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APRIL NEWSLETTER 2004 ANNUAL MEETING On Monday evening at the courthouse the annual meeting was held. The election of office bearers was held and the committee for the coming year is as follows- President Alan Burgess 54762367 Vice president Derek Reid 54762274 Secretary Dawn Angliss 54762006 Treasurer Janet Trudgeon 54762437 Committee Di Reid (research) 54762274 John Neall 54762207 Brian Dieckmann 54752937 Public Officer Derek Reid Delegates to CHHA Derek Reid and Gordon Dawe Website http://home.vicnet.net.au/~newdhs/ Subscriptions are now due – single $20, family
$35 plus $5 for postage if the newsletter is posted. Contact the secretary if
you want it e-mailed. In the absence of advice we will continue in the manner
you received it last year. After the formalities we were delighted to welcome Margaret Di Fiore as our guest speaker. Margaret started by explaining how she came to be so deeply involved in research. She began to be interested in why her family came to settle in Muckleford and how they lived. As she read about the Muckleford district she jotted down other pieces of information that caught her eye. Then came a query about the Newstead school and realising that Newstead did not have the newspaper articles, she started indexing for Newstead. Thanks to the vision of Liz Coady they were put onto computer and are now a great resource. Sometimes the newspaper from one town will have only a small article about an event but it is often worthwhile to check the other newspapers as they could well have more information. Some of the information Margaret has discovered is interesting…for example the first mention of Yandoit refers to it as “Zandoit”; sometimes it is weird…like the story of the lost cat and the oven! Margaret spoke how her work gave her great satisfaction and gave us some more indexing to put onto Computer and 2 books of cuttings. Janet Trudgeon thanked Margaret on behalf of the
Society for her efforts over the years and for her interesting talk. LAST EXCURSION The feedback we have received about our combined
excursion to the Pickpocket has been most gratifying. There were certainly a
large crowd of people who turned up and gathered at the Pickpocket on Sunday
April 4. David Tuck from Newstead Landcare introduced Claude Culvenor who spoke
of the research he had done on the history of the area and in particular the
various gold rushes to the area. Claude’s meticulous gathering of old maps and
detailing where he sourced his material are a great example and we appreciate
having the results of his labours. Then David Bannear, archaeologist with Parks
Victoria, took the group on a walk to see the various aspects that remain today
such as the adit into the hillside and the remains of a water race. Beginning
with how the gold formed, through the history of the aboriginal occupancy to the
significance of gold in the 1800’s as a base for the currency, to imaging how
the miners lived…it all came alive and gave us thoughts to reconsider and
ponder over. Somehow the miracle of the loaves and fishes occurred and everyone
had a cuppa and cake and there was still plenty to spare! NEXT EXCURSION That standard can’t be maintained each month!
However we have come across some intriguing details and sketches of places
around the town that might be of interest. We will put these together as a
‘mystery’ tour of Newstead. For example, did you know that in the 1870’s
Newstead had a Biscuit Factory? What did it look like? We will leave from the
courthouse on Monday May 3 at 1.30, carpooling to various destinations about the
town. HERITAGE FESTIVAL The courthouse will be open on the weekend of
May 15th and 16th from 2 – 4 pm. there will be a display
on the theme of Cobb & Co with reference to Newstead’s coach builders,
Rowe Bros. Some of the intriguing history of this Australian icon will be
displayed as well as being a chance for people to come and see our collection of
photographs, indexes of newspaper articles etc. Please come and take advantage
of this weekend opening if Mondays are not convenient. Next meeting Monday May 17th at 1.30. |
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©2004 Newstead & District Historical Society Web Design: Brian
Dieckmann
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Page last updated: 20 December 2008