Malacden Valley

09/06/2026

Cool 😎

06/06/2026

Very nice 😊

🚒 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐎... 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋, 𝐀 𝐁𝐈𝐓 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑! 🚒

Ever wondered how Brisbane handled fires before the big red trucks we see today? Meet the city's very first motorized firefighting vehicle!

In 1905, the Brisbane Fire Brigade ditched the hay and oats for petrol when they imported this beast from the UK: the Merryweather Chemical Fire Engine. 🇬🇧➡️🇦🇺

It was the "Ferrari" of its day... on paper, at least. Check out these "blistering" specs:

🔸ENGINE: A mighty 20 h.p. petrol motor*.

🔸MAX SPEED: A heart-pounding 25 mph (about 40 km/h) - but only on flat ground!

🔸CREW: Room for 8 brave firefighters to hold on for dear life.

🔸GEAR: 600 feet of canvas hose and two 35-gallon chemical cylinders.

THE CATCH? 📉
While it looked the part, Brisbane’s hills were its arch-nemesis. It was notoriously unreliable and often got overtaken by local kids on bicycles! 🚲💨 It was so finicky that it took several years to actually go into full service, meaning the trusty fire horses weren't out of a job just yet.

Next time you see a modern fire truck flying down the road, spare a thought for the 1905 crew who were probably pushing their engine up the hill! 🛠️😅

Know someone who loves Brisbane history? Tag them below! 👇



Original B&W Image - Public Domain - Colourisation by the Dave & Malou Channel

* Some reports list the engine h.p anywhere between 16 and 24 h.p. Due to conflicting sources, we’ve settled on 20 h.p., based on the most reliable UK records.

01/06/2026

Nice bit of Brisbane history 🙂

22/05/2026

Sunny Brisbane back in the day.....

If you were standing at Kangaroo Point on 10 September 1910 watching the sunset, your view across the Brisbane River would have looked very different from today. Those two massive silhouettes on the water? Not ferries. Not cruise ships. Dutch warships.

𝐓𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥.

🇳🇱 Meet the visitors:

• De Ruyter - the sleek cruiser on the right
• Hertog Hendrik - the formidable coastal defence ship on the left

These impressive vessels sailed into Brisbane on 10 September 1910, drawing huge crowds and plenty of curiosity. Their visit wasn’t just a spectacle - it was a moment of international diplomacy and a reminder that Brisbane was already becoming an important port city more than a century ago.

The ships were part of a Dutch naval squadron travelling from the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) on a goodwill tour of Australia. After turning heads in Brisbane, they continued on to Sydney and Melbourne later that month.

It’s wild to imagine warships anchored where CityCats and kayakers glide today - a perfect reminder of just how much history our river has witnessed.



Original image sourced from the public domain. This reconstructed version has been digitally enhanced and animated using modern software techniques. While every effort has been made to preserve the historical integrity of the original scene, the final result remains an artistic interpretation and may not perfectly represent the event as it originally appeared. Image is produced strictly for educational, non-commercial history sharing.

15/05/2026

Interesting place….

13/05/2026

Very interesting place….

10/05/2026

Nice bit of steam powered automotive history ♨️🚗

07/05/2026

A beautiful looking station 😍

29/04/2026

Bit of local railway history.......

18/04/2026

Nice bit of railway history 🙂