MT MEE NEWS June08
by Ian Wells
Dry again! The second half of March was disappointing and April yielded just 14mm in total from scattered dribbles. May has not troubled the gauge at all either! This is not a promising start to winter…….
As expected, bookings are strong for the St Lucia Orchestra concert on Sunday 15th.
As expected, bookings are strong for the St Lucia Orchestra concert on Sunday 15th.
But there is still room – phone 5498 2104 to reserve your seat for a mere $15.00. The orchestra has finalised an interesting programme and booked their bus – and thankfully it doesn’t have to contend with Dayboro Day traffic this year!
The sunrise Anzac day ceremony at the Mt Mee Lookout was very well attended – both by local people and by a gratifying number of visitors. Led by David Laird of the Woodford RSL Sub-Branch with the assistance of Neil Eiby and local church people John Lind, Keith Marsh and Audrey Pickering, it followed the established format. Michael Pfunder brought his guitar and sang again – this time it was the haunting “I was only Nineteen”. How did his frozen fingers find the strings?
And then, amazingly, a tight little formation of retired RAAF WW2 Chipmunk trainers, in livery, did a low level overhead pass, out of the rising sun, right on cue.
It is hard to imagine a more moving service!
It was followed by the ceremonial planting of the “Lone Pine” descendant tree in the area kindly prepared by Council. WW2 veteran Len Pedwell did the spade work.
The tree is sited with a magnificent view down the valley toward the rising sun and the idea is that it will become the focal point of future Anzac Day activities at the Lookout.
The tot with a hot sausage and cup of coffee went down well afterwards too.
Sheez it was cold!
The recently held AGM of the Mt Mee Hall Inc. drew a strong attendance, which would have been even stronger if 19 of our local burghers had not just departed our shores for politically shaky Fiji, with the Sabra Austin tour, and another two found it necessary to take themselves to Streaky Bay in S.A.
People were evidently largely supportive of the performance of the volunteer Hall administration team because it was returned – lock, stock and barrel.
All were chuffed that both Deputy Mayor Greg Chippendale and Councillor Adrian Raedel of our new Moreton Bay Council found the time and inclination to join us. It proved to be a great opportunity for residents to meet our new Councillor and to tax him and our old friend the Deputy Mayor with questions on a variety of local issues. Amongst other things, Cr Chippendale mentioned that Council intends to help our community improve the Mt Mee cemetery – both with advice and with material assistance.
It was also good to know that Council Facilities Officer Di Papas has survived the amalgamation process and to have her at our meeting. Di is a very good friend to the Mt Mee Hall.
Feral dogs seem to be overrunning the Mountain. It is now some years since the last of the highly successful coordinated area baiting programmes and these cannot be reinstated under current regulations. So residents are being subjected to unsolicited nocturnal concerts. But worse, although there is plenty of game – (rodents, hares and wallabies are abundant), the dogs are unable to resist young or weakened domestic animals. Owners are losing stock in worrying numbers.
Rod Thomas, our “tame” hunter, has now accounted for no less than 26 dogs on Mt Mee – 19 on one property. Despite this astonishing tally the yodelling is undiminished as the dogs undertake their autumn matings! Significantly, all of Rod’s successes have been crossbreds – all with an obvious dingo background but with varying infusions of collie, rotweiler, mastiff and what-not!
Perhaps it is time for Mt Mee to tackle this issue on an organised basis. The project has moved far beyond being an occasional afternoon out for Rod and we need to find some way of helping with his costs.
As he points out, the dogs move throughout the district and it would be unfair for the landowner on whose place a dog happens to be bagged to bear the full cost.
So we are suggesting a meeting of interested residents and landowners, to introduce Rod more widely and with a view to establishing a dog control fund. This would provide a way for Rod’s successes to be rewarded – at perhaps $50.00 per dog. This would help to meet his fuel and other costs and provide him with an incentive for success.
At this stage, we are suggesting the afternoon of Saturday 21st June at 1.30pm in the. Hall supper room. This will be confirmed in the June edition of the Hall Newsletter.
Please talk to your friends and neighbours about this. We need a good turn-out. If we could all “hit the tin” with $50.00 or so we would have a good start – and if we have to top it up, that can only be good news!
There is no doubt that many troubles in the world are a direct outcome of communication failures. Messages become distorted as they pass. This was graphically illustrated when a plumber arrived at the Hall the other day and announced that he had come to remove the washbasin from the disused toilet area. We have been asking Council for months to have the toilet pedestals removed so that we can use the area as a dressing room – but “please leave the washbasin”!
The sunrise Anzac day ceremony at the Mt Mee Lookout was very well attended – both by local people and by a gratifying number of visitors. Led by David Laird of the Woodford RSL Sub-Branch with the assistance of Neil Eiby and local church people John Lind, Keith Marsh and Audrey Pickering, it followed the established format. Michael Pfunder brought his guitar and sang again – this time it was the haunting “I was only Nineteen”. How did his frozen fingers find the strings?
And then, amazingly, a tight little formation of retired RAAF WW2 Chipmunk trainers, in livery, did a low level overhead pass, out of the rising sun, right on cue.
It is hard to imagine a more moving service!
It was followed by the ceremonial planting of the “Lone Pine” descendant tree in the area kindly prepared by Council. WW2 veteran Len Pedwell did the spade work.
The tree is sited with a magnificent view down the valley toward the rising sun and the idea is that it will become the focal point of future Anzac Day activities at the Lookout.
The tot with a hot sausage and cup of coffee went down well afterwards too.
Sheez it was cold!
The recently held AGM of the Mt Mee Hall Inc. drew a strong attendance, which would have been even stronger if 19 of our local burghers had not just departed our shores for politically shaky Fiji, with the Sabra Austin tour, and another two found it necessary to take themselves to Streaky Bay in S.A.
People were evidently largely supportive of the performance of the volunteer Hall administration team because it was returned – lock, stock and barrel.
All were chuffed that both Deputy Mayor Greg Chippendale and Councillor Adrian Raedel of our new Moreton Bay Council found the time and inclination to join us. It proved to be a great opportunity for residents to meet our new Councillor and to tax him and our old friend the Deputy Mayor with questions on a variety of local issues. Amongst other things, Cr Chippendale mentioned that Council intends to help our community improve the Mt Mee cemetery – both with advice and with material assistance.
It was also good to know that Council Facilities Officer Di Papas has survived the amalgamation process and to have her at our meeting. Di is a very good friend to the Mt Mee Hall.
Feral dogs seem to be overrunning the Mountain. It is now some years since the last of the highly successful coordinated area baiting programmes and these cannot be reinstated under current regulations. So residents are being subjected to unsolicited nocturnal concerts. But worse, although there is plenty of game – (rodents, hares and wallabies are abundant), the dogs are unable to resist young or weakened domestic animals. Owners are losing stock in worrying numbers.
Rod Thomas, our “tame” hunter, has now accounted for no less than 26 dogs on Mt Mee – 19 on one property. Despite this astonishing tally the yodelling is undiminished as the dogs undertake their autumn matings! Significantly, all of Rod’s successes have been crossbreds – all with an obvious dingo background but with varying infusions of collie, rotweiler, mastiff and what-not!
Perhaps it is time for Mt Mee to tackle this issue on an organised basis. The project has moved far beyond being an occasional afternoon out for Rod and we need to find some way of helping with his costs.
As he points out, the dogs move throughout the district and it would be unfair for the landowner on whose place a dog happens to be bagged to bear the full cost.
So we are suggesting a meeting of interested residents and landowners, to introduce Rod more widely and with a view to establishing a dog control fund. This would provide a way for Rod’s successes to be rewarded – at perhaps $50.00 per dog. This would help to meet his fuel and other costs and provide him with an incentive for success.
At this stage, we are suggesting the afternoon of Saturday 21st June at 1.30pm in the. Hall supper room. This will be confirmed in the June edition of the Hall Newsletter.
Please talk to your friends and neighbours about this. We need a good turn-out. If we could all “hit the tin” with $50.00 or so we would have a good start – and if we have to top it up, that can only be good news!
There is no doubt that many troubles in the world are a direct outcome of communication failures. Messages become distorted as they pass. This was graphically illustrated when a plumber arrived at the Hall the other day and announced that he had come to remove the washbasin from the disused toilet area. We have been asking Council for months to have the toilet pedestals removed so that we can use the area as a dressing room – but “please leave the washbasin”!
