Mister Brisbane: The trolley test
Eyesores, islands, airwaves and Eric Idle
I went to buy groceries recently and I had to dodge a stray shopping trolley left in the middle of the car park at my local supermarket. The experience led me to recall the “shopping trolley test”, which somebody who was in the car park before me had just failed.
Basically, the test is whether you return your shopping trolley to the store, or to one of the designated bays, or do you just leave it where it is once you’ve put the groceries in your car? It is, apparently, a way to distinguish a “good person”. Why does returning a trolley make you good? Because it measures your willingness to do something that is right. Returning the trolley costs you nothing but your time, but has absolutely no benefit for you. Too often, we only do good because it has a tangible reward. In this case, there is none — except, perhaps, a warm and fuzzy feeling. Or, now that you know about the test, it may give you reason to feel smug and superior.
On my recent trip, I not only took my own trolley back, I returned the previously abandoned-by-somebody-else trolley as well. Does that make me twice as good?
Tune in to the Mister Brisbane radio show on Reading Radio at 1296AM and on DAB+ in Brisbane at 6.30pm on Tuesday nights. It’s also available as a podcast. Just search for “Mister Brisbane” on your favourite player or follow this link.
STREET SCENE
Another house is being slowly demolished in the street where I grew up. It’s not a beautiful house, but it is representative of how the suburb used to be. One by one, the weatherboard, chamferboard and fibro houses are being removed to make way for more modern designs. To me, the new places all look the same — and they are much, much closer together than houses used to be, taking up most of the small blocks on which they sit. They have little or no yard, and they just blend into each other.
It’s the same story in the streets nearby. Soon the whole suburb will be “renewed”. The Housing Commission homes, the Queenslanders, the red-brick boxes are disappearing, and it’s not going to stop.
ISLAND TIME
A quick quiz. How many islands are there in Brisbane? The answer is four: Moreton Island, Green Island, Mud Island and St Helena Island. By “Brisbane”, of course, I meant those under the jurisdiction of Brisbane City Council. There is also Bulwer Island, which isn’t an island, and Cribb Island, which was abandoned to make way for the expansion of Brisbane Airport. And Fisherman Island, or Fisherman Islands as it used to be, which is home to the Port of Brisbane; and Ransome Reserve, which comprises two unnamed islands.
Other islands you may associate with Brisbane — North Stradbroke (Minjerribah), Russell, Peel, Macleay (and Perulpa), Lamb, Coochiemudlo and Karragarra — are in the Redlands. And they are just the inhabited ones. Goat, Cassim, Snipe, Garden, Pannikin, Long, Lagoon and Redbill islands have no permanent residents. Also uninhabited are Cobby Cobby, Coomera, Crusoe, Eden Kangaroo (Boonnahbah), Mosquito, Short, Rat, Woogoompah and Tabby Tabby islands. And then there is King Island, which is connected to Wellington Point at low tide.
South Stradbroke belongs to the Gold Coast, along with Hope Island and a bunch of others that I’m not going to name here.
Where is this all going, you ask? Nowhere. I just think it’s interesting. And I’m keen to hear any stories you may have about island life.
4KQ MEMORIES
I have a few memories of Radio 4KQ from when I was young. One was that it was the “Labor Party station”, another was that it briefly had a country-music format, a third is that (I think) Ian Skippen (later of B105 fame) worked there at some stage, and the final one is that its studios at Breakfast Creek were swamped by the 1974 floods. When I think of 4KQ now, I think of Laurel Edwards and her remarkable 30-plus-year run as breakfast host (and her co-host Gary Clare, who started out as the producer, isn’t far behind), and of the radio legend who is John Knox, the station’s long-time newsreader. I also think of Brent James, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and has curated many collections of hits from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
The Wikipedia entry for the station isn’t very enlightening, and is well out of date (at the time of writing it doesn’t even note that 4KQ and its half-sister station 97.3FM have moved premises from Stones Corner to Milton). However, it and other online sources confirm that the station was started by the Labor Party and first broadcast in 1947. The K in KQ apparently represents Labor — I don’t know why that is — and the Q is, of course, for Queensland. After a few changes of ownership, it is now part of the Australian Radio Network, and plays a “pure gold” classic-hits format. Does anybody have fond memories of 4KQ that they’d like to share?
ENDORSED BY ERIC?
Among many other memorable roles, Eric Idle played Mr Cheeky in Monty Python’s Life of Brian. But maybe it’s me being cheeky on this occasion by pointing out that the great man retweeted this plug for the Mister Brisbane podcast.
FEEDBACK
Tracy from the UK has this to say about my upcoming cruising adventures: “I would love to cruise again — hygiene always taken seriously pre-Covid. What would stop me is the idea of social distancing and mask wearing on board - that’s not a holiday - that’s life at home!”
On the same subject, Dan says: “I loved it when I did it a few years ago but I need to work out how to offset the environmental damage that’s done on my behalf.” Rod says: “A perfect holiday for some - and bon voyage to them. But I would rather stab myself in the eye with a blunt spoon for eight days.” Graeme says: “I can’t wait to be back onboard.” Robert says: “I’d love to go on another one. .but too risky I reckon!”