History & heritage

Standing since 1921, the Cambooya War Memorial will need to be rebuilt after a vehicle drove into it early last Saturday, causing significant damage including toppling over the obelisk. A Queensland Police Service spokesperson said between 5.50am and 6.10am on Saturday, a single vehicle left the road and hit the War Memorial.

Are you a selfie enthusiast? Then there’s some good news for you, as work has finished on the two selfie walls in the Naracoorte town centre. The selfie-walls project, costing $4,000, aims to further activate the town centre as part of the Naracoorte Town Centre Rejuvenation Plan.

The earliest pictures of life on Lord Howe Island were recently uncovered and provide a fascinating glimpse of the early settlement. The pictures were found while searching for reports on the Island to the NSW Colonial administrators who were considering Lord Howe as a possible solution to its overcrowded penal settlements.

Take a trip down memory lane next Sunday June 3rd and visit Nhill’s historic Aeradio Building ... it is the only surviving one of its type in Australia. Nineteen Aeradio facilities were built across the nation in the late 1930s to help airline pilots plot their positions using radio signals, long before it became commonplace to use GPS.

When it comes to polarising figures in Australian history, somewhere up the top of the list you’ll find Sir Thomas Blamey. On one hand he played a large role in extracting Australian troops from North Africa and bringing them home to defend Australian interests. On the other hand, he accused the under trained and under equipped 39th Militia battalion of cowardice because they fell back under the onslaught of highly trained and battle-hardened Japanese troops.

Millions of years after Dinosaur nests were dotted around Outback Queensland, the Eromanga Natural History Museum (ENHM) is unveiling a newly created bronze nest at the internationally renowned Museum and home to Australia’s biggest dinosaur ... Designed by artist Phill Wharton and developed by 3d printing firm StudioKite the bronze artwork is a scaled representation of a dinosaur nest of the large sauropods found in the Eromanga region.

Friday is National Sorry Day, the annual event held on 26 May to acknowledge the pain, injustice and enduring impacts of the stolen generations on our First Nations communities.

Gwen Colwill. 27 April 1973 a meeting was held in Bordertown chaired by Mr Colin Pitcher where it was decided to form a field Naturalist Group ... Walt was presented with a tree seedling by Gwen Colwill which he planted in the reserve to commemorate our 50 years.

It was another successful two days of the Border Flywheelers rally. The sprawling museum, steam powered marvels and shiny rides delighted attendees. Saturday saw a light shower of rain but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of visitors from as far away as Armidale NSW and even Perth WA.

Over the past month, eleven planes from ‘Flight Training Adelaide’ have flown into Nhill. The pilots are all trainees from Hong Kong, sponsored by Cathay Pacific Airlines. Flying Austrian-built Diamond Star aircraft, with their 180 hp Lycoming engines, the pilots have been doing flying navigation exercises, learning to use maps rather than GPS technology.

Helen and Gerard Nolan. The extended Nolan family and friends celebrated 70 years since John and Rita (nee McGahan) moved to "Fairfield" Ellinthorp with two small boys and a six week old baby ... The farm at Ellinthorp was bought in May 1953 on a walk-in walk-out basis with plant, livestock and some furniture.

Colin Newport. Although Norman Brian Clarke was not born in Allora, his connections to the town ran deep. Following his recent death and funeral service in Brisbane, his body was brought to Allora to be buried alongside the graves of his grandparents Joseph and Sarah Eleanor Clarke. The plot had been long- time reserved and Norman had asked that Father Rod McGinley conduct the burial service.

Last Friday in Allora, Jenco launched a new era in the company’s journey as it transitions from Jenco Feeds to the Millstone Group ... A powerhouse trio of leading industry brands - Jenco, Allora Grain & Milling and Running Cool has been brought together to create the all-encompassing Millstone Group.

The four honour boards in the Rappville Hall that were destroyed in the 2019 bushfire have just been replaced with new and better versions ... Resident Roger Bailey was a driver of the project to restore the boards that hang on the shiny, white walls of the new hall.

Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery is thrilled to present the Port Pire Branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild of South Australia Inc. in The Gentle Arts ... The Gentle Arts is an embroidery exhibition that celebrates the historical significance, technical mastery and cultural narratives embedded within embroidery.

The significant transformation of Australia’s agricultural industry is represented by the extraordinary McDonald ‘Imperial’ oil ‘EB’ tractor, which is going on display in the Museum’s Gandel Atrium ... “The McDonald ‘EB’ oil tractor represents a theme of Australian innovation in a revolutionary era for engineering. This acquisition represents our agricultural history, and we are thrilled to share it with Australia": Dr Mathew Trinca, National Museum Director.

Tractors with GPS guidance are now used to run straight furrows in paddocks but in the past, great horses were guided by men with kind and gentle hands to create beautiful plots. This farming heritage is remembered and kept alive every year by ploughing events across the country but the most prestigious of them all is the Golden Plough Championship in NSW, which has been fiercely contested every year since it was first held in 1976.

The Malinauskas Labor Government is delivering on its election commitment with the introduction of new laws for stronger penalties for people who disturb or destroy Aboriginal heritage ... The new laws will make the maximum penalty for the damaging, disturbing or interfering heritage offences $2 million for body corporates and $250,000 for individuals and/or 2 years prison.

Patricia Gill. Merninger Elder Lynette Knapp feels for her country the same way as her family does: "Which is the way I taught them". A DNA test conducted through the Esperance Aboriginal Group 12 years ago showed her as having a 75,000-year ‘proper’ connection to Country, other Noongars tested being African or Asian-related.

The first view of the bare site where once stood the original purpose-built Border Football Club rooms has left a lump in the throats of former players. The fond memories are now all that remain of the club house that served Border from 1965 to 1995 and Koondrook Barham River Raiders from 1996 until 2019 when the current state of the art facility was built.

Restoring the Nhill Silo isn’t a small endeavour, nor is it a cheap or an easy one. Nevertheless, a passionate group of local volunteers is committed to making it happen. The Nhill Silo Heritage Project was incorporated in 2021, following the purchase of the structure on behalf of the community.