Top bloke remembered
MAXWELL ‘MAX’ JOHN WALLIS AUGIST 12, 1936-JULY 27, 2020
FRIENDS and family have celebrated the life of popular publican and gifted storyteller Maxwell ‘Max’ John Wallis, who died on July 27 aged 83.
Malcolm and Myra Wallis welcomed their third child, Max, into the world on August 12, 1936.
The couple lived at Yelarbon when Pat, Jean, Max and Tony were born, but later moved to Goondiwindi. Max was educated at St Mary’s in Goondiwindi, but later attended Downlands College in Toowoomba as a boarding student.
It was while he was boarding that he contracted polio, which saw him spend several months in the infirmary.
Max was only 13 when his mother passed away and older sister Jean took charge of the household and attempted to tame ‘the wild colonial boys’ Max and Tony.
Max was 16 when he moved to Mungindi to begin a baker’s apprenticeship with his uncle Alan.
A while later he returned to the family property, with his brother Pat and his new wife Patty, sister Jean and brother-in-law Viv, to run the farm in partnership with Tony.
They ran sheep at Torridon with his father Malcolm providing guidance along the way.
Max’s children remember he lived by the ‘work hard, play hard’ mantra and it was something that stayed with him for his entire life.
On the weekends Max played football for Gundy, went to B&S
Balls, dinner dances, race meetings and tennis parties.
In later years he regaled friends and family with tales of his youth in Goondiwindi, of donning his dinner suit and famously winning a dance competition in the greater metropolis of North Star.
In 1961 Max married Toowoomba lass Jan Hills. Together they welcomed three children into the family – Andrew, Kerri and Mark.
Their life on the land was a good one and included, for a bit of fun, owning a few racehorses.
The couple raised their children at Torridon and Laraton, Goondiwindi and later Roma.
“They strived to ensure each of their children was afforded every opportunity available and imbued in them the country values they had learned from their families and life experiences: kindness to others, integrity in all dealings and an unconditional unwavering love for family,” his children said.
Some years later when Max was residing in Hughenden, where he owned and managed the Royal Hotel Motel, he became friends with a local Hughenden girl named Gina.
Gina had moved back to Hughenden to run her family business, Sourry’s Newsagency.
Their friendship blossomed over the years and by 1997 they realised they had fallen in love. They were married and Gina’s daughter Alana then became Max’s stepdaughter.
Together they worked to expand the motel, building on their success to purchase two other hotels – the Great Western and the Grand Hotel, which was non-operational at the time.
Gina said Max was a remarkable publican and was loved by many of the locals.
“He was known to many as ‘Max A Million’. He could relate to people from all walks of life and valued character over pedigree,” she said.
In his time in Hughenden he was heavily involved in the community, getting behind local football teams, the rodeo and continuing his love of horseracing.
Max owned several racehorses over the years and, with the help of Greg and Sue Hickmott, had many winners.
“Max was a lovely man to train horses for, never told Greg what jockey to put on, or how to train a horse, he just wanted to know when to put the money on,” Sue said.
Max started a local boxing competition with the help of Glen Johnson who later also fought in the Fred Brophy tent.
“Max was a great ambassador for the sport of boxing and he was one of the kindest and most gracious persons I’ve had the pleasure to know,” Glen said on hearing of Max’s passing.
The couple sold the pubs in 2006 and retired to Townsville, but an opportunity arose for them to buy the Crown Hotel in Innisfail, along with the Innisfail Motel.
At first they employed a manager to run them both but fate would have it differently and they ended up moving north in 2007.
“Pub life was no easy walk in the park. It was long hours dealing not only with the general public but also the police, liquor licensing and any other hiccup that would come along the way, but Max took it all in his stride,” Gina said. “He loved the pub game even though it was stressful.”
Gina said Max was a storyteller and had some really great yarns to share.
“One day he was right in the thick of one of his many stories when suddenly he yelled at top note, ‘Hey, hey, what are you doing?’,” she recalled.
“In a blink of an eye Max was out the door chasing a bloke down the street who had stolen some cartons from the drive thru.
“Max was no spring chicken, but it wasn’t going to stop Maxwell John.”
Gina said people who knew Max would tell you that he walked a straight line.
“His jovial personality shone through along with his caring and giving nature, hence the reason people were attracted to him,” she said.
“He was immensely proud to be a father and grandfather.
“His storytelling was a highlight for many and he often spoke so very highly of his children and grandchildren.”
The couple sold the hotel and motel in 2018 and moved back to Townsville in 2019.
It gave them the time they wanted to enjoy and appreciate each other’s company without interruptions, especially as Max’s health had begun to decline.
He passed away on July 27, 2020, just shy of his 84th birthday.
Max was buried at Belgian Gardens Lawn Cemetery following a service at The Lakes Chapel.
He is survived by his wife Gina, children Andrew, Kerri, Mark and Alana, and grandchildren Regan, Gemma, Thomas, James, Andrew, Henry and Archie.
Without fear or favour, actor Candace Cameron Bure is determined to only work on family friendly content. The former child star, most famous for playing DJ Tanner on Full House and Fuller House, has stood her ground despite facing criticism for her strong Christian and political beliefs.
“My commitment is to family-friendly television, to know that everybody can sit down and watch together and you’re going to watch something entertaining, but also positive and uplifting and safe for everyone to watch,” the 44-yearold says. “Those have been really intentional decisions in my career — I’ve been adamant and strong about them and I think that is why I’ve had such a loyal following for a very long time.”
Cameron Bure, sister to Kirk Cameron of Growing Pains fame, is mother to three young children. She is outspoken on politics as a conservative Republican and admits it would have been easy to falter under the pressure of fame and excess of Hollywood.
“There have certainly been opportunities where you’re offered something you’re like, ‘Oh, this could be amazing’,” she says. “Maybe the money is really great or maybe the role is a great character, but yet not something that is a positive influence or the project in general. I would 100
per cent play a character that is not positive as long as there’s something redemptive about the character. But there have been those opportunities, but I’m a very strong willed person. So it’s my determination to stay true to who I am and the types of roles I want. It’s just far outweighed the offers that have come in to really stray from that. I just have always kept my eyes focused on family programming throughout my career.”
Cameron Bure speaks to Hibernation on the phone from Vancouver, where she has just wrapped shooting the 14th Aurora Teagarden Mystery and has started filming a Christmas movie.
She sounds just like her characters on TV — friendly, upbeat, jovial and open. There is nothing awkward despite this scribe probing her about her personal beliefs and values that have been highly scrutinised in the media over the years.
“My Christian faith is the foundation of who I am,” Cameron Bure says. “While it is important to know that my focus is bringing families together, it is not about doing projects that are faith-based, although I certainly have done projects that are faith-based, but I love sharing my faith and my personal life. As long as in my professional life, it’s family-friendly. I haven’t wanted to only focus on faithbased for my career because I just think there’s a lot more opportunities … I haven’t wanted to limit myself. Certainly on a personal level, if you talk to me or get to know me through social media, I’ll be the first one to share my faith with people, but I don’t have to do that always through my work.”
In 2017, Cameron Bure defended herself after being labelled homophobic by Rupaul’s Drag Race star
Bianca Del Rio. Asked about the accusations, she says it confuses her.
“It deeply grieves my heart when people say that about me and it’s just simply untrue,” she says. “So God tells us love God with all of our heart and our soul and our mind. And then the e second greatest commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself. It doesn’t say to love the people that are like you the most or only love your friends who think the same way as you the most. Your neighbour is anyone, it’s anyone that’s around you, with anyone that you interact with, whether you personally know them or not. So God’s instruction is to love one another and that’s what I do.”
The first six episodes of The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries were released to streaming platform Acorn TV this week.
Cameron Bure has made 14 of the Hallmark movies over the past five years. In them, she plays protagonist Teagarden, a professional librarian who likes to solve crimes and is the president of Real Murders Club in the same vein as Nancy Drew or Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote.
“Aurora is just this really spunky, courageous, fearless, intelligent woman,” she says. “It is never too scary or too gruesome, you can have your seven- or eight-year-old watching these mysteries and they’re just really fun. They are fun to figure it out. You think it’s one person, but it might be another and it’s been such an important part of my life to sit down with my own family, as well as when I was a kid sitting down with my mum and dad and being able to find television shows and movies that we can watch together as a family. And that’s why that’s been my commitment and intentional choices for all of the projects that I have led for the last 40 years in my career.”
Playing a strong female character is important to Cameron Bure, who got her start in the business in TV medical drama St Elsewhere in 1982 at age five.
DJ Tanner in Full House is her biggest career role with the cult-following show still
to an island, where there was no Wi-fi in the hotel room. Shock, horror! It was great, though. We played card and other games; spent time on the beach, exploring rocks and climbing sand dunes; played pool and table tennis in the games room; and went on bushwalks and saw the most amazing native wildlife and flora and fauna.
Yes, technology has a place in our lives, but it doesn’t usually involve or promote conversation – real conversation – or creativity together.
At my last book signing a man walked up to me – a man I actually knew but hadn’t seen for a while – and I shared that I had written a book series for girls that were story/activity books.
He was really impressed by the series and bought two sets for his granddaughters. Last week I was blown away when he called me (while he was icing cupcakes for his granddaughter’s tea party – based on my book). He said how surprised he was to see how giving my book, The Lovely, Beautiful and Very Elegant Tea Party, to his granddaughter had brought out talents and skills her family never knew she had.
She was delegating, organising, writing lists, cooking and decorating, and she is only six years old. I was just so amazed and very thankful he had taken the time to call and let me know. This also really brought it home to me just how important it is and how beneficial it is for girls and boys to have hobbies and interests, and to be allowed and encouraged to pursue them.
4 large portobello mushrooms
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 4 eggs
Feta, sliced chilli and chopped chives to serve
Preheat oven to 180C fan forced and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and use a spoon to scrape away the inside of the mushroom a little to ensure that you have a walled area that the egg will be able to sit in. Don’t waste the stalk and scrapings, place them on the tray along with the mushrooms, open side up. Drizzle the mushrooms with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place the tray in the oven and cook for 10 minutes until the mushrooms are slightly tender, then remove them from the oven, and acting quickly while the mushrooms are still hot, crack an egg into each mushroom “bowl”. Place the tray back in the oven and roast for a further 5-7 minutes, keeping an eye on the eggs.
The cooking time will vary slightly depending on the size of your mushrooms.
Remove and scatter with chilli, feta and chives to serve.
Use whatever toppings you like, and if you want to be a bit more adventurous, add some garlic and thyme to the mushrooms before baking. 4 eggs
2/3 cup pure (thin) cream ½ cup finely grated parmesan
Preheat a non-stick rice cooker and allow to heat for 5 minutes.
Combine the eggs, cream and parmesan and season with salt and pepper.
Add the eggs to the bowl and cook for 1-2 minutes, using a spatula to move the mixture around until curds start to form. Turn to the “keep warm” setting, then allow the eggs to gently
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
10g unsalted butter or olive oil thicken. You can keep the eggs on the keep warm setting if needed. If you want your eggs cooked a little more, then switch back to the cook mode and cook until your desired level.
This is a great way to cook eggs if you don’t have a stove, or if you want to do a large batch and keep them warm using the rice cooker “keep warm” setting.
Maple syrup, whipped sour cream, berries and scorched mango to serve