JABUK CENTENARY

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (15:38): I rise today to acknowledge the centenary of Jabuk, a lovely little town about 150 kilometres from Adelaide towards the Mallee.

Ms Bedford: Postcode?

Mr PEDERICK: That is a good question. It is 5253, or something like that (I probably have that wrong). I would like to acknowledge the work that the committee has done in this regard. It is a small committee led by a local young woman, Heather Wait, who is a descendant of a long-time family in the district. The event to commemorate the centenary of Jabuk was the 'siting' of Jabuk, and included a multi-denominational church service in the morning and a grand parade, which was certainly a sight to see. The parade included machines and implements of farming practices in the area from bygone days to the present. These included tractors from the '40s and '50s through to big air seeder arrangements that are operated now, as well as a ute towing tandem sheep feeders. There was a little bit of entertainment supplied by the Nuriootpa town band, and I was very pleased to be given the chance to speak at the official opening of the new Jabuk railway siding.

The land comprising this area was surveyed and gazetted for application in 1906. It is to be noted that that is the centenary of the Mallee railway line, which Jabuk is situated on, but they did not get a siding until two years later. This region on the Jabuk Marmon Range was part of Moorlands Station previous to this; just open grazing country. Then farmers moved in, cleared the mallee off the land and started cropping.

They were cropping wheat, which was transported to the Polly's Well (Peake) or Geranium Bore sidings. It was the work of Mr Kirkpatrick MP (a Labor MP, I believe) who presented a petition which resulted in Jabuk having the siding built 100 years ago on 27 April 1908. That is where the road from Tailem Bend to Garra Station crosses the railway line. As I mentioned before, the official opening of the Mallee line was in 1906.

The land was sold for the town in 1909, known as Marmon Jabuk and then changed to Jabuk in 1941. A store, a hall and a school were built. The hall, and later the institute, became the focus of many functions, including strawberry fetes, dances, library services, sporting activities, banking, deb balls, weddings, and the like.

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: Possibly. Sheep came back in the 1920s and by the 1930s passenger trains stopped at the siding, which also carried the mail, the bread and the groceries. It is to be noted that the train guards thought it was a huge impediment to their day when they had to load large numbers of cream cans and crates of eggs at Jabuk for transportation.

The land was developed, crops were grown, silos went up along the line, and over the last 100 years the Jabuk community has celebrated all forms of sporting events: tennis, football, cricket, shooting, basketball and gymkhanas. Churches were also built for Baptist, Lutheran and Catholic congregations, and all the usual country organisations have been represented, including the CFS and CWA. The Jabuk CFS has just received a new firefighting truck, a 34.

I hope that Jabuk enjoys another 100 years at least, and I think they will get it. They are very resilient people out there in the Mallee. I hope that the community thrives and I commend the community for their centenary.

Time expired.