Page 12 - Best Of Local Mag May 2023 Edition

In Memoriam: Mrs Lillian Buchanan

Local Farming Matriarch bows out just short of her Centenary

Personal Reflection:
When the text message went out from son Paul Buchanan on Easter Saturday morning (8th
April) to inform family and friends that his beloved mum, Mrs Lil Buchanan had passed away
just 6 months short of her centenary, I reflected sadly that only 6 years earlier, on that very
day, my own mother had also left us.

Both ladies had a special connection to the Mango Hill Village and to their Church. Mrs
Christie (as she was known to many hundreds of village children, founded and taught at
the Mango Hill Sunday School for 27 years in the local hall, whilst Lil Buchanan was a life
time member of the Deception Bay Baptist Church, and had with husband Danzy, grown
pumpkins and sweet potatoes on their Deception Bay farm since 1948 and their Mango Hill
farm since 1970.

Sadly, husband Danzy Buchanan passed away in 1987 aged just 60 years, and it was a
privilege for the fledgling Mango Hill Progress Association to recommend to the then Pine
Rivers Shire Council that our very new park, be officially recognised as it is today, as Danzy
Buchanan Park. It was a great pleasure to witness Lil officially launch Danzy Buchanan Park
with local children, including her young grandson John. Lil Buchanan in August 2022, reading the Best
of Local magazine, this issue with a photo of
Son Paul working the Progress Assoc. BBQ
From a treeless reserve in 1987, Danzy Buchanan Park in 2023 is a picturesque and vibrant
public facility that is well known throughout the region and enjoyed by many for its facilities,
which include a basketball court, tennis court, shaded playground and a community hall. The
contribution of Lil and Danzy Buchanan to the local community will long be remembered
through Danzy Buchanan Park.

As a local resident of 45 years and now Progress Association President, it has been a great
privilege to have known and enjoyed the company of Lil Buchanan and her family. Lillian
Buchanan, this is a brief resume of your very long and well lived innings.

Laurence Christie
President
Mango Hill Progress Association
Mum (Mrs Christie) at Christmas in 2016
Mrs Lil Buchanan: Her Life in Brief

Lillian Ethel Shoebridge was born on 14th October 1923 in
Elliott Street, Hawthorne (Brisbane) to English migrant parents,
Frederick and Caroline, and grew up in the suburbs of Shorncliffe
and Sandgate, loving music, singing and attending the local
Sandgate Baptist Church. An annual highlight was the trip to
Brisbane Ekka where Lil enjoyed the Pavilions, especially the
farm produce, sewing/knitting and flower displays. At that time,
she did not know she would one day marry a small crop farmer.

On 2nd October 1948, Lil did marry a small crop farmer, Danzy
Buchanan, whose wider family had farmed land in various
suburbs from Nudgee to Deception Bay.

Initially the newly married couple lived in an old packing shed
on a farm in Webster Road, Deception Bay, which was very
cold in those early winters. In 1951 Danzy and Lil moved into a
new home on the farm, built by Danzy’s brother Ron from the
felled trees. The farm grew “mountains” of Qld Blue pumpkins
for which it was so well known. One cannot imagine building a
house like that today.
A young Lillian Shoebridge with her maternal Grandad