AF 1954

After the decision was taken at the 9th November public meeting to hold the festival, the hard work of making it happen got under way. First a committee had to be formed and Harold Ayers, Chairman of the Preston Road Board was elected Chairman and Bill Rogers, Secretary -Engineer of the Road Board was elected Secretary. It was decided that the organisation be carried out by a number of committees, the chairmen of which would form the central committee. Consequently Allan Frost would look after the Program & Publicity; Jack Rowbotham -Competitions; Bill Bursill -Transport; Frank Arbuthnott -Entertainment; George Parke -Fruit Sales and Vin Farley - Queen Competition.

The Director of the State Tourist Bureau, Mr. R.H. Miller, attended the first meeting. It was his view that that the festival would have a better chance of success if its scope could be widened to take in the whole of the apple growing centres of the South West and that it should rotate among the apple towns. It was decided to approach Bridgetown and Manjimup seeking their co-operation and suggesting that they nominate a contestant in the Queen Competition. Messers Ayers, Frost and Rogers were delegated to visit Perth and interview various organisations about the festival. They had a meeting with Mr. Phillips, the Secretary for Railways and he agreed to run a residential (Reso) train, which would accommodate 160 people arriving in Donnybrook Easter Saturday and returning to Perth Easter Wednesday morning. All meals and accommodation would be provided on the train for an inclusive fare of £12-12s-0d ($25.20) Mr. H. Powell, the Superintendent of Horticulture, promised full cooperation by Department of Agriculture Officers in arranging displays and running fruit industry competitions. Western Australian Newspapers promised publicity and a week's holiday in Perth as the guest of the "Daily News" for the winning Apple Queen. MacRobertson Miller Airlines also offered a free air trip to Carnarvon for the queen and Boans Ltd. would provide her with a travelling outfit for the trip. The W .A. Chopping League would arrange a log chop. (Courtesy of Doug Henderson's book "Apple Queens & Festivals")

Donnybrook's Apple festival 1954 main street decorated for the Apple festival Photo courtesy of Doug Henderson's book "Apple Queens & Festivals"	L-R: June Yates, Donnybrook (Festival Queen), Shirley Wiseman, Manjimup & Anne Sloan, Bridgetown. Photo courtesy of Doug Henderson's book "Apple Queens & Festivals"

L-R: Anne Sloan, Bridgetown, June Yates, Donnybrook (Festival Queen), Shirley Wiseman, Manjimup . Photo courtesy of Doug Henderson's book "Apple Queens & Festivals"	Bridgetown's winning float Photo courtesy of Doug Henderson's book "Apple Queens & Festivals"

June Yates with Harold Ayers & George Parke Photo courtesy of Doug Henderson's book "Apple Queens & Festivals"	Shirley Wiseman with George Parke Photo courtesy of Doug Henderson's book "Apple Queens & Festivals"

We invite people to provide us with photos of previous apple festival queens and floats. Anyone who has photos can drop them into "Crendon Machinery", all photos will be returned.

The Donnybrook Apple Festival 1954

The next Donnybrook Apple Festival is in Easter 2010