There's nothing better than an old newspaper for saving your memories, ready to unwrap them decades later, to remind you that it's all happened before.
Take the first edition of the North Queensland Register for 1979 for example, when a story out of Canberra has Cattlemen's Union president Maurice Binstead warning against complacency in an environment of record beef exports and high prices.
"Cattlemen could easily forget the economic hardship of 4.5 years of cattle depression," he said.
The gist of the article was to outline the expertise Australia had to devise a system to solve the peaks and troughs in the market, which it was submitting to the Prices Justification Tribunal beef marketing inquiry.
At the top of the page is the headline, 'Extend lives of coal mines', extolling the benefits of a bucketwheel excavator in extending the lives of open cut mines in the Bowen Basin.
Turn the page and there, amid the black and white photos of the New Year's Eve rodeo in Charters Towers is a small down-page story letting readers know that Richmond is to lose its chemist.
"After extensive advertising, it appears nobody wants the job," the story says.
"Nobody wants to come into an uneconomical area - that's why I'm leaving to go to Magnetic Island," the pharmacist, Jim Fry, is quoted as saying.
Maybe surprisingly for a rural publication 43 years ago, but plant proteins are featured on the recipe page, where Shami kebabs, featuring chickpeas, and a beef and bean hotpot take centre stage.
"What better way to extend the protein in a meal than by combating it with these increasingly popular legumes and pulses," the introduction says.
John Wedmaier's CQ News and Views column is full of news of the official opening of the liveweight selling facility at the Gracemere Saleyard, where record prices for all classes included 63c/kg for good bullocks.
The yards were operating two days a week and had a turnover of 100,000 for the first six months of the financial year.
There's even a story dedicated to the decline in the sheep industry in the north.
It's just what you expect from the oldest rural weekly newspaper in Australia, which is celebrating its 130th birthday in a few short months. If you have a favourite Reggie memory, send it in to letters@queenslandcountrylife.com.au
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Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
