Not necessarily in museums, archives or dusty old boxes. They’re sitting around kitchen tables, walking along the beach, playing pickleball, catching the ferry and probably having a cuppa at the Curlew.

 

And on Saturday 24 October, we’d like to coax a few of them out.

 

As part of Queensland Seniors Month, Coochie Progress is hosting an intergenerational High Tea at the Rec Club, bringing people together to eat, chat, laugh and, most importantly, tell stories.

 

The event runs from 2pm to 4pm and is open to all generations, both on and off the island.

 

 

Perhaps you remember when you had to ring Doug to get to the mainland.

 

Maybe you were here when the roads were sealed, when the old jetty disappeared and the new one took its place, or when getting on and off Coochie was a rather different adventure.

 

Do you remember Ted Jones?

 

The original Flinders Landing?

 

A cyclone that had everyone talking for years afterwards?

 

That’s the bit we sometimes forget.

 

History doesn’t have to be ancient.

 

Do you remember something from 20 years ago? Ten? Five?

 

The first time you played pickleball here?

 

A community battle, a storm, an island character, a business that's disappeared, an event everyone turned up for, or one of those gloriously Coochie moments that makes absolutely no sense unless you were there?

 

 

The Coochiemudlo Island Heritage Society already preserves stories from island residents, including memories of Coochie life stretching back to the 1960s. But there are hundreds more stories still living only in people's heads.

 

 

Before the High Tea, have a rummage through your memory.

 

Think about the Coochie you've known.

What has changed?

What has disappeared?

Who are the characters we'll still be talking about in another 20 years?

 

What happened here that made you laugh, swear, cry, shake your head or think, Yep... only on Coochie?

 

And if you're newer to the island, come armed with questions. You don't need to have been here for 40 years to be part of the conversation. In fact, sometimes the best stories come out because somebody asks, "Hang on... what used to be THERE?"

 

So come for the High Tea.

 

Stay for the stories.

 

And between now and then, start thinking about your Coochie story, whether it happened in 1976, 2006 or last Tuesday.

 

Because today's ordinary little island moment has a funny habit of becoming tomorrow's history.