Feature Hunchy – little known but much loved

Hunchy, home to the old Hunchy State School, is a rural locality in traditional Kabi Kabi/Jinibara country. It was named Hunchback by white settlers and begins in the foothills of the Blackall Range, winding up the mountain to Montville.

By Victoria McGuin

The Hunchy community has grown from a nucleus of half-a-dozen settlers in the late 1880s to 592 people in the 2021 census. The area was known for farming crops such as pineapples (there is a stand on the Hunchy Road selling these), lychees, bananas (again, a stall for these at the base of Hunchy Road), citrus, and avocado. Livestock in the area includes cattle and alpaca.

There are still plenty of long-time locals living here, and many of them either attended, or had parents and grandparents attend, the Hunchy State School, which opened on August 18, 1924, and closed on December 31, 1969.

The school had 19 head teachers in its 46 years, and 249 students registered, and travelling to and from the school was not for the faint-hearted if you didn’t live close by. Walking along bush roads, travelling by horse, clambering across rough tracks, even crossing creeks, was a common occurrence.

Today, the building at 53-61 Hunchy Road has been lovingly preserved by locals, and has a Saturday Library, along with hosting ‘Hunchy Pizza Night’ once a month, working bees and community meetings and events.

I recently attended the ‘First Tuesday Club’ – a morning catch-up, where locals share their news over tea and cake, and help out with the maintenance of the old school and grounds. This was special meeting, however, as it was all about the upcoming Hunchy State School centenary celebration, planned for Sunday August 18.

I met with members of the Hunchy Community Association including Lee Sampson (secretary) and Jules Johnson (vice president), and a handful of previous school pupils and community members.

“One of the early settlers, Alton Morrison, donated the land for the school originally,” said Lee. “Twenty-odd years ago we suspected the State Government was going to sell the building and land, so the community acted to preserve it. It took three years to arrange a transfer of property to Council, and we leased it from there.

“We’re responsible for the upkeep and insurance, and we’re lucky to receive grants from the Heritage Bank, and the Sunshine Coast Council supports us with grants too. We’ve managed to get major works done through the Gambling Community Benefit Fund.

“Our fundraising efforts these days are based around our monthly pizza night, since we had the pizza oven built a few years ago.”

I was introduced to ex-students, brother and sister, Kay Williams and Rodney (Rod) Carter.

Kay recalled: “I was there from Year 2 to Year 6, and 1952 was my last year. In my time it was one class for all, and there were about 12 students of different ages. I used to ride my horse, Flash, to school.

“I had some great teachers, they taught everything, and the best lessons were in the paddocks! It was a great childhood here.

“My two brothers (Rodney and Victor) milked the cows before school.”

“We walked three miles across paddocks and creeks as we lived in upper Hunchy,” said Rod. “Our dad was from Nambour, Charlie Carter (Carter’s Road is named after him. He was a carpenter-joiner, and he would walk to Flaxton to build houses every day and then walk home to Nambour, then work on the farm.

“We grew Ladyfinger bananas on the slopes and small crops on the flats. I remember our pigs had to stay on wooden planks so they didn’t get footrot from the earth.”

“We didn’t have a car, phone or electricity until I went to boarding school in Brisbane,” continued Kay. “I remember one day, when we finally had a car, a 1929 Chevrolet, and we were being driven to Palmwoods station to catch the train to school.

“We were always taught to leave early, which was lucky as one of the wheels came off and rolled down the road! We had time to catch it and put it back on and make the train.

“I remember Dad saying ‘hang on’ when we got the car to 30mph on the way back from the beach,” she laughed.

“They were fun times. I would climb on the horse and trot down the Hunchy Road to find orchids. We had a great childhood thanks to our parents.”

Kate Stock was a student in the mid-to-late ‘60s. “We lived over the road and when it was cold my mum would bring Milo drinks over for us. There were only one or two children in each grade at that time, and mum said she could hear us on the school verandah doing our times-table and spelling.

“There weren’t enough kids for sport, and my sister and I formed a two-person band with our recorders, everyone else had fifes. I can still see the big, old bougainvillea near the front gate where we would play doctors and nurses and use the thorns to give injections!

“When we had dance we would set up the old gramophone and square dance on the lawn with the teacher watching on the verandah. I also remember the hairy grubs in the outside toilet!”

The wealth of information and stories from locals cannot, sadly, fit into this feature, but any former students, staff and their families are invited to attend the Centenary.

Celebration of Hunchy State School from 9am – 3pm and hear more. Please bring along your memories and photos to share on Sunday August 18th!

For further information, contact Hunchy Community Association Vice President Jules Johnson: julesjim@bigpond.net.au or Secretary Lee Sampson: hunchyhobbits@gmail.com