Drummer’s Memories of Nambour: From Petrie Creek to Powderfinger

Jon Coghill: “Nambour was one of the most fantastic places to grow up.”

by Cameron Outridge

Jon Coghill has fond memories of his Nambour childhood: creek swims, after-school bike rides, and the playful challenges of dodging swooping magpies. 

“I used to walk home from school,” the former Powderfinger drummer said. “I lived up at Oxleigh Crescent just across from the Showgrounds there. And you’d get on your bike with your mate and just go. Nambour was one of those places where if you just had a couple of hours in the afternoon, you could do whatever you want.”

Petrie Creek was a particular favourite. “I used to go fishing in Petrie Creek,” he said. “I used to go swimming in a water hole down at the showgrounds. And it was one of the most fantastic places to grow up, because you could do whatever you want and you never really got into too much trouble. It was so much fun getting dived by a magpie or chased by a dog.” 

This Saturday will see Jon returning to Nambour to promote the town on national TV. 

“It always feels familiar and feels nice to be back in Nambour,” he said. 

“I went to Nambour High School for 12 years. I started drumming when I was about 12. I think it was because my dad, he was a jazz musician, and they used to have band practice in the lounge room and I just used to go in and watch them play. 

“And then I went to Brissie to go to uni, but I still worked back at the Nambour Hospital and I worked at the Big Pineapple and places like that,” he recounted. 

And while he never joined a band in those days, music was always close to his heart. “I did play in a few musicals up in Mapleton with a group of friends who put on some musicals up there. I played in the Nambour High School musicals. I remember we did Grease.”

Jon credits a work ethic honed in Nambour for some of his subsequent career success. “It’s funny, and it might’ve been my parents or Nambour, but whatever it was, I went to Brissie and I came from a state school in Nambour and I was really driven and I didn’t mind doing the hard yards, working some stuff out. And I think growing up in Nambour teaches you that: that nothing’s a given. You’ve got to work your bum off to get anywhere pretty much,” he reflected.

Jon is hopeful for Nambour’s future. “Nambour’s been growing slowly and I just hope that this will help grow it a little bit more, or bring people like young families. It’s just such a beautiful place to bring up kids.”

Along with fellow Nambourian and TV producer Dan Munday, Jon is spearheading the ‘Sunny Coast Showdown’. “Dan Munday and I and the Sunny Coast Screen Collective are trying to get a film industry happening on the Sunshine Coast. We’re trying to identify good writers and we raise enough money in the community to make short films and documentaries etc. We want to show people what’s possible.”