Business owner, boxer, footy fanatic, and all round top bloke Slim Moroney reflects
By Sonia Isaacs
NOT many people can say they have the honour of having both a sports field and a street named after them while still alive.
Dennis ‘Slim’ Moroney is one of those few—a long term Landsborough resident and much-loved and well known living legend within the community. Business owner, boxer, football fanatic, truck driver, travelling showman, collector of timber-cutting memorabilia and longtime Holden car lover – Slim has worn numerous hats over the decades.
Recently celebrating his 90th birthday, GC&M News caught up with Slim at his home in Landsborough to chat about his life, loves, and passions. Born on September 30, 1934, in Brisbane, Slim grew up around the Rochedale area, which was then predominantly rural farmland.
At 15, he decided to head to Longreach and Winton to work on a sheep station. Following the war, times were tough, so eager to find work, he landed a job at Melrose Station, where he met his future wife, Jean. The two became a couple and married in February 1955. Slim and Jean had five children (John, Christine, Michael, Danny, and Kathy) and enjoyed 68 years of marriage until Jean’s passing in 2021.
Slim earned his nickname as a teenage boxer. “I was really thin and 6 feet tall, so everyone called me Slim. During my National Service years, they also called me the ‘Kangaroo Kid’ because I’d jump around the ring during fights,” he laughed.
Slim and Jean first moved to Landsborough in the 1950s, where Slim found work as a timber cutter. “We lived in a little hut in the bush near the Landsborough sports grounds while I worked away. Later, I got a job at the Coochin Creek Sawmill, working on the dozers. We moved to a house on Cribb Street before buying this place in the 1960s, which used to be the old Ambulance Station,” Slim explained. Slim later worked for the local council, driving one of the area’s first 4WD loaders.
In 1970, he bought his own truck and worked for Woodlands Chicken Farms for the next 33 years. A lifelong sports fan, especially of football, Slim helped establish the Beerwah Bulldogs Football Club in 1979 and is now an honorary life member. Last year, the football field at Beerwah grounds was named after him.
“We had our first public meeting about starting the football club at the Beerwah baker’s residence in the late 1970s,” Slim recalled. “We had the sergeant of police attend, and we all thought it’d be a good idea to get something like that going.
“I still love football, and the club really spoils me. On my birthday, some of the footballers called me and took me to the pub for a few hours. Ref still takes me to all the games.” In the late 1980s, Slim purchased six acres of industrial land off Roys Road in Beerwah.
In the early 2000s, he ran Moroney Landscape Supplies. One of his passions, along with owning Holden cars, has been collecting timber industry memorabilia. Slim converted an old Blitz truck and travelled across the country in the 2000s, showcasing his collection of tools, chainsaws, and other memorabilia, which he has since donated to the Peachester History Committee.
Reflecting on his life, Slim said, “Life has been good, but the best part was meeting Jean.” “Probably the best thing that ever happened to me was when that little woman Jean grabbed me by the ear and took me under her wing.”