ILLAGE PUMP VThe

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Young Champion Gallops to Victory

At just five years old, Liv Mennie has done herself and her school proud, taking out the Champion Show Horse Primary award at the 2023 Hygain Interschool Queensland State Championships.

Held in Toowoomba over the school holidays, Liv and her pony To-Lara Park Diva (Edie) competed in the Primary Show Horse Walk/Trot class at the Equestrian Queensland event. The Samford State School prep student was beaming with pride as she was presented with her ribbon.

Liv’s mum Kylie Mennie said the young champion was, “very excited to win as this was our first year competing in Interschools and Liv was one of the youngest competing.”

“Liv started riding from the age of three and has been riding her current pony Edie since February 2022. She’s very dedicated to the sport and most days will come home from school and ride Edie,” Kylie said.

The show horse event was judged over two phases; a rider class judged on the rider, and a ridden class judged on the horse. Liv was required to do two different workouts for each class.

The lead-up to the event was not without drama, with the State Government telling all State schools to pull their affiliation with Equestrian Queensland one week before they were due to compete. This would have meant that riders could only compete as individuals and not represent their school.

“Thankfully the decision was overturned about three days out from the comp and we were able to compete for Samford State School,” Kylie said.

In order to ride at the Queensland State Interschool competition, participants must first qualify for entry. Liv won the South East Queensland Regionals Interschool Championships in April this year allowing her to enter the State Championships.

Despite reaching this level of riding, Liv and Edie can also be spotted at local events.

“Liv rides at a lot of the local Ag shows, she competed at the Dayboro show and the Samford show,” Kylie said.

“We have a very busy few months ahead with some big shows coming up, but we are very excited to compete at our very first Ekka next month.”

Congratulations Liv and Edie on your phenomenal achievement.

Tanya Hall

Last month, Samford’s 107 Army Cadet Unit won the Cadet Games held at Sandgate. This is a competition between Army, Navy and Air Force cadets, as well as teams from Surf Life Saving, SES, Rural Bush Fire and PCYC. The games were opened by the Minister and Commissioner of Police, as the host organisation for the games. Over 50 teams competed on the day, with competitions in drill, communication, leadership and team activities.

The Samford 107 ACU team took out first place for the first time, and some members also placed first in the mixed teams. This win is such a great achievement for the unit, as it shows that teamwork, leadership and excellence in what we do does work. Building the next generation of leaders within our community has never been brighter.

We have had several promotions lately. We welcomed new Cadet Sargents and Corporals to the ranks and looking forward to their contribution to the team. We have some great activities coming up this term, with the Brigade Field Exercise in September the main annual event.

Australian Army Cadets (AAC), a youth development program for 13-18yrs, acts to promote pride in the self, community and nation. Against common belief, although the AAC has strong affiliation with the Australian military, cadets are not part of the Army nor obligated to join when they come of age. The AAC, however, aims to be an inclusive environment where one can experience adventurous activity and cultivate the values of courage, respect, teamwork and integrity. Army Cadets is founded on strong community partnerships which involves parents and other organisations such as the RSL.

We parade from 1800 to 2030 every Monday excluding holidays at the Samford Community Hub (SCHUB). If interested in joining, please contact the Officer commanding on 107ACU@armycadets.gov. au.

We are taking new recruits now, so if you are between 13 and 16 years old, send an email and then come on down on Monday night to have a go.

We Want You for the Samford Army Cadet Unit.

Captain (AAC) Craig Anderson

107 ACU Officer Commanding

From Little Things Big Things Grow

Once owned by CSIRO, the old glasshouses on Mount Samson Road remain silent today but were once a hive of activity, researching improved pasture options for livestock state-wide. One person who could be regularly spotted there with a petri dish of seedlings was Eric Giesemann. He gained employment at CSIRO when it commenced in the area in 1955, initially as a farm labourer before working his way through various positions until his retirement in 1984 as a Technical Assistant Grade 2.

Eric passed away in 2000, but his daughter Jennifer Eeles got in touch with Community Library Samford as part of a family project to create a visual biography of his life. Jennifer has been kind enough to share Eric’s story and provide a snapshot of Samford one generation ago.

Coming from a strong agricultural background, Eric’s Samford venture began in 1949 when he purchased a 309 acre dairy farm. Timing was unkind to the new landowner though, as the district experienced severe drought in the early 1950s. This caused Eric to lease the farm and seek external work, initially with Winn Brothers Sawmillers before planting his roots at CSIRO.

In 1961, he purchased the family house in Main St where present-day Makers on Main, PoolWerx and Hardware Junction stand.

At CSIRO, Eric worked in the Plant Introduction nurseries, where new international plant species were introduced to Queensland. When the first glasshouses were built in the early 1960s, it was a natural progression to transfer the nurseries from the field set-up to the glasshouses, protecting the plantings from genetic contamination with outside pollen.

As a farm assistant, Eric grew, maintained, observed and took notes of tropical grass and legume species as well as lucerne for experiments and seed production within the glasshouses. If this process was successful, plantings would be transferred to the fields and trialled there.

In the 1970s as a technical assistant, Eric was in charge of the newer Quarantine Glasshouses which maintained optimum conditions to cross-breed selective introduced species. He was involved in the germination and laboratory trials, producing seed cultivated from these selective breeds.

During his time at CSIRO, Eric was considered an expert in seed germination. This was key for good yield outcomes with the experiments he was involved in. Widely regarded as being efficient and reliable, he had a natural affinity for this type of cultivation work.

Eric’s horticultural talents extended to providing an extensive vegetable garden for his family in the area where Hardware Junction now resides. He also established an irrigation system that pumped creek water to efficiently irrigate the garden. His daughters Jennifer and Dianne remember their dad as a caring father who loved to spoil his kids with little things he knew they would like.

Though CSIRO no longer operates in the area, Eric’s work lives on for many farmers today who have him and his team to thank for greener fields when conditions get tough.

Tanya Hall

The Struggles And Services Of Our Rsl

We pass the modest cream RSL House every day. We walk our dogs along the Avenue of Honour and on days of remembrance we gather to thank those who gave so much. What we sometimes forget, is that our RSL run by volunteer veterans, is still giving despite incredible struggles, not only to veterans but to our community.

Our Samford RSL offers a friendly Pensions Advocacy Welfare Service (PAWS) for veterans each weekday from 9am til noon-ish. It helps with Department of Veterans Affairs applications, emergency financial and homeless veteran assistance, and social connection fellowship sessions. If you are in need of these services, you can contact Samford RSL on 3289 6928 or email samford@rslqld.org.

ANZAC Day activities and other significant commemorations at our serene Avenue of Honour, which was envisaged by the RSL along with the local Rotary and Lions clubs and opened on the Centenary of Gallipoli, 25 April 2015, are very much part of our village fibre.

Every year the RSL welcomes community entertainments to their Memorial Park, originally mooted for ANZAC services and as a children’s park. At Christmas on Main

Street last year, the magical Storyland was especially for our children. The vibrant Samford and District Playgroup, another RSL gift to our children, welcomes families to their little hall in the park on the corner of Progress and Main Streets. Contact them through samfordplaygroup@gmail.com.

JPs in the Community, started by the RSL, is at the Samford Community Hub (SCHUB) on Tuesdays between 4pm and 7pm and Thursdays between 9am and noon – a walk-in service for everyone.

The original icon of remembrance was the Samford Honour Roll, a list of the twenty-four locals who fought in World War 1. Seventeen were wounded or gassed, three were killed in action, and one was a prisoner of war. In 1919, the Roll was hung in the Samford Railway Station, central and vital to the growing community.

World War II again saw many locals go to war, though farmers, considered essential, were exempt. After the war in 1947, the Samford RSL Sub-Branch was formed. Its members fundraised tirelessly to purchase five small blocks of land and to build the small hall out of recycled materials obtained by the legendary Jack Mitchell from a Narangba Chicken Farm. The Honour Roll was moved there upon its opening. The little hall is used today by the Samford and District Playgroup.

After the closure of the railway in 1955, many jobs were lost. The RSL lost most of its members and was forced to close. Its hard-won land was transferred in trust to Gaythorne RSL. The Honour Roll was moved to the Farmers’ Hall. With the reformation of the Sub-Branch in 1989, the land was transferred back to Samford RSL. A house was moved to the site, renovated by the members, and opened as our RSL House in 2004. The Samford Honour Roll finally found its permanent home. In 2015 the names of the twenty Samfordites killed in World Wars One and Two and Korea have been venerated, along with many others in the Avenue of Honour, the RSL’s greatest gift to Samford.

Julie Martin

Museum

Practical crafts such as knitting, crochet and embroidery were learnt by every schoolgirl and young woman at school sewing lessons to dressmaking classes. Items exhibited at the Samford Show are evidence that some ladies continue to enjoy these interests in this era of ready-made clothing and household linen.

In the Samford Museum’s collection, we get glimpses of practical embroidery from the 1890s in Weldon’s Practical Mountmellick Embroidery book. Examples include a nightdress case or sachet with matching comb case. The case (pictured), 17 inches long, 11 inches deep and a 3 ½ inch flap, is made from white satin jean of the best quality. The chosen design is traced onto the fabric. Details of cottons required for the various stitches are given.

The completed items are edged with fringed buttonholing. Design features were of passion flowers, fruit, daffodils, hops and blackberries. These items were often given as gifts or retained by the worker for her own use.

Visitors to the Samford Museum are usually surprised at the variety of themed displays from fashion items to farming equipment, transport and education. It is not hard to find something that is of particular interest for all age groups. Add to this, the reminiscences and photographs, which document the day to day lives of the many who have lived and worked in our districts over the decades since the 1850s.

The Samford Museum in Station Street, adjacent to John Scott Park, is open Wednesday and Sunday 10am-4pm or by appointment for groups. A small admission is charged.

The museum is managed by volunteer members and is self-funded except for successful grant applications for specific projects. Members thank Community Bank Samford, part of Bendigo Bank for the recent grant to produce Samford Reminiscences

Volume 7.

Get in touch for further information: Ph 3289 2743, info@samfordmuseum.com. au, website or Facebook.

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