Try paddling down the Mary River from “start to finish”

canoe tale with a fortunately good outcome. It was then that the Flesser brothers decided to battle their way all the way to the coast. The started by shaping their canoes using an axe and adze. The canoes were about 2.5m long and about 500mm wide. They had about 200mm of freeboard.

The two canoes were very small craft in which to navigate all the way down the Mary River in ood.

In the description of this journey as told by Jack Flesser at the Landsborough Museum on September 9th, 1980 Jack said that the journey was relatively uneventful until Gympie. It was just another Mary River flood. They travelled down the river with the canoes lashed together.

Arrival at Gympie was met with a further torrential downpour. It was a Saturday afternoon. They stayed in Gympie, camping, until the following Tuesday and during that time the river rose a further “3 and a half foot”. said Jack. He continued to say that such was the flooded current “the snakes even tried to make friends with them”. On leaving Gympie they could continually hear the sound of the rushing water and it was really rushing along. They soon arrived at the Tiaro Falls. Normally there is.a drop of at least 15 to 16 foot, but on this occasion there was no drop at all, they just floated along across them. “We continued on from there continually battling the quickly streaming river.

We subsequently arrived in Maryborough on the Thursday afternoon at about 3p.m. No welcoming party there for us. In total we were actually on the water for a total of 40 hours to cover the whole distance.” said Jack.

On arrival in Maryborough Jack and Charlie again camped on the banks of the Mary. Ironically it was during that night that the floodwaters finally took control of the canoes and they floated away.

Taking the night steam train known as the Old ’99, arriving at Landsborough some hours later then walking from there to their home at Reesville via Maleny. Still with money in their pockets. After the flood the canoes were eventually found further down the Mary River. The Maryborough City Council recovered the canoes and for years after they were on display in the Maryborough Botanical Gardens. After many years they eventually disintegrated to a point where they were removed from the gardens. Inquiries have been made to ascertain if any other person has travelled down the Mary River in flood and in home-made canoes, but no others can be found.

Maybe this is just one adventure that can be repeated by another adrenaline fuelled adventurer, but would they be able to do it in just 40 hours “on the water”?

There are bound to be many other stories about our forefathers from this area and we would like to hear those stories before they are lost forever.

Electricity taken for granted!

Today we take our electricity supply as essential and if we lose it for 10 minutes we start to panic.

Did you know that it was not until February 1940 that Maleny actually got grid connection to electricity when Maleny was connected to the North Coast Rural Electricity Scheme feeding from Nambour.

By April 1940 Montville was also connected to the Nambour link.

The electricity came from City Electric Light Company via Nambour from the power station in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

Maleny Community Groups & When they meet!

Community Groups that form the back bone of the Maleny Community

Maleny Rotary Club

Meeting. Times

1st and 3rd Wednesdays.

6-30pm for 7pm

Maleny Hotel, Bunya St. Maleny

Email: secretary.maleny@rotary9600.org president.maleny@rotary9600.org

Maleny Probus Club

Meeting. Times

Maleny Uniting Church, Landsborough Road, Maleny

Meet 10 am on the 4th Wednesday of each month.

Feb to November 1300 856 859

Queensland Country Women's Association - Maleny Branch

Meetings at The Verandah Room

23 Maple Street, Maleny

8:00 am - 11:30 am.

4th Monday of Month.

Email: qcwa.maleny@gmail.com

The Zonta Club of Blackall Range

Meetings at Various between Montville and Maleny. Dinner meeting 3rd Tuesday of month 6pm.

Email: membership@zontablackrange.org.au president@zontablackallrange.org.au

Apex Club of Maleny

Meeting. Times

MALENY HOTEL/MALENY BOWL'S CLUB

1ST & 3RD MONDAYS, 7.00PM. Email maleny@apex.org.au.

Postal PO BOX 39. MALENY, QLD 4552 0487770653

Maleny Senior Citizens

Meetings at

The Verandah Room 23 Maple Street, Maleny

8:00 am - 11:30 am. 4th Monday of Month. Activities include card games, meetings and regular bus trips

Email: margarry1@bigpond.com

0409 266 507

The LIONS CLUB OF MALENY-BLACKALL RANGE Inc.

Meetings at Maleny Uniting Church Hall

On the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 6.30pm

Monthly Dinner Meeting held at The Orangery, 10 Mountain View Rd, at 6.30pm on 4th Tuesday of month

Email: maleny-blackall-range@lionsq3.org.au

Maleny Commerce

Meetings at Monthly breakfast networking meetings.

2nd Tuesday of the month. Venues to be advised.

Email: info@malenycommerce.org.au https://issuu.com/Maleny-Grapevine-Community-News