Sunday 14 February 2021

1954 Celebrations Switching On Electricity Supply for Woorim

 Electric Light "Switching On" Celebrations

Ocean Beach * Woorim * Bribie Island

Saturday 8th May 1954

Programme for "Switching On" Celebrations
Saturday 8th May 1954
source: KB02_011

Programme of Events!

Sports and Treasure Hunt for Children

Caboolture Ambulance Entertainment

Official "Switching-On" of Electric Light

4KQ Fine and Dandy Show.

Modern and Square Dancing

...... Stay awhile in the brilliant sunlight atop the high sand dunes - watch the heaving sea, whose booming voice is music in your ears. Inhale that pure ozone till your lungs expand and rejoice at your good fortune in having chosen for your holiday - "The Isle of Mystic Charm" - Bribie Island. ...

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In a recent Letter to the Editor, J. Rossborough recalls the "Turning on of the Power" event:

"In my younger days I lived in North Street Woorim - it was just a sandy track and many a car bogged  in the loose sand. We had a milkman who delivered milk and blocks of ice three times a week. With no electricity most folk had an ice chest. It was my task to empty the water dish underneath that collected the melted water.

My mother was a chef at the hotel at the time. I think the Dudley Family were licensees. We had to chop the wood for the wood stove, peel the vegetables and start the evening meal.

Then it was time to light the Kerosene and carbide lights so we could commence doing our home work.

The streets were graveled in the 50's much easier to ride our bikes to the shop.

The hotel had a verandah on the front of the building and it was on this verandah that the official Turning on of the Power to Bribie island took place. Radio 4BK from Brisbane broadcast live on the night. The Premier of Queensland at the time Frank Nicklin turned on the power and a lot of other Dignitaries gave speeches. There was also other entertainment. (Radio 4BK) is now an FM station.

Our first appliance purchase was a Charles Hope Refrigerator, no more emptying that ice chest water.

We still kept our wood stove well into the Sixties."

REFERENCE:
Letter to the Editor by J. Rossborough. [reprinted with permission of J. Rossborough]
The Bribie Islander, issue 134, 26 Feb 2021, page 69.

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