Pioneer village

FIRSTLY, I want to thank Barbara McGovern for her kind words about Highfields Pioneer Village and our wonderful volunteers as well as our community involvement.

My family also volunteered at the Jondaryan Woolshed for many years from its foundation up until 1989, and it distresses me greatly to see how the woolshed has declined since then to the situation it is in now.

We hope that it will re-open one day, especially as a wedding and events venue.

We are all very proud of what we have been able to achieve at Highfields Pioneer Village since our opening in 1993.

We have several family collections on display as well as community groups involved, such as the beekeeper’s association, 11th light horse troop, the Historic Fire Fighter’s Association, the Ambulance Historical Group and others.

We want to continue our very important work in preservation and displaying the history of the Darling Downs.

We have had very little funding over the years as we rely on visitor’s admission fees and funds raised from our Easter Vintage Festival.

However, we had to cancel our second Easter Festival because of covid restrictions so we hope to get enough sponsors to keep us going throughout the year.

The village is run entirely by volunteers and the Big Cow project was funded privately by Clive Berghofer.

We are very grateful for his help and our faithful hardworking volunteers.

Highfields Pioneer Village and its wonderful volunteers will continue to serve the community in many ways into the future. We always welcome new volunteers and support from the community.

RAY ASHFORD, volunteer manager,

Highfields Pioneer Village