A Part of Buderim's History

Camphor Laurels in Buderim

By Meredith Walker

Camphor laurels are part of the familiar street scenes of Buderim. Self-sown trees are many times more numerous than planted. The Camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora) is a native to China, Taiwan and Japan and was introduced to Australia c1822 and to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens in 1861. It was first promoted as an ornamental tree; and from use for shade and shelter on farms, it has spread along the eastern coast of Australia from Nowra to Cooktown.

The first plantings on Buderim are unknown, but the oldest surviving planted trees date from the first decade of the 20^th century. The most prominent are the avenue in the school grounds planted c1910 by children born in 1900, including Fred Mead and Ivy Chadwick.  Opposite, in front of St Marks church (now the hall) two trees were planted by churchwarden John Waters in 1923. The Foote family planted camphors along King Street/Mooloolaba road frontage c1908 of which 7 remain: including at the entrance to Foote Avenue.  In 1911, Bert Fielding planted two weeping figs and a camphor laurel in front of his house (now the Aveo office) in Lindsay Road and later the Fergusons planted camphor laurels in their farm (date unknown) off Gloucester road.

Planted camphor laurels have an unintended legacy in the large number of self-seeded trees. They fruit prolifically in autumn and winter with birds spreading the seed.  Camphor laurels have overtaken and diminished the native vegetation along Martins Creek near Lindsay Road, as shown by comparing the present vegetation with aerial photos from 1920 and 1940.   Places that had few trees of any kind in 1958 now have self-sown camphor laurels, including alongside St Marks carpark. – where natives regenerate,  but their growth and sustainability is inhibited by camphors.

In Buderim Forest Park and Buderim Nature Reserve, the spread of camphor laurels is a constant problem especially at the edges and along watercourses, where seeds can travel considerable distances.  Camphors also invade protected vegetation in private ownership- the areas that contribute so much to the treed look of Buderim.

Camphor laurels have attractive qualities, but they are also a declared Class 3 pest plant in Queensland. Careful planning is needed reduce their adverse impacts and at the same sustain and support the growth of trees in Buderim.

Buderim Tree History – a project of the Buderim Historical Society, support by a Sunshine Coast council community grant and an endorsed B150 project.

A Part of Buderim's History

Love at Guy’s Siding 

by Mark Murtagh

Bill Parker.   My grandfather, William Ernest Parker, was an American, born in Missouri or Kansas, we think, in 1879 we think.  He was raised on a farm, and then as a young man drove large herds of cattle from the prairies to market, was a lumberjack in Canada during winter when the muskeg was frozen, and worked on railroad construction at other times.  He found himself in San Francisco sometime around 1910.

It seems that at that time the (Australian) Victorian State Government dreamed up a plan, “The Closer Lands Settlement Scheme” to open up the Shepparton district for apple orchardists, and recruited 64 Americans in San Francisco to be the pioneers. Bill was one of these. They brought them across, by ship of course, landed in Sydney thence by rail to Melbourne.  Here they received a lavish civic reception.  Shortly thereafter they were taken to the area of the proposed orchards.  It was immediately obvious to the recruits that this was not a viable proposition, so, Bill and his buddies, all disappointed, branched out looking for other opportunities.  The government wasn’t going to pay to send them home.   I am guessing that some of them would not want to go home for various reasons.

Bill made his way to Queensland.  He had worked on railroad construction in America so with all the railroad action in Queensland at that time he picked up a few earthmoving contracts. There was a big one on the line to Aramac.  George Phillips was the Engineer in charge of that project.  George later took on the Buderim Tram Line and was keen for Bill to do the work too.   Various sections of the line earthworks were being offered for tender.  Bill’s bids were successful for the bulk of the work from the Glen up to Telco Road.  You can, and should, walk along that line to see what was achieved with hand tools, explosives and horse drawn equipment.

Of course, everyone knows about William Henry Guy.  He was on Buderim with a survey party in 1869, and was among the very first settlers when the land was opened up for selection.  Soon after he built his primitive shack he found a lovely bride, Susan Hamilton.  It took more than a week on horseback to get her home after the wedding ceremony, and she wasn’t impressed when she arrived!  Nevertheless, they persevered, and made a fabulous family.  One girl and 5 boys.  They also built a grand old Queenslander home.

Jessie Guy.  My grandmother, Jestina Catherine Guy, was the firstborn of the Guy’s, and in fact, was the first white female born on Buderim.  She was a student at the Buderim State School, enrolled in 1884.  Quite active in civic and social activities as were most of the Quakers and Methodists.  Like everyone on Buderim, she took an interest in the tramway construction which crossed their place, and made the acquaintance of Bill Parker, the cavalier man in charge of earthworks further down the line.  Hey, have a look at what these men did without powered machinery, and you will be in awe too.   She was obviously enraptured, and Bill and Jessie were wed in 1914. 

They started married life on a farm at Tingoora, near Kingaroy.  Their wheat crops were a failure due to adverse seasons but one thing of note was that Jessie took peanuts from Buderim. They flourished, and that lead eventually to the start of the famous Kingaroy peanut industry. My mother, Maud, was born there.  Maud Street in Maroochydore is named after her.  They subsequently had 3 more girls, May, Ella and Rose.

Bill and Jessie returned to Buderim.  Mr. Guy gave them a slice of his land where they got back on their feet.  He was a kind and generous man.

Interestingly, Bill sold out to Arthur Parker, (same name, no relation), whose daughter Monica later married Jessie’s youngest brother Harold.  This is the same Monica Guy, the Buderim 150 ‘Living Legend’ who turned 105 years old in November 2011.  My Great-Aunt.

From Buderim, Bill and Jessie moved down towards Mooloolaba to a block adjacent to the Cemetery, then eventually to Maroochydore.  At one stage they were the biggest landholders there with their 400 acre dairy along the south side of Aerodrome Road.  Bill was very active in the community and it was he who put a motion to the Progress Association in 1947 to rename the shire the ‘Sunshine Coast’.  This predated the push by the REIQ by many years.  Bill would be happy to know that his idea has finally been adopted.

Bill and Jessie are buried at the Buderim Cemetery, but their progeny and their memories live on along the Sunshine Coast and hinterland.

A Part of Buderim's History

Where Did they Go? The Story of Buderim’s Indigenous Residents
Part Six

Ray Kerkhove

1930s – Now:  Here we move into the epoch of “living memory.”  The 1930s brought a gradual easing of restrictions around Aboriginal people – usually in the form of ‘exemptions’ (allowing individuals to permanently leave the Reserves, if they lived and worked in the white community and promised to not associated with any Aboriginal people). In 1948, some three exemptions were granted for individuals who had hailed from Buderim. This quest for conformity often led to deliberate suppression of Indigenous language and customs even by Aboriginal/ Islander families, as some Buderim families still recall (Lindsell 1995-6).

Gradually as elsewhere in Australia, the Aboriginal/Kanaka families gained equal rights to voting and better jobs and education than they had been permitted before. They continued to school their children at Buderim. Older members of the current community recall walking to Buderim’s springs – and their work in farming, fishing, water-carrying and washing (LIndsell 1995-6). They also recall the frequent long walks to and from school and work, but they also note that starting in the 1930s – and more so after the 1960s – their once tightly-knit Indigenous community was fairly shattered. It had started to disperse, with various individuals following up new opportunities and living and working elsewhere on the Sunshine Coast (such as Nambour and Bli Bli) or even in Central Queensland (Lindsell 1995-6).

However, there are still scores of Aboriginal people living in Buderim today, as there were also 15 years ago , according to the 1996 Census (McGarvie 1999:2).  Moreover, in recent years, families whose roots lay in Buderim (though they themselves may have grown up elsewhere) produced unforgettable figures, including footballer Arthur Beetson, contemporary artist Bianca Beetson, and dancer/artist Lyndon Davis.  Thus the Buderim Indigenous community is still with us, and has made a proud contribution to all Australia.

*Local populations fluctuated with work and movement, but most records of this time describe small groups of 12 to 20 persons at various locations – a far cry from the 200-600 inhabiting many camps twenty years earlier.

SOURCES

Abbreviations re/ Archive materials (unpublished letters etc.)

COL = Colonial Secretary’s Department

CPA = Child Protection Agency

HOM = Home Secretary

JUS = Justice Department

Other works

Adams, R J. L., 2000, Noosa – Gubbi Gubbi: The land and the people Tewantin: Ultreya

Blyth, A., 1994, John Low’s House and Family Yandina (Koongalba 1894-1994), Yandina: Audienne Blyth

Donavon, V., 2002, The Reality of a Dark History (Brisbane: Queensland Heritage Network/ Arts Queensland)

Heap, E.G., November 1966, ‘In the Wake of the Raftsmen – Part.1,’ Queensland Heritage Vol.1:3

Jackson, G.K., 1937, ‘Aboriginal Middens at Pt Cartwright District,’ Annals of Queensland Museum 11 (1936-1939)

Johnson, M & Kay Saunders, 2007, Wild Heart, Bountiful Land – An Historical Overview of the Mary River Valley (Runconrn: Qld State Archives/ Cooloola Shire Council)

Jones, E., 1938, Jottings from My Notebook (mss folio F8019 – Fryer Collection, Uni of Qld)

Lindsell, H., 1995-1996, South Sea Islanders Research (audio recordings – Buderim Historical Cottage)

Maddock, E., 11 June 1965, Early History of Mooloolah (mss folio FA432 - Fryer Collection, Uni of Qld)

Melton, C.,  1909-1924, Cuttings Book (Brisbane Courier) – mss Royal Qld Historical Society

Meston, A., 25 August 1923, ‘Early Incidents,’ Daily Mirror (OM72-82/4 Fryer Collection)

McGarvie, N & J., December 1999, History of the Aborigines in the Buderim Area (Buderim: Buderim Historical Society)

Monks, C., 2000, Noosa – the way it was and the way it is now (Tewantin: Monks)

Pedley, I., 1979, Winds of Change: 100 Years in the Widgee Shire (Gympie: Gympie Times)

Petrie, C.C., 1904/ 1983 (3^rd edition), Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland London: Angus & Robertson

Pitt, S., 9 November 1999, Chronology of events involving Aborigines and Pacific Islanders in the Buderim area (unpuplished pamphlet)

Robertson, A. (ed.), 1962, Buderim – 100 Years of History Reviewed (Buderim: Centenary Celebrations Committee)

Steele, T. n/d, ‘When the River was Jammed with Logs,’ Article 12 Gympie Times (compilation – John Oxley collection, State Library of Queensland)

Taiton, Rev., 1976, Maruchti (mss – Nambour Local Studies)

A Part of Buderim's History

Where Did they Go? The Story of Buderim’s Indigenous Residents
Part Five

Ray Kerkhove

1900s - 1920s: The predicament of Buderim's Aboriginal population grew more dismal with the introduction of the 1897 Aboriginals Protection & Restriction of Sale of Opium Act. State and local governments were being pressured to permanently remove or deport non-Anglo-Saxons from town and country alike, complying with community vision of an all-white Australia. Now Aboriginals could be removed everywhere in Queensland and permanently contained in prison-like Reserves or similar forms of incarceration such as hospitals, leper colonies, nursing homes and prisons. Their only reprieve was to be employed in work contracts at specified homesteads, but even this often meant being moved anywhere around Queensland, and years of absence from family and loved ones (Donovan 2002: 259). 

To add to these difficulties, by 1910, almost all Reserves of the South-east Queensland were closed and their lands opened to settlement. Gubbi Gubbi people from Buderim and elsewhere who had been living not too far away in these Reserves were now dumped much further afield - usually at Taroom Reserve or Cherbourg (near Murgon) or even Palm Island in North Queensland.  The reserves forbade Indigenous custom and language and effectively cut people off from their families. 

Some of the Buderim Chillis were sent to Taroom Reserve, and despite their efforts to return, individuals like Henry Chilli ended their days there. In 1920, Charlie Brown – an Aboriginal working in Buderim – was removed after complaints about his affiliation with non-Aboriginal women (CPA Correspondence 40/744). That same year, Alice – a Gubbi Gubbi woman - was removed to Deebing Creek, simply for having married Jack Sandwich (a Kanaka). Their child was left in Jack’s custody.

Local Sunshine Coast farmers became unexpected allies to the Indigenous community in these difficult times. They pestering the authorities to permit the Chillis, Muckans and others to return to live and work in Buderim under their employ (HOMJ2150-370). Others hid their Aboriginal workers whenever ‘authorities’ turned up to remove them.  A good instance of this was the ten or so Aborigines and Aboriginal-Kanaks (some from Buderim) who managed to keep working and living near the Lows in Yandina during the 1900s – 1910s (Blyth 1994: 13, 32).  Thus "removal" - despite its finality - was a slow and at times ineffective process, with individuals and families escaping the system in fits and starts right up to its demise in the 1960s.

Ironically, the Act also brought ‘fresh blood’ (non-Gubbi Gubbi Aborigines) into Buderim and neighbouring areas during the 1910s-1920s.  Farmers of the district requested the services of Aborigines from the Reserves as farmhands and domestics. At Mooloolah, Aboriginal youth were employed to clear lantana and peach (for instance, at Paget's and Smith's) (HOM J2150-370), whilst the Buderim Aboriginal community saw new members such as Jimmy Blackboy ('Blackie'). Evidently he was hardly alone, as reports speak of his fights with “other coloured men" at Buderim (JUS/n619/16/609).

A Part of Buderim's History

Where Did they Go? The Story of Buderim’s Indigenous Residents
Part Four

Ray Kerkhove

1880s - 1890s:  By the 1880s, the survivors were living in a very different world from their parents. Buderim’s large pastoral and timber leases had been minutely subdivided. Farming dominated the plateau. Scores of Kanaka (South Sea Islander) cane workers inhabited a village in the centre of Buderim.  Most of the Kanaks were single males. In their free time, they often mixed with local Aboriginal people at their camping grounds (Mooloolaba, Cottontree, Nambour etc.), so it is not surprising that many married Gubbi Gubbi women.

Unfortunately, government authorities took a dim view of such liaisons.  Aboriginals were now a minority group to be controlled rather than feared.  It became commonplace for settlers to request that particular Aboriginal individuals or families be placed "for their own good" into benevolent institutes or Aboriginal Reserves. A number of the latter had been formed: at White Patch (Bribie Island), Durundur (Woodford), Myora (Stradbroke Island), Fraser Island, and Deebing Creek (Ipswich). 

Thus when it was reported that at least 16 Buderim Kanakas had married Gubbi Gubbi women, the Immigration Agent (Mr Brennan) was sent to Buderim to investigate. Finding the reports correct, the Queensland Protector of Aborigines, Archibald Meston, ordered tracker Willie Gordon to "muster the women and their children for transport to a home in Brisbane" (COL/143).  Though Meston later regretted the forcible manner in which this was carried out - particularly how the three children of Sam Gee Gee (Wageegee) and Annie Lawrtie were seized by police on their way home from school, the Gee Gee children, Robert Wassemo, Alice Sandwich and Mary Ann Brown and others were removed from Buderim. As might be expected, their Kanaka/Aboriginal parents (and some of the Buderim settlers such as George Jones) wrote letters of protest, but with no result (COL/ 143, 02/14989).

Despite such obstacles, Aboriginal/ Kanaka families took great pride in the fact that they were - unlike most Aborigines of south-east Queensland - able to school their children. In 1887 a school opened in Buderim and Aborigines and Islander families were amongst the students (Pitt 1999). Their dedication is seen in the fact that many of the Indigenous mums chose to camp very near the Buderim school (McGarvie 1999: 5-6).

The Aborigines of Buderim were now, as photos show, increasingly “Western” in their lifestyle and mode of dress (see John Oxley Collection Neg. 57015), yet they simultaneously tried to maintain traditional social and ritual obligations such as bora initiations and inter-tribal gatherings.  This was another reason for their sudden 'disappearances' or 'walkabouts.’ Charlotte Kuskopf, recalling the 1890s, states that groups still conducted "walkabouts from the Blackall Ranges, Hunchy and Buderim" during the bunya season, camping overnight at Woombye and giving bunya nuts to her family when they left (Taiton 1976). 

A Part of Buderim's History

Where Did they Go? The Story of Buderim’s Indigenous Residents
Part Three

Ray Kerkhove

1860s - 1870s:  In 1862, Tom Petrie became the first white man to officially cut timber on Buderim Mountain. His work team consisted of 25 Gubbi Gubbi people (men and their wives) from Brisbane and Bribie who knew (and indeed took him to) the site (Petrie 1904).

Two years earlier, the Bunya Bunya Reserve had been scrapped as one of the first acts of the new Queensland Parliament.  What we now call the Sunshine Coast became a timber reserve. White visitors recall seeing thousands of logs rafting down the streams and rivers, which were so often clogged with timber that they jammed the Mooloolah, Maroochy and Mary Rivers and one could walk across them without getting wet (Steele – Article 12). 

Buderim was the main focus of this intense activity. This was because, by all accounts, it held the finest and biggest specimens of red cedar, beech, kauri etc. Thus the Gubbi Gubbi were now constantly running up the mountain, cutting and dragging timber.  At this time there were only seven settlers (some with wives) on Buderim Mountain (Jones 1938: 5), so it was largely the Gubbi Gubbi  who did the pioneering work of clearing bushland, stripping bark, carrying supplies, building fences and working the stock (Taiton 1976: 183).

However, within six years (in 1868), the heads of these pioneering timber ventures - Pettigrew, Gregor, Low and Petrie - had utterly exhausted the forest reserves of the Buderim/ Mooloolah region. They decided to move their operations elsewhere (Heap 1966: 18).

In the process, they apparently abandoned their Gubbi Gubbi work teams. Deprived of income, the Aboriginal workers extracted’rent’ (flour) from settlers’ stores. Faced with this problem, William Pettigrew came up with the idea of flattering one of their headmen and his wife - King Bingeye and Queen Sarah - with breastplates, which were duly delivered by Ronald Coghill (a Buderim pioneer). Pettigrew enlisted the couple to help him halt the robberies. They proved very effective, but Bingeye was no mere puppet - he made a deal with Pettigrew to employ the Gubbi Gubbi teams in another paddock, cutting more timber (Heap 1966: 18). Bingeye's breastplate can still be seen today in Buderim's Pioneer Cottage.

As this shows, Buderim Aboriginals were starting to rely on employment with white pioneers - even if it entailed destroying their environment. As far as possible, they also tried to maintain their independence with traditional hunting-gathering, which is why they preferred casual and seasonal work - 'disappearing' from time to time on 'walkabouts.' Ewen Maddock witnessed the Mooloolah/ Buderim Aborigines hunting possums, scaling trees for honey (even to heights of 80 feet), eeling in the creeks - happily sharing these activities with white children such as him (Maddock 1965: 3).  However, less and less natural resources were now available. Work for the white man was increasingly the only option - apart from begging or stealing.

Begging and stealing - especially hassling travellers or spearing cattle and sheep - upset the settlers, who vented their anger in complaints to the police. It is no coincidence that as soon as the Bunya Bunya Reserve was terminated, Ltnt Fred Wheeler launched "immediate" patrols from his Sandgate base to "disperse" (which he explained meant shoot) blacks in Imbil and Kandanga Creek (COL/A44/63/2144, Z5671). This was at the request of local settlers.

Between 1862 and 1863 - in the midst of the early timber-getting - Wheeler reports he was constantly "patrolling... the Mooloolah, Maroochy, Ubi Ubi (Obi Obi)... districts" (COL/A32 from Col. Secretary Correspondence 62/2186; ID 846772 63/ 1511). Ironically, Wheeler also used his patrols as an occasion to "recruit" additional black police.  Not surprisingly, he was unsuccessful. He reported that sometimes the groups had not yet assembled for the bunya festival. Other times they told him they were too busy preparing for the bunya festival. Still other days, they were too busy washing sheep to join his bloodthirsty group. In apparent frustration, Wheeler "dispersed a large mob... near the sea coast" - presumably somewhere between Mooloolaba and Maroochydore (COL/A47/63/2889, Z5680). Wheeler also chased the Gubbi Gubbi around other parts of the countryside – for instance, having a confrontation with them when they were visiting Esk. During this, he states: “at last I was obliged to fire upon them in self defence” (ID 846761 62/ 1897 Z5605).

Throughout the 1860s and 1870s, at Murdering Creek by Lake Weyba, Imbil, Teewah, Tuchekoi, Manumbar, Ninderry/ Yandina Station, Amamoor, Kenilworth, Cooloothin Creek, Caboolture River and – oral history suggests - at many other sites, sizable groups of Aborigines were slaughtered (Monks 2000:81, Adams 2000: 140; Pedley 1979: 19, Heap 11, Brisbane Courier 1 Sept 1862).  The aggressors were as often vigilante settlers as Native Police.  Many of the victims would have been persons who frequented Buderim. Combined with epidemics, deaths through European-introduced intoxicants (rum often being the main currency of payment to Aboriginal labourers) and malnutrition, the war rapidly reduced the Aboriginal population of the Mooloolah/ Maroochy region. In just twenty years (by the early 1880s) it fell to about 40 - 50 to judge from the requests for blankets by Mooloolah and Didillibah residents at this time (McGavrie 1999: 2).* 

*Local populations fluctuated with work and movement, but most records of this time describe small groups of 12 to 20 persons at various locations – a far cry from the 200-600 inhabiting many camps twenty years earlier.

A Part of Buderim's History

Where Did they Go? The Story of Buderim’s Indigenous Residents
Part Two

Ray Kerkhove

1840s - 1850s:  For local Aborigines, the start of 'free (non-convict) settlement' was marred by the Kilcoy massacre (1842 – Meston 1923). Some 60 of their people (Gubbi Gubbi) from Mt Bauple perished in that event (Johnson & Saunders 2007: 6). In response, many amongst the Gubbi Gubbi and neighbouring groups met at the bunya lands (near Maleny) and declared war on white people. Thus began a sporadic, guerrilla conflict that lasted till c.1855 – what Chas Melton recalled as “the fighting Fifties” (Melton 1919).  It mostly consisted of economic sabotage – depleting or driving away the herds and crops that fed the settlers (Adams 2000:137), and trying to disrupt their lines of transportation or inflict revenge killings on particularly bothersome whites.

The very same year (1842), the entire 'North Coast region' (today's Sunshine Coast - mostly Gubbi Gubbi territory) was declared a 'Bunya Bunya Reserve' by Governor Gipps.  This halted settlers moving into the area and made it an important ‘hide out’ for resistance leaders like Dundalli and Yilbung.

Many Aborigines from the 'North Coast' were nevertheless curious about the strange white men of the fledgling colony. Melton records that Brisbane’s Indigenous visitors at this time were “mostly from tribes of the North Coast region” (Melton 1921: 85).  The visitors came to trade or sell their wares and sea foods, or take up casual jobs such as water-carrying.  Others simply visited to observe the curious antics of the newcomers or to beg and pilfer what they could of their strange objects, foods and intoxicants.  By such means, the Gubbi Gubbi and other groups rapidly grew proficient in English, horse-riding, shooting, boat-piloting, the use of iron and countless other objects - blending all this as best they could with their traditional lifestyle.

A little more than ten years after the Bunya Bunya Reserve had been proclaimed; two large pastoral leases engulfed the Mooloolah/ Buderim district (Heap 1965: 7). Timber getters such as Richard Jones were already exploring Buderim’s forests (Robertson 1962: 5). They established tiny timber ports at Alexandra Headlands, Mooloolaba, and Maroochydore.

The usual workers for these early arrivals were local Gubbi Gubbi people. It was they who cut and dragged the mighty logs down to what had been their old pathways - down the creeks, to the Mooloolah River and eventually on their way around the world. It was also they who created the roadways to transport the timber (Andison 1997: 3).

A Part of Buderim's History

Where Did they Go? The Story of Buderim’s Indigenous Residents

Ray Kerkhove

What became of the Aboriginal (Gubbi Gubbi) people of Buderim? The short answer is: they're still here. Indigenous families whose original country was the Buderim/ Mooloolah area - the Chillis, Muckans, Beetsons and others - mostly continue to live on the Sunshine Coast. Quite a few still live on or near Buderim.  However, the Aboriginal community underwent many changes and is today much smaller than at the dawn of Buderim’s history. To understand how this occurred, we need to follow their story almost decade by decade....

1820s - 1830s: 'First contact' occurred almost 200 years ago - explorers, castaways, escaped convicts and bunders ('wild white men') wandering and staying everywhere between Brisbane to Wide Bay.  Some of them must have passed through Buderim, though this was never recorded, as the area back then was an important Gubbi Gubbi resource and work site, as well as a camping ground (towards Sippy Downs).  The latter, being the "hillside resort” for the Gubbi Gubbi and others engaged in fishing and oyster-diving between Pt Cartwright and Alexandra Headlands, must have been much frequented to judge from the huge middens (shell heaps) that once characterised the area (Jackson 1937).  Smallpox spreading from the penal colonies decimated local populations before the first settlers arrived, but well into the 1860s, there were still some 300 Aborigines inhabiting the Mooloolah/ Buderim region (McGavrie 1999:2).

Back to Buderim Weekend Photos

A Part of Buderm's History

More memories from Merle Stevens:

About the teachers – there was Beryl Waters and Beryl Crosby.  The former (herself enrolled in 1914) taught Mum (Merle Stevens) piano, but I’m not sure whether she was a school teacher or not.  The latter was one of Mum’s school teachers and in singing lessons, taught Mum and Lizzie Mucken to sing duets.  She was possibly not much older than her pupils and so may have been still teaching (and single) when you and Simon were at school.  Mum’s sister Daph (who wasn’t keen on dentists) says there were sisters, Bell (Beryl?) and Kitty Crosby.  I couldn’t find their names in the Buderim M.S.S. centenary book but they may have moved there after the girls had finished school.  Vince Crosby was enrolled 1918.

When I was school age we drove over Buderim from Glenview to visit Mum’s parents at Mooloolaba.  Vince Crosby lived halfway up the side of Buderim that was referred to as Crosby Hill.  Aunty Daph also remembers that J.J. Simpson bought the coffee mill from Boards.  He had a little girl, Marion, who Aunty Daph accompanied to school.

Aunty Daph is 8 years younger than Mum.  Mum went to live with relatives at Mooloolah so that she could attend high school (Nambour Rural School) by train and after that, she only went back to Buderim for holidays.  Her cousin who does the family tree sent me a sketchy photocopy of the high rail bridge between Telco & Glenmount and it certainly does look high!

From Beris Staveley – 20^th February 2012

A Part of Buderim's History

A few memories of Buderim in the 1920’s
by Merle Stevens (Morrish) aged 94 (2011, in her 95^th year)

Born at Maleny on 15^th December 1916, Merle came to Buderim when her father (Albert Morrish) purchased his brother’s farm on the southern side of Mons Road.

Her father grew bananas for a living.  The fruit was taken by horse and cart to the Glenmount Tram Station for transportation to market.

Merle was enrolled at Buderim School in 1923 and went there until she finished Grade 8.  Her best friends were Alma Solway, Lizzie Muckan, Myrtle Huet and “Hattie” Will.  She enjoyed music and singing and remembers how Miss Crosby taught her and Lizzie to sing duets.  Miss Beryl Waters taught her to play piano.

The walk to school took her up the hill past the coffee mill (which she remembers was owned for a time by someone named Board), then on past the Post Office and Middie’s shop.  One of the lady teachers lived at a boarding house near the school and at lunch time, a couple of students were sent there to pick up a hot meal and bring it to that teacher.

One of the teachers, Mr Campbell had two sons attending the school.  Merle remembers the day he caned one of them for some misdemeanour – she passed the boy on the steps and was horrified to see him dabbing at his hand with an apparently blood-soaked handkerchief – turns out it was a red handkie!

The waterfall down behind the School grounds was strictly out-of-bounds but Merle’s friend Alma lived on the other side of the creek and they spent many happy hours playing by the waterfall at weekends – with that delicious feeling of breaking the rules.

She thought Alma had a sibling born at a hospital on Buderim?  Did Buderim have a hospital at any stage?  She definitely remembers a dentist visiting the town periodically – she had to take her little sister Daphne in to have some dental work done but Daph had other ideas – she ran away and hid.

Dr Shaw was the local G.P.  She recalls his touching her father on the arm as he broke the news of her brother Jack being hit by a car on the way home from school - and not surviving. (1934)

Merle usually attended the Church of England service on Sundays but one Sunday went to the Methodist service with her friend Alma.  They were watched by a C. of E. family who must have reported this scandalous behaviour to their minister as the next Sunday he preached a sermon on the sin of attending the service of another denomination.

The Buderim Tram features strongly in her memories.  It took their fruit to market and letters could be handed to the driver for posting.

One day, Merle was sent to Glenmount with an important letter to post.  A heated argument between two men took her attention, and she suddenly realised the tram was gone and the letter was still in her hand.  She ran along the track behind the tram and caught up with it at Telco – gave them the letter – then realised that in her haste and fear of getting into trouble, she had run across the high rail bridge without noticing.  Now she had to get down on hands and knees and crawl back.  Harry Sargood had followed her and helped her back.

On Sundays, people came to Buderim on excursions.  They sat on long seats on the open trolley behind the little engine.  Merle and her friend used to drop wildflowers on the passengers from a bridge above the rail cutting.

A Part of Buderim's History

Sport.

by Joyce Short
September 2011

Golf-Prior to WW2 there was a small golf course on the top of Buderim Mountain.  Bordered by Gloucester Street and Ferguson Ave, it circled around behind Buderim House to the Orme Road area.  Then on the opposite side of Orme Road they had a small Club House built at the bottom of Dr Shaw’s garden.

War duties then made sport defunct for 6 years and the golf course reverted to being Fieldings paddocks and the little club house to being a cottage.

After the war, when everyone was returning to civilian life, Dr H.K. Shaw and Glyn Middleton were paramount in reorganizing a new Golf Club.  Their foresight and efforts resulted in the present day Headland Golf Club and its splendid golf course.

Football and Cricket.

In the very early days Football and Cricket were played on one of Footes farm paddocks.  Some years later the school oval was used.  Until after WW2 this oval had quite a deep gully running from the School Falls area almost half way into the oval.  It was not until the opening, heavy machinery brought to Australia by the American army was discovered by Australian Industries that a bulldozer was able to fill in this gully and level the whole oval.

Tennis.

Pre WW2 there was quite a lot of tennis played using private courts-one such court was in Gloucester Road.  After the war a public meeting formed a Tennis Club.  The members then set to and by having a couple of years of Sunday morning working bees the members built the two tennis courts near the swimming pool.  These courts are now owned by the school.

Basket Ball-now called netball.

Towards the end of WW2 a group of young women got permission to set up a Basket Ball court alongside the Buderim Hall.  For a couple of years they took part in playing in the district fixtures, but after that Basket Ball seemed to fade out, perhaps it was the change over to netball coming in that caused it.

Life Savers.

Right from the very beginning of the Mooloaba Surf Life Savers Club being formed, a high percentage of its members were Buderim men.  Going to Mooloolaba of a Sunday, as a very young child, I was fascinated by the men in their white trousers and maroon blazers who used Bill Mitchells White Elephant Tourer Bus to go to and from their days duty with the Life Savers at Mooloolaba.

A Part of Buderim's History

Social Life During World War 2 (1939-45)
by Joyce Short
September 2011

During World War 2, the Old Time dances every Friday night became the social life of the Mountain.  It was the most successful way to raise funds for the war effort and as well as the dancing, for a time, people also played bridge in the Halls meeting room on those nights.

The success of the dances was due to a group of people who called themselves the Buderim Benefit Committee and who without fail, wet or fine, did all the weekly chores for the dances throughout those years.  From the young pianist and drummer who played gratis, the kitchen workers, the door keeper, the MC, the family who organized and made the suppers, the people who donated food stuffs for the suppers, everyone gave freely of time and goods.  It was a worthy effort and it was a great success.

If you ever meet somebody from those years it’s a pretty sure bet that they will say-“remember those dances, weren’t they great?!”

And how did Buderim celebrate when the news that the war had ended on 15^th August 1945 came through?  Why, a dance that very night of course, and it wasn’t a Friday!  However everyone responded and the hall was full!

Back to Buderim Weekend photos: Part 1

From Daughter Carol Richardson. Gympie.

Here are two pictures of Past Student no 749a Dorothy Davison {JONES} enrolled 1922.

Looking Terrific at Buderim School 5th may at the Back to Buderim weekend 2012.

Dorothy Davidson (Jones)

- Thank you Carol for sharing these lovely pictures with us. All of us here at B150 hope she enjoyed her day.

Buderim150 and Buderim Foundation on Facebook

Don't forget to like the Buderim 150 Facebook page.

Also the Buderim Foundation is now on Facebook, make sure you like their page by clicking here.

A Part of Buderim's History

The Farms

by Joyce Short
September 2011

Farming became exceptionally important during the war as it meant Australia had to have a reliable food source, not only for all it citizens but all its armed forces too.  Later it had to feed the thousands of American forces who were posted in Australia for years, plus food for the several P.O.W. camps out here also.

Farming was a protected industry and the farmers were expected to grow more and more food in spite of the fact most young men had joined the armed forces and gone from the farms. 

Daylight saving was introduced for the War Years in a bid to get the farmers working an extra hour a day, and of course they obliged. 

The Womens Land Army was formed to help the farmers cope.  On Buderim a large empty house was taken over as a Land Army Camp.  It housed up to 20 or so girls with a Matron in Charge.  A Utility truck took the girls out daily to the designated farms employing them and back to camp each evening.  They gave very valuable help for some years.

Italian P.O.W’s in their distinctive maroon clothes were also billeted on some farms, but were not allowed to be seen much in public.  Most could not speak English, although one man sent to Buderim could, as prior to the War he had traveled through Australia as a member of an Italian Opera Company.  Sometimes of an evening the air, around the farm he was at, would pulsate to the beautiful songs he sang and neighbours would go to their windows to listen.  It was probably great therapy for the man and it was certainly a joy to the neighbours.

A Part of Buderim's History

The Piano Bridge

by Joyce Short
September 2011

In the very early settlement days of Buderim and its surrounds a strong wooden bridge was built over the Mooloolah River close to where the Caloundra turnoff is now.  Even when the Bruce Highway came through by 1935 that bridge was part of the highway for many years. 

Everyone called it the Piano Bridge and most thought the name referred to the way every plank seemed to make a different sounding rattle.  However, that was not correct.

Apparently Westaways at Meridan Plains had ordered a piano to come from England.  There was great excitement at the thought of the first piano to come to the district and it conjured up great visions of musical treats to come.  The piano would be delivered to its new home by bullock wagon, and people worried that the new bridge with its “U” shaped entry and exit might see the piano jolted or sway and perhaps topple!  Mr. Laxton (Mick Meads grandfather), a skilled teamster with bullock wagons had the job of delivering the piano.  The local people had come to watch and hold their breath as the sharp turn onto the bridge was approached but this skilled man brought the team around, over the bridge then sharply turn again off the bridge with slow, quiet commands and no movement whatever of the piano.  There was a cheer from the onlookers and all agreed the new bridge would be called Piano Bridge, and so it was!

A Part of Buderim's History

The World War 2 Years on Buderim
by Joyce Short
September 2011

Once Japan entered the war and was so quickly and easily heading down through Asia and the Pacific Islands towards Australia, the whole of the Maroochy Shire found itself a giant training place for soldiers destined to fight in New Guinea.

The lantana slopes and bush areas surrounding Buderim Mountain became soldier camps.  After their exercises of fighting through the lantana scrub we heard quite a few soldiers swear to go back home and dig out every trace of garden lantana they’d had in their own gardens.  How they hated it!

Nobody could argue with the Army.  One local resident had his late model utility commandeered for Army use and it had to be delivered to Brisbane.

When a Battalion of soldiers camped in the bush, where Kunda Park is now, a nearby house found its kitchen with a phone on the wall, taken over as the Head Quarters of the Officers of the Battalion for the weeks that they were there.

Ploughed ground (my Dad’s bean patch) became a target spot for small planes to practice dropping military dispatches to a group of soldiers on maneuvers for several days.

A light Horse Brigade chose to ride up to Buderim along the disused tram line, cutting wire fences in their way and leaving irate farmers to hunt up farm animals that had got out.

Civilian traveling was frowned upon and had to be very important to be allowed, otherwise it was quite possible you would be apprehended at some point and told to go home again.

Letters to and from soldiers were all censored.  Even civilian mail was censored at times and a letter could arrive looking like a paper doyley with pieces cut out of it, even though you couldn’t imagine what military significance they could ever have found in the deleted words or sentences.

Very stringent petrol rationing for private use really left everyone grounded in his own little area.

After the war ended it took several years to gradually have the restrictions removed.  The world emerged as a very different place and it seemed like a whole new beginning had started.  The war certainly had been a very hefty milestone in our lives.

A Part of Buderim's History

A Busy Mill Road in the Early Days.
by Joyce Short
September 2011

When I was young, Mill Road was known by everyone as Lantana Lane, because it had become a jungle of lantana growth except for barely leaving the two wheel tracks spared from its tenacious grip.  Very few vehicles use it and passing anything was impossible.

Apparently that had not been the case in the final years of the 1890’s era or the years up to WW1.  In those days there was a sugar mill there and a small Salvation Army Gospel Hall also.  A brass band of local people had been formed with quite a few of the band members being South Sea Islanders.

Every second Saturday afternoon the Salvation Army Captain from Nambour walked out to Buderim, stayed overnight, took a Sunday morning church service in the Hall and then walked back to Nambour Sunday afternoon.  On the alternate Sundays the Captain walked to Montville and did the same thing there.  On the Buderim church days the Brass Band formed up at Gloucester Street and Main Street corner and marching off playing their instruments led most of the young people, who were singing with the band, to the Gospel service.

According to my father-in-law they had the most wonderful day.  It was the social event of the week and nearly everyone went and met up with all their friends.

Back to Buderim Weekend

Hey everyone,
Hope you're all enjoying the weekends festivities
If you're looking for something to do tomorrow check out the program here

See you there
Jenny, Brooke and Conor

A Part of Buderim's History

The First Buderim Shops - that I remember.

by Joyce Short
September 2011

When I started school in 1932 there were two General Stores and a Butchers shop on Buderim.

Mr Ernest Middleton (he was always called Middy) had his shop where Middy’s complex is now.  Mr Norman Fielding had the Top Shop at the top of the School Hill fronting onto Gloucester Street.  This top shop as well as selling groceries had a petrol bowser out the front and the bakehouse attached to the northern side of it.  It was also the local newsagent.  About 1940 when electricity had come to Buderim a café’ was built onto the School Hill side of the building to serve people with sandwiches and tea.  During the later 1930’s Mr Fielding built a small shop in Main Street close to the Ballinger Road corner and this was called The Bottom shop and opened at 1pm daily for a few hours.  It was welcomed by people living south and west of it, saving a walk up School Hill to get papers and bread.  It was good for all the school kids from those areas too, as most had the job carrying bread and papers and even groceries home each afternoon, usually in a sugar bag tied with a rope and usually slung over one shoulder.

The Butcher shop on the corner where The Hub buildings are4 now, had shifted to there during the early 1930’s from its former site past Middys and the Case Mill (which cut timber for the farmers to make into cases for fruit packing for markets).  The new Post Office, now called the Old Post Office, was almost opposite the new Butcher shop across the Main Street and operated from about 1937.

Middy’s shop had the slogan “We sell anything and everything” and he certainly had a big variety of goods.  From a front window of tantalizing lollies at the front to farm tools and heavy work boots out the back, to Fancy Goods, Kitchen Utensils, haberdashery and linen work to the left and groceries and anything else to the centre and right side of the shop it was a treasure trove to wander through (if you could squeeze through)!  Many goods hung from the ceiling and you had to duck your head often.

The electricity was brought up Jones Road for a start and along Gloucester Street.  Everything was done by man and horse power except for trucks dumping the long electric poles.  Men dug the holes and then with horses dragging the poles into position and men and horses heaving the pole up and heavy wooden props to steady them it was a fairly slow process.With electricity, all the shops installed refrigerators, but frozen goods had not hit the market in those days.  For us kids though the thought of an occasional ice cream or ice block was wonderful.  Buderim had really come of age in our eyes.

The Quarry:

Twice, while I was young, the Quarry behind Lions Park was opened up to gouge out the rock face to be crushed into blue metal for road making.  With it’s constant blasting that often hurled rocks up to a hundred metres away it was the bane of the lives of neighbours and pedestrians alike.  How we’d run when the workmen passed us going to each end of the danger zone to block people and traffic until the blast was over.  On the little road slope opposite Lion Park entrance we had a game stamping hard on the dirt road to hear a hollow echo below the ground.  The bitumen road, when it came, stopped that game as yould only hear a foot stamp after that.

A Part of Buderim's History

Shades of the Past-“The Contraption”

by Joyce Short
September 2011

When I was about 10 years old and going to the Buderim Mountain State School, a few of us were going up the school steps when a couple of boys coming down passed us and in a hushed voice said, “You want to see the funny looking thing down under the school?”  Off we went to explore.  But before we got much of a look at the contraption, which looked like a canvas stretcher on 2 big wheels, the Head Masters shout told us to all keep away from under the school.  By the next day the thing had disappeared?  Where had they dragged it from?  What had they done with it?  We never ever found out.

However, when I told Dad and Mum about it, Dad said that it was a mobile ambulance stretcher and was probably the one that had been used about 1919-20 when an epidemic of bubonic influenza had hit Australia.  All the schools had been closed and turned into temporary hospitals to treat the flu patients. 

Residents had been asked to volunteer as Ambulance bearers to bring patients in on this mobile stretcher. 

Dad and another man had been called on to go out near Footes farm and bring in a lady patient.  I bet that was some trip, both for the lady and the bearers, knowing how rutted and bumpy the old roads were. 

Apparently Buderim was spared from any very serious flu cases and after a while life got back to normal and schools reopened again.  I imagine the rooms had been well disinfected first-I hope so anyway!

A Part of Buderim's History

Buderim’s First ANZAC

by Helene Cronin

With the outbreak of WWI in 1914, men and women from Buderim Mountain were quick to enlist.

Sidney Lewis McIntyre, aged 30, farmer, was the first to heed the call from Buderim Mountain, enlisting on the 5th of October, 1914. He was born at Jaspers Brush, NSW and served with the 9^th Battalion, gaining the MC and MM.

Lieut. McIntyre has had 2½ years continuous service. He has constantly discharged the duties of Quartermaster in a most praiseworthy manner. Often under the most trying conditions the work of this Officer has been of invaluable assistance to the Battalion. His constant devotion to duty and sterling qualities are deserving of the highest mention.

The 9^th Battalion was one of the first units raised in the AIF for WWI. It was raised in Queensland and after some early training sailed for Egypt arriving early in December 1914. As part of the 3^rd Brigade it was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915, and so was the first ashore at around 4.30am. The battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC beachhead. It served at ANZAC until the evacuation in December 1915. After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the battalion returned to Egypt. In March 1916, it sailed to France and deployed to the Somme. The battalion’s first major action in France was at Pozieres in July 1916.

On 21 January, 1917, Sidney’s younger brother Cecil Gladstone McIntyre, farmer of Gympie, was killed in action at Armentieres, France aged 23.

Later the 9^th battalion fought at Ypres, in Belgium before returning to the Somme in winter. In 1918 the battalion helped to stop the German spring offensive in March and April, before participating in the great Allied offensive of 1918 that eventually brought about an end to the war. Captain McIntyre returned to Australia on the 2^nd December, 1918.

Captain McIntyre was just one of 73 men and women from Buderim Mountain who enlisted during the Great War of 1914-1918. Eighteen of the men who volunteered for active service with the AIF were medically unfit and so 53 men and 2 women were sent off to fight for King and Country.

Many of these were sons and daughters of Buderim’s first settlers, who before the war worked on farms, in the Sawmill and the Buderim – Palmwoods Tramway. Their ages ranged from 18 to 45.

Take time out to visit the Eric Joseph Foote War Memorial Sanctuary, dedicated to Eric Joseph Trestrail Foote who was killed in action on 3^rd September, 1916, at Moquet Farm, Pozieres, France. The Sanctuary exists as a memorial to Eric the Soldier and to all those who gave their lives in War.

Lest We Forget.