When Shakespeare asked the question, “What’s in a name?” (“Romeo and Juliet’) he was referring to the idea that names themselves are a convention to distinguish things or people, but themselves do not have any worth or meaning. But pioneering families of Proserpine, after whom the vast majority of early streets are named, might just beg to differ.
But while, most of the older street names in our district have a strong connection to the early movers and shakers in the area, the origin of name “Main Street” is a somewhat different story.
The first settlers in the Proserpine district were graziers. Soon the area now known as Proserpine town was encircled by cattle stations. Inside the circle of cattle properties was rich agricultural land through which the river flowed. Dense scrub covered the land between the river and what is now known as Faust Street, with giant blue gums and Moreton Bay ash extending all the way to Glen Isla and Breadalbane. The township developed rapidly after the establishment of the sugar mill, the opening of the railway between Bowen and Proserpine in 1910 and the completion of the Mackay/Proserpine rail link in 1923.
When it came time to map the town, for surveyors F Walker (a master of bushcraft who had traversed a great part of Qld in his capacity as first commander of native police and was friendly with the aboriginal people who respected and trusted him), J Chapman, W Crompton, O’Connell and others, it was a marathon job. They camped out in all kinds of weather, walked through long grass, swamps, gullies scrub, uphill and down. The first land selected and surveyed was Portion 193 which comprised all land between the river and Main Street and extended from Faust’s corner (where the Reject Shop is now located) to Glen Isla.
Main Street was the centre of the business area. By 1901, there were three hotels, a butcher, baker, two blacksmiths, a post and telegraph office, police station, one church and an assembly hall for entertainment purposes. In wet weather, the constant traffic of horse and sulky and horse and bullock teams with huge loads turned the street into a quagmire. In 1908, it was felt that the street needed to be improved to make it more weather proof and that it was also time for a name for the thoroughfare because Main Street was considered too vague. For the time being, however, the name remained.
It wasn’t until 1922 that the idea for a name for Main Street was once again raised at the suggestion of the manager of the Australian Bank of Commerce, Mr Spencer Briggs. Not all agreed but Robert Shepherd, Chairman of the Proserpine Shire Council, donated one guinea for a competition among the school children to submit a name for the street and head teacher, Mr Walke, arranged the competition.
At a council meeting in May 1922, however, the council decided not change the name of Main Street but Mr Shepherd still wished to honour his offer of a guinea to the competition’s winner.
And so, the story goes … One child, who was apparently confused as to what the competition was all about, got no further than writing “Main Street” at the top of her sheet of paper when the entries were collected by the teacher. Needless to say, this young pupil was very surprised to be the winner of the competition and to receive the one guinea!
“What’s in a name?”
Story and photo courtesy Proserpine Historical Museum.
Image: Main Street in the early days
