1923 Class Photo Nikenbah School. Source: Fraser Coast Chronicle (2013)
According to Hervey Bay Historical Village and Museum member John Andersen, so much of our early European history originated in the Nikenbah area of Hervey Bay. The original Nikenbah School still stands in the school grounds opposite the Animal Refuge corner on Nikenbah-Dundowran Road, Nikenbah. The school was originally called Bunyah Park and was on the corner of Main Street and Booral Road before it was shifted in 1915 to its present site. In 1963 it was closed (Fraser Coast Chronicle, 2013). It is now cared for by the Nikenbah Progress Association and leased to the Spinners & Weavers. It is a link to the beginnings of Hervey Bay.
Danish Lutheran Church Aalborg (Nikenbah). Source: Hervey Bay Historical Village and Museum.
The first European settlers from Denmark settled in the area we now call Nikenbah. They had arrived with thousands of other immigrants from their motherlands in Denmark, Germany and the British Isles at the pioneering township of Maryborough after escaping the harsh conditions of Europe.
They called the area Aalborg after a town in Denmark and built their homes, a church and established a cemetery. So it was that Aalborg, now called Nikenbah, became the first European settlement in this district. There are still many descendants of these early pioneering families living in Hervey Bay today.
Bullock Team Loading Cane Nikenbah. Source: Hervey Bay Historical Village and Museum.
With the opening of the railway line connecting Pialba to Maryborough in 1896, the golden sands and beaches of the Bay attracted the influx of new settlers and saw the area rapidly develop into the thriving city of today. During all this time, Nikenbah was the forgotten suburb. The station and railway yards were always busy transporting the sugar cane, fruits and produce to Maryborough. The Nikenbah School looked after the children of the farmers, but very little development occurred.
Original Keen Store Nikenbah. Source: Hervey Bay Historical Village and Museum.
Les Keen delivery groceries around 1918. Source: Hervey Bay Historical Village and Museum.
Central to all of this was the Keen Family General Store, with the property still controlled by the fifth generation of the family. With the advent of supermarkets, such stores no longer exist but, in their time, they served the local community very well with grocery deliveries, supplies and hardware items. Before local hospitals, doctors and chemists, even all the local babies were regularly weighed on the scales in the shop. These actual scales are now on display at the Hervey Bay Historical Village & Museum.
The local farmers formed the Dundowran Fruit Growers Association and operated a shop in the railway yards at Nikenbah. Eventually road transport overtook the rail network and the Association closed.
After decades of peaceful country-style life, Nikenbah has recently seen the developed Hervey Bay area expand to change its character forever. Development that the early pioneers would never have dreamed about, has seen large residential areas opened, major multinational companies set up businesses, coffee shops established, the men’s shed opened, animal refuge centre and market days held. The newly opened Sports Precinct adds to the importance of the entire region. Nikenbah is a large regional recycling area and other large projects are already in the planning stage.
As the founding settlement for the large city of Hervey Bay, Nikenbah indeed holds a special place in the history of this region.
Fraser Coast Chronicle 13th May, 2013 Nikenbah State School Centenary, retrieved on 28th April, 2020.
The Butchulla People are the Traditional Custodians/Owners of the Land, and their continued connection to the land on which we walk, work and live is acknowledged. Fraser Coast Libraries acknowledges and pays respects to the Elders past, present and emerging.
Marilyn researched the Benevolent Society and found early
Australian hospitals not only catered to those who had been injured through
accident, but also for invalids with chronic illnesses. She found that these
hospitals became repositories for the aged who had no family to care for them,
as well as for younger, disabled folk until purpose-built asylums were
constructed. Those who could afford it received attention from a doctor
privately. Those who could not afford to pay were not required to do so, as
some Government subsidy was allocated annually to hospitals to be distributed
in charity. However, to gain admission to a hospital they had to be certified
as destitute by a reputable person, such as a clergyman or
magistrate, and required the word of a doctor that their admission was
essential.
Lennox St Hospital, Maryborough Qld, after 1875.
The early Maryborough Hospital was no exception. The minutes of the
Hospital's Management Committee regularly indicate funds being allocated to
those who were deemed in need from their Benevolent Fund (Marilyn Jensen, 2018).
The Committee also referred individuals to other care institutions such as the
Benevolent Asylum in Brisbane, orphanages, and other shelters. This is noted in
a section of the minutes from the Maryborough Hospital Committee of Management
dated 9th March 1875:
…. correspondence
was read from the Colonial Secretary, stating that the application made by the
Hospital authorities for the admission of John Barkley to the Benevolent Asylum
must for the present be refused, owing to the crowded state of that
institution. The application could, however, be renewed at any future time. A
second letter from the Colonial Secretary's office was read, granting application
for admission of two children (Wise) to the Orphanage. The Hospital
authorities, however, would have to arrange for sending the children to
Brisbane. Mr. S. G. Hill said he had sufficient funds in hand on account of the
children to pay for their passage down.
But the Government allocation was becoming inadequate as Maryborough's
population increased. By the mid-1870s, the greatest burden on the hospital was
the number of sick and indigent persons brought to the town by each immigrant
ship. Deputations were made by the Hospital Committee to increase the
allocation. A public voice for a separate Benevolent Society was also becoming
increasingly heard (Wide Bay Hospital Museum Inc.).
The article in the Maryborough Chronicle cites the case
of Mrs Jones. It is claimed that cases such as this highlight the need for a separate
benevolent association for Maryborough.
We fear that the case
of Mrs. Jones, brought before the Hospital Committee at their last sitting, is
not an isolated one in this good town of Maryborough. She is the mother of four
young children, one being an infant but ten days old. It is possible, or even
probable that the poor woman or her children might have perished from want — of
absolute starvation — had it not been that her state of destitution became
accidentally known to Mr. S. G. Hill, on the occasion, of her registering the
birth of her youngest one, and who, noticing her extreme debility questioned
and elicited the following facts, reluctantly told. With her husband and
family, she had arrived in the colony by the Star Queen. The husband had
obtained a few days' work, but, as a stranger, had failed to secure any
permanent employment. At last he determined to start upcountry, promising to
write to his wife as soon as he should be in a position to forward her any
money. He has not, however, been heard of since he left. Meantime, the wife has
been confined, yet has almost managed to keep the wolf from the door by selling
the few sticks of furniture she had collected, and the clothes which she and
her children so much needed. Now even this miserable expedient fails her, for
she has parted with everything that would fetch money. The Hospital Committee
allowed her five shillings a week — as large a sum as they could with justice
spare from the Benevolent Fund in their keeping. From this (sic) five shillings
a week she has to pay rent, and feed and clothe herself and her four children!
It surely but requires such a case as the above to be made known for relief to
be freely accorded. But this is not enough. It requires an organised committee—
an association who will seek out those who 'suffer grief and pain,' and who,
like Mrs. Jones, don't know of the existence of the Benevolent Fund, or
knowing, refuse to seek its aid. Such an association might, work in unison with
the Hospital Committee. There would be no difficulty in collecting money in
such a cause. How much money has been collected during the past twelve months
to 'grease the fat pig,' and thus to follow the Bible teaching, 'To him that
hath shall be given'? How much pain and physical distress might have been saved
had that amount, or even the tenth part of it, been placed to the credit of a
Ladies' Benevolent Association? We repeat, there is no lack of funds for such a
cause, for, from the frailest to the purest — from Nell Gwynn to Florence
Nightingale — all would subscribe, for 'One touch of nature makes the whole
world kin ?' Mrs. Jones vegetates near Mr. Berry's, at Irish Town.
Miss
Melville is an example of a benefactor that looked to support the local
community. In her will she included a gift of 500 pounds to the Maryborough
Benevolent Society towards the erection of an Alms-house for old people. This
sum was increased through fundraising and the Government then offered the sum
of two pounds for every pound raised. The Government made available several
acres between the Maryborough West School and the Newtown Police Station. Cottages
were built to honour Miss Melville's contribution, as this was considered more
suitable for the old people than the Alms-house. Later, a pair of
Eventide Homes were added as accommodation for the elderly (Maryborough Wide Bay Burnett Historical Society Inc.).
Nurses have a history of supporting our community in crisis. Lex Tudman is a former Nurse and Midwife. Lex's amazing story of supporting our Community as a Nurse, Midwife and Deputy Mayor is an example of the selflessness of nurses throughout the region. She features in our Oral History series.
References: Commonwealth of Australia (2016) A Thematic Heritage Study on
Australia’s Benevolent and other Care Institutions.
Maryborough Chronicle 18th December, 1875A letter to Mr D.J. Byrne retrieved
from Trove 16th
April, 2020.
