Sometimes taking a look back is the best way to appreciate what you have here and now, and  Maureen Munday, who was born in Bangalow in 1930, is living proof that the little village has always been a great place to live.

Over a coffee and homemade chocolate slice at the Bangalow Guesthouse, once the doctor’s surgery where Maureen’s brother was born, she recounted a bucolic, charming history that sounds like an Australian version of Little House on the Prairie.

Catching and saddling the horses to ride across paddocks and ford streams to get to school in Eureka, balancing atop the saddles to pick wild passionfruit on the way while other students were hopping rides on the creamery wagon making its way to the butter factory at Binna Burra.

The doctor’s surgery is now a boutique guesthouse, the Butter factory, still called the Buttery is an acclaimed addiction recovery centre, and two servos now fill much the same need that the farrier on Leslie Street did then, repairing puncture rather than replacing horseshoes. “It’s always been quiet and lovely, but there was always something going on,” Maureen said.

Maureen’s grandfather and his brother had been among the original pioneers in the area, like many locals coming from Ireland to escape the horrors of the potato famine.

Travelling by boat as far as Ballina then walking with a swag, axe, brush cutter and mattock to find their land in an area they called Eureka the Anderson brothers arrived just a day or two after the Jonsons to lay their claims, selecting three tracts of land, one in Eureka, one in Nashua and the one Maureen grew up on, on Binna Burra Road.

Maureen’s home was a dairy farm named RuthNor after her parents Ruth and Norman, located midway between Federal and Binna Burra. Dairying was the main industry of the area at that time and having 80 – 100 cows was considered a large farm.

The family would generally make the trip into Bangalow once a week on Saturday mornings to shop for tea, sugar, flour and other essentials at the market. Farmers would bring in surplus to sell and buy from others, with her family supplementing their dairy income with produce from the orchards, vegetable gardens and by raising pigs.

Like most farmers they had vegetable gardens, fruit trees, chickens and eggs to sustain them. Maureen remembered growing potatoes, pumpkin, beans and peas as their main vegetable fare. Beef was only eaten about three times a week so fish caught from Wilson’s Creek formed a large part of their diet along with backyard chicken and eggs.   “Perhaps we ate a healthier diet back then,” Maureen said.

She was delighted to hear that the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market is still held in the same spot behind the Bangalow Hotel as it was all those years ago, and reminisced about the trips to Lismore for the dentist or other errands that were quite an expedition, with everyone rising an hour earlier than usual to complete their milking and chores before making the long trek to and from home. “It was a long day and tiring, but very exciting for us all,” she said.

Back then, well before surfers, tie-dye shirts, drumming circles and crystal healing, Byron Bay wasn’t the attraction it is now, but her father would go to sell pigs at the Norco Co-op. For a picnic at the beach the family went to Brunswick Heads where there were both protected swimming areas and ocean beaches. They usually fished, brought a picnic or dined at Mrs. Lofts for delicious fish salads. In summer they would stay until 9 or 10 at night.

And of course, every year the Bangalow Show was the big annual event, a tradition Maureen is delighted to see continuing.

The George Reading building today houses the Retro Shop, Charlottes and My Favourite Video.

Since they only drove to town once a week, deliveries to the farm were essential. Mr Clarke the baker would stop by with his horse and cart every second or third day to deliver bread that Maureen and her brother would look forward to devouring with Marmite after school. Laurie Bulmer’s cart brought deliveries from Readings Emporium, Bangalow’s first store, as did the butcher from Federal, but Maureen’s mother, having no refrigeration, only bought corned meats.

“We ate beef three times a week but had our own chickens, veg and the fish my brother caught to get by on,” Maureen said with a hint of pride.

When Maureen was 16 and the family moved to the Northern Tablelands due to her mother’s poor health and the doctor’s prescription to move away from the humid coast to help her asthma. Maureen hadn’t eaten mutton until they moved inland, but in the tablelands the neighbours would take turns butchering and sharing so everyone would have meat without needing refrigeration.

“We quickly learned to enjoy mutton in many ways,” she said.

Maureen was still at primary school when WWII started and she remembers the huge effect on the community as many of the young men and women left the area to join the war effort. Three of the family’s young farm hands were called to battle, but sadly only two survived. During the First World War both boys and girls had learned to knit socks for the soldiers, but this time around, at Eureka school the children made camouflage nets and practiced air raid drills. They were all prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice and with a Japanese submarine off Byron Bay the danger was very real. Maureen recalls that not many people had a wireless to listen to the news and communication about the war’s progress was kept to a minimum due to security concerns.

During the war years he Eureka school was reduced to only one teacher and Maureen ended up leaving school at 14 and a half, rather than the required age of 15. At that time it wasn’t considered necessary for girls to go on to high school in Lismore, and Maureen was needed to help on the farm. Her mother did the milking and Maureen’s job was to wash and scrub the milking equipment and bails. The cream was sold and the remains were fed to the pigs twice a day. Pigs also ate the waste fruit from the orchard. They in turn became the Christmas ham and bacon throughout the year.

When Maureen was 25 she moved to Ben Lomond and in 1956 married Reg Munday with whom she had three children and 54 and a half happy years of marriage.

The flood of memories continued at the Bangalow Guesthouse until Maureen’s family returned from exploring the arts, crafts, produce and entertainment at the monthly Bangalow Markets just down the street at the Showgrounds. They then headed off to visit the graves of more of Maureen’s ancestors in the Clunes Cemetery.

What did we learn from Maureen’s visit? Well, it certainly reinforced the cliché that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Cars and school busses replace horses, the Buttery provides a new sort of service in keeping with the times, and kids spend more time on Facebook than in the saddle, but market day is still exciting, kids still swim in the creek and local produce is still abundant and wonderful.

And to this day people still can sit on their porches and think, “We have it pretty good here…”

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Bangalow Guesthouse is delighted to be named a finalist in the 2012 New South Wales Tourism Awards!

Our entry in the Deluxe Accommodation category will now continue through to the final judging on 22 November where we’ll be vying to be the Best in NSW.

We are now also eligible for another award – the Sun Herald People’s Choice Award. Every vote counts and we would love your support for this this prestigious award.

Just go to www.nswtourismawards.net.au/voting-categories/accommodation and click on the Vote button for the Bangalow Guesthouse. Voting closes 12th November for the People’s Choice Award so please don’t delay.

We’ll keep you posted and may the odds be ever in our favour!

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Video documentary by Sharon Shostak from the Echonetdaily – www.echonetdaily.net.au

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So come along on Monday, the 1st of October for a day at the races.Tickets include a delicious lunch, drinks and transport, with buses leaving from the Bangalow Hotel and the Bangalow Bowlo at 11 am on the day.

For more information contact Greg Nash on 0418 440 545.

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There will be music by Scarlet Affection, cooking classes and presentation of the Golden Fork Award for the best $5 and $10 tasting plates. Events include:

• a free Farmers Market Breakfast with Ben O’Donoghue
• Spice Lunch with Rockpool Chef Sarah Swan, Karl Kanetani from Town and Monique Gutteres-Harrison from Seaweed Cuisine ($75 – two courses including wines)
• Sample Launch Pad where Aussie food idendtities launch new products
• Plumm Wine Experience where, for $55 you can join Jamie Oliver’s sommelier, Matt Skinner, in a wine and cheese tasting and take home four Plumm wine glasses (a $120 value).

The 2012 Sample Food Festival will showcases products from local suppliers such as Bangalow Cheese Company, Byron Bay Coffee Company, Brookfarm, Tridosha – Salt of the Sea, Lentilicious, Duck Creek Macadamias, The Farm Gate Providore, Red Dragon Organics, Zest Byron Bay, Ginger Nectar and Mullumbimby Magic Foods.

According to festival organiser, Remy Tancred, the Bangalow Sample Food Festival recently lost last year’s major sponsor, Essential Energy, and the event would have been in jeopardy without the help of local sponsors like the Echonetdaily and a huge contribution from Community Engine, a community-based social commerce website. “They came to the rescue with a few thousand dollars,” said Ms Tancred. “They certainly put the capital C back into community; they’ve really come in with community spirit.”

Bangalow Guesthouse welcomes the Sample Food Festival to Bangalow and we look forward to this delicious event.

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For details of the nine concert series held in Bangalow, NSW over three days this weekend 17-19 August, click to see the Bangalow Music Festival Program or go to the website: http://www.southernxsoloists.com/cms/images/pdfs/bangalow.pdf

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Over the three day Bangalow Music Festival with nine concerts, exquisite chamber music will be flowing from the A & I Hall in Bangalow from the 17th to 19th August. As a special treat for locals, there is a community concert on Thursday 16 August at 7pm.

This year’s festival focuses on Australian and international musical identities such as Katie Noonan, Timothy Young, Lyndon Watts, Alison Mitchell, the Streeton Trio, Lisa Gasteen  and the Burch violin concerto performed by violin virtuoso Ilya Konovalov. For the first time this year Elena Kats-Chernin will be ‘Composer in Focus’ and Sarah-Grace Williams represents Australia’s vibrant young conductors.

For more information see the Bangalow Music Festival website: http://www.southernxsoloists.com/cms/bangalow.html

In addition to Alison Mitchell’s full performance and recording schedule, she makes time to give specialist woodwind coaching to youth orchestras and music camps in Australia, Scotland and the Baltic. The video below shows a sample of her coaching.

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You’ll need our June Newsletter promotional code to unlock this special. To find out what it is, sign up for the Bangalow Guesthouse Newsletter and look for our monthly specials section.

Each month in our newsletters we offer a special deal plus news, recipes, contests and fun facts about the month. So sign up today and get all this, plus a discount on your June mid-week stay at Bangalow Guesthouse.

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Louise

I saw on your website the photo contest and I thought I would send in 4 of my favorites taken on the day. Our billycarts - the gold and the blue ones - although are very pretty are actually hand built from 95% recycled items. Who knew a washing machine body and mower handles could do 38kms per hour down a hill !! Myself, my husband and my son brought home trophies on the day. The mothers race was a total riot...there is nothing like stepping out of your comfort zone THEN there is nothing like stepping out of your comfort zone in front of a few thousand people !!!

4 Photos

Monika

What a fantastic day at Billy Cart Derby! Would love to share my photos with you!

32 Photos

Bangalow Billy Cart Derby 2012

Spectacular Billy Cart Derby in Bangalow again this year. Great weather, people having fun, and bagpipes in the pub... you couldn't ask for a better day.

25 Photos

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So bring your camera or phone along and take a snap of the racers, cheering onlookers, street performers, stall vendors and paraders. Of course the Mad Hatter’s Tea Part at Bangalow Public School will provide even more photo ops with the rides, activities, and you may even need a coffee and cake by then!

Send us your photos and contact details by Monday, 28th May 2012 to:
holiday@bangalowguesthouse.com.au. You can check back here and on our facebook page for the results.

The Bangalow Billy Cart Derby is a hugely fun, non-profit community event that raises money for local causes, so come along an join in on Sunday.

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