Issue Details: First known date: 2006... 2006 Lady Parachutists and the End of Civilisation in Queensland
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Brisbane was wiped off the face of the Earth and Queensland ceased to exist as a political entity under the combined military forces of Victoria and New South Wales during violent conflict at the end of the twentieth century. Brisbane was annihilated because of the un-Christian sins of its people, and the moral corruption of its leaders. The Queensland Defence Force was incapable of defending even itself, let alone defeating the invading troops. The pivotal event in this collapse concerned the alluring performances by a group of ‘lady parachutists’ who entertained the Queensland military forces, thereby distracting them and allowing the opposing forces to easily defeat them at the Battle of Fort Lytton.

That, at least, is the key to the plot of Dr Thomas Pennington Lucas's 1894 dystopian novel The Ruins of Brisbane in the Year 2000. The origin of this ‘lady parachutists’ myth, and the connections between this myth and the end of Queensland civilisation, led me to research a fascinating episode in Queensland's cultural history, and in particular Victorian notions of sexual propriety, ‘true manhood’ and the combined — albeit veiled — threats posed by unfettered female sexuality and male masturbation.'

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Queensland Review vol. 13 no. 1 2006 Z1366647 2006 periodical issue

    'This issue opens with papers on colonial Queensland by Kerry Heckenberg and Denis Cryle. Heckenberg's paper, 'Conflicting Visions', explores the life and art of the Queensland-born painter William George Wilson, whose work graces our cover. In a serendipitous connection with Denis Cryle's paper, William George Wilson (1849-1924) was the son' of the wealthy Scottish squatter William Wilson,. who arrived in Moreton Bay in 1843. Cryle's paper, 'Scottish Intellectuals in Colonial Queensland', argues that the dominant narrative of the colonial Scots as entrepreneurial and often ruthless pastoralists, politicians and businessmen fails to take into account the contributions of Scots to education, journalism, and the life of the mind ·and soul more generally. His case studies of two exemplars of 'Scotus Intellectualis' - John Dunmore Lang and George Wight - outline the intellectual and civic contributions of these two Protestant clergymen to the early colony of Queensland.' (Editorial)

    2006
    pg. 33-49
Last amended 1 Aug 2019 16:09:33
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