Life In Australia

Brisbane, Queensland is named in honour of a Brit – specifically Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane.

Brisbane was born at Largs in Ayrshire, Scotland and he was educated at the University of Edinburgh.

Between 1821 and 1825, on the recommendation of The Duke of Wellington, he held the position of Governor of New South Wales, a post he held until 1825. While Governor, Brisbane improved the land grants system and reformed the currency. He trialled crops of coffee, tobacco, cotton and flax.

In 1823 John Oxley was sent by Major-General Brisbane to find a site for a new gaol for convicts who were repeat offenders. Oxley discovered a large river flowing into Moreton Bay and convicts began arriving there in 1824. Oxley proposed that both the river and the settlement be named after Brisbane. The convict settlement became a town in 1834.

So there you have it. The city of Brisbane, like Sydney, began its history as a convict settlement and was named after a British soldier and Governer of New South Wales.

Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane died in 1860 in Largs.

I do like to get out for a drive in the bush every now and then. I’m sorry if it’s going to offend anyone but it’s in my Toyota Landcruiser – a magnificent beast of a car – but not exactly eco-friendly. On the other hand, if we were to be involved in a crash with another car, I’d rather be in a Landcruiser than any other car. Anyway, back to driving.

People here are grumbling that the price of petrol’s about to go up again. It’s $1.31 per litre here just now – that’s £0.53 per litre. Speaking with my dad on the phone last week he was telling me the British price was about £0.94 per litre. The fact that you can get petrol cheaper here probably explains why you get a lot more 4×4′s on the road in Queensland than in the UK. I’m not just meaning in out in the bush, I’m meaning in the cities.

Just back from our weekend on the Gold Coast. We had great fun visiting the theme parks.

I can thoroughly recommend our accommodation – we spent a night in the Legend Hotel. It was modern, clean and the rooms were non-smoking.

I still cringe at a night we spend on a stop-over in Hong Kong at the Panda hotel. The skirting boards around the rooms looked like they hadn’t been dusted for years and there was a persistent smell of stale cigarette smoke in the room – eugh.

At the Legend the wife and I stayed in an en-suite studio room for $135 (£54).

The Hotel’s just about on the beach and we had a great view of the ocean from the balcony. It had a king bed, and a kitchenette with microwave/convection oven and a private balcony.

There was an interactive TV and the usual kettle and tea and coffee facilities. The trouble with a weekend away is it comes to an end all too soon and it’s back to work again tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the next break already.