Residents’ group to wind up
![Tomato growers after a day in the market gardens.](https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/YA-121921/58203a9ae10a5_b88284208z.1_20161107161832_000_gdfo4itm.1_1.jpg?imwidth=810&impolicy=wan_v3)
The Wonthella Progress Association, which has been around in one form or another for more than 100 years, will be wound up next year as membership continues to dwindle.
Association president Sally Edwards said there were no longer enough members to draw on for the organisation’s executive roles.
“Wonthella has changed. Originally it was mainly home owner-occupiers but now we’ve got a higher percentage of rental properties than we’ve ever had and the people who do own their home are mostly older people,” she said.
“For a small organisation that’s got 10 to 15 members, there’s lots of great ideas but there’s only so much we can do.
“It’s a changing environment and we’re trying to run an organisation that was structured to run well in the 50s and 60s.”
Life member and local historian Stan Gratte said the association was instrumental in lobbying government to secure early services for Wonthella.
He said the suburb began when locals formed the East Geraldton Progress Association in 1911 and petitioned the railway companies to have a stop put in for the townsite.
“They wanted to call it Wooree but the railway company wrote back and said there were six Woorees in Australia, you can’t have it, and instead they suggested the name Wonthella, which comes from the word ‘Wonthellara’ … which means ‘to give’,” he said.
By 1932 the portable railway station had been brought down from Hutt River, and the association had taken on the name of their new township.
Mr Gratte said the association continued to lobby for additional services to the area, ensuring that mains water was supplied to the suburb by 1939 and electricity was switched on in 1953 (though parts of Geraldton had been electrified since 1918).
Previously the organisation’s only hiatus was during World War II, when the locals were so tied up working to help the war effort that few people had time to devote to developing the suburb.
However, by the late 40s the organisation was back in full swing, and according to Mr Gratte, they began what we now know as the Sunshine Festival as a “Tomato Festival”.
The association has continued its work and Mr Gratte was particularly proud of the past few years of effort which had gone into the Wonthella Nature Reserve on Bradford Street.
The wonthellaprogressassociation.org.au website holds details on the suburb’s history, and will continue to be updated as records are digitised.
The association will continue to operate until its next annual general meeting in mid-2017, during which time the association’s final projects will be wrapped up with plans to improve Federation Park on Fourth Street currently being considered.
The association’s next meeting will be held from 5.30pm on November 12 at the Midwest Irish Club.
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