Photos capture moments in Qld history sure to offend

IT'S 1960 and a Miss Australia contestant poses proudly atop a mammoth humpback whale carcass.

Today, it's a photo that may offend and upset some, but at the time, few would have bat an eyelid.

Miss Australia Quest candidate Nicki Duveck, 18, of Clayfield, visits the flensing deck at the Tangalooma whaling station. Nicki's visit was to meet her sponsors, the staff of the station, who gave her the title of Miss Tangalooma. Tangalooma was first established as a whaling station in 1952. Picture: Dave Schmidt

Nicki Duveck, the young woman in the photograph already had the title of Miss Tangalooma and was visiting the whaling station on the island to meet the staff and her sponsors.

Five years on, in 1965, Rosalie Bogner and Merle Thornton chained themselves to the public bar at Brisbane's Regatta Hotel, to protest legislations that banned women from drinking at pubs.

Chained to the footrail in the public bar of the Regatta Hotel, Toowong, are Mrs Rosalie Bogner of Indooroopilly, and Merle Thornton of Fig Tree Pocket. The pair relaxed with a glass of beer bought for them by a hotel patron. They were drawing attention to their campaign to give women the right to drink side-by-side with men in public bars. Picture: Bruce Postle

The barman refused to serve them and the police were called, but now the women have a bar at the Regatta named after them.

Almost a decade later, in 1973, then-Queensland Premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, is pictured being carried ashore by indigenous locals of Saibai Island, in the Torres Strait.

Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen being carried ashore through muddy waters at Saibai Island in Torres Strait, during his campaign against proposals to include some PNG islands in Australia's boundaries. He won the campaign. Picture: Jim Fenwick

It's not what you would expect to see, but Bjelke-Petersen was there to campaign with the islanders, to help them remain Australian citizens.

Trend expert, Professor Stephen Holden, from Macquarie University, said the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"Isn't it fascinating that successive Queensland leaders have spent a good deal of time discussing Queensland's borders, with Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the past and Annastacia Palaszczuk today," he said.

"Or now it is women who tend to be favoured in nightclubs, and men have to pass muster to enter!"

"Even the sight of whaling, we used to chase whales as hunters, but now we chase whales like Migaloo like adoring fans."

"Overall for me, the trends are fascinating. There's not a lot of rhyme and reason to the process of how trends emerge.

"What is more certain is that today's trends will look as quaint as those featured in these old black and white photos."

Originally published as Photos capture moments in Qld history sure to offend