Fitting tribute to a Nambour forefather: G L Bury

George Land Bury’s portrait at Nambour Museum overlooks the street that bears his name.

A welcome addition to Nambour’s mural trail, the portrait of George Land Bury at the Nambour Museum, overlooks the street that bears his name and the location of the now closed Moreton Central Sugar Mill. 

George Land Bury, David Mitchell and Daniel Currie were called the forefathers of Nambour, such was their influence during the early years of the town. G. L. Bury arrived in Brisbane from England in 1869 and became a carpenter at William Samwell’s rum distillery in Brisbane.  

When Samwell selected 1625 acres in Nambour in 1870,  he assisted in the building of a house about in the position of what is now called Crescent Drive.  

Living in Yandina with his family, he became a groom for Cobb & Co before relocating to Mooloolah where he built Bury’s Hotel where he also ran a store, post office and butcher shop.

When the family relocated to Nambour, the hotel came too.  It is believed that it was transported in sections by bullock wagon and then train to the corner of Currie and Mitchell Streets where it became a boarding house.

Mr Bury  was an early property owner in the area of Image Flat.   In 1903, over 20 Finnish families settled there and the area became known as Finbury or Finnbury.

Mr Bury was elected to the Maroochy Divisional Board in 1894 and became Chairman in 1899. He was a member of the Maroochy Shire Council until 1905.

However probably his greatest achievement was the establishment of the Moreton Central Sugar Mill.  He was an early Director, a position he held until his death in 1925.   

“A funeral service in the Town Hall, a lengthy cortege which stretched from Showgrounds Hill to the Petrie Creek bridge and preceded by the Nambour Town Band of which he was the first president showed the great esteem with which George Land Bury was held in the Nambour district”.

20th anniversary of Mill closure

Nambour Museum will mark the 20th anniversary of the closure of the mill at a special open day on Saturday October 14. It will also be a time to honour the man whose foresight and determination played such an important role in Nambour’s  history.