April 4, 2018
More than 100 former Tarong workers turned out to the Nanango Showgrounds last month for their first-ever reunion with their old workmates.
The get-together was the brainchild of three former employees who’d worked at the Tarong power station a combined 89 years.
Bill McKenzie, from Kingaroy, was a mechanical supervisor at the power station for 32 years; Keith Simmons, from Nanango, was a crane driver for more than 30 years; and John Evans, from Kingaroy, was a fitter who worked at Tarong from 1979 to 2006.
Using their own resources, the trio booked the Nanango Showgrounds as the venue and arranged catering with the Showgrounds’ canteen volunteers.
They also printed up posters and distributed them around the region, then hit the phones to renew old acquaintances and spread the word.
“We really didn’t know what to expect,” Keith told southburnett.com.au.
“But as things turned out, we had more than 100 people roll up on the day and everyone told us they had a really great time.”
Keith said roughly half the day’s crowd came from the South Burnett, but the remainder came “from all over”, which showed where workers had migrated to when they retired.
“I think the furthest someone travelled for the reunion was from Rockhampton,” Keith said.
“We also had about six couples travel down from Hervey Bay.
“But they came from everywhere.”
The reunion had originally been planned to run from 9:00am to 10:00pm, but on the day this was cut back to a 2:30pm close.
The reason was that the trio thought a lot of people might want to camp out at the Showgrounds and if that had turned out to be the case, many might have wanted to party into the night.
“As it turned out, we only had one caravanner who stayed overnight while the rest planned to drive back the same day,” Keith said.
“This was something we couldn’t really predict in advance, but once the situation became clear wrapping things up a bit earlier seemed the best course.”
Keith said one good move the group made was to issue everyone with name tags when they registered.
“Over time we all forget people’s names, but when everyone is wearing a name tag it’s really easy to strike up a conversation without any embarrassment, and that’s exactly what happened.”
The day went so well, in fact, the trio now plan to do it all again in two years’ time.
“I think the numbers at the next one will probably double,” Keith said.
“We all learned a lot doing this, so next time around we’ll be able to contact more people faster.”
Keith said the next time around the group will also approach Stanwell to see if they can contribute a small amount towards the reunion’s costs.
“Everyone who came still has fond memories of Tarong, and all the people they worked with there,” he said.
“If we could get a little more funding, it would make a big difference.”
