As part of the show’s Tiny Towns Tour, Triple M’s The Rush Hour paid a visit to Brandon last week, broadcasting from the Iron Works Brewery on Thursday, November 23.
Brandon was the first stop on the tour which saw Townsville-based presenters AB and Elliot learn about local history and hear from local guests.
“We’re travelling around Queensland visiting the unsung hero towns, the ones that aren’t on the tourist maps, the ones with really small populations and short Wikipedia pages,” said AB.
“We spend a lot of time on air in the Burdekin, being close to Townsville, and Brandon was a town that we don’t think gets talked about enough.”
“The one thing we’ve noticed since doing our radio show, which broadcasts from Townsville all throughout the regions, is the callers from the regions are loose in the best possible way,” added Elliot.
“They’re fun, they’ve got the best stories and I think you’ll find that the smaller the towns are, the bigger the stories are.”
Elliot has been going on Tiny Towns Tours for the last year visiting towns across Queensland including Woodford, Biloela, Calliope and Weipa, and this was the first time AB came along for the ride.
Throughout the show, AB and Elliot invited local guests and heard local stories, including Mayor Lym McLaughlin who was put to the test on her knowledge of sugar products.
“We’re putting all the mayors to the test to see how well they know their towns,” said AB.
Meanwhile, Elliot was particularly intrigued by the story of the town’s namesake, Henry Brandon.
“I read about him for ages, he came over from the UK,” he said.
“The fact that he literally just subdivided a spot, wanted to put in a sugar mill and name the place after himself, I thought that was awesome.”
“We’re also going into the feuds between Brandon and Ayr in regards to which was going to be the main town outside of Townsville,” added AB.
“They were originally going to build the train track to here, but they decided to go to Ayr, so I think there’s always been a bit of animosity between the towns because of it.”
The Tiny Towns tour continued to Sarina, Clermont, Alpha and Longreach before wrapping up today in Muttaburra.
Triple M’s The Rush Hour producer Luke and presenters AB and Elliot
Burdekin Shire Council Mayor Lyn McLaughlin, Elliot, Mick the Canecutter and AB
