Tag: Conrad Martens

Step back to an earlier time when Brisbane was named after a river

Posted by Elliott Murray   ●   11 Oct 2023

The Brisbane River and Moreton Bay have continually shaped south-east Queensland’s history. From the time of the First Australians for the Turrbal and Jagarra people, the river, known as Maiwar, has been a meeting place, a highway and a source of food. A critical conduit for early settlement and subsequent industry and development, the winding…

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Go back in time with Queensland’s commanding ‘Glengallan’ sideboard

Posted by Elliott Murray   ●   12 Jul 2022

The ‘Glengallan’ sideboard 1868 is one of Queensland’s most significant examples of heritage furniture. While the backboard depicts the national symbols of an emu and a kangaroo, the inclusion of the lorikeet and pineapple give it a more local flavour. The carving is attributed to Matthew Fern, who was appointed the first instructor of wood…

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Documenting Queensland’s history through watercolour

Posted by QAGOMA   ●   4 Jun 2021

Watercolours feature in the earliest records of European exploration and settlement of Australia. Its continuous presence in the history of Queensland art has changed and evolved with shifts in culture, as well as with the demands and innovations of its practitioners. We look at the medium’s important role in enriching Queensland’s visual history. Together with…

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Conrad Martens: Insights into Queensland’s history

Posted by Angela Goddard   ●   22 May 2015

The watercolour The bark hut on the plain, Darling Downs, Qld., Mount Sturt from Glengallan c.1850s by Conrad Martens (1801–78) provides new insights and connections to the colonial history of Queensland’s Darling Downs. In late 1851 the Sydney-based painter Martens arrived in Brisbane from Sydney via sea, and for the next few months travelled on…

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