GLASS House Mountains has its own dedicated bunch of local historians and community members who have a keen interest in promoting the history of the region from early settlement to the present day.
They currently have several interesting research projects on the boil and are keen to research other topics of historical significance to the local area and engage with the local community about their memories of the Glass House district.
President Ron Gillinder said the group had identified a diverse range of research topics for 2021, including work on the historical significance of local street names and the remaining tobacco industry barns on farming properties.
At the height of the industry, Glass House Mountains was one of the main tobacco growing areas in Australia with around 76 local growers.
To date the group has located about ten old tobacco buildings in the area including some that, at first glance, you would not realise had such an interesting history.
Some of the other topics being researched include school memorabilia, the early racecourse at Rocky Creek (Mellum Creek Racecourse), historic grave sites, early businesses in the area and stories of early farmers and soldier settlers.
On the topic of early school memorabilia, Ron has been speaking with long-term local Bob Brown who still has his air raid tag and Victory Medal from the 1940s.
“It is great speaking with old timers like Bob because they are such a wealth of knowledge about a range of topics and speaking with them brings history to life,” Ron said.
“Bob’s identification tag was issued to him in 1942 at the Glass House School as one of the measures put in place in the event of an air raid during World War II.
“The tag was worn around the neck with string, along with a wooden mouth stick he said.
Apparently a stick or rubber hose was used to prevent the breaking of teeth from the shock during a bombing.
The group would like to hear from community members who have memories or memorabilia of Glass House history.
All are welcome to attend their meetings on the third Tuesday of the month at the Glass House Mountains Neighbourhood Centre from 1.30-4.30pm.
For more details go to www.facebook.com/GlasshousehistorygroupInc or call Ron on 0407 760 989.