Dec2013_MT MEE NEWS

By Ian Wells

Dear reader, you just may have observed that there was no Mt Mee column last month.  I should apologise unreservedly for this deficiency – but I won’t, because I was having fun!

 

In truth, Kay and I had a few days of holiday – a very rare commodity for some reason.  ‘She who must be obeyed’ had found an advertisment for a little package tour on someone else’s discarded Coles docket – and we were ‘in’ before I knew it!

 

So we flew to Adelaide and did the afternoon tourist thing, had the overnight in an excellent hotel and then coached to Mannum on the Murray, where we joined the “Murray Princess” paddlewheeler.  We were very comfortable, very relaxed and very well fed as we cruised the river for four days.

 

Then it was back to the Adelaide hotel for another ‘overnight’ before we joined the Indian Pacific bound for Sydney, with a brief stop-over in Broken Hill.  Again it was very relaxed, very comfortable and we were very well fed.

 

Then it was a couple of days in Sydney, including a harbour luncheon cruise on a tall ship (in fact a Scandinavian brigantine dating back to 1950 that had travelled to Australia with the first fleet re enactment in 1988), and finally, back to Brisbane on board the XPT interstate ‘flyer’.  That last leg was forgettable, but the rest was so good that the ‘column’ and guilt didn’t enter my head!

 

As I write mid-month there is some promise of very badly needed rain on the Mountain, but little has yet been delivered.  It remains as dry as the traditional Afghan camel driver’s sandal and sadly, a number of cattle have already been forced off the Mountain by drought to sale – for a pittance.

But with the first cricket test due at the ‘Gabba in just a few days time, we can be confident that the heavens will open as usual!

 

The Sunshine Coast Symphony Orchestra’s Mt Mee concert in early November was absolutely excellent!  The orchestra, under the baton of the incredibly energetic and ever good – humoured Adrian King, was remarkably ‘together’.  Unlike (it seems) the Wallabies, the orchestra has obviously worked hard on the basics.  They play together, they play in tune and they play with expression!  And they all seem to become charged with Adrian’s energy.

The two guest artists – soprano Dominique Fegan and tenor Nick Kirkoff, can only be described as world class.

It was a wonderful concert, played to an enthusiastic audience that joined whole-heartedly into the song-book segment, lifting the roof with “Land of Hope and Glory” and “I Still Call Australia Home”.

I had only one complaint.  It was from a lady who said her hands were very sore from so much clapping!

 

Don’t miss it next year …….

The next big event in the Hall is the concert on Sunday 22nd December – a preview of the 2013 Woodford Folk Festival that features some of the international and Australian artists who will be performing at Woodford.  Priced at just $27.00 including supper, this is tremendous value for those curious about the Festival but a bit reluctant to outlay $100 plus for a day pass on spec! 

 Billed as “The Festival of Small Halls”, the Woodford organisation, with the support of MBRC, is running this performance at a number of far – flung country halls throughout Queensland.  We are lucky to be one of the very few halls to score in the SE. of  the state.

Read more elsewhere in this edition.

 

It is all too evident that the halcyon days of primary industry have long gone from Mt Mee.  Timbergetting and saw milling is done, banana growers were beaten by Panama disease and supermarket preferences for huge fruit, while the dairy industry committed hari kari by abandoning manufacturing, with ‘deregulation’ administering the final blow.

And so these days, the Mountain relies on tourism for industry, as it morphs into a dormitory suburb, and on services – as we mow each other’s lawns.

But there is one example of an established secondary industry – Tony and Ruth Hewitt’s metal fabrication business in Robinson Road.

Always busy, Tony has just completed a huge job that occupied him from early May until the end of October.  He rebuilt a large bulk grain transporting bin, fitted it out with the necessary augers and other mechanical gismos and mounted it on a very large brand new truck.  It is a most impressive unit, and it will be used on the Darling Downs to carry fourteen or more tons of grain per run!

On the strength of that achievement, Tony and Ruth are now planning another overseas tour, to further indulge their inexplicable passion for country music.