Octagon January, 2017

the procedure was for this part of the official reopening
of the Pilbeam Drive to Mt. Archer. Gareth
took a series of photos of our smiling group before
he headed off up Mt. Archer. After a five minute
interval Ian Henderson and Stuart & Ada Clark in
their MG TCs led the rest of our members along
Pilbeam Drive to Mt. Archer’s summit where more
photos were taken by Gareth.
Meanwhile our members made themselves as
comfortable as possible on what seating was
available and enjoyed the cool air that is always
present at the top of Mt. Archer where they enjoyed
a B.Y.O. morning tea.
2016 ROUND UP
It is good to have the opportunity to be able me
to reflect on what we did throughout the year, as
it brings back so many great memories. Our year
started off with the usual B.B.Q. dinner tour up
Mt. Archer in January on a usual hot summer day
in Central Queensland to once again find that we
needed jackets as the sun sunk in the west.
February we once again paid our usual visit to
Rockhampton Botanical Gardens for breakfast.
In March we got to visit a new location when we
toured to Laurel Bank on the Fitzroy as a club
for the first time, a spot that we will maybe visit
annually.
It is always a pleasure in April to drive up the Mt.
Morgan range then enjoy a short break at the
Mt. Morgan Dam an event that is always on our
calendar. This year we took in sights of the Mt.
Morgan township from their two lookouts. Raglan
fly-in is always a popular event in May for our some
of our aero plane enthusiasts to visit, this year a
good number of members camped overnight and
got to experience how cold it can get there while
watching the Saturday night’s entertainment unfold.
Also in May a group of our members toured up to
Airlie Beach and all reporting of a great time had by
all, specially cruising around the Whitsunday’s in
a yacht. One event that is always on our calendar
is a visit to Byfield in June to enjoy the tasty well
presented food at the Byfield store. Before that,
this year we toured to Tanby Gardens for morning
tea - another place we like to visit and where we
are well received.
One of the biggest events for our chapter in June
was several members taking on the challenge
of the “Great Northern tour” which took them to
Townsville via Emerald, Clermont and Charters
Towers then back home through Bowen & Mackay,
a trip that all involved stated will remain in their
memories for years to come. In July a few of our
members took up the invitation from Farnborough
School to display our cars at the annual fete, an
event that has a real country flavor about it.
As a Chapter we like to give support where we
can and in August we once again visited Leinster
Place in Rockhampton and in the same month
we accepted an invitation from members Gary
& Robbie Calloway to visit their property for a
nighttime B.B.Q. and horse riding. We will be doing
that again in 2017.
It was exciting to being involved with the
formation of another Chapter that is now named
Whitsundays chapter. The trip to and from Mackay
had its dramas, but having the opportunity to meet
other Chapter members was a highlight, along with
the daily events - as was a ride in a Tiger Moth.
September saw our chapter tour to Gladstone to go
on the ferry coffee & information cruise around the
Harbour. The tour to Cockscomb Veteran’s village
near Cawarral in October was an eye opener and
the history of Mt. Wheeler was hard to believe.
As we were heading into the warmer months we
had breakfast at Deganis in Emu Park then, under
the guidance of Gurney, we dropped in at the
Cawarral Pub for a refresher.
Christmas at Kracker’s in Yeppoon gave us all a
chance to have a chat and pass on our Christmas
& New Year wishes. Also in December we were
involved in the Official opening of Yeppoon’s Multi
Story Car Park and our last tour for 2016, the
clayton’s re-opening of Pilbeam road up Mt. Archer.
Through the year we said goodbye to Peter &
Tracey Breed and experienced the passing of
foundation member, Don Madden. We welcomed
new members Ian Henderson & Wendy Major 48
TC., Rae & Jack Cowie, 99 TF., Christine Johnson
74 MG B American., Laurie & Beth Chetter MG
B., Jim & Patty Burgess 68 MG B., John Rowe 58
MG A.
Congratulations to Jim & Sandra Armstrong.
Wayne Kirwan on their results at the Nationals
in Perth, Phil Henry on winning the Jannelle
Thomasson Memorial trophy and Trevor
Andersen on winning the Broken MG award and
Rockhampton’s Jo’s Restaurant winning our best
dining experience award .
50
The Octagon - January 2017