Liz and Lionel Carroll settled in Beechmont in 1975 with their three children, John, Peter and Sandy, after five years of living and working in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
In those adventurous days it was a way of earning good money while you and your children were young.
They bought the Jervis family farmhouse with its two acre paddock on the corner of Windabout and the Canungra Road.
It was in Bougainville that Liz learned the workings of publishing and printing a small newspaper, the Arawa Bulletin.
This knowledge came in handy when arriving back in Australia in the middle of a recession.
Living on top of Beechmont in an old farm house with no town water was another adventure and starting up a community newspaper and delivering it to every house seemed like the obvious thing to do.
Lionel smartened up the very basic kitchen and bathroom, got rid of the rats out of the blue velvet sofa and the pythons out of the chook house.
As well as the chooks, a dog, a pregnant cat, a goat, two donkeys and two horses Liz threw herself into publishing, selllng ads and writing stories while our Mum was in charge of the printing and harassing advertisers to pay up or else.
I was the entire art department and called on what little experience I had picked up at the same community paper in Bougainville.
Easily making friends and talking to absolutely everyone, Liz was a popular visitor, delivering the finished product and talking Nerang and Canungra business people into advertising in the Gold Coast Hinterlander.
It soon became clear the paper had to move down to Nerang if we were ever going to earn $200 a week, each – our fantasy goal in 1976.
Always with a lot of help from Lionel, we moved into an office on the main street, hired a salesman and ditched the old Gestetner hand operated printing machine and went to the Warwick newspaper printers.
By 1982, she had built up the paper to 10,000 copies publishing weekly, employed five full time staff, two part time staff and delivered all around the hinterland.
Once a month it was full colour on half the pages and 40,000 copies.
Apart from local stories and news there was lots of humour with Pimplebum’s horoscope, Jobo Wimsy stories, and Margaret Fulsome’s cooking page.
Adrastus’ thought provoking and intelligent political page gave an alternative aspect from the main local Gold Coast papers.
It was a sad day when she finally sold the Hinterlander for a pittance to two people from Sydney who then sold it to Fairfax, who changed the name to The Advertiser and quickly sank it.
Dreamworld was in its infancy at this time, and needed administrative staff, and Liz was an enthusiastic and friendly member of the team for a couple of years, but her old newspaper contacts at Council offered her a secretarial position and she spent the next 20 years working behind the scenes being the helping hand between the public and various Councillors over the time.
During the 90s, their eldest son John was married and working in England, and Peter was travelling the world, when daughter Sandra was diagnosed with MS.
This was life-changing for Sandy and her parents, as they knew the progression of the incurable MS would take its toll.
Sandy’s positive and optimistic attitude together with her determined self help with her diet and exercise regime was a huge reassurance for Liz that Sandy was living her life the very best way possible.
With retirement looming, Liz and Lionel both decided that they’d like to have a go at managing a caravan park.
Because they were both keen to explore a new direction after having travelled right up to Cape York in their caravan they thought that selling their house on Beechmont and buying the Lake Eacham Caravan Park would be a peaceful end to their working lives.
With a seven days a week, 7am to 7pm shop and a café attached, Liz was in her lolly shop dream.
Caravanners were welcomed at all hours and told all about the lake, the walks, the wildlife, the tours, information and opinions on the pubs and restaurants, where to find the best, the cheapest, the most, anything.
While Lionel kept the park ticking over with the endless maintenance that comes with some 30 caravan spaces, four cabins and ‘facilities’ for the guests, Liz served in the shop, prepared light meals for guests in the café and her beloved little gallery where local arts and crafts, paintings and sculptures, were artfully arranged.
The park came with the remnants of a small zoo which included ostriches, ducks, chickens, goats, plus large flocks of wild finches, parrots, and rainforest birds that bird watchers came from all around the world to see and photograph. So much for retirement!
Retirement happened for real in 2007.
The caravan park was sold, and a house at Hervey Bay where gardening, painting, Scrabble, cooking, and going out to lunch can take hours and hours.
They still loved travelling around in the caravan, often coming to Beechmont to catch up with friends and family, and north to explore beaches, photograph birds and scenery.
An avid fan of word games on the computer, Liz noticed she was losing more games than winning and couldn’t work out why.
That was in May, when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor which proved inoperable. Six to eight weeks was the estimate, so they made one last trip to Beechmont, to say goodbye.
Elizabeth passed away with the help of the new Voluntary Assisted Dying program on August 29 at Hervey Bay with her adored family around her.