This issue begins with a collection of essays reflecting on last year's Queensland election, which saw Annastacia Palaszczuk returned as Premier. Ms Palaszczuk had become Queensland's opposition leader after Anna Bligh's government was routed at the polls when Campbell Newman made the move from Brisbane mayor to extra-parliamentary leader of the Liberal National Party in 2011. The LNP's landslide win in 2012 saw Labor reduced to seven seats. Newman's ‘can do’ style did not translate from municipal to state government. He was the Energiser Bunny who set about sacking public servants and conducting ‘community consultations’ about the sale of state owned assets. His unpopularity was manifest, yet Palaszczuk's success at the 2015 election caught the commentariat by surprise. She led a minority government, and in 2016 held on to achieve a narrow majority. The essays in this issue examine the electoral politics, campaign strategies and media (mis)management that cemented her hold on power.

Some time during late 2018, Queensland will become home to exactly five million people. That milestone alone is enough for any state to take stock, but when faced with both fiscal opportunity and economic challenges — and a recent state election that exposed a deeply divided electorate — it is clear that Queensland in 2018 finds itself at crossroads. Do we, in our economic and social policy, embrace risk and look forward to an optimistic future, or does a fearful Queensland turn inwards to seek a golden past that may never truly have existed? Do we continue to build a globalised and multicultural Queensland, or do we return to parochialism, protectionism and populism?

In recounting the history of Cherbourg as an Aboriginal settlement, the Ration Shed Museum presents some traumatic narratives. It paints a picture of violent geographic and cultural dislocation, crude living conditions, forced labour and administrative oppression by infusing historical artefacts with the personal recollections of Cherbourg residents. The intent behind the Ration Shed Museum itself, however, is something quite different: its curators want to tell a story that speaks of hope for this community’s future, and to work towards some form of reconciliation. They do this by actively engaging with the ‘terrible gift’ of the past in the present, and by providing spaces for encounters that can lead to open discussions of difficult social issues and celebrations of contemporary Cherbourg life. This article draws on ethnographic interviews and observational data alongside the theoretical work of Roger I. Simon and Andrea Witcomb to describe how the Ration Shed Museum engages its community and visitors in a dual process of both understanding Cherbourg’s history and reframing traumatic narratives to enact a pedagogy of hope.

History will record the 2017 Queensland state election not only for its series of firsts — Annastacia Palaszczuk is the first woman state premier to win two successive elections — but also because it defied expectations. Despite its own lack-lustre campaign, an inauspicious economic climate and the revival of Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON), Palaszczuk's Labor Government enjoyed a small after-preference swing to it (despite a small primary swing against it) to win four additional seats and, with it, its first majority in the Legislative Assembly. Conversely, the Liberal-National Party (LNP) lost three seats in a significant primary swing against it, while PHON, after a chaotic campaign, won a just single seat in a statewide primary vote that fell well below expectations. This article argues that these unexpected results can be attributed to a number of factors, ranging from Palaszczuk's relative popularity to voters’ desire for stable government to their disdain for an opposition (and opposition leader) many conflated with both PHON and former LNP Premier Campbell Newman. The article also suggests the election of the first majority government since 2012 could mark the stabilising of a hitherto volatile Queensland electorate as Palaszczuk appears to extend Labor's second electoral hegemony.

The Great Shearers’ Strike of 1891 transformed Australian politics and created the context for the election of the first ‘labourist’ government in the world. This nationally significant history is reflected in Barcaldine’s central heritage precinct, with a large monument to the Tree of Knowledge and spacious Australian Workers Heritage Centre. The Centre was established as the ‘National Monument’ to working men and women when it was opened by Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1991. The Centre is one of a number of industrial museums in the Central West, and exists alongside the Stockman’s Hall of Fame in nearby Longreach. The recent increase in tourism by Grey Nomads has resulted in a more concerted effort to formulate a clear heritage discourse in Barcaldine, one that draws on the town’s labour heritage. This increased emphasis on the heritage of the Great Shearers’ Strike has further politicised an already fraught heritage, and distanced the community from its local heritage spaces and stories. This article reflects on long-standing narratives relating to the local environment as a means to articulate contested heritage discourses, situate the significant labour history and reinforce the local community’s engagement in its heritage.

There appears widespread consensus that economic downturns and peaks in immigration boost the appeal of populist parties. Economic crises, so the argument typically goes, increase fear and frustration among poor working-class voters. According to this ‘losers of globalisation’ logic, the recent revival of populist parties like One Nation should be attributed the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and a worsening global refugee crisis. At first glance, this logic seems plausible and intuitive. However, recent research has revealed that populist parties can thrive in times of economic prosperity, and attract large numbers of relatively affluent voters. According to this more recent research, support for populist parties tends to follow a V-curve pattern, with such parties attracting both voters who are ‘doing it tough’ financially (relative deprivation) and voters who enjoy above-average levels of prosperity (relative gratification). In this article, we analyse One Nation's performance in the 2017 Queensland state elections from this new vantage point. Although we did not encounter a clear V-curve pattern, the findings nonetheless confirm earlier research showing that ‘income’ is a poor predictor of One Nation support. Discussion focuses on directions for future research, and urges populism researchers to move beyond a narrow focus on crisis, deprivation, and ‘losers of globalisation’.

A serene little walking track graces the hillside along Mons Road between Buderim and the Bruce Highway. It marks a significant piece of state heritage: the Buderim–Palmwoods Tramway. Behind it lies a story of community driving discovery, emergence, conservation and use. This article tells of the emergence of the walking track using Deleuze and Guattari’s assemblage concept to explore the ‘becoming’ of the walking track. Assemblages provide an understanding of heritage as a process rather than a fixed entity, examining the re-territorialisation of the tramway track and the ways in which its boundaries are constantly challenged by human and non-human elements. The continuums of territorialisation/deterritorialisation and materiality/expression offer insights into heritage management. Analysis of the tramway as a heritage assemblage reveals the ongoing process of caring for heritage: it shows the strengths of clear boundaries, and permeable ones, and the importance of both material and expressive roles of the components comprising a heritage place. An assemblage view moves conservation beyond the fabric, the architectural and aesthetic to the interplay of the atmospheric, the emotional and the expressive, recognising the action and agency of heritage components and their ability to affect and be affected.

Based on an analysis of the 2017 same-sex marriage postal survey results and the results of the 2017 Queensland state election, this paper observes that residents of the south-east corner of the state appear to adopt feminine values as opposed to the masculinity for which Queensland is known. The results underscore the ‘two Queenslands’ thesis, which posits that the single geographic state of Queensland has cleaved over time into two entities quite distinct in their economic, political, social and cultural form. Moreover, they add fuel to the debate about secession. As residents of the south-east continue to develop their own identity, the desire for a state of South-East Queensland could at some point become a realistic scenario.

This article examines the lived experience and recent commemorative efforts relating to the experience of displaced prsons who were sent to Queensland in the post-war period. 170,000 displaced persons — predominantly Central and Eastern Europeans — arrived in Australia between 1947 and 1952. They were sent to reception and training centres upon their arrival before commencing a two-year indentured labour contract. Memorialisation of these camps tends to present them as the founding places of the migrant experience in Australia; however, there has been very little historical work on displaced persons in Queensland, or on the Queensland migrant camps — Wacol, Enoggera, Stuart and Cairns. This article focuses on recent commemorative attempts surrounding the Stuart migrant camp in order to argue that, in relation to displaced persons, family and community memories drive commemorative activities.

Queensland's 2017 state election resulted in Annastacia Palaszczuk's Labor government being returned with a slim majority. While not a resounding victory, the result seemingly vindicated the premier's decision to head to an early election, and reinforced her standing in a succession of opinion polls as ‘preferred premier’ for most voters. The result also halted the short sequence of Queensland governments being voted out of office in no uncertain terms by a supposedly volatile electorate. The extent to which Labor's recent electoral success in Queensland — and the quelling of that volatility — can be attributed to Palaszczuk's leadership is still open to debate. It is instructive, though, to note the differences in leadership and campaigning styles between Palaszczuk and her opponents, which saw her drag a decimated Labor Party back to office after a single term in opposition, then saw it returned with a working parliamentary majority. This article highlights those differences over the last term of government, contrasting the performance of the two major parties in Queensland in terms of their leadership and election campaign approaches. The analysis helps to explain some of the reasons for the respective parties’ recent electoral showings.

One response to the development of tourism in small inland Queensland towns has been to collect heritage machinery from the surrounding countryside and display it in town as an attraction for visitors. These sites range from open-air collections of miscellaneous i3tems with no explanation of their use to both private and local government museums that are given varying levels of care and interpretation. The small north-western Queensland town of Croydon has a collection of heritage machinery in a number of sites, which range across this continuum. This article explores the potential of the collection to interpret the town’s history and the history of early gold mining, as a case study with application to other such collections.

The Queensland Historical Atlas (2010) takes a fresh approach to the atlas form by interpreting Queensland landscapes as lived, embodied and practised. As a project conceived in partnership with Queensland Museum, the Atlas brings this approach directly into museum practice. This article outlines some of the challenges of the conventional atlas form, and examines how the Queensland Historical Atlas has embraced opportunities to reinvigorate the form, including the adoption of new technology and developing new affective interpretation frameworks. Significantly, the Atlas places material culture, including historical maps, at the centre of interpretation of Queensland landscapes. Although the Atlas is not an exhibition, it creates ready-made modules available for exhibition interpretation. Each of these reflects on how Queensland is shaped by its landscapes and how, in turn, museum collections can capture the diverse landscapes of Queensland and the people who create those landscapes. As an electronic resource, the Atlas becomes a way of reconnecting cultural history and landscapes with museum collections.

Election campaigns see a travelling press pack assembled to follow the party leader for the duration of the campaign, often to mystery locations. This ensures the press pack is conveniently ushered around to many picture opportunities where politicians can be observed in an organised and risk-free environment. Over time, reporting on major political events such as elections has changed as political parties stack their communications teams with professional ‘spinners’. This article looks at the campaigns of Labor, the LNP, Pauline Hanson's One Nation and The Greens during the lead-up to the 2017 Queensland election, as well as assessing the impact of social media on the campaign.

This article outlines the methodology and key findings of a media content analysis of news reporting in the Courier-Mail and Queensland Country Life on the issue of broad-scale land-clearing (BSLC) in Queensland during the period 1998–2006. The case study identifies and examines evidence-based arguments made by stakeholders in the public policy debate surrounding BSLC, including elected officials and judges, interest groups, government agencies, scientists, business owners and individuals, such as academics. In both newspapers, it was noted that throughout the period under review, arguments made on environmental grounds in favour of the policy goal of maximum immediate conservation tended to be concerned with establishing an accurate definition of the BSLC problem. However, reporting of arguments made on political and economic grounds reflected stark differences between the two newspapers. The findings of this study support observations that some participants in a contest over new policy may dispute (persistently, and regardless of previous developments) the validity of: (1) definitions of a problem; (2) proposed policy solutions; (3) matters of detail or technical application; and (4) the enactment and implementation of legislation.

Old Government House (OGH) is one of Queensland’s premier heritage buildings, and is located within the Gardens Point campus of Queensland University of Technology (QUT). This 156-year-old building, now a house museum, offers a tangible link to Queensland’s early colonial life. The museum strives to present the stories of all who lived and worked here. Children generally do not visit historic houses willingly, and to address this OGH collaborated with Imaginary Theatre to develop an innovative and fun way to interpret and present the historical significance of the House to a younger audience. The result was a one-hour site-specific theatre performance, The Voice in the Walls — part game, part audio tour, part theatre. The key objective of the project was to create a visitor experience that captured the attention of nine- to twelve-year-olds by encouraging them to imagine an unfamiliar world and time while also conveying historical information. This article discusses the background to the development of the project, and its evolution from inspiration to practical reality.

Family and local community historians have always made use of criminal justice records. Increasingly available as digital files, these documents are accessible to anyone with access to an internet-linked computer or even smartphone. In many cases, the fragmented nature of these records means their richness remains a potential rather than reality. The Prosecution Project1 links these records as a large-scale Australian exercise in unlocking the criminal justice records of all the states. We seek to digitise and eventually make publicly accessible the records of the criminal courts, documenting not only the names of the accused but of magistrates, judges, lawyers, police and victims and other witnesses. The project is a significant collaboration between university researchers and a large and growing community of volunteers. This paper outlines what the project is doing, how we are doing it and illustrates its potential use for family and local historians interested in Australia's past.

Varying models of community engagement provide methods for museums to build valuable relationships with communities. These relationships hold the potential to become ongoing, dynamic opportunities for active community participation and engagement with museums. Nevertheless, the nuances of this engagement continue to remain a unique process that requires delicate balancing of museum obligations and community needs in order to ensure meaningful outcomes are achieved. This article discusses how community engagement can be an active, participatory process for visitors to museums. Research projects that utilise aspects of community-driven engagement models allow museums to encourage a sense of ownership and active participation with the museum. Indeed museums can balance obligations of education and representation of the past with long-term, meaningful community needs via projects that utilise aspects of community-driven engagement models. Using an oral history project at Historic Ormiston House as a case study,1 the article argues that museums and historic sites can encourage ongoing engagement through active community participation in museum projects. While this approach carries both challenges and opportunities for the museum, it opens doors to meaningful and long-term community engagement, allowing visitors to embrace the museum and its stories as active participants rather than as passive consumers.

During its 125-year history, the South Brisbane Municipal Chambers (Old Town Hall) has had numerous custodians and functions. Designed as a prominent landmark directly across the Brisbane River from the Queensland Parliament building, its ornate architectural features make it a unique example of late colonial extravagance. With the absorption of the City of South Brisbane into the greater Brisbane City Council in 1925, the building lost its original purpose, but was subsequently deployed in various ways. After serving as a Council Works Depot, it became the headquarters of the US armed forces Military Police during World War II, and was then converted into post-war residential flats for government engineers and architects. Since the late 1950s, ‘The Chambers’ has been an educational and cultural centre, initially as the first campus of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, then as a centre for adult learning, and finally now in its completely refurbished form as part of the girls’ school Somerville House. This ‘building biography’ traces the various phases of this iconic landmark from the viewpoint of those who worked, lived or studied there, and also provides insights into its social context within the South Brisbane community.