Why we must shine light on city’s history

“A pinch and a pu …” Wait, we can’t do that!

Social distancing for the first of the month, so it’ll have to be “A smile and wave, we can’t misbehave”.

Happy first of the month.

School holidays are here, and the mums and dads are taking the kids out to enjoy and maybe enthral.

I love our history, our incredible buildings, our first Australian history, our maritime history, yet I’m at a loss at why years ago, someone decided it would be a good idea to sell our magnificent Customs House.

Not having a crack at the family who bought it, good on you. But, imagine the walk along The Strand from the Seaview (looking great) to St Pats, Queen’s Hotel, Molly’s, our museums and Reef HQ, and if the Customs House was the Townsville Museum, how sensational would that be?

But oh no, someone’s good idea was to sell it. Why?

I could never work it out, our little Townsville Museum out of the city centre, they do an incredible job there, but imagine our history being inside “our history”.

I look at our Maritime Museum, which is truly remarkable too, but it should have more relics of the Yongala.

Our maritime people south wouldn’t allow a final dive, so the baths, the taps, the many other artefacts will be lost forever, and the kids will never see them.

There’s one other place of great local maritime history, Cape Cleveland Lighthouse. We have the Bay Rock Lighthouse, which is great, but over the Cape, alerting ships coming to this wonderful growing city, was a tiny light of just a few centimetres, but its superb magnification made it able to be seen further away than my shirts.

It used Pintsch lenses, on four sides, and they were put in our historical lighthouse along with a Dalen burner in 1927.

They were apparently removed from service in 1987 by the Department Of Transport, the lenses were separated, and then simply sold at auction in Brissy in 1994, gone.

One of the lenses had a chip out of it after the lighthouse keeper’s roof flew off in Cyclone Althea in ’71, a great story for our Maritime Museum.

But anyway, a true part of our history is gone forever, along with the incredible little light burner. No idea where that is, what a shame.

Now I have to add, I don’t know if someone from the department at the time asked someone here from another department if our city wanted it, so I’ll wait for the phone call, shall I?

By the way, all for a glorious $300. My simple message to those who can make a difference is please keep our history.

It may seem insignificant to you now, but in the future, for our kids, and our kids’ kids, wandering through museums during school holidays, just like now, delivers a “physical journey to wonder”, to see our history. A picture on Google does not cut it.

I must thank a delightful lady at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Sarah Jane Lakshman, for the information.

Though I was sorta hoping we could retrieve the light.

But maybe my little story has enlightened some in places of power.

Happy days!