Community & Business
6 September, 2023
Mayor backs in Woolshed
Toowoomba Mayor Geoff McDonald has called the Jondaryan Woolshed one of the “jewels of the nation” and has vowed to “knock on every single door possible” to secure the future of the historic site.
The Mayor was speaking at a celebration of 50 years since the Jondaryan Woolshed Preservation Committee first met following the donation of the property by local landowners.
Just as it was then, and has been since, the future of the Woolshed was a major topic of conversation among the guests at the meeting.
Inaugural committee member and former state MP Tony Elliott said while sentiments shared that the Woolshed needed to be made “as good as it was” were true, focus needed to turn to the future rather than the past.
“We all need to look forward,” he said.
“One thing that perhaps has been overlooked has been country music.
“Many of my friends are in the grey nomad category and would love to come to the Woolshed.”
“It has to be one of the most important historical sheds in Australia.”
Anita Polzin, the grand-daughter of inaugural Jondaryan Woolshed Preservation Committee Chairman Roy Grundy, spoke about the 17 original members of the Woolshed committee.
Along with Roy, these pioneers were Vice Chairman Lance Cockburn, Secretary Bronte Thompson, Treasurer Richard Speed, Sophie Todd, John Matthews, Rex Teakle, Peter Walker, Corrie Werth, Tony Elliott, Reg Baartz, Keith Baartz, Sir Allen Fletcher, Tom McVeigh, George Cockburn, Jim Mosetta and Ian McIntyre.
Roy’s wife Pam Grundy spoke about the 170 people who showed up to the first meeting.
David Totenhofer was site manager at the Woolshed from 1990 to 1996 and talked about how he had been entranced by the Woolshed when he had first set eyes on it in 1989.
He became site manager the next year after reading an advertisement in the classifieds.
Management of the Woolshed has long been a challenge, and David spoke of how he only got the job after the first applicant pulled out a few weeks in.
Through all the turbulence, including a period of administration in 2002, it’s been the volunteers who have kept the Woolshed going.
As one speaker remarked, the Jondaryan Woolshed has always been about the people, who have come together from a variety of employment, social and religious backgrounds.
Indeed, it’s estimated that 16 weddings have taken place between people who met at the Woolshed.
Another speaker commented on the fact that, although the majority of friends and supporters were locals, the Woolshed had attracted volunteers from all states and territories in Australia, in its 50 years of public operations.
“We’ve had people from Emerald, down to Tasmania and Victoria, west to South Australia and one from Busselton in Western Australia come across to assist,” he said.
Newly elected President of the Friends of the Jondaryan Woolshed Association Shelley Burns said that the Woolshed would need the continuing support of Council and volunteers to succeed.
“The Woolshed rides of the back of Council, Volunteers and Friends,” she said.
Mayor Geoff McDonald echoed these sentiments.
“I quote Margaret Mead ‘Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world’,” he said.
“Dare I say that if it weren’t for those 17 people we wouldn’t be here today.
“This is one of the jewels that the nation should jump on the back of and it’s our job as Council to knock on every door and lobby as hard as we can.
“The stories might be told in different ways, but they will remain the same.”
The Mayor said the Woolshed had left its mark on thousands of people.
“I remember my first visit in Year 8,” he said.
“My school had about a 50/50 mix of boarders and day students.
“We arrived and lost four boys in half an hour.
“Within seven minutes of putting a call out, four tractors drove out of a shed - each of them had been hot wired.
“People all have their own stories of the Woolshed.”
