Redcliffe, the home of the Bee Gees.

Before I share this little gem with you, let’s create the right mood as we really need some background music to make this page come alive.

Please right-click the link below and open it in a separate window. Watch it for 20 seconds and then come back here again. Play it softly in the background. (depending on your browser you may have you may have to turn back to the music page at the end of the song to keep it going)

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=st aying+alive+beegees&view=detail& ;&mid=371D63559F316BE1BBB8371D63559 F316BE1BBB8

Around 28 km north of Brisbane, (68 km from home) along the coast, is the pretty town of Redcliffe which sits on the edge of a kind of Peninsula and is reached from the south via a 2.7 km bridge which, incidentally, happens to be Australia’s longest bridge.

On the other side of the bridge the road hugs the coast and overlooks beautiful Moreton Bay. Visible in the distance, facing east is "Moreton Bay Island" and facing south to the right, Brisbane airport lies in the far distance. Along the beach, seagulls dance in the wind looking down on the rocks in search of food.

About 5 km after leaving the bridge we arrived in the town of Redcliffe which has a beautiful foreshore with a nice pier and some narrow beaches

A bit further down the road we passed an attractive lagoon where children play in the large pools. Parents were preparing lunch at one of several barbeques along the edge of the lagoon.

The land along the foreshore is taken up by the red coloured cliffs. It is a pleasant place to visit especially on a Sunday when the open air markets operate along “Redcliffe Parade”, the road which overlooks the sea on your right. It is a nice area to relax with a coffee which can be enjoyed in one of the many coffee shops or restaurants overlooking the beach and the pier. All in all, a nice place to visit for those reasons alone but also for something else - its musical history!

Not many people know that Redcliffe is the birthplace of the Bee Gees. Close to the pier you can find a street called “Bee Gees Way” where the history of the Bee Gees is portrayed by means of photographs, music, videos and a few statues and other sculptures. This street has only recently opened. Unfortunately you can’t “walk through” via Google Earth “street level” yet as the pictures on G E still show the street under construction with the boards up at the beginning of the street.

A physical walk through “Bee Gees Way” follows the life of the Bee Gees.

The Gibbs family lived in Manchester, England. In 1955 the Gibbs kids (Barry, Maurice and Robin) started to sing together with two other kids from next door (Paula Frost and Kenny Horrocks) they were all between 7 and 10 years old at the time and formed a group called “The Rattlesnakes”.

In 1958 the family emigrated to Australia and settled in Redcliffe and called it home for a period.

The brothers continued singing together in Australia. Their breakthrough came when they were asked to perform during the Redcliffe speedway races in 1959 at the track located at the show grounds. This was the first time they performed in public.

In a letter to the Redcliffe Museum in 1999, Barry Gibb wrote:

"The smell of the oil, the noise and the atmosphere was incredible. This was the first public appearance Robin, Maurice and I ever made in Australia. We sang through the PA system and people threw money onto the track, and we met Brisbane's leading DJ and racing car driver Bill Gates, who suggested we call ourselves the BG's and even played our songs on his radio show, "Swinging' Gates' Platter Chatter". Hence Redcliffe became the birthplace of the Bee Gees."

In 1967 the family returned to the UK. They have sold a total of 220 million records.

Redcliffe Qld… another great place to visit.