Welcome to the Teneriffe Wool Store Walk: Presenting Industrial Heritage. This walk follows three streets in the Brisbane suburb of Teneriffe, discussing the area's wool store buildings and how their heritage is preserved and displayed.

Teneriffe and surrounding suburbs were originally inhabited by the Turrbal people, who were largely driven out by white settlers by the early 1800s[1]. The settler population grew but the region became predominantly industrial near the end of the century, when the dredging of the Brisbane river and construction of new wharves made it attractive to businesses supplying commodities like gas, sugar, timber, coal and wool.

At this time wool was big business in Australia. The first merino sheep were brought to the country in 1797[2], and by the 1840s wool was the "backbone of the national economy" according to farmer and researcher Dr. Charles Massy[3]. The first wool store was built in 1906 by Frederick Gonnarman Dalgety, who also built the first wharf specifically for wool exporting in 1907[4]. The new possibilities afforded by deep river wharfage and new rail facilities meant that by the 1910s and 1920s Teneriffe had become Brisbane's main wool precinct[5]. By 1930, the industry was responsible for half of Queensland's exports and Teneriffe was a major Queensland economic region[6]. By the 1950s there were as many as thirteen woolstores[7].

References

[1] V. Bridgstock, Tides of Teneriffe, New Farm & Districts Historical Society Inc., Brisbane, 2009, p. 6.

[2] L. Tomlinson, 'The Wool Industry in QLD', New Farm and Districts Historical Society [website], 1 July 2010, para. 2, <https://newfarmhistorical.org.au/the-wool-industry-in-qld> , accessed 18 May 2018.

[3] R. Fitzgerald, 'How an industry got fleeced', The Australian, Books, 27 August 2011, para. 3, <https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/books/how-an-industry-got-fleeced/news-story/529981df29056081b19524bfecdfa119?sv=8de8edffe38662b2ab6558bfffbd30a9>, accessed 18 May 2018.

[4] V. Bridgstock, Tides of Teneriffe, New Farm & Districts Historical Society Inc., Brisbane, 2009, p. 17.

[5] Queensland Government, 'Teneriffe Village (former Paddys Market)', Queensland Heritage Register [website], 20 January 2016, <https://environment.ehp.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=600324>, accessed 18 May 2018.

[6] V. Bridgstock, Tides of Teneriffe, New Farm & Districts Historical Society Inc., Brisbane, 2009, p. 19.

[7] V. Bridgstock, Tides of Teneriffe, New Farm & Districts Historical Society Inc., Brisbane, 2009, p. 22.