The University of Queensland

In 2009 Queensland celebrated its Q150 year to mark the anniversary of its establishment as a self-governing colony. It was an opportunity, the Premier told us on the government’s Q150 web page, "to take stock, reflect back, think ahead and move forward". But what physical and digital artefacts will be left behind when the party is over? Will these artefacts be evidence of that process having taken place? Do they articulate a sense of what Queensland was and is?

We tend now to see souvenirs of earlier celebrations, the jubilee and the centenary, as somewhat quaint historical oddities. They trumpet Queensland’s "Triumph in the Tropics" to borrow from the title of the 1959 centenary history by Sir Raphael Cilento and Clem Lack, and unreservedly herald the achievements of long dead pioneers — almost exclusively male and white.

Fryer has accumulated an array of Q150 related memorabilia - programmes, photographs, souvenirs, invitations and book flyers. What might future generations of researchers make of them? If they reflect Queensland as it is now, what would the pioneers and the administrators and planners from the 1909 and 1959 celebrations make of what we have become? Would they appreciate the opportunities that Q150 offered government departments and cultural agencies to gear up, raise their public profile and hopefully boost the coffers with some much needed funding?

Image courtesy of The State of Queensland (Department of the Premier and Cabinet) 2009

One of the by-products of the 1959 celebrations was the appointment of a State Archivist. Queensland State Archives has made the running in the creation of exhibitions of the "Top 150" documents from our history and "Queensland firsts: 50 milestones that shaped the state" making that which was once relatively unattainable now very public.

The themes of public access, outreach and community participation prevail too in the Q150 "Official Program". Q150, it tells us, is a celebration of "our people, our places, our stories". There is no space for elitism here and, with the exception of the commemorative Made in Queensland history by Fitzgerald, Megarrity and Symons, little space for erudition.

The Q150 Steam Train Souvenir Program contains sepia- toned photographs and other "heritage" iconography from earlier centuries. A sense of the past is evident but it is clear from the text that events coordinators and marketers now "run the show" and not the President of the Royal Historical Society. When the Premier tells us this is an opportunity to "take stock" the marketers take her at her word. They "take stock" and they move it off the shelves - pronto. Google "Q150" and the first hit you get after the official website provides details of the "Unlimited Entry Pass to Warner Brothers Movie World".

Dame Nellie Melba performed at the 1909 jubilee. The 1959 celebration was marked by a state reception for HRH Princess Alexandra at the once iconic but now departed Cloudland Ballroom.

What might Governor Bowen, or past organisers of celebrations make of the 2009 Proclamation Day celebration? It's being capped off with Q150 icon Powderfinger rocking the Riverstage. The music would be foreign to them and the cranked amps and crashing drums probably repulsive, but if they took their fingers from their ears for a moment they might empathise with the sentiment when they hear the crowd join the chorus on one of the band's biggest hits and sing:

"These days turned out nothing like I had planned"

Mark Cryle, Project Manager, Queenslands Past Online

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