Schoolchildren starring in a documentary about their quaint hometown on the Queensland coast hope the publicity does not change what they love about it.
As filmmakers set up to shoot a documentary in Agnes Water, four student leaders at the local state school could not contain their excitement.
Filmmakers, including director James Latter (bottom right), are capturing the essence of the community. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
The film is intended to capture modern-day life in the historical towns of Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy, about 500km north of Brisbane.
“Agnes is a small place and knowing that people are coming to film Agnes, even though it’s really small, is really cool,” school captain Phoebe Glasson, 11
said.
The area has fewer than 3,000 residents, but it has experienced something of a population boom since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beautiful beaches are a major drawcard for people relocating to Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy. (Supplied: Gladstone Area Promotion and Development Limited)
Nieve Maluga, 11, said Agnes was a place where “it almost feels like we’re all a big family”.
Byron Mulligan from the Heart of Agnes Community Association said the Brisbane film crew travelled north to create the documentary as a visual time capsule.
He said the population growth and the pandemic had caused some social division, and the documentary had helped to bring people together.
Byron Mulligan says making the documentary has been a special experience. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
The most recent census data showed the population grew 25 per cent, by about 600 people, between 2016 and 2021.
“It’s very special to have newer residents and older residents come out and share what’s important to them about Agnes and Seventeen Seventy,”
he said.
“We’re hoping [the documentary] will also speak to other communities that have experienced population growth and a cultural shift.”
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Local vs tourist perspective
In the film, students showcase the area through meaningful items they have collected.
Student leaders (from top left) Logan Aitken, Nieve Maluga, Siena Loader and Phoebe Glasson. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
Nieve said it had been nerve-wracking but fun.
Some admitted to hoping the publicity would not change the essence of their town.
“It’s very, very cruisy. I really like it here, I like how it’s not busy,” Logan Aitken, 12, said.
Siena Loader, 11, said it was great to showcase the community’s perspective.
“It’s very different being a tourist here to being an actual local,”
she said.
Mr Mulligan said most public information available about the town was aimed at tourists, but that was not the intent of the documentary.
“If people do take it as an invitation, the nature and the spirit of the documentary is to act like an induction kind of document,” he said.
Leigh Tankey relishes the opportunity to capture this moment in time. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
Agnes Water State School head of curriculum, Leigh Tankey, said it was a “great opportunity to show how special and beautiful our school is and our town and community”.
“It’s pretty special because I’m a mum, I have three kids and [when] we look back … 10 years goes by in a flash,” she said.
Andrew Collis says the town is continuing to change. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)
Principal Andrew Collis said while the school was classified as isolated, it was growing at a fast rate.
“What’s happening here and now will be very different from what the town is like in 10, 20, 30 years from now,” he said.
“Kids learning about the history of the town and the place that they’ve grown up in is very important.”
Remembering history
While the documentary is focused on the present day, it also tells the story of Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy’s origins.
Captain James Cook’s second landing on Australian soil occurred in the region’s bay on May 24, 1770.
Captain Cook explored Round Hill Head, the lagoon and creek on May 24, 1770. (Supplied: VMR Round Hill)
It was not until the area was subdivided almost three centuries later that housing development really began.
A once-weekly mail run was established in the 1970s, and the main road into town was only sealed in the 1990s.
Museum president Ian Richardson said the area once had basic shops, a state school, “and that really was it for a long time”.
“It was a place to visit for the quietness and the good fishing,” he said.
He said the town’s population would swell over the holidays in the early days, but now tourists were consistently present.
The filmmakers will soon enter post-production mode, with a public screening scheduled for December.
