Friday, 28 April, 2023
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In the flow of life
Noosa pays tribute
28 page liftout property guide
PAGE 3
PAGES 6-7
PAGE 17
INSIDE
PR OP ER TY
Crowds flock to service It’s quite humbling to see the number of people who attended the dawn service,” MC Robert Upham told the many thousands who turned up at Tewantin cenotaph as they did at services across Noosa on Anzac Day. We are here for one purpose, to recognise and remember the service of those who gave their lives or willingly gave their health for the freedoms we enjoy today in this democratic country, Mr Upham said. See more on Anzac Day services on pages 4 and 5
Noosa veterans are applauded as they march through Tewantin on Anzac Day. Picture: ROB MACCOLL
Bunya wars begin By Phil Jarratt
12497020-DL22-21
Ian Mackay, Noosa’s favourite bush poet and Mary Valley environmental warrior, is not happy, Jan. In fact, he tells Noosa Today from his Kenilworth property: “I’m really hot under the collar! And the reason is public vandalism – death by the chop of a number of recently planted bunya trees, part of an avenue on the Eumundi approach to Kenilworth.” According to Ian, the Sunshine Coast Council planted the avenue of bunyas a couple of months ago in good faith in recognition of the importance of the bunya in local Aboriginal history, but failed to consult “influential locals”. An article in the Mary Valley Voice newspaper in March brought the disgruntlement of the few to more general attention, but blamed not the lack of consultation but rather the fact
that bunyas drop prickles and cones at certain times of the year. Says Ian: “This objection is truly lame, as anyone walking alongside a well-used road is ill-advised to be doing so in bare feet. All those who have picked up roadside litter on CleanUp Australia Day will tell of broken glass, tin cans and more, lurking in the grass, often rendered even more dangerous by having been run over by the slasher or mower. Even an innocent hubcap after a couple of passes with the mower can become a lethal weapon. “The wider world plainly does not share this paranoia for prickles. In pride of place in Queen’s Park in Maryborough, for example, is a large bunya tree reputed to have been planted by John Carne Bidwill after whom the plant was named. Presumably Maryborough residents and tourists have the sense to wear
shoes and to avoid walking under the truly majestic tree when the cones are falling. There are a number of bunya trees happily resident in the old botanical gardens in Brisbane too, and some at Government House, and a wonderful example in the grounds of Mapleton school. So no, prickles in feet and falling nuts are not valid reasons for the removal of the bunya avenue approach to Kenilworth.” A new dimension entered the Kenilworth bunya war on the night of 3 April when eight of the newly-planted saplings were ripped out of the ground. “They got the posse up under cover of darkness,” says a disgusted Ian Mackay. “Bunyas to me aren’t just a tree with prickles and cones, I respect their enormous significance to our First Nations people who were here long before the residents protesting the planting. Hinkabooma (Kenilworth) was the heart of bunya country, and this avenue
planting is more than a nod to that enormous respect in which bunyas were held.” At the very start of European settlement, bunya trees were in abundance in south-east Queensland. Andrew Petrie, Commissioner for Works in the Moreton Bay settlement and a prolific explorer was the first to bring back samples of the bunya and the first to recognise its significance to First Nations people. Bunya gatherings, both at Baroon Pocket and what is now called the Bunya Mountains, drew up to 5000 attendees, many travelling long distances to be there for the feasts, corroborees, trading and sharing of food, as well as arranging marriages and resolving issues of law. Former Noosa Library historian in residence Dr Ray Kerkove has written: “The Bunya Gathering was arguably the largest and most influential Indigenous gathering in Australia.” Continued page 3