What's old is new again

Sir Robert Menzies was known for his 'The Forgotten People" speeches, credited with helping the Liberals return to power.
The speech rapidly acquired the fame for which it continues to be remembered and invoked. Shortly after it was delivered, it was printed and circulated as a pamphlet by Robertson & Mullens of Melbourne. The next year, Angus & Robertson published a selection of the addresses under the title The Forgotten People and Other Studies in Democracy.

Now, 75 years after the event, it has been reprinted complete with the old style cover.
"The forgotten people : and other studies in democracy" is a collection of essays broadcast weekly by Menzies in 1942. Some of them deal with matters of permanent interest while others are dated by passing events. They have represent a political philosophy which emerged in the changing currents of war.
'From the standpoint of a true patriot and in the spirit of man to man, Mr Menzies examines, in The Forgotten People, many of the problems arising from our present state of war. With moving frankness and sincerity he stresses both the rights and the duties of the people and of Parliament. He states clearly what our position is, what our aims are, and the part that every citizen must play if the war is to be won. He looks toward the future, the post-war world, and shows how we must work and plan to-day to combat the dangers that will inevitably beset to-morrow. He examines the meaning and achievements of democracy; he analyses the implications of President Roosevelt's four freedoms; and he upholds the dignity and the rights of the 'forgotten people', the middle classes, the 'backbone of this country.' This valuable series of talks clarifies our problems and their solution and, while not attempting to lessen the gravity of our present position, glows with confidence that the democratic principle shall prevail.'

Robert Gordon Menzies was born to James and Kate Menzies on 20 December 1894 in Jeparit. His birth was in a room at the back of his father's general store where the family lived.

The land around Jeparit was gradually being cleared of virgin scrub for wheat growing, and money was scarce. James Menzies carted supplies with a horse and wagon to the outlying farms, but it was difficult to make the business pay in such a small pioneering community and many farmers were given food on credit until their next harvest came in.

 Family photo taken on the bank of the Wimmera River - James Menzies with (from left) sons Les, Frank & Robert, wife Kate and daughter Isobel. Miss Annie Drendel is seated at left - from the Jeparit & District Historical Society

In 1899 at the age of four and a half, Robert commenced school at Jeparit. The Menzies children began their education at the first Jeparit school - No. 2988 - in a small timber room that had been shifted to the township from Dimboola North School No. 1875 (formerly Woolshed) in 1894.Robert and sister Isobelle left Jeparit in 1905 to join brothers, Les and Frank, living with their grandmother in Ballarat. They attended Humffray Street State School in 1906.

 

Victorian artefacts

Victorian Collections is a central portal to the cultural treasures held by museums and galleries distributed across Victoria. Culture Victoria is its sister site.
It is also a free collections management system for Victoria’s cultural organisations and a tool for students, researchers and curious minds.

It has photo entries you can browse, if you hover over an image you get the text description. And we aren’t necessarily talking about promoting your entire collection, you could have some of your most interesting, unique items, enough to tantalise a browser to enquire further and contact you.

a sample page - St Arnaud

Calico flour bag from Bruntons Flour Mill, Rupanyup

Victorian Collections is free for collecting organisations within Victoria. It is designed for Public Organisations not Private Collections, and is a complete, industry-standard cataloguing tool for organisations of all shapes and sizes.


Organisations can bulk-load onto the VC database, and VC do not impose file size limits, and can support most file types, be they audio oral histories, videos or image files. 

Files are provided under Creative Commons licence for non-commercial use. The filea can also be harvested by Trove.

Reviving the Mechanics'

Victoria once had more than one thousand Mechanics' Institutes scattered across the state. In many cases Institute halls were the first public building in a town, and today they are often the last.

Great Western

To obtain a complete picture of the heritage these organisations provided, the Mechanics' Institutes of Victoria Incorporated has been digitising the local records held by halls & institutes.

Murtoa

Records are sometimes held by the halls themselves, or with the local council, historical society, or museum, even with private individuals and trustees.
The digitisation process is funded from both philanthropic and government grant money.

Rainbow

After MIVic have made digital copies, the originals are returned to the records owner or provider along with a digital CD of the records. Copyright remains with the records owner.
Locally, records which have already been digitised are:  Apsley, Corack, Donald, Edenhope, Laen, Langkoop, Poolaijelo, Rich Avon West, St Arnaud, and Stuart Mill.

If you have Mechanics Institute records just waiting for the opportunity to be digitised, contact the Scanning Project Coordinator Judith Dwyer at mirc@mivic.org.au

Wimmera...Way Back When milestone

This blog reached a milestone overnight, when it ticked over one hundred thousand visits.
From rather humble beginnings back in January 2011, there has now been 100,097 pageviews.
For a blog devoted to the history of the Wimmera, as expected most pageviews come from Australia (54,768), but hopefully the 2,297 Ukrainian, 926 Chinese and 505 Turkish visitors also got something from the posts too.
The most popular themes continue to be railways.
So thanks to you all.

Solving the Wonnangatta mystery

The Wonnangatta murders occurred in late 1917 and in 1918, in the remote Wonnangatta Valley in the High Country in Victoria. The victims were manager of the Wonnangatta station property Jim Barclay, and John Bamford, a cook and general hand on Wonnangatta. While Barclay was a well-respected and much liked bushman, Bamford was regarded with suspicion, and was known to be easily roused into violent tempers. The case has never been solved, but many stories abound.

Wonnangatta Valley

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wonnangatta murders, Horsham Branch are running a Criminal Investigation session on 10th January 2018

Each participant will receive a copy of one of the five published books relating to Wonnangatta and the murders, and their own “Wonnangatta Casebook”. They then need to read the story, and formulate their theory or theories. Then write up their thoughts in their casebook, thinking about any relevant -

* Clues

* Suspects

* A timeline

* Motives

* Facts

To test their hypothesis, all participants will meet with other contributors in a round table discussion on 10th January at 18:00 hours (6pm) in the Squad Room at Horsham Library.

Places are limited. Bookings are essential and must be made in person at the library to collect your books.

Pleasant Creek site

The Pleasant Creek Hospital site has finally been leased. New owner Keenan Quinsee intends to open some of the buildings for Aradale-style ghost tours. More details on the plans in the Wimmera Mail-Times article, and photos of the buildings in the Stawell Times-News article.

Pleasant Creek Centre was the site of the first local hospital in Stawell, which was opened in 1850 (the only hospital in western Victoria between the South Australian border, Ballarat and the Murray River. Local landowners and miners subscribed to its construction. It was reserved in 1861 and again in 1883. Part of the building remains on the site, there were more elaborate alterations in 1881, it featured a Benevolent Ward for elderly miners. The area has a long history of community use, initially as a health service and subsequently as the Pleasant Creek Training Centre, an area where people with intellectual disabilities were accommodated and educated and participated in day programs.

 For many years a school was located on the site as well as accommodation for children, teenagers and latter disabled adults. Following changes to intellectual disabled housing policies, the Human Services Department transferred the clients from the Pleasant Creek Centre into community housing.

Parliamentary legislation removed the final reservation on the land and the 13 hectares was identified as having no further public purpose and had been for public sale since 2008.

NFHM post 4

Week 4 - "Power without glory" by Frank Hardy. 
Hardy's novel of the power machinations in Victorian politics. John West rose from a Melbourne slum to dominate Australian politics with bribery, brutality and fear. It is a tale of corruption stretching from street corner SP bookmaking to the most influential men in the land - and the terrible personal cost of the power such corruption brings. 

The novel covers a wide range of notorious characters from criminals to Archbishops and politicians, wrestlers to gamblers and everyone else in between. 
So much so, that there is a list of the book characters and their real life equivalents

ASHTON, Frank — Frank Anstey, Labor politician and social propagandist BENNETT (The Gentleman Thief) — Hon. W.J. Beckett, M.L.C. 

BLACKWELL, Maurice — Maurice Blackburn, State Labor MP & Federal Labor M.P.

BLAIRE — Sir Thomas Blamey, Army general and Victorian Police Commissioner 1925–1936

BOND, Thomas — Sir Thomas Bent, Premier of Victoria 1904-1909

BRADLEY, Richard — Richard Buckley, notorious criminal

BRADY, William — Bill Barry, Victorian Labor M.P., minister in various Cain governments 

CALLINAN, Police Commissioner — Thomas O'Callaghan, Police Commissioner 1902–1913

CAMERON — Campbell, Cycling Promoter Exhibition

CARR, John — John Cain Snr, leader of Victorian Labor, Premier on three occasions

CONN (Archbishop) — Thomas Carr, Catholic archbishop of Melbourne preceding Daniel Mannix

CORY, Pat — Pat Cody of Australian Distilleries

CREGAN, J. — Jack Cremean, Federal M.P.

CUTTING, Slasher — John 'Snowy' Cutmore, gunman and thief

DARBY, Lou — Les Darcy, boxer

DAVISON, Alfie — Sir Albert Dunstan, Conservative Victorian Premier 1935 -1943 (and local member)

DEVLIN, Dr. — Sir Hugh Devine, surgeon

DWYER, Godfrey — Sir Gilbert Dyett, long-time President of the R.S.L.

EVANS, Bill — Bill Egan, bricklayer

GARSIDE, David — David Gaunson, prominent criminal solicitor

GIBBON, Sir S. — Sir Samuel Gillott, Chief Secretary in the Bent Cabinet

HORAN, Ned — Ned Hogan, twice Labor Premier of Victoria

JOGGINS, Rev. — Rev. William Judkins, prominent anti-vice crusader and preacher

JOLLY, Bob — Bob Solly, Labor M.P. for in Victorian Parliament for many years

KELLEHER, Paddy — Pat Kennelly, M.L.C. Federal Secretary, A.L.P.

KIELY, Michael — Stan Leon, Victorian Member, later Federal M.P.

LAMB, Richard — Dick Lean, manager of Festival Hall

LAMBERT, Percy — Percy Laidler, bookshop owner & theatrical supplier, socialist organiser and orator

LAMMENCE, Frank — Frank Laurence, former secretary of John Wren

LASSITER family — Loughnan family

LEVY, Ben — Ben Nathan, co-founder of Maples furniture and music store chain

LEWIS, Piggy — Piggy Ryan, alias Williamson, gunman and stand-over man

LANE — Jack Lang, N.S.W. Labor leader and Premier

McCORKELL — William McCormack, Queensland Labor Premier

MALONE, Daniel — Dr Daniel Mannix, Catholic archbishop of Melbourne

MANSON, "Plugger" Pete — "Plugger" Bill Martin, cyclist

MORAN family — Mahon family

MORTON, Jim — Jim Morley, communist organiser, journalist with the 'Morning Post'

MURKETT, Kenneth — Sir Keith Murdoch, journalist & newspaper proprietor

O'FLAHERTY, Dave — Detective O'Donnell, Chief of the Gaming Squad

PARELLI — Pellegrini

PARKER, Oliver — Clyde Palmer, 'Truth' newspaper journalist

REAL, T.J. —  T.J. Ryan, Queensland Premier

REDMON, Ron — Ron Richards, Aboriginal boxer

RENFREY, Sugar — Robert "Sugar" Roberts, Mayor of Collingwood

ROBINSON, Barney — Barney Reynolds, a member of John Wren's staff

SANDOW —  Ad Santel, champion wrestler

SOLOMON, Sol — Sol Green, noted bookmaker

SQUEERS, Bill — Bill Squires, boxer

SUMMER, James —  James Scullin, Labor M.P., Prime Minister 1929-32

SWINTON —  Sir George Swinburne, engineer, politician and philanthropist

TANNER, Snoopy —  Joseph 'Squizzy' Taylor, gunman and thief

THE GENERAL - "Major" Taylor, cyclist

THURGOOD — Edward 'Red Ted' Theodore, Queensland Labor Premier of Queensland 1919-1925, federal Treasurer, mining and business magnate

TINN, Ted — Ted Thye, wrestler

TRUMBLEWOOD, Thomas — Tom Tunnecliffe, Labor M.P., Speaker 1937-40

WATTY, Jim — Jack Welsh, Secretary, Milk Distributors Association

WEST family — Wren family

WOODMAN, Paddy — Paddy Boardman, associate of Squizzy Taylor

So it isn't surprising that Hardy faced criminal libel charges in 1951, following  the book's publication. He was acquitted of the charges, arguing the the story was a mix of fact and fiction.
The novel covers a period of 60 years from about 1890, it was set largely in Richmond and Collingwood. It was made into a tv mini-series in 1976, with Martin Vaughan portraying John Wren.

The local connection: Sir Albert Dunstan was born in Donald in 1882, and grew up on the family farm at Cope Cope. He was a close friend of John Wren, who aided by the Victorian Labor Party president - Arthur Caldwell, persuaded Country Party Dunstan to withdraw from the coalition ministry with the nationalist United Australia Party’s Stanley Argyle, and form a minority Country Party government, which Labor would support in return for some policy concessions. Dunstan agreed to this deal, and in March 1935 he moved a successful no-confidence vote in the government from which he had just resigned. He became Premier in April 1935.

Memorial gates at the site of the former Cope Cope Hall commemorate of the first secretary of the Hall Committee, Albert Dunstan

Relating back to last week's blog post, the story was partly set during World War 1 and one of the themes was the decisive conscription debate. John West as a fierce patriot supported conscription, and had fiery arguments with the Irish Archbishop Malone who strongly opposed conscription in view of his enmity to aiding England. 
A conscription referendum in October 1916 failed, New South Wales had the strongest 'No' vote. The country was often over represented with many farmers and farm labourers volunteering to join up.

Yanga woolshed photo

 

The remains of the PS Rodney in 2006, Photo by D Nultey

And the family history link - with a tradition of sheep farming, ancestors shore around this district and up into New South Wales. Family folklore had Old Tom involved in the shearers' strife and the burning of the 'PS Rodney'.
In August 1894, the Paddle Steamer Rodney was burnt to the water-line by about 300 unionist shearers in protest at it being used as a strike breaker. The Rodney was carrying non-unionist ‘scab’ labour during the Shearers’ Strike industrial dispute. (Trove article on the incident, and mentioning shearing at Corrong Station)
The main protestors were arrested and the trial held in Broken Hill. Checking with Julie at the Wentworth Library's there was no written evidence that Old Tom was amongst those charged. It is possible he was there and had a minor role, but it is just folklore.

The remains of the lower hull of the Rodney survive in the bed of the Darling River upstream of Pooncarie.

NFHM post 3

Week 3 -  Is Nancy Cato's All the Rivers Run- a saga which spanned eight decades and four generations.

Orphaned after a shipwreck off the Victorian coast in 1890, the beautiful and spirited Philadelphia finds both love and adventure aboard a paddle-steamer on the Murray River.

Sent to live with her guardians Uncle Charles and Aunt Hester at Echuca, she invests some of her inheritance in the paddle steamer PS Philadelphia. Her life is changed forever when she meets the paddle steamer's captain Brenton Edwards. Delie is torn between the harsh beauty of life on the river with its adventures, and the society life in Melbourne with her blossoming career as a painter.
 

It is the image of river life that is the backdrop to the story. 
At the time Echuca was Australia's largest inland port, and the paddle steamers were responsible for the majority of goods transportation to the inland. At its peak, nearly 200 steamers plied their trade on the Murray, Darling and Murrumbidgee Rivers.
Supplies were carried by steamers to remote rural properties, and farm produce transported back to ports like Echuca to connect with the railway system and ultimately the cities and the sea ports. 
The paddle steamers lasted into 1900s till improved road and rail services replaced the river trade. 
 

Yanga wool loaded on the PS Trafalgar at the station wharf

The main or major cargo was wool. Steamers transported the wool clip when the water levels were up and the flow most reliable, from pastoral stations like 'Yanga' near Hay in New South Wales. Wool from 'Yanga' was transported by steamer to Echuca. The stations were veritable small towns.

Details of 'Yanga' at the turn of the century

The 'Yanga' woolshed was erected 8 miles west of the homestead in the 1850s. The site, normally above flood level at a point where the deep water was suitable for a wharf, was chosen to take advantage of paddle steamer transport to ship the wool to market. 

The 'Yanga' shed with machine stands on the left and blade stands on the right

The woolshed had 40 shearer stands, a pen capacity of 5,000 sheep, and could store 2,000 bales of wool. On a single day it shore 5,000 sheep and pressed 96 bales.
And the family history link - with a tradition of sheep farming, ancestors shore around the district and up into New South Wales. Family folklore had Old Tom involved in the shearers' strife and the burning of the 'PS Rodney', but more of that next post. 

NFHW post 2

Week 2 - “Careful he might hear you” - Sumner Locke Elliott wrote this haunting tale about PS and his aunts, custody battles, secrets. PS lives with working-class Aunt Lila and Uncle George on week-ends, where he is happy playing with children, running about, speaking up. While at posh Aunt Vanessa's on week-days, it is a regimen of private school, piano and riding lessons, and lonely indoor play with fancy toys. He's miserable and when he objects, Aunt Vanessa sues for complete custody. Will anyone listen to him? And will he take on Vanessa's challenges to find out who he is and to love someone?

The well-known 1983 movie of the book (Wendy Hughes & Robin Nevin played the aunts) was shot in the salubrious Sydney suburbs of Darling Point and Neutral Bay (at the other end of the spectrum to last week's "Poor man's orange"). 

The local family history connection is - Darling Point. 

Sir Thomas Mitchell built his home ‘Carthona’ on the headland at Darling Point in 1841. Built in the Gothic Revival style, it is still there today.

Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell was born in 1792 in Scotland. His family was not wealthy but he joined the military and was proficient in drawing up plans of battlefields. In 1818 he married 18 year old Mary Thomson Blunt. In 1827 the couple sailed to Sydney and Thomas became Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales and 2 years later Surveyor General for the colony. During the 1830s Mitchell conducted three major expeditions into the interior of Australia. 
It was his 1836 ‘Australia Felix’ expedition through this region, that lead to its settlement, as settlers followed his wagon tracks north. In 1837 Mitchell returned to England and published the books of his explorations and obtained his knighthood. 

'Carthona' &' Lindesay' on the right (William Stanley Jevons, Wikimedia Commons)

Returning to Sydney in 1841, he purchased ‘Lindesay’ another mansion in Darling Point, and while at Lindesay, he planned ‘Carthona’. The Mitchell family moved into Carthona in 1845, and Mitchell sold Lindesay to his friend Sir Charles Nicholson. 

Soon after Mitchell moved into 'Carthona' he set out on his 4th expedition in search of an overland route to the ill-fated outpost ‘Victoria’ at Port Essington in the Northern Territory. In 1847 Mitchell again went to England and listed ‘Carthona’ for sale along with the rest of his property. 
'Carthona' was described as "the very splendid family mansion with spacious stabling and two acres of ground at Mrs Darling's Point, the present residence of Sir Thomas Mitchell, Surveryor-General.”

'Carthona' today

 Mitchell died of pneumonia at 'Carthona' in October 1855. He left 'Carthona' to his daughter Alice, but as he also left a considerable debt, the family moved out to Woolloomooloo and rented out the property.

NFHW post 1

Week 1 of the National Family History Month Blogging Challenge.

The first author and book is "Poor man's orange" it is Ruth Park's novel published in 1949. "Poor Man's Orange" is the third and final novel of the Darcy Family Trilogy. Together with the first book "Missus" and "Harp in the South", the trilogy traces the saga of the Darcy family over thirty years. An unforgettable family and a cast of unforgettable characters enliven a story that is sometimes tragic but often humourous in a time of poverty and destitution, hope and promise. 
The novels were set in the slums of the inner city suburb of Surry Hills in Sydney and centred on an Irish Catholic family. The Darcys are broken people after Roie their oldest daughter dies giving birth to a baby boy. Roie's husband Charlie takes to the drink to forget his loss, remembering only Roie and forgetting about his children. As they fight for the strength to keep the family together in this hard-bitten Irish-emigrate community, the Darcy's find that what they need most to survive is one another.

Ruth Park was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1917, and spent most of her adult life in Australia. She was widely read and well-loved for her books which were as equally successful for adults as for children (she wrote the Muddle-headed wombat series). Ruth moved to Sydney and married fellow Australian author D’Arcy Niland in 1942. For a time they lived in the slums of Surry Hills. Ruth was catapulted into fame when she won the inaugural Sydney Morning Herald Literary Competition in 1946, with ‘The Harp in the South’. This book has never been out of print. ‘Poor man’s orange’ was the follow-up in 1949. Her literary reputation grew as she honed her craft, writing fiction and non-fiction, her output of work spanned nearly seven decades. Ruth Park died in Mosman, Sydney in December 2010.

Ruth Park’s "Poor man’s orange" is available as a real book, eBook, DVD or audio book.
 

My take on the theme is ‘Now & Then’ images of the inner Sydney slums, utilising NSW State Records Authority's Flickr images.

This is Cumberland Place in The Rocks, Sydney, at the corner of Ferry Lane and Pottinger Street. Showing the old worn original steps alongside the newer concrete ones.The "then" photo was taken 1901 and is from the NSW State Records Authority's "Moments in Time". It was taken at the time when the area was part of the gazetted Darling Harbour Wharves Resumption Act 1900.

'Rear of No.2 Walton Place, Sydney' Dated: c.17/07/1900 is from a series of images showing the areas in Sydney affected by the outbreak of Bubonic Plague in 1900. Taken by Mr. John Degotardi Jr., a photographer from the Department of Public Works, the images depict the state of the houses and 'slum' buildings at the time of the outbreak and the cleansing and disinfecting operations which followed. Walton Place was typical of many homes with the outside toilet and open air washhouse, and the style of backyard the Darcys would have lived in.

'View from The Rocks looking south towards Sydney' dated: 1904, it shows a general view of inner Sydney. The landmark (and one of few still present) feature is the Post Office clock tower in the upper left.

< The ghosted image of 'George Street' was taken near the corner of Hunter Street, looking towards Martin Place. There have been many changes to the street and buildings, so I lined up the most recognisable element - the 1880 George Street Post Office clock.
The original clock tower (as mentioned in the 1904 photo) atop the building was removed in 1942 to remove its visibility in case of air raids, and was restored in 1963. 
The "Then" photo is from Ian Collis' "Sydney : from settlement to the bridge" and was taken in 1890, just before the wonderful ornate Romasnesque Societe General House insurance building was erected in the middle of the photo. Below are the 'then and now' images side by side.

Family History Challenge

August is National Family History Month

And the call went out to libraries -

'Who's up for a blogging challenge on a literary theme given that a few of our more well-known authors were born 100 years ago e.g. Ruth Park (okay she was born in NZ but married & lived in Oz), Sumner Locke Elliott, Nancy Cato and Frank Hardy.'

So the plan was for bloggers to post on the literary theme each Saturday through-out the month.

Stay tuned for the first post on Saturday 5th August.

Aveling & Porter roller

Horsham Rural City Council is seeking information or original photographs of the Aveling & Porter steam roller, that was purchased by the Borough of Horsham in 1924.

The steam roller was purchased to compact the roads prior to sealing with bitumen, and used throughout the 1930s and 40s in the Horsham area.
After being decommissioned by the Council, it was loaned to the Horsham Apex Club, where members painted it in red, green & black, and placed it on display in Apex Park at the corner of Bennett and Natimuk Road.
Following asbestos fears it was removed from the Park and  went to the Wool Factory, and later on to Murtoa.
In 2017 the Horsham Rural City Council regained the steam roller and it is now at the Council Depot.
In the future the Council hopes that with voluntary staff and public help they can undertake the steam roller's restoration to the original colour, equipment and signage. 

If you have any photos or information on the Aveling & Porter steam roller, you can contact Council's Fleet Manager Warren Kennedy on 538209608 during business hours.

Family history on the land

 
State Library of Victoria is hosting its 14th annual Family History Feast during the National Family History Month. 

Enjoy free information sessions on a range of subjects based on this year’s theme, and learn how Victorian government agencies can help family historians. 

This year’s program is of special interest to country people, as it is on researching maps and land records.

The Program begins at 9.30am when the doors open

10–10.05am
Welcome
Kate Torney, Chief Executive Officer, State Library Victoria

10.05–11am
Exploring Koorie history and genealogy
John Patten, Manager Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Museums Victoria

11–11.45am
Overview of Public Record Office Victoria land records
Charlie Farrugia, Senior Collections Advisor, Public Record Office Victoria  

11.45am–12.05pm
Care and preservation of your family history collection
Conservation staff, State Library Victoria

12.05–1pm
Break

1–1.45pm
Farmland and manor houses to air fields and hospitals: military property acquisition during WWII
Terrie Page, Assistant Director Access and Communication, Victorian State Office, National Archives of Australia 

1.45–2.15pm
From cattle yards to war workers: the plan collection of Bendigo Regional Archives Centre
Dr Michele Matthews, Archives Officer, Bendigo Regional Archives Centre

2.15–3pm
Family history on the map
Sarah Ryan, Coordinator Map Collection, State Library Victoria

3–4pm
2017 Don Grant Memorial Lecture – Families and land: land settlement and the role of families, Victoria 1870–1940
Dr Charles Fahey, Convener History Program, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University
Introduced by Jan Parker, President, Victorian Association of Family History Organisations (VAFHO)

Enjoy free information sessions on a range of subjects based on this year’s theme, and learn how Victorian government agencies can help family historians.

Family history feast is on Monday 21st August 2017 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Entry is via Door 3 of the State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston St, Melbourne.

The sessions are free, but bookings are essential. You can book online, Phone: 03 8664 7099 or Email: inquiries@slv.vic.gov.au

Wimmera fiction

The recently released novel "Wimmera" by Mark Brandi is largely set in the Stawell area with references to the Black Range & the Grampians, Barnes Street, the Overland train, Halls Gap with a football team.

It is peppered with late 1980’s social culture - Ita and the 'Women’s Weekly'; 'Spycatcher' (remember MI5 senior intelligence officer/spy Peter Wright’s autobiography and the ruckus it caused?); TV shows like 'Monkey Magic', 'Hey Hey It’s Saturday', 'Wonder Years', and the 'A-Team'; films like 'Witness' with Harrison Ford, and when there was only one 'Terminator' movie. 
 

The story begins in the long, hot summer of 1989, Ben and Fab are best friends. Growing up in a small country town, they spend their days playing cricket, yabbying in local dams, wanting a pair of Nike Air Maxes and not talking about how Fab's dad hits him or how the sudden death of Ben's next-door neighbour unsettled him. Almost teenagers, they already know some things are better left unsaid. Then a newcomer arrived in the Wimmera. Fab reckoned he was a secret agent and he and Ben staked him out. Up close, he looked strong. Maybe even stronger than Fab's dad. Neither realised the shadow this man would cast over both their lives. Twenty years later, Fab is still stuck in town, going nowhere but hoping for somewhere better. Then a body is found in the river, and Fab can't ignore the past any more.

A foggy morning on the Wimmera River

Part one is told in 12 year old schoolboy Ben’s voice: long, hot days of camping, schoolyard bullying, sexual awakenings, a new neighbour and a sense of the ominous in the surrounding adult world.

Part two is told in Fab’s adult voice: at 28 years old and in the same town working in a shop, with dreams of better things, looking back while trying not to.

Part three is set in the present time, and unravels the full story after a body is found in the creek.

Originally from the Marche region in Italy, Mark Brandi grew up Italian in a rural Victorian town which influences much of his work. Mark graduated from a criminal justice degree and his career includes roles as a policy advisor and project officer in the Department of Justice, before changing direction and deciding to write.

"Wimmera" is his first novel, and won the British '2016 Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger award'.

Apprehended

Dimboola Police had an interesting find recently, during a clean-up of an old storage area at the police station. They found the station’s original Charge Book, dating back to 1880, and a Forage Book dating back to 1939.

Entries from 1886, Dimboola Banner

The Charge Book provides an excellent snapshot of early law enforcement in the Dimboola area and, considering its age, is in remarkably good condition.

The Forage Book contains receipts for horse food provided to the police horses that were housed in stables which used to be in what is now the rear yard of the residence next door to the station. 

Dimboola Police Station in Lloyd St, Google Maps

Dimboola Station Commander, Acting Senior Sergeant Darren Sadler, said that they realised very quickly that they’d stumbled upon a “gem”.

“When we started looking through the old Charge Book, we instantly realised we had found something of historical significance. A phone call to the Victoria Police Museum confirmed we had a located a bit of a gem.”

On Monday the 15th of May, Acting Senior Sergeant Sadler, Leading Senior Constable Neil Zippel and Leading Senior Constable Cal Myers officially handed over the items to the Curator of the Victoria Police Museum in Melbourne, where they will eventually go on public display.

Pictured above: Leading Senior Constable Zippel, Acting Senior Sergeant Sadler, and Leading Senior Constable Myers, Dimboola Banner.

 The Charge Book is now of an age where it can be publicly shared. Each page has been photographed, and plans are now in progress to share the contents with the local community.
Copied from the 'Dimboola Banner' 22nd May 2017