Old Government House Brisbane in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | History Museum

Old Government House Brisbane

Locality: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Phone: +61 7 3138 8005

Address: 2 George Street 4000 Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.ogh.qut.edu.au

Likes: 2284

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Arts and entertainment
• Art gallery
• History Museum
• Museum

23.01.2022 Visitor Alert Old Government House and the William Robinson Gallery will be closed from 3pm Monday 29 March 2021 to 10am Tuesday 6 April 2021 due to the 3-day lockdown in Greater Brisbane and the Easter holiday break.

13.01.2022 A soldier who had seen Foreign Service in the Middle East, Sir Herbert Charles Chermside was the first post-Federation Governor of Queensland, serving from 1902-1904. Chermside arrived in Brisbane on 24 March 1902 to find Queensland in the grip of a drought and economic recession. He immediately volunteered to forgo 15 per cent of his vice-regal salary, a sacrifice that, along with his approachable nature, made him a popular figure with the Queensland public. He was descri...bed at the time by Lady Tennyson as 'a very short plain little General with a biggish moustache'. Chermside harboured growing concerns about parliamentary attitude to the role of governor, and believed that following Federation the importance of his office was being reduced. This and the delicate health of his wife, Geraldine, may have influenced his decision to resign after just two years in the post, in 1904. The north Brisbane suburb of Downfall Creek was renamed Chermside in his honour. Find out more about Queensland's first eleven governors https://bit.ly/OGH-TheGovernors #queenslandhistory #governorofqueensland

11.01.2022 Frederic John Napier Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford, was sworn in as Queensland’s 10th Governor on 20 November 1905. His surprise appointment was dominated by conflict between the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament. Chelmsford was publicly rebuked for his mishandling of the issue and was fortunate to avoid being recalled by the British government. His subsequent tenures as Governor of New South Wales and Viceroy of India were viewed in a more positive light. Described as... 'pale, slim, handsome, cultivated', Chelmsford was the son of a distinguished soldier and grandson of a statesman. A career diplomat, he read Law at Oxford and was called to the Bar in 1893. In 1894, Chelmsford married Frances Guest and theirs was one of the few young families to take up residence at the then Government House. In addition to being a keen cricketer he captained the Oxford XI and played occasionally for Middlesex Chelmsford was an accomplished musician, playing violin, cello and piano together with Lady Chelmsford. They even formed chamber music groups at Government House in Brisbane, and, happily, the tradition of musical concerts in Old Government House remains strong to this day! https://bit.ly/OGH-TheGovernors #brisbanehistory #governorsofqueensland Image courtesy of State Library of Queensland

08.01.2022 Enjoy a musical sampler spanning from the Baroque to the Romantic Period with Mandolins in Brisbane on Sunday 1 November.

07.01.2022 Ensemble Trivium return to Old Government House with an exciting evening concert of Bohemian Gems plus a world premiere by local violist and composer, Michael Patterson. Get your tickets via the event link below

06.01.2022 A very limited number of new tickets has been released for this event! But hurry, you'll need to be quick before they all sell out!

03.01.2022 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Limited tickets are now available for A Christmas Songbook with Soirées Musicales Quintette on Friday 11 December. Enjoy rarely heard and seasonal songs, duets and quartets as enjoyed by salon audiences in Victorian times in this elegant concert. Book online via the event link

03.01.2022 Join us this Sunday as we welcome the new Riverside QUT Infusion Markets to QUT's Gardens Point precinct!

01.01.2022 We've come to the end of our series looking at the first eleven governors of Queensland and residents of Old Government House Brisbane, but we've saved one of the most interesting for last! Sir William MacGregor (1909-1914) came from a large and poor Scottish family, unlike the privileged upbringing experienced by the previous governors of Queensland. His intellect was recognised and supported early on, and he was given the opportunity to attend school and university, whe...re he studied medicine. MacGregor began his professional career as a medical assistant at a lunatic asylum, as they were then called, in Abderdeen. He then travelled the South Pacific, working in asylums in the Seychelles and Mauritius, before becoming Chief Medical Officer in Fiji, where he faced a Measles epidemic among the native population. MacGregor was a humanitarian at heart, and his interest and experience in community health followed him throughout his life: he worked to destroy mosquito populations preventing Malaria while governor of Nigeria, and combated the spread of Tuberculosis while governor of Newfoundland. He was also a keen surveyor and scientist, and was applauded for his science-based approach to the administrative tasks of his governorships, both in Australia and abroad. MacGregor was the final resident of the then Government House, and resided there only briefly before the building was dedicated to the establishment of the University of Queensland in 1909 and he became its first Chancellor. Read more about Queensland's first eleven governors https://bit.ly/OGH-TheGovernors #brisbanehistory #qldgovernors