Stories
The following stories from past tenants and employees provide a valuable snapshot of the Queensland Housing Commission history. These stories aim to capture some of the highlights, events, stories, and characters of the Commission and bring to life the human face of the Commission and how it evolved over time.
A 'temporary' life
They were poor, but they were happy. It was humble, but it was home. They were often just ordinary Queenslanders, forced to live in extraordinary conditions.
Another one bites the dust
When Terry Anderson worked his last day for the Department of Housing in September 2002, he took with him decades of fond and a few frustrating memories.
Aunty needed company
When Coralie Ober needed a place to live fast, she was lucky that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing was there to help.
Extra extra!
If there’s one person who remembers the way things were in some of Queensland ’s temporary accommodation camps after the war, it’s the lad who delivered the papers.
More than five decades under the same roof
Apart from three years in her twenties, 67-year-old Thelma Booth has lived in the same house she moved into when she was just 10.
Nowhere to go
Mavis Streten may be 87 and born in the year Australian men fought their first war, but she clearly recalls what the housing shortage was like after the Second World War.
One of our many 'Jack of all trades'
Margaret Greenham remembers her dear old dad and field officer – Eddie Taske – who was once the face of the Queensland Housing Commission in Carina. Eddie worked from 1950 to 1974 and died in 1999, aged 91.
Part of the family
Cannon Hill grandparents, Jan and Terry Turner, are so entwined with the Commission; they're practically family. While Terry painted public housing for most of his life, Jan's family would have faced a life on the streets without it.
Search for a happy ending
In 1949, Ivy McCullagh moved her three boys from the country town of Cunnamulla to the big smoke of Brisbane in search of a better life, but instead found a desperate housing shortage that threatened to leave her and her children homeless.
The clever tea lady
A chat with Ruth Ludwig, the department's longest serving female employee, reveals a very different workplace for females in the 1960s. When women married in those days, they were forced to resign. Ruth is now a business analyst in the department's Information Management area.
The tools of the trade
In a corner of Herb Spilsbury's work shed in Townsville, there's a little pocket of Commission history - an original tool box with tools and paintbrushes that would be at least 40 years old and were used to paint Commission houses.
Trip down memory lane
Mitchelton great-grandmother Thora Smith's memory paints a vivid picture of what times were like when she moved into her new Commission home more than five decades ago.
Memoirs of William Simpson (651Kb)
William Simpson’s career with the Department of Public Works and the Queensland Housing Commission spanned an impressive 48 years. Some 30 years after his retirement in 1974 as Assistant Commissioner of Housing, Mr Simpson wrote his memoirs, ‘Serving the Public (in Works and Housing) 1926 to 1974’. The document captures Mr Simpson’s experiences as a public servant and his contribution to the people of Queensland.
Last updated 25 September 2006
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