Arnold Rieck is one of Rosewood’s “Notable People”.
Arnold came to Rosewood in 1959 when he was a teacher at Mt. Walker School. He boarded in town with the Congregational Minister and met his future wife Joyce Armstrong at a Congregational Youth Camp in Rosewood in 1958. He was transferred to Rosewood as a secondary school teacher in 1964 when the high school buildings were built in the grounds of the primary school. He taught there until the present day high school opened in 1980 and went on to teach the Year 11 and 12 classes. He retired from full time teaching at the end of 1989.
The subject I most enjoyed teaching was horticulture to the Years 11 and 12 in the later years of my teaching career and this gave me great fulfilment.
Arnold was fascinated by the number and variety of plants found in the Rosewood Scrub. Very little of the Rosewood Scrub remained so when an Ipswich miner and self-taught botanist (Lloyd Bird) suggested that Arnold could organise the collecting of seeds and the propagation of material of Rosewood dry vine forest plants, he set out to do so. The Rosewood Scrub Arboretum at Peace Park was established in 1994.
Over 20 years Arnold led the transformation of Mason’s Gully at the corner of John Street and Walloon Road. A 20th Anniversary Celebration was held there in 2020 after which he handed over the reins to Chris Rinehart. He still maintains an active interest in the project.
Arnold was also a member of the Rosewood United Cricket Club and Group Leader in the Scouts for 17 years.
A walkway named in his honour was unveiled in Rosewood in 2019. The walkway follows the natural gully line linking Mason’s Gully at the corner of John St and Walloon Rd to the Rosewood Scrub Arboretum at Peace Park on Matthew St.
In his 90th year, in 2022, Arnold wrote his memoirs. It is an engaging record of a lifetime of achievement, fulfilment and reward.
