Cairns and District Chinese Association

The Heritage Co-ordinator for the Cairns Chinese Association, Mrs Mary Low reported that 2014 had been a year of steady progress in terms of their heritage and collection management goals.  Various tasks undertaken included museum database entry, library resource management and cataloguing the Cairns Chinatown collection, as well as researching and conserving objects and photos.  Members of the Heritage section took the opportunity to participate in a number of training workshops during the year including a Social Media workshop conducted by the State Library of Queensland and then five members participated in an ABC Open photographic and video editing workshop.  This resulted in the production of video stories about five objects from the Lit Sung Goong collection which can now be viewed on the Association's website.  The Chinatown Oral History Research is the group's current major research project with three interviews already completed.  A RADF grant was used to engage consultant Jan Cattoni to assist and train the group in interview techniques and recording skills.  The Association was also pleased to have acquired the collection of the late Kevin Wong Hoy.  Kevin's family donated the collection which included eighty-six books relating to Chinese-Australian history and culture.  A number of community engagements have proved very successful during the year and the Heritage Group's main aspiration is still to be able to exhibit and provide a permanent home for the collections that are now being developed.  The group would like to see the Cultural Centre Project at the top of the Assosciation's agenda in this coming year.

Heritage North

The last meeting of the Heritage North Association for the year included the Annual General Meeting for 2014 and saw a number of alterations to the committee.  Mr Travis Teske of the Mulgrave Historical Society took over as President for the coming year with Mrs Cheryl Belbin taking on the position of Secretary.  Mrs Suzanne Gibson was thanked for her efforts over the years as Secretary and it was decided to present Mr Gil Jennex with a certificate to acknowledge his twenty years as Editor of the Heritage North's quarterly newsletter.  Representatives of six member groups then presented annual reports from their Societies which will be included in the next newsletter to be sent out in January.  The general meeting then saw a discussion about topics for training workshops for the coming year with suggestions mostly concerning understanding technology such as using Facebook, Website development and Online research techniques.  Suzanne then spoke on how the Cairns Historical Society will be getting professional advice to assist in re-branding the look and feel of the organization when the new museum opens along the lines of Cairns, the Tropical City.  She thought this expertise might provide some opportunities for other Heritage North members.  The next meeting will be held in El Arish at the end of February.

Historic Railway Group

The railway history buffs at the Atherton-Herberton Historic Railway have been hard at work on their project.  With the pulling up of the line from Atherton to Mareeba the group was able to obtain, at scrap iron prices, hundreds of the old experimental steel sleepers that Queensland Rail had put on that line.  These are now been used to upgrade the Herberton line so they can start using a lighter steam train on the track from the Herberton Station out to the History Village.  The group's Treasurer, Mr Don Lamb informed me that fundraising was about the only thing holding the group back and the re-opening of the whole line back to Atherton is still the aim of the organization.  It is good to see something happening on this line again.

Foley Shield Rugby League History

This is a book for those interested in the history of North Queensland football.  Proserpine identity, Mr Tony Price has just completed his new book, 'More Than The Foley Shield' which was recently launched at a well attended function at the Irish Club in Brisbane.  The book is an amazing record of the North's involvement in rugby league from the very earliest days and tells the story of more than three hundred players and officials that have had a hand in the hundred years rise and development of the game.  The breadth of this large volume is stunning, covering international games, the Foley Shield games and more with no region or town missed out.  Along with more than four hundred photos, many never seen before, of teams and players from Sarina in the south to Thursday Island in the north and west to Mount Isa.  The story is written in a chronological order and records the names of all the North Queensland team players from 1908 through to the Cowboys, Mackay Cutters and the Northern Pride.  The author, Tony Price has been involved in the game of rugby league for some fifty years, first as a player, then coach and administrator and finally as a supporter.  A few years ago, he published his huge, two volume book on the history of rugby league in the Whitsundays district entitled 'Before the Purple and Green'.  If you have an interest in North Queensland football history, Tony's new book is a must for your collection.

Herberton Mining Museum

It was recently reported by Mrs Veronica Weal that the Herberton Mining Museum had enjoyed a record number of visitors over the last tourist season with the visitors been impressed by the new displays including the new tin dredging video unit.  Their Minerals Room has undergone some changes and new samples have been added while the Academic Rock Collection is now completed and is a valuable resource for anyone with an interest in geology.  Volunteers have been kept busy with genealogy research for visitors working on their family histories and two of the museums staff assisted with the recent Lions Club's heritage 'Ghost Walk' at the local cemetery performing very creditably in ghostly roles while others from the museum assisted behind the scenes to help make the evening a great success.  Another exciting project the volunteer have been working on lately is the construction of a one-in-ten scale working model of a tin dredge.  This amazing replica was kindly donated to the museum by the family of the late Lionel Bowden who past away before he could complete the project.  The model dredge was in hundreds of pieces when collected and will require many hours of painstaking work to reconstruct and finish off but once completed it will be a rare and impressive piece of machinery which will become the central feature of a display on the local tin dredging industry.  Admission to the museum is still free of charge for local residents and by 'gold coin' donation for visitors from other areas.

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.