| Past Week’s Weather
The nice drop of rain we had last Sunday brought the rainfall for the month up to 80.8 mm, 6 mm short of 115-year average for July. The lowest temperature of the week was on Wednesday with 4 degrees, and a win chill factor of 2 degrees. The last few days have been perfect winter’s weather with fantastic visibility, clear blue skies and hardly a cloud in site. |
| Walking down Anzac Avenue, Beerburrum the other day Kay and Patrick Stacey found it hard to imagine the wide quiet residential road, with its splendid avenue of trees down the centre, was once the main street of a bustling country town.
It all started during World War 1 when the Government of the day decided the area would be suitable for small scale farming with its rich sandy soil and subtropical climate. Over 500 selections of varying acreages had been surveyed and were offered to ex-servicemen by ballot. A pick of a marble decided the location and acreage for the settler. The archives are full of colourful stories of the trials and tribulation of the settlers and their families and I hope to relate some of these over the next few weeks. The township of Beerburrum grew and became prosperous supporting not only a railway station and a State Primary School but also a Boarding House, Public Hall, General Store, Post Office, Blacksmith Barber, Bakery, Cobblers and Butcher. I wonder why a town that spells ‘beer1 at the beginning and ‘rum’ at the end had no hotel for the thirsty ex-servicemen ‘diggers’. Beerburrum is an aboriginal name meaning Place of Parrots. One of the most colourful tradesmen in Anzac Avenue was the butcher by the name of Dave Morecroft. The story goes that a local settler’s wife was in the habit of bringing the family’s blue cattle dog into the shop and letting it urinate on the butcher’s block. Dave warned the lady on numerous occasions that it was a serious offence to allow a dog into the shop and if she continued to do so he would not be responsible for his actions. The customer took no notice of the warnings and It was not long before the dog once more cocked-a- leg against the butcher’s block. Dave grab’s the dog and with two deft blows of a meat cleaver, produced the only cattle dog at the settlement with two square ears. The Tour de France JOKE OF THE WEEK Why won’t bicycles stand-up by themselves? because they are too tired (two tyred) |
