Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

THE last person on top of the dome perched on Brisbane's City Hall clock tower before the scaffolding came down says his family has a difficult timt: getting him into an aircraft. "They really have to do a bit of talking to get me into a plane." Mr Jack Foster, 76, of Dorrington, said yesterday. But no such fear of heights existed in his younger days, when he worked as a plumber in the 1920s in Brisbane. "We used to be pulled up and down buildings on a bosun's chair to install cast iron sewer– age pipes," Mr Foster said. "A bosun's chair is a board with a rqpe at each end and three pulleys. I've been up and down buildings like Rothwell's and Finney Isles when I was working for my father." Mr Foster and his broth , Tom workco on construction the City Hall about I 92S.Their father, Thon as, was a plumb– ing contractor in a family busi– ness called T. Foster and Si>ns. Jack's nephew, Russ, <, f Kingston, found some photo• graphs of the Fosters on City Hall when he was sorting through a box of old family pic– tures. Jack Foster said he would have been 18 and his brother 20· when they decided to climb on to the dome. "We were workinR on the Jack's job at the top building when we realised the scaffolding was about to come down," Mr Foster said. "We decided to climb up the scaffolding around the tower to the dome on top for a bit of a look. . "Tom wanted to climb inside the ball but I wouldn't let him because the thing wasn't even tightened down properly." Mr Foster said they carried a camera up to the top of the do e and photographed each other and surrounding areas. "And the photographs didn't come out too badly considering the quality of cameras about 60 years ago," he said. Th~ Fosters came to Austra– lia in 1912 from England. Thom:is picked up his trade as a pl umber in the streets of Liverpool. THE new: Tbe old Taxadoa Bulldln11 stands out In a rlsln11 City skyline. The Brisbane RIYer has alm~t disappeared. LEFT: The old - looking south towards Woolloon- 11abba from tbe City Hall tower. Main featurH an the old Taxation Build· tn11, old CIB beadquarter~ and the Lands Admlnls• tratlon Bulldln11. . •·