The Burdekin Creative Writers Anthology

In February 2017, eleven people climbed the steep stairs at the Burdekin Library in Ayr. Beginners and experienced writers alike, they dreamed of novels, family histories, memoirs, anthologies and children’s stories. They sought a group of like-minded individuals who would inspire and encourage their creativity. From that meeting, Scratchy Scribblers was formed. Over the next six years, the group changed names and meeting locations multiple times. Members and partnerships came and went, but, throughout it all, the goal of the group stayed the same.
Burdekin Creative Writers is a welcoming space for writers to share their words, find encouragement and advice, enhance their literary skills, and have fun creating new things with only a pen and their imagination.
Because of this group, members have entered short story competitions and been published in anthologies. They have created newsletters, judged writing competitions, and learned to interview notable people in the community. They have written dozens of stories and poems and challenged themselves to write things they never would’ve created on their own.
In 2023, the group published their own anthology, an assortment of stories and poems from the members of Burdekin Creative Writers and Burdekin Night Writers. Burdekin Life is proud to share some of the work from this anthology.

RISKY BUSINESS
By Margaret Giffard

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Anna K Ragland obviously was blind to the risks of establishing a retail outlet in the middle 80s. A small country town was not the greatest location for an upmarket formal wear boutique. Was her ambition like walking a tight rope over the flooded Burdekin River with no safety harness in place while fighting off her competitors who would have gladly seen her fall off and go under?
Setting up her business was both fun and challenging. Anna K had to undertake researching and planning her new venture, finding a suitable building, registering a business name etc. She chooses FINE THREADS for her boutique name.
Flying to Brisbane to buy her stock from wholesalers, manufacturers and manufacturers’ agents was a little out of her comfort zone. Anna remembers one wholesaler owner saying, “I am taking my hat off to you”. I reckon he realised that the 1980s was a period of economic downturn that affect much of the world. At this time the sugar prices were low and North Queensland had been through many natural disasters that affected the economy. Anna K was ignorant to all this and all that mattered to her was her passion, vision and determination.
Many joys of managing her own business came to Anna K. Special measurement doing wedding parties were her specialty. She loved being her own boss plus, the creative side like designing the outlay of her shop, doing window displays, designing gowns, and presenting high to low scale fashion parades for many charities and her Church. Anna K evidently did the buying, retailing, consulting, cutting out of the garments and the quality control. An advertisement for a machinist in the local paper brought 73 applications for the job sadly Anna K could only choose one. Her business was registered as a clothing manufacturer hence; she designed garments and then had her machinist sew designs for clients to buy off the peg. Anna K met many interesting people as clients and suppliers.
When staging a fashion parade each section that the models strutted up the cat walk was called stories. Anna K may present around 10 stories at each of her parades with approximately 5 to 6 models in each story for example; “a black and white story, a red formal wears story and a bridal story.”
While Anna K was out of town one day in 1990 the Burdekin River came to her premises that housed the FINE THREADS BOUTIQUE in the way of an unexpected flood. There was no warning to the community of Home Hill. Three feet of water damaged a third of the stock plus, ruining fittings, furnishings and carpets.
With all the negatives and positives Anna K Ragland had no regrets that she established her own business.

To find out more about the Burdekin Creative Writers, contact George Venables 0407 105 950.

Writers From the Burdekin Creative Writers and Night Writers Groups will read a selection of their pieces from the Anthology at the Home Hill branch of the Burdekin Library on Wednesday, June 12 from 10:30am.

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