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25-April-2013
25-April-2013

Photographs supplied by James Delaney

The plaque erected in 2013 commemorates the soldier settlers of the Jandowae area known as "The Trumpeters".

"The Trumpeters", were a group of 21 soldier settlers who took up a government offer to work the land between Warra and Jandowae after World War Two. Although well intentioned, the soldier settler scheme was doomed to failure as most of the blocks on offer were too small and too marginal to be profitable in the tough post-war agricultural economy and the soldiers gradually drifted away.

"The Trumpeters" got their name from Jandowae barman Mick Brazier. Soldier settlers who drew blocks in the land ballots after World War Two would meet in his pub, tell their yarns and “blow their own trumpets”. Mick was in the habit of taking out an old trumpet he kept under the bar and blowing on it to silence the trumpeters when their gatherings got too rowdy. Brazier greatly admired the soldiers and in 1950 put up a sign at the corner of the blocks drawn by two local larrikins, Bill Johnson and Wally Underwood. He thus named the site “Trumpeters’ Corner”. The sign featured an old trumpet and the initials of the 21 settlers from the area

In 1961 a brass plaque featuring the full names of the Trumpeters was donated by Ivy Body, widow of Trumpeter Percy Body, and the site was gazetted as an official place name.

Location

Address:Jeitzs Road & Nine Mile Road, Between Jandowae and Warra , Tuckerang, 4411
State:QLD
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -26.86365
Long: 151.0212
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Plaque
Monument Theme:Landscape
Sub-Theme:Settlement

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Thursday 25th April, 2013
Front Inscription

Founded 1950 by Mick Brazier

Trumpeters Corner

[ Names ]

Returned soldiers who farmed in the area between 1945 - 1961
Established 1961

Plaque :

Trumpeters` Corner

On their return to civilian life, men who served in the first and second World Wars were entitled to apply for land and financial assistance under government soldier settlers schemes.

A number of returned servicemen took up land around the Warra - Jandowee district.  Most tried dairy farming, but their lack of experience often made it difficult to earn a living.  For some, the pubs became places of respite and comradeship where the new farmers could discuss their problems and issues or celebrate successes.  Jandowae publican, Mick Brazier, was amused by this "trumpeting" and, in a waggish tribute to soldier settlers, he founded "Trumpeters` Corner" in 1950.   On a large piece of metal Mick put the initials of twenty-one local Second World War soldier settlers, and, at a good humoured gathering at this site in 1961, Mick`s sign was nailed to the box tree to declare "Trumpeters` Corner as "established" !

This corner had long been a crossroads and a meeting place.

In the late 1920s, a young Stan Seigmeier rode a horse or his bike through the scrub to collect the mail here.  By the late 1930s, Jandowae had a butter factory and the cream carter stopped here to collect full cream cans.  By the late 1950s, thanks to the soldier settlers, this collection had multiplied.  As the settler`s families grew, some of their children waited here for the school bus - a run that continued until the 1990s.

After the site was gazetted as a landamark by the Wambo Shire Council, Ivy Body had the full names of the Trumpeters put on a brass plaque at the site, and, on Remembrance Day 2007, surviving Trumpeters, along with the Trumpeters` wives, descendants and friends gathered here for the dedication of the site by Reverend Major Father David Snape.

May future generations who visit this place appreciate and observe its significance.

 

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au