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AUGUST 2001 NEWSLETTER THE PERFORMANCE OF THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS MARTIN The
night at Boots cafe was well attended and appreciated. It was interesting to
hear Steve Walter express his opinion that the atmosphere was different to the
performances in the courthouse – less reverent! We decided to photocopy Thomas
Martin’s letter and with an added explanation, bind it into a booklet and sell
it. We sold a few at the performance and intend to have more for sale at the
Family History Expo in Ballarat in October. The booklet is for sale at $10 but
for members of our society it is $5. Thanks to the school who
help with our photocopying and this time, with the binding as well. We gave them
a copy to show our appreciation. NAPE have made a video of a performance and in
the next newsletter there will be details of how to obtain a copy. They are also
going to make an audiotape of the show and propose to tape it at the courthouse.
They will need a willing audience to provide the laughter and applause. I’m
sure we can arrange that! It will be a valuable asset to have for our
collection. EXCURSION TO FRENCHMAN’S MINE On
Monday July 30 a group of about 20 went into the Muckleford forest to see the
Thornhill reef area where the roasting kilns will be restored, thanks to the
recent grant from Parks Victoria. Then in convoy, we followed Derek Reid to
Frenchman’s mine. David Bannear described this area in his book ”Historic
Mines in the Maldon Mining Division” and it was just as David said. On the
south side of Tunnel Track is an impressive tunnel into the hillside, with the
entrance now covered by a grille. Further up the hill are an airshaft and 3 deep
shafts – remains of the quartz period of mining. On the other side of the
track there was evidence of earlier alluvial mining. Shallow diggings, a puddler
and stone fireplaces were found thanks to efforts of several members. The usual
”cuppa” was enjoyed. It is very encouraging to have so many members and
others partaking in these little trips into our local area and also to have
people suggesting other sites for us to explore. Thank you. AT THE COURTHOUSE John
Neall is continuing to replace and restore the mortar around the sandstone
footings and has sprayed the weeds around the building. The workroom is abuzz on
a Monday morning. Janet Trudgeon works on indexing The Echo on the old reader
and Di Reid is now doing the same thing on the new reader-printer. Bev Gray and
Lynn Wallace, our ”typists extraordinaire”, work at the old Mac computers
entering the entries from the Mount Alexander Mail supplied to us by Margaret Di
Fiore and the count is now over 15,000 for the 2 papers. As well, on the PC,
Brian Dieckmann is entering in ”In Magic, indexing done by Derek Reid, John
Neall and Dawn Angliss on the Family History files. This process will also apply
to the photos that are to be catalogued. There is a spare computer waiting to be
used and pen and paper work on indexing needed to be done. It is not all work
though – a break is always taken at 11am to have a chat over a cuppa! FAMILY HISTORY EXPO Central
Highlands Historical Association runs this every year in Ballarat. Our society
has been represented at this event in the past and intends to be there again
this year. It is on October 30 and 31 at St Aquinas College, Ballarat. ”A SOCIETY
GET-TOGETHER” Over recent months, as we have been successful in obtaining yet another grant, I have often expressed the wish that we should celebrate our achievements. We have decided to do so and also to extend to Liz Coady who has sold her house and moves on, a suitable thankyou for her efforts in organising the society in the direction we are heading today. The arrangements are to have an evening at our courthouse at 7.30pm on Saturday September 15. Could you please bring a plate of food and a bottle of what-ever-you- like and join us? As well as a general get together, if you have an item of interest that you might like to show us and speak about for a short time, please bring it along Do come - bring you partners – bring the kids! If you know of former members please invite them as well. And it would be great if any of our members that we correspond with but do not get to see very often, could manage to come and meet us as well. (The local motel has reopened and it’s a great time for a weekend in Central Victoria!’) To
help us with arrangements could you let us know if you are able to attend? Ring
me – Dawn Angliss 0354762006 – or fill in this form and return it to us by
September 13.
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©2004 Newstead & District Historical Society Web Design: Brian Dieckmann Page last updated: 20 December 2008 |