July 17, 2018
The Nanango Historical Society (NHS) will debate a motion to close down at its Annual General Meeting on Thursday, August 2.
After 25 years of operations, age has taken its toll on the Society’s executive committee members.
And unless new members step forward to take up their positions, Nanango stands to lose a big slice of its history.
NHS president Ros Gregor, who has held the role for the past 23 years, said she would be very sad to see the society shut down.
“Since we relocated from Ringsfield House to the former Masonic Lodge in Gipps Street, we’ve concentrated on preserving the physical history of Nanango,” Ros said.
“NaTDA has moved into the old schoolhouse at Ringsfield and they are using their own archives to carry out historical research.
“They’re doing a wonderful job, and this has freed us up to focus on preserving physical artefacts from Nanango’s past.”
Ros said she believed the Masonic Lodge had the potential to be turned into a tourist attraction, but this would require new committee members with more energy than the current executive can muster.
“We have a lot of Ringsfield’s artifacts here, but they’re currently boxed up and not on public display,” Ros said.
“We also have a promise from Nanango’s Heritage Community Branch to help us fix up the lodge’s entrance and install a new disabled ramp, because the current one doesn’t really comply with Workplace Health and Safety standards.
“There is enormous potential here – it just needs a few enthusiastic people to carry it forward.”
Ros said the alternative was winding down, which would be a long, complex and expensive process she would rather avoid.
“After 25 years we’ve accumulated a lot of assets, and when any incorporated association shuts down they need to pass their assets to a like-minded group,” she said.
“But there’s no obvious local candidate we could bequeath the society’s assets to, so they might have to be passed over to some group outside Nanango.
“That would mean our town would lose control of its history, which would be a shame considering we’re one of the oldest towns in Queensland.”
The NHS will hold its Annual General Meeting at the former Nanango Masonic Lodge in Gipps Street (opposite the Nanango ambulance station) at 7:30pm on Thursday, August 2.
People who would like more information should phone NHS secretary Clive Lowe on 0409-470-886.
