By Dominique Tassell
Celebrations for Stanthorpe’s 150th anniversary are set to produce some exciting projects for history buffs, with two mentioned in Council meetings recently.
Southern Downs Regional Councillor Cameron Gow spoke at the 8 September meeting about a “Better Now” project the committee was considering.
The project is a printed publication to be made for the Stanthorpe 150 celebration in 2022.
The ‘better now’ concept centres on the ‘then and now’ of Stanthorpe.
Councillor Gow stated that the publication will include “over 200 images of Stanthorpe and wider Granite Belt and Southern Downs in the past and the corresponding images more recently at the present day”.
Councillor Gow stated that they were looking into funding options for the project, including from the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF).
He spoke of two examples from the proposed project.
The first example was a comparison between a photo from 1920 showing the ‘world train’ that carried His Royal Highness Prince Edward during his visit to Queensland, and a photo in 2013 showing a similar train providing tourism opportunities for the Granite Belt.
The second example was a comparison between photos of Pikedale Homestead from 1943, and how it looked more recently in 2013.
The Stanthorpe 150 committee has also considered a project centred on the contribution of women in the area through a suggested laneway project.
The committee has stated they have in mind something similar to the Legends Laneway in Warwick with a focus on women of the district as relevant funding has been identified.
Council has indicated they will investigate funding opportunities for this.
This recommendation was endorsed by council at the 28 July meeting, and several grants have already been forwarded to the committee for reference.
It has been suggested that this project be done in collaboration with the Zonta Club of Stanthorpe, though there has been no recent news on this.
