Friday, June 15, 2012

A Part of Buderim's History


Building on Buderim

by Shirley Reynolds (nee Stollznow)

Our family arrived on Buderim from Toogoolawah in June 1947. Our Dad, Alwyn Stollznow, had a holiday at “Seaspray” Guest House in Maroochydore, and he fell in love with Buderim. Farm land was being cut up by the Foote Brothers for house blocks. Being a builder by trade, he decided to buy a block and move the family here.

We moved into a very small old shed (7 of us) on the Foote property while Dad built the first house in Eckersley Ave. It was while here we met up with our close friends the Eggmolesse family of 7 children.

Dad and his brother Ernie employed local men and gradually built most of the homes on that estate. Later, Dad purchased 10 acres of land on King St, and called it ‘Panorama Farm’.  In 1954 we experienced a massive cyclone, destroying our banana plantation and most other farms on Buderim.

Five of us attended school on Buderim. (Later, we moved to a cane farm at Maroochydore.) School days were very carefree, walking to school, lots of times with no shoes. The boys had a few fights every so often along the way. Sometimes we ate big ripe guavas on the way home, and sometimes mandarins.

My first job after leaving school was at the Ginger Factory, pouring strawberry jam. Roads were unsealed, and when I worked back late, my means of transport home was my bike with no lights, in the dark. No memories of falling off, a few house lights were my guide.

Later I worked at Middy’s store and Fielding’s store. I met my future husband, Cecil Reynolds, at a school fancy dress ball. Cecil bought four shillings worth of petrol so that he could ask me out.

For Buderim history information, email Buderimhistory@gmail.com

Monday, June 4, 2012

A Part of Buderim's History


Meet the History Detectives Part 1
by Sue Pitt

There are many kinds of history. There are many kinds of historian. I am fascinated by how different they are, and by how many different techniques they use.

Alex Bond is very quiet. I visited the DERM Map Museum at Wooloongabba with Alex last year. We looked at the scrappy old hand drawn map of the Sunshine Coast that William Pettigrew used to carry in his pocket when he travelled here in the 1860’s. Alex is well known at the museums. He is searching out information about his Aboriginal heritage. His DVD Songlines Into Brisbane (2011) recounts what his mother told him about Aboriginal life in early Brisbane. He is working on a second DVD about the Sunshine Coast area, including Buderim.

We don’t know very much about Constance Campbell Petrie. She must have been fascinated by stories. She was 28 years old in 1900, and lived with her parents near the North Pine River. Her father Tom was 69 years old. Constance carefully recorded her father’s memories of his amazing life in early Moreton Bay. Thanks to her we have a very readable record of the life of the man who first came to Buderim in1862 with a team of Aboriginal workers. Constance’s  account first appeared as articles in the Queenslander, and in 1904, it was published as a book: Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland.

Librarians are nearly invisible. But if you’re looking for history, every Sunshine Coast library has a Local Studies section. It’s worth looking patiently through the titles, because our librarians diligently collect local stories, and maps, and photos, and press clippings! They must be our quietest historians! And if you’re into new technology, don’t miss the great pictures at Picture Sunshine Coast.

More historians to come in Part 2.