About Us
Horsham Historical Society was formed at a meeting on 13th May 1957 with 10 inaugural members and membership set at 5 shillings. Today we have an average of 60 members, including 7 life members, and an extensive Horsham and district local history collection of information. We still abide by the original charter ...to foster the collection and preservation of local history records.
First meetings were held in the municipal library in the Mechanics Institute building and later in the local CWA hall and private homes. All the while, Society members pressed the local Council for a permanent home. This was finally achieved on 17 March 1969 when the Mechanics Institute building was secured by a donation of $25 per year to Council for its use.
Mostly monthly meetings have been held over the years. In 1982, the rooms were opened to the public for one Sunday each month. Today, we open Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons 1:30 - 4:30 pm and other times by arrangement.
Our Horsham Historian newsletter is published quarterly in February, May, August and November.
In 1986, an upgrade of the Mechanics Institute premises by renovating and repainting was undertaken. Three years later, further refurbishment and additional shelving were added and, in 1991, with the nearby Horsham Theatre and Wimmera Legacy redevelopment, the Society acquired the welcome addition of a third room to expand its archive holdings.
In 2000, we converted a back store room into an office, installing new furniture and a computer system, increasing our premises to four rooms. This room and the computers are now used to scan photos, negatives, slides and edit video as well as inputting information relating to photo history. From one Windows 98 computer, which is still being used to scan negatives, there are now three computers used in the back office.
Three computers, are searchable by members and visitors, whilst our society laptop computer is used for general emailing and research enquiries in the main room.
A small kitchen and archive box storage area with shelving was added in 2007 when a new external wall was added on the east side.
Previous audio tapes of guest speakers and interviews are being typed up to make the information more accessible. Some of these were recorded more than twenty five years ago.
The society now has two video cameras that can be used to record guest speakers and for interviews to preserve stories of the past and present.
