1824 First European child born in Moreton Bay colony at Red Cliffe Point; named Amity Moreton Thompson.

14-year-old Henry Miller, son of first Moreton Bay commandant, begins work in new colony as junior government clerk.

1826 First school in Moreton Bay colony opens in commissariat store's boat shed, right, on Brisbane River; initiative of storekeeper's wife Esther Roberts.

1831 Children of soldiers and convict women in Moreton Bay total 43; right, convict women's factory.

1863 Despite sectarian differences and parochialism, governor George Bowen opens Ipswich Grammar School, below, Qld's first greater public school; aims to prepare pupils for university, public service, professional and mercantile life; scholarship system for "boys of talent and perseverance whose parents may be of limited circumstances".

1865 Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act authorises removal of destitute and Aboriginal children.

1869 Qld introduces free education; first for Australia.

1872 First state scholarship exam (to 1962).

1875 Dept of Public Instruction established to oversee free and secular education (known as Dept of Education after 1957).