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MAY
2003 NEWSLETTER THIS MONTH May is proving to be a much quieter month than April was! However, the team is ’beavering’ away on Monday mornings as usual. One new activity is making use of the 40 boxes and acid free folders that were our gift from Public Records Office. This is meaning that all the things stored in our security room are being sorted through and rehoused in this new system. An occasional gem surfaces. One such one was a lettercard dated December 1893, sent from Camberwell from a Charles Hook of Camberwell, detailing goods despatched by rail to a member of the Leathbridge family of Green Gully (Sandon) and bearing the old Green Gully Post Office stamp. We have just had a request on research of the Hook family so it was quite topical. Our room with the computers has been made more user- friendly with electrical work carried out to install more power points. This means no more trailing leads and so is a much safer workplace. It has been pointed out to me that the last excursion was to ”Pleasant Plains” not Spring Farm as I reported in last month’s newsletter. Spring Farm was the next one along. Our next meeting is Monday June 16 at 1.30 at the courthouse. EXCURSION We are repeating a trip made a few years ago, in fact
probably the first of our excursions. We are going to ’the precipice’. This
place was brought to our attention by a photograph in our collection called
”The Ragged Thirteen”. For a long time this puzzled us – why the name, why
the gathering and where, and who were these people? There are still a lot of
unanswered questions but we do know some facts. The
Echo July 28th 1900 ”...that invincible body of young men known as ’The
Ragged Thirteen.” This name first originated some months ago, when one of
their number got married, and as there were thirteen male guests in attendance
in his honor, it was suggested by one of their number, who has since blossomed
into their leader, that the complement assume the name as above, and hence from
that time forth it has been so, and their strength now has greatly increased. Of
course their name is not the most desirable one, but it must not be at all
confounded with either their attire or habits, for they each have every quality
of a gentleman, and their motive in forming themselves as one, is to pass an
evening now and again pleasantly. Such was the case last week, when it was
thought a fit and proper time to celebrate the birthdays of the leader (Mr G.
Tangye) and the lieutenant (Mr R. Williamson), both of whom were presented with
handsome gold scarf-pins by their fellow-friends, the presentation being made by
Mr Hugh McNabb. Their were about 30 young people present at the little homestead
of Mr Franklin’s on the Joyces Creek road, which rang with friendly
joy......” The
Echo May 26th 1900 ”The Ragged Thirteen”, a select coterie of Newstead
youth, had a high old time extending over several nights celebrating the relief
of Mafeking...As the night waned, their patriotic fervor became as strong and as
mixed as the potations they had swallowed... The revellers dropped off one by
one, some onto the gutters, others around the corners....Here the story endeth,
but the rush for pick-me-ups next day was eloquent of the splendid time enacted
the previous night. The
Echo January 9th 1901 The Captain Mr Geo Tangye and several
members and friends of the ”Ragged Thirteen” met at the Crown Hotel on
Friday evening for the purpose of making a presentation of a handsome gold
turquoise brooch to Miss Mary Wylie, on the occasion of her birthday... Alan Burgess thought that the photo could have been taken at
the precipice and led us on a fascinating excursion that we hope to repeat on
June 2nd leaving from the courthouse at 1.30pm.
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Page last updated: 20 December 2008