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At the Tatong Market
Joe (treasurer) and Bev (assistant Secretary) at the Tatong Market this 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 now held in the Tatong Memorial Hall.
"We may keep our grandparent's shoes we we don't walk in
them. We find our own way forward." - Kevin Smith
Calling the Artists of Tatong District
Have you an artistic bent?
And would you care to use it to make a cow, if you had an idea how to make a
cow?
Not a warm hairy moo-ing cow, but a Representative Cow.
Shepparton has fibreglass cows. What might Tatong, in commemoration of its
dairying history, have by way of a bovine ornament?
The Tatong Heritage Group thinks a cow, or cow and calf
– even just a calf – would be most appropriate beside the walking trail,
when it comes to pass.
Could a cow, be it lifelike or surrealistic, be made from say
-
Wool
-
Bricks
-
Rocks
-
Corrugated iron
-
Scrap steel
-
Old tyres…
The Tatong Heritage Group would try to
get some funding for an appropriate ruminant quadruped approximation.
(Note; it doesn’t have to produce milk)
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.
The map can be always be downloaded from the "Visitor's Page"
Chick Walker and Les MacLean are making signs for some local historical sites.
Beginning in Whitegate, Les has routed, painted and (with some help from his friends) set up some outstanding markers, such as this for the site of the Whitegate Creamery at Elm Tree Corner.
It's out!
Edited by Lydia Dronseiker, this handsome book is compiled from the memories of the old-timers of Tatong.
Cost is $20.
You can purchase your own copy from the Tatong Tavern, or contact a committee member - cost is $20, plus postage and handling if by mail. Or contact the group's President, Kevin Smith, on 03 5767 2309, or by post to 648 Tolmie Rd Tatong 3673.
"Those were the days at Tatong" describes what it was like growing up in and
living a small country town in the north east of Victoria.
Based on an oral history project initiated by the Tatong Heritage Group, the
contributors all resided at Tatong at one point or another and share their
memories of a tight knit and supportive rural community.
This book has been produced with the philosophy that understanding our
communities at a grass roots level gives us a context for understanding our
society at a broader level.
It is dedicated to all those who came before; who worked so hard to ensure
our future.
For August 2009, the Tatong
Heritage Group put on a bonnet show in the Benalla Library's display
Cabinet.
Information sheets explained the bonnet project, and many of the lovely
bonnets made by people of the Tatong district decorated the shelves.
Sayette Hairdressing generously lent us 2 heads,
complete with faces and hair. They even styled the hair in the ringlets of
the day.
(Ringlets must be a periodic fashion.)
Roses From the Heart™
is a project innovated by Christina Henri in Australia,
and now convict women all over the world are being remembered. As of August
2008 she has had 11,000 bonnets made and donated, towards her goal of
25,566. Next year she will hold a second Victorian Blessing of the Bonnets.
Her bonnet pattern can be downloaded by right-clicking
BonnetPattern.pdf (470kb) and
selecting "Save Target As".
She comments that Kevin Rudd's paternal fifth great-grandmother, Mary Wade,
was transported to Australia when she was just 12.
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.
(Or of the
women who had a very kind and talented friend make the bonnet for
her.)
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.
Thanks to all who put in time and effort to prepare the hall and run the
event.
Thanks and congratulations also to the Black and White Orchestra, who are
celebrating their 50th this year.
The Tatong Heritage Group received the Benalla Australia Day "Community Event 2007" Award, for the Tatong Railway Precinct launch day in 2006. Congratulations to Everyone!!!
Several members of the group made it to the Benalla Performing Arts Centre to accept the award.
To add to the celebrations, Mary Anne Hatters (pictured 2nd from the Right) was awarded the Benalla Community Achiever of the Year.
And Toby (spelt 'Evan') Lewis was awarded the Tatong
Community Achiever.
The win was celebrated at the
Tatong Australia Day BBQ
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)
Tatong picture ca. 1890
La Trobe Picture Collection,
State Library of Victoria
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
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.
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.
