Photo: Supplied.
Name: Ian “Bluey” Munday.
Suburb: Wellington Point.
What do you do? Retired from the Navy, I’ve been a volunteer at Redland Museum for 18 years. My work there includes guiding groups (usually school groups) around the museum and giving talks about the various exhibits and local history. I also do restoration work on a variety of artefacts; my favourite ongoing project is the museum’s portable steam engine. I’m Theatre Redlands’ regular stage manager and occasional actor and I’m the museum’s resident Santa for any Christmas celebrations – there are three lined up this year!
Do you have any fun/interesting stories about your job? When I was in the Navy on R&R in Singapore a group of us hired trishaws to have a race. I offered my trishaw driver the passenger’s seat and took on the job of pedaling. It required a bit more skill than Id anticipated and the two of us – plus the trishaw – ended up in an open stormwater drain. Unfortunately, the drain contained more than stormwater. They wouldn’t let us into Raffles to clean up.
What’s your favourite local dine-in and take-away? Award-winning Costa’s Seafood Café is a big favourite and for a top steak you can’t go past Redlands Sporting Club.
Best local activity: For me, it’s stay-at-home gardening. I love getting my hands into the dirt and the soil around here is so good and productive; the Redlands used to be called the ‘Salad Bowl’.
The last book you read? Beneath the Southern Cross, a novel by Judy Nunn. It follows Australian history from 1788 to the present day through the life and descendants of a 19-year-old deportee and it’s really interesting.
The last TV show or movie you watched? Foley’s War – I can repeat watch this series, I just love it. Another top favourite is Shetland – I’m right into the new series.
Is there anything you’d like to see happen in the local area? More attention to infrastructure. We need better and wider roads to Brisbane, and an expansion of rail services to the Redlands.
Is there a local business/community group/club you’d like to give a shout-out to? For me this is a no-brainer! Redland Museum, for the work it does in preserving and sharing with the community much of the history of our unique area and Theatre Redlands, for the shows it produces that showcase local and broader Australian history.
