Heritage Festival helps us step back in time

Mackay councillors and guests checked out some of the historic buildings of our city last night as part of an official launch of a month-long calendar of events.

The Art Deco walk followed a Mackay launch of the 2021 National Trust Heritage Festival (April 18 to May 19).

The launch at Harrup Park Country Club and the walk was attended by councillors, members of the council’s Character and Heritage Advisory Committee, Art Deco Society and local historians.

Character and Heritage Advisory Committee chair Cr Fran Mann said this was a fitting way to launch Mackay’s contribution to the National Trust Heritage Festival.

“We have various events planned in Mackay during the festival and the launch and Art Deco walk set the tone for upcoming events,’’ she said.

Throughout the month-long festival, Dudley Denny City Library will be staging a Vintage Tourism showcase.

To celebrate the National Trust festival’s theme of “Our Heritage for the Future’’, the library will showcase 50 years of tourism ephemera collected and preserved in its Heritage Collection.

The vintage brochures, postcards, maps and other items highlight the beauty of the Mackay-Whitsunday region as a destination for generations of families to explore and make memories.

A self-guided City Centre Heritage Trail, launched last year, will be promoted during the festival.

A new Pioneer Valley Heritage Driving tour is also being officially launched later this month (April 28), with a Discover Sarina Self-Guided Heritage Trail to be launched early next month.

There is also a Heritage Bus Tour on May 1; a Guided Sarina Heritage Walk on May 8; and guided City Centre Heritage Walks on Thursday, April 22, at 9am and on Mother’s Day, Sunday 9 (8.30am and 10.30am).

The City Centre Heritage Walks will be conducted by Mackay Tourism volunteer John Cant. Mackay Tourism has been supportive of the event showcasing heritage from a tourism perspective.

A Cemetery Virtual Tour will be launched on May 12 and there will be a guided tour of the Mackay Cemetery on May 2.

A Greenmount Homestead virtual tour will be launched on April 26.

Mackay Family History Society will be displaying family charts in the old Day and Night Pharmacy Building in Sydney Street from May 3 to May 9.

There will also be a Customs House Community Open Night on May 10.

Find out more about the 2021 National Trust Heritage Festival events in Mackay.