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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Andrew Messenger

Behind the scenes of Brisbane’s 2032 Olympics, a 19th-century story of politics and gay love

Composite image of John Bramston and Robert Herbert
John Bramston, left, and Robert Herbert shared a house whose name became that of a Brisbane suburb. Some historians believe they were in a gay relationship. Composite: State Library of Queensland

Today the story would be unremarkable: two gay men, migrants from England, give their Queensland home a portmanteau of their last names.

But in 1859, these two men, Robert Herbert and John Bramston, were the new state’s first premier (then called colonial secretary) and one of his attorneys general.

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