About Us
Our Mission
RaDCA’s mission is to promote community life and provide a place where people in the community can meet and interact with each other as well as providing fun and fulfilling activities for both adults and children.
Vision
RaDCA’s vision is to see our community connected to vital services, entertainment and social activities to promote healthy living for both body and mind.
Funding
Rollingstone Community Centre receives funding from:
- The Queensland Government Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors.
- Grant Funding through application opportunities
- Op Shop Sales with donations of goods that are given a second life. With volunteers manning the Op Shop helping with sales and sorting (we love our volunteers)
- Admin Services, Computer Cafe (a small fee to help cover costs)
- Donations
In the beginning…
Rollingstone and District Community Association Inc. RaDCA has been established since 1961 and many of its members have been instrumental in establishing and promoting activities in our area for the benefits of the local residents and visitors. The original Community Hall was located on the Bruce Highway and in 1998 a new Community Hall was built on its present location at 44 Community Crescent off Mystic Ave, Balgal Beach.
The Rollingstone and District Community Centre provides access to information and support services in a friendly welcoming environment
- We have up-to-date information on local services and operate based on the philosophy that there is “no wrong door”, so if we don’t provide the help you are seeking we will endeavor to find the service that can.
- We also provide supported referrals, assistance with assessing your situation and help with completing paperwork. A key focus is to link clients to the specialist support they need such as housing, family matters and legal concerns.
- Community access to Computer Cafe (small fee).
- Assistance with Internet Technology, computer access help is given where possible either with your own device or using provided Computer Cafe.
- Centrelink Access by provided free to use Computer and Telephone direct links to Services Australia Network
- The centre provides access to photocopying, fax, email and laminating services to members of the public. A reasonable fee is charged for these services.
- Library and Book Exchange in the old Historic Rollingstone Railway building which was preserved from demolition.
- Rooms and centre facilities are available for individuals, groups and other organisations to use and hire.
- Monday morning from 9am – Line Dancing – this is a very popular group and provides great stimulation in both the enjoyment of music and a physical outlet.
- Monday afternoon from 5.30pm – Yoga with Bec from Balgal Bodz
- Tuesday Morning from 9am – Chair Yoga with Bec from Balgal bodz – a great low impact exercise class.
- Little Cup Morning Tea every Tuesday Morning from 10am – come join us for a cuppa and a catch up.
- Indoor Bowls Wednesday morning, a great way for low impact exercise, social exchange and a way to build on friendships.
- Wednesday from 10am – Community Cook up at the Hall kitchen. Helps to feed those in need.
- Craft group meets every 2nd Tuesday of the month @ 1.30 pm, for those who love to create. Participants bring along their current project and enjoy a cuppa and the company of others.
- Card Group: Weekly social card afternoon which generally attracts those who are over fifty. They meet on a Monday afternoon from 12 Noon to 4 pm New members are welcome.
- Fortnightly Vet visit from Margaret Preston, no need to travel into the city (unless it is urgent) the Vet comes to us.
- Friday morning Fitness with Entire Wellbeing, Local trainer cert 4 qualifications for personal training and group classes. Level 3 Exercise professional registered with Fitness Australia. Friday morning 8-9 am circuit class at Rollingstone Community Hall. Saturday mornings on demand.
- The Rolly Rag monthly magazine informs residents of services available in the local area and events that are taking place both at the Community Centre and in the community. Advertising space is available. The Rolly Rag is produced and delivered households within the Rollingstone, Balgal Beach, Toomulla districts. Also available in digital format https://issuu.com/rollingstonerag
Rollingstone history
Settled in 1883 by John Lambert, the district was originally a pastoral lease known as Armidale, extending from Bluewater Creek in the south to Clerk Creek (later known as Ollera Creek) in the north.
In 1906 the Armidale Hotel opened along the stagecoach route between Townsville and Ingham.
When the North Coast railway opened through Rollingstone in 1915, the railway station was to serve as a post office. However, concern over possible confusion with Armidale in New South Wales resulted in the town and railway station being renamed Rollingstone after the creek, which is believed to be named for the round shape of the rocks found in the creek bed. The hotel was renamed the Rollingstone Hotel.
Rollingstone State School opened on 4th September 1916 with 28 students on land donated by the hotel owners, John and Isabella Fitzpatrick.
The opening of the railway opened up the beaches north of Townsville for recreational use. The beach near Rollingstone just south of the mouth of Rollingstone Creek was surveyed for a town in 1947 and named Balgal with the town-land allotments being sold in 1948 onwards (this area is now a separate suburb called Balgal Beach).
44 Community Crescent ROLLINGSTONE Qld 4816
Phone: 07 47707855
Fax: 07 47707811
Email:
What's going on here?
This beautiful image is of what is believed to be Chief Surveyor, Railway General Manager and Railway Police. If anyone in the community has any information which would shed some light on their names, or any correction of whom they may be we would appreciate your assistance. This image has been reproduced and framed and can be seen first hand at the Rollingstone Community Centre.
Rollingstone Railway Station, 22 March 1922
I wonder what they are doing? Waiting for someone? Waiting for freight? Giving a farewell to someone they know? At Rollingstone Railway Siding. Please note the Railway siding building, of which there were two, placed end to end. One would have been the booking office while the other was the Tea Rooms. One of which is now housed at Rollingstone Community Centre, serving as our Community Library.
Isabella Fitzpatrick – Hotel Rollingstone, Rollingstone - Opening Day 1922
Isabella Fitzpatrick (nee Wyatt) was born in Townsville in 1874. Her father, Charles Wyatt, was the licensee of the Court House Hotel, in Sturt Street, between 1887 and 1904. In 1907 the hotel was in the hands of Wyatt’s son-in-law, John Fitzpatrick. In 1912, after having changed the name of the hotel to Herbert in 1910, John transferred the license to his wife, Isabella. In 1913 Isabella purchased the hotel at Armidale (later known as Rollingstone), although it appears that initially, family members ran the hotel for her. In the early 1920s, she took over the license. At some point she decided, quite shrewdly, to relocate the hotel to a site opposite the railway line. Isabella was also involved in civic affairs and agitating for a school at Rollingstone. She served as a councillor on the Thuringowa Shire Council in 1924, making her one of the first women to serve on local government authority in Queensland. (The first woman to do so was Dr Ellen Kent Hughes Wilson, in 1923 in Kingaroy, Queensland).
Deed of Grant of Land
The original 'Deed of Grant of Land' issued to Edward George Smith for the parcel of land now called Balgal Beach.
Back page of document
Armidale Holdings
The area is known today as Rollingstone was part of the original Armidale holdings, which was first leased to Adam Mossman and Edward George Clerk in 1883. The lease comprised coastal land which extended from Bluewater Creek through Ollera Creek and was bounded by other Hinchinbrook pastoral holdings.
Our Pioneering History
The first inn/hotel was built by the Tealby brothers on portion 511 and by 1906 Vivian and Hubert Tealby were issued with a licence to operate the hotel. The hotel was a stop on the coach route between Townsville and Ingham. Here travellers could rest and mail and supplies were offloaded for people living in the area. Apart from the Armidale Hotel, there was a general store and even a race track in front of the hotel. Chinese market gardens provided fresh vegetables and tobacco and other produce was grown in the area. The first section of the rail line from Townsville to Kurukan (Leichhardt Creek) opened in April 1914 and a year later, the Rollingstone Railway Station and refreshment rooms services the local area. In 1915 it became evident that a school was needed in the area. Isabella Fitzpatrick called a meeting of residents and they resolved to lobby the government for a school to be built on land which she had given to the community. John and Isabella Fitzpatrick had bought the Armidale Hotel in 1914. They continued to operate the hotel and store until 1921 when they moved to their new hotel adjacent to the railway line in Tealby Street. In 1928, a dance hall and open-air theatre were built by the Fitzpatricks from the remains of buildings from the Armidale township area. In 1959, the original Rollingstone Hotel burnt down and a temporary one was built until the present hotel on the Bruce Highway was constructed and opened for business in 1962.
Acknowledgements: • Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui, Thirty-three miles to Rollingstone, A Short History of Rollingstone and Balgal, Thuringowa City Council, Thuringowa Central, 2003. • D Gibson-Wilde and B Gibson-Wilde, A Pattern of Pubs, Hotels of Townsville 1864-1914, James Cook University, Townsville, 1988. • Lyn Henderson, More than Rates, Roads and Rubbish: A History of Local Government in Action in Thuringowa Shire 1879-1985, PhD Thesis, James Cook University, April 1992. • Thuringowa Library Heritage Services, Oral History Collection, Interview with John Fitzpatrick.