Port Curtis was originally settled in 1847 as a penal colony by the New South
Wales government, but this was abandoned in 1848. The area was resettled by free
settlers in 1853, and in 1863 it became a municipality, and was renamed to
Gladstone after William Ewart Gladstone, the British Colonial Secretary (and
later British Prime Minister), who was dealing with the process of setting up
the new colony in Northern Australia.
The township developed on the site of the original penal colony and for some
time it was promoted as a future capital for a newly established colony of
Queensland.
The 'Gladstone Colony: An Unwritten Chapter of Australian History' was
written in 1898, and covers the town's history up until the time of publication.
A wonderful record of the history of this Queensland city, you will find
information on the on founding of the town, as well as its growth and
development, together with details on the pioneers squatters, the gold rush as
well as details of Gladstone as it was in 1898 and plenty more.
This historical record available on fully-searchable CD will be useful not
only for those with connections to the pioneers of the region, but also those
who are interested in the social history of Gladstone.
High quality scanned images of the whole of the original book. This CD has
been bookmarked for easy navigation, and pages can be searched, browsed,
enlarged and printed out if required.
