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Petrie TableauPrint Page Print this page

24-September-2018 (Russell Byers)
24-September-2018 (Russell Byers)

Photographs supplied by Diane Watson / Russell Byers

The sculpture commemorates the early settlers of Brisbane and the pioneering spirit of the city. 

Andrew Petrie (1798 - 20 February 1872) was a builder, architect and Australian pioneer. Andrew Petrie and his family, the first free-settlers to move to the area, travelled to Dunwich aboard the James Watt and where then transferred in a pilot boat, manned by convicts that landed at King's Jetty, the only landing place that then existed, now known as North Quay. His first important task was to repair the mechanism of the windmill which had never worked.

His general duty was the supervision of prisoners engaged in making such necessities as soap and nails, and in building. He also made inspections of government owned sheep and cattle and placed a number of beacons on navigational hazards in the Brisbane River.He was the first white man to climb Mount Beerwah, one of the Glass House Mountains seen by James Cook, and he was also the first to bring back samples of the Bunya pine.

Location

Address:Adelaide Street, King George Square, Brisbane, 4000
State:QLD
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -27.468611
Long: 153.023889
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Sculpture
Monument Theme:Landscape
Sub-Theme:Settlement
Artist:Stephen Walker A. M. (Hobart, TAS)

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:1988
Front Inscription

The Petrie Tableau

Commissioned and created in the Bicentennial year, 1988 to honour the early families of Brisbane and to capture the pioneering spirit of the city.

The tableau depicts the departure of Andrew Petrie for an inland expedition from the Moreton Bay Settlement in 1842. Petrie`s wife Mary is handing him a drinking bottle as their daughter Isabella watches. Young Tom Petrie plays on the river bank with two of his Aboriginal friends.

His experiences were later recorded and became a classic document of Aboriginal tribal life. John Petrie, who went on to become Brisbane`s first Mayor and a prominent engineer, holds his father`s impatient horse. The event is observed a convict recently freed from his shackles by Petrie.

Sculptor Stephen Walker

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au