January 28, 2020
Murgon residents marked Australia Day with celebrations at the Queensland Dairy and Heritage Museum on Sunday morning.
Well-known horseman and author Ian Francis was this year’s guest speaker, and he gave a talk about the importance of maintaining a positive mental attitude and the strong effect doing this had on his career.
“Our minds are like gardens and they grow the kinds of thoughts we sow,” Ian said.
“Sow negative thoughts and negative things will happen … but sow positive thoughts and the opposite occurs.
“One thing is certain: our minds cannot grow both types of thoughts together.”
The annual get-together was jointly sponsored by the Museum, the Murgon Business and Development Association (MBDA) and the South Burnett Regional Council.
Guests gathered in “the Barn” for the morning’s official proceedings after enjoying a free barbecue breakfast.
MBDA president Leo Geraghty congratulated all this year’s South Burnett Australia Day award winners and nominees, noting that 14 Murgon residents or local groups had been nominated for this year’s major award categories and had won four of them: the Cultural Award (Lee Porter), Senior Sportsperson of the Year (Neil Collard), Lifetime Achievement (Glenda Perry) and Community Organisation of the Year (Murgon Junior Rugby League).
He then called all this year’s nominees and winners to the podium to present each of them with MBDA awards to recognise their contributions to the local community.
Afterwards, guests were treated to lamingtons and a morning tea prepared by Museum volunteers, as well as live music and a line-dancing display.
The Murgon Men’s Shed also attended the morning to display their new Mental Awareness Vehicle and Information Service (aka ‘Mavis’), a converted LandRover that now carries information on a wide range of mental health services at local markets and community events.
The project, which was initiated by Men’s Shed member Neville French, took almost 18 months to complete and was launched late last year.
Neville said the drought which had descended on the South Burnett over the past few years had hit many local farming families hard, but even in good times many locals quietly suffered from mental health problems and didn’t know where to turn to for aid.
A key aim of Mavis was to raise awareness about mental health issues in the community, “provoke conversations” about the topic and point those suffering from problems in the direction of where they could obtain professional help.
