A Continuous Thread

In the 1890s, the Worker (20 February 1897, p.2) described Stanley Street South Brisbane as ‘Syrian town’ due to the increasing presence of Syrians, people from the area now known as Lebanon. Although these immigrants attracted a lot of negative attention and although there has been a continuous Lebanese presence in the South Brisbane, Woolloongabba and West End area since the 1880s, theirs is largely an untold story. By tracing the connecting thread from the undesirable Syrian hawkers and shopkeepers of the nineteenth century through the twentieth century to the present, this website seeks to map a presence often overlooked in official histories, acknowledge the contribution of Lebanese immigrant families and add to the understanding of Brisbane’s diverse history.