In this week's Bundaberg Now podcast we hear about the reopening of Bundaberg museums and what’s happening with the Moncrieff Entertainment Centre and art galleries, also a special historical feature on dance halls in the Bundaberg Region. Local news includes community sporting grants from Council to help with COVID-19 recovery and free dog registrations for desexed animals.
Podcast transcript
Michael Gorey 0:09
Hello and welcome to the second edition of the Bundaberg Now podcast. I'm Michael Gorey from Bundaberg Regional Council. Thank you very much to everyone who listened last week and gave such positive feedback. The podcast is now listed in the Google and Apple directories, making it easy to find us on your favourite podcast application. In today's program we'll hear about the reopening of local museums, and what's happening with the Moncrieff and art galleries. Also, a special historical feature on dance halls in the Bundaberg Region.
First of all, here are the news headlines.
Bundaberg traders have had their request granted to reinstate parking controls in the CBD from the first of June. Parking inspectors were redeployed at the start of COVID restrictions to make it easier for people to visit essential stores that remained open. With business slowly returning to normal, the Chamber of Commerce and traders asked for parking limits to be enforced again.
Dog owners are being urged to take advantage of significant discounts by desexing and registering their pets as part of the RSPCA Operation Wanted campaign. Council is supporting the campaign by offering one year free registration for dogs which are desexed between the first of June and 31st of August.
Bundaberg Regional Council has handed a $200,000 lifeline to sporting clubs and organisations impacted by Coronavirus. Grants of up to $5000 will help to cover costs incurred since restrictions were introduced. From the 13th of June, sports teams of 20 people will be allowed to resume with non-contact provisions for contact sport and all other activities with larger groups can resume a month later. Here's Mayor Jack Dempsey.
Jack Dempsey 1:58
Community sport is vital for everybody in the community for their health and well being and we all want to give sporting clubs a hand to get back on their feet.
Michael Gorey 2:09
Joining me now is Bundaberg Regional Councillor Vince Habermann who holds the sport and recreation portfolio. Vince, how tough has it been for sporting clubs since the pandemic restrictions were introduced?
Vince Habermann 2:21
Firstly, good afternoon, Michael, and good question. Certainly sporting clubs and organisations have found it very tough and sporting lovers have been starved of of live sport apart from horse racing on television for several months now. But certainly those organisations, you know, that were just who were just coming into the traditional winter sport seasons. Now the AFL, soccer, rugby league, netball, hockey, all of them were just about to start or had started or were just about to start up, and they've just been put on hold. So it's been tough. Not only the players who've been starved of competition, but also the organisations because even though there's been no sport happening, there's the ongoing costs, like the timing of the rates, electricity, insurance, all those sorts of expenses, which are ongoing without an income source.
Michael Gorey 3:28
Yes, it's been tough for parents too Vince, having all these energetic kids at home. Can you please tell us about the assistance package from council to local sporting groups?
Vince Habermann 3:36
Certainly. In clubs and organisations, now it has to be an incorporated club and they have to either own or lease property because the sort of costs are, it's grants available of up to $5000 and the council has allocated a pool cap of $200,000. That's, you know, if they all applied for the maximum, that's where up to 40 organisations may be eligible, but it could be more. The sort of costs they can apply to assist with are utility costs such as electricity and gas, building insurance, grounds, facility and building maintenance. And those who have had to cancel events are able to seek reimbursement for some of those costs because you know, when you organise an event in advance, there are costs upfront. And some of those haven't been able to be refunded to those organisations. So at the moment, those organisations are out of pocket there.
Michael Gorey 4:40
Thanks for that Vince, I'm sure it'll be much appreciated out there. How do sporting groups apply for this assistance?
Vince Habermann 4:46
Well, the grants only open on the first of July, but the information including the application forms will be out within a couple of weeks. So I encourage once these are released for them to get all the details and complete and submit their applications as of the first of July. And it is a fairly quick turnaround process. They could, you know, have the money within 10 days or so, if the grant is approved.
Michael Gorey 5:15
That's great. Thank you Cr Habermann.
Beau Jackson 5:18
Thanks, Michael. Next we're going to talk to Sue-Anne Chapman, manager for events and tourism for Bundaberg Regional Council. And she'll be giving us a bit of an insight into what life looks like for the events team post COVID.
Sue-Anne Chapman 5:34
Hello, I'm Sue-Anne and I'm the manager of tourism and events with Bundaberg Regional Council. I'm talking this week about the fantastic news that as part of stage two of the Queensland Government's roadmap to easing Queensland restrictions, we will be opening museums. Bundaberg Regional Council is incredibly lucky that we have three unique and spectacular museums, all in one wonderful footprint, which is the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens. These three great attractions include the Hinkler Hall of Aviation, Fairymead House Sugar History Museum, and the Bundaberg and District Historical Museum, as well as Hinkler House, which is attached to the Hinkler Hall of Aviation. Entry fees apply to all of these attractions. However, we have a fantastic locals price point, which you can access by coming into the Hinkler Hall of Aviation. You can also buy a combined ticket attraction, which has a greatly reduced rate for all three attractions and the fourth attraction being Hinkler House, it's included as well. If you wanted to look at buying this particular combined ticket attraction, as well as other options throughout the region, please do head to Bundaberg Tourism Visitor Information Centre or online at bundabergregion.org to purchase your tickets there. Otherwise, head into Hinkle Hall of Aviation in the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens. And we'll look after you there.
Now part of opening on Monday the 15th of June is that we have all of the public health rules to maintain the health and well being of you, our visitor, and staff and volunteers. Now these public health rules include our physical distancing of four square metres per person when indoors, hand and respiratory hygiene and our frequent environmental cleaning and disinfection sweeps. This includes how we will be navigating our visitors through the museums, we have one entry and one exit. We will be having special sections bollarded off and we're going to be working really hard with our volunteers. To make sure that there's a wonderful flow for our visitors through the centre. We're very much looking forward to welcoming you back, and that's on Monday the 15th of June. And note this down, our opening hours for Hinkler Hall of Aviation are Monday to Sunday nine til three. Hinkler House, Monday to Sunday nine til three and Fairymead House will be Monday to Friday 10.30 to noon, and then the Bundaberg and District Historical Museum will be open seven days 9.30 til 3.30. If you would like to investigate a little bit more about these amazing attractions in our beautiful Bundaberg Botanic Gardens, please visit discoverbundaberg.com.au or ring the Bundaberg Regional Council 1300 number or come in and have a chat to the wonderful staff at the Hinkler Hall of Aviation from Monday the 15th of June onwards and we look forward to welcoming you back then.
Beau Jackson 9:00
Thanks Sue-Anne Chapman. Now we're going to take a step back in time with John Hampson and experience the history of Bundaberg dance halls.
Bundaberg dance halls
John Hampson 9:09
That was the big dance hall and that's where the SGIO is now, the tall building. There was a double storey building and the dance floor was upstairs, and it was a very good dance floor with sprung flooring and everything and it wouldn't allow jiving or anything like that. Underneath that dance floor was BCC grocery store and if they did this jig, somehow the vibrations would knock some of the things off the shelf and they would complain. But a funny thing about this dance floor up top is that it had a balcony that went out over Bourbong Street and there were cars out the and these guys used to come out and have their cigarettes on the vweandah and Dad soon learnt not to park there because they'd flick their cigarettes over the top and burn a hole through and would say we'd have to get a patch, so we'd park it away from there from then on, you know, but some people would get caught they'd park there and you'd make sure you wouldn't park under there because the cigarettes get passed over to the side, you know.
Oh, it was into the 60s Lathouras Bros cafe was and Harry Lathouras Bros. It was pretty popular through the war years. I mean, I've even got a Yank sailors golf cap they call it an army cap from the Yanks because the Yanks coming through town through the war years used to go to the dances and meet up with women and everything. And Dad being on a door, he's have to go up and clean out and turn the lights off and a couple of these Yanks would leave these caps behind at different times. Yeah, that was the dance hall but it was pretty popular and then they'd have half time and of the night and they's all go down. A lot of them blokes had been to the pub, they came up after pubs closed at 10. And there's the cafe down the bottom end of the town, another one across the road, everybody go and have their milkshakes and that was a good way of boy meeting girl and knowing, getting to know people before they matched up. That was one of the main places that was always on a Saturday night but there were other country dances. There was one out at Kalki and one at Sharon, one at St George dance hall and there used to be the parish hall. It used to have dances and also above the Austral hall where the used carpark is next to the doctor's surgery, round on the corner of Woondooma. The Caledonian Hall, they had a hall and it was moved from somewhere to round to where the Catholic St Joseph's is. But the Austral Hall, it was the double storey building, well that was used mainly for all the deb balls and the coming out balls because it had a balcony around the top with wrought-iron railings and everything and where all the mothers of the debs could go up and sit up there and watch their daughters being presented to whoever you know the the deb balls when they came out of age or whatever you know, but it was run by a Harry Bertram. He used to have a shop there and it was near the Paramount picture theatre, next to where the where the Hyundai dealer are, between where the Hyundai is and there used to be a tyre retreading place there and in the Paramount picture theatre.
Beau Jackson 13:02
Thanks John. Listening to the colourful history of our local dance halls really makes you appreciate the way things were back in the 60s. Next we're joined by Rob Ainsworth, manager for arts and cultural services for Bundaberg Regional Council. He's going to take us through some of the great initiatives that have come from the Arts Bundaberg team to help support the community during the current COVID restrictions.
Rod Ainsworth 13:28
Hi, I'm Rod Ainsworth, manager arts and cultural services at Bundaberg Regional Council. Our branch looks after our regional galleries, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery and Childers Art Space as well as the Moncrieff Entertainment Centre, community arts, Regional Arts Development Fund and our First Nations community development program. So like the rest of the globe, we've been in shutdown mode since Monday, the 15th of March. And while that was an incredible disruption to everyone's plans, we jumped immediately into the digital space with our hashtag #artsbundyathome program, so I'm here with our marketing and engagment staff Jolene Watson, who works at the Moncrieff and Toni Schuch who works at the galleries. So what kind of things have you put in place to support, particularly performing arts engagement through the Moncrieff?
Jolene Watson 14:11
So look, some of the performers had to cancel or postpone their events. But they've sent us shoutout videos, just to let fans know that although they're disappointed, they're working really hard to reschedule their tours, and get back here as soon as possible. And we've also had a great response from our Learn the Ukulele workshop series by local music teacher, Cameron Macdonnell. So these videos are still available online, on our Facebook page and also on YouTube.
Rod Ainsworth 14:38
Okay, great. And you've been working with the library team too. So please give us some examples of some things that have happened with the libraries.
Jolene Watson 14:46
We are so passionate about engagement with families and being able to collaborate with different council sectors, and that in the absence of being able to hold a regular school holiday outdoor events, we've teamed up with libraries to highlight the free online resources that they have available. So as everyone has been at home the best method for engagement is by social media. So we've been dedicating a weekly session with the Bundaberg library to stream live video and interact with kids and families. And last week, we were able to visit with the zoo, and had used this time as an opportunity to showcase different council facilities, and the flexibility of technology to interact virtually online. We also had some great fun with our regular patrons with our virtual community movies using the library's Kanopy platform. So library card holders have access to 10 free films every month. And we've been scheduling fortnightly films that we can watch simultaneously and then we meet afterwards via Zoom for live chat online to discuss what we all thought of the film.
Rod Ainsworth 15:47
Okay, excellent. Now there's been some amazing stuff happening through the galleries. The digital programme that Toni has been looking after. So what have you put in place around visual arts Toni?
Toni Schuch 15:58
Thanks Rod. We've put several digital programs into place to engage whilst we've been closed, all under the hashtag of #artsbundyathome. We've started videoing the popular Dottie Lottie storytelling and art making sessions. And we've been uploading one of these a week for the littlest art lovers. We've also been running a daily art challenge for the last nine weeks and I'm really enjoying seeing the artistic interpretations of the daily subjects. Anyone can join in at any time, there are no rules, and it's all about the fun and being creative. The Arts Bundy team have been enjoying the recreate and reimagine challenge too where we take a Bundaberg Regional Council art collection piece each week and recreate it with whatever we have on hand. The results have been hilarious and they are sure to brighten up your day.
Rod Ainsworth 16:53
And how do people get involved if they haven't already been?
Toni Schuch 16:55
To be involved you can follow both the gallery and the Moncrieff on Facebook and Instagram, and then if you'd like to take up some of the challenges feel free to share any post with your social media network or tag a friend who you think who could be interested. Then just post your creations and add the hashtag #artsbundyathome. So we can share them on stories for everyone to enjoy.
Rod Ainsworth 17:22
Great, so that's hashtag #artsbundyathome, all one word onto the end of your social media post and we'll find it. This arts and cultural section will be regular so we look forward to sharing more with you soon. Thanks, everyone. Til next time,
Michael Gorey 17:35
Thank you to Rod and the Arts team at Bundaberg Regional Council. We all look forward to getting back to normal and seeing live shows again at the Moncrieff. That's all for this week. We hope you enjoyed listening, goodbye for now.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Please check transcript against the recording for accuracy
