November 18, 2014
The Widgee and Kilkivan areas have lost a local legend with the death of former Kilkivan Shire councillor and country music star Fabian Webb.
Fabian, from ‘Thornside’ at Widgee, died on Saturday aged 84.
He was one of the founders of the Kilkivan Great Horse Ride and served on Kilkivan Shire Council from 1967 to 2004.
In 2001, Fabian was awarded a Centenary Medal for services to country music, the community, local government and the beef industry; in January 2004 he was presented with an Order of Australia Medal for service to the community and to local government in the Shire of Kilkivan.
He was also part of the famous singing Webb Brothers – Fabian, Marius and Berard – who wrote, recorded and performed country music for more than 50 years.
The trio won two Golden Guitars, toured Australia and New Zealand multiple times and were inducted into the Tamworth “Hands Of Fame” in 1978 and “Roll Of Renown” in 2004.
To top it all off, their family property, ‘Thornside’, was the original home of the famous Gympie Muster.
In 1982, the brothers opened the gates of the cattle property to celebrate 25 years in country music and the centenary of the property; 6000 people turned up.
A life-size statue of Fabian and his stockhorse Smoky was erected at the front of the Kilkivan Public Hall in 2008 to help mark the 120th anniversary of Kilkivan Shire.
It was created by Gympie blacksmith Dan Davie who will be crafting the statue of Charlotte the Emu for Wondai early next year.
Fabian is survived by his wife Tanda and two children.
Younger brother Marius died earlier this year.
A funeral service for Fabian will be held from 11:30am at St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Gympie on Thursday (November 20).
The family has asked that donations in lieu of flowers be made to Diabetes Queensland; Fabian had Type 1 Diabetes for most of his life.
