There’s a tiny little link to the world renowned literary award the “Booker Prize” and the connection is to Goomeri’s Agnes Maudsley/Mawdsley (nee Booker).

Agnes’ father was Thomas Booker and it was her uncles George, Richard and Josias Booker who started up the Booker Group Company in 1835 in England. They bought a ship and established the Booker Line, focusing on the shipping of goods. Later the company disposed of the ships and went into food and goods wholesaling, distribution, and warehousing. Over time and with many advancements and mergers, the company also branched into agribusiness, fish processing, and literary enterprise.

The Booker’s primarily remain in the UK and it was only Agnes and her husband Richard “Fardy” Maudsley who migrated to Australia circa 1866 and thus the link to the Booker Prize remains just as distant as the stretch between Goomeri and the UK.

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