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entertainment for the Club at the home of a Mr Richardson. Sunday night was spent at
Gympie and members were taken on a tour of Gympie by a Mr George Tuffy. The Rally
finished at Burpengary with afternoon tea, after which members departed to their homes.

During one of the club’s rallies to Maroochydore, a number of plaques commemorating
the first visit there of the club were attached to a number of huge cotton trees which
lined the beach front; but time and tide have swept them all away.

In 1951, it was moved by Mr B Flack and seconded by a Mr Tate, that a Mr DePuma, who
was on the committee at the time, should approach the R.A.C.Q. with the idea of placing
an advertisement in their paper ‘The Road Ahead’ to advertise the club and perhaps obtain
some new members.

In 1952, it was decided to buy some name badges for club members, the cost of these to
be borne by both the club and the members. In the year of 1952, a decision was made to
keep a record of how many meetings each committee member attended during their term
of office. It was also during this time that the speed of a car towing a van was of some
th
concern to some of the members, and so on the 9 May 1952, a member, Mr Doherty,
approached the Police Department with a view to changing the law, which at that time
was 25 mph. At that time the Police were very rigid in their views on the matter of
speeding cars towing caravans and would not allow the law of 25 mph to be changed. Up
until this time, the club did not have any first aid gear, so it was decided to purchase a
kit which cost $10.00.

Apparently, all of the club’s Treasurers have had the same problem of getting the fees
out of members as the recent Treasurers have done, for as far back as 1951, the then
Treasurer had to send-out reminder notices to some of the members for their club fees.

In the early days of the club, the cost of providing the Christmas tea was just as expensive
as it is today. In 1952, the Ladies Committee was given the princely sum of $30.00 to
provide the evening meal, but even then inflation had caught-up with them, and the meal
actually cost $51.30. Some of the early Christmas dinners were held as early as November,
but I like the idea of our December party much better. We have had some fantastic
Christmas parties, but one of the best would have to be our Mock Wedding held at
Beenleigh, which made the headlines of the local newspaper. Another item which caused
a lot of hilarity was our Hawaiian Belles.

We have been very privileged to have some very talented people in our club over the
years, and one person who always made Christmas a little brighter with his talent was Don
Mackie, son of one of our Life Members, Mrs Muriel Mackie. Don always used to pipe-in
our President and the members to our Christmas meal with his bagpipes.

Times and ideas change and the idea of putting the Club’s name in the telephone directory
was first mooted in March 1953, and after a lot of discussion, it was decided to place it in
the directory under the Secretary’s address, but the club was expected to pay for half the
cost of the rent and all calls connected with the club’s business. At the same time, the
committee was asked to look into the purchasing of a Duplex Amplifier for the club’s use.

Not many people are aware that the Duke of Edinburgh is patron of the Caravan Club of
Great Britain and as he and Queen Elizabeth II were planning a visit to Queensland in 1954,