For fifty years, the perfume of combined spring flowers – freesias, jonquils, carnations – wafted out from Gympie’s very own ‘Chelsea’, enchanting the crowds of visitors and bringing carloads of enthusiastic sightseers to the city. Gympie’s version of the famous Chelsea Flower Show in London was organised by the Gympie branch of the Australian Red Cross from 1954 to 2004.

The first Gympie Chelsea Flower Shows included dahlia and chrysanthemum gardens, a flower stall, potting shed, teenagers’ decorative bowls, floral hat, floral pictures, decorative bowls and a display by the local Horticultural Society. The first festivals were held in the Liberty Theatre.

Early venues were Memorial Hall (1965 to 1968), Liberty Theatre (1969), and Surface Hill Hall (1970-1977). The new Civic Centre was the venue from 1978 onwards for the re-named Chelsea Floral Festival.

Harold Dunstan (then President of the Gympie Municipal Horticultural Society) was always involved, and, not content with static exhibits, Harold organised displays that moved, such as the rotating globe in 1978 and the rotating seasons in 1984.

Red Cross states that ‘many community groups, schools and individuals played a significant role over the years’. Red Cross also acknowledged the support of Gympie City Council (later Cooloola Shire Council) and local businesses, as well as the Horticultural Society, Orchid Society, Quota and Central School. Gympie florist Betty Cockburn was renowned for her beautiful floral displays at Chelsea.

Convenors over the years were Mrs A.C. Carvossa, Leda Madill (convenor for 46 years), Diana Lilley, Lesley Ross and Joy Currie.

Themes:

1963 Red Cross in flowers

1964 State floral emblems

1965 Gardens of the World

1966 Beauty spots of Queensland

1967 Gold is where you find it

1968 Festival of colour

1969 Greeting cards

1970 Once upon a time

1971 Chelsea and TV

1972 Poetry

1973 Chelsea international

1974 It’s Chelsea Time

1975 Gallery 75

1976 Chelsea at the theatre

1977 A royal occasion

1978 All the world’s a garden

1979 That’s Hollywood

1980 Days of our lives

1981 Colour my world

1982 Hooked on books

1983 My favourite things

1984 Wonders of the world

1985 Down memory lane

1986 Carnival

1987 Musical interlude

1988 This land of ours

1989 That’s life

1990 The last decade

1991 Contrasts

1992 Fantasia

1993 Happiness is

1994 Holidays

1995 Remember the day

1996 Tribute to Disney

1997 Dinkum Aussie Chelsea

1998 Rainbow connection

1999 Reflections of the 20^th century

2000 Chelsea celebrates the Olympics

2001 My favourite garden

2002 Calendar Days

To commemorate 50 years of Chelsea in Gympie, a quilt was made.

Source: Gympie branch of Australian Red Cross, Red Cross house at Gympie Hospital. Photo: Robyn Bowman.

This blog post was written by guest blogger Robyn. Thank you Robyn for your time in researching and collating the information for this blog post.

References:

Australian Red Cross, Gympie branch. (2025). Chelsea Flower Show notes. Gympie: Australian Red Cross. pp.1-3.