Bajool in the crown

Small as they are, they form the epicentre of rural communities: the post office, the pub, the local shop and the town hall.

Bajool is an unassuming town 30 kilometres south of Rockhampton, but it is a typical reflection of Australia's rural history.

Like many towns of its size that are not too far from a larger centre, its role has changed over time, and this social history is played out on the walls of the town hall - the Bajool School of Arts.

This unobtrusive building - a rectangle on stilts - will be celebrating its 100th birthday on July 18.

One wall has a marble plaque, dedicated to Joseph Fry and Alexander Brown, who "paid the supreme sacrifice in the Great War".

Another wall has restored photographs of young men and women who served in WWII, surnames that are well known in the district, and there is the obligatory picture of a young Queen Elizabeth.

Another wall sports a framed cheque of $20,000 from Santos, a donation for the impact of the coal seam gas pipes being transported from Port Alma to Roma and back to Gladstone.

On the morning Queensland Country Life pays a visit, Kathy Besch, Prospect Vale, has just organised the biggest morning tea as part of a Cancer Council fundraiser.

Guil and Merle North, who reside on cattle property Jalna, are part of a small team who are keeping the hall alive.

The committee, which also includes Faye and Bruce McCamley, Fern Hills, Kathy Besch, and Oskar and Judith Stunzner, Lomandra, are meeting to organise the birthday celebrations and look at what historical information Mrs North has ferreted out. She has newspaper clippings, anecdotes, notes and photographs from the past 100 years stored neatly in numerous folders.

"We have seen a lot of changes to the hall, and lots of different clubs using the hall over the time," Mrs North said.

She and her husband would know. Mr North has been a continuous member of the Bajool School of Arts committee for 55 years.

"We were members of the Bajool Farmers Club and were invited along by the committee to join, as they were short of members," Mrs North said.

Although her association has been as long, she dropped out now and again as she had her four children.

Since it was built in 1915, the hall has hosted dances, with people coming from Archer, Ulam and Marmor. It has been used to farewell locals going away to war, and welcomed those who returned.

It has been used for debutante balls, which continued well into the 1990s, for concerts, shows, dances, birthday parties, engagements, weddings and even Tupperware parties.

"The most constant users of the hall were the Bajool Junior Farmers/Rural Youth Club from 1960 to 1977," Mrs North said.

In fact, one wall has a cabinet that is chock-a-block with medals and cups from that club.

"One of these club members was Greg Belz, the very same Councillor Greg Belz of Rockhampton today."

It has been patronised by the local schools - Bajool, Marmor and Raglan - coming together because of their small roll to see visiting performers.

This hall is not the original, which was blown off its stumps during the 1949 cyclone, so it was rebuilt in 1951. But despite the rebuild, its purpose has remained the same.

Mrs North has meticulously collected this history, from meeting notes planning for the hall in 1912, to when two years later scrub land was surveyed and opened up for selection, and this saw the township expand.

The history stretches well before then, however, with the town's name. Bajool is the local indigenous word for deep water hole, and the Bayali, whose land bordered the Darambul to the north and the Gooreng Gooreng to the south, are thought to be the first people in the area.

They were among many tribes forcibly removed from their land to Cherburg Settlement, along with members of the Darambul and Gooreng Gooreng.

When the Archer brothers rode into central Queensland and grabbed a freehold title for Archer Station, they were soon followed by other pastoralists who took up large tracts of land and brought in their cattle - the Landsborough, Creed and Cross families. By 1885, 160 acres upwards was on offer to those willing to live and work the land, and there was an influx of Europeans: Egan, Kelly, Dunne, McCamley, Fitzgerald, Besch, Hood, Hunt, Offord, Smith, Ramm and Leahy.

These names are still familiar to the district, and are there on the walls of the hall.

It continues to be the focal point for monthly dances, morning teas, district meetings and a point that holds the community together during times of crisis. When half of Bajool went under during the 2012 floods, it was the hall that became the central point.

The committee is inviting anyone with ancestors in the region or anyone who has had some involvement with the hall to help celebrate this vibrant history.

The commemorations begin at 2pm on July 18, with visual stories, photographs, afternoon tea, an official ceremony followed by dinner, and a dance from 7pm.