Transience, Community and Class: A Study of Brisbane’s East Ward, 1879-91

Abstract

Queensland’s capital city changed dramatically between 1879 and 1891, with its population swelling from approximately 30,000 to over 90,000. At the centre of this process of change was the inner city municipal district of East Ward. Of Brisbane’s six wards, East Ward was both the richest and the most socially diverse, containing a large proportion of the city’s commercial and industrial establishments. This paper seeks to ascertain the relationship between class and community identity within this locality using Post Office Directories and a range of other sources to detail land use patterns in three years - 1879, 1885 and 1891. These sources indicate that East Ward’s citizens were, during the period under review, highly transient in nature. This meant that a sense of community could not be based on a stable residential population. Instead, it was the ward’s highly stratified and unequal social structure that defined community identity, as class-based social relationships pervaded all others.