Historic changes are underway at the historical society with a little help from a notable former state politician.
A group of interested residents recently met to stake out the future of the Stanthorpe and District Historical Society, which operates the Stanthorpe Historical Museum. Lorene Long kept tight control of the society and the museum for many years but recently suffered a major medical episode and appears to be too unwell to continue.
About 60 residents gathered after inviting former Liberal Party figure and Queensland Attorney-General, Denver Beanland AM, to act as guest chair at a recent meeting over the future of the institution. Ms Long was not present.
Mr Beanland spoke to the Town & Country Journal and was generally upbeat about the museum and its future while indicating some of the issues of which he is aware. Mr Beanland points out that he is a “long-term member” of the society and has been “involved a long time” but later said he just “visited from time to time” and was “not involved in any aspects” of the running of the society.
Indeed, the society has had long-running troubles including losing its not-for-profit status some years ago but not revealing the status, and not having an up-to-date lease with the SDRC. Mr Beanland was not aware of any of these issues.
Former SDRC CEO Dave Burges attempted, without success, to negotiate a lease and it is understood that the current council is doing similar without success as yet.
Meanwhile, Mr Beanland, who served as Brisbane’s Deputy Lord Mayor in the 1980s, says the society’s constitution is intact and that providing a copy of it was “my total preparation” for the meeting.
“They have a constitution. Everything’s in order. But they don’t have enough people on the management committee; they need to elect further members,” Mr Beanland said. Denver has a long history with both the area and with history itself. He holds a PhD in history from UQ and formerly chaired the National Archives Advisory Council. His wife, Gwendoline (nee Runge) is originally from The Summit.
He went on to explain the current circumstances with the society:
“When she [Lorene Long] had that massive heart attack, she was secretary and treasurer, as I understand it. I didn’t know that until the night [of the meeting] that there was a shortage of people on the management committee.” Without a quorum on the management committee, there is no authority to replace Lorene, add others or even to admit new members.
“The constitution says members have to be approved by the management committee; if the management committee doesn’t have the required enough people” everything grinds to a halt.
“So, there needs to be a members meeting set up where the members will be invited to come elect a secretary, treasurer and management committee.”
When this meeting will be held is unknown and who might step up to the management committee is not yet clear. No doubt there is much work to be done.
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