February 2005 Newsletter
This month our speaker will
be Ivan Fell who will talk about "Fell's Milk Bar"
and other memories of Inverloch days. Visitors and friends are welcome to
attend! At 2.15 pm, prior to the meeting, we enjoy a cuppa and chat and view
items on display. We then hold a brief business meeting which is followed by a
talk by our speaker.
Vale' Bill Grieve
It is with deep sadness
we report the passing, after a short illness, of our President Bill Grieve
on 2/2/2005. Bill had served on the Committee and, this year, as our
President. Over the years Bill and Kath Bendle have organised our
fundraising projects and have generously given of their time to further the
work of the Society. Bill's sincerity, quiet disposition and caring ways
endeared him to many. We will miss him. Sympathy was conveyed to his
family and Kath Bendle his friend.
Kevin O'Brien spoke on
"Telephones" at last month's meeting. As a boy, Kevin told of growing up in
Castlemaine where the family had three small farms. At school, when he was
about 12-13, they learnt about telephones and he got interested in them. He
connected the three farms, getting parts and doing his own lines so they could
ring each other. In 1963, Kevin joined the PMG and completed a Technicians
Course and then went on to teach telecommunications. Alexander Graham Bell
developed a workable telephone in 1876 - he was interested in the production of
speech and speech therapy. In 1976, to celebrate the centenary of Bell's
telephone, a group researched, compiled and published a book, "100 Years of the
Telephone 1876 - 1976". Following this the Australian Historical Telephone
Society was established. They hold bi-monthly meetings and displays in the
Hawthorn Telephone Exchange building. Many members have collections of
telephones; some collect various related parts. Kevin brought and showed five
telephones he has restored. He has about 120 at home and plans to house and
display them and include working models with ringer and dial tones. Kevin
reminded us of those past days when "party lines" operated and people
listened-in!! He spoke of the rapid development in telecommunications over
recent years, privatisation and the expansion of other companies in this field.
Thank you, Kevin for your interesting presentation and for donating a copy of
the book to our Society.
The photographic display
held at the Angling Club Market on 2/1/2005 created much interest and was well
attended. Town walks to historic sites were also held on 2 & 3 January and we
thank Eulalie Brewster for giving the commentaries on places we visited.
Preliminary Notices
In March, when we receive
advice on tides, we will probably walk to the wreck of the "Magnat", located at
Venus Bay beach. Watch our display board in the Arcade for this. In May, we
plan to hold a bus outing to neighbouring districts, in lieu of our normal
meeting. When arrangements are finalised we will advise of details.
In Search of George Wrigley
The search for George
Wrigley continues, albeit slowly! We reported that Mrs Wrigley and Mrs Laycock
were sisters – Eliza and Anne Borthistle. Brian Borthistle of Queensland
learned of our search from our website and supplied the following information:
Eliza and Anne's family emigrated from Ireland to Melbourne in 1866, i.e. 6
years after the girls. The family consisted of father, mother, 3 girls and 3
boys and a male cousin. The youngest boy died on the voyage to Australia.
After 12 months the family moved to Sydney. The information opens up a new line
of inquiry as to what may have happened to Eliza Wrigley and her son, George.
We hope that one day we will hear from relatives of Eliza's daughter Lucy
McClure who died in Malvern in 1923. Our last reference was Newsletter No-72.
Contributed by Ken Howsam.
