Returning Home with Peter Gill

Transcript from the podcast “Speak Out Loud: Stories of Strength from the Southern Downs”

SEASON 2: EPISODE 6

GUEST: Peter Gill

PUBLISHED: 10th March 2022

bushfire regrowth
[00:00:00] Peter: The morning after the bushfire,

I’d snuck home by six o’clock

Without much time to prepare myself

For the return home was a shock.

I dodged around the roadblocks

To get back up to my place.

My house alone there in the bush

Where fire swept through a pace.

My carport and my shed as well

Were such a welcome sight.

Though I had prepared myself I might have lost them through the night.

I swung around the corner

And pulled up in the drive

I saw right there, the roof intact

So my house, it did survive.

[00:00:33] Kathryn: My guest on the podcast today is Peter Gill. Peter lives on the Granite Belt in the Southern Downs Region where he’s surrounded by bush land that’s a habitat to a diverse range of vegetation and wildlife, including many birds which you might hear as you listen to this episode. For Peter, writing poetry is a catalyst for self-expression and creativity. He shares one of his poems with us today that conveys the relief and the despair of returning home after the bush fire in September 2019. Peter also shares with us the vital importance of preparation and being proactive, including asking for help of any kind, if you need it.

Peter, can you tell us what’s your connection with the Southern Downs?

[00:01:27] Peter: Well, I’ve been here about 11 years, um, just over and to be honest, I picked Stanthorpe off the map because I wanted to be near family in Brisbane and Ballina but I wanted to be in a nice, natural environment that had its own couple of industries, be it tourism and agriculture. So I figured that there was going to be a healthy economy and a healthy community, and also wanted to be able to buy property with a significant amount of land, my idea of big land, so that I could care for that and be part of it, but still be near a community that had the basics to get by shopping the usual things. If you need to go to the big smoke you do so, but otherwise you can avoid it. So, um, I just thought that Stanthorpe looks like an attractive town, be it Quart Pot Creek and the National Parks around it. Um, and yeah, the agricultural industry and the tourism industry being a significant part of how Stanthorpe can exist. And I was looking forward to becoming part of that and have done so.

[00:02:27] Kathryn: And a few years ago, 2019 and 2020, we had a number of fires come through the region and late last year, so late 2021 we had a community photography exhibition called Hope and Growth. And that was an opportunity for people in the community to submit artwork, particularly photos. And you submitted some poetry to that. And that was a great time to reflect on those bush fires and the recovery journey that the community had been on. Peter, would you like to share one of your poems with us?

[00:03:07] Peter: Sure I’d be more than happy to do that. I did write seven or eight poems, most of them focused on the bushfire. Um, some of it was focused on thanking particular, um, aspects of the, either the firefighting process or the recovery process being the community recovery hub. And I wrote a couple about more personal note of living in the forest, coming home to a house in the forest after the fire had been through and things like that. So, yeah, there was a bit of variety, that I expressed in that, and they were usually tapped out onto my phone at some ridiculous hour in the morning when I couldn’t sleep properly, because it was a bit on the stressful side, as you can imagine. So yeah, I wrote a few, but I think we’re going down the avenue of a personal aspect one that’s written partly as a, an emotional returning home but also includes a bit of an educational aspect about how to manage your own bush setting if you live amongst the bush, or you have some native bush land nearby, um, it’s got a little bit of educational stuff about how to interact with your environment so that you can live in harmony with it rather than being scared of it and how to prepare yourself for bushfire basically. It touches on a couple of different levels, but we’re going for the returning home one just simply called Returning Home and here it is.

The morning after the bushfire,

I’d snuck home by six o’clock

Without much time to prepare myself

For the return home was a shock.

I dodged around the roadblocks

To get back up to my place.

My house alone there in the bush

Where fire swept through a pace.

My carport and my shed as well

Were such a welcome sight.

Though I had prepared myself I might have lost them through the night.

I swung around the corner

And pulled up in the drive

I saw right there, the roof intact

So my house, it did survive.

Though as I looked around me

With smoke still in the air,

The brief sense of relief had passed

And turned into despair.

Most of my sheds and caravans

And several water tanks,

The fire on its ruthless charge

Had plowed on through their ranks.

My fire break had done its job

Almost right across the hill,

And yet it crept around the sides

And burnt most things down still.

Where I had done cool fuel burns

The forest fared really well.

Where the high fuel loads were the fire

Turned it all to blackened hell.

So the lesson here is not to rest

Until your fire prep is done.

And your bushfire plan is personalised,

Not just some generic one.

You’ve got to make really sure

That you’ve thought of everything.

For now we know a bushfire plan

Is not something you can wing.

You’ve got to keep on top of the grass

And trim it nice and short.

If you let some parts get out of hand,

You’ll be on that insurance report.

So call the local firies in for a fuel reduction burn.

Slip the brigade 200 bucks,

Could save your place you’ll learn.

For fire generally knows no bounds

Charging like an angry steer.

So it really came as no surprise

That it had done some damage here.

The drought we’re in has set the stage

For a scary fire season,

For a week ago it was winter here.

Me thinks climate change the reason.

It’s all part of preventing loss

And reducing risk of pain,

For once you’ve been through one bush fire,

Its memory will remain.

That’s Returning Home.

[00:06:10] Kathryn: There are a lot of pointers in there about preparing, really practical pointers about preparing for bush fire season. And that emotional element as well. Certainly a very stressful event, being part of a bushfire.

[00:06:25] Peter: It certainly was.

[00:06:26] Kathryn: And that recovery journey I think it really starts even before the bush fire doesn’t it, with your preparation and then there’s that stressful event. And then there’s the immediate clean up the immediate things that need to be done that are often very practical things. And then as time goes on, there continues to be recovery. I’m thinking that that Hope and Growth Exhibition in the community, that came about around about two years after the fire. So reflecting on those two years, there’s been you know, a lot of other actions that have taken place that have been part of your recovery journey and for the community as a whole there’s been a lot going on too.

[00:07:14] Peter: Absolutely. The agricultural community, not every year, but you know, frequently goes through stressful times, whether it be hail damage, flood damage, fire damage, various economic issues. So yeah that I mean now community deals with stress every year. It’s not just an economic cycle or a global phenomenon of a flu or anything. It’s it’s every year it’s tough going. And I think part of the strength of the community is that there’s support out there. And it’s part of the acknowledgement that if you need support and, you know it exists, then you feel confident enough or brave enough, or it’s not stigmatised. It’s like, oh, you know, I’m being a bit of a wimp here. I need some help. It’s like, no, it’s not about that. It’s about, it’s about understanding that other people are going through similar things. They might’ve been there before. They might be going through it at the same time as you. And if you can interact with people in your community, then you’ve got support and you might have, you might get some good ideas from someone about how to deal with something, or you might simply have someone who’s willing to listen to you tell them how hard it is. Opening up to someone can be the first step for you to have an emotional recovery or to deal with a problem or to fix something or, you know, whether it’s sharing to people talking about, yes, we’re both having the same problem, isn’t it terrible. Or, Hey, I’ve come up with this solution. Or, you know, so-and-so told me that we could do this or whatever, and next thing you know, you’ve got resources available to you. You’ve got something to help. The concept of mental health, we’re starting to try and get it out there in the public domain rather than it’s like, you know, you know, did you hear about this? And I don’t even want to talk about it. Well, now you can actually talk about something with confidence and say, Look I’m going to go out and I’m going to talk to someone and I’m going to get, whether it’s counselling or I’m going to find a resource to help whether it be something as simple as practical skills or recovery or mental health improvements, whether it be socialising more, whether it be getting help with fixing the farm, coping with the loss of a crop, that sort of thing. It’s about sharing. It’s about support. It’s about, acknowledging that it’s okay to say, you’re not okay. I mean, that’s the whole thing. You mentioned about the Blue Tree Project. And that was a project to raise awareness of a lack of mental health, perhaps like, you know, you’re stressed and you’re worried that you’re going to lose the plot or, you know, you’re not going to be able to cope with situations as you used to. And to be able to talk about it, um, whether it be in confidence or whether it be with friends, To actually just acknowledge that there’s an issue and start dealing with it and working towards solutions rather than dwelling on the fact that you’ve got a problem. Work towards solutions, get support and, um, yeah, let’s face it. You can save a few lives by everyone being able to find the resource base that they need and find a connection with someone that’s going to help them, even if it’s just someone at council steering them in the right direction, saying, you know, you can get help by contacting this number or something. It’s like the first step is the most important one. You don’t solve something if you haven’t taken your first step. So the first step is the biggest one. That’s the hardest one. It might be the most confronting one to acknowledge that, Hey I’m not coping with this. I’m not dealing with it. Need some help. And that is the moment in time where you actually start fixing something because you’ve acknowledged that it exists and that you want to fix it. So, yeah, the Blue Tree Project was a bit of a, um, a visual for creating awareness and to get the community talking about it. It gets people talking and starts helping people find solutions to problems that they’re facing so, yeah, there’s always a solution. You can have been through something really stressful. Whole family can go through it. A whole community can go through it. A whole country can go through it. It’s about finding help.

[00:11:17] Kathryn: And certainly the research has been showing how important it is to be connected with your community and to be prepared for stressful events, whether it is a bush fire, preparing your property and preparing your safety plan for a bush fire, or it can be making sure that you’re connected and that you know where to seek help if there is something else stressful going on in your life.

[00:11:46] Peter: Troubles are predictable. Some are predictable. Some are not, you can see some of them coming. I started preparing for the bushfire that came on Friday night. I started preparing on Monday and I decided on Sunday that I was going to prepare for Friday on Monday. So I took the day off work and I took stuff off my bush property and stored it in town cos I thought, excuse me if the [WHISTLE] hits the fan on Friday cos the weather forecast is appalling- strong winds, hot winds, high temperatures, dry, dry ground. I was like, this place is a tinderbox. If Friday turns out badly I’m going to be really up the creek unless I do something today. So on the Monday, I actually was probably the only person that was thinking about a bushfire on Friday because I took my ride-on-mower and my trailers and started packing things up. I packed up all my backpacks full of clothes and bedding and stuff. And I thought, because if I don’t prepare now, I’m not going to have time. If I’ve got five hours notice that there’s a fire coming, I’m going to be losing a hell of a lot of stuff if my place goes up. And I sat on the bonnet of my four wheel drive in town, watching the fire go over the hill. And I counted the fireballs go up where the gas bottles exploding. And I actually thought they were the gas bottles next to the hot water for the house and the granny flat. And it turned out to be barbecue gas bottles. But if I hadn’t have prepared myself for the possibility that I was going to lose, possibly going to lose everything, then I wouldn’t have had the mental focus to start acting and preparing myself for the possibility of loss, for the mental anguish. No, if I’m taking action, then I’m not suffering mental anguish. If you’re starting to prepare yourself for, be it a drought or, you know, you’re going to go look I’m not going to suffer from hail damage next year because I’m going to invest in hail netting or my crops, they’re not all going to be just tomatoes. I’m going to have a diversity of crops. The neighbour up the road now grows vegetables as well as fruits and things like that. So that’s about diversifying. It’s about preparing. It’s about building up a buffer zone or cushioning yourself or whatever. You can’t always see trouble disasters coming, but, um, there are certainly times when if you stop and think about the possibility of a particular type of disaster, then it’s the fore warned fore armed sort of thing. If you’re already on the front foot and you’re thinking about it, you’re conscious about it. You’re mentally more mentally prepared for it. You’re also more physically prepared and more economically prepared perhaps. So there’s things like that. So it’s about preparation and coping and you’re more likely to bounce back. Gotta be honest, I’ve bounced reasonably well after the fire, because I just went Well okay so I’ve reduced my human footprint on my block of land. It’s a big block of bush. It’s now more natural. So rather than going, I lost all my push bikes in the shed and you know all that went up and all my building materials got burnt. It’s like, well, now I don’t have as many projects to deal with so life’s going to be easier and you decide how you manage your recovery. And not to mince words, but you get an insurance pay out if you get burnt out. You get an insurance pay out if you’re insured properly. I know I was under-insured, but, I decided what I spent money on. To replace what I wanted to replace and didn’t replace what I thought well actually can get by without that. So that’s part of putting things in perspective and the usual thing of seeing a silver lining in a situation. How you deal with it, I guess, is really important. Yeah. Rather than me sitting and moping like sure, I was in shock for days and weeks for sifting through stuff and looking at everything that got charred going Oh there’s you know one of my best resource books. Yeah. Here’s the front cover, the little, little bit of ash that you can just read if you look at it in the right angle. How do you deal with that? It’s hard.

[00:15:37] Kathryn: Sounds like it was, almost in a surprising way, an opportunity to reevaluate your priorities, how you spend your time and your energy and finances.

[00:15:50] Peter: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there’s the full range of aspects in your life, whether it be health, financial, recreational, employment, and it’s not necessarily a fresh start as such, but it’s certainly part of it was a clean slate and going, Okay, so I’m going to rethink how I do things to reduce the possible exposure to risk in the future or to feel okay about loss to, be able to deal with loss. You’ve got to feel okay about it. You’ve got to accept it. You’ve got to understand it. You gotta talk about it. So then you can cope with it and move on. Not moving on forgetting, but moving on knowing, knowing that you’ve managed to survive something or recover from something, and perhaps, you know, reduce the chance of loss in the future, or be a bit smarter than you were last time around, like. We’ve got to come up with a way of minimising our exposure to damage or loss. And that can be done as a long-term preparation basis. Whether it be every year you prepare yourself for fire season, or you prepare yourself for storm season or that sort of thing, or economic downturn, you know, whether you’re multi-skilled or whether you’re, you can only do one thing. I’m always busy it’s because I do three different things in my employment for self-employed. Yeah, I do trees. I do grass and I do shrubs and I can do handyman stuff or whatever. That’s that’s just a simplistic thing, but, but diversifying your interests means that you’re going to roll with the punches and be able to get through things more like the next door neighbour doesn’t just grow fruit anymore. He does the veggies and that sort of stuff. So you’ve got different markets that you can sell your products on different times of year when you can sell it. So you’ve got a more consistent income or something like that. So it’s basically about understanding your own situation, preparing yourself for change, being able to accept a change and deal with it. And when things get out of hand, knowing how to step up and change tack or readdress things, reassess it, and maybe go off on a different tangent. As long as you’re prepared mentally, then you’ve got a lot more chance of being able to cope with it and if something takes you by surprise that you weren’t prepared for and you’ve never thought about, then you’re more likely to be knocked off your feet and take months to get back on your feet. And that’s a hard slog. I’ve seen that happen to people, you know, I might have been part of it myself at times, but strengthening yourself for possible things the foreseeable things and the unforeseeable things. It’s I guess it’s comes down to the strength of spirit and, and your preparedness and your foresight to have a bit of an idea about what things in life can affect you and what things you can bounce back from and what things are you going to need help with and who you can contact to get help.

[00:18:58] Kathryn: So circling back to community projects and community events like the Hope and Growth Exhibition, and we know that when people are connected with events, with projects, with people, with the land in their community, that they have a greater opportunity to bounce back. Sounds like you’re saying it really helps to have people in your life that you can talk to that you can be open with about how things are going. You’ve got practical help there as well, you can help other people, but they can also step in and give you a hand, if you might need that from time to time?

[00:19:35] Peter: Absolutely.

[00:19:36] Kathryn: And raising awareness and sharing information, that’s something else that you brought up as being really important in those connections that we have in the community.

[00:19:45] Peter: Yeah. Being comfortable with acknowledging that something’s not right in your life and thinking about which friend or family member or community member, or which official person, you know, whether they be behind a desk or on the other end of a phone, trying to think about who’s most likely or most relevant or who could understand who can assimilate and understand with what you’re going through and who can help you. Even if it means asking someone else, Who do you reckon I should call or where should I go? Should I try the council? Or should I ring up the state ombudsman or go and talk to a neighbour that, you know, went through such and such 10 years ago. Talk to them about it, how they coped with something. Yeah, it’s about taking the first steps to recovery. Not expecting recovery to come to you necessarily, but to actually go, Hey, I want to fix this. How can I do it?

[00:20:32] Kathryn: Some really great pointers in there. thank you, Peter. And thanks for sharing your poetry with us as well.

[00:20:39] Peter: You’re very welcome. There’s a few on the wall in the Hope and Growth Exhibition. You can pop into Jamworks, or you can go into the High Street or out to Wild Grounds Cafe out east of Warwick. And then there’s Vincenzo’s. There’s a few places around where you can see some bushfire photos and some of my poetry’s on the wall there. I don’t consider myself to be a poet per se but you need a catalyst or a stimulus, something to provoke. The need to express something and I just chose poetry to do it. Some people would draw a painting, some people would you know, write a story. Some people would go and plant a forest. I just use poetry, but now, and then I might know who got months, couple of years, whatever, without writing anything, but then something dramatic happens like that. And next thing you know, you pop out eight poems in the space of three or four days. Let it be said that the growth season that we’re in with all of this beautiful lush growth, will eventually lead to dry grass, dry leaves and possibly a water shortage. It’s just the usual cycle. So don’t think that we’ve had one bush fire it’s reduced the fuel load. It’s building up again. So.

[00:21:48] Kathryn: Be prepared.

[00:21:49] Peter: Be prepared. Think about it, work out what you need to do to minimise the damage. Be prepared.

[00:21:57] Kathryn: Thanks for listening to the Speak Out Loud Stories of Strength podcast with me, Kathryn Walton. I hope this episode inspires you to get involved and to get connected with your community. You can find the transcript and any links mentioned in this episode, in the show notes and please share the podcast with your friends.

We acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual, and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Series Two of this podcast has been jointly funded under the Commonwealth and State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements 2018.

Building and Nurturing Community at the Dalveen Community Hall

BUILDING AND NURTURING COMMUNITY (DALVEEN COMMUNITY HALL)
Transcript from the podcast “Speak Out Loud: Stories of Strength from the Southern Downs”

SEASON 2: EPISODE 3

GUEST: Nathan Parkes, President Dalveen Sports Club

PUBLISHED: 22nd February 2022

Dalveen Community Hall

[00:00:00] Nathan: When I moved here, I was told about the Friday nights at the Dalveen Hall. So I came along to meet the locals and enjoy a beer and a meal. I found it to be a great community. The locals are very welcoming and I’ve been coming to the hall ever since.

[00:00:20] Kathryn: Nathan Parkes joins me on the podcast today. Nathan is the president of the Dalveen Sports Club which is housed by the Dalveen Community Hall. The hall is a hub for this vibrant community that’s located between Warwick and Stanthorpe on the Southern Downs. There’s so much going on at the hall, so many opportunities to connect with locals and visitors, to get involved in volunteering and with community groups. And this community has some really innovative ideas that Nathan shared with me in this conversation. And I’m excited to share them with you too, so that you can also be inspired to take action. Hello, Nathan. And welcome to the podcast.

[00:01:03] Nathan: Thank you.

[00:01:04] Kathryn: Nathan, can you tell us what’s your connection with the Southern Downs and even with the Dalveen community specifically?

[00:01:11] Nathan: All right. Well, my wife and I, we did the tree change thing about 17 years ago, this coming June. So we both gave up careers in the city. I worked in construction and my wife worked in scientific research and we moved to the country so that our children could be raised in a country environment. I had a, uh, a good friend move here and he encouraged me to come along and have a look at some property in the area. And I fell in love with with the place. We moved here when our eldest boy was one. I now have three boys, all of which were schooled at the Dalveen State School and are now in their last years at high school.  So I’ve held various positions within the club and I’m currently the president of the Dalveen Sports Club.

[00:01:48] Kathryn: What is the hall currently being used for? It’s quite an establishment here. There are a number of buildings and a number of different functions.

[00:01:58] Nathan: Yes. Yeah. It’s quite a large area that the land itself is owned by the council. And on that land, we have the Dalveen Hall, and the oval. And also we have the Dalveen Rural Fire Brigade facility. So it’s a large area, numerous buildings. We all sort of work together. The Dalveen Sports Club supports the, the fire brigade and vice versa. So yeah, it’s, a great establishment and it’s an establishment that’s been funded by community. It’s been fundraised and built by the community for the community. I could confidently say the Dalveen Hall would be one of the most well utilised halls on the Southern Downs. So in terms of, of use, I’ve got a bit of a list here I’ll refer to. The hall is used for a number of things. We have CWA craft groups here every fortnight. We have CWA monthly meetings. They hold the Biggest Morning Teas and other fundraising events at the hall. The Sports Club hosts community dinners every Friday night except public holidays. It also has its holds its meetings monthly. We have a subcommittee of the Dalveen Sports Club called the Dalveen Film Society. They hold monthly meetings and bi-monthly movie screenings. We have another Sunday sewing group held every fortnight. The Wild Dog Management Group have their monthly meetings here. The Dalveen State School regularly utilise the hall and the oval for their school and inter-school sports. The Dalveen CWA have held a Christmas Tree here every year for the last 96 years. So that’s a celebration Christmas celebration that the CWA put on for the community. We have a group called the Darling Downs Drifters which hold three day events yearly. We have community meetings with councillors, the electoral commission hold their polling for federal and state elections. We have private bookings for functions. They can be birthdays, engagements, weddings wakes, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services hold training and public information sessions in the hall.
Other events, such as hosting the Darling Downs Tractor Trek which is happening later in the year, other fundraising events, and this year the Dalveen Film Society will be supporting the Apple and Grape Festival by screening two Italian theme films during the festival week. We’ve hosted recently a small horse festival show as part of the Drought Resilience Tour. And today it’s being used for free haircuts prior to the return to school and that’s been put on by the Granite Belt Neighbourhood Centre.

[00:04:13] Kathryn: That’s quite a list. No wonder you needed to have list in front of you there Nathan.

[00:04:17] Nathan: I know. I couldn’t commit all that to memory.

[00:04:20] Kathryn: There are many halls that serve as community hubs in the rural communities and the villages right across the Southern Downs region. And we were hearing about the halls and the rural fire sheds a couple of years ago, being used as hubs during the drought to distribute water to people who needed it. And then we were hearing about the halls during the bush fires as a meeting place for the community to share information and to share management plans as well. So there are lots of things happening in these halls across the region. Coming back to the Dalveen Hall, how else does the Dalveen Hall, this whole establishment here, benefit the community as well as the individuals who live locally?

[00:05:07] Nathan: Well, during the drought, most of the water distribution in the southern end of the Granite Belt was carried out through associations like Granite Belt Water Relief. I would say that our club played a vital part in sustaining the mental health of the local community by providing a community hub where people could come together to enjoy a drink and a meal and chat with other people going through similar situations. In terms of the other natural disasters like bushfire, the Dalveen Hall and the oval is recognised by Southern Downs Regional Council as a neighbourhood safe place. During the bush fires of 2019 we had a number of people turn up, but unfortunately we weren’t able to operate as a, a safe place because power to the village had been cut. A neighborhood safe place should be able to provide a place for people that have come together during times of natural disasters to share and receive information and feel safe. It was after this, that the hall committee got together with the Dalveen Rural Fire Brigade and decided to get to seek funding together for the supply and installation of backup generator power for both the shed and the hall in the event of power outages. And it’s hoped we will be successful in seeking grant funding to make this happen at some point in the future. In terms of the other community benefits over the years, the Dalveen Hall committee has been an active advocate for the community and serves as an unofficial, I guess you call it a progress association for the village. So the whole is the community heart of our village. And it’s home to an active and proud community. Council recently developed an urban design framework for the village in consultation with some key stakeholder groups like the Dalveen Hall and the fire brigade and the school. And also the Dalveen locals. So during the development of this urban design framework or UDF, a key message from the community was the desire for council to continue to improve and upgrade community meeting spaces and support local community groups. Through this framework, the hall has also advocated promoting Dalveen as the gateway to the Granite Belt, investigating the possibility of a new tourist drive commencing at Dalveen, developing heritage trail linking local Dalveen heritage sites, upgrading the toilets at Jim Mitchell Park, exploring the opportunity of installing coin operated barbecues in the park with those funds being invested back into community projects, investigating the potential to deliver additional community units to the town centre as part of the new planning scheme and that’s to allow our local residents to age in place, supporting the club in grant applications for the installation of power and water to the oval to allow for RV friendly camping outside of use by the Dalveen Rural Fire Brigade and council as a neighbourhood safe place during periods of natural disaster and supporting the club to build an amenities block on the oval for use in these times. Council, as part of their planning review, their planning scheme review have also indicated they’ll review subdivision allotment sizes around the village to create opportunities for people to move to the area and support the village’s existing infrastructure. And whilst these initiatives won’t happen overnight, the urban design framework has given the Dalveen community a voice with council and an opportunity to set its own future direction. A couple of years ago, the Dalveen fire brigade in conjunction with the hall fundraised to install a theatre system in the hall which could be used for fire training purposes, community information nights. The last 12 months has seen the formation of the Dalveen Film Society subcommittee and their success in gaining a grant for the installation of theatre curtains, reverse cycle air con and advertising to the value of about 40,000. So we’re now able to heat the hall during the cooler months, and it does get cold here in Dalveen and provide a more comfortable and pleasant experience for our visitors. The film nights have been incredibly well received across the district and they’ve sparked a wave of media interest. So we’ve had numerous interviews on ABC radio. We’ve had stories in local papers and magazines that have shone a positive light on the Dalveen Hall and the local community. We have the film nights are regularly sold out and they’ve been well supported. And we’ve recently received a grant again from council that will see a new front of house theatre curtain installed as well as some additional sound curtains to the walls prior to our Apple and Grape Festival screenings. So, it’s been a very important part of our community and it’s so much more than a hall. It provides that sort of community hub where people can come together and share stories and experiences and get things off their chest. We’ve had a terrible sort of period in terms of bush fires, drought, and now COVID-19 so, you know, for us locally to be able to supply, uh, to provide a place where people can come and just address any mental health issues they may have as you know, it’s a great facility. It’s a great facility and it’s really well used by the community.

[00:09:34] Kathryn: And it sounds like it’s a really important place for socialising and having fun, relaxing. It’s not all about the seriousness of what’s going on out there.

[00:09:45] Nathan: No. That’s exactly right. So predominantly, you know, we get together once a week on a Friday. We have a fantastic team of volunteers that come together and we have a volunteer cooking roster. They provide a meal, uh, which can be purchased. We have a licensed bar that operates, and we have a pool table and yeah, it’s, it’s a great friendly family friendly social environment that people can come and, yeah get together and enjoy each other’s company.

[00:10:11] Kathryn: Nathan, you’ve referred to back in history a few times in terms of the hall and the Dalveen community. Can you tell us a little bit more about the history of the hall?

[00:10:22] Nathan: I’ll have to credit my mother-in-law for this information because she’s part of the, um, Dalveen Historical Society. So she’s been doing quite a bit of research on the hall and the local, the local area. It’s not quite clear when the first Dalveen Hall was built, but the first Dalveen Easter Sports Day was held on the oval in 1882. It appears that this was also the birth of Dalveen Sports Club. The hall quickly became the hub for a variety of sports and sports related events. By about 1927, the Warwick paper dubbed Dalveen the home of sport. With the oval at the back of the hall and the memorial tennis courts alongside, the hall became a hub for sports and sport related events. The Dalveen Easter Sports drew participants and spectators from the whole district. A Sports Queen was crowned. And a dance was held in the hall at the conclusion of the event. Indeed, the hall gained a reputation actually for having one of the best dance floors in the Warwick district. With the formation of the CWA in the 1920s, the hall became a venue for a variety of functions with catering provided by the CWA ladies. The annual CWA Christmas Tree was held for the first time in 1925. With a picnic afternoon at the hall, the annual Christmas Tree has been held at the hall every year since bringing together families from the Dalveen community. Last Christmas saw the 96th CWA Christmas Tree at the hall with many more to follow. So also travelling moving picture shows in the Dalveen Hall were popular with the local community and beyond. While their popularity waned over the years, the recently formed Dalveen Film Society brought their echoes of the past alive with bi-monthly film nights in the hall last year. Sometime in about 1937 to 38 the Dalveen Hall, the original Dalveen Hall was destroyed by fire. The community quickly set about erecting, a new hall with locally donated timber which was milled free of charge at the Dalveen saw mill. Members of the Sports Club and the CWA helped the builder Jack Smith when needed. Jack Smith conveniently lived next door to the hall grounds. The final task was construction of the brick stand for the copper, just outside the kitchen of the new hall. The bricks were made at the Dalveen brick work and laid by a local brick layer. The fire under the copper needed to be lit early so that the hot water could be provided for tea and coffee, as well as washing up. The boiling water was carried into the hall in old kerosene tins. The new hall was opened in 1939 in time for the annual Dalveen Easter Sports Day. All through its history the Dalveen Hall has been a venue for weddings, entertainment, community meals, celebrations, weddings, birthdays, and funerals and wakes.

[00:12:47] Kathryn: That’s an incredible history isn’t it? Really fascinating bringing in, the local skilled people to help out with the volunteers, to get that back on track.

[00:12:58] Nathan: It was quite a, it was quite a village, actually. It had its own saw mill. And it had a brick works and yeah, it was, yeah, it was a very, very, um, very sort of vibrant community.

[00:13:10] Kathryn: Yeah, sounds like it still is a very vibrant community.

[00:13:14] Nathan: Very much, so.

[00:13:15] Kathryn: Even though we’re living in a different world in a way aren’t we with a lot of these goods and chattels get transported from further afield these days rather than each community supplying them to themselves. Wow. What are your hopes, Nathan, for the hall as we move into the future?

[00:13:34] Nathan: Well, I’d like to see the Dalveen Hall Committee to continue to advocate for the community, and provide a community hub where people can come together and enjoy each other’s company through the good times and the bad times. I’d also like to see Council continue to see the value in community halls and recognise their importance within the comm unity. And I’d like to see Southern Downs Regional Council continue to support, improve and upgrade these community meeting spaces and support the local community groups that, that use the hall. I’d also like to see the hall source a passive income into the future. And we’re looking at doing that as I mentioned earlier, by providing some RV friendly camping around the perimeter of the oval so that we can continue to provide the services that we do to the community at little cost.
So that’s been recognised as well in the urban design framework and Council are supporting us with that. We have some other things as well. Some, some future goals and aspirations. One of them is to seek some grant funding to upgrade our kitchen to a commercial standard. And, um, there’s also some talk about the possibility down the track of subject to Council approval um, building a drive-in movie theatre on the oval.

[00:14:42] Kathryn: Wow, that would be wonderful wouldn’t it?

[00:14:44] Nathan: That’d be just something a bit different and unique. And I think unique for this area. So, you know, we could alternate between once a month we could have screenings once a month. We could do one inside and one outside. So yeah, something just a little bit different.

[00:14:55] Kathryn: Yeah, it sounds wonderful and it’s really great to have those hopes and goals for the future to work towards and have that collaboration and those partnerships happening in the community.

[00:15:06] Nathan: Absolutely.

[00:15:07] Kathryn: Nathan, is there anything else about the community or the hall that you wanted to share before we wrap up?

[00:15:13] Nathan: I guess Dalveen’s, it’s a very unique place. I grew up in the country. I grew up in a sort of a town of 4,000. Dalveen’s quite a small little village, but it’s, it’s unique in the fact that we have a very sort of proud, active community that are very pro Dalveen. It’s a remarkable place to live. And it’s just nice to be part of that. It’s nice to be part of a community that really want to push things forward and progress things. It makes doing it quite easy. And it’s in, in this sort of environment, you know, in a small village, we have a number of organisations. We have the Dalveen Rural Fire Brigade. We have the P & C. We have the Dalveen Sports Club and other organisations as we mentioned, the CWA. The lovely thing is, is that when someone puts the call out, everyone puts their hand up and it doesn’t matter how many hats you wear. You’ll quite often find that, you know, you’ve got members of the CWA that are members of the fire brigade that are members of the sports club that are members of the P and C, you know, but everyone puts their hand up and nothing’s a problem.
So when it comes to organising stuff, it’s shared by a lot of people and it’s quite easy to do. And I think that’s something very unique and it’s something that, in these days, you know, life is busy, but we always manage to get things done and, you know, I love it. I think it’s great. I always used to be on the lookout for nice place to live. I moved here and I’ve never looked since.

[00:16:30] Kathryn: Thank you very much Nathan for sharing your story. I think that a lot of individuals and communities can be inspired by how Dalveen is really nurturing their community and protecting it into the future.

[00:16:42] Nathan: It just goes to show that you can achieve anything. I mean, if you look around here at the assets, on this block of land, they’ve all been provided for and fundraised by the community, and there’s a lot of infrastructure here, and, um, unique place, great place to live. And like you say, an inspiration around the halls, anything’s possible. You’ve just gotta, work hard and, and have a vision, I guess,

[00:17:04] Kathryn: And chip away at it gradually.

[00:17:05] Nathan: Chip away gradually, that’s correct.

[00:17:07] Kathryn: Nathan, if any listeners would like to follow up on anything you’ve said by contacting one of those organisations or finding out a bit more about the Dalveen Hall, where’s the best place for them to go?

[00:17:18] Nathan: Well, we don’t have a website at this stage. There is a Dalveen Sports Club Facebook Page. There’s also a Dalveen Film Society Facebook Page and a Dalveen Community Facebook Page. Uh, the Dalveen Sports Club also produces a monthly newsletter called the Windy Ridge which is distributed locally via the post office and email. Contact details for committee members are sign posted at the hall. Alternatively, you can contact the Sports Club via Messenger and Facebook, and we can give you the relevant information.

[00:17:46] Kathryn: Thanks for listening to the Speak Out Loud Stories of Strength podcast with me, Kathryn Walton. I hope this episode inspires you to get involved and to get connected with your community. You can find the transcript and any links mentioned in this episode, in the show notes and please share the podcast with your friends. We acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual, and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Series Two of this podcast has been jointly funded under the Commonwealth and State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements 2018.