2 September 2005

Well the Gympie Muster has been and gone for another year and once more a massive amount of money has been raised for charity.

Over the years millions of dollars has gone into helping people less fortunate than ourselves, once again congratulations to Brian Sampson and his team along with the Gympie Apex club for a job well done.

It was back in 1984 on the Webb Brothers property at Widgee just out of Gympie that the first Muster was held. A permanent stage was built in the bull paddock which had a natural amphitheatre but that was the only solid structure the rest of the camp was very basic with the men’s showers in one long structure with plastic around it and freezing cold water pumped directly out of the creek. Boy it was cold while the ladies had the luxury of solar heating.

All the artists and workers were housed in caravans that year behind the stage and everyone was fed in a giant marquee with camp style ovens out the back. I’ll never forget the first Friday evening when we had a roast dinner with soup and desert along with some great entertainment and ladies of Apex catered for close to 600 people. Among the entertainers there was Chad Morgan and Terry Gordon.

The following year a massive thunder storm went through on the Friday just before people began arriving and I for one got stuck right down to the axle and had to be towed out by tractor. It was in 1985 that we had Digby Richards (of raincoat in the River fame) making one of his final appearances in Australia before travelling to England were he died soon after from Cancer.

After the 1986 Muster it was decided that the Webb’s property was too small and unsuitable so from then on the venue was Ammamoor National Park and of course the rest is history. The muster has now grown to incredible proportions attracting visitors from throughout the World.

As Organiser Brian Sampson remarked to me a few years ago "We have created a monster which will never go away but will keep on growing". How right he was.