{"id":419629,"date":"2026-01-17T18:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T18:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419629\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T18:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T18:46:18","slug":"age-old-seat-of-knowledge-tradition-alive-and-well-in-north-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419629\/","title":{"rendered":"Age-old ‘seat of knowledge’ tradition alive and well in North Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a far cry from the piazzas of Italy, but in Queensland’s north, a centuries-old tradition is alive and well.<\/p>\n

Outside a small supermarket off the main street of Tully, a group of six men gather on a seat lovingly carved with the moniker ‘Seat of Knowledge’.<\/p>\n

Older people gather here almost every morning to share “their two cents worth” in a tradition that has unfolded over decades.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

A sense of humour and the ability to poke fun at yourself is a must when visiting Tully’s Seat of Knowledge. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n

For those who come, it’s a social tonic that allows them to start their day with a laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No topic is off-limits, the micky is taken often and liberally, and the jokes could make a bikie blush.<\/p>\n

Donald Steele, 85, started visiting the seat in 2009 but became a more permanent fixture in 2011 after he retired.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Donald Steele, 85, loves to start his day with a laugh among mates. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n

“It [the Seat of Knowledge] has been around for 20-something years,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The first people didn’t have much brains, but since we’ve been coming here, the intellect level has gone up a bit,” Mr Steele joked.<\/p>\n

“We solve all the problems of the world, and we create a few ourselves.”<\/p>\n

Raymond Downing, who lost his wife to cancer about 10 years ago, has found solace with those who gather on the corner every morning just as the sun is rising.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The origins of Tully’s Seat of Knowledge are not clear, but locals say groups of people have gathered outside the supermarket for decades. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick\u00a0)<\/p>\n

“I’m nearly 80. You’ve got to keep your mind active and keep it going,” Mr Downing said.<\/p>\n

“Some people have said, ‘Oh, why would you sit on that seat with all those old blokes?’, and I say, ‘Well, when you get up in the morning feeling a bit down, you come down here and within 10 minutes you’re laughing,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Every morning Raymond Downing walks his dog down to Tully’s Seat of Knowledge to have a chat with friends.\u00a0 (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n

He says everyone who perches on the seat has to have a “bloody good sense of humour”.<\/p>\n

“You have to chuck a lot, but you cop a lot back, too,” he said.\"A<\/p>\n

A historic picture of the Seat of Knowledge is on the wall of the Tully supermarket. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n

Tully is not the only town with a special gathering place \u2014 they are scattered across North Queensland, including at nearby Kurrimine Beach.<\/p>\n

With arguably the best view in town, the ‘Table of Knowledge’ sits by the waterfront and is a fixture for locals and tourists who wander by.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kurrimine Beach local John Parisi says he has reconnected with people from his past at the Table of Knowledge.\u00a0 (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n

John Parisi comes most days when he is not travelling for work.<\/p>\n

“Normally, the first guy gets here at about six-thirty in the morning and we normally depart at about eight in the morning,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And then a lot of times, we come back at five o’clock in the afternoon and go home at six.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Dawn risers say a chat around the foreshore table at Kurrimine Beach gets the day off to a good start. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n

“Naturally, you are happy when you are talking. I’d rather do this than watch breakfast TV in the morning.”<\/p>\n

He said much of the chat at the table centred on the past.<\/p>\n

“Mostly we were farmers, so we talk about different styles of farming and how it used to be done and how it’s done today,” Mr Parisi said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kurrimine Beach is a popular spot for fishing and for those seeking a quieter lifestyle. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n

Roots in the old country<\/p>\n

Dr Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui, a historian with an interest in 20th-century migration, said the ‘seat of knowledge’ tradition had roots in the Italian communities that were established through migration to the region.<\/p>\n

“Trees, tables, chairs of knowledge in the Italian community are gathering places for elderly gentlemen to meet,” Dr Vidonja Balanzategui said.<\/p>\n

“They would talk about their ailments, the world, argue about the state of the world, and [talk about] their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Many of these gentlemen were farmers, so they had retired and may have moved into the township.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui says gathering places in North Queensland are likely a tradition that came from Italian migrants in the region.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n

She said the tradition could be traced back to the Roman forum.<\/p>\n

“Around the forum were our main civic buildings \u2014 your important buildings,” she said.<\/p>\n

“All the Italian piazzas reflect that forum construction landscape. So that is the main focal point of the village for women and men and young people to gather.”<\/p>\n

Dr Vidonja Balanzategui said that although many of those who originally gathered at certain ‘places of knowledge’ had passed, and the tradition had declined in some areas, there was a resurgence in other areas.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Italian cane cutters in the early 1920s take a break from work in the Innisfail region. (Supplied: State Library of Queensland)<\/p>\n

“You will notice that a new generation of people getting into that retirement stage are probably picking up versions of that tradition and perhaps gathering outside a cafe and sitting there for a couple of hours of a morning,” she said.<\/p>\n

Sense of humour a must<\/p>\n

At the end of Tully’s Seat of Knowledge sits a placard reading the ‘departure lounge’.<\/p>\n

“That’s where the older ones go to die,” Mr Steele joked.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A sense of humour is a must when it comes to taking up a perch at Tully’s Seat of Knowledge.\u00a0 (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n

“When you get to my age, everyone’s just waiting, but we try to avoid that if we can,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s only if there are a lot of people who turn up that I get shoved up the end.”<\/p>\n

Mr Downing said it was the jokes and old friends that kept him coming every morning.<\/p>\n

“We have a good laugh and a chat and throw a bloody lot of crap at one another,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It starts the day off on a good note.”\"The<\/p>\n

Locals are out and about during sunrise at Kurrimine Beach on the Cassowary Coast.\u00a0 (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a far cry from the piazzas of Italy, but in Queensland’s north, a centuries-old tradition is alive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,61395,221070,17514,221068,221073,221072,514,44,221066,221071,145045,221067,221069],"class_list":{"0":"post-419629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-connections","11":"tag-human-connections","12":"tag-humour","13":"tag-italian-migrants","14":"tag-laughter","15":"tag-meeting-places","16":"tag-mental-health","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-seat-of-knowledge","19":"tag-social-wellbeing","20":"tag-socialising","21":"tag-table-of-knowledge","22":"tag-traditional-gathering-spaces"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}