{"id":319575,"date":"2022-06-10T20:50:39","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T10:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=319575"},"modified":"2022-06-14T22:23:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T12:23:00","slug":"hughs-footsteps-echo-across-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2022\/06\/10\/hughs-footsteps-echo-across-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugh’s Footsteps Echo Across Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Kingaroy turned on a crisp morning for former South Burnett boy, Hugh O’Brien, left, on Thursday morning … Hugh was accompanied on the Kingaroy to Wondai leg of the journey along the South Burnett Rail Trail by his step-brother Ken Goodhew (Photo: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Kevin Hamilton McMahon in about 1925
(Photo: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 10, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

A former 4SB radio announcer – and State Government speechwriter – has retraced his grandfather’s footsteps by walking 275km from Purga to Murgon.<\/p>\n

Hugh O’Brien began his walk on May 28 in honour of his late grandad, Kevin Hamilton McMahon.<\/p>\n

In 1907, Kevin was aged just seven when he walked behind a bullock wagon which was hauling his adopted family from a farm south of Ipswich to Greenview, near Wondai.<\/p>\n

Kevin’s job along the way was to chock the wheels of the wagon with blocks of wood to stop it rolling backwards on hills.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The family stayed at Greenview for about 12 months before moving to a farm at Cloyna, where Kevin was a first-day pupil at the new Cloyna State School.<\/p>\n

In 1919, the family sold the farm and moved into Murgon after Kevin’s stepfather, William Creech, died.<\/p>\n

The move proved advantageous for young Kevin, who later adopted the surname of his birth mother ie. “McMahon”.<\/p>\n

He opened a shop in Lamb Street, Murgon, selling electrical goods and new-fangled radios.<\/p>\n

He ran this business for about 50 years and became a pillar of the local community, lobbying for the establishment of the high school and meatworks as well as being involved in local sport.<\/p>\n

Hugh told southburnett.com.au he was honouring his grandfather with every step along the journey.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Kevin was seven going on eight when he left Purga; I’m 67 going on 68,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree factors inspired the walk: I always admired how grandad made the most of a tough start in life; I needed a goal to motivate me to stay fit; and the emergence of the rail trails meant I could duplicate his approximate route without worrying about cars and trucks whizzing past.”<\/p>\n

The journey has brought back a lot of memories for Hugh, who is the fourth eldest of Kevin’s 26 grandchildren.<\/p>\n

He took a day’s break in Kingaroy on Wednesday for a “nostalgia trek” around town, checking out all the changes (and what’s stayed the same).<\/p>\n

“My old house in Arthur Street is still there,” he said.<\/p>\n

Hugh was born and raised in Kingaroy and called football games on 4SB, where he worked for four years.<\/p>\n

He tried to average 23km every day on his trek, about the same distance a bullock wagon would have achieved back in 1907.<\/p>\n

But Hugh also had to keep up the pace because he had another very important appointment to keep along the journey.<\/p>\n

On Monday afternoon, he was booked in by the Nanango Theatre Company to run a workshop, “How to Write A Funny Play”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the years, Hugh has worked as a speechwriter for politicians from all three main political parties – Nationals, Liberals and ALP – but he’s also an award-winning playwright.<\/p>\n

His comedies have won the Dogwood National Playwrights Initiative, the Noosa Arts Theatre National One-Act Playwriting Competition and the Carnival of Flowers Toowoomba Repertory Theatre Play Writing Competition.<\/p>\n

His mini-workshop in Nanango impressed his audience as he explained how to create and present a great story as a play.<\/p>\n

Hugh began the second last leg of his Purga-to-Murgon trek on Thursday morning, leaving a chilly Kingaroy to walk to Wondai alongside his step-brother Ken Goodhew.<\/p>\n

From Wondai, it was then just a short 16km journey to make it into Murgon and his grandfather’s graveside on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Wireless dealer Kevin Hamilton McMahon outside his shop in Lamb Street, Murgon, in the 1940s (Photo: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Nanango Theatre Company Life Member Tracy Clark, playwright Hugh O’Brien and secretary Jocelyn Richardson on Monday (Photo: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former 4SB radio announcer – and State Government speechwriter – has retraced his grandfather’s footsteps by walking 275km from Purga to Murgon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":319577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3],"tags":[21,28],"yoast_head":"\nHugh's Footsteps Echo Across Time - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A former 4SB radio announcer - and State Government speechwriter - has retraced his grandfather's footsteps by walking 275km from Purga to Murgon.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2022\/06\/10\/hughs-footsteps-echo-across-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hugh's Footsteps Echo Across Time - 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