Family and friends last week farewelled with sadness one of the driving forces behind the success of Nambour’s iconic Big Pineapple.

Elsie “May” Haupt (nee Steinhardt) late of Woombye, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family on February 14, 2023 aged 95 years. 

Mother to Rhonda and Raylee, mother-in-law to Doug and Ken, and “Mardy” to her grandchildren and great grandchildren, May was farewelled at Gregson & Weight Chapel, Nambour on Thursday (February 23).

May became very good friends with Bill and Lyn Taylor who built the Big Pineapple (Sunshine Plantation). She was the first senior manager in the retail section working very closely with Lyn in presenting the range of products. 

Work at Sunshine Plantation made for a busy but very enjoyable life and May loved her job very much, according to a book written by prominent local Kerry Brown in 2011 titled “Our Sweetest Icon. Sunshine Plantation’s Big Pineapple 1971-2011”. 

The following is an extract from Kerry’s book: It was always frantic at Sunshine Plantation with bus loads of people pouring into the place everyday,  May said some of the buses were expected others were not, “Because it was growing so fast we were on our toes every moment of the day coping with the crowds and bus loads of people.” 

The commotion of excited visitors and busy staff in what was then a fairly small complex created an electric atmosphere: “The trains were always full of happy people and the constant chatter of small excited children made it such a great place to work, I always looked forward to going to work,” May said. 

May left Sunshine Plantation just before Bill and Lyn sold it in 1981 but she remained close friends with Lyn. Many years later they worked together again when Lyn started her Tropical Market stores in Brisbane. They traveled to the Philippines where May saw the horror of young children working in sweat shops and she understood the meaning of Lyn’s venture, saying it was all about aid abroad not commercial enterprise. 

There was tremendous purpose and meaning in the work and May managed the stores for Lyn and helped open new ones: “I remember she had me traipsing through Toowong Shopping Centre when it was a construction site saying, look at this May, this is where the new store will be,” May said.  

May’s story, in her own words

Later in life May would look after a little shop her granddaughter Sarah Amps ran in Montville on Saturday mornings.  It was here that a local photographer, Ana Paula Estrada photographed her. The portrait (above) and May’s story were part of a photographic series Ana compiled and is reproduced here. 

Here is May’s story. Her values. In her own words. Just as she would have wanted it ... 

“I was born in Hunchy, Queensland, in 1927. My Mother’s family was originally from New Zealand and Dad’s family was from Germany. We were nine children in the family and grew up on a dairy farm in Hunchy.

“We didn’t have time for sports, maybe we played cricket down on the playground, but we always had to do the floors, wash and polish them. There was always something to do. There wasn’t that thing of today’s children “that room is mine”. We were three in a bed, and let me tell you, that kept us warm in the winter; we all looked after each other. 

My mother was a good cook. Of course, she didn’t have time to make fancy things, but we had good solid food. We used to walk three miles to school and three miles back. Sometimes when we got home, she would have a bunch of hot scones with plenty of butter which she made by hand. Life was wonderful. 

Three of my brothers and one sister went to the war. One of them was killed in the Middle East and I became a man to my dad in the dairy farm where I learnt to do all kinds of things. 

When I was 17, I decided I didn’t want to milk cows anymore, so I went to Nambour and found a job and a house. I got married when I was 20 and we had two daughters. Now I have 5 grandchildren and six great grandchildren. (This has since grown!)

I worked for several years at The Big Pineapple, I also opened a few shops in Brisbane. I was 64 at that time. I thought it was time to come home. Now I come every Saturday to look after my Granddaughter’s shop, I don’t work hard but I still like contributing in some way. 

I lived my era, I am 84, I can tell life has changed.  

The values have changed. These new technologies and communications have changed our world. To love one another is the most important thing in life; show love and understanding. Stop and smell the roses, find the time to smell the roses.