Village exhibition turns spotlight on Uki

10 February 2017

Great balls of fire ... Museum display fits Uki to a T

The Tweed is made up of many historic, beautiful and vibrant villages, each with its own unique characteristics and stories to tell.

Uki is one of the largest rural villages in the Tweed Valley and some of its fascinating stories are featured in a new exhibition at Tweed Regional Museum Murwillumbah.

“Village Stories: Uki features three fantastic groups of material from the Museum collection: a series of posters advertising the community balls; a collection of T-shirts associated with the Buttery Markets, the Uki tug-o-war team and the Uki Touch Football Club; along with items rescued from the Mount Warning Hotel fire in 2013,” Museum Director Judy Kean said.

Known by some locals as the ‘Harvest Balls’, the May Balls were flamboyant and highly-anticipated events for the Far North Coast alternative community. Always fancy dress, they were held in the Uki Hall on the last Saturday in May during the 1980s and early 1990s and profits went to a charity or local community group.

“Many locals have vivid and entertaining stories about the May Balls and I have absolutely no doubt there are many many more historically important anecdotes out there that locals might be ready to share,” Ms Kean said.

The bottle and plates retrieved from the ashes of the Mount Warning Hotel fire are among the very few surviving objects and are still covered with soot and debris. The hotel was an iconic meeting place for locals and its destruction devastated local residents.

“The Museum’s collection documents the history of many Tweed villages and our exhibition program over the new few years will progressively focus on a number of them,” she said.

“Not only will each display feature items already in the Museum’s collection, we also want to work with each community to expand the collection and share stories that reflect contemporary village life.

‘History doesn’t stop. Many of the shire’s villages were prominent in early settlement of the valley and its prosperity, and they remain central to what makes the Tweed unique. It’s important we continue to document what makes them tick.”

Visitors to the Village Stories display have the opportunity to record their own memories and anecdotes about Uki - and about other Tweed villages.

The Village Stories: Uki exhibition opened at the Tweed Regional Museum Murwillumbah last week and continues throughout the year.

Members of the Uki and South Arm Historical Society will lead a walking tour of Uki village on Saturday 27 May. For more details and bookings, contact the Museum on (02) 6670 2493 or at trm@tweed.nsw.gov.au

Downloads

Photo 1(JPG, 205KB)

Caption: Rockodile, 1989 Designer Chester Harries, screen print on paper

Photo 2(JPG, 127KB)

Caption: Space Ball, 1986 Designer Julie Baigent, screen print on paper