Push to preserve history after fires
A COMMUNITY group is urging the Toowoomba Regional Council to preserve a piece of history after it was destroyed by fire.
The Wylahra Grove Progress Association, based about 30km southwest of Millmerran, was saddened to learn last month a historic headstone at the Scrubby Creek rest area off the Gore Highway had been destroyed in the Cypress Gardens bushfires.
The headstone, carved into the trunk of a dead tree, belonged to farmhand Max S Willie, who died from a supposed self-inflicted gunshot wound in December, 1919.
The loss comes as the community group was trying to get the council to recognise the rest area as a designated site, with the help of Keep Queensland Beautiful.
Association secretary Roselle Crellin said despite historical evidence showing Scrubby Creek’s use as a rest area for travellers driving from Millmerran to Goondiwindi, the council had denied the request.
“It’s an adequate place for a daytime rest area. It was a lovely little area, it had a man-made dam that used to have water in it,” she said.
“We were quite happy to assist with the funding for anything we’ve put down there.”
The group started work on a plan to rejuvenate the site in 2017, with TRC recognition of the site part of the strategy.
Mrs Crellin said residents wanted to install a picnic table it already had, a few bins and a commemorative headstone to permanently mark Ms Willie’s burial site as a tourist attraction.
But both the group and KQB were shocked to receive a letter from a council officer that said the area had never been a designated rest stop.
KQB CEO David Curtin said he was hoping for a resolution to the matter.
“We’re still working with Toowoomba Regional Council and hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, we will have some positive news,” he said.
“We will now be putting together another letter to say some action does need to happen to protect that tree from further damage.
“It’s disappointing that the council has ignored the pleas of the community.
“The group has got the historical data that shows this area was a rest stop.”
TRC environment and community chair Cr Geoff McDonald said the council wanted more information from KQB, and wanted to find a positive outcome.