Ration Shed Museum :: Cherbourg Historical Precinct Group :: Cherbourg, QLD Australia

The Ration Shed Museum will be open for visitors until the 22^nd December 2011.

We will re-open on the 2^nd of January 2012.

From the 19^th December – 22^nd December opening hours are from 9am until 12pm

Have a peaceful and happy festive season.

On Tuesday the 15^th of November we had a ‘deadly’ launch of the Strong Women Shadow Boxes. An exhibition space was created in a room in the Boys Dormitory. Curator Carol Low and designer Peter Trail and all 19 participants put an enormous amount of effort into making the exhibition so special.

Annie Moffatt opens the exhibition

People came from far and wide to attend and the conference room in the Boys Dormitory was packed to capacity. An 8 minute film was screened that forms part of the exhibition and Lillian Gray sang ‘Cherbourg Girl’ . Participants were invited to join in. Katina Leedie was MC for the event and Annie Moffatt declared the exhibition open. The feedback was so encouraging. Many people were moved to tears by the personal stories.

Exhibition room for Strong Women Shadow Boxes

There is talk of the exhibition travelling to other communities and exhibitions spaces and also the idea of encouraging other communities to replicate the project. Come and have a look at this exciting exhibition before it goes travelling.

Katina Leedie & Annie Moffatt pose next to their boxes

Cathy Gibson came from Palm Island

On the 29^th of October at 10 am in the Boys Dormitory, Ruth Hegarty launched the book she had written documenting the story of the late Jack Moffatt. The book is called “Jack’s Story: The life and times of a Cherbourg Dormitory Boy” The dormitory was packed with people who came to the launch. Jack’s wife, Ruth paid tribute to her late husband and so did Cecil Brown Snr. Annie Moffatt told those present a moving yarn about her brother and how he had looked out for her.

The book is for sale at the Ration Shed for $22 (this includes GST)

Ruth Hegarty signing copies of her book

Jeanette Brown, Ruth Hegarty, Ada Simpson

Ruth Moffatt

The Stronger Smarter Leadership Institute have held 4 conferences at the Ration Shed this year. This was their last conference for the year. They booked out the entire Precinct for a week. Educators came from all over the country to participate, discuss and interact with issues connected to Indigenous Education.

Participants and facilitators at the conference

The Institute Management Committee & friends

The Titans Achievement Programme was launched at the Ration Shed Museum and was very well attended. It is a CDEP programme that partners with the Titans and is a personal development programme that focuses on the workplace and job opportunities. George Fisher and Lauren Williams are the local mentors overseeing the programme.

Rocko Langton, Sandra Morgan, Preston Campbell & Grace Bond. Sharks surrounded by Hornetts!

The mayor, Sammy Murray launches the CDEP & Titans programme

The Ration Shed Museum recently hosted a group of Yalari students, their families, community residents, the army and visitors from the surrounding area.

Yalari students are escorted by the army

The Yalari students gave up a week of their school holidays to walk from Durundur to Cherbourg – a historical walk, walked by their ancestors 110 years ago who were removed from their lands and dumped in Cherbourg.

Aunty Annie Moffatt & Aunty Bessie Bond welcome the students

Community members were at the Ration Shed Museum to greet the students as they arrived. Waverley Stanley organised the walk and is a great supporter of the Ration Shed Museum.

Yalari students gather outside Ration Shed Museum

During the September school holidays an exciting 3-day workshop took place at the Ration Shed Museum. Twenty five women participated in a workshop called “Strong Women Shadow Boxes”. The aim of the workshop was to strengthen women’s networks and organisations and to support women’s cultural traditions.

Women share stories in a yarning circle

Young and old share their stories

Beryl Gambrill & Annie Moffatt were some of the Elders that attended

There was laughter and tears as Elders and young women shared their stories and told of the strong women that had played a role in their lives. Carol Low and Katina Leedie facilitated the workshop. On day two the women selected images, objects and artwork, which they put together in a box to portray their stories of strength and inspiration.

Venus, Jennifer & Luella work on their Strong Women shadow boxes

Winnie Dalton working on her box

Beryl Gambrill hard at work on her box

At the end of the 3-day workshop Carol and Katina brought all the participants together in a yarning circle.  A bunya tree was planted by the youngest participant – Leonie Underwood and the oldest participant – Beryl Gambrill as a symbol of hope and strength for all women everywhere.

Leonie & Beryl plant a Bunya tree together as a symbol of hope and strength

Strong women - Winnie, Katina and Annie

19 boxes have been designed and are busy being completed. An opening launch for the exhibition of the boxes is planned for mid November.

The Strong Women Shadow Boxes project has been funded by the Indigenous Women’s Program – Indigenous Co-ordination Centre (ICC)

On the 11th of August, Cherbourg State School and the Ration Shed Museum hosted a number of schools from the South Burnett region. Over 500 students participated on the day. 130 High school students visited the Ration Shed and partook in a variety of activities. These included talks by Elders, watching films and painting with our local artists.

Schools in the distict attend NAIDOC day at Cherbourg State School

Over 130 students particpate in various events at the Ration Shed

Elders screen films and give talks

Local artists run painting workshops

Ration Shed in 1930's

The Cherbourg film The Ration Shed is going to have its international premiere!  The 20-minute documentary has been accepted into EDINDOCS, a Documentary Film Festival in Edinburgh, which aims to bring quality, independent documentary film to Scotland’s capital.

The full program will be released later this month, and the festival will take place from the 16 – 18 September 2011.

This is very exciting news for the Cherbourg community, as one of it’s important historical stories finds it’s way to the international stage. This follows on from the film’s success at the Heart of Gold Film Festival earlier in the year, where it took out the Best Queensland Film prize.

For more information on EDINDOCS, please visit: http://www.edindocs.com/index.html

Copies of the DVD are available for sale at $22 each. Postage is extra

On Tuesday the 5th of July we held our NAIDOC open day – everyone in the community was invited to attend. We also send open invitations to residents in the South Burnett. It was wonderful to see so many people arrive to support us.

Mentors design and paint the banner for NAIDOC Day

The Murgon State High School mentoring group were involved in the planning and collaboration of the event. They designed the and painted the banner that now hangs on the Ration Shed. Taleea Willimas one of the students, spoke about working on the banner and the meaning of the symbols. She told us that “the young people on the outside represent us; the youth in the community and foundation to maintain and protect our culture…” Katina Leedie spoke about the importance of NAIDOC day and the junior Wakka Wakka dancers performed for us. Afterwards the Muddy Flats band kept everyone on their toes!

Crowds at NAIDOC Open Day

There was a free sausage sizzle and games and activities for children – many people also came to see the Caroline Tennant-Kelly exhibition. A great day was had by all.

Muddy Flats Band performing