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Add27th Jan 2023 4:20PMIn 1952 my Grandparents Thomas & Ellen Tate ran the Petrie Mill Hostel as she was a great cook. After Christmas 1952 my parents who had land at Sunnybank came to stay at Hostel to help Nana in kitchen for the big New Years Eve party for workers and local community. We were to stay to help for a couple of weeks. My dad was on holidays with his PMG job in Brisbane. I was 6 yrs od and brother 3 yrs old. I remember the large stainless steel kitchen and huge dining area it seemed, plus the quarters radiating out from the main building which were cleaned by my Aunty who lived at Shield St Redcliffe. The cylindrical canvas bag stamped with Peter's sat on the patio waiting for the ice cream delivery from Brisbane each week. Sadly on the 7th Jan 1953 there was a robbery in one of workers' quarters and Grandad went to investigate and could see outside the room's window a footprint in the mud heading towards the river-bank. He raced down the bank to catch the robber who stole a worker's wallet. He did not return so my dad went looking down the river-bank only to find him face down. He was a returned soldier, gassed in France in WW1 and with a weak heart the effort of search proved fatal. As a result my mum Edith Tate stayed with Nana while my dad Joe returned to work in city and to check on the horse, dogs and chooks at the Sunnybank farm. I attended the Petrie School for 6 months. It was a 2 teacher school, so different to the 300 pupil school at Runcorn SS. Have so many happy memories of that time at Petrie School. In 1964 while at Kelvin Grove Teachers College I sat next to a girl in class saying - I feel I know you and she said the same. Discussed schools we attended and included Petrie SS. Hunted up old 1953 school photo and we were sitting beside each other. Her name was Mary Eaton and her dad was Paper mill manager at that time. Elaine Mergard nee Tate
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APM Hostel at Petrie, ca. 1970s (ca. 1970s). Moreton Bay Our Story, accessed 11/06/2023, https://ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/nodes/view/37233
