History of Mt Mee revealed — timber, bananas, dairy

Mount Mee has a rich history and many of today’s residents have connections with the families of yesteryear. Here, we take a trip down memory lane.

The Mt Mee School building. Photo: Mount Mee and District Historical Society.

MOUNT Mee was known as Dahmongah by the Jinibara people, meaning flying squirrel. Much has changed since those times, with the promise of timber luring the first European settlers to the area in the 1870s.

Two aborigines, named Pompey and Nudiar, led Jonathan Litherland to the mountain, telling him about vast forests of red cedar timber. After seeing the trees for himself, he and his brother, Harry, went into partnership, forming two bullock teams and clearing the forest to gain access on the eastern side of the mountain.

In similar fashion, brothers Richard and John Thomas cut their way through to the summit from the southern side in 1875.

The Franz family was the first non-indigenous family to settle at Mount Mee, in 1879. Following the arrival of settlers and their families, calls grew for the Department of Public Instruction to establish a school.

At first, there were not enough children to warrant it, but in 1883 a formal petition was sent by Richard Thomas. He had been educated in York, England, and was teaching local children in his barn.

Approval was given for a school to be built on timber reserve land by Henry Hewitt. It was to be known as Dahmongah Provisional School. It opened in 1884, with 11 pupils from the Litherland, Pierce, Hall, Franz, Thomas, Buckby and Cox families. Mr Thomas taught for four years until 1888, when Robina Hay Sprunt was officially appointed by the education department as the first teacher.

A banana settlement at Mt Mee. Photo: Mount Mee District Historical Society

Dwindling enrolments resulted in the school’s closure in 1904. Following years of petitions, it reopened in 1909. Requests for a new school building were approved in 1914 and it opened in 1915. It’s the oldest building in Mount Mee today.

The arrival of settlers and need for fresh milk resulted in the gradual development of a dairy industry. By 1902, dairying had become an established occupation among settlers operating alongside the timber industry.

High unemployment across Australia in the early 1930s prompted the banana settlement scheme, designed to create farming areas and put people to work. From 1933, land was cleared for the Mount Mee settlement area, huts were built for families and banana suckers were planted. In 1934, banana settlers began to arrive. Each family moved in to an unlined hardwood home, which was 8.5m x 3m. It was tight quarters for the 32 families chosen from more than 500 applicants.

A banana plantation at Mt Mee. Photo: Mount Mee District Historical Society

The settlers’ inexperience and the topography of the land contributed to the scheme’s “lack of overall success”. By late 1939, and the outbreak of WWII only 8-10 families remained. While this settlement in the 1930s was not a success, plantations on the northern and eastern slopes are viable today.

There are just two dairy farms now — a few have amalgamated and the rest have closed. Land has been carved up for housing and cottage industries have emerged. Tourism and accommodation has also become part of the local economy.

Sources: Mount Mee District Historical Society and Amongst the Timbers