Preserving the History and Culture of Tatong and District.
The Tatong Heritage Group meets on the 4th
Monday of every Second Month (being every Odd month). At 3:30pm the Tatong Memorial Hall (Note change of week & time, as of July 2024) |
The
Tatong Heritage Group
will next meet at 3:30pm on Monday September 23rd for the Annual General Meeting at the Tatong Memorial Hall all welcome. (Note changed time!) ________________________ Tatong Heritage Group Brochure; right-click to download (612kb) |
On March
22nd 2024, three new Information Panels were unveiled, with
Benalla Mayor Danny Claridge doing the honours. Chris Hakkeness spoke about Tatong School Pine Plantation, as depicted on the story-board at Stony Creek, 5km South of Tatong. At the reserve by the bridge just West of Tatong, Les MacLean gave the history of the McCashney mill and the tram-line that once came to that point. In Tatong, by the CFA shed, Steve Warne described the Hawkers who once camped at that spot. |
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Where
were Davy Falls, Tatong? |
In June 2013, a Clone of the Hovell Red-Gum was planted at Wrightly, North of Tatong. Click here for more details...
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Tatong
Heritage Group with Heather & the Amazing Flying Mascot @ the 2011 Benalla Day-in-the-Gardens Market |
Samaria History Night
The
Tatong Heritage Group hosted a “Samaria District Oral History
Night”. |
Above:
Les MacLean, Leo Ginnivan and Chick Walker |
This
badge is on Leo Ginnivan's grandfather's cricket bat. |
Barry
O'Connor spoke of some of the confusion on the origin of Samaria
and Moorngag. And Mt Verdon. |
A
Good Turn-out. |
Young
Jack assisted, attired in the Tatong Heritage Group apron (made
by Heather.) |
And young Jack did a fine job of helping clean up afterwards. |
Tatong (and District) Heritage Group
Stand at the Molyullah Easter Fair |
Norma Ryan, and Les MacLean holding Norma's book, |
Danny Delany won the 75 yards in 1957. |
The Team - Bev Hakkennes, Chick Walker, Heather
McCauley, Les MacLean |
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At the Tatong Market
At the December market - beautiful weather if a trifle windy.
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Chick Walker with her new publication on Benalla and District Saleyards.
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Joe (treasurer) and Bev (assistant Secretary) at the Tatong Market kast September. A chilly day but with coffee & bacon sandwiches available, who cares? The group has a variety of historical pieces on display & for sale. |
Heather and Bev with the mailbag Rosemary and Nita used to use, now generously donated to the Heritage Group. |
Note: Meetings are held in the Tatong Memorial Hall.
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New Plaques on Map The
Self-Drive Map is updated to show the new plaques;
these mark & give information on the the Sawdust Kiln, the
site of St Albans Church, the Police House, and the Timber
Trolley.
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Chick Walker and Les MacLean are making signs for some local historical sites. Beginning in White Gate, Les has routed, painted and (with some help from his friends) set up some outstanding markers, such as this for the site of the White Gate Creamery at Elm Tree Corner.
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For
August 2009, the Tatong Heritage Group put on a bonnet show in
the Benalla Library's display Cabinet. |
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Roses From the Heart™ Check
her website
www.christinahenri.com.au for more information. |
2008
is One Hundred Years since Australian women were entitled to
vote in this country's democracy. (More information at
www.women.vic.gov.au/womenvote)
The Tatong Heritage Group are celebrating women's suffrage in support of the Women Convicts Project, currently taking place in Geelong and Tasmania.
(More information at http://www.femalefactory.com.au/exhibit.htm#Roses) The project aims to have 25,000 bonnets made, by descendants of female convicts. This commemorates the 25,000 women who were sent to Australia as convicts during this nation's early history. Each bonnet bears the name of the female convict ancestor of the maker. If you have no convict in your past, you can adopt one. The
bonnet also bears the name of its maker. |
2007 was 50 Years
since electricity came to Tatong! The original "Switching-On" ball, planned to celebrate this on 7th February 1957, was nearly postponed as 4 French Island escapees were at large in the Tatong area. One was caught in the school (by a local, Bob McEwen), and on the 7th, the remaining three were caught in a hut on Tiger Hill rd. Word went out, "They are caught, so come to the Ball". Electricity was switched on in Tatong (but the outlying residents didn't get it until the next day.) The "50
Years since Switching On" Ball, held in the new Tatong
Hall on Saturday July 7th 2007, was a romp. |
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Thanks
to Bill Dewing, we have a
cutting from the "Benalla Standard", 17th November 1933,
of the Tatong Tennis season opening. (page holds a .jpg, 155kb)
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Tatong picture ca. 1890 |
Monaghan's Hill Picture Australia offers a search of many significant online pictorial collections. A search with the word "Tatong" brings up quite a few old photos, including this one by W. H. Ferguson, taken around 1890. Entitled "Tatong picture", it is now in the possession of the State Library (and reproduced here with their kind permission). It was published in the February 06 issue of the Tattler, challenging readers to identify what part of Tatong is portrayed. Despite the relatively indistinct skyline, several people have recognised the place. |
2006
version by Andrew
Wallace |
It
took Andrew Wallace's photographic skill to capture this modern
version. This view can be seen from Tiger Hill Road, about 1.5km
up from Tatong, looking North. Even walking about with the 1890 photo printed on a transparency, an endeavour to find the very spot where the first photographer stood has so far failed. The creek-line has no doubt changed. The original photographer may have stood on top of the hill on the South side of Tiger Hill road, or on what it now Wayne Lewis's property, North of the road. |
Wayne
recalls that the hill had been owned by a Mr Monaghan, prior to
his father buying that piece of land. Thanks to the State Library of Victoria for permission to freely use the picture, both in the Tatong Tattler and on the Tatong Heritage Group's website. Thanks also to Andrew Wallace for the 2006 version. Copies of the original picture, digital or printed, can be purchased through the State Library Pictures Perhaps in time a picture showing both the old and the new will be prepared. |
Benalla Pictures Melbourne Uni is helping Benalla recover rich legacy in early photographs. A collection of photos documenting Benalla and surrounding district will be made available through the University of Melbourne Archives in partnership with the Benalla & District Family History Group. 1,250 dry plate glass negatives were created by Benalla-based professional photographer William John Howship between 1904 and 1931. |
Launch of the Tatong Railway Precinct On
Saturday, 11 March, 2006 over 300 people came to help
celebrate the unveiling of the plaque and storyboard, and a
great day of past & present Tatong.
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All four signs are now up, marking the station sites on the one-time Benalla-Tatong railway line. |
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The signs are in the same style as the originals. |
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And
the Tatong Young Bloods put in some hard
yakka on a different relict of Tatong Transport.
The timber tram-lines, which once carried timber to the mills, are in some places being overgrown by the bush. In April the Young Bloods worked to clear growth and bush litter.
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Who
was buried at the Elm Tree Corner? It is known
that a creamery was there. It is also recorded in oral history
that either one woman, two women, or a man and a woman (or all
of these) were buried there. WANTED!
The original Tatong Railway sign.
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Meetings Meetings
will be held on the 4th Monday
of every Odd Month, in the Tatong Memorial Hall,
on the corner of Tiger Hill Road & Tatong Rd, starting at 3:30pm (change of week & time as of
July 2024) |
Disambiguation: Tatong, not Tatonga There is a Parish of Tatonga in the County of Benambra, adjoining the county of Bogong. A township named Tatonga was gazetted, apparently at the junction of Jarvis Creek and the Mitta Mitta – if it ever existed, it would now be part of Lake Hume (Tatonga Parish Map). Instead of Tatonga, Tallangatta seems to have come into being, in the 1870s. There was a Tatonga railway station (opened July 1891, closed March 1981) on the Cudgewa railway line, Victoria. Today there is nothing left of the station, and the railway line is becoming the High Country Rail Trail. "Tatonga Inlet" comes South off the Hume Reservoir about 7km East of present day Tallangatta. "Tatong" is 117km SW of "Tatonga". |
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Tatong
is a small township in North Eastern Victoria, Australia. |
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