Mount Isa history...

“Oh! Isn’t he lovely?” Dressed resplendently in the fashion of the day, wearing a white shirt with long sleeves rolled up to the elbows, black trousers and black shoes and white socks, he made an immediate impression on the B.S.D. New Mess waitress. “He was as ‘full as a goog’ but very polite; even if he couldn’t carry the soup over to his table”. “I was new in town and had just started at the B.S.D. New Mess, so I had to ask Carlotta (Clare) Mazzoni who he was and she said,” That’s Bobby Copelin.” And from that moment on, love has been in the air, for Maureen and Bob Copelin; for nigh on 66 years. A local lad born in Mount Isa in 1933, Bob was soon won over by the adage that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, be it Vegemite sandwiches or an extra egg on Sundays. Maureen’s and Bob’s story was typical of so many young romances that began through friendship in the B.S.D. Mess. Built as a dining room for miners, the B.S.D. New Mess was opened in 1951, the year Maureen arrived in Mount Isa, from Brisbane, and first laid eyes on her Bobby. “We met in ’52, got engaged in ’53 and when Bobby finished his apprenticeship at the mine, we got married, in 1954.” ‘Our courting years were centred on the Mess because I was on shift work.” On weekends though, Bob would set out on his bicycle from his Miles Street home and cycle over to the B.S.D. female quarters to meet Maureen and then they would walk, hand-in-hand, back over the bridge to go to the Star Theatre pictures. “Bob would pay for us to go in to the pictures and then he’d have to pay some little fellas so we could sit on the seats.” Those little fellas, as Maureen called them, would sneak into the pictures and put various items on the canvas seats; laying claim to the seats being ‘taken’ and then charge people a penny coin to remove them. “They had the game sown up, I tell you!” While the canvas seats at the pictures were comfortable, often they would rot through and on one occasion an unsuspecting Maureen ended up on the warm concrete floor instead of the canvas seat. “I didn’t mind’, Bob laughed, “she had to sit on my lap, then, to watch the pictures.” Smith’s Star Theatre was an eye opener for visitors from down south, as Maureen recalled. “A friend from Brisbane thought the theatre owners were so clever to paint the ceiling like the sky.” “I said – “you silly cow” – that’s the sky and stars!” And when it was time to walk up the aisle to get married, they did so in the Methodist Church, albeit not the same building as where Bob’s parents had been married in 1929 but rather the new church on the corner of Mary and Miles Streets. “We got married in the Methodist Church because that was where Bob’s Mum and Dad got married.” The Methodist Inland Mission conducted the first church service in Mount Isa, in June 1926, within months of the Mission being formed in Brisbane and ministers being appointed to Cloncurry, Boulia and Normanton. The first full-time minister, Rev. Henderson, had arrived in Mount Isa, only weeks before he officiated at their wedding. “And we had the wedding reception at Hilton Hall, so the boys from the Mine’s Barracks could go.” Stevie Barlow, Graham Willardson and Kanga Kennedy were just three of Bob’s mates who danced the night away with new bride, Maureen. “I don’t dance.  Never could. And it’s too late, now, to learn”, Bob laughed quietly. “Arty Greaves and his band were playing, with someone banging on the drums, but can’t remember who.” he continued to laugh. Sadly, the only wedding photo they have was taken, at Hilton Hall, by a friend. “We paid a chap to take the photos, but he shot through with our money before the wedding.” Their first home was a tent house consisting of three rooms in Coal Stage (behind the Barkly Hotel today). “The old thunderbox was down the back, next door to the old tin bath tub and the laundry was a bit of a lean to, with a slab of cement and two concrete tubs and only cold water.” “But we were so proud of the four ‘gossip’ chairs that we saved up for and put in the end room’ recollected Maureen. Gossip chairs had cushioned seats and wooden armrests for ladies to relax, when sitting and socialising. Today, Bob is relaxed, as he recalled growing up in Mount Isa and going to the Town School with the Biondi brothers, Alex and Harry. “Our Headmaster used to have big nights out and he’d come in and put his head down on the desk and nap on,” reminisced Bob. “We used to take advantage of him and go out quarter of an hour early for big lunch and come back half an hour late. And he’d still be camped there.” After finishing Scholarship in 1947, at the age of 14 years old, Bob started his five years apprenticeship as a fitter and turner at Mount Isa Mines; he retired from the mine in 1993. Typical of hundreds of young men employed in the mine over the years, Bob met the love of his life, married her and continued to live in Mount Isa to raise their young family. ‘Mount Isa has been good to us!” concluded Bob. And after 64 years, love is still in the air for Maureen, “I still think he’s lovely!” Researched and written by Kim-Maree Burton. Information sourced through personal interviews with Bob and Maureen Copelin, MIMAG and Mt Isa Mail newspapers. Photographs courtesy of Copelin Family Treasurers, and MIMAG.

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