Vale David Georgee

VALE DAVID GEORGEE

It is with sadness that we report the death of David Georgee, who passed away on 8th November 2018.

David’s connection with Paluma spanned more than seven decades. He described some of his fond memories of our little village in the clouds in his book, ‘Townsville As It Was’. As a young boy, he used to come to Paluma with his family for holidays, staying at the Main Roads Tents. These were tents surrounded by stone walls, left over after the Main Roads Commission had completed construction of the Range Road. The tents were then used for holiday accommodation. The rock walls were later used to become the Mist Haven holiday units.

In later years David purchased the property at 16 Smith Crescent. In his book he describes how the waterfall in Benham’s Creek opposite their house, was used as the shower for the children. The girls’ showers were at 4 pm while the boys’ turn was 5 pm. Because the water was warmer earlier in the afternoon, the girls could enjoy their shower.

David’s talent as a piano player had him perform at many weddings, dances and social functions, including our own Paluma Music Festivals. Don Battersby remembers David providing the musical entertainment at one of his birthday parties a few years ago; probably the last time David performed in Paluma.

Our sincere condolences go to David’s family on his passing.

 By Wilfred Karnoll

 

 

Vale John Plant

John Plant , the son of Flight Sergeant Bruce plant, died on 14 September 2018 .

John’s father was Paluma’s 1930s son who lies in a war cemetery in Germany, having been killed in 1943  piloting a Lancaster bomber as part of the legendary 460 SQN RAAF. The site of the incident has been generously marked by a local german group who seek out and memorialize such crash sites.

Bruce is remembered on our War Memorial following a recent ceremony conducted by members of the Garbutt RAAF ,where Bruce started his Wartime career as a Mess steward , but quickly rose through the ranks to become a Fighter Pilot at Amberley before training on Lancasters in Canada .Bruce was an outstanding Australian!

John and Bruce never met. A planned meeting on the Ipswich railway station was foiled by the fact that the train carrying Bruce did not stop leaving John’s mother bereft on the platform holding an infant John.

John suffered a tremendous detriment with the death of his father due to the extremely cruel actions of his step father until John broke free at age 13.

John secured a trade in a railway rolling stock construction company at Ipswich and his  great  intelligence , skills and wonderful personality stood him in good stead with that company all of his working life.

John’s wife Eunice was his great love and mainstay as he coped with the loss of his father in his younger years. Eunice is grief stricken at her loss of John.

John was most appreciative of the RAAF ceremony hosted by PDCA and his son Barry has again asked that the family’s thanks be passed on to Palumarites!

John’s story is typical of the repercussions of War where often the next generation of the person Killed in Action have a great burden to bear which is often unrecognised by more fortunate members of subsequent generations .

Lest We Forget ….the tribulations of the families of our War dead.

Michael Drew