Kim-Maree Burton in Mount Isa, Queensland | Writer

Kim-Maree Burton

Locality: Mount Isa, Queensland

Address: 15 West Street 4825 Mount Isa, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.kimmareeburton.com

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23.01.2022 Oops ... I pre-empted the NWS online coverage ... mea culpa, mea culpa! :)

23.01.2022 HAVE YOU BEEN ... CURRIED? . (The following was first written for the History Page of the North West Star newspaper on Friday 15 May 2015. Copyright K-M Burton *** COPYRIGHT on cartoons is held by BRET CURRIE ***) . ...Continue reading

21.01.2022 Having fun with the last of 4 memories of Mount Isa Rotary Rodeo past .... AN URBAN COWGIRL IN THE SPINIFEX . (The following story was first published in the North West Star on Friday 12 August 2017. Copyright Kim-Maree Burton)...Continue reading

20.01.2022 It is with deep sadness that I advise (requested by the Copelin Family) the passing of BOB COPELIN of Happy Valley, Mount Isa, yesterday. Bob is survived by h...is beloved and devoted wife of 69 years, Maureen, his children and grandchildren. His funeral will be conducted at the Catholic Church, Stanley Street, Mount Isa, tomorrow morning (3.09.20). Attendance numbers are limited due to COVID-19 restrictions and anyone wishing to attend the service is asked to contact either the family members of the Church. Bob and Maureen's story was written for the History Page of the North West Star and first published in 2017 ... this is their story ... in memory of Bob's life. . OH! ISN'T HE LOVELY?" Dressed resplendently in the fashion of the day, wearing a white shirt with long sleeves rolled up to the elbows, black trousers and black shoes and white socks, he made an immediate impression on the B.S.D. New Mess waitress. He was as ‘full as a goog’ but very polite; even if he couldn’t carry the soup over to his table. I was new in town and had just started at the B.S.D. New Mess, so I had to ask Carlotta (Clare) Mazzoni who he was and she said, That’s Bobby Copelin. And from that moment on, love has been in the air, for Maureen and Bob Copelin; for nigh on 66 years. A local lad born in Mount Isa in 1933, Bob was soon won over by the adage that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, be it Vegemite sandwiches or an extra egg on Sundays. Maureen’s and Bob’s story was typical of so many young romances that began through friendship in the B.S.D. Mess. Built as a dining room for miners, the B.S.D. New Mess was opened in 1951, the year Maureen arrived in Mount Isa, from Brisbane, and first laid eyes on her Bobby. We met in ’52, got engaged in ’53 and when Bobby finished his apprenticeship at the Mine, we got married, in 1954. ‘Our courting years were centred on the Mess because I was on shift work. On weekends though, Bob would set out on his bicycle from his Miles Street home and cycle over to the B.S.D. female quarters to meet Maureen and then they would walk, hand-in-hand, back over the bridge to go to the Star Theatre pictures. Bob would pay for us to go in to the pictures and then he’d have to pay some little fellas so we could sit on the seats. Those little fellas, as Maureen called them, would sneak into the pictures and put various items on the canvas seats; laying claim to the seats being ‘taken’ and then charge people a penny coin to remove them. They had the game sown up, I tell you! While the canvas seats at the pictures were comfortable, often they would rot through and on one occasion an unsuspecting Maureen ended up on the warm concrete floor instead of the canvas seat. I didn’t mind’, Bob laughed, she had to sit on my lap, then, to watch the pictures. Smith’s Star Theatre was an eye opener for visitors from down south, as Maureen recalled, A friend from Brisbane thought the theatre owners were so clever to paint the ceiling like the sky. I said you silly cow that’s the sky and stars! And when it was time to walk up the aisle to get married, they did so in the Methodist Church, albeit not the same building as where Bob’s parents had been married in 1929 but rather the new Church on the corner of Mary and Miles Streets. We got married in the Methodist Church because that was where Bob’s Mum and Dad got married. The Methodist Inland Mission conducted the first church service in Mount Isa, in June 1926, within months of the Mission being formed in Brisbane and ministers being appointed to Cloncurry, Boulia and Normanton. The first full-time minister, Rev. Henderson, had arrived in Mount Isa, only weeks before he officiated at their wedding. And we had the wedding reception at Hilton Hall, so the boys from the Mine’s Barracks could go. Stevie Barlow, Graham Willardson and Kanga Kennedy were just three of Bob’s mates who danced the night away with new bride, Maureen. I don’t dance. Never could. And it’s too late, now, to learn, Bob laughed quietly. Arty Greaves and his band were playing, with someone banging on the drums, but can’t remember who. he continued to laugh. Sadly, the only wedding photo they have was taken, at Hilton Hall, by a friend. We paid a chap to take the photos, but he shot through with our money before the wedding. Their first home was a tent house consisting of three rooms in Coal Stage (behind the Barkly Hotel today). The old thunderbox was down the back, next door to the old tin bath tub and the laundry was a bit of a lean to, with a slab of cement and two concrete tubs and only cold water. But we were so proud of the four ‘gossip’ chairs that we saved up for and put in the end room’ recollected Maureen. Gossip chairs had cushioned seats and wooden armrests for ladies to relax, when sitting and socialising. Today, Bob is relaxed, as he recalled growing up in Mount Isa and going to the Town School with the Biondi brothers, Alex and Harry. Our Headmaster used to have big nights out and he’d come in and put his head down on the desk and nap on, reminisced Bob. We used to take advantage of him and go out quarter of an hour early for big lunch and come back half an hour late. And he’d still be camped there. After finishing Scholarship in 1947, at the age of 14 years old, Bob started his five years apprenticeship as a fitter and turner at Mount Isa Mines; he retired from the Mine in 1993. Typical of hundreds of young men employed in the Mine over the years, Bob met the love of his life, married her and continued to live in Mount Isa to raise their young family. ‘Mount Isa has been good to us! concluded Bob. And after 64 years, love is still in the air for Maureen, I still think he’s lovely! END Researched and written by Kim-Maree Burton (c) www.kimmareeburton.com Information sourced through personal interviews with Bob and Maureen Copelin, MIMAG and Mt Isa Mail newspapers. Photographs courtesy of Copelin Family Treasurers, and MIMAG.

20.01.2022 Congratulations Mount Isa WE DID IT! . (This is the last of a 3 part story on the Mount Isa Suncorp 1986 North Queensland Games and was first published for the History Page of the North West Star newspaper on Saturday 16 April 2016. Copyright: Kim-Maree Burton ) ...Continue reading

20.01.2022 THE BIG VOICES AT RODEO ... the RODEO ANNOUNCERS . (The following was first written for the North West Star 2018 Rodeo Week Wrap. Copyright Kim-Maree Burton.) . The quietest achievers with the loudest voices at any rodeo are the ‘Rodeo Announcers’.... Before professionals like Russell Green called the Isa Rodeo, there were the local announcers - Larry Henderson, Pat Flannery, Darby Davis, Gordon Dallow, Peter Beard and Terry Lees. As Peter Beard recalled, We had to be very fast learners and very quick on the uptake to keep the crowd both informed and entertained as rodeo was only once a year for us rank amateurs. He went on to say, I mention Terry Lees, at that time Manager of Radio 4LM, as he stayed on and became what the rest of us never pretended to be an expert and he was later recognised as such by the Australian Professional Rodeo Association. It is the rodeo announcer’s job to not only know the history of each of the rough riders, their professional rankings, injuries and fitness, it is also important that they know the bucking capability of the stock be they bovine or equine. Russell Green, a Victorian rodeo entrepreneur and former champion rodeo rider would be one of the most knowledgeable and entertaining rodeo announcers on the Australian circuit and called the thrills and spills of rodeo for over two decades in Mount Isa. At each rodeo I try to verbally paint a ‘big picture’ for spectators, of how riders and stock eye and weigh each other up in the chute before the gates open and before hell breaks loose for 8 seconds of brutal domination between man and beast. Whether the rodeo contestants compete in open saddle bronc, bareback bronc, bull ride, rope and tie, steer wrestling, team roping, junior steer ride, ladies barrel racing or breakaway roping their performances are more creditable and entertaining thanks to the big voices of rodeo the RODEO ANNOUNCERS. . Researched and written by Kim-Maree Burton www.kimmareeburton.com Photographs courtesy of Peter Beard and the North West Star archives Information sourced from interviews with Peter Beard and Russell Green.

19.01.2022 Too good, not to share ....

17.01.2022 Only 7 years younger than Mount Isa itself ... 90 years young ... ARTHUR MORRIS ...

14.01.2022 Anne Morris’s mantra it’s good to help! (This week’s history page in the North West Star newspaper is devoted to Anne Morris and was published yesterday 13 August 2020. Copyright: Kim-Maree Burton ) There would be few in Mount Isa whose contribution to the community has exceeded sixty years and voluntary participation in twenty plus welfare and community organisations as has Anne Morris....Continue reading

14.01.2022 PROUD TO BE A NORTH WEST QUEENSLANDER .... (This is the second instalment of a three-part story on the North Queensland Games. It was written for the History Page of the North West Star newspaper and was first published on 2 April 2016. Copyright is held by Kim-Maree Burton ) ...Continue reading

10.01.2022 A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE A search for the meanest horses . (The following story was written for the History Page of the North West Star newspaper and first published on Saturday 11 August 2018. Copyright belongs to K-M Burton) . THERE was movement on the river banks, for the word had passed around...Continue reading

08.01.2022 IT WAS THE CROWNING GLORY IN MOUNT ISA'S SPORTING HISTORY ..... were you there? . (The following was written for the History Page of the North West Star newspaper and was first published on 19 March 2016. Copyright belongs to Kim-Maree Burton (c) ) ....Continue reading

07.01.2022 Congratulations to Mount Isa man, Bruno Cullen ....

03.01.2022 It's time to hit the road, young fella ....