Since the AMBCQ began in 2006, Cr Graham Quirk, Councillor for MacGregor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Brisbane, has been very supportive of our organisation, and has been at each one of our annual fundraising balls. He has also been instrumental in organising sponorship for our activities from the Brisbane City Council and other support. So when we received the invitation to help celebrate Cr Quirk's 25th anniversary in office, we did not hesitate to support Cr Quirk. We certainly weren't the only ones who felt this way, as there were over 300 people there on the night, held at Michael's Oriental at Eight Mile Plains.
There were many political heavyweights there on the night, including Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, who paid a very sincere and strong tribute to Cr Quirk, the leader of the opposition in Queensland and fellow AMBCQ member, John-Paul Langbroek MP, many Brisbane City Councillors, a number of former state and federal MPs, Senator Brett Mason, former Lord Mayor Sally-Anne Atkinson, and even Mayor of Ipswich, Paul Pisasale (a former AMBCQ president during the 1990s). And there were a great multitude of community groups, like ourselves, business people and other supporters present as well.
As part of our contribution to the night, the AMBCQ also donated a special auction item. Cr Quirk, as anyone who has seen him in action will attest, is a fabulous auctioneer/entertainer, and it is always a real treat to see him in action. And the crowd too was certainly keyed up to provide their support - there were many a good-humoured duel on the night between rival bidders.
The auction item that the AMBCQ donated was a reproduction of a 19th Century (1888) aerial view of Brisbane City showcasing all prominent buildings of the time. The reproduction was crafted by a Brisbane based master craftsman, Edwin Clark, and the mounted and framed picture included the signatures of Deputy Mayor Graham Quirk and Lord Mayor Campbell Newman. Accompanying the reproduction is a kit that includes a key that lists all the major streets and 30 prominent landmarks of Brisbane in the 19th Century, as well as reproductions of an 1882 Street Plan and 6 illustrations of various landmarks in Brisbane in 1886. We thought it was quite a unique item, linking Cr Quirk and Lord Mayor Newman with the city they have both dedicated themselves to. We certainly had some fun before we handed the item over for auction, using the key to pick out buildings and other landmarks.
We were also presently surprised when the auction item did so well for Cr Quirk, with even the Lord Mayor putting in a bid, until it was finally sold for an extremely good sum after yet another bidding war. There were some really interesting auction items on the night including a pair of autographed speedos worn by Tony Abbott, and a helmet autographed by Lord Mayor Newman from the Clem 7 Tunnel project, plus rock samples from the tunneling work.
It was a great night for Cr Quirk and a very enjoyable night for the AMBCQ members who attended, as well as a great night for networking and making our presence as the AMBCQ known.
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