Founded in 1901 by Irish immigrants Francis McDonnell and Hubert East, “Mac & East” was a large department store in Brisbane which had started business as a drapers. This building was known as the White Store and you can still see in ornamental relief lettering between the first and second storey windows the various departments of the store; “Crockery, Furniture, Bedding, Drapers, Outfitters, Tailors, Importers, Mercers, Dressmakers, Milliners.”
A timber jetty erected at the mouth of Cabbage Tree Creek c.1880, the Corporation Jetty fell into disrepair and was replaced in 1923. The jetty was for the use of boat owners, fishermen and others frequenting the creek area. Most of the early jetty has disappeared but several concrete blocks remain at the land end. The jetty is known to local residents as Baxter’s Jetty, an association with the Baxter family who settled in the area in the 1860s. John Thomas Baxter purchased lots near the mouth of Cabbage Tree Creek and Jetty Street. He built a cafe with two distinctive gables and operated as a seafood supplier from 1861 trading as “Baxter’s Oyster Saloon”. John Baxter was found drowned near the jetty in 1897.
