North Qld Mining History Assoc

The recent meeting of the local Mining History Association saw a rather disappointing turn out of members.  It was reported to the meeting that the historian Felicity Jack has begun recording the life story of the northern mining entrepreneur Mr Donald Walker.  The tale of Don's mining adventures should make a great addition to the recorded history of the north's more recent mining story.  Ivan Searston then gave a very interesting talk on the research into the very early tin mills about Herberton, in particularly the Monarch battery and the Herberton Tin Crushing & Smelting Company's plant.  As these enterprises were set up by mining people from Tasmania, it was interesting to learn of the importance of their attempts to use water power to run these mills of those early days.  It was also reported that the folk living at Milkmans Flats on the North Palmer River must vacate the mining lease they are on and there is some concern about the collection of artifacts in their small museum.  The meeting closed after a short discussion on a proposed geologic time-line walk project that is planed for the mining centre.  The next meeting of the Association will be held at the Herberton Mining Centre in November.  

Mulgrave Shire Historical Society

Thanks to the Queensland Government and the Cairns Regional Council, the Society was able to obtain a RADF grant to restore research material from the Meringa Sugar Experiment Station which was donated to the Society by SRA.  These seven cases of items show aspects of Dr Jarvis' research at the Station between 1919 and 1933 and contain insect varieties, drawing and photographs used to inform cane farmers about the different pests that might affect their crops.  This year's tea cosies competition was well supported and was open to the public for viewing at the 'Rambler Station' opposite the Mulgrave Settlers Museum.  The Society along with the assistance from the history students from the local High School, will present a 'Ghosts of Gordonvale Cemetery' evening.  Those interested in attending are asked to gather in the cemetery shelter shed at 3.45pm on Sunday 4 September.  There is no charge but a small donation would be appreciated and please contact the group of your intention to attend.

Forgotten Rail Bridge

The impetus for this little adventure came from the many car trips that the members of our intrepid trio had made between Malanda and Millaa Millaa over the years.  A casual glance out across the green pastures while driving along many parts of this road brings into view the faint remnant of the old railway that once wound its way through the hills on its way out to Millaa Millaa.  This last section of the Johnston River Railway was built from Tarzali to Millaa Millaa just after the First World War and opened in 1921.  It served the people of the district for more than forty years until it was closed down and torn up in 1964.  Some fifty years after this line was shut, much of the once extensive network of railways of the region are now gone and has become just a fading memory of the local old-timers who themselves are beginning to fade away.  This lost rail network has always attracted our interest and some startling news about this line drew our attention back to it.  It appears an old wooden bridge still stands intact.

The old bridge

The information on the railway bridge came from the land owner who also had an interest in the local history of the area and he was willing to show us the site.  So on a Sunday afternoon, a half-dozen local history buffs gathered at his farm to explore the Mindun section of the old Millaa Millaa railway.  We began the day with Ray giving us a run down on his farming enterprise which has grown from the original family farm into one of the largest dairy operations on the Tablelands and he showed us some concrete foundations of a small dairy that he had recently found that predated even his family's generations long association with that property.  Then we drove across to the other side of the main highway and parked on what was once the site of the Minbun railway station.  At this site there once operated a small timber mill and on the hill overlooking the community was the site of a little school which could still be identified by the grove of old pine trees that had been planted behind the school buildings.  Nothing remains now of this little village but some fading cuttings in the earth.

Minbun Falls

We then followed the foundations of the railway a little way from the station site into a thick grove of thorny Coral trees and there before us, hidden by the trees, were the remains of an old wooden railway bridge.  To get a better view, we climbed down below the bridge and to our amazement we found most of the timbers still in place although some had rotted out and were beginning to fall.  This had been one of the longest bridges on the line and had somehow been forgotten over the years.  The Coral trees had grown up around and even through the timbers to hide the bridge from view, even from the traffic driving pass on the nearby main road.  We moved to the other end of the bridge and found some of the small copper protection plates were still attached to the ends of a few of the timbers.  And on top, many of the old timber transoms that once held the steel rails were still in place, although rot was slowly eating them away.

As a history enthusiast, I was delighted to find this artifact of our past age of railways still intact.  Although I am not sure how many more years it will remain before time brings it down.  To finish the day off, our party climbed down along the creek to just down-stream from the old bridge to view another forgotten landmark, the little water fall that was once known as Jackson's Falls, named after the Jackson family who had help pioneer this property.  This was once the swimming hole and picnic spot for the local residents of Mindun but it too has been long forgotten.  In a twist to this story, I found myself sitting opposite the elderly Mr George Jackson at a recent historical society dinner.  He knew about the bridge and had spent much time at the falls when a young lad and he was pleased to learn that the old Minbun railway bridge was still safe.  I wonder how many more artifacts of this railway was still out there to be found.

Old Minbun village site                                 The bridge in the old days

Eacham Historical Society

With the start of this new year, it was realized that the Eacham Historical Society was fast approaching its 40th anniversary.  At the March meeting, it was decided to celebrate this special occasion by organizing a small event at the museum in Millaa Millaa.  Even the weather came good on the Sunday chosen for the gathering with more that fifty members and guests attending the morning tea on the footpath in front of the museum.  Two of the founding members were present and they spoke of the struggles that the first members had in establishing the Society during the early years.  An anniversary cake was cut and the museum team showed everyone through the collection.  A brief history of the society to date was put together and published.  It was also reported that the recent field trip to explore the heritage sites about the Wondecla area was a great success with fifteen members attending and enjoying the outing.  Petrina reported that her small equipment grant application had been successful and will be used to purchase office equipment etc needed about the history centre and the museum.  The members who volunteer at the Society's museum at Millaa Millaa have reported an increase in vistors coming through the doors and that they are now busy getting ready for the approaching tourist season.  The next meeting, which is to be held in late June will be the Annual General Meeting which had been postponed from the May meeting as the annual financial report had not yet come in from the accountant.

Heritage North

The recent meeting of the Heritage North Association which was held at Millaa Millaa turned out to be a quite a disappointing affair with just three member groups sending delegates.  With such a poor attendance, it was questioned if the group's activities should be discontinued and it was decided to bring this issue up at the Annual General Meeting at the end of the year.  The meeting continued with several Societies reporting dissatisfaction with the information written for their group's entry in the proposed promotional brochure.  It was not understood where the information was obtained and many mistakes needed to be corrected.  A discussion was held on problems concerning a failed grant application by the Innisfail Society and on the recent successful grant application by the Eacham Society.  The ongoing problem of attracting new and active members to the local historical societies was also discussed with many of the ideas on this issue having the basic problem of finding the volunteers within those groups to implement any plans.  The possibility of a shared field trip to visit the sites of all the closed sugar mills was brought up and tentative plans for the tour were made for about August or September.  Eacham is to contact the Mulgrave and Innisfail societies with details closer to the trip date.  The next meeting is to be held in Gordonvale in late August.

Innisfail & District Historical Society

The Innisfail Society has brought forth its new Quarterly E-newsletter entitled 'Innisfail Inklings' and I wish them well with it.  They have reported that as the South Johnstone Sugarmill, Post Office, State School and Police Station are all celebrating their centenary this June, the Society has prepared a 'Memories' booklet of photos and local history to commemorate the occasion.  It had taken near six months of hard work but it made it to the printers.  The group had also planed the repeat of the 'Spirits of South Johnstone' town walk for Friday evening of 24 June by the special request from some of the local town's folk.  The Society has also had a couple of schools come in to visit the museum over the past couple of months and the youngsters were highly amused (or horrified) at the new outdoor dunny display and at the thought of how such a toilet was run.  The Feast of the Senses Market Day was held again in March and the Society had the museum open and a bookstall out the front and as it was the Tenth anniversary of Cyclone Larry, they had a display of cyclone photos in the museum windows.  And recently the Innisfail Library put on a display for Heritage Week which featured the history of the Railway.  Society volunteer Gloria Ballington was one of the speaker on their opening day and her talk was warmly received.

Tableland Heritage Network

Fifteen volunteers from some eight different museums and heritage groups travelled from across the tablelands to attend the recent Tableland Heritage Network (THeN) meeting.  This second meeting for the year was held at the Mareeba Heritage Centre with that organization acting as host for the day.  The meeting opened with a workshop conducted by the region's Museum Development Officer, Dr Jo Wills which centred on the correct handling of artifacts within the museum and how best to secure a index label on each object.  After morning tea and reports from the different member groups, the delegates made a tour of the newly renovated Jamieson House where the Centre's plans for this development was explained.  The next THeN meeting will be held at Ravenshoe in late October.