Community
27 May, 2024
Pam’s making shire history
The Douglas Shire Historical Society has featured in a couple of my recent columns, including their 30th anniversary last week.
Author and editor Pam Willis Burden is a life member of the society, releasing her latest book at the Mossman Library yesterday. Mayor Lisa Scomazzon was there to officially launch the publication.
‘Beneath Tropic Skies’ is the fourth book in the popular ‘small format’ series. which includes ‘Port’s People’, ‘Raindrops and Sugar Crops’ and ‘Surviving Paradise’.
With this latest book, Pam has recorded more oral histories from 29 separate local people who tell stories about the Douglas Shire, their families’ histories and why they love living in the tropics. Their memories are now stored forever for future generations and celebrates the diverse community which we call home. All the interviewees were invited to the launch and received their complimentary copy.
After painstakingly transcribing the recordings into word documents, Pam edited them for publication and added photos. Most of these personal treasures have been loaned by the participants and some have never been seen before outside of the families.
The interviews took place between 2021 and 2023 before Cyclone Jasper and subsequent flooding, before the Mossman Mill closed and before the new Douglas Shire Council was elected. So, in a way, there’s already more history to be collected.
This project has been generously supported by grants from the Douglas Shire Council’s Regional Arts Development Fund and The Oral History Association of Australia who have always been a staunch supporter of this work.
Original recordings and transcripts will now be lodged with the Douglas Shire Historical Society and Heritage Collection of the State Library of Queensland in Brisbane for future historians to access.
Although many of the individuals who have featured in the book were fully aware of this fact, hence their invite, there were some other people who also featured, from whom it was kept a secret until the launch. At the time writing this week’s ‘Goss’, those names were still under wraps.
I’d better get off to have a read myself, so for now it’s Gazza signing out.
Send your stories to gazza@cairnslocalnews.com.au
