December 6, 2016
The Maidenwell Sports Ground was officially renamed on Saturday afternoon … about 35 years later than originally planned.
The sports ground is built on land which was once owned by former Nanango Shire Councillor Joseph Aubrey Gorton.
The land was sold to the council at a discount for use as a community sports ground on condition it be named in honour of the family.
While the Maidenwell community and visitors have been able to enjoy having the sports ground at the centre of their town ever since, somewhere in the process the change of name was accidentally overlooked.
But on Saturday, this long-standing error was corrected when Joseph’s two sons, Aub and Bob, and his daughter Marj came along to the sports ground for the official opening of the now-renamed J. A. Gorton Memorial Oval.
The opening was attended by Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington, South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell, Deputy Mayor Kathy Duff, members of the Maidenwell Community Group and the Maidenwell Rural Fire Brigade, along with a large contingent of local residents.
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Maidenwell Community Group president Cr Spud Jones said the oval, which has been extensively redeveloped over the past few years, began its new lease of life largely thanks to former South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann, and partly thanks to beer.
He said that one day on the way back home to the Bunyas, Mayor Kratzmann stopped in at the Maidenwell Hotel.
Cr Jones, who was the hotel’s licencee at the time, said he asked when Maidenwell would get to see something from Council.
A while later the Mayor said Council could make $40,000 available for town improvements.
However, he said it was up to the Maidenwell community to decide where the money should be spent, and the Council wouldn’t fund any project unless it had majority agreement from townsfolk.
This led to the formation of the Maidenwell Community Group, and soon afterwards a decision to use the money to level and returf the sports grounds, which at that time were too lop-sided for most sports groups to use.
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Cr Jones said since then, many other organisations and businesses had stepped in to sponsor the Community Group’s ongoing improvements to the grounds.
They included Stanwell Corporation, which had paid to have a bore sunk and a pipeline built to get water to the oval and the adjoining Maidenwell Rural Fire Brigade’s tanks, as well as a barbecue, picnic tables and a dump point; and Nanango’s Heritage Bank, which had helped the Community Group erect a permanent shed of its own on the oval.
The latest sponsor to join the ever-growing list was Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington, who had donated funds to help the community group build an all-weather cricket pitch in the centre of the oval.
Many local businesses and individuals had also made invaluable contributions, including Schuey Brothers Drilling; Wayne Dionysius Plumbing; Charlie Clapperton, who’d built the shed’s slab; Ian, Doug and Vince, who’d helped erect the shed; Lyn Pincott, who’d created the oval’s new sign; Direct Pest Control; the Maidenwell Community Group’s secretary-treasurer Ros Kidman; SBRC Strategic Projects Manager Leanne Petersen; and many others.
“I know our group has its knockers but this oval is now 100 per cent better than it used to be and I think that’s the best answer,” Cr Jones told the audience.
“It’s home to the Maidenwell Markets every month, as well as the Maidenwell Marathon and Raising Hell In Maidenwell.
“Our rural fire brigade now have much bigger facilities, and we get more campers, too. All of this is thanks to everyone who’s played a part in it.”
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Jane Hodgkinson, from Nanango’s Heritage Bank, said the bank was proud to have been able to help the Maidenwell community, and thanked residents for banking with Heritage’s Nanango branch.
“When you bank with a community bank you help us to help you, and that’s what we’re here to do,” Jane said.
The speeches were followed by an official ribbon-cutting ceremony, with Aub Gorton doing the honours; and then a second, unofficial ribbon-cutting by Maidenwell children who attended the day.
Afterwards guests mingled over an afternoon tea where cold drinks were enjoyed in the sweltering heatwave conditions.
Related articles:
- New Water Pipe Saves $10,000 A Year
- Meet The Future Face Of Maidenwell
- Town Wants Oval Levelled
- Upgrade Planned For Sportsground
