Eudlo’s Clive Plater has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal [OAM] in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours for Services to Community History.

Clive has been involved with the Nambour & District Historical Museum since its incorporation 29 years ago and is in his 16th year as president. Born and bred in Nambour, he is a proud fourth generation local whose great-grandfather, G L Bury was the first Chairman of the Moreton Central Sugar Mill.

Having two great-grandfathers, two grandfathers, father and three uncles involved with the local sugar industry it is no wonder Clive has a great interest in preserving our local history. He authored a book Locomotives of the Moreton Central Sugar Mill in 2013 which was launched by Governor Penelope Wensley AC to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the mill’s closure.  

One of Clive’s uncles was killed in World War II. The family’s military history goes back to the 1850s Crimean War in which one of his great-great-grandfathers died. Hence a prominent military section has been established at the Nambour Museum to honour our local heroes.

Clive and his father, Edgar Plater, started collecting historical items being discarded by the Moreton Sugar Mill back in the 1970s long before the establishment of a local museum and the family retains a substantial private collection that at times supplements special displays at the Nambour Museum. 

Clive also served as an Honorary Warden with the archeology branch of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs from 1979 to 1988 and five years as a member of the Sunshine Coast Council’s Heritage Reference Group.

As luck would have it Clive and wife Lorelle were on Norfolk Island for their annual visit when the Queen’s Birthday Honours were announced. Clive said it was rather special to be on Norfolk Island for the Queen’s Birthday public holiday where the Queen is held in such high regard and God save the Queen is still the national anthem.