August 7, 2017
Murgon will be holding a community party for the official opening of the South Burnett Rail Trail on Sunday, October 1.
Members of the Murgon Business and Development Association (MBDA) were told by Allan Mitchell from the Murgon Men’s Shed at their most recent meeting the town’s celebrations are likely to include billy cart races, entertainers, face painting, a vintage car rally, boat displays and casting demonstrations.
Men’s Shed members are also keen to be involved, and already have their own projects underway.
The Men’s Shed will have their restored carts and wagons on display at the celebrations, and intend to run a barbecue as well.
Glen Vonhoff told the meeting the Men’s Shed hoped to have their new shed up by the end of July.
He said the shed kit was already on site and construction would start as soon as the foundations were laid.
Timber, paint and canvas have also been ordered for the rail carriages located next to the Men’s Shed near the former Murgon Railway Station.
Work on refurbishing the two carriages will start as soon as the materials arrive, and the project is expected to be well underway by the time of the official opening.
The meeting heard that SBRC Manager of Parks and Natural Resources Greg Griffiths will be producing a Rail Trail map featuring all the sites along the Rail Trail that formerly had stations.
A Rail Trail official opening celebrations committee to coordinate the Murgon festivities has also been formed, and is looking for extra volunteers to come forward with ideas for the event.
The Rail Trail is now open for cyclists and walkers, the meeting was told, and has drawn a very positive reaction from locals and visitors since the final stretch between Murgon and Kingaroy was sealed on June 24.
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Murgon will soon have two new murals, courtesy of Arts Project coordinator Oliva Everitt.
The first will be a large-scale wall mural painted at the South Burnett PCYC in Macalister Street, and the second will be a different mural project on the Telstra Sub-Station wall.
For the PCYC project, Olivia said she had secured the services of Toowoomba-based professional mural artist Bronte Naylor, who has recently been involved in First Coat Festival in Toowoomba and is currently an artist-in-residence at Kontraband Studios.
Bronte recently ran a free youth mural workshop in Murgon, open to young people aged 13-17, where participants learned new skills, connected with like-minded peers and then left a lasting reminder of their day’s efforts on the PCYC’s wall.
The Telstra Sub Station project will be different and will involve community consultation Olivia said, and local artists will be called to express their interest once funding is in place.
She said it would be a big project that would take 5-6 days to complete.
Olivia is originally from Cairns, but is now based in Kingaroy where her husband is a serving police officer.
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Funding cuts will affect Southern Cross Care’s Castra facility, Residential Manager Shelley Lee told the meeting.
She advised that while there will be cutbacks in staff working hours, management are working closely with all staff to ensure there is a continuance of the quality services delivered at Castra, and she was confident the facility will remain efficient.
The cuts follow the loss of $1.5m in Government funding for this non-profit organization, which will be redirected into programs designed to help keep people in their homes longer.
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Murgon’s C&K Kindergarten passed on their thanks to all the businesses and residents who supported their recent ladies luncheon.
The event raised $4700, which will go towards employing a support worker at the Kindy.
The Kindy will also be holding an open Play Day in the near future.
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The Murgon Business and Development Association represents the interests of the businesses and community of Murgon and surrounding districts.
The group holds regular monthly breakfast meetings and new members are always welcome.
Its next breakfast meeting will be held at the Royal Hotel in Lamb Street at 6:30am on Thursday, August 10, and to help plan the catering RSVP’s would be appreciated no later than 3:00pm on Wednesday, August 9.
RSVP’s can be made by contacting MBDA secretary Margaret Long at Murgon Real Estate on (07) 4168-2922 or 0413-488-418.
