In Book 4, Noel Mengel wrote that after the Bee Gees migrated to Australia they lived at Redcliffe. I was always under the impression that they lived at Cribb Island before that. That, if I am right, makes them 'Cribbie Kids', who along with their families and neighbours,were a unique part of Queensland history.

I have no problem with the Bee Gees or their agents conveniently forgetting this, as living at Cribb Island had extremely negative snob value back then. What I object to is the idea that Cribb Island never existed, just because it is not there any more.

Once the decision to reclaim the land for the international airport had been made, no government money was spent on upkeep. The one road to Cribb Island was full of pot holes for all the years of the suburb's slow demise. (The Cribb Island Bus Company should have sued!)

The residents were forced to move. If they happened to own their own house, what they were given came nowhere near the replacement price for a house elsewhere in Brisbane. Many of these people lived there because of the excellent fishing and had simple but comfortable homes. For others Cribb Island was the last resort.

Some people lived on what was known as Jackson's Estate which, I think, grew out of the Depression and whatever was available to put a roof over one's head.

My sister was one of the first Sisters of St Joseph to live outside a convent when they moved to Cribb Island during that time. One of their saddest duties was to help old people who lived quite independently at Cribb Island to move to (the old) Eventide because there was nowhere else for them to go.

Mary Round
Burnett Heads