Devils, Designs and Details - The Queensland Government Printing Office

Join us for our next QSA Talk ‘Devils, Designs and Details - Queensland Government Printing Office’ as part of our Printed & Bound exhibition with historian, Matthew Wengert.

The Queensland Government Printing Office was responsible for printing diverse material for Government agencies for over 150 years. From tiny postage stamps to enormous maps, millions of bureaucratic forms to exquisitely bound books and uniquely elaborate items for official occasions, the Printing Office staff could create whatever the State required.

This talk will explore the Devils, Designs, and Details of the Printing Office. Discover the ‘Devils’ - the workers and apprentices who brought these creations to life - and the ‘Designs’ and ‘Details’ that showcase the Printing Office’s artistic and technical achievements.

Matthew Wengert will delve into the 1899 Royal Commission that examined the Printing Office’s operations and workforce, using its published report to reveal insights into the highly specialised staff and their vital role in documenting Queensland’s history.

Can’t make it in person? The presentation will be available on our YouTube channel after the event.

If you’re curious to learn more about the Printing Office, visit Stories from the Archives to learn more about the Devils, Design, and Details from co-authors Matthew Wengert and Louise Martin-Chew. 

About the researcher

Matthew Wengert is an independent curator and historian who has lived in Brisbane since the 1980s. He attained a Master of Arts (Writing, Editing & Publishing) from the University of Queensland in 2014. His main research interests are the violent history of Queensland’s colonial frontier and the medical history of epidemics. Matthew has worked closely with Cherbourg’s Ration Shed Museum for several years as a researcher and manager of Indigenous art projects. He was awarded a Griffith Review Queensland Writing Fellowship in 2017, and the Brisbane City Council’s History Research Award in 2018 and held a John Oxley Fellowship at the State Library of Queensland in 2020-21.