News submitted by Gus
This Safari icon, long believed to be lost in antiquity, was recently unearthed when the Malanda Springs Hotel on the Atherton Tablelands renovated their toilet block.
Builder and part time archeologist Kamahl Rodriguez immediately recognised the coveted trophy as his bobcat gently nudged the artifact from the age old pub foundations.
The Trophy has been missing, presumed lost forever, since 1994. ” I was bloody stunned. ‘I’d always dreamed of unearthing the big one..and here it was tucked away behind the S-bend in cubicle No. 3.’ said Kamahl.
He is now considering offers from most of the major Australian museums to add the piece to their collections. ‘I’m having to beat those Museum Curators off with a sh#%*tty stick, they’re desperate to get it!’ he added.
The Trophy won by the first Don Dunstan Young Achiever Award winner, Mr Nick McBride esquire, was spirited out of South Australia shortly after his triumphant victory at the Exeter Hotel. Mr McBride travelled North as an itinerant style consultant, and lost the coveted trophy during a thirty day bender on the Table Lands.
For some years now the Don Dunstan Young Achiever Award trophy looks like this, as modelled by last year’s winners Wes and Guy.