{"id":132675,"date":"2016-01-27T03:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T17:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=132675"},"modified":"2020-10-23T17:49:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T07:49:28","slug":"south-burnett-celebrates-in-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/01\/27\/south-burnett-celebrates-in-style\/","title":{"rendered":"South Burnett Celebrates In Style"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michelle Wilson, from Kingaroy, was proud to wave the flag on Australia Day outside the Kingaroy Town Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

January 26, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

The South Burnett marked Australia Day with bush poetry, live music, plenty of wacky events and lots and lots of Australian flags.<\/p>\n

Just about every town in the region had something organised, as did nearly every pub.<\/p>\n

The Australia Day celebrations kicked off on Monday evening with the South Burnett Regional Council’s annual awards ceremony which was held at Proston (see separate report<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

A blackout threatened to derail the ceremony. Generators were hastily sought but the power fortunately came back at 6:00pm, just as the formalities were due to begin.<\/p>\n

The storms which swirled around the South Burnett on Monday night, knocking over trees at Hodgeleigh, defied predictions and mostly stayed away on Tuesday to allow the long-planned Australia Day events to go ahead.<\/p>\n

Kingaroy’s cane toad races again proved popular, as did Nanango’s dog high-jumping competition (The prize? A carton of beer for the owner and a bag of bones for the dog).<\/p>\n

Each town also acknowledged their local winners in the South Burnett Australia Day awards.<\/p>\n

In the national Australia Day Honours list, also announced on Tuesday morning, Bell resident Jean Sorley received an Order of Australia Medal.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Murgon<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Leo Geraghty, from the Murgon Business and Development Association, with Cr Kathy Duff and guest speaker, former Murgon resident Waverley Stanley who set up “Yalari”, a foundation that assists Indigenous students who are doing well in primary school to attend some of the best boarding schools in Australia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Murgon marked Australia Day with a family fun day at the Queensland Dairy & Heritage Museum.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The day began with a community breakfast followed by the official proceedings, which included the presentation of the Murgon Business and Development Association’s Australia Day awards and acknowledgement of Murgon winners at the South Burnett Regional Council awards.<\/p>\n

Guest speaker was former Murgon resident Waverley Stanley who set up Yalari in 2005 to assist Indigenous schoolchildren to gain a good education.<\/p>\n

Waverley also organises the biennial Cherbourg Walk by Yalari students from the old Durundur Aboriginal Reserve, near Woodford, to Cherbourg\u00a0 recreating the walk made by many of the ancestors of today’s Cherbourg residents when Durundur was closed in 1905.<\/p>\n

He told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> he was looking forward to the opening of the Kingaroy-Kilkivan rail trail as he sees opportunities for Yalari students to use the route.<\/p>\n

Australia Day at Murgon was also an opportunity for visitors to inspect the new “The Shed” which is being constructed at the Dairy Museum to house more exhibits.<\/p>\n

“The Shed” was funded through a grant from the Tarong Community Partnership Fund.<\/p>\n