Michelle Wilson, from Kingaroy, was proud to wave the flag on Australia Day outside the Kingaroy Town Hall

January 26, 2016

The South Burnett marked Australia Day with bush poetry, live music, plenty of wacky events and lots and lots of Australian flags.

Just about every town in the region had something organised, as did nearly every pub.

The Australia Day celebrations kicked off on Monday evening with the South Burnett Regional Council’s annual awards ceremony which was held at Proston (see separate report).

A blackout threatened to derail the ceremony. Generators were hastily sought but the power fortunately came back at 6:00pm, just as the formalities were due to begin.

The storms which swirled around the South Burnett on Monday night, knocking over trees at Hodgeleigh, defied predictions and mostly stayed away on Tuesday to allow the long-planned Australia Day events to go ahead.

Kingaroy’s cane toad races again proved popular, as did Nanango’s dog high-jumping competition (The prize? A carton of beer for the owner and a bag of bones for the dog).

Each town also acknowledged their local winners in the South Burnett Australia Day awards.

In the national Australia Day Honours list, also announced on Tuesday morning, Bell resident Jean Sorley received an Order of Australia Medal.

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Murgon

Leo Geraghty, from the Murgon Business and Development Association, with Cr Kathy Duff and guest speaker, former Murgon resident Waverley Stanley who set up “Yalari”, a foundation that assists Indigenous students who are doing well in primary school to attend some of the best boarding schools in Australia

Murgon marked Australia Day with a family fun day at the Queensland Dairy & Heritage Museum.

The day began with a community breakfast followed by the official proceedings, which included the presentation of the Murgon Business and Development Association’s Australia Day awards and acknowledgement of Murgon winners at the South Burnett Regional Council awards.

Guest speaker was former Murgon resident Waverley Stanley who set up Yalari in 2005 to assist Indigenous schoolchildren to gain a good education.

Waverley also organises the biennial Cherbourg Walk by Yalari students from the old Durundur Aboriginal Reserve, near Woodford, to Cherbourg  recreating the walk made by many of the ancestors of today’s Cherbourg residents when Durundur was closed in 1905.

He told southburnett.com.au he was looking forward to the opening of the Kingaroy-Kilkivan rail trail as he sees opportunities for Yalari students to use the route.

Australia Day at Murgon was also an opportunity for visitors to inspect the new “The Shed” which is being constructed at the Dairy Museum to house more exhibits.

“The Shed” was funded through a grant from the Tarong Community Partnership Fund.

Col Pidgeon accepts an MBDA award
David Mollenhauer accepts an MBDA award
Members of the Murgon Men’s Shed accept their MBDA award
Amber Spicer was helping with scones, jam and cream
The Stolzenberg Brothers provided the live entertainment
John Carey, Kirstie Schumacher and Dennis Franklin (Stanwell) with Richie O’Neill, second from left, in the new “The Shed” at the Murgon Dairy Museum which has been made possible by a Stanwell grant
All this year’s MBDA award winners gathered for a group shot at the end of the individual presentation ceremonies

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Susan Dowideit-Reiger sung the National Anthem in Kingaroy … daughter Lilly seemed less impressed than the crowd

Kingaroy

Kingaroy Australia’s Day celebrations kicked off with a community breakfast in the Glendon Street Forecourt provided by local service clubs, who then kept up a supply of Aussie treats being distributed around the crowd for the rest of the morning.

This was followed by bush poetry, live entertainment and the official flag-raising ceremony by local Army Cadets.

South Burnett Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell read out the names of Kingaroy nominees and winners at the Council’s Australia Day awards before guest speaker Dorothy Pratt took to the stage to explain what Australia Day meant to her.

Children were enjoying playing in the jumping castle erected in the forecourt, while Karla Cameron, from Karla’s Carnival, was kept busy painting Aussie flags on young and old faces.

In the hay bale ring, a display of whip-cracking was followed by the fourth annual cane toad races.

The racing toads were again named after politicians. The winner, Short-On Odds, would have been an omen bet for Labor voters in the crowd.

4th Annual Kingaroy Cane Toad Cup results:

1. Short-On Odds
2. Tumultuous Turnbull
3. Angry Abbott
4. Fireworks Frecklington
5. Longjump Lawrie
6. Croakin’ Kratzie

Enjoying Australia Day in Kingaroy … Grace Tanuvasa, Lorina Graham, nine months; and Rosa Napo, all from Kingaroy
Cane toad wrangler Cr Damien Tessmann had his charges primed and ready for racing
Janette and Courtney Varidel were enjoying their first Australia Day in Kingaroy
Army Cadets conducted a formal flag-raising ceremony in the Kingaroy Town Hall forecourt
Sue Miller, from Kingaroy, chose red, white and blue to make a patriotic statement …
… while Rhonda Boynton and Danita Potter, also from Kingaroy, chose true blue
South Burnett Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell compered the Kingaroy celebrations and introduced the local award winners
Kingaroy Local Achiever Maldon Goodger with guest speaker, former Nanango MP Dorothy Pratt and Rev David Ferguson who opened the official part of the day in Kingaroy with a prayer

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This year’s Kingaroy Australia Day celebrations was put together by a committee made up of representatives from local service clubs (Kingaroy Lions, Quota, QCWA, Taabinga Rotary and Kingaroy Rotary), the Kingaroy Christmas Carnival Committee and the South Burnett Regional Council … from left,  Mick McAuliffe (Taabinga Rotary), Ralph Clark (Taabinga Rotary), Marie Shaw (Quota), Geoff Aird, Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell, Sgt Wayne Bushell (Kingaroy Rotary), Nancy Mitchell (Quota) and Wendy Tully (Quota)

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Coolabunia

Although not strictly an Australia Day event, “Cool” the Koala was getting a lot of attention when he appeared overnight outside the Coolabunia State School … the giant hay koala is promoting the school’s 125th anniversary celebrations on May 28; passers-by on the highway were stopping to take photos

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Nanango

Nanango’s Australia Day celebrations outgrew Ringsfield House in 2014, shifting to the showgrounds … and it looks like it’s still growing.

The 2016 event kicked off with a community breakfast, followed by the introduction of Nanango’s nominees and winners in the South Burnett Regional Council’s  Australia Day awards.

Compere Liz Caffery said the Nanango Australia Day program was the best in the South Burnett for its uniqueness and fun.

“We thank Les Schloss, president of the Nanango Show Society, and his team for making available our venue here at the Nanango Showgrounds and co-ordinating with the folk from Ringsfield led by Roslyn Gregor, president of the Nanango and District Historical Society,” Liz said.

“Last night the South Burnett Regional Council’s Australia Day function was held in a packed hall in Proston where awards were presented.

“Every year, nominations from Nanango and district collectively seem to be numerically greater than those from any other South Burnett community.

“If this is a measure of our community generosity, then we have it in bucketloads.  From Nanango and district there were 15 people or organisations nominated in nine categories from which there were six winners.

“This is an impressive accolade for the tremendous contribution and the absolutely tireless work of service that is done locally.”

The official ceremony was followed by the always-popular dog high-jumping competition, tug-o-war and other fun activities.

Local children took to the oval for a tug-o-war after the dog jumping finished (Photo: Clive Lowe)
Wally Dugdell provided the commentary for the dog jumping competition (Photo: Clive Lowe)
Liz Caffery was compere for the official part of the day’s events (Photo: Clive Lowe)
The Blanch and Hills families enjoy breakfast at the Australia Day celebrations at Nanango Showgrounds (Photo: Clive Lowe)
Previous Citizen of the Year award winners Les Schloss, Ros Gregor and Reg McCallum (Photo: Clive Lowe)
Max Knight, from Manumbar, and Tommy Perrett, from Nanango, catch up for a chat (Photo: Clive Lowe)
South Burnett Citizen of the year Jason Black with John Lee, Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington and Daun Clapperton … and yes, we know one of the flags has the stars back-to-front
(Photo: Clive Lowe)
Ben Mangan, Nanango, enjoyed a slice of watermelon to help cool down in the heat
(Photo: Clive Lowe)
Keiran Mangan, from Nanango, carried back “Cobby” after another successful jump
So that’s how it’s done … some of the interested spectators at the dog high-jumping
Susie, 4, and Jake Downie, 7, from Nanango, with “Patch”, one of the competitors in the dog high-jumping competition
 “Casper”, a wolfhound cattle dog cross, shows his winning style in the dog high-jumping competition
Last year’s winner, “Cobby”, takes off for a leap in the finals of the competition
2016 winner “Casper”, who jumped 1.96m, with owners Harvey and Mikayla Gilliland

* * *

Raw Video From Dog High-Jumping

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Yarraman

Toowoomba Regional Council and the Yarraman Progress Association celebrated Australia Day with a barbecue at the Errol Munt Reserve followed by a free Pool Party at the Yarraman Aquatic Centre.

Sadly, no Australia Day awards nominations were received by the Toowoomba Council from Yarraman so there was no local awards ceremony, however a Heritage Award was presented to the Yarraman RSL Sub-Branch in recognition of the Anzac Photo Display mounted last year.

Helene Johnson, from the Yarraman Historical Society, presented the Heritage Award to Yarraman RSL Sub-Branch president Terry Reid, right; Terry is being congratulated by Toowoomba councillor John Gouldson (Photo: Glenda Stimpson)
Dan Mead, Joe Stimpson and Helen Mead soaking up the sun at the free Yarraman Pool Party … Joe and Helen are part of the Yarraman Progress Association which organised the Yarraman Australia Day activities

* * *

Blackbutt

The Australia Day action in Blackbutt was at the showgrounds.

The Bloomin’ Beautiful Blackbutt Festival committee hosted a community breakfast followed by live music and fun for children and the Blackbutt Benarkin Lions Club held their second annual Australia Day Charity Cricket Bash on the main oval.

The game was 10 aside T20 with Blackbutt Hardware as the green team and Blackbutt Fuel and Tyre as the yellow team. Final score was Green 80, Yellow 77.

Bloomin’ Beautiful Blackbutt president Jeff Connor and vice-president Les Lane … Les was the scorekeeper for the community cricket game
The Taromeo Country Music Club kept the music pumping at Blackbutt … on stage at various times were Adrian, Les, Sue, John, Richard, Tony, Carol and Kerry
Terry and Olive Wheeler, and Margaret Crisp-Longe, from the Bayside Caravan Club in Brisbane, were enjoying the Australia Day entertainment at the Blackbutt Showgrounds

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3 Responses to "South Burnett Celebrates In Style"

  1. Congratulations to SB Online once again for providing outstanding coverage of the Australia Day Awards and the South Burnett Australia Day activities. The reports are very enlightening for those who couldn’t be home to celebrate the events.

    Reply

  2. Well done to all those who were nominated for Australia Day awards whether they won or not. It is great that we can acknowledge those who give so much to our region without ever seeking recognition or acclaim. I am particularly pleased with the Citizen of the Year Jason Black – isn’t it fantastic that this accolade has gone to one so young who has dedicated his life to the community. What an inspiration!

    Reply

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