Former sawmill employees, from left, Martin Kelly, from Ipswich; Steve Willis, from Gympie; and the last mill manager, Ivan Frost, from Calamvale

South Burnett and Cherbourg On ShowOctober 8, 2013

More than 250 people with connections to the former town of Wengenville returned to the foothills of the Bunya Mountains on Saturday to share memories, check out old haunts and wonder where the years have gone.

Wengenville was a timber town which centred on a sawmill that operated from 1922 to 1961.

The town, which was located on Wengen Creek, was big enough to have its own hall, school, shops and a main street of houses. But when the mill closed, the town died and the buildings were hauled away.

Now the site of the town and sawmill is a cattle paddock used by local farmer Dean Cullen to run breeders; and the location of the old school is in the yard of a private residence.

All that remains of the town are the foundations of the school’s tennis court … that is, until Saturday morning when three new signs were unveiled on site.

The signs, designed by South Burnett Regional Council’s Natural Resources and Parks manager Greg Griffiths, mark the site of the town, school building and sawmill.

South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann joined with former residents to officially unveil the signs.

He said it was not correct to say that Wengenville didn’t exist.

“There is a Wengenville. It’s just that no one knows where it is,” he said.

He thanked the Cullen family for their co-operation in the signage project which will help to keep the memories of the town alive.

SES volunteers controlled traffic to allow former Wengenville residents to wander up and down the Maidenwell-Bunya Mountains Road and try to locate landmarks from more than 50 years ago.

After the official unveiling, the focus turned to the Maidenwell Hall where the former residents gathered to browse photographs and memorabilia and enjoy a morning tea.

Also on display was a scale model of the town constructed by former mill manager Ivan Frost, who spent more than 1000 hours on the project.

John Learmont, from the Bunya Mountains Natural History Association which lobbied Council to install the signs and organised the reunion, said the day had “exceeded expectations”.

“The head count for the day was 259 … we are ecstatic,” Mr Learmont said.

He also praised Mayor Kratzmann and the South Burnett Regional Council for supporting the project.

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Mayor Wayne Kratzmann with former residents who jointly unveiled the Wengenville town sign
Former Wengenville residents and their family members wander along the Maidenwell-Bunya Mountains Road which once ran along the edge of the vanished town
SES volunteers who helped control the crowd pose in front of the Wengenville School sign
(Photo: Peter Verbakel)

Four of the children of Neptune Trousdell who donated the land for the Wengenville school: Denise Hancock, Fay Coe, Richard Trousdell  and Audrey Bishop

Scott and Rosemary Andersen, from Currumbin; Scott is the great-grandson of legendary Bunya Mountain timbergetter Lars Andersen who built the tramways
Former students joined together to unveil the school sign, which is shaped like a school bell

June Howard, from Blackbutt, laid a wreath in memory of her late father Ivan Rodgers who worked at the mill

Neil Perrett, a teacher at the school in the late 1950s, with South Burnett Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell
Today’s owners of the land … Dean and Kerin Cullen with Blake, 2; Blake is now the unofficial “mayor” of Wengenville

Nev Cullen travelled from Ayr for the day … Nev is with Joy Ferguson (nee Cullen), from Brisbane; and Ken Cullen, from Pimpimbudgee

Grandchildren of Neptune Trousdell … Dennis Bishop, Lainie McInerney, Wendy Kefford, Helen Cornish and Annette Bishop
Welcoming visitors to Maidenwell Hall, from left, Lynn England, Audrey Sampson and Pat Clark from the Bunya Mountains Natural History Association

Bunya Mountains Natural History Association’s John Learmont and Ruth and Phil Humphrys

George Gorlick, from Blackbutt, formerly lived in the fourth building from the left
A close-up of the sawmill section of Ivan Frost’s scale model of Wengenville township

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