The map below represents the pre-colonial wetlands and creeks overlaid on present-day infrastructure. Locations of waterways and swampland are approximated, based on two colonial maps—Henry Wade’s Map of the Environs of Brisbane, published by the Surveyor General’s Department (Wade, 1844) and Blueprint copy of a plan of Brisbane Town published by the Moreton Bay District Survey Office (1850)—as well as 2017 topographical data of Brisbane (Yamazaki et al., 2017). Wetlands are shown in green, and rivers and lagoons in blue.
Once the locations of waterways prior to massive urbanisation are visualised as above, one may note interesting and surprising insights about the palustrine history of Kelvin Grove area. Some are noted below.
Much of School Street, Carraway Street, Normanby Terrace, June Street and Gilchrist Avenue, as well as the Inner City Bypass, were previously watercourses or wetlands. These present-day roads are built in the former beds of these waterways.
Tributaries would have fed into the wetland spanning present-day McCaskie Park, Kulgun Park, the Brisbane Grammar School Tennis Centre, and between the Inner City Bypass and Gilchrist Avenue.
- Beyond Kelvin Grove, the site of Suncorp Stadium (Lang Park) was previously also occupied by wetland.
- Roma Street Reservoir is visible: this was an artificial water body fed by Wheat Creek that formed the main water source for Brisbane until its removal in 1866. Wheat Creek runs parallel to present-day Roma Street.
- One sees the origin of the name of Water Street, Spring Hill; a waterway formerly flowed along the route of the current road.
I will revisit this map in greater detail as there is much to be said about it, of which the above may serve as a brief summary. More knowledge must also be gathered about the First Nations significance of the area before European settlements so that we may form a holistic picture of this area in pre-colonial times.
References
Moreton Bay District Survey Office. (1850). Plan of Brisbane Town [Map]. https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM610792
Wade, H. (1844). Map of the Environs of Brisbane [Map]. Surveyor General’s Department; Queensland State Archives. https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM714303
Yamazaki, D., Ikeshima, D., Tawatari, R., Yamaguchi, T., O’Loughlin, F., Neal, J. C., Sampson, C. C., Kanae, S., & Bates, P. D. (2017). A high-accuracy map of global terrain elevations: Accurate Global Terrain Elevation map. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(11), 5844–5853. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072874