My Familiar Territory
I spent most of my first eleven and a bit years in rectangle just over three kilometres long and a kilometre wide on the Brisbane River's west bank.
John Oxley called that stretch of the river the 'Long Reach'. To the area's indigenous population it was Maiwar. To me, it was Auchenflower, with bits of Milton, Toowong and Rosalie tacked onto it.
I crossed it on my way to Milton State School or various recreational facilities. Those were, by and large, on the Toowong side. Their Milton equivalents, if they existed, were usually involved a longer walk.
Venturing further afield involved public transport. Sixty years ago, almost nobody my family knew owned a car. Living in Brisbane's inner suburbs, you didn't need to.
