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Ahead of Moree picnic races this Saturday (25th May), Moree Plains Shire Council has donated $3000 to Moree & District Historical Society to help with printing and publishing costs of The Triangle, a book about the history of bush racing across the Moree Plains Shire.

Proceeds from the sale of the book will be used to help transform the old Moree Lands Office into a local historical museum.

The $3000 donation, awarded through Council’s Public Donations Financial Assistance Program, assisted with the publishing cost of 100 limited edition hard-cover books and 500 soft-covers that will be sold at Moree, Mallawa and Talmoi picnic race meetings in the coming weeks. It is hoped a reprint will be required.

Moree Plains Shire mayor, Katrina Humphries, gets a sneak peek of The Triangle, a book written to raise money to establish a historical museum in Moree

The book will also be available at numerous businesses and stores across the vast Moree Plains Shire.

Author and award-winning journalist Bill Poulos said readers can feel comfortable knowing the purchase price of The Triangle represents a complete profit for Moree & District Historical Society, with all money raised going a long way to getting its new home – and museum – operational.

“Apart from documenting the history of picnic racing and bush racing in the Moree district, the chief objective of writing and publishing the book was to raise money to help the society start renovating its new home, and hopefully sales from The Triangle will help,” Poulos said.

The Triangle is a timeline chronicling the history of bush racing’s Golden Triangle and the stories that have shaped picnic racing in the Moree district since the mid-1800s.

The timeline, starting in 1865, has entries for every year from 1900 through to 2018. There are also 24 feature articles, two of them written by Moree journalist Georgina Poole, and countless images and pictorials.

Poulos has written about the people, horses and places that have made up picnic and registered racing at villages and townships across the vast north and north-west over the past 150 years.

“Apart from Moree, Mallawa, Talmoi and Mungindi, which all still race to this day, meetings were also held at Boomi, Boggabilla, Croppa Creek, Pallamallawa, Mungindi, Spring Plain, Terry Hie Hie, Gurley, Telleraga, Rowena, Bulyeroi and Bullarah,” Poulos said.

The Triangle has been described as a ‘cracking read’ by industry insiders. Geoff Newling, former Northern Daily Leader sports editor (1988-2016), said The Triangle will take readers back to a golden age of bush racing in the north and north-west.

“It is a deluge of feature stories and well-researched information that will fascinate,” Newling said.

Poulos, who generously donated his time and research to piece together the contents of the book, said it would not have been completed without the help of a lot of people, whose assistance large and small has been invaluable.

“Because of generous donations and grants from Moree Council, golfing greats The Desperates, all three picnic race clubs at Moree, Mallawa and Talmoi, and our local member Adam Marshall, we can publish The Triangle at no cost to the society,” Poulos said.

Mayor Katrina Humphries said Moree Plains Shire has a rich racing history: “Moree and District Historical Society has a goal to preserve this history, which will hopefully be treasured by many locals,” Cr Humphries said.

“It was wonderful to see the Lands Office remain in the hands of the community and get a new life as a permanent home for the Historical Society, and potentially a local history museum.

“The Triangle is a great fundraiser to help the society get the museum up and running,” she said.

Moree picnic races jump from the gates this Saturday, May 25, with Mallawa racing two weeks later on Saturday, June 8. Talmoi rounds out bush racing’s Golden Triangle at Garah on Saturday, June 22.

Members from Moree and District Historical Society will be at all three meetings, selling and promoting The Triangle as well as other publications and memorabilia.

Mail orders will also be taken by Moree and District Historical Society after the book is launched. Purchase enquiries can be sent to mdhsmoree@hotmail.com