Celebrating 100 years: Proud Maleny has always supported its annual show
Maleny Showgrounds during the 1931 show. Photo: Picture Sunshine Coast
A MAJOR milestone in Maleny’s history was celebrated on the weekend as the hinterland town celebrated its 100th year of Maleny Agricultural Shows.
Shows have been a part of Australian culture since 1822 and are strongly connected to local communities through educational, competitive, social and cultural experiences.
If a town could talk, Maleny would have so many stories to tell about those early pioneer days to the alternative picturesque region visitors and residents on the Sunshine Coast now enjoy.
There are memories of the hardships of isolation, droughts and heavy rainfall causing problems for both transportation and stock, memories of the township where large general stores in Maple St stood on each side of the road opposite each other.
Hunts was on one side of Maleny’s Maple St and Tytherleighs Store on the other. Both stocked just about everything farming families required in those earlier days.
Parade at Maleny Show, ca 1930. Photo: Picture Sunshine Coast
Gone are the days of the bullocky and his team attempting to cross the Obi Obi Creek, scrambling over the slippery creek bed with a full wagon and load bogged to the axles.
The sealed roads we have today would have been only a pipedream for those hard-working wise cracking bullockies of the bush.
Agricultural shows such as Maleny’s would not be successful without the tireless work of local volunteers who provide so much of their time to make the show a success for all who visit and compete.
Maleny still has a country atmosphere and is such a picturesque, lush region.
The show organises special competitions to encourage rural youth including show princess, and charity person.
From left, celebrating 100 years of Maleny Shows are Helen Gilmour-Walsh, Cr Winston Johnston, Professor Graeme Nimmo, Queensland Governor Jeannette Young, Maleny showgirl Chloe Lanham, Kelly Schofield, Member for Fisher Andrew Wallace and Glass House MP Andrew Powell.
Not-to-be-missed are the horse events, beef cattle and dairy sections, exhibits of champion livestock and competitive horsemanship which includes some of the best showjumping and dressage in Queensland.
Everyone loves the grand parade displays and the naughty Shetland ponies being led by children.
Not to be forgotten is the excitement of the woodchop and the splendid display of poultry of all types. Needleworkers and the best cooks of the district vie for champion sponge cake or pickle or marmalade maker, still using their secret family recipes handed down through the generations.
School children of the district proudly produce their best work to display as they would have done over the years and to top it off kids get the day off school on Friday, June 2 to attend the show.
All competitors hope for the blue ribbon of first prize, but it does not matter if you win or try your best, it is about keeping the culture of our Australian country shows alive with the activities that have been continued and enjoyed since the early days.
Jeannette Young presents a plaque congratulating Maleny Show Society president Winston Johnston and Monica Skerman on the Show’s 100th year from Queensland Chamber of Agricultural Societies.
Sideshow workers spruik their rides inviting people to “come and have a go” and enjoy all types of competitive thrills. The mechanical clown faces are always a favourite with little ones hoping to win a big stuffed toy if they are lucky.
The ghost train and the octopus ride will attract the teenagers and all those who dare to be scared. The grand parade is a wonderful sight featuring many types of cattle and the beauty of a well groomed horse and rider.
If we could turn back the clock to 1922 when Maleny’s first show opened, the area was a very different place and things were done differently.
Ed Lawley accepts a prize from the Queensland Governor.
A wood stove was how the cooking was done and if mother was lucky she would have an ice chest or later a kerosene refrigerator to keep food cool. This was an Australian invention in 1923 and electricity did not come to the region until late 1939.
In 1927 the entertainment committee of the Maleny Show Society held a pioneers ball at the Maleny School of Arts in honour of the hardworking pioneers of the district. Mr A. Bryce welcomed the guests by saying it was to honour the men and women who, with stout hearts, had laid the foundation of what was today a prosperous community.
Stout hearts were needed during the Great Depression and unfortunately the show was abandoned in 1932, 1934 and 1935. A drought which caused great hardship in 1950 also caused it to be cancelled in that year. And of course there was no Show in 2020 because of Covid.
In 1990 the alternative needs of local Maleny residents saw vegetarian food served at the Maleny Show and it sold out by 5pm on the first day.
Delicious foods are still served at the show and many types of foods are on offer these days. Many of the recipes and cakes on display are perhaps from those early Maleny and district pioneering family recipes handwritten into exercise books handed down over many years.
Thanks to Sunshine Coast Council’s Heritage Library Officers for the words and Picture Sunshine Coast and Marsha Fotografie for the images.