Objects of Substance- Itinerary of the Tour of the North

own state. He had approached North Queensland businesspeople and, with their assistance, organised affordable group tours for school students. Our group of Grammar Girls would have enjoyed their train accommodation with sleeping berths, as well as luxurious hotels like the Cairn's Hotel Pacific and Hides Hotel, the Imperial Hotel at Kuranda, the Kuranda Hotel and, at Yungaburra, the Lake Eacham Hotel.

In Cairns, the group watched cane being harvested and were given a guided tour of a sugar mill. While in Atherton and touring the Tableland, they observed operations at the silos and were shown the extensive maize farming on the Tableland. Exposure to the luxuriant vegetation, vivid colours, and wonderfully generous people in the North, presented the pupils with plenty of new experiences. The Commissioner of Railways had hoped that this exposure to new places and people would inspire them so they would recount their travel experiences to their families and friends, acting as enthusiastic publicity agents for the charms and famed hospitality of the Far North. To stimulate even more interest, Mr Davidson offered prizes for the best essays submitted by the young Queenslanders on their impressions of the tour. This is where our Alma Hartshorn enters the story. Once back home, Alma set to writing a beautifully descriptive and detailed account of her time away. Her essay finished with words that would have warmed the Commissioner for Railways’ heart: “I should like to…remind Queenslanders that they have no need to go abroad or even to other States to see unsurpassable beauties of Nature.” Alma’s was one of the winning essays. Unfortunately, we do not know what prize Alma received, but she kept the leather wallet that accompanied her prize and, folded up inside for safekeeping is the newspaper article reporting her winning entry. The wallet with its treasured clipping still where Alma put it so many years ago is now lodged safely in the School archive.