Council Supports ‘A Cracking Good’ Read to Raise Bucks for New Museum

The Moree Plains Shire Council has donated $3000 to the Moree and District Historical Society to contribute towards the publishing costs of The Triangle, a book about the history of bush racing across the Moree Plains Shire; with proceeds from the sale dedicated to the creation of a local historical museum at the former Lands Office.

The donation - which was awarded through the Public Donations Financial Assistance Program, will assist with the publishing cost of 100 limited edition hard-cover books and 500 soft-covers that will be sold at the upcoming race meetings at Moree, Mallawa and Talmoi. 

Author and award winning journalist Bill Poulos says readers can feel comfortable knowing that the purchase price of The Triangle represents a complete profit for the Moree and District Historical Society, with all money raised going a long way to getting its new home – and museum – operational.

“Apart from documenting the history of picnic racing and bush racing in the Moree district, the chief objective of writing and publishing the book was to raise money to help the society start renovating its new home and hopefully sales from The Triangle will help,” said Mr Poulos.

The Triangle is a timeline chronicling the history of the bush racing’s Golden Triangle and the stories that have shaped picnic racing in the Moree district since the mid 1800’s. Mr Poulos has written about the people, horses and places that make up picnic racing in the north-west and it’s been described as a ‘cracking read’ by industry insiders.

Mr Poulos, who generously donated his time and research to piece together the contents of the book, said it would not have been completed without the help of a lot of people, whose assistance large and small has been invaluable. “Because of these generous donations and grants from Moree Council, golfing greats The Desperates, all three picnic race clubs at Moree, Mallawa and Talmoi and our local member Adam Marshall, we can publish The Triangle at no cost to the society,” Mr Poulos said. Mayor, Cr Katrina Humphries said, “Moree Plains Shire has a rich racing history and the historical society have a goal to preserve this history, which will hopefully be treasured by many locals”. “It was wonderful to see the Lands Office remain in the hands of the community and have a new life as a permanent home for the historical society and potentially a local history museum.

“The Triangle is great fundraiser for the historical society to get the museum up and running, said Cr Humphries.”

Moree Picnic Race Club jumps from the gates on Saturday, May 25, with Mallawa racing two weeks later on Saturday, June 8. Talmoi picnic races rounds out the carnival at Garah on Saturday, June 22.

Members from Moree and District Historical Society will be at all three meetings, selling and promoting The Triangle. The book will be available at numerous businesses and stores across the Moree Plains Shire and mail orders will be taken by Moree and District Historical Society after the book is launched.

If your community, sporting or educational group wishes to apply for financial assistance for a local event, function or sponsorship, applications for the period from July - September 2019 are due 14 June 2019.