May2012_Mt MEE NEWS
by Ian Wells
The news is a bit second hand this month as your writer is laid up with a leg injury. Friends and relatives alike show little sympathy – using expressions like “Silly old fart”!
The news is a bit second hand this month as your writer is laid up with a leg injury. Friends and relatives alike show little sympathy – using expressions like “Silly old fart”!
Sadly, I begin by recording the passing of Don Pickering after a long struggle with illness. Don was father of a wonderful family and a solid community leader. He was a stalwart of the local branch of the Queensland Dairymen’s Organisation and of the Mt Mee Community Church. Don was the president of the Mt Mee Public Hall for more than 21 very difficult years. In those days money for community infrastructure such as halls was hard to come by and management was very testing. On many occasions Don’s committee had to subscribe personally to meet charges for power, and improvements were very much a matter of self-help. The Hall still uses the trestle tables Don made many years ago.
Don was one of the tribe of Pickerings of Settlement Rd at The Gap. He successfully courted young Audrey Hickey of the Drapers Crossing dairying family, and they began a lifetime of dairying – on a neat little dairy at Keperra until it was overtaken by suburbia, and then on the sprawling holding they purchased in Sellin Rd. Along the way they raised four fine children.
Don had the affection and profound respect of the Mt Mee Community.
Our thoughts are very much with Audrey and the family.
Coming up in the Mt Mee Hall we have the annual concert by the St Lucia Orchestra. This is on Sunday 27th May. Read more about it elsewhere in this edition, and please note that this concert is always booked out, so get in soon.
Next will come the annual Country Night on Saturday July 8th, featuring the wonderful “Lights on the Hill”
Please note too that “Sunshine Brass”, a modern brass ensemble from the North Coast, has booked the Hall for a concert on Sunday 29th July – on the strength of Mt Mee’s reputation for fine music and great audiences. More about this later, but mark your diary now.
The ANZAC Dawn service at the Dahmongah Look-Out has been jointly planned by Woodford RSL and a group of Mt Mee residents. As I write we are hoping for clear dry weather and looking forward to a wonderful service led by Neil Eiby and to the traditional “Gunfire Breakfast” put on by the Mountain Top Community Church.
The Rock and Roll Night in the Mt Mee Hall on 14th April was booked out and went off as a very successful event. Greg Henderson’s band played well, and guest Elvis Parsley was in great form.
The organisers picked up some useful lessons from the event – particularly in relation to managing the supper. The only serious problem though was the death of the Hall dishwasher, which necessitated an unwelcome revival of the traditional technology centred on husbands.
As I write, dog baits are in place on the Mountain. The turn-out on baiting day was a little disappointing, but each absence was for good reason.
Much more disappointing was the news that ‘National Parks’ were forced to reduce their planned baitings because some neighbours were unwilling to cooperate with their programme. We have worked hard for the participation of “National Parks”, knowing that many of the wild dogs threatening livestock are sourced from the former Mt Mee State Forest.
Don was one of the tribe of Pickerings of Settlement Rd at The Gap. He successfully courted young Audrey Hickey of the Drapers Crossing dairying family, and they began a lifetime of dairying – on a neat little dairy at Keperra until it was overtaken by suburbia, and then on the sprawling holding they purchased in Sellin Rd. Along the way they raised four fine children.
Don had the affection and profound respect of the Mt Mee Community.
Our thoughts are very much with Audrey and the family.
Coming up in the Mt Mee Hall we have the annual concert by the St Lucia Orchestra. This is on Sunday 27th May. Read more about it elsewhere in this edition, and please note that this concert is always booked out, so get in soon.
Next will come the annual Country Night on Saturday July 8th, featuring the wonderful “Lights on the Hill”
Please note too that “Sunshine Brass”, a modern brass ensemble from the North Coast, has booked the Hall for a concert on Sunday 29th July – on the strength of Mt Mee’s reputation for fine music and great audiences. More about this later, but mark your diary now.
The ANZAC Dawn service at the Dahmongah Look-Out has been jointly planned by Woodford RSL and a group of Mt Mee residents. As I write we are hoping for clear dry weather and looking forward to a wonderful service led by Neil Eiby and to the traditional “Gunfire Breakfast” put on by the Mountain Top Community Church.
The Rock and Roll Night in the Mt Mee Hall on 14th April was booked out and went off as a very successful event. Greg Henderson’s band played well, and guest Elvis Parsley was in great form.
The organisers picked up some useful lessons from the event – particularly in relation to managing the supper. The only serious problem though was the death of the Hall dishwasher, which necessitated an unwelcome revival of the traditional technology centred on husbands.
As I write, dog baits are in place on the Mountain. The turn-out on baiting day was a little disappointing, but each absence was for good reason.
Much more disappointing was the news that ‘National Parks’ were forced to reduce their planned baitings because some neighbours were unwilling to cooperate with their programme. We have worked hard for the participation of “National Parks”, knowing that many of the wild dogs threatening livestock are sourced from the former Mt Mee State Forest.
