Next meeting: Thursday, 17 August, at 7,30p.m.
Anne Beggs Sunter will speak on 'Nineteenth Century Exhibitions',
focussing on the development of the Arts and Sciences

NEWS AND NOTES

Pat Hope, OAM

It is a great pleasure to salute the community work of Patrick Hope, our Treasurer, who was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in June 2006 in recognition for his services to tourism, the environment, recreation and heritage.

Since Patrick retired from his senior position as Head of the School of Business at the University of Ballarat, he has devoted himself to community well being. We are so lucky that he settled on Bowen Hill and planted his vineyard, with his commitment to Buninyong growing with his vines.

Today, Pat is Treasurer of the Buninyong Town Hall Committee, Treasurer of the Buninyong and District Historical Society, committee member of the Great Dividing Trail Association, committee member of the Ballarat Branch of the National Trust, and an active member of the Buninyong Progress Association, to name just a few of his interests.

Pat is a regular member of the cataloguing team, and has clocked up hundreds of entries in our photograph database. He has also been instrumental in developing walking tracks within the township and towards Mount Buninyong. Our warmest congratulations Pat!

World League of Historical Cities Conference in Ballarat, end of October.

The Ballarat Heritage Festival will take place on Saturday and Sunday 28-29 October, with Buninyong taking part through the Old Library. The Central Highlands Historical Association Family History Fair will occur as part of the Festival, again taking place at the Aquinas Campus of the Australian Catholic University in Mair St. Ballarat. Many public and private buildings will be open, and the City of Ballarat is preparing a special program of events.

Nomination of Old Baths to National Trust's Victorian Heritage Awards

Your committee decided to nominate the Old Baths in the Gardens as a landscaping project to the National Trust-Weekly Times Heritage Awards. The judges turned up on a cold, wet morning in July, when the Gardens were being dug up to install a new irrigation system. I took the judges to inspect the site, huddling under our umbrellas and stepping carefully through the piles of upturned earth. It looked a disaster zone, but I asked the judges to use their imagination, and consider a sparkling Spring afternoon when locals might choose this venue for their wedding.

Thankfully one of the judges was interested in concrete, and could appreciate the achievement of our redoubtable C.P. Wilson, the Shire Rngineer from the early 1900s who was the genius behind so many of our pioneering concrete projects.

This was also an opportunity to call attention to the efforts of Derick Leather, who was the brains behind the transformation of the baths. We await the decision of the judges.

Ballarat Treasures, initiative of the Mayor of Ballarat.

In association with the World League of Historical Cities, the Mayor David Vendy called for nominations to a Ballarat Treasures List. Pat Hope was very active in nominating a number of Buninyong sites, including Mount Buninyong, Buninyong's dry stone walls and the Union Jack reserve.

Natural Heritage Tree Day

Sunday 30 July saw members out helping Landcare groups in our area plant trees and poas on Mount Buninyong, at the Garibaldi Bridge, and at Mount Clear.

The aim of Landcare is to try to replicate the original landscape as encountered by Europeans in the 1830s.

Lal Lal Falls Management Committee.

With support from the Moorabool Shire Council, big changes are afoot at the Lal Lal Falls Recreation Reserve. Anne Beggs Sunter, Erica Nathan and Geoff Hewitt (former Principal at Magpie Primary School) are all members, and working hard on designing new interpretive signs, new walking trails and indigenous plantings to replace the exotic willows and pines planted by generations who did not understand the impact of European trees on our fragile environment.

Recently new BBQ facilities have been installed, and a new viewing site presents a spectacular view of the landscape.

BIOGRAPHICAL QUERIES

June-August 2006

ANDERSON, William and Mary Anderson

Both died in Buninyong. Their family included Francis, Jean, Mary, James, William, Elizabeth, Alexander and Martha (another Martha and David died in infancy) In Buninyong second half of 19th Century.

ANDREWS, Alfred William

Supposedly born at Buninyong circa 1848.

HARWOOD, George and Hannah

Local Court Records show the transfer of the liscence for the Royal Mail Hotel on the corner of Cornish and Learmonth St. Buninyong in 1875 from Albert Bramhall to George Harwood. In January 1876 Hannah, wife of hotelkeeper, died, aged 63, and was buried at Buninyong.

NICHOLLS, Willie McKay

Born in Buninyong in Fisken St. on 5 October 1886. Apparently an exceptional musician.

RASMUSSEN and COLLINGS families

In Lal Lal-Mount Doran area.

REDDIE

Trial Saw Mills, 1858- William Reddie and Christian Reddie (nee Thomson) who arrived in Australia on the 18th April 1857 and moved to Buninyong in 1858. It is believed that they settled on the east side of Mt Buninyong in an area known at that time as "Trial Mills".

REID, John

From Scotland, perhaps a builder in Buninyong in 1850s.

SIMPSON

Buninyong, 1850s. Do you have any records of 3 Simpson brothers, being blacksmiths in Buninyong circa 1855-1857? William, Joseph and Thomas, and William's son John.

SPICER, William

Of Mount Buninyong. Married Emma Widdison, of French origin.

SWINDELL, George

Died Buninyong 1858, aged 8. Seeking information about his parents.

TINWORTH

WILLIAMS, James

Mt. Buninyong. Came to Buninyong in about 1858, Reputed to have built and lived in "The Hermitage" on Mt Buninyong. In later life he moved to Melbourne (Kew), died there in 1927. He is buried at Buninyong.

COMING EVENTS

Note for your Diary Our AGM will happen on Thursday 19 October at 7.30p.m., when Andrew Millar will speak on "Dry Stone Walls'. Andrew is an engineer with the City of Ballarat, and Vice-President of the Dry Stone Walls Association of Australia.