Mormons Hit The Trail Again

April 11, 2015

Over the past three days the South Burnett has been playing host to a large group of unusually dressed people from Brisbane … 140 of them to be precise.

The group are all members of the Church of Latter-day Saints and since Wednesday they have been walking along the Blackbutt Rail Trail dressed in 1860s period costumes, lugging a few meagre possessions behind them in hand-drawn wooden carts.

They are re-enacting the great Mormon Trail which occurred in the United States between 1847 and 1868 when early Mormons travelled from Illinois to Utah’s Salt Lake Valley, a distance of almost 2000km.

More than 60,000 Mormons eventually made this trek in “companies” – some by foot, some in wagons, and some pulling handcarts – and many died along the journey.

The trek to Utah led to the founding of Salt Lake City, which is the centre of the worldwide Mormon religion today.

This time around the trek was a lot shorter, 50km between Moore and Yarraman spread over three days, but the effort of pulling 160kg hand carts weighed down with another 50kg of luggage still took its toll.

When the trek winds up on Saturday morning, a lot of very sore and tired church members will be heading back to Brisbane secure in the knowledge that they have, in their own quirky way, become a part of Queensland’s history.

The idea for the trek was dreamed up by Stake President Asa Smibert, a volunteer minister who looks after the six “Wards” in the Eight Mile Plains area that make up a “Stake” (the church’s equivalent of a diocese).

Asa said that similar trek re-enactments have been held interstate, but the Blackbutt Rail Trail re-enactment was the first held in Queensland.

“We were looking for something positive and fun for our church’s young people to do over the Easter school vacation, and this walk along the Rail Trail seemed like a great way to get our 13- to 18-year-olds into the great outdoors,” Asa said.

The carts used in the re-enactment were hand-made made by Amish carpenters especially for the event.

About 120 church youth are taking part, supported by 20 adults who handled logistics such as portaloos, tents and food supplies.

“Every walker is allowed to bring along a maximum of 7kg of personal items, which are stored in plastic bins and carried on the carts,” Asa said.

“However these personal effects can’t include iPhones or iPads. We’ve told all our walkers to switch off their mobiles and Internet for four days so they can reconnect with the real world.

“We think this is a healthy thing to do.”

The group spent the first day of the trek walking up the Blackbutt Range from Moore, and the second walking into Blackbutt where they camped overnight at the Blackbutt Showgrounds.

On Friday, the group travelled along the final Blackbutt to Yarraman stretch, stopping off at Harland Park at Gilla for lunch.

Blackbutt Show Society president Julie Taylor-Dixon, who hosted the group during their stay in Blackbutt, was very impressed with them.

“They painted some fences and did some chores for us because they see it as part of their church’s community service obligations,” she said.

“They were really nice people and they’re very welcome to come back and stay with us any time they like.”

Asa said the group was equally impressed with Blackbutt, placing a big order at the Blackbutt Bakery for baked goods to sustain them on their overland journey.

“The Bakery’s vanilla slices were a particular favourite with a lot of the kids,” Asa said.

“You could hear a big cheer go up at lunchtime when we announced we were going to be handing them out.”

Asa said he was also impressed with the beauty of the area around the Trail and the friendliness of the South Burnett.

He hoped this week’s trek might be the first of many Mormon re-enactment treks in the future.

• External link: The Mormon Trail

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