Beyond The Crown

14/06/2023

We are gearing up to bring you more episodes about harvest festival queens of Stanthorpe.
Come and talk to Lou at the Snowflakes in Stanthorpe Festival at the local authors stall about what we have coming up.

03/05/2022

I'm wrapping up admin for The Regional Arts Development Fund and want to make one last acknowledgement of the funding received to do this podcast.
I am incredibly grateful to have received a RADF grant to make this podcast happen.
I met wonderful women and hearing their stories only increased my pride in the Granite Belt and the amazing things that locals are doing on the land and for our region.
Stay turned for more news. As I type this, I am a writer-in-residence at the State Library of Queensland with Queensland Writers Centre. Research for a fiction novel about a harvest festival queen turned into a podcast and now, that research again is turning into a novel that I'll be submitting to agents and publishers for their consideration. Fingers crossed you'll see my story in a bookstore near you.
And, there is chatter about a non-fiction book as a way to collate these stories, and keep interviewing the former queens. More to come on that.
In short, I will continue to collect stories of the Granite Belt's harvest festival queens and will share these in the future.

24/02/2022

We have a bumper crop of episodes coming your way tomorrow. AND Lou will be live on Facebook on Sunday with book giveaways, digitised film of the 1960, 1972 and 1980 festivals and the premiere of The Apple Song, by Ward Leopold.

Check out this photo from the Queensland State Archives collection of a promotional truck for the festival at the Sunshine Motorway opening.

19/02/2022

You can catch Annette O’Reilly in Muriel’s Wedding and the Broadbeach bridal shop where they filmed.

I know Annette is on the DVD but will you spot her on the Netflix version streaming now?

15/02/2022

Watch Sunrise at 8:15am Qld time to see the Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival at Raddacliff Place/Brisbane Square Markets 🍎🍇🍏🎉

10/02/2022

We are now *live* with our episode “A brief history of apples in Australia: part 1”. 📲💻🎧

Now that episode title is completely tongue in cheek 😆 Find out why it’s been so hard to find information about the Apple Blossom Festival and Apple and Grape Harvest Festival, and the importance of private photo and film collections. 📸📽

Pull on your 🧤 and step in the Queensland State Archives with me and reference archivist Julanne Neal for a tour of the ‘reps’ and a deep dive into their apple growing records:
🍎👑🍏📁📰🗂📚🗃🗄🔖

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/3e52a738-c89e-429a-8fe8-b561739891b3

08/02/2022

Getting excited: our "Brief History of Apple Festivals in Australia: Part 1" is launching this week and features Julanne Neal, reference archivist at Queensland State Archives.

I'm taking four very special photos found in the 'reps' (that's archivist talk for repositories!) at the Archives to south of Tenterfield this week to show the 1972 Centenary Harvest Festival Queen, Carol Skuse.

Why are these photos special? Stay tuned, folks. All will be revealed soon!

Photo: Julanne got on the gloves to handle photographs of apple orchards in the QSA collection.

04/02/2022

Listen at lunch time: We interrupt your time travel with our Apple Blossom Queens to bring you the 2022 Young Ambassadors for the Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival. 🍏🍇🍎❤

Go 'beyond the sash' and hear their stories about why they decided to be a part of the festival.

We will catch up with the YAs as they fundraise and promote the region. Stay tuned for the follow up ep in a couple of weeks!
Tagging them in:
Karma O'Reilly
Jordan Cassidy
Ben Green
Laura Robertson
Rachelle Td
Stanthorpe Mechanical and Wrecking Young Ambassador - Makayla Doughty
Granite Belt Cleaning & Hospitality Supplies Young Ambassador - Amy Colyer
Rotary Stanthorpe Young Ambassador - Karma O'Reilly
Ballandean Community Young Ambassador - Laura Robertson
Cav Insure Young Ambassador - Jasmin Ball-Mandavy
Granite Belt Growers Association Young Ambassador - Jordan Cassidy
Samantha Wantling

Please feel welcome to tag in anyone who is missing.

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/17304c78-f5ac-4126-9e7e-37a6a4481956

Quickly and easily listen to Beyond The Crown for free!

30/01/2022

Countdown begins! 🍎👑🍏🎉

27/01/2022

1965! Annette Barker, now Annette O’Reilly, found herself a Queen without a festival. 🍎🍏👑
Meet the last Apple Blossom Queen in episode four:

Quickly and easily listen to Beyond The Crown for free!

20/01/2022

And we are live for Episode Three: the Drag Queens of Ballandean.

Find out why the Ballandean Youth Club protested against the Apple Blossom Festival in 1962 👑🍑

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/25aa6c41-f13d-4767-aa4e-8d4fddc7078a

Quickly and easily listen to Beyond The Crown for free!

19/01/2022

You never know what photos you’ll find on the wall of a small country community hall 📸

In the next episode, we visit 1962 to find our why the Allan, Peter and Sam of the Ballandean Youth Club dressed up in their sisters’ clothes to stage a protest against the Apple Blossom Festival 🍎❤️🍏

Meet the Drag Queens of Ballandean ✊👑🍑🍅

13/01/2022

Episode Two, “From frosty orchards to tropical islands” is now live, with the gorgeous Gwen Gloynes (née Furness).

Gwen was the 1959 Apple Blossom Queen and their family built the CWA Hall at Broadwater and Furness family still live and have an orchard there.

Click this link to hear Gwen’s story or find ‘Beyond the Crown’ on your favourite podcast app:

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/0cecde1f-d71c-43e1-bfad-c9d13b49c8da

12/01/2022

I popped on Trove National Library of Australia to search for references to the apple blossom around Stanthorpe. To my delight, I found exactly that--but with a twist! I found pen pal letters published in The Queenslander pictorial magazine by tweens.
One avid writer was 'Apple Blossom of Severnlea' and she wrote many letters from 1929 to 1936.
Enjoy this update from 1934 from 'Apple Blossom':

09/01/2022

We had a special treat at the launch: SDRC Mayor Vic Pennisi brought home movies his father shot on 8mm film.
We saw the fashion regatta at Storm Kng Dam with Apple Blossom Queen entrants from 1960, street parade from the 1972 Centenary Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival and the 1981 street parade.

The films are being digitised to share online. Stay tuned! 📲🖥💻

And A BIG THANK YOU to Vic for sharing his family’s memories ❤️📽🎞

Southern Downs Regional Council
Ballandean Estate Wines

08/01/2022

LAUNCH! Our first episode, 'Sputnik and the Festival Queen', is now live for your ears! You can listen online here: https://beyond-the-crown.captivate.fm/episode/sputnik-the-festival-queen-1957-dorothy-pappagallo
Or find our podcast searching 'Beyond the Crown' on all podcast apps and platforms. I hope you enjoy Dorothy's story.

I sat down with 1957 Festival Queen Dorothy Pappagallo to find out about the early days of the Granite Belt's Apple and Grape Harvest Festival.

07/01/2022

One more day to launch! Being a festival queen and young ambassador of Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival means so much to many individuals. For some, it was a protest to be recognised, for some growers, to showcase their excellence in agriculture, and for others, it's a time to heal in a pandemic world.

06/01/2022

One more sleep until the launch of the podcast at Ballandean Estate Wines.
❤️🍏🍎🎉🥂📲

Queensland’s oldest family-owned and -operated winery will be hosting the launch of podcast series Beyond the Crown at The Barrelroom this Saturday at 5pm, a rich tapestry of stories from the former Queens, Princesses and Young Ambassadors of Stanthorpe’s Apple and Grape Harvest Festival.

05/01/2022

Countdown to launch day: crowns were handmade for the festival queens, often by volunteers at meetings. The Stanthorpe Museum has crowns, sashes, a sceptre and a ball gown, all donated by former festival queens, on display.

05/01/2022

Countdown to launch day: Dorothy Pappagallo was the 1957 Apple Blossom Queen. She taught me a new phrase: 'let's get sashed!' Dorothy is the star of my first episode launching on Saturday 8 January.

03/01/2022

Countdown to launch day: touring State Archives with reference archivist, Julanne, was an absolute highlight of recording 'Beyond the Crown'. Looking forward to bringing my chat with Julanne to your ears in January!

29/12/2021

Creating some FOMO for Stanthorpe apples ❤️🍎🍏

Apple 🍎 and mulberry crumble. Yum! 😊

28/12/2021

One month to go to the Stanthorpe apple harvest!

Oh man! We cannot wait for new season apples. Only 1 month to go! 🍷🍇🧀🍓

06/12/2021

The State Library of Victoria sent me this gem today: The Apple Somg commissioned by the Apple and Pear Board, words and music by Ward Leopold
🍎🎶🍏🎵

05/12/2021

The Open Gardens are a highlight of the Apple and Grape Harvwst Festival 🍎🍏🍇🌺🌸🌼🌻

02/12/2021

And interestingly, the Apple Blossom Festival was often held on the 10th or 11th of October (or the weekend before.

The Andrews Sisters singing “I’ll be with you in apple blossom time” was a popular wedding song too 🍏❤️🍎👰‍♀️🤵‍♂️

Historically, 10 October has been a popular day to marry whenever it falls on a Saturday. The main exception being in 2010 where the opportunity to have an anniversary date of 10/10/10 made the Sunday the most popular wedding date for the year.

For more, see
https://nuvi.me/wsrfze

29/11/2021

Wonderful family photos shared by Joy Collings of Back to Stanthorpe Week in 1954. This festival became the Apple Blossom Festival, The Apple Harvest Festival and ultimately the Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival 🍏🍎🍇🍏🍎🍇

Float (back of a truck) of Shearing then and now.
Featured at Stan Bamberry, The Summit (Joy’s Dad) on the blade shears, his brother Jack Bamberry, Cannon Creek, on the electric hand piece! 🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏

Note the arches—they are coming back in 2022 👏👏👏👏👏👏

19/11/2021

WE ARE NOW LIVE!!! 📲🎙📻 Check out our trailer on the website 👇

https://www.beyondthecrown.com.au/

Hear the stories from the former Queens, Princesses and Young Ambassadors of Stanthorpe’s Apple and Grape Harvest Festival Launch January 2022 Listen Now Join your podcast host, Lou Bromley, to hear how the Queens, Princesses and Young Ambassadors are the fundraising powerhouse of a rural communit...

18/11/2021

Our trailer is about to go live with the website--stay tuned!!