Men to live on forever

Daughters of Harry Munro, Amy Appoo, Gwen Tronc and Marina Anderson proudly open the road named in his honour.

Scottie Simmonds

TWO pioneering Aboriginal stockmen from the Gin Gin area will forever be remembered after two of the town's roads were recently named in their honour.

At a special ceremony held last Wednesday, descendants and friends of Harry Munro and good friends of Sergeant Henry Breen unveiled the two new road names - Munro Crt and Breen Crt.

One of Mr Munro's daughters, Gwen Tronc, said her father was found as a young Aboriginal boy in Degilbo by a sergeant of police, who took him to Degilbo Station.

The station was run by the Kent family, who gave him the name Harry Munro.

"Dad was raised as one of their own," Mrs Tronc said.

Mrs Tronc said her father was known for his "great seat in the saddle" and became a jockey who rode in Gayndah, Mt Perry, Wallaville and Bundaberg.

"Lots of graziers relied on Dad's expertise to find and muster cattle for droving," she said.

In the late 1880s, a drive was going on against the Aborigines in the Diamantina area, about 1600km west of Brisbane.

Among those captured were a woman and two children, one of whom was Henry Breen, who was taken in by Sir Thomas McIlwraith.

Mr Breen, who was eight years old at the time, was taken to Gin Gin, where he lived in the stockman's quarters and worked on the station.

"He was a good worker and had a remarkable way with horses," Mrs Tronc said.

He stayed in Gin Gin until he died in 1953 at the Gin Gin Hospital.

Mrs Tronc said the spirit of the two men would now be kept alive forever.

"It means the whole world to our family because it meant so much to us to have someone recognise our father's contribution to the district," she said.

Mr Munro is survived by daughters Marina, Amy and Gwen and son Harry.