Publications

Books for Sale

POMONA Historical Series 1-7 (Booklets)

Soft Cover Price = $8 each (please contact museum).

Written by: Aline Gillespie. Published by: The Noosa Museum.

Issue 1: New Town 1900 A New Shire 1910 (32 Pages)

The two most significant events in Pomona's early life were, first, its naming as a town in May 1900 and, ten years later, its choice as the administrative centre of the new Shire of Noosa.

Issue 2: The Pages of Pomona (28 Pages)

The Page family is among the best known and most respected families in Pomona and has been part of the social and commercial life of the district for almost a century. The furniture manufacturing business owned by the family has sustained the local economy over a long period.

Issue 3: A Special Trio (39 Pages)

Pomona has three features which differentiate it from other country towns in Queensland. Two are tangible and permanent reminders of its early history, while the third is an annual sporting event which attracts Australia-wide and international participation.

The Special Trio
Cooroora Masonic Lodge.
Majestic Theatre.
King of the Mountain Race.

Issue 4: Trees & Sawmills (47 pages)

The timber industry started in Noosa Shire in the early 1860s. The abundance of magnificent Red Cedar, Kauri Pine and other valued softwoods in the scrubs of Kin Kin and Cootharaba was noted by early explorers and by those with a view to logging.

Issue 5: Using the Land (42 Pages)

Ownership of land was the goal of most immigrants to Queensland from the 1840s. Vast tracts of land were first claimed for the grazing of sheep and cattle, then after the separation of Queensland from New South Wales as a separate colony in 1859, governments progressively legislated to reclaim some of the land for closer settlement.

Issue 6: Keeping the Community Healthy (50 Pages)

Considering the importance ascribed by the present community to the provision of health and welfare services, it is amazing how little this is addressed as a significant historical process in local histories and reports.

Issue 7: The Hotels of Pomona (36 Pages)

Stories from the two Pomona Hotels.

Hard Copy Books for Sale (Phone or Email for further information)

Title: Gubbi Gubbi - Animal Friends. Written by: Christine Stuart and Susan Clark Illustrated: by Bianca Clark. (21 Pages) Soft Cover. Price = $15

A story that features elements of the Gubbi Gubbi People.

Title: Turning a dream into reality. The Story of The Great South Pacific Express. Published by: Queensland Rail, 1999. (80 Pages) Hard Cover. Price $60

In the early 1990s, the biggest structural upheaval in Queensland's railway history was to spawn a project so breathtaking in ambition and imaginative scope that those who witnessed its birth, growth and completion would look back on it in wonder as a near miracle of design engineering and construction. This is the story of a special train - the Great South Pacific Express and of the people who built it.

Title: Bandai or (Happy Stones) Written by: Myra Steer. Published by: Steer family. (14 Pages) Soft Cover. Price $3.50

Guraki, the good, the wise, was disappointed when his beautiful wife, Dingah (laughter), gave birth to a Kooranya - a little girl piccaninny. Like the Big Chief or King of every tribe, he had set his heart on a karaweli - a son. A son who would make his heart swell with pride - one who would defeat the sons of all the other men of the tribe in hunting skill and knowledge of bush-craft, and excel in throwing the spear and boomerang.

Title: Pathways to gold. Written by: Jeff Lambert. Self Published. (162 Pages) Hard Cover. Price $30

In a wilderness area in the south east of a new found Australian Colony, a lone figure, followed by his faithful dog, had his eyes intently and excitingly focussed on the bed of the gully he was following, a gully forming part of a hilly, unnamed terrain draining to a river that the Aborigines had, for thousands of years, called Numabulla and which Europeans, some seventeen years prior, had named the Mary.

Title: Triumph of Narrow Gauge. Written by: John Kerr. Published by: Boolarong Publications. (248 Pages) Hard Cover. Price $16

SOLD OUT

What makes Queensland different?

The answer used to be its railways. Queensland was laughed at for its slow narrow gauge railways.

Economics, however, dictated that the Queensland Government build cheap, low standard lines across the vast distances of a sparsely populated state.

Title: Remember the Days. Editor: Elaine Brown. Published & Distributed by: Pomona State School. (64 Pages) Soft Cover. Price $10

The badge of Pomona State School shows Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit trees, with her horn of plenty, surrounded by a gold wreath. A beautiful nymph, Pomona was courted by a man named Vertumnus, but she scorned him. Disguised as an old woman, he pleaded his cause so eloquently that she relented.

After the railway from Bribane to Gympie was built in 1891, trains stopped if signalled at what was called Pinbarren Siding.

Title: The Singing of the Saws. Written by: Wendy Dixon. Published by: Landsborough and District Historical Society Inc. (86 Pages) Soft Cover. Price $20

German settlers with Rev Eipper followed in the track of Ludwig Leichhardt in 1840 but their German wagons were heavy, and finding the area too rugged, they settled south of the Landsborough Shire border.

In 1867 the discovery of gold at Gympie brought an influx of travellers, and coach houses were established along the route that Aboriginal people had travelled to the Bunya country.

Title: JOSEPH DIXON Supplementary Note. Written by: Hessie Lindsell. Published by: Hessie Lindsell. (11 Pages) Soft Cover. Price $5.

FLAXTON

This area on the Blackall Range was first settled in 1881 with C J Wyer and Joseph C Dixon, a Quaker, followed later by Ensby and Collins.

Title: JOSEPH DIXON Buderim & Flaxton 1870 - 2006. Edited by: Hessie Lindsell. Published by: Hessie Lindsell. (48 Pages) Soft Cover. Price $10

FINDING THE STORY

Living in Eumundi and visiting Buderim Pioneer Cottage, I became involved in researching historical material. Whilst studying at Buderim, I found one document of particular interest, the 'Dixon Family' as written by Stuart Weir. This was the very beginning of my interest in the Dixon Story.

Title: HISTORICAL TALES OF THE NOOSA SHIRE. Written by: Irene Christie, Edna Smith & Olive Macklin. Published by: Hessie Lindsell. (11 Pages) Soft Cover. Price $8.

A collection of personal stories about early settlement in the Noosa Shire.

Title: The Protestant Unity Group. Written by: Edith Hansen. Published by: Cooroora Historical Society inc. (35 Pages) Soft Cover. Price $10

The early settlers to the Pomona area have greatly influenced the histoy and development of the town and the surrounding districts. One group of settlers who have left a lasting legacy in the region, are, The Protestant Unity Group.

Title: The History Of - Pomona, Cooran, Kin Kin Cootharaba, Skyring Creek. Compiled by: Ruth E Page. (20 Pages) Soft Cover. Price $8

In its original state a large part of the country surrounding Pomona, Kin Kin, Cooran and Cootharaba contained some of the best hardwood forests that existed in Queensland, mainly because of the high rainfall and good quality soil.

Harvesting the virgin timber stands established a flourishing timber industry in the locality which contributed largely to the early economy of this region.