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Our old High School located in Liberal, Kansas. Still a wonderful building, just wish it was being used.
C-GTQB - Boeing B-737-8Q8/SW - Air Transat
(leased to the Liberal Party of Canada with TRUDEAU 2019 -titles)
at Toronto Lester B. Pearson Airport (YYZ)
c/n 30.696 - built in 2006 for Air India Express -
operated by Air Transat since 2014
The Liberals are using exactly the same plane as for the 2015 election campaign
(Photo by Thomas Kim)
On a beautiful spring morning OPR 1202 pulls a cut of loaded lumber cars from the RSG Forest Products mill in Liberal, OR. The Mill is one of only a handful of industries on the OPR's ex-SP Molalla Branch, and typically sees rail service twice a week.
Some days you just have to vent about politics in Canada. This is that day.
Its time for a change Canadians.
Situated on the corner of Guild Street and George Street, Burton-upon-Trent the Liberal Club is a French Renaissance style building built in 1894 and funded by Lord Burton (Michael Arthur Bass) and designed by Durward, Brown and Gordon of London. The Bass crest can be seen above the right of centre upper window. It remained as the Liberal Club until 1944 when it became the George Street Club. It is also known as Burton House and is currently (2024) Langan's Tea Rooms.
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Langan’s Tea Rooms, in Burton-on-Trent and Cannock, are now owned by the O’Connor Gateway Charitable Trust and run as a social enterprise.
Revenue generated by the tea rooms is ploughed back into community services to provide education, training and employment for those individuals who have undergone rehabilitation at the BAC O’Connor Centre, in Staffordshire.
All staff in the tea rooms are graduates of the BAC O’Connor Centre and the profits help the staff and volunteers gain qualifications and valuable skills within a supportive environment.
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www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?&Resou...
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Originally taken and posted for the GWUK group.
Guessed by LookaroundAnne
Now replaced with the un-edited version.
I landed in London on the rainy coronation day of King Charles. I hoped to see some of that royal-worship that seems to be such an integral part of britishness. I expected flags painted on faces and all kinds of royal paraphernalia. Instead, I met this little fella´, who seemed rather disgruntled about the fact that Charles was taking over. As opposed to their contemporary American counterparts, the British republicans seem to stand for something other than themselves and their hunger for power.
C-GTQB - Boeing B-737-8Q8/SW - Air Transat
(leased to the Liberal Party of Canada with TRUDEAU 2015-titles)
at Toronto Lester B. Pearson Airport (YYZ)
c/n 30.696 - built in 2006 for Air India Express -
operated by Air Transat since 2014
used as the campaign plane for the 2015 Canada election
in these days Europe remembers the August days in former Czechoslovakia, when the Soviets and their allies (including DDR, East Germany) occupied this country to destroy all efforts of a liberal and human socialism, the so called Prague Spring with Alexander Dubcek.
time to remember Dubcek, the great and liberal Vaclav Havel, and also Jan Palach, the 20y old student from Melnik, who burned himself on Wenzels place in January 1969 to protest against the soviet occupation.
twenty years later the iron curtain began to fall down, and in 1990 I had the chance for my first visit in Prague and Bohemia. the begin of my deep love for this city and this country, with which my family is connected in several ways
the photos of this first visit are blurred, shots from diapositives,. but I like them as paintings of this exciting time, full of hope for democracy and liberalism in Europe. time to remember all this. and one can imagine the Prague during the socialist time, lots of renovated buildings, but also multiple decay of historic buildings.
during all my visits there I could watch the transformation to a renovated, colourful, vibrant, capitalistic and nowadays often overcrowded city. but I am still in love with Prague...
Soon after Trump took office – he spearheaded the Republican war on our climate, our health and our lives. One of the first steps that he took was to silence the National Park Service on social media. I follow them on Facebook and almost immediately after they were silenced a Alt National Park Service Facebook page popped up. I follow them too. Yesterday they published an overview of the Trump administrations 2017 acts against the environment and wildlife. The list is not yet complete and doesn’t mention things like the Bonn Climate Conference that was an absolute debacle. The list is difficult to read - they are working on a timeline for their website that will be launched next week. The list is breathtaking in scope and the intent is astonishing. Try to have a good day.
1.On January 20th, Trump silenced the National Park Service from using social media.
2.On January 20th, National Park Service starts a “resistance” movement on social media accounts.
3.On January 24th, Trump issues several memoranda aiming to hasten permitting from the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines.
4.On February 1st, U.S. Senate confirms ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.
5.On February 16th, Trump signs a joint resolution passed by Congress revoking the U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Stream Protection Rule.” The stream protection rule, which prevented mining companies dumping their waste into streams, is axed under the Congressional Review Act.
6.On February 17th, U.S. Senate confirms Scott Pruitt as the head of the U.S. EPA. In his prior role as Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt frequently sued the EPA over its regulations, notably leading a 27-state lawsuit against the Clean Power Plan.
7.On February 28th, President Trump issues an executive order formally asking the EPA to review the “Waters of the United States” rule.
8.On March 2, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spends his first day on the job rescinding an Obama-era prohibition of lead ammunition on federal lands and waters. Also, the EPA, Scott Pruitt, canceled a requirement for reporting methane emissions.
9.On March 7th, EPA’s Office of Science and Technology removed the word “science” from its mission statement.
10.On March 9th, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt that carbon dioxide’s role in the Earth’s changing climate remains unclear.
11.On March 13th, White House releases its first preliminary budget under Trump. The budget outlines deep cuts to U.S. science and environmental agencies.
12.On March 16th, the Trump administration proposed a 13 percent budget cut to the Park Service funding. These budget cuts would lose 1,242 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, leading to significant challenges at almost every park.
13.On March 28th, Trump issued an executive order charging the DOI with reviewing rules for oil and gas drilling inside the boundaries of our national park sites. Trump's executive order also made the EPA start the process of rewriting the clean power plan.
14.On March 29th, Against the advice of the EPA’s chemical safety experts, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt rejects a decade-old petition asking that the EPA ban all use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Research suggests that chlorpyrifos may be associated with brain damage in children and farm workers, even at low exposures.
15.On March 29th, Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary, revoked the freeze and review on new coal leases on public lands.
16.On April 3rd, Overturned a ban on hunting of predators in Alaskan wildlife refuges. Including the hunting of bear cubs in and around their dens.
17.On April 5th, the trump administration withdrew guidance from federal agencies to include greenhouse gas emissions in environmental reviews.
18.On April 7th, staff members at EPA’s headquarters who specialized in climate change adaptation have been reassigned. Rolled back limits on toxic discharge from power plants into public waterways.
19.On April 16th, Trump issued an executive order calling on the DOI to reopen its five-year plan for offshore drilling.
20.On April 19th, An Interior Department official updates the department’s climate change website, deleting much of its content in the process.
21.On April 22nd, Scientist March on Washington, voicing support for science’s role in society.
22.On April 26th, Trump instructs Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review as many as 40 national monuments created since 1996 to determine if any of Trump’s three predecessors exceeded their authority when protecting large tracts of already-public land under the Antiquities Act of 1906.
23.On April 27th, the EPA delayed a lawsuit over a rule regulating airborne mercury emissions from power plants.
24.On April 28th, EPA scrubs climate change from their website.
25.On May 5th, the EPA dismisses several members of the Board of Scientific Counselors.
26.On June 1st, the U.S. pulls out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
27.On June 8th, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Wednesday ordered a review of an Obama administration conservation plan to protect the greater sage-grouse to determine if that plan interferes with Trump administration efforts to increase energy production on federal lands.
28.On June 12th, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended that Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah’s red rock country be shrunk by President Trump.
29.On June 26th, the administration called for the repeal of the Clean Water Rule.
30.On July 6th, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a permit that would allow Dominion Energy, to build 17 enormous transmission towers near Colonial National Historical Park, the site of the United States first English colony.
31.On July 19th, the DOI called for a reexamination of rules that protect bears and wolves in national preserves in Alaska from egregious hunting methods, including baiting bears with grease-soaked donuts and killing mother bears with their cubs.
32.On August 7th, The DOI relaxes aspects of sage grouse protection to help with the Trump administration’s efforts to increase energy production on federal lands.
33.On August 22nd, the trump administration has suspended a study of health risks to residents who live near mountaintop removal coal mine sites in the Appalachian Mountains.
34.On October 9th, Trump EPA works on scrapping the Clean Power Plan(CCP). Scott Pruitt gave a speech in Hazard, Kentucky and declared that he will sign a proposal on Tuesday that would eliminate the CCP.
35.On October 23rd, The Department of Interior proposed the largest ever gas and oil lease auction of 77 million acres of federal waters within the Gulf of Mexico.
36.On October 24th, A small Montana company located in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown has signed a $300 million contract to help get the power back on in Puerto Rico. Whitefish Energy Holdings, LLC had only two full-time employees on the day Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico.
37.On November 1st, Trump administration proposed a rule Tuesday to federalize regulation of drift gillnets used to catch swordfish on the West Coast. The rule would end California's right to prevent the deadly entanglements of sea turtles, whales, and dolphins in these underwater, mile-long nets.
38.On November 2nd, Trump administration is targeting for review a uranium mining ban that former President Barack Obama instituted in the watershed of the Grand Canyon.
39.On November 7th, French President Emmanuel Macron's Cabinet said Trump not invited to climate change summit for the time being.
40.On November 16th, The Trump administration has reversed the ban on elephant trophy imports. They have agreed to allow the remains of elephants killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia to be brought back to the U.S.
41.On November 16th, The Keystone pipeline has leaked and spilled about 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota. TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone pipeline has been temporarily shut down.
42.On November 24th, Tucked away in the Senate report accompanying the funding bill for the Department of the Interior is a directive to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to end the Red Wolf recovery program and declare the Red Wolf extinct.
43.On November 25th, Oil drilling in a vast Alaskan wildlife refuge moved a step closer to reality after the U.S. Senate energy and natural resources panel voted 13-10 to open part of the reserve.
44.On November 28th, The Cause of Action Institute (a group aligned with GOP mega-donors Charles and David Koch) have filed suit accusing EPA employee of using an encrypted messaging services to protect their jobs. They report that EPA employees were using an encrypted messaging app to determine how to respond to a feared purge of climate science from the new Trump administration.
45.On November 28th, the Trump administration has approved an oil company’s request to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean.
46.On December 4th, Trump gave a speech in Salt Lake City announcing his intentions to reduce two Utah national monuments Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Bears Ears would be reduced by 1.35 million acres (-85%) and Grand Staircase Escalante would be reduced by 1.88 million acres (-50%).
47.On December 7th, Trump administration drops rule requiring mining companies to have money to clean up pollution, despite an industry legacy of abandoned mines that have fouled waterways across the U.S.
48.On December 8th, the Trump administration will suspend a rule to limit methane leaks from oil and gas operations on federal land.
49.On December 14th, Trump administration removed net neutrality. This now allows broadband providers to block websites like ours. The Internet has played an increasingly vital role in political expression and organizing. Groups like ours have used social media to share information, plan events, and motivate participation.
50.On December 15th, It was reported that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke brought David Smith the superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park to his office to reprimand him for climate change-related tweets the park sent via Twitter.
51.On December 16th, Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using a list of words, including "fetus," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "vulnerable," "evidence-based" and "science-based."
52.On December 18th, Trump announced the US will no longer regard climate change by name as a national security threat.
53.On December 19th, EPA has ended a contract with a group (Definers Public Affairs) that had been investigating any EPA employees who disagreed with the Trump administration agenda.
54.On December 19th, in the emergency supplemental funding bill language was hidden that would exempt Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) from following requirements set by the Endangered Species Act.
55.On December 20th, Toxic chemical bans were indefinitely postponed for methylene chloride, N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and trichloroethylene (TCE).
56.On December 21st, Independent studies were halted that would improve the safety of offshore drilling platforms and another to look at health risks of mountaintop-removal coal mining in central Appalachia.
57.On December 21st, Revoked the Obama-era Resource Management Planning Rule (Planning 2.0 Rule), which advocated new technologies to improve transparency related to mining on public lands. A Federal Register filing said this rule "shall be treated as if it had never taken effect."
58.On December 22nd, The Republican “tax reform” bill was signed and included opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
59.On December 22nd, Ruled that "incidental" killings of 1,000 migratory bird species are not illegal under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
60.On December 22nd, Reversed a previous Obama-era Interior Department decision to withdraw permits for a proposed $2.8 billion copper mine in Minnesota.
61.On December 23rd, It was reported that hundreds of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists were barred from attending an industry conference this month.
62.On December 27th, A plan was announced to consider increasing the use of neonicotinoid insecticides known as thiamethoxam, which is proven to be deadly to bees.
63.On December 27th, Allowed oil and gas leasing and development near and even inside greater sage-grouse habitat management areas.
64.On December 28th, Announced a plan to repeal an Obama-era rule that governed fracking standards on federal and tribal lands. The rule would have required companies to disclose chemicals used in their fracking fluids, set standards for well construction, and required surface ponds holding fracking fluids to be covered.
65.On December 29th, Trump administration proposed to remove offshore-drilling safety regulations put in place after the deadly Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Liberal Arts Student.
Дивная крупность надменный величие бесконечное пожар,
hedfan graddfeydd uchel fesur llafurus helaeth,
speedy display hollow winds wide,
nobilissimum sui nuntiare contendit sonantis meridiem porrecto,
felszínes művészi elméleti kifejezések útmutató,
farmaci antinaturalist giovani tradizioni dottorato obiettivi,
εξάσκηση πολλές εξελίξεις έκπληξη πρωτόγονη ορθολογισμό αναγνώρισε,
szép feltűnő illusztrált világ nagy kézműves festmények vér,
pilní galerie učitelé průměrný umění zastoupeny třídy plné,
vetenskapliga relationer siella föreningar utbytta,
zuvorkommend Studenten ausgesetzt Montage befindet Intensivierung staatlichen Außen Rhythmen,
sýna hættuleg nútíma liti framúrskarandi listir stuðningur tölur hvatt,
Shtrembërimet e shumë ndjenja të mëparshme mundësi kompleksitetit kontaktuar,
идеалист туршлага, гадаад хувийн тайван дөл илрүүлэх, сэтгэл бахархал нөлөөлдөг,
指向批判角度テクスチャ陶酔素晴らしい飛行機新!
Steve.D.Hammond.
@梵梵溫泉
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C-FYIY (FIN252)
Airbus A319
Air Canada Rouge
2025 Election - Liberal Campaign with Mark Carney
YUL / CYUL
The Complete Works of William Makepeace Thackeray
Boston
Estes and Lauriat
Seen at the antique mall in Klipsan Beach, Washington
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William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of British society, and the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon, which was adapted for a 1975 film by Stanley Kubrick.
Thackeray, an only child, was born in Calcutta,[1] British India, where his father, Richmond Thackeray (1 September 1781 – 13 September 1815), was secretary to the Board of Revenue in the East India Company. His mother, Anne Becher (1792–1864), was the second daughter of Harriet Becher and John Harman Becher, who was also a secretary (writer) for the East India Company.[2] His father was a grandson of Thomas Thackeray (1693–1760), headmaster of Harrow School.[3]
Richmond died in 1815, which caused Anne to send her son to England that same year, while she remained in India. The ship on which he travelled made a short stopover at Saint Helena, where the imprisoned Napoleon was pointed out to him.
Once in England he was educated at schools in Southampton and Chiswick, and then at Charterhouse School, where he became a close friend of John Leech. Thackeray disliked Charterhouse,[4] and parodied it in his fiction as "Slaughterhouse".
Nevertheless, Thackeray was honoured in the Charterhouse Chapel with a monument after his death. Illness in his last year there, during which he reportedly grew to his full height of six-foot three, postponed his matriculation at Trinity College, Cambridge, until February 1829.[citation needed]
Never too keen on academic studies, Thackeray left Cambridge in 1830, but some of his earliest published writing appeared in two university periodicals, The Snob and The Gownsman.[5]
Thackeray then travelled for some time on the continent, visiting Paris and Weimar, where he met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He returned to England and began to study law at the Middle Temple, but soon gave that up.
On reaching the age of 21 he came into his inheritance from his father, but he squandered much of it on gambling and on funding two unsuccessful newspapers, The National Standard and The Constitutional, for which he had hoped to write. He also lost a good part of his fortune in the collapse of two Indian banks. Forced to consider a profession to support himself, he turned first to art, which he studied in Paris, but did not pursue it, except in later years as the illustrator of some of his own novels and other writings.[citation needed]
Thackeray's years of semi-idleness ended after he married, on 20 August 1836, Isabella Gethin Shawe (1816–1894), second daughter of Isabella Creagh Shawe and Matthew Shawe, a colonel who had died after distinguished service, primarily in India. The Thackerays had three children, all girls: Anne Isabella (1837–1919), Jane (who died at eight months old) and Harriet Marian (1840–1875), who married Sir Leslie Stephen, editor, biographer and philosopher.
Thackeray now began "writing for his life", as he put it, turning to journalism in an effort to support his young family. He primarily worked for Fraser's Magazine, a sharp-witted and sharp-tongued conservative publication for which he produced art criticism, short fictional sketches, and two longer fictional works, Catherine and The Luck of Barry Lyndon.
Between 1837 and 1840 he also reviewed books for The Times.[6] He was also a regular contributor to The Morning Chronicle and The Foreign Quarterly Review. Later, through his connection to the illustrator John Leech, he began writing for the newly created magazine Punch, in which he published The Snob Papers, later collected as The Book of Snobs. This work popularised the modern meaning of the word "snob".[7] Thackeray was a regular contributor to Punch between 1843 and 1854.[8]
Tragedy struck in Thackeray's personal life as his wife, Isabella, succumbed to depression after the birth of their third child, in 1840. Finding that he could get no work done at home, he spent more and more time away until September 1840, when he realised how grave his wife's condition was.
Struck by guilt, he set out with his wife to Ireland. During the crossing she threw herself from a water-closet into the sea, but she was pulled from the waters. They fled back home after a four-week battle with her mother. From November 1840 to February 1842 Isabella was in and out of professional care, as her condition waxed and waned.[3]
She eventually deteriorated into a permanent state of detachment from reality. Thackeray desperately sought cures for her, but nothing worked, and she ended up in two different asylums in or near Paris until 1845, after which Thackeray took her back to England, where he installed her with a Mrs Bakewell at Camberwell.
Isabella outlived her husband by 30 years, in the end being cared for by a family named Thompson in Leigh-on-Sea at Southend until her death in 1894.[9] After his wife's illness Thackeray became a de facto widower, never establishing another permanent relationship. He did pursue other women, however, in particular Mrs Jane Brookfield and Sally Baxter. In 1851 Mr Brookfield barred Thackeray from further visits to or correspondence with Jane. Baxter, an American twenty years Thackeray's junior whom he met during a lecture tour in New York City in 1852, married another man in 1855.[citation needed]
In the early 1840s Thackeray had some success with two travel books, The Paris Sketch Book and The Irish Sketch Book, the latter marked by its hostility towards Irish Catholics. However, as the book appealed to anti-Irish sentiment in Britain at the time,
Thackeray was given the job of being Punch's Irish expert, often under the pseudonym Hibernis Hibernior ("more Irish than the Irish").[8] Thackeray became responsible for creating Punch's notoriously hostile and negative depictions of the Irish during the Great Irish Famine of 1845 to 1851.[8]
Thackeray achieved more recognition with his Snob Papers (serialised 1846/7, published in book form in 1848), but the work that really established his fame was the novel Vanity Fair, which first appeared in serialised instalments beginning in January 1847. Even before Vanity Fair completed its serial run Thackeray had become a celebrity, sought after by the very lords and ladies whom he satirised. They hailed him as the equal of Charles Dickens.[10]
Portrait of Thackeray in his study, c.1860
He remained "at the top of the tree", as he put it, for the rest of his life, during which he produced several large novels, notably Pendennis, The Newcomes and The History of Henry Esmond, despite various illnesses, including a near-fatal one that struck him in 1849 in the middle of writing Pendennis. He twice visited the United States on lecture tours during this period. Thackeray also gave lectures in London on the English humorists of the eighteenth century, and on the first four Hanoverian monarchs. The latter series was published in book form as The Four Georges.[3]
In July 1857 Thackeray stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal for the city of Oxford in Parliament.[3] Although not the most fiery agitator, Thackeray was always a decided liberal in his politics, and he promised to vote for the ballot in extension of the suffrage, and was ready to accept triennial parliaments.[3] He was narrowly beaten by Cardwell, who received 1,070 votes, as against 1,005 for Thackeray.[3]
In 1860 Thackeray became editor of the newly established Cornhill Magazine,[11] but he was never comfortable in the role, preferring to contribute to the magazine as the writer of a column called "Roundabout Papers".[citation needed]
Thackeray's health worsened during the 1850s and he was plagued by a recurring stricture of the urethra that laid him up for days at a time. He also felt that he had lost much of his creative impetus.
He worsened matters by excessive eating and drinking, and avoiding exercise, though he enjoyed riding (he kept a horse).
He has been described as "the greatest literary glutton who ever lived". His main activity apart from writing was "gutting and gorging".[12] He could not break his addiction to spicy peppers, further ruining his digestion.
A granite, horizontal gravestone fenced by metal railings, among other graves in a cemetery
Thackeray's grave at Kensal Green Cemetery, London, photographed in 2014
On 23 December 1863, after returning from dining out and before dressing for bed, he suffered a stroke. He was found dead in his bed the following morning.
His death at the age of fifty-two was entirely unexpected, and shocked his family, his friends and the reading public. An estimated 7,000 people attended his funeral at Kensington Gardens. He was buried on 29 December at Kensal Green Cemetery, and a memorial bust sculpted by Marochetti can be found in Westminster Abbey.[3]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Makepeace_Thackeray
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Klipsan Beach, Washington.
Every garment may have a diverse reason; frequently under several ideologies which might even be totally at odds for each other .
I'm slightly involved with the Classical Liberal Party of Sweden, and we counter demonstrate on May Day every year. As you can probably guess, I was in charge of documenting the event with my camera. Among other things I got this portrait of an acquaintance, and isn't she beautiful, the kind of girl it's hard not to get a crush on? The composition is odd for being one of my photos, but never let the rule of thirds get in the way of awesomeness!
Oh my, let's hope they all take a bath and get a job!
The Chicago "protest" was orchestrated by a group called "ANSWER," which is a Communist organization.
Also, the phrase used in the L.A march, "The people united will never be defeated," has been chanted by Communist groups for decades now. Over 100 million people were killed in the 20th Century in the name of Communism. Please mention these things in your next story, Yahoo.
Samuel Wensley Blackall:
Samuel Wensley Blackall (1809 - 1871), governor, was born on 1 May 1809 in Dublin, son of Major Robert Blackall of the East India Co. army, and his wife Catherine, née Lewis. A member of a prosperous Irish family, he was educated by a private tutor and at 15 went to Trinity College, Dublin, but did not graduate. He joined the 85th Regiment in June 1827 but in 1833 he sold his commission as lieutenant and entered the Royal Longford Militia, where he became a major. In 1833 he married Georgiana Rowles in London; the couple had a son and a daughter, the former surviving him. After his first wife’s death, Samuel married Catherine Bond at Dublin in 1858. Blackall took an active part in Irish public life, becoming high sheriff of County Longford in 1833: in 1847-51 he represented Longford in the House of Commons, and in 1861 became high sheriff of Tyrone. Meanwhile he had been lieutenant-governor of Dominica in 1851-57. Through seeking to rule with a high hand he had to combat a petition for his recall. He was also in trouble with the Colonial Office for extending his leave because of family difficulties. In 1862 he re-entered the colonial service as governor of Sierra Leone, in 1865 became governor in chief at the West African Settlements and in 1868 was appointed governor of Queensland.
Blackall took an active part in Irish public life, becoming high sheriff of County Longford in 1833: in 1847-51 he represented Longford in the House of Commons, and in 1861 became high sheriff of Tyrone. Meanwhile he had been lieutenant-governor of Dominica in 1851-57. Through seeking to rule with a high hand he had to combat a petition for his recall. He was also in trouble with the Colonial Office for extending his leave because of family difficulties. In 1862 he re-entered the colonial service as governor of Sierra Leone, in 1865 became governor in chief at the West African Settlements and in 1868 was appointed governor of Queensland.
On arrival in Brisbane on 14 August Blackall was met by a tremendous popular welcome, but at once was plunged into a constitutional crisis, which had been temporarily held in check by the administrator, Sir Maurice O'Connell. After a deadlock in the Legislative Assembly the Liberals had been defeated in an election but were petitioning the governor to dissolve the assembly on the ground that it did not properly represent the colony. Perhaps because of his experience in Dominica or because his health had suffered in West Africa, Blackall pursued a strictly constitutional course and refused to intervene directly. The crisis did not end until the rule of his successor, the marquis of Normanby. Despite the bitterness of the constitutional battle Blackall made no personal enemies, though he had to face a few personal attacks. Kindly and soft-spoken, he had developed the gift of making friends and became very popular. Willing to assist any genuine public cause, he made frequent appearances on public platforms. He worked hard to improve agriculture and to link the Queensland grammar schools with the University of Sydney.
By 1870 Blackall's health was failing rapidly and he knew the end was near. In 1870 when the government decided to set aside a new cemetery reserve at Toowong he inspected the area and selected the highest spot for his grave. At the same time he requested that his funeral be such as could be attended by even the humblest. Three months later, on 2 January 1871, he died and his wishes were gratified. A fine memorial was erected over his grave, the first in the cemetery. His memory is also preserved by the town of Blackall, the Blackall Range, and the first Queensland government steamer, Governor Blackall, bought by Charles Lilley when premier of Queensland in 1870.
Toowong Cemetery:
Bureaucratic procrastination, manoeuvring and public discontent colour the early history of the Brisbane General Cemetery at Toowong and contributed to the decades of delay in providing a new General Cemetery for Brisbane in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The first cemetery serving the small penal settlement that was Brisbane between 1825 and 1842 was located near Skew Street, the northern approach to the William Jolly Bridge. It was here that soldiers and convicts were interred but was considered unfit for the burial of children. One soldier's four children were buried in a brick crypt in an area at North Quay near Herschel Street.
The concept of a rural cemetery located outside the bounds of town limits emerged as a major transformation in burial practices in the late 18th century in Britain and Europe and was well established by the time towns and settlements were being formed in Queensland. The new burial grounds surveyed at North and South Brisbane in 1844, just beyond the western boundary of the municipality, proved however, not to be sufficiently removed from the settlement. Whilst the proximity of both grounds allowed customary procession on foot, and natural drainage away from the early settlement served to allay sanitary concerns, as early as 1851, the public were petitioning the Government of NSW to relocate the North Brisbane Burial Grounds known as the Milton/Paddington Cemetery. Brisbane's rapid expansion following its opening to free settlement in 1842 was such that the Paddington Cemetery, was now in the heart of a prime inner residential area and was being challenged by the residents who feared for their health.
The first progress to establish a new cemetery were made in 1861 when 200 acres was set aside for cemetery purposes, 2 miles south west of the Milton Cemetery at Toowong. The land however, was chosen by default rather than by design. Augustus Gregory, the Surveyor -General had not favoured the Toowong site but found it to be the only locality to present the requisite requirements. The appropriateness of the site at Toowong for the purpose of a General Cemetery was an issue contested for the next two decades. The isolation and suitability of the Toowong site with its lack of access and public transport fuelled dissent and debate and the public continued to use the cheaper, more accessible familial grounds at Milton.
Although the Cemetery Act was passed in 1866 providing the means to establish general cemeteries under the control of government appointed trustees, it was another decade before the Cemetery was officially opened. In 1868, a further portion of Crown land, 53 acres in area, north of the cemetery reserve was added to fulfil of the Trustee's requirement for the entire cemetery to be surrounded with public roads.
The reserve of 250 acres 1 rood was gazetted and the Cemetery Trust established in October 1870 and its honorary trustees were amongst Brisbane's most prominent political and business figures - James Cowlishaw, John Hardgrave, William Pettigrew, Samuel Walker Griffith, George Edmonstone, Alexander Raff, John Petrie (Chairman), Michael Quinlan and Nathaniel Lade.
Trial sinkings at Toowong in December 1870 found the ground to be unsuitable, but this knowledge did not prompt the government to secure a more appropriate location. Queensland's second governor, Samuel Wensley Blackall had been a supporter of the Toowong site and in his ill health indicated his desire to be buried there. He was buried on the highest knoll on 3 January 1871 and his memorial is the largest and most prominent in the cemetery with commanding views of the city and surrounds.
The Surveyor General, the Trustees and the Colonial Secretary had not favoured the Toowong Site and even after the burial of Governor Blackall on its most prominent peak, the Trustees were still pursuing other more suitable prospects for a cemetery site. Three private properties had been offered for sale for cemetery purposes. Of these, Trustee George Edmondstone's property on Enoggera Creek was identified as being most suitable, however the Colonial Treasurer could not reach an agreement on price and the Toowong site came to be accepted as the Brisbane General Cemetery grounds.
In June 1871, Petrie, Pettigrew and Perry were nominated to chose a suitable 40 acres for clearing for the general cemetery. In 1872, ground lying north of the road and east of the western boundary of the 53 acre portion was cleared and enclosed by 540 rods of good quality pig fencing (a four rail fence) with two entrances not more than 4 rods on each side of the main entrance erected by John Ballard.
A Keeper's Lodge was built by E Lewis and gates and ornamental fencing at the main entrance, designed by the Colonial Architect, FDG Stanley, were erected in 1873-74.
Between Governor Blackall's burial and the official opening of the Cemetery, there were six burials. The next interment was Ann Hill, wife of Walter Hill, superintendent of the Botanical Gardens on 2 November 1871. Thomas and Martha McCulloch were buried in November 1873, Teresa Maria Love on 16 March 1875 and Florence and Ethel Gordon on 4 July 1875.
The Trustees received numerous requests for separate burial sections from churches and other like minded group to ensure that religious and social class distinctions within society were perpetuated in mortality. Between November 1874 and August 1875 portions were allocated by the Trustees upon request. Portion No 1, was allocated to the Church of England, Portion No 2 to the Wesleyans, Portion No 3 to the Hebrews, Portion No 7 to the Roman Catholics, Portion No 16 to paupers and No 17 and parts of No 1 and 7 to public graves, Portion No 15 to criminals. In 1879, the Chinese were allocated part of Portion 2, then relocated in January 1884 to the ground below 7 and then again in April of that year to Portion No 8. The various cultural and religious groups were separated and boundaries clearly formed by winding roads. There is a strong showing of the Christian section of the graves, supporting the demographic dominance of Anglo-Saxons in Brisbane and the relocation of the Chinese several times (now in Portion 19) demonstrates the disregard afforded to this section of the community, which exhumed many of its dead for reinterment in China.
The lack of public transportation for funeral processions was one of the perceived shortfalls of the Toowong site, so the extension of the railway line through the western suburbs to Toowong in 1875 with the promise of a mortuary rail service provided the catalyst for the opening of the cemetery.
The grounds at the Cemetery were laid out by the prominent surveyor, George Phillips and a set of books drawn up by the Government Printer. The Cemetery was officially opened on 5 July 1875.
Controversy was quelled for a time but the respite was short lived and the Cemetery was subjected to a parliamentary inquiry in 1877 where public health issues, the steep and rocky terrain, the distance and inconvenience for mourners and the cost in relation to other alternatives including mortuary trains to Toowong were considered. No further meetings were held by the Trustees until March 1878.
The Cemetery had come to be valued for not only its heritage as the resting place of Governor Blackall but as a place for recreation and repose. Had the government decided from its inquiry to abandon the Toowong Cemetery in favour of another proposed site at Woogaroo, the Trustees wanted to retain the management of the Toowong site and for it to be maintained in an ornamental way as a place of resort for the people of Brisbane.
Community health concerns relating to the Cemetery began to dissipate in the second half of the 1880s. Whilst a public meeting of concerned residents discussed the closure of the cemetery in July 1885, within six months the local community was petitioning the Trustees to endorse the opening of a road through the cemetery reserve. Approval for the public thoroughfare through the cemetery was given in July 1886. The approval renewed concern in some quarters for the health risks associated with the increase in public activity at the Cemetery and the planting of trees amongst the graves especially of those dying of virulent diseases was advocated.
The cemetery was however, well established with trees by this time. From 1876, one year after its official opening, many plants and young trees had been supplied to the Cemetery from the Botanical Gardens and Acclimatisation Society. Initially, Walter Hill, the Botanical Gardens superintendent donated 38 shade and ornamental trees to the Cemetery and Mr Bernays of the Acclimatisation Society offered 50 trees in exchange for a subscription from the Trustees.
From 1878, the Cemetery gardens were attended by dresser, William Melville, a position he held for 38 years. Flowers, shrubs and plants were cultivated on the site on Portion 10 and sold to meet the needs of the site's visitors from a flower shed that straddled the creek. Mature camellias at the Cemetery, located in Portion 4 and 13 may be the first planted in Queensland from cuttings from Camden Park, the home of John McCarthur, who may have been the first to import them into Australia. A dam on Portion 16 was used for irrigation until 1905 when water taps were installed.
In 1886, the Defence Force leased the largely unused area of the cemetery, now occupied by Anzac Park, as a Rifle Range and the whole paddock and the Cemetery Overseer's cottage designed by Trustee, James Cowlishaw and built by E Bishop in 1877 came under the control of the Brigade Officer in charge of the Range. In exchange, the Government built another cottage in 1887 for the overseer at a cost of £250. A pavilion, also designed by Cowlishaw was built in 1885 at the northern end of Portion 10.
In 1891, extensive public usage of the cemetery land spurred the newly formed Toowong Shire Council to seek an arrangement with the Trustees to utilise some of the land for the purpose of public recreation. Whilst initially reluctant, the Trustees came to support the idea. In 1915, the Toowong Park Act was passed providing the Trustees with the means to transfer 132 acres 2 roods 18 perches to the Toowong Town Council for Park and Recreation purposes known in part as the Old Rifle Range for the sum of £1,000. This revenue was used to finance the construction of new gates and fencing and the purchase in 1916, of Portion 872, the sole adjoining private property, to satisfy the Trustees preference for completely surrounding the cemetery with public roads.
Agitation for public transport within close proximity of the cemetery was finally achieved with the extension of the tramway to the cemetery in 1901. A shelter shed was erected by the Brisbane Tramways Co in 1916.
The Paddington Cemeteries Act of 1911, authorised the Government to resume the several cemeteries at Milton and, upon the request of any relative of any person buried therein within 12 months, to disinter the remains of the deceased. The remains were removed together with any memorials to any cemetery agreed upon with associated costs borne by the Government. Of the 4,643 identifiable graves at Milton, there were 178 applications made. 139 remains and 105 memorials were relocated from Milton to Toowong throughout the site, with the greatest concentration to be found in Portion 6.
Tenders for a sanitary block were called by Trustee and architect, Edward Myer Myers in November 1923. The successful tenderer was Marberete Co and the construction was completed prior to Anzac Day 1924 when the Shrine of Remembrance and Cross of Sacrifice were unveiled. A report of the ceremony in the Sydney Mail incorrectly refers to the building as a mortuary chapel and flags of the Union Jack were hung over the entries to the men's and ladies' toilets to disguise the signage.
On 1 August 1930, Toowong Cemetery and all others with the Brisbane City Council municipality were placed under the management and control of the Council. The following year, the area of the Toowong Cemetery bounded by Mt Coot-tha Road and Miskin and Dean Streets was used by the Australian Military Forces for training and later was transferred to the Brisbane City Council and was developed as a Bus Depot. A substation was erected in the south-east corner of this site in 1935.
Flowers were cultivated and sold at the Cemetery from Portion 10 until the 1930s. In 1934 the area set apart for soldier's graves within Portion 10 was extended and incorporated the flower gardens and the octagonal pavilion was probably demolished at this time. Other shelter sheds were erected and six, including two with toilets, are dotted over the site. In 1936 the last available block, Portion 30, was laid out for burial purposes. To allow for more burials, the plot sizes were reduced from 9'x5'to 8'x4'.
By April 1975, all burial plots in the Cemetery had been sold and the Cemetery was closed with the exception of burials in family graves. That same year, hundreds of worn, forgotten headstones in three major city cemeteries were removed by Brisbane City Council workmen employed under the Regional Employment Development Scheme. Old, neglected monuments were removed from Toowong, Lutwyche and South Brisbane cemeteries and trees and shrubs planted. The long term aim of the scheme was to return the cemeteries to open space with a parkland atmosphere. It is thought approximately 1,000 memorials were removed from Toowong.
In the early 1980s, footpath clearances were substantially reduced along the Frederick Street and Mt Coot-tha Road boundaries and the tram shelter and tram lines were removed as part of the Route 20 overpass and roundabout development. As a result of this work, direct access through the main gates of the Cemetery from all directions but the west has been disconnected.
The Sexton's office, built around the turn of the century on Portion 10 above the floor of the flower shed, fell into disuse once the new Sexton's office was built in 1989. Restoration work to repair and reconstruct the former Sexton's office and its conversion to a museum was initiated by the Brisbane City Council Heritage Advisory Committee and the work carried out by the Heritage Unit in 1991. Another initiative by the Brisbane City Council Heritage Unit, also undertaken in 1991, was the establishment of the Toowong Cemetery Heritage Trail together with the Adopt-a-Pioneer program for plots in need of maintenance and to raise public awareness of the invaluable resource that the cemetery provides.
In 1992, steel boom gates were erected at the Birdwood Terrace and Frederick Street entrances of the Cemetery to deter vandalism, theft and drag racing. The same year, a group of volunteers formed The Friends of Toowong Cemetery and their activities include tending to neglected gravesites and organising tours of the Cemetery for interested parties. They have also produced several booklets including the Toowong Cemetery Resource Manual and Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary People.
The Cemetery was reopened in 1998 with approximately 450 plots available for sale.
Source: Australian Dictionary Of Biography & Queensland Heritage Register.