The history of the Society extends back to the founding of the Brisbane Freethought Association in 1884, which reformed as the Freethought Literary & Debating Society in 1886. The history did not really formalise until the establishment of the Queensland Rationalist Press Association in 1909, with Samuel Wood Brooks as the Secretary, and George Fox as the Convenor. Like the freethinkers, there was a reformation only several years later, with the Queensland Rationalist and Ethical Society, established in 1914, with a new convenor. The first President was Heber Longman. The name was then abbreviated to the merely the ‘Rationalist’ label after Brooks had extended it from the Press name – perhaps those more into ethical thought and practice (e.g. in the tradition of South Place Ethical Society) were marginalised, this is only speculation (for further research, see comments in ‘Impact’).

Geographic Description 1: Inside The Green Belt

Geographic Description 2: Brisbane River

Geographic Description 3: Flood Plains (Major); High River Banks (still floods); Ridgeline (Slopes off Wickham Tce)

Citations

Ray Dahliitz. Secular Who’s Who; Rosslyn Ives. Expanded version of a contribution given at the ‘Secularism in the Modern World’ conference, held in Melbourne on 31 October, 2015. [https://humanist.org.au/AusHumMag]

Dahlitz, Ray. Secular Who’s Who: a Biographical Directory of Freethinkers, Secularists, Rationalists, Humanists and Others involved in Australia’s Secular Movement from 1850 onwards, R. Dahlitz, Balwyn, Vic, 1994.

Further research is underway.

Image Citations

EVOLUTION A FACT. DR. DUHIG’S SURVEY. Other Theories Capricious. MELBOURNE, January 20. Queensland Times, Monday 21 January 1935, p. 7. NLA Trove