September 10, 2013
The “lost world” of Wengenville will be recalled on Saturday, October 5 when the Bunya Mountains Natural History Association hosts a “Back To Wengenville Reunion” on the site of the now-vanished town.
Wengenville is located on Wengen Creek in the eastern foothills of the Bunya Mountains and was one of the South Burnett’s genuine “timber towns”.
From the 1920s until 1961 it had a thriving sawmill employing 40 timber workers, processing timber from the nearby mountains, that supported the town.
In its heydey Wengenville had 23 houses, a single men’s quarters, a hall, school, post office/store and telephone exchange, a butcher’s shop, two tennis courts and a cricket ground.
But when the sawmill closed, the school closed shortly afterwards.
And these days – while the town is still marked on many maps – there’s little to be seen in the locality apart from a single house on the side of the Maidenwell Bunya Mountains Road.
On Saturday, October 5 the Reunion will get underway at 9:00am when former residents and interested members of the public will be asked to gather on the site of the vanished town for a remembrance.
Then at 9:30am the South Burnett Regional Council will unveil three signs showing where the township, the sawmill, and the school were once situated.
After this, activities will move to Maidenwell Hall, where morning tea and lunch can be purchased.
The Tanduringie State School and the Maidenwell CWA will be catering at the Hall, and the get-together will be a great way for city-dwellers to experience true country hospitality in an authentic, relaxed country environment.
Everyone is welcome to attend the Reunion, but to assist with castering an RSVP would be greatly appreciated.
You can make one by phoning Gaye Smith on (07) 4163-1365, Audrey Sampson on (07) 4164-6198, Ruth Humphrys on (07) 4663-4744 or John and Sandy Learmont on (0409) 625-865.
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