Bundaberg Regional Council’s records team presented the son of local Childers writer Richard Webb copies of his book, The Life and Times of Richie Webb.
While cleaning out the archives in Childers, the Council team came across copies of the book, getting in contact with the family to give them the opportunity to have the piece of history back in their hands.
His son, also named Richard Webb, said his late father’s book reflected on not only his life but also included a range of stories from characters throughout the region.
“To me the book means a lot for two main reasons,” Richard said.
“There is a lot of history in the book about where we have all come from but it also makes mention in there about a lot of the characters that have lived in the Isis district.”
With an extensive history in the region, the book came to fruition after years of drafting, with Richard having many stories to tell.
“The book took a few years to write as Dad was getting quite old at the time,” Richard said.
“He would write a little bit and then go back over it and come back and say he had left something out here and add it back in.”
Richard said, through his father, he had spent time with a lot of the people who were written about in the book.
“I was really lucky that I spent a lot of years with him and I have actually met some of those people too,” he said.
“I have to say nowadays I don’t really know anyone like that anymore as it is almost as though they were made from a harder time where it was hard work and not much money.”
Having spent a lot of time with his father, Richard said the book took readers through plenty of stories that he had heard himself around the campfire when travelling throughout the region.
“A lot of what was in there I probably already knew because he was a great storyteller,” he said.
“Right when I was in primary school I would go on driving trips with him and then in the evening, if we had a fire, he would tell me about what went on in his youth.”
Richard said his Dad had plenty of history with the Isis district, holding positions within organisations such as the Childers Show Society.
“My father was a member of the Childers Show Society for 70 years and he spent 38 years as President,” he said.
“Then, in his very late years he was the patron as well as serving in the Isis Shire Council.”
Additional copies of the book found in Council’s archives will be available for purchase at the Bundaberg Library‘s annual book sale event, held in conjunction with Rotary.
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