AGES AND STAGES

from Your Time Magazine Sunshine Coast - August 2020

OUR PEOPLE

She was living some 3500km away and had asked me to keep her company for her homeward journey.

The 4WD was packed and the roof top tent would be our accommodation.

The last item to go in was Cherub, an aging, yellow budgie. Although owned by my daughter, the bird had spent several years at my house.

I believe 11 is quite old for a budgerigar and we lovingly refer to him as geriatric. We decided that if the worst should happen, then he’d had a good life, he loved going in the car and he’d be laid to rest where his wild mates flew free.

The logistics involved in transporting the bird required some thought.

This was no day trip. It was a trek across the country where daytime temperatures hit 40C. The airconditioned vehicle was comfortable, but rest breaks were planned with precision.

Picnic-style lunches were in the shade with the bird next to us.

We even lugged the cage to the beach before heading inland, the cage draped with a towel drawing some curious looks from fellow beach-goers.

Supermarket visits meant finding undercover parking and shopping in a tag team so as not to leave the bird unattended. We kept fuel and toilet breaks short so the inside of the vehicle would not get too hot.

Each overnight camp was shared with a different plague of insects. Mozzies, ants and flies all found us irresistible.

A particularly long, hot stretch of highway turned the tent into a sauna. Cool nights were non-existent.

The robust old bird seemed to take it all in his stride and looked like he didn’t have a care in the world.

The trip was spent eating, preening, napping and watching the world go by. The bird did the same!

On our last night, we opted for a motel room, sneaking the cage in with us. I wondered if this made me a geriatric, budgie smuggler.

Thankfully we arrived at our destination safe and sound and Cherub is happy and well.

Life is a bird-brained adventure!

Hip and knee pain getting you down?

If you’ve tried everything and conservative therapies have failed, it’s worth seeking advice about Rapid Recovery Joint Replacement Surgery.

Key benefits: • Performed by industry leading experts with years of experience in minimally invasive techniques. • Minimises patients’ pain and discomfort following joint replacement surgery. • Has patients back on their feet and restoring their level of function in the shortest time possible.

No referral necessary. Our multi-disciplinary team will support you every step of the way. Make an appointment today or register for one of our upcoming free education seminars via our website. Phone: 07 5493 8038 www.scorthogroup.com.au

Dr. Daevyd Rodda

All the reasons to choose Advance Oral Denture Clinic...

• Both Clinic & Mobile Service Available • Experienced Dental Prosthetists with a wealth of Denture knowledge /RFDWHGRQWKHJURXQGÁRRUZLWKZKHHOFKDLUDFFHVVDQGSOHQW\ of parking available • HICAPS claiming is available and Veteran Affairs Gold Card holders welcome 6DPHGD\UHOLQHVDQGUHSDLUVIRUERWKFOLQLFDQGPRELOH denture service • New full and partial

GHQWXUHVLPSODQWV retained dentures and cosmetic extras • Implant Retained over Denutures

ADVANCE ORAL CLINIC AND MOBILE DENTURES

Shop 1/130 Brisbane Rd, Mooloolaba P. 5444 6116 www.advanceoraldentures.com.au Like us on Facebook & check out our specials

The lift bridge on the Maroochy River has been a landmark for 100 years, but its days were numbered when the sugar mill closed, writes AUDIENNE BLYTH.

The lift bridge was used from 1921 until the Moreton Sugar Mill in Nambour closed in 2003.

Production of sugar was the district’s most important industry during these years.

The first tram lines were established when the mill began crushing in 1897 and by mid-1921, a lift bridge was opened over the Maroochy River. Before then, a lift-up bridge had been built over Petrie Creek in 1917.

The lift bridge over the Maroochy River was level with the surrounding cane fields but had a movable span built between two towers with pulleys and counterweights to raise the span 7.92m and provided 5.33m for boats to pass. The link was vital for farmers to get their cane to the mill.

In 1922, the tramline was extended to Coolum and officially opened with much fanfare in 1923.

It not only brought cane to the mill but also attracted passengers. Special train excursions from Brisbane brought visitors to Nambour. They then travelled by tram through the canefields to Coolum, which began to develop as a holiday centre.

A pioneering river resident recalled

those days when her family would wait at the lift bridge to catch the cane tram to Coolum on Sundays:

“There was usually quite a crowd from Nambour already on when we joined. Some of the adults had to stand all the way on the one-hour journey to Coolum.

“The tram tracks had been laid to Coolum only by 1923 and in those early stages of passenger travel, planks were placed longwise on the cane wagons for people to sit back-to-back.

“By the 1930s, we could travel in open passenger carriages. No one ever fell off; seat belts were unheard of. Nambour to Coolum was two shillings per adult;

Maroochy River to Coolum was one shilling and children travelled free.”

Coulson’s mail boat, later Duffield & Gilby’s, delivered mail, supplies and household goods to about 60 jetties along the river so the boat needed the span to be lifted daily.

Children attending Maroochy River State School well remember the span being raised for the school boat to pass.

The driver, Bill Barton, had a bullock’s horn which he blew impatiently when approaching the bridge as a warning to raise the lift span to let the school boat through. He was known as Steamboat Bill.

On a still morning, the sound of the bullock horn could be heard over one kilometre away. If the lift span of the bridge was still down on the approach of the boat, he would give the mill employee a longer blast.

When the Moreton Sugar Mill closed in 2003, the cane tram network also closed and the lift bridge was no needed in the transport of cane.

Annual maintenance ceased and its end became inevitable.

In June this year, Abco Commercial Diving removed the piles of the lift bridge. The structure could not be saved and had

to be removed because it was a danger.

Four piles needed to be de-sleeved, the concrete cut and a “window” made in the river bed to remove the rest. The components have been placed in storage pending a decision on the future of the bridge.

It is believed the Maroochy River lift bridge was the last of its kind in Queensland.

Care. If and when you need it.

Sundale’s fully accredited Care Centres provide exceptional care. With four locations on your doorstep, Sundale offers a range of stimulating and engaging lifestyle activities and services including continuum of care. At Sundale, there’s no need to move if your needs change, with additional care, meals and assistance available, if and when you need it.