nambour

Father and son duo Alfred and Frank Wimmer arrived in Australia in 1887 from Germany, armed with an original cordial recipe made from Sarsaparilla root, with plans to establish a soft drink factory and start brewing. In 1910 the Wimmers family set up a soft drink manufacturing plant at Nambour on the Sunshine Coast, later moving to Cooroy where it is still manufactured today. It was at the Sunshine Coast plant Wimmers Soft Drinks became the first company in Australia to blend and develop Lemon Lime and Bitters in a bottle. One hundred years later, Wimmers Soft Drinks still uses the same old recipes to ensure their beverage range tastes as good today as it did all those years ago. The Wimmers Soft Drink brand has evolved over the years and has cemented its market share through a commitment to providing innovative new products whilst still delivering the reliable quality of the 100-year-old recipe. While the process of making soft drinks has changed dramatically throughout the last 100 years Wimmers Soft Drinks still taste the same. Maintaining that quality with good service is the secret to success. The company has overcome some major challenges in its hundred-plus years including the arrival of the global soft drink giants, the invention of the screw cap, and the modern trend of retailers aligning with exclusive brands. Source: www.noosabeverages.com.au/wimmers-soft-drinks

Nestled in the foothills of the Blackall Range, you’ll find a hinterland town with a whole lot of charm. Nambour was once known for its sugar mill, with purpose-built tram tracks transporting the sweet commodity through the town’s centre. Today the historic tracks are being restored to their former glory paying homage to the region’s past, but there’s plenty of other reasons to add Nambour to your Sunshine Coast bucket list. While here make sure to visit the neighbouring town of Woombye, which used to be called Cobb’s Camp due to the fact that it was a staging post for the Cobb & Co coaches in the 1800s. Today, Woombye is known as the home of the Big Pineapple, one of the Sunshine Coast’s most iconic attractions. Source: www.visitsunshinecoast.com/place/nambour

Helen Peters on the left, is pictured with Ethel Booth at the Brisbane General Hospital. Ethel Booth’s family moved to a farm between Woombye and Nambour in 1919. In 1930 she began her nursing training in Brisbane. She worked in nursing up until her retirement from Selangor Hospital in 1971. (Information taken from: www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/library/sitePage.cfm?code=or...) The first nurses graduated from the General Hospital in 1888. Since that time, the hospital has provided training for thousands of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. The General Hospital was renamed the Royal Brisbane Hospital in 1966 and has become the major teaching hospital for Queensland. (Information taken from: www.health.qld.gov.au/rbwh/history.asp

May 12 was the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. She was one of the most influential nurses and transformed the profession. Are there any photos of nurses in your family collections?

Beautiful in one word

Brisbane General Hospital with number 14 ward in the foreground, Herston, ca. 1934 Source: www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/objects/QD0000250.htm

Brisbane Royal Hospital Historical images and timeline metronorth.health.qld.gov.au/rbwh/about-us/historical-ima...

The original Royal George Hotel was built in 1912 by G.L. Bury, and was one of the first main hotel establishments on the Sunshine Coast. After a horrendous fire which hit Nambour Curry Street in 1924, the building was rebuilt. In the mid-1950s another blaze took on the second floor, and the whole structure was rebuilt in the style it is to be seen as today. Over the years, the RGH has been known in the region as the friendly pub, the Worker Man's Hotel (cane cutters, mill workers...). The Royal George Hotel always has been and still is an iconic landmark for the town of Nambour. The Royal George Hotel has been family owned and operated since the year 2000 by the Laing family. Known over the years and throughout the Sunshine Coast for their generosity, sponsoring many junior sporting teams and events, as well as senior sporting clubs, the Laing family's motto has never changed: "Buy Local, Support Local". Source: www.thergh.com.au/about#:~:text=The%20original%20Royal%20....

The making of a town produces many memories and Nambour's landmark Club Hotel was originally the site of the Residential Hotel, built in 1911 as a timber saloon that provided accommodation only. The hotel was re-named the Club Hotel in 1912 when a liquor license was granted. The hotel was remodeled in the 1920s and destroyed by fire on January 7, 1938, in a blaze that decimated half of the town. The present Club Hotel building was erected on the same site in December 1938. The building was architecturally designed with cement walls. For Currie St and the wider Nambour community, this building has stood as an important part of Near North Coast history in the heritage sugar town. It has been the gatekeeper to memories of the iconic cane train crossing the nearby main street where the tracks still remain today. Today, this lovely old pub building houses an exceptional surfboard collection with an impressive array of rare and iconic boards lining the walls. This collection includes the large timber planks of the early 1900s as well as the more modern fiberglass boards of the 1960s and current times. In this collection there is a replica of the surfboard used by Duke Kahanamoku, a true Hawaiian hero and one of the world's greatest surfing watermen, when he first visited Australia and gave a surfing exhibition at Sydney`s Freshwater Beach on December 23, 1914. This is widely regarded as the most significant day in the development of surfing in Australia. The building and surfboard collection opened with a completed renovation of the floor that had previously been vacant for more than 10 years. Source: www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/sunshine-coast/lan...