1/60Children line up to see Santa Claus in the CBD, 1950. Picture: Cliff Postle
80 years of Queensland Christmases
We’ve delved into The Courier-Mail’s vast photo archives to take a look back at how Queenslanders have celebrated Christmas since the 1930s.
2/60The Courier-Mail window in Queen St showing toys for a Christmas Toy Competition in 1949.
3/60Crowds at Woolies doing their Christmas shopping. Picture: Cliff Postle
4/60Dad prepares to cut the head off a chook for Christmas lunch at a Burleigh Heads campsite.
5/60Turkeys being plucked for Christmas, 1947.
6/60Miss Queensland, Lyn Cope, of Brighton, in 1961 with some presents. Picture: Ray Saunders
7/60Parcels by the hundreds of thousands pour over the GPO counter in 1942, heading for the boys at war overseas.
8/60Christmas break up for children at Milton State School in 1952 featured some watermelon. Picture: Norm Lye
9/60Santa heads the procession during the Valley Christmas Carnival in Brunswick St, 1962.
10/60Christmas Day babies being held by the maternity ward nurses at the Brisbane General Hospital, 1959. Picture: Dave Schmidt
11/60Christmas watermelons being unloaded at the Roma Street Markets, Brisbane, 1958. Picture: Cliff Potter
12/60Blaze of lights at McWhirters in Brunswick St Valley, 1960s. Picture: Norm Lye
13/60Police check on "ghost" patrol cars for the South Coast (now called the Gold Coast) in a toughening up policy against speeding over the 1949 Christmas holidays.
14/60Campers on the South Coast prepare lunch on a wet 1949 Christmas Day using a makeshift wood stove.
15/60“Packed’’ South Coast Beach during the 1949 Christmas Holiday period.
16/60Holidayers muster at Surfers Paradise beach in 1966 on the final day of the Christmas holidays. Picture: Jim Fenwick
17/60Typical Australian Christmas dinner for the Hayward family from Ipswich in 1951. From left, Col Cutler, Phyllis Hayward, Frank Alloway, Mr and Mrs FJ Hayward, Joan Hayward, Shirley Crazier and Beryl Hayward sat down to this feast in their tent at Southport. Picture: Cliff Potter
18/60Childrens’ Christmas party at Brisbane General Hospital in 1958. Pam Baker meets Santa Claus (Kev Schmith). Picture: Jim Fenwick
19/60Children look at toy cars in a Brisbane city store during Christmas shopping, 1951. Picture: Fred Carew
20/60Christmas shoppers loaded with presents outside the Brisbane GPO in 1939.
21/60Crowds of people being photographed in the city stores doing their last minute shopping for presents, 1950. Picture by Cliff Potter
22/60Camping at Suttons Beach, Redcliffe, in 1950, when it was battered by waves on Christmas Day. Picture: Bob Millar Jnr
23/60“New Australian’’ children from Europe had their first Christmas party in Australia at the Wacol Migration camp in 1949.
24/60King George Square’s Christmas tree in 1979.
25/60Campers on the South Coast, enjoy lunch on a wet Christmas Day, 1949.
26/60A performing monkey at McWhithers in Fortitude Valley in 1957 entertains Christmas shoppers. Picture: Ray Saunders
27/60Children looking at a Christmas card shop window display in Brisbane's CBD, 1951. Picture: Fred Carew
28/60Mooloolaba SLSC’s with members Ken McKinnon, Charlie Moody, Robin Shield and Bob Easton in 1959. Picture: Eric Donnelly
29/60Young couple with their bikes loaded about to take off on Christmas Holidays in 1950. Picture: Cliff Postle
30/60Three young boys on Christmas Holidays tow their surf ski behind their push bike to the beach on the South Coast, 1949.
31/60Lionel Bevis, 12, of Thompson Estate, is busy after school and at weekends collecting bottles in his goat cart to raise money for his Christmas holiday spending in 1947.
32/60Children at the Tallebudgera National Fitness run to the beach for a swim during their Christmas holiday break at the camp. Picture: Ray Saunders
33/60Jennifer Pohle wearing her Christmas present of a new swimsuit and hat and Russell Sayer enjoying Christmas Day at Kings Beach, Caloundra in 1963. Picture: Ray Saunders
34/60The Courier-Mail Shark Patrol Plane that patrolled the North and South beaches during the Christmas New Year Holidays, 1950. Picture: Cliff Potter
35/60The Courier-Mail newspaper's Christmas party for sick children at the Brisbane Children's Hospital, 1950. Picture: Al Pascoe
36/60The Courier-Mail newspaper's Christmas party for sick children, 1950. Picture: Al Pascoe
37/60Thousands of people joined the Christmas rush for presents in Brisbane City stores on the cnr of Albert and Queen streets, 1963. Picture: Ted Holliday
38/60Christmas camping on the North (Sunshine) Coast, 1950. Picture: Fred Carew
39/60Wear this fantasy hair style to a Christmas Party, if you dare. Called Merry Christmas, it was modelled by Leon Mary Russell of New Zealand in 1964. Picture: Bruce Postle
40/60Crowds at the Brisbane GPO waiting to be served during the Christmas rush to post cards and parcels in 1950.
41/60Three lifesavers on the South Coast having a cup of tea to warm themselves on cold Christmas morning in 1949.
42/60Crowds enjoying the Christmas break in 1940. Marjorie Stanley enjoys a day at Suttons Beach, Redcliffe.
43/60Tom McNamara, Wayne Wilkinson and David Kearney at Woody Point playing cowboys over the Christmas holidays, 1959. Picture: Bob Millar Jnr
44/60Families setting up their tents for the Christmas holidays at Redcliffe Beach in 1952. Picture: Norm Lye
45/60Families enjoy Christmas carols by candlelight at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, 1952.
46/60Christmas shopping in Brisbane's CBD, 1952.
47/60Christmas decorations on the TC Beirne building in Fortitude Valley, 1953. Picture: Cliff Postle
48/60Boy looking at the prizes in the giant Christmas Socking Raffle in 1949. 30 pounds worth of prizes including turkey, ham and poultry were up for grabs for the cost of a one shilling ticket.
49/60The retail precinct in Fortitude Valley lights up for Christmas in 1958. Picture: Ray Saunders
50/60Christmas lights in Queen St, 1958. Picture: Dave Schmidt
51/60The retail precinct in Fortitude Valley, 1958. Picture: Ray Saunders
52/60Brisbane City Hall in 1965 made a striking picture by night. Picture: Jim Fenwick
53/60Campers on Bribie Island. Sue Barrcroft has the job of cleaning the morning's catch of whiting while on Christmas holidays, 1965. Picture: Al Pascoe
54/60Christmas trees for sale to Queensland families being selected at Beerburrum State Forest by Apexian Ian Wimberley. Apex clubs were selling them for $1.20. Picture: Jim Fenwick.
55/60The children at the Dutton Park State School received a visit from Santa just before the start of school holidays in 1950. Picture: Norm Lye
56/60Santa Claus arrived early in 1964 in the chimmey of Constable I.E.Nosworthy of Narcombe St, Morningside, whose twin daughters Sonya and Janelle,3, watched the life-size model from their front lawn. Picture: Ted Holliday
57/60Shopping for presents posed no difficulties for this woman and her young son as they were pictured speeding along the Wynnum Rd near Tingalpa in 1949.
58/60Mervyn Rose with Santa Claus at Brisbane Children's Hospital Christmas party, 1956. Picture: Cliff Potter
59/60Santa arriving on a amoured vehicle at the Defence Force Site at Bulimba in 1949.
60/60News 17/12/1947 Santa Claus makes a vist to sick children in hospital , to help ligt their spirits. Neg no C4244. Picture by .......... The Courier-Mail Photo Archive. Scanned April 2012
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