February 25, 2016
Cherbourg’s Ration Shed Museum complex is focussing on the future with two major upgrades currently underway.
The former Boys Dormitory is being renovated to include an archive area, a computer room for the Cherbourg Memory project, and a special meeting area for Cherbourg elders, accessed via the verandah.
When southburnett.com.au dropped in last week, electrical apprentice Lehman Brunjes was working on switches in the computer room while painter Jeffrey Dynevor was hard at work on the walls of the Elders’ area.
Ration Shed chairperson Aunty Sandra Morgan said the extension would give Elders a place to sit and chat, and also have easy access to the historical information that The Ration Shed is gathering.
She said more and more people were coming to The Ration Shed to find out about their past, and their families’ lives at Cherbourg.
The second major project underway is the renovation of the former Domestic Science Building, just behind the Boys Dormitory, where many Cherbourg girls in the past were taught how to cook and sew before being ordered out to work on farming properties in central and western Queensland.
This building is being renovated to house Cherbourg’s new HIPPY program as well as provide a home for the “Many Threads” craft group which had been meeting in the Boys Dormitory.
Ironically, some of the women in the craft group were trained in the building as teenagers, so they hope it will now become a positive place of healing.
In contrast, the HIPPY program aims to help some of Cherbourg’s younger residents.
“HIPPY” stands for “Home Interaction Program For Parents And Youngsters”.
Co-ordinator Jacquie Broderick said the Federal Government -funded project was an early childhood and parenting program which helped parents and carers to become a child’s “first teacher”.
The Ration Shed was successful in an application last year to host HIPPY, and then negotiated with Cherbourg Council to acquire the Domestic Science Building to house the project.
Jacquie said the building was full of termites and asbestos but HIPPY had assisted with funding to help renovate the building.
HIPPY is just starting to roll out at Cherbourg but funding is assured for three years, which will give the program stability.
There will be places for 25 children and their parents. They will work through a structured program of activities, sometimes in their own homes and sometimes in the HIPPY rooms in the Domestic Science building.
It’s been a coming home for Jacquie, who was born in Cherbourg and attended Cherbourg State School and Murgon High School
After graduating as a teacher, she worked for more than 20 years in primary schools, including a stint at Cherbourg State School.
Ration Shed committee member Robyn Hofmeyr said the HIPPY program had enabled The Ration Shed to employ two full-time tutors as well as Jacquie.
The tutors will help to fill in gaps in literacy and language.
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