Timeline – Wide Bay-Burnett

Source

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the area known as the Wide Bay is prosperous and busy with the development of new and established industries. The Boer War has taken away a lot of the men. The original large holdings of land are slowly being broken up and sold as smaller farms.

1901   State member for Gympie Andrew Fisher, right, campaigns hard for Federation, seeing it as the bedrock of national identity and development. It is reported that there was a lot of apathy in Wide Bay towards Federation and celebration is subdued. Mayors and Aldermen of the area receive free tickets to the Sydney celebrations and the railway was crowded with others wanting to attend. About 250 Gympie residents celebrate with three cheers and fireworks.

Andrew Fisher, later to become Prime Minister, becomes the first Federal Member for Wide Bay and keeps his seat until 1915.

Barambah Aboriginal mission (now Cherbourg) is established.

Maryborough Butter Factory is built.

The last shipload of immigrants arrives on the SS Duke of Norfolk.

1902 The Great Drought of 1899-1902 reaches its peak in Wide Bay.

The railway line reaches to Goomeri from Maryborough.

Land sales begin around Nanango.

The Great Fire at Childers destroys half of the town centre.

1903 Kilkivan Shire Council is formed as the area’s timber industry grows.

The “Sydney Belle” brings the last of the Kanakas to Maryborough.

1904 The first train travels from Maryborough to Kingaroy.

Fraser Island Aboriginals are moved to Yarrabah, near Cairns, and Woodford.

There are racial riots over Christmas in Bundaberg and native athletes are banned from the Easter Sports.

1905 Andrew Fisher becomes deputy leader of the Labor Party.

Bubonic/pneumonic plague and influenza hits the area.

Maryborough and Gympie are declared cities.

There are only 20 Aboriginals left on Fraser Island from an estimated original population in the area of 3000.

The Wide Bay Butter Factory in Gympie is opened.

Pineapples are first sent from Hervey Bay to Brisbane.

Kilkivan gold mining finishes.

The School of Arts building (now the Gallery) in Gympie is opened. (This and many other classic buildings in Gympie were designed by architect, Hugo Durietz.)

1906 The last shipload of Kanakas is taken home.

Barambah Mission, later Cherbourg, comes under State government control and Aboriginals are moved there from nearby stations.

Maryborough Public Baths, costing 14 pounds, are opened. More on the baths and the generosity of George Ambrose White

1907 Andrew Fisher becomes the leader of the Labor Party.

Alfred Godwin’s new 11-ton timber-getting traction engine causes a sensation on its arrival in Gympie.

The original Nanango Station land is opened for sale.

Kingaroy Butter Factory opens.

1908 Andrew Fisher is elected Prime Minister until 1909.

Tiaro Butter Factory opens.

Gympie exports 142 boxes of butter to London.

Bells Bridge over the Mary River is opened at O’Leary’s Crossing.

Kilkivan is opened up in a land sale.

A visitor to Kingaroy states that although the town is very prosperous, the “thick, black, sticking mud” of the main street is a real problem.

Thomas Bromiley of Hervey Bay wins a silver medal in London for Mecca Coffee.

1909 Bundaberg’s Maternity Hospital opens.

The first store opens at Woolooga.

Dame Nellie Melba performs in Bundaberg to an audience of 400.

The Maryborough and Kingaroy Butter Factories paid out over 31,500 pounds to cream suppliers. Other factories in the area were at Tiaro, Gympie, Nanango and Bundaberg.

1910 Andrew Fisher is Prime Minister for the second time until 1913. His government introduces the Commonwealth Bank, worker’s compensation, maternity allowance and Australian banknotes.

There are strikes throughout the region to campaign for the eight-hour day.

1911 There is a large land sale in Goomeri.

King Charlie Boreham and five other Aboriginals are forcibly taken from Bundaberg to Barambah.

Kilkivan is booming – there are now two stores.

The 150th steam locomotive is constructed at long-standing business, Walkers Engineering, in Maryborough.

1912 Nanango Courthouse is built and the Brickworks begin business.

1913 Gold pioneer James Nash dies in Gympie. The ups and downs of James Nash

Bundaberg is declared a city.

1914 War is declared.

The Mary Valley Railway from Gympie to Imbil is opened.

First Kilkivan Agricultural Show.

Maryborough timber millers Wilson and Hart purchase 4145 acres of pine near Gympie.

1915 Andrew Fisher is appointed High Commissioner for Australia in London and solicitor Edward Corser becomes the member for Wide Bay until 1928.

1917 There are sugar loading strikes in Bundaberg.

Urangan Pier is opened.

A road is opened from Gympie to Tin Can Bay.

1918 Victory celebrations erupt throughout Wide Bay with the March to Freedom.

Bundaberg suffers an earth tremor and records its lowest nightime temperature of minus 6.7C.

1919 Drought hits the area again.

1920 Bert Hinkler of Bundaberg flies non stop from London to Turin, Italy, achieving the record for the longest single flight, then plans to fly to Australia. More on the dashing Hinkler

The Bundaberg foundry burns down.

The Royal Tour of the Prince of Wales passes through Wide Bay.

1921 Railway Picnics begin in Hervey Bay and continue until 1972. These were beach picnics for families as far afield as Monto and Gympie. The children received free ice cream, fruit and lollies.

1922 Prime Minister Billy Hughes visits Bundaberg.

1923 Cotton is successfully produced at Glastonbury and proposed for Kingaroy and Wondai.

1924 Percy (Inky) Stephensen is the second Biggenden-schooled person to receive a Rhodes Scholarship. More on the publisher who was accused of communism and fascism

1925 McKenzie’s sawmill on Fraser Island is abandoned.

Kilkivan has its first picture show.

1926 Over 1000 people attend the gala opening of the “Hall of Memory” (commemorating Returned Soldiers and Sailors) in Goomeri. The festivities include a guard of honour, sumptuous luncheon, sports carnival and concert.

Maryborough timber company, Wilson & Hart, erect a mill at Goomeri.

Gold mining in Gympie winds down.

1927 The Bundaberg Millaquin sugar stores burn down.

1928 Bernard Corser wins the seat of Wide Bay after his father’s death which he holds until his retirement in 1954.

1929 George Barber clings to his State seat of Bundaberg despite the loss of the labor government.

Actress Gladys Montcrieff, rightn visits Bundaberg. More on the prolific Montcrieff

1931 Depression hits Wide Bay.

1932 Drought hits again.

Bundaberg’s Molly De Gund stars in the opera Aida in Sydney.

1935 The luxury liner, the Maheno runs aground on Fraser Island.

1937 Gympie starts the first country branch of RACQ.

1939 The Aboriginal Preservation and Protection Act is passed which brings better conditions but stricter controls.

1940 Walkers Ltd of Maryborough complete the HMAS Maryborough.

Gympie’s temperature hits a record of 44.5C.

RAAF recruiting train visits Wide Bay.

1941 Wide Bay is blacked out for the war.

Mr Steve Fittell starts Radio 4GY in Gympie.

Scottie Forsyth, of Wondai, hairdresser and newsagent, dies. A local states “Scottie is Wondai and Wondai is Scottie”.

1942 Air raid shelters and trenches are dug in parks throughout Wide Bay. There is panic buying of clothes and tea in anticipation of rationing.

The Mary River floods and the Channon Street bridge in Gympie is destroyed.

1943 Butter rationing starts.

Cheese factories are opened at Tansey, Kingaroy, Wondai and Murgon for export to England.

1944 Italian POWs are used as labour on farms in the area.

1945 Peace is announced.

First Cherbourg agricultural show.

1946 Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, right, is elected to the Kingaroy Shire Council.

1947 Pineapples from the Mary Valley are sent to the Northgate Cannery.

1948 Rutile is found on Fraser Island.

Gympie becomes part of the Fisher electorate.

1949 Gayndah’s segregated Aboriginal school closes.

1950 Mt Bauple sugar mill closes.

1953 Gold worth 30 shillings is dug out of bitumen in Mary Street, Gympie.

Nestles powdered milk factory is established in Gympie.

1954 Wide Bay elects a new member – William (Alf) Brand who retains the seat until 1958.

Bundaberg is hit by seven cyclones.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip visit Wide Bay.

1955 It is the wettest year since 1898. The Mary River floods and Gympie receives 64 inches of rain in the year.

1956 The Olympic Torch travels through the Wide Bay.

1957 The country is again in drought and the Mary River stops flowing.

1958 Wide Bay elects Harry Bandidt who holds the seat until 1961.

The last steam locomotive is built by Walkers Ltd.

Bundaberg’s new bulk sugar loading terminal commences work.

The new Bells Bridge is built.

Some Gympie residents complain about awning posts remaining in the main street. “It looks like a horse trading town,” they say.

1959 Princess Alexandra visits Wide Bay.

Gympie technician Steve Fittell picks up Brisbane TV from his rooftop.

Gympie’s state electorate is now called Gympie instead of Nash.

Queensland Centenary is celebrated with a Cobb & Co coach trip and a helicopter taking gold to Brisbane and a canoe race to Maryborough.

Kilkivan Shire Council chambers are opened.

First peanut festival in Kingaroy.

1960 Caltex builds a fuel terminal at Urangan Pier to service tankers.

1961 Wide Bay Burnett Television P/L is registered in Maryborough.

Bundaberg opens its automatic telephone exchange.

1962 There are 100 licensed fishing vessels registered in Maryborough which includes Hervey Bay and Tin Can Bay fishermen who supply 13% of Queensland’s fish production.

1964 An 11 foot 1 inch (over 3.3m) crocodile is shot in the Mary River near Tiaro.

Bundaberg’s sugar producing area is extended with the opening of 100 new cane farms.

Borumba Dam at Imbil is officially opened.

1965 The Paramount Theatre in Bundaberg screens its last film.

The Webb Brothers of Widgee record Pop Said to Me.

First Biggenden Rose Festival is held.

1966 Renowned tenor Harold Blair returns to Bundaberg to sing in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. More on the sugar mill tractor driver who sang to the world

1967 Bundaberg and Gympie are 100 years old. Gympie celebrates with the opening of the Andrew Fisher Memorial Park and a procession.

The Bruce Highway bypasses Gympie’s main street.

1968 135 tons of pineapples are dumped due to oversupply in the Mary Valley.

10,700 acres in the South Burnett are planted with navy beans.

1969 The Wide Bay Cooperative collects its first bulk milk.

1970 Petrol is 50 cents a gallon.

A motorcade travels from Gympie to Brisbane’s Parliament House to protest a ban against sand mining at the coloured sands at Rainbow Beach.

1971 The Fraser Island Defenders Organisation (FIDO) is set up to preserve Fraser Island from sand mining.

Queensland Titanium Mines (QTM) begins mining on Fraser Island.

1972: Gympie celebrates its first Gold Rush Festival and the official opening of Andrew Fisher House which has been relocated to the Gympie Gold Mining Museum.

1973: Singaporean vessel the Cherry Venture, en route from New Zealand to Brisbane is wrecked at Double Island Point in mountainous seas, 38 years to the day that the Maheno was grounded on Fraser Island.

1974 The Brisbane floods – and just another flood for the Mary River.

The 100-year-old gas works in Gympie are demolished to make way for the new Civic Centre.

Walkers shipyards in Maryborough close their business.

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam visits Wide Bay.

DM Minerals commence sand mining on Fraser Island.

Datsun produces cars in a colour called Gympie Gold.

1975 Colour TV is introduced to the Wide Bay.

Bundaberg Sugar Co takes over Millaquin Sugar in Bundaberg.

1976 MRD commence plans for the highway deviation of Maryborough.

Mining operations cease on Fraser Island.

WBQ8 becomes known as SEQ TV.

The film The Mango Tree is filmed in Bundaberg.

The Federal Government adopts the recommendations of the Environmental Inquiry into Mining on Fraser Island.

1979 Gin Gin is 100 years old.

1981 The Cooloola Coast Road is finished from Tin Can Bay to Maryborough.

The first Country Music Muster is held at the Webb’s property at Widgee. Who Put the Roo in the Stew is recorded.

1982 The sugar industry slumps.

1983 The area is declared a drought area, then in June the Mary River floods.

1984 The newly knighted Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen officially opens Bert Hinkler’s former Southhampton home which has been removed to the North Bundaberg Botanic Gardens.

The Double Island Point Lighthouse celebrates 100 years.

Hervey Bay is proclaimed a city.

1985 The Country Music Muster grows too big and moves to Amamoor State Forest Park.

The last petrol tanker uses the Urangan Pier.

1987 The Nestles factory produces instant coffee after producing powdered milk from 1955-1986.

The first whale watch expedition at Hervey Bay is run by the Perrys.

1988 Andrew Fisher’s grave is restored in London.

The first skate park is built in Gympie.

Hervey Bay is one of the fastest growing localities in Queensland with over $40 million worth of building permits approved.

1989 The north coast railway line is upgraded 98 years after it was built and electric trains travel from Brisbane to Gympie.

The Mary River floods twice.

1990 The Mary Street mall in Gympie is opened and parking coupons introduced.

1991 Fraser Island is listed as a World Heritage Area.

1992 $1 million has been allocated to cap mines in Gympie with 150 still to be done.

The Mary River floods twice.

The Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) process commences.

Amalgamation of smaller shires around Wide Bay is recommended by the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission.

1996 Salmonella bacteria is found in peanuts from Kingaroy.

1998 The Mary Valley Heritage Railway steam train makes its first trip.

The tilt train makes it first journey on the North Coast Rail line.

1999 Record flood for the Mary River for the century.

2000 The Olympic Torch passes through Wide Bay.

Fifteen die in Palace Backpackers Hostel fire at Childers

Timeline source: Cooloola Shire Library Service

More timelines