By STEVE GRAY
DOES this picture and story ring a bell?
A Southern Free Times reader brought the page to our attention, but we know no more.
The page itself is brittle, browned and appears to have fed some silverfish, but its historic information is intact.
Below the photograph it reads:
The Cunningham Rangers
This outstanding troupe of horsemen and women stands unrivalled in the field of show entertainment today. Their well-schooled horses reveal uncanny co-ordination of will of rider and equine intelligence in forming such intricate movements and quadrilles and minuets.
The Cunningham Rangers have performed in shows throughout Queensland and it must be borne in mind that they are by no means professionals, but are strictly a team of young country men and women who originally banded together in their spare time for their own entertainment.
In order of presentation the Troupe comprises:-
Gay Weidman Rene Hutton Dave Hutton Belle Frizzell Edgar Hutton Joyce Walker Alec Clyne Peace Lucas Eric Frizzell Pat Anderson Wilson Maller Tere Weidman Eddie Cooper Reta Weidman Jim O’Leary Lorna Walker Valma Schnitzerling Neville Wenham
In 1941 The Cairns Post ran a story praising the Dance of the Cunningham Rangers and how it was introduced at the 1939 Warwick Rodeo. The Cairns Show Society spent the considerable sum of 200 to 300 pounds to have The Cunningham Rangers attend the annual show.
The other side of the page carries an ad for a shop in Penney’s Arcade, Adelaide St and features the latest fashion – plastic handbags “in imported American plastic”.
If you can help identify the people or the source of the original page, please contact the Free Times on 4661 9800.
