How Brisbane celebrated Christmas through the years

“The streets were thronged with a happy crowd of pleasure-seekers sauntering past the long lines of brilliantly-dressed windows, whiling away the time with mirth and banter,” the report continued.

Those early Brisbane city years were full of late hours, with shops staying open well into the night for crowds of people buying their presents and their Christmas feasts – one report noting the “sleepy poultry and wakeful ducks” awaiting their fate on Valley footpaths.

Country people came in on Christmas Eve, filling buses, trams and the city centre with foot traffic, enjoying the window displays of decorations and…