Douglas Shire Historical Society

Many thanks to the Sorensen Foundation who has recently funded some new equipment for the Society.  Volunteer archivist, Gail Cockburn is now hard at work on a smart new laptop computer and the group has also purchased a big new printer.  The Society was also fortunate to have been selected by LiveLife Pharmacies in Port Douglas and Mossman for their September token donations.  This is a fantastic way to help raise funds to support their collection of local history and is much appreciated.  The monthly meeting for August was held at the Mossman RSL rooms where members had the opportunity to look at their historical collection.  The following meeting was held on September 4th at Port Douglas CWA hall with Mr Noel Weare speaking about some of the graves in the Port Douglas cemetery.  And many congratulations to Noel, past President and Life Member, who has just been granted the S E Stephens History Award from the Cairns Historical Society for 2017.  He collected his award at the recent Annual General Meeting of that Society receiving it from their President, Mr Clive Skerrett with the current Douglas Historical Society President, Freda Wilson and past President Pam Burden there to cheer him on.  The October meeting is to be held on the 9th at the Mossman Community Centre.  All welcomed.

Innisfail and District Historical Society

What a fantastic night the Society had on the recent Sunday night when they held their 'Cemetery Walk'.  About 150 people turned up and everyone said they had a great time.  The narrators did a wonderful job, Mr John O'Brien entertained with his singing (without music) and the Boy Scouts were everywhere holding the lights and guiding people on the ramble from grave to grave.  Thank you so much Leaders and scouts!  In fact one lad said, when he was asked if he had enjoyed it, that it was better than watching MasterChef on TV.  Thanks especially to those who helped in any way with preparations including the cemetery staff who had the cemetery very tidy and markers set out for group on the night.  The Society is also pleased to report that they had been awarded a $9000 grant from the State Government Gambling Community Fund to obtain several large display cases.  One will be used to display the Society's collection of Aboriginal artifacts and the second will be used to show the collection of Innisfail/Geraldton souvenir memorabilia they have in their collection.  Thanks go to the State Government for this grant.  If you're in Innisfail, chech out the museum windows and see the display created by the 4KZ radio station and museum staff to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the commencement of Innisfail's first radio station 4KZ.  A great achievement for all involved over the past fifty years. 

Mulgrave Shire Historical Society

Thanks to Jenny Verrall for organizing another successful 'Ghosts of Gordonvale' event for the Mulgrave Shire Historical Society at the Gordonvale Cemetery.  A huge crowd came to listen to the awesome Gordonvale State High School students who volunteered their time to share the stories of twelve people and families of Gordonvale.  Thanks also go to the other volunteers who ushered and greeted the visitors.  And what a great success the inaugural 'Babinda Ghost Stories' event was.  A big thank you to the students from the Miriwinni, St Rita's, Babinda primary and high schools who narrated and dressed in character of each of the occupants of the ten graves visited.  Huge thanks again to Jenny Verrall for all the time and effort put into organizing this event.  The ladies of the Cairns RSL Day Club came in to visit the museum recently where they partook in the morning tea and visit activity.  Please contact the museum if you would like to show a group through the museum with a morning tea.  Make sure you come into the Museum to see the new exhibition showcasing the work of Dr Edmund Jarvis which opened recently.  The Society restored seven entomological specimen cases donated by the Meringa Sugar Experiment Station, thanks to a grant from the Regional Arts Development Fund.  The exhibit showcases part of Dr Jarvis' studies and represents the research undertaken into pests in the sugar industry during the 1920's.  The cases are believed to have been an integral educational tool for our early farmers and scientists.

Atherton Local and Family History Group

The Atherton Local and Family History Group held their September get-together at the Atherton War Cemetery.  Some two dozen history buffs and members of the local branch of the National Servicemen Association met to explore the local war cemetery with Mr John Hardy as host for the day.  The morning started with John giving the gathering a brief run-down on the history of the cemetery and on his interest in the men who lay at rest there.  The group then wandered about the cemetery with stops at significant graves to hear the stories of the men there.  The October meeting will have the theme of 'Medical Histories'.  Drop into the monthly gatherings of the group held at the Atherton Library at 10am on the first Thursday of each month.  Listen to a variety of interesting family stories that have been researched prior to each meeting.  Some stories are illustrated with small booklets while others are concise and told from short notes.  It is a fun time and all are welcome.

Mareeba Military Muster

The results for the 2017 Mareeba Military Muster have been compiled.  This year set a new record in crowd numbers with just over a thousand members of the public supporting the event.  The organizers were overwhelmed with the positive support from the public.  A huge 'thank you' to the awesome team at the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum of Cairns who have gone beyond the call of support for the Military Muster.  The North Queensland Historical Re-enactment Society from Townsville will also be back next year with a new display for 2018.  Planning has already commenced for the 2018 Mareeba Military Muster with the grounds of the Mareeba Turf Club having become the event's new home after its early beginnings in Ravenshoe in 2009.  Next year's Muster marks a very special occasion as it will celebrate ten years of the Military Musters in Far North Queensland.  The organizers are actively trying to locate people who have a passion for the North Queensland military history, own military vehicles or want to display their collections.  If you want to be involved in celebrating ten years of the Military Muster, please sent an email or contact the organizer - Michael Musumeci.  It was decided that proceeds from this Mareeba Military Muster will go towards a well overdue memorial in Biboohra for Pilot Lt Andrew Duke. 

Mareeba Historical Society

A thank you goes to everyone who took part in the Society's Father's Day raffle.  The winner was the Cannon family of Emerald Creek who were thrilled to win making their Father's Day just that little bit different.  Thanks to the sponsors for their generosity in donation items for the wheelbarrow full of goodies; Mitre 10, Gateway Hotel, the RSL Club, Mareeba Leagues Club, Skybury, Repco and to the members of the Historical Society who also donated items or sat and sold tickets.  All proceeds will be going towards purchasing storage for the group's many collections, all of which need to be correctly stored for safe keeping for rhe future.

Idriess and the Drums of Mer film

I joined a dozen other history buffs in shuffling our chairs about the small area at the back of the old bookstore in order to get the best advantage to hear the story about to be told by Fairlie Sandilands.  Fairlie, who has a degree in Anthropology and qualifications in Museum Curatorship, spent many years living in Townsville and was the start-up curator for the Magnetic Island museum.  Now at the age of sixty years and retired to a home at Topaz, she has looked back some forty years to when she was a nineteen year old teenager working for a film company and the adventure she was to have researching for a proposed film.

Drums of Mer book

With a screen in place and the projector set for the powerpoint show, Fairlie began her tale of a movie project that could have been one of the great Australian films but was not to be.  The talk she entitled, 'Drums of Mer Revisited' started with an over-view of the history of the Torres Straits and the culture of the islander people who call the Straits home.  Fairlie then told of how a young adventurer and prospector named Ion L. Idriess, known then as 'Jack', wandered into the Straits and came to learn much of the Islander culture.  While camping at old Somerset, Ion had the privilege to be one of the last to read the decaying journals of the Jardine family and having learnt from Rev MacFarlane of the great anthropological expedition of the 1890's, he later studied the reports of this Cambridge Expedition.  This study was the background to the writing of his 1933 novel 'Drums of Mer' which he based on the true story of the wreck of the ship 'Charles Eaton'.

Ion L. Idriess 1950

Fairlie went on to explain how she became involved with a group of film makers led by Sandy Harbutt who had just made the classic Australian movie 'Stone'.  Have been a fan of Idriess since boyhood, Sandy sought to make a feature film of 'Drums of Mer' and spoke to Idriess about his project and obtained the film rights.  He found funding near impossible to find but had obtained a little money to finance the researching of the proposed movie and sent the young Fairlie to interview Ion Idriess and up to the Torres Straits.  Fairlie spoke of her three months long expedition to Mer Island to talk about the project with the Murray islanders.  She found the people there had been so impressed with Idriess' novel that they were using it as a text book on their culture with a few even believing it was actually non-fiction.  They were quite keen to see the film made especially after they discover that the actor Mr Harry Belafonte had shown interest in starring as the lead character.

Sadly, the film could not be financed, although Sandy Harbutt still believes in the project to this day.  Fairlie ended her story telling of her time spent with Ion Idriess and how it took her many years to realize what a privilege it had been to be able to meet and talk with this truly iconic Australian.  Been a fan of Ion Idriess myself, I found great delight in this afternoon's discussion.  It also gave me a greater appreciation of the academic value of Idriess' writings.  Especially after having just re-read many of his northern Queensland books after nearly thirty-five years of history study since my first reading.  So thank you Fairlie Sandilands for sharing your experiences.

Fairlie Sandilands with her hosts and some of her audience