Tearoom Restores A Proston Tradition

May 7, 2017

For the past four weeks Proston residents have been able to enjoy something people in most other South Burnett towns take for granted: going to a local cafe to enjoy a good cup of coffee and a slice of freshly-baked cake.

The new Jacaranda Tearooms, which opened its doors in Blake Street on April 6, celebrated its first month of business on Saturday.

The Tearooms offer a wide range of teas and barista-prepared coffees, along with milkshakes, thickshakes, spiders and hot chocolate.

If you’re hungry, they also offer a mouth-watering assortment of freshly-baked cakes and cookies, along with sandwiches, old-fashioned trifles (occasionally) and gluten-free cheesecakes.

And perhaps surprisingly for a former dairying boom town, the Tearooms have lactose free milk available, as well as soy and light milk options, for those with dairy sensitivities.

Owners Nicholas and Anita Blanch say they are delighted with the positive reception their new venture has received from locals and visitors.

“Everyone has been very supportive – we’ve really appreciated people choosing to spend time with their family and friends here,” Nicholas said.

The young couple are both Proston born and bred, and are already well-known for NB Inspirations, a department store Nicholas opened in Blake Street in 2010 which now attracts customers from all over the region.

NB Inspirations is a clothing and book shop, but it also sells toys, shoes, manchester, crockery, kitchen supplies and haberdashery – an assortment which has seen it nicknamed “the Myer of the South Burnett”.

Nicholas said he started the new tea rooms because he was tired of waiting for someone else to do it.

“Until we opened the Jacaranda Tearooms there was nowhere in Proston where you could sit down and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and a light meal,” Nicholas said.

Ironically, the first business ever built in Proston was also a tea room – G.M. Boynton’s Proston Tea Rooms – which the “father of Proston” built in 1922 in anticipation of the new railway that began servicing the town the next year.

It was the first of many buildings Mr Boynton erected, which later included a garage, a movie theatre, several more commercial properties and the town’s first electricity supply.

But the closure of the railway line and the South Burnett Dairy Co-Op’s factory in the 1970s led to a long period of slow decline for the once-booming town, which hit its nadir in 2001 when Proston’s population dwindled to just 286 people.

This decline meant that for most of the past few decades, Blake Street has been home to many empty shops, and it’s been years since any sort of cafe operated there.

These days, however, the town is home to around 500 residents and is seeing a number of positive initiatives like a new 48-hour free camping ground, the Proston Post community newsletter, the Proston Round Table progress association, and the return of the Proston Show Ball.

So apart from reviving one of the town’s oldest traditions, Nicholas and Anita hope the new tearooms will add to Proston’s social amenity, too.

“We have a lot of people in town who probably go to the supermarket to get their milk and groceries, then go home because there’s really not much else to do,” Nicholas said.

“Over time, that sort of routine can leave people feeling very isolated and alone.

“So we wanted to give everyone an alternative, because sitting down over a cuppa to chat with friends is one of life’s little pleasures, and something most people like to be able to do.”

The couple said the thing they’re most proud of is that they’ve also been able to bring some new jobs to Proston through their tearoom venture.

“We’ve taken on a trainee at the Tearooms because this isn’t the sort of business you can run single-handedly. And we’ve been able to move another employee up to permanent part-time, too,” Nicholas said.

“We’re both part of this town, so we’re really excited to be able to contribute to its growth.”

The Jacaranda Tearooms are located at 42 Blake Street and are open from 7:30am to 4:00pm Mondays to Fridays, and 8:00am to noon on Saturdays.

  Proston