Objects of Substance- Itinerary of the Tour of the North

Misses Marjorie Fielding, Mary Alexis Macmillan, and Doris Kennedy.

The Cairns Post found this school tour significant enough to record, in detail, the names of all students. The Girls' Grammar participants were Molly Groom, Bessie Parker, Ruth Munro, Daisy Wright, Lorna Plaisted, Margaret Julius, Hazel Ellen, Gwen Robson, Doris Harland, Alice Trout, Pauline Joice, Florence Stirling, Annie Carter, Sheila Reid, Alma Bushby, Edna Finlayson, May Hardcastle, Dorothy Siemon, J. Turley (most likely Joan Tinley), Beatrice Ferricks, Barbara Watson, Kathleen Dodwell, Edna Bentley, Jean Storie, Thelma Bretherton, Jean Tolmie, Lucy May Butt, Edna Garden, Hazel Fogg, Betty Thorpe, Iris Sandaver, Enid Dunlop, Edith Burnett, Vonda Glover, Dorothy Nicholls, Jean Foulis, and Dorothy Taylor, and two girls who have special links to items in the archive, Grace Wright and Alma Hartshorn. The previously mentioned itinerary booklet held in the archive has the name Miss Grace Wright written in pencil on the cover. We can assume it was a treasured possession holding many happy memories because Grace kept it all her life and, when her possessions were auctioned, it was spotted by another past student, Jill Phillips, nee Malouf (1953). Jill recognized the importance of this precious treasure as part of the first tour ever undertaken by the School, purchased it, and donated it to our archival collection. Inside the back cover of the Itinerary and Travel Notes was a beautifully detailed fold-out map of Queensland, showing all “Railways Open for Traffic, Under Construction, and Approved by Parliament, prepared for the Commissioner for Railways”. The contents included a detailed description of the expectations of the “Young Queenslander’s” behaviour, and a brief description of the fourteen days travel and activities. Sights, which today’s visitors to North Queensland still travel to see ninety-three years later, were highlights: the Barron River Crossing, the Kuranda butterfly and moth collection, experiencing “Natures’ Wonderland” at The Maze, Fairyland, and Governor Goodwin’s Lookout. Also included in the itinerary was a walk to the Large Fig Tree at Petersen’s Crossing and visits to the Malanda Falls on the Atherton Tableland, maize fields and silos, the Mulgrave sugar mill at Gordonvale, and swimming on Magnetic Island. The appendices at the back of the booklet included information on the sugar industry and mill processing, the Cairns Tableland Road, and Magnetic Island. It appears as if no exciting and educational item was missed.