Cairns Historical Society

With the Cairns Regional Council agreeing to fund the position of Museum Manager until 2018, the Society's Management Committee were delighted to announce that Mrs Suzanne Gibson has been appointed as their first paid Manager.  Recently the Society formed a special committee called the Cairns Museum Project Control & Planning Group to manage the new Museum project.  Mrs Tammy Kowitz who has already had discussions with the Council on the museum project is on the committee and they have also been fortunate to have Mr Clive Skarott bringing along his extensive business experience to the Chair of this group.  The Society was also pleased to honour Mr Edward Ward with Life Membership.  Ted is the group's longest serving member having joined the Society more than fifty years ago in 1962 when he was still only a teenager.  This year has brought other changes to the group with the recent 'retirement' from the committee of three of the Society's old stewards, Mr Gil Jennex and Pat and Alan Broughton.  All three has spent between thirty to forty years helping to run the Cairns Historical Society and they have left a wonderful legacy to the Society and to the people of the City of Cairns.  The Society has decided to have its annual Christmas party at the Edge Hill Bowls Club on the 11th December and then to close down the group for several weeks from 19th December through to the 5th January 2015.

Eacham Historical Society

The program put in place to try to involve more members in the activities of the Society by conducing fieldtrips and other fieldwork have seen several remakably successful trips organized to explore the district.  During the tin fields trip, where two dozen members and guests gathered at Herberton and then headed out to the tin fields to explore the old mining towns from Watsonville, through to Stannary Hills and finishing off at Irvinebank.  The trip organizers discovered that many on this outing had never been into the local mining areas before.  So the next field trip went further out into the mining country to where many members had never been.  This outing started out at Dimbulah where the members viewed the remains of the old FHV tobacco factory and then on out to the mining townsites of Mount Mulligan and Thornborough.  The last fieldtrip was much closer to home with nearly thirty members travelling about the country to the east of Malanda from Glen Allyn, where morning tea was had at the Nerada Tea Visitors Centre and then on to the Butchers Creek area before finishing the day at Boonjie.  It is hoped to continue this program of field work in the new year and to include some cemetery restoration work.  The last event for this year will be the annual end-of-year party to be held at the Malanda RSL on the 9th December with the Society closing down the following week until mid January.

Mareeba Historical Society

The Mareeba Historical Society recently held its AGM with Mrs Joan Collins taking on the position of President as well as the group's Editor.  The Treasurer reported that she was somewhat dismayed with the state of the accounts and suggested that a serious effort be made with fundraising to get some money coming into the group's coffers.  Also on financial matters, the Society has received the grant for the World War One photographic displays and is now planning to open the first of four completely different displays early next year.  Conservator Sue is working on showing members how to clean, preserve, conserve and pack away, the hundreds of glass negatives and slides that the Society hold in its collection.  The group's Christmas barbecue is to be held on 13th December at Helen's home in Mareeba as usual.  

Kirrama Timbermen Book

'Timber and Timbermen' is the title of the recently published book from Mr Ed Healy of Wondecla.  The book tells the story of the timber industry and timbermen of Cardwell and the Kirrama Range from the first days of settlement in 1864 up to the introduction of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Listing in 1988.  After a long career in Education, Ed had enrolled in a Graduate Diploma in Advanced Studies in Australian History and the core of his book began with the research and writing of the 'Track to Road' study which dealt with the building of the Kirrama Range Road by the PEI scheme during the 1930's.  Ed had spent much of his childhood on the Kirrama Range and amongst the timbermen of that district and this interest led, later in life, to the realisation that those involved in that industry was 'dying-off' and he set out to do oral interviews with those still living.  It took some twenty years of working off and on to complete this new volume on North Queensland history which was launched at the recent Annual General Meeting of the Cardwell & District Historical Society at the JC Hubinger Museum in Cardwell.  This new book has sufficient detail and statistics to interest the more serious history buff along with plenty of stories and photos from the social history of the people involved to keep those with a more general interest in the local timber industry happy.  Mr Healy has produced a fine study of this subject which is also needed for other areas of the North.  It is a little difficult to obtain a copy of this work as it is only been printed in limited numbers and only when needed which also make it rather expensive but it is a must for anyone interested in our northern history and particularly in the timber industry.  

Cardwell and District Historical Society

The Cardwell historians recently gathered at the JC Hubinger museum for their Annual General Meeting.  I had travelled to Cardwell to attend the book launch which was to be held there and discovered the group were also having their annual meeting, so I decided to sit in and learn how this group were progressing.  Society President, Anne Mealing gave the meeting an excellent run down on the groups' activities over the previous year before going on to a detailed report on the many projects the Society have been involved with over this busy anniversary year.  The 150th anniversary of the founding of the town of Cardwell brought on many commemorative projects, both within the Society and along with many in partnership with other community groups making this one of the most hectic years in their history.  This program began in January with the Landing Day function at which the Society held a Billy Tea & Damper morning tea in the Museum Precinct.  At another function, Premier Campbell Newman presented the 'Lady Bowen' porthole back to Cardwell and the Commemorative Quilt was hung in the Museum after its presentation to the community.  Another project the group has been involved with is the rebuilding of the local landmark, 'Sunbeam House' which was damaged by cyclone Ita.  In May, Colonel John Simeoni official launched their Viscount Edward Cardwell exhibition and at the same event, the Society was pleased to have been able to support Helen Pedley in the launch her book 'Streets by the Sea'.  A successful event was also held for the Wedding Dress Soiree and Exhibition which also entailed a number of Costume workshops for the members.  The Anzac Centenary Commemorative project that the group is now working on is the biggest yet in terms of funding and will result in a new facility for local residents as well as tourists, revealing the detailed histories of each of the numerous people from the district who served in World War One.  This project also has some immediate goals with a special display being mounted around the marble Honour Board for Remembrance Day in November.  After the annual meeting, the launch of Ed Healy's long-awaited book about the huge timber industry conducted in the Kirrama Range area was enjoyed by those in attendance along with a fine afternoon tea.  Unfortunately, the long-awited reopening of the Kirrama Range Road, which the Society has been pushing for, has been delayed yet again but hopefully an December opening can be achieved.  The meeting closed with the president calling for a focus next year on building the Society's membership and volunteer base as age is catching up to the hard workers of the group.

Cape York Goldfields

Local historian John Hay, best known for his many years of work and research on the history of the Palmer River Goldfield, has just released his seventh book.  Entitled 'Cape York Gold; The New Chum', this new publication concerns the gold fields of the Cape York Peninsula and is based on the life story of the later-day miner, David Cragg who arrived on the Cape in 1938 to manage the mines of his father's company.  The Nesbit River gold reefs were situated in rough and isolated rainforest covered hills where nothing resembling a road existed.  It took great courage for this middle-aged man from Sydney to come in and replace his older brother who had been beaten by the hardships.  It is almost heart-breaking to read this story of commitment and exhausting hard work which put David into an early grave some three thousand kilometres from his home.  The book also tells the story of the author's interest in these brave gold miners and the rediscovery of the area's heritage.  John has also interwoven into the story the details of the Cape York's history from the early explorers to the original prospectors and miners.  This book is a grand addition to the poorly recorded history of these small goldfields.

Day at the Museum

The long awaited day had arrived.  The new Australian Armour and Artillery Museum in Cairns was having its Opening Day event and I was heading down to check it out.  I have always had some interest in military history, particularly that which involve North Queensland and my own family.  The fact that someone was building a big military museum at Caravonica to house the largest collection of armoured vihicles and artillery pieces in the Southern Hemisphere had come as a bit of a surprise.  For many months I had been following, on their Facebook page, the development of the buildings and the collection and could hardly believe the extent and importance of the pieces that were to be put on display.  So it was with some excitement that I drove down to Cairns to spend a day at the new museum.

A bit of a surprise

The first sight of this new museum complex showed that these folk were damn serious about their passion for military history and were here to stay.  Although I had arrived at about 10.00am, the car park was already full and I had to park my car over in the Tjapukai Cultural Park and walk across to the museum.  Along the front of the building there were a number of stalls giving the event a bit of a festive look.  The Australian Military Forces had set up a recruitment display and the local military vehicle enthusiasts had brought in some of their jeeps and there were also some food stalls.  I walked up the steps and found a queue from the counter back out to the front doors.  It took a little while to get my ticket and as I entered I was surprised by what appeared to be a German SS Officer in full dress uniform walking pass carrying a maschinepistole sub-machine gun.  Yes, it looked like some members of the Townsville based North Queensland Historical Re-enactment Society had come up to join in the opening celebrations.  I strolled past the World War Two Japanese soldier in combat dress and entered the collection.  Oh Wow!

Part of the collection

The huge building was made up of two display areas with the larger front shed been filled with the artillery pieces and the more historic tanks.  I wandered about the dozens of old cannons, reading the excellently presented information panels which gave a good run down of the history and statistics of each piece.  I must admit that my favorite was the fine specimen of the infamous German 88 millimetre gun.  At the end of the building was probably the most important piece in the armored collection, a fine example of an Australian Sentinel tank.  One of only four left in existence from only fifty-six that were ever built.  It looked like it would have been the equal to any medium tank that was been built at that time.  Oh what could have been!  Soon after my encounter with the Sentinel, a rumble from my stomach told me that it was well past lunch time and as the entry ticket acted as an all day pass, I wandered outside to one of the food stalls.  A small eatery inside the complex might be something for the future, maybe combined in with the front counter.

Returning to the collection after I had satisfied my hunger, I found an old friend viewing the guns, Stephen Fowler.  Steve is the Officer in charge of one of the local Air Cadets units and is also the president of the Cairns Historical Society and a prominent local military history enthusiast.  He had been invited to the Official Opening held the previous evening and he gave me a rundown on the event.  He also pointed out that beneath the floor of the main building was a room with a fifty metre long shooting range and out the back of the museum was a large workshop where the vehicles could be serviced and maintained.  After chatting with Steve, I wandered over to the smaller wing of the complex where some of the more modern military vehicles were on display.  As I finished up my visit, I realized I had spent four hours at the museum, so I certainly got my money worth.  I think this centre, along with Beck's military museum and the War Birds aviation museum at Mareeba and a possible military museum at the old Rocky Creek igloo will create a wonderful circuit for those interested in our military heritage.  Mr Rob Lowden and his team have certainly put together something special here and I wish them well for the future.  

The new museum complex