Cannon Park

Mooloolaba's Cannon Park is named after Dudley and Beryl Cannon. The Cannon family first arrived on the Sunshine Coast in the 1880s. Dudley's grandfather, William (Jack) Cannon owned Seaspray Boarding House in Maroochydore in the 1930s. He owned and ran the boarding house for 13 years. William Cannon's son, Richard and his wife Caroline Beatrice Maud Mary Lander owned Wickham Boarding House in Caloundra from 1920 until 1926. Dudley lived in Caloundra with his parents, however when his mother Caroline died, he left Caloundra and went to live with his Uncle Alma and Aunty Elizabeth (nee Cannon) Tucker, near where Tuckers Creek Mooloolaba is today. Beryl and Dudley had five children including Douglas "Dougie" Cannon (who lived in Mooloolaba all his life until passing in 2006), John Richard (Jake) Cannon, Kevin Cannon, Cheryl Cannon and Tony (Tex) Cannon. Kevin Cannon is fifth generation still living on the Coast, his daughter Donna and her sons still live here too. The Cannon family have been fishing from the Coast beaches for 100 years, mostly from Mooloolaba and more recently Mudjimba beaches. Dudley Cannon, became a deep sea fisherman and a well-known Mooloolaba identity. The family still hold the licence to catch mullet today on Mooloolaba Beach but due to the amount of people on the beaches, restrictions to when they can fish and the change in the mullet run, they rarely venture there these days. Dudley and Beryl's son, Kevin Cannon, 69, is known as the 'Mullet Man' and can still be found staring at the sea and watching for the mullet during the season. He recalls days in the 1960s when him and his brother Jake would take their old beaten up car towing their small fishing dingy at 6am to fish for Mullet. This was along the old 'Nicklin Track' before it was a road. Jake would always say "That's not enough...Let's head up Noosa Way'. They'd then drive to Noosa, have a sleep and fish until midnight. In the late 1960s Kevin and Jake purchased a prawn trawler named Margaret Rose. Dudley married Beryl (nee Henricks) on January 16, 1942 at the Maroochydore Baptist Church. Beryl wore a frock of white Shan tung silk and matching accessories and held a bouquet of frangipani and maidenhair fern. She was given away by her father, George Henricks and attended by her sister, Dulcie Henricks. The reception was held at Beryl's parent's home in George St, Maroochydore and the newlyweds decided to settle close by in Mooloolaba. Dudley and Beryl's granddaughter Donna Cannon recalls her grandfather telling her a tale of him watching a Prince swim in Mooloolaba Beach and making sure he wouldn't drown. Donna thought it was just an interesting tale, however she recently discovered an article from December 1934 in the Nambour Chronicle about the occasion. As it turns out, Dudley was quite the Surf Life Saving hero. Another article from Nambour Chronicle in January 20134 documents a Mooloolaba rescue performed by Dudley and his good friend Bill Curruthers during choppy seas and a strong current.