (There are others close-by in Quarry Road and Eagle Streets if you want to add in these detours).
The stroll downhill highlights just how steep these roads are, in fact in Quarry Road you can see the newly created swales to catch the waterflow through the park and I can only assume the strange bridge-like footpath on the other side of the street, outside 40 Quarry Street, is for the same reason.
Modernity soon takes over as you head back to the shopping centre, the blocks begin to be divided and apartments are more apparent. But with modernity comes other highlights, as you continue back to the station, look out for the street at of Terry Summers, stop at the Salvos op-shop, if you are so inclined, and take a well-earned break at Brisbeans Coffee.
So as we take this well earned rest I will share the story of Cardie, and his link with A.E. Simpson and Ben Hall; the strongest elephant, the longest serving Council member, and the first Road Traffic Officer (Constable Bowering James [Ben] Hall. Cardie, the circus elephant, first set foot in Australia at Pinkenba and 25 years later set his last foot down in Alderley. In all my research about Alderley, that included highlights such as having the first horseless vehicle, or locomobile, in Brisbane, and the break ins at the Alderley Railway Station (one on the very night of our story), no story was so inspiring or caught as much attention as that of Cardi.
In 1921 Cardie, after a fight with three other elephants, had escaped into the suburbs of Port Melbourne to the backyard of Mr. M. Rabinov, a pawnbroker of Bay street, and had completely wrecked his garden uprooting trees and refusing to move.
https://twistedhistory.net.au/2015/12/10/escaped-elephant-1921/
By the time Wirth’s Circus train arrived at Roma Street Station, in June 1923, Cardie’s exploits were becoming more and more outrageous. Although he and his trainer, Mr Lee, had a great attachment, he had been noted for having mastered all his previous masters. Yet he was also a popular and very, intelligent animal, relied on by all in the circus not only for his great strength (he could pull a number of railway carriages and had once push-started an entire train) and diligence but his memory. For, without prompting he would back up to the lions cage and pull it out after the lion act had finished its performance.
He may also have been large, and adventurous, encouraging three other to pull their stakes from the ground on the day of his escape, but he also was renowned for his sense of fun. He would pull that same stake out at other times, throwing it into the air, then pushing it back into the ground and hammering back into place. He would pick up large chunks of logs and use them as ‘toothpicks’.
But it was his last act on the 30th June that would prove to be the defining act, the act that set him on the path to meeting Mr Simpson and Constables Hall and Egan. On that fatal night Cardie, now a middle aged Asian elephant, had performed with Wirth’s troupe of 13 other elephants. All had left the ring except for Cardie and the Ringmaster, Welby Cook. Mr Cook drew from his pocket a mouth organ, but when placed Cardie’s his trunk he refused to blow. A disciplinary hook was applied to his trunk and Cardie roaring his disapproval knocked the ringmaster to the ground attempting to kneel on him. If only this had been the first time Cardie had done this, but it wasn’t. He had previously knocked down the circus manager Mr Andersen, leaving him in pain for many months.
With much regret by the following Sunday morning George Wirth had made his decision and contacted the authorities to have Cardie put down. The newspapers reports of the day are heartrending, describing everything from his life, the sad walk to his death and his butchering.
Cardie and his trainer, Mr Victor Lee, walked from Stanley Street across Victoria Bridge and up and down the steep hills leading to Alderley and Simpson’s knackery, (located in the area of Grinstead Park near where the creek divides.) A procession soon built up to watch the extraordinary event, for many it seemed a sombre procession, for Mr Lee and Cardie it was punctuated with whining and sounds such that it “brought tears to the eyes of Mr. Lee.” Brisbane Telegraph
Those of the thousand strong spectators who walked the full distance were to see Cardie staked by his back leg and his front leg chained to a nearby tree. Unable to watch Mr Lee left the scene a full five minutes before Constable Egan put the first 303 into his brain and and Hall the final six into his heart,. The slaughter at the piggery, come knackery, was attended by the leading veterinarian and the director of the Queensland Museum , who were recipients of the skeleton and the skin.
More on the story can be found on Trove or by applying the following hyperlinks. Suffice to say the story from this point is quite sad and rather than dwell its time to head to the eastern side of the station and explore the hills overlooking the city.
Walk #2 not only leads you to the gabled heritage listed Farrington House, and across the ridge but it takes you to the site of the Simpson’s piggery (the photo above was most helpful in spotting the location of. piggery) Strangely Farrington House is not in Farrington Street, but up in David Street and is said to be haunted. Again, the grandeur of the houses on the ridge of Welbeck Street, is outstanding, but even the older and shabby houses down near the station have their surprises. Look out for the “Tiger House” on South Pine Road just before you come to our our last watering hole Cafe Vinyet.
On the day of my walk I met Hector, a young guide dog, being taken for his first visit to the railway station, I had a swing on the tree at Welbeck then ‘snuck’ through the gap between two houses at the end of the street to make my way through to the park, I got to be one of the first diners, who wasn’t friend or family to try out the new Cafe Vinyet with its ‘hole in the wall’.
But of all the things I saw, it was taking time to sit at the park and enjoy the quiet, it was smiling at people in the train and talking to people in the street.
I’m keen to follow up with letter B. For our next walk we are walking from one station with the letter B to another. If you wish to join us, PM me or meet us at Oxley Station at 9.00am Friday 1 November.
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