October 30, 2012
Memories of the former Rosalie Shire will live on in Yarraman with the official opening of a “Rosalie Room” as part of the Heritage House Open Day festivities at the weekend.
Former Rosalie Shire Mayor Noel Strohfeld, who continued to serve in local government until April this year, did the honours.
The Rosalie Room contains memorabilia from the former Rosalie Shire, including uniforms, signs, flags, the cemetery book, newspaper clippings and photographs.
The former shire’s 125th anniversary quilt is also on display.
Some of the items have been donated to Heritage House while others have been loaned by Toowoomba Regional Council.
Rosalie Shire, which was incorporated as a Divisional Board in 1879, was swallowed up by Toowoomba at the 2008 council amalgamations.
Also present at the opening was Lynette Munt, widow of much-respected former Rosalie Shire councillor Errol Munt who died in a car accident in 1994, and former councillors including Neville McNalty and Darryl Woltmann.
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The Open Day featured live music, bush poetry, whip-cracking and a barbecue in the grounds of the Heritage House complex.
Visitors also had the opportunity of viewing Heritage House’s Australian Year Of The Farmer display of photographs and other memorabilia which will be on show for a month.
Liz Caffery, from Nanango, presented a computer-based history of farming in the area.
Upper Yarraman resident Kerry Wyvill loaned several pieces of equipment for an outdoor Year of the Farmer display, including a 1932 hand-built dray made in Yarraman in 1932 by L Cislowski.
The dray, which was used for carting maize, pumpkins, hay and pigs, was purchased by Mr Wyvill to stop it from leaving the Yarraman area. It will be on display at Heritage House for the duration of the Year of the Farmer presentation.
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Visitors could help but notice the latest attraction at Heritage House which arrived just a few days before the Open Day.
The Farquhar “Iron Age” peanut thresher, which was made in York, Pennsylvania and imported into Australia by UK & Dominion Motors, was donated to Heritage House by the Otto family after it was spotted overgrown with lantana on a local property.
It had been sitting on the farm for at least 40 years.
Heritage House volunteers plan to restore the machine to display standard.
Tommy Johnson asked southburnett.com.au to make a special mention of Ollies Towing, from Kingaroy, who managed to retrieve the old thresher from the farm and deliver it in one piece to Heritage House.
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