When the late Peg Burnett recalled memories of Maleny Show in The Range News
Peg Burnett from official opening of Maleny Library 1 May 1998.
Peg (McLean) Burnett was a long-time Maleny resident and wrote a series of articles of her memories for The Range News. This memory of the Maleny Show was published in 1993.
In 1922 a meeting was called to discuss the advisability of forming a Show Society, a society called the Agricultural Industrial Pastoral and Recreational Society (rather a grand name - commonly called the A.O.P. & R. Society).
Mr Charlie Bryce was elected president and Mr Gilbert Sutton Secretary. The following year, in 1923, the first show was held on the present grounds. We didn't have shows during the war years. There was one in 1939 and no more until 1949.
That is when I became the Horticulture Steward. We missed a couple of years during the depression and again in 1965 owing to the drought. Evan Evans has the schedules of all these shows and was elected to the committee in 1936. He was unable to continue in later years as he was a very successful competitor in the Australian Ilawarra Shorthorns section.
The early shows were chiefly Horse and Cattle shows with exhibits in the Pavilion. We all competed in the Best Boy or Girl Rider under 6 years up to about 14 years.
We weren't very interested in the cow section but the stud breeders were very competitive and the winners went on to compete at the Brisbane Exhibition. I was talking to Isobel (Bryce) last week about the wonderful Welsh ponies that her family had. They won everything in their classes as well as in the horse and sulky competitions. They were beautiful animals and many a rug was made of their ribbons.
Competition was very keen in the pavilion where district exhibits were staged in each corner. Wootha, Witta, North Maleny and Reesville were the main contenders and women spent many hours with their preserves, jams and cakes as well as knitting and sewing. Feelings ran very high over which pickles or preserves were best and some cross words followed.
Probably the best part of the show for us kids was the sideshows. The same ones came each year - Madame Cora, the fortune teller; Jimmy Shardon's boxing troupe, offering to fight the local lads, 5 pounds if he could last so many rounds; the Fat Lady, putting on shows for the men only, a kind of stripper who would get down to the black tights and for another two bob would take the black tights off only to reveal the pink ones underneath. The "less conservative" would take great delight in seeing the "more conservative" taken down.
We had merry-go-rounds and chair-o-planes but none of the rides which are so popular today. Of course with the side shows about every three years would come the gypsies. They would go up and down the streets in the afternoon and want to "bless the money". They went into shops where most people had open tills on the counter. They wanted two shillings to bless the place and would quietly slip an extra two bob out of the till. Then about midnight there would be a great commotion from the fowl yards and next morning the chooks and the gypsies would both be gone.
Towards the end of the twenties it was decided we needed a grandstand, so the "civic fathers" contributed 40 pounds each and they became life members. I think there are still a couple of these members still alive. I heard one chap say, just at this year's show: “The grandstand was use to neither man nor beast”, so it was pulled down and the Liquor Booth built instead. No doubt that was of much more use. Lots of stories around about the "Bar". Poor Jo McCarthy always celebrated the show and one year lost his teeth in the creek behind the Booth. About five years later he was drowned in the creek. He went across the footbridge - it was raining as usual - and fell over going up the hill. He rolled over and over, into the creek and was not found until the next morning.
Of course the show was a big event, fashion wise. The ladies all needed new "outfits" for the show and very grand they were too. I remember the time - it was the year that Hinkler flew to Australia - that the Governor of Queensland was coming to "Open the Show". So the President's wife went off to Brisbane to buy her outfit - dress, hat, shoes, gloves - the lot. She brought this cute little toque type hat with ear flaps - a Hinkler hat. Meanwhile Bess Beard who bought for the local Drapery went buying too - guess what she came back with? A dozen Hinkler hats, so there were 13 Hinkler Hats at the Show!
The Show Ball was the event of the year, mostly more than 400 dancers and again a new dress was a necessity. The girls all looked lovely and the fellas too in their best suits. The first night of the Show the Amateur Dramatic Society would perform a three act play. We "the players" thought they were great but I must admit we were not in the Katy Hepburn or Spencer Tracy category. Sometimes there was a concert on the first night. The proudest moment in my life was when (my son), David recited "Ten Little Tadpoles Swimming in the River". That would probably have been in the fifties. Those concerts were great for our Mums' egos. What we wear at the Show today is not so important but the Akubra hat, checked shin and elastic sided boots have become almost a uniform. It seems to be that the most important item of clothing is our raincoat. Wally (Burnett) tells me that we had seven wet shows during the time he was President. The powers that be have promised us many changes at the turn of the century. Maybe they could arrange for Maleny to have a fine Show weatherwise!