Jeanne Robinson Oral History

DETAILS

Overview
Jeanne Robinson offers a detailed and personal account of her family history, life in the Mary Valley and Gympie regions, and her long connection to Tewantin, Teewah, and the Noosa North Shore. Born in Gympie in 1942, she comes from several generations of local families involved in farming, transport, and early settlement. Robinson describes her childhood on the family’s Calico Creek bean farm, small school education, and later boarding at Moreton Bay College. She recounts her parents’ move to Tewantin in 1965, where her father co founded the first paying ferry service across the Noosa River—an endeavour that became central to his identity and to North Shore access for decades.

Robinson provides rich detail about the early development of Teewah, including the auctioning of the first leasehold blocks in the early 1960s, construction of simple beach huts, and the challenges of transporting building materials down the beach before the ferry existed. She outlines early community life, from fishing families to storm impacts, the building of beach ramps, and the limited number of residents.

Her later life includes raising children in Queensland sugar mill towns, returning to Noosa after divorce, working for the Sunshine Coast Daily, and caring for her ageing parents. She reflects critically on modern overuse of the North Shore, changes to ferry operations, and the loss of local identity, while emphasising the warmth and simplicity of earlier decades.

Oral History Transcript

Jeanne Robinson Oral History - Transcript

Audio

Jeanne Robinson Oral History - Audio

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Subject (Keywords)DevelopmentFerries

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LocalityTewantinNoosa North ShorePersonJeanne RobinsonBusinessNoosa River FerryMenuDecade | 2020-2029