Kapana - the blog

Back issues of GHJ

2010-01-31T14:37:00.002+11:00

Most back issues of GHJ are available from #20 onwards. There are extremely limited copies of some in the #15 to #19 range.

However on occasion we have access to, or hear about early issues. When that happens, we list them on the Back Issues page. There are some quite early issues listed there at the moment from the Gippsland Regional Maritime Museum at Port Albert.

A new shop stocking all available copies is the Briagolong Bookshop, open 11am to 4pm (although that may vary), Thursday to Sunday.

It has been a long time

2010-01-30T14:03:00.000+11:00

It has been a long time, as both Debbie and Linda have been away with considerable family problems, as has Meredith, who edits GHJ for us.

However some of our pressures are now behind us, and although we still need to place our families first, we are able to start work on publishing again.

So we are at work on GHJ #31, which will be out by June 2010. And we still have hopes that GHJ #32 will follow soon afterwards.

We thank everyone for their patience - and look forward to GHJ #31 in the near future.

GHJ #31

2008-10-04T09:20:00.000+10:00

For all those hanging out for GHJ #31 - it is out there, and is full. We have the articles almost ready for #32!

We have been taking a bit of long service leave, what with job changes and ill family members, but hopefully will be back very soon.

GHJ #31

2008-01-27T09:46:00.000+11:00

Well, after taking Long Service Leave / Disaster Leave for 2007, work is starting on Gippsland Heritage Journal #31. Hopefully it will be out by June 2008.

We are having a nice, cool summer, so hopefully won't have the same problems again with bushfires, and won't have the stock shed flooded again - we lost quite a few of the last three issues on GHJ in one of the floods.

Anyone out there with books that should be noted should get in quick, and drop Linda a line on kapana[at]netspace.net.au

Mnay readers outside Gippsland tell us that Booknotes is the only way they are able to find out what is available.

Rollout Continues

2006-12-17T13:37:00.000+11:00

GHJ #30 has now been distributed to THESE STOCKISTS.

It will be mailed to subscribers on Monday 18th December.

GHJ #30 Rollout

2006-12-15T21:46:00.000+11:00

GHJ #30 is on hand - and rollout is starting - in between all the bushfire stuff.

So they will actually be in major retailers first - Collins at Sale, Traralgon Newsagency / ABC shop, the usual Bairnsdale shops (although it may be close to midday Saturday before they get there).

They will be posted to subscribers on Monday, so hopefully will start arriving on Tuesday.

It does look really good!

GHJ #30 is closer

2006-12-12T15:34:00.000+11:00

GHJ #30 is now at the binders in Melbourne.

Problem is - the dispatch department is at Briagolong, and things are a bit warm and smokey there at the minute - so that may slow things down for a few days as well.

So if we are lucky, it may be ready as early as the end of this week. But we then have to get it couriered to us, and distribute it.

Stay tuned - we will let you know progress.

GHJ 30 progress

2006-12-01T18:12:00.000+11:00

GHJ 30, marking twenty-years of publication, is currently at the printers. The cover is stunning.

So in the meantime, the contents are listed below.

After the pages are printed, it has to go to the binders inMelbourne. The minute they finish, I will be in my car on the way down to pick them up - and hopefully they will be in the mail (and shops) a very short time after that.

Watch this space for a better indication of the timelines.

Twenty Years, Thirty Issues 2

AFortnight with the Circuit Sister: Anne Dreyer in East Gippsland in 1943
Debra Squires 3

Wonthaggi and Sale: Two Theatres, Two Communities and Two Experiences of Cinema
Anne Wilson 13

'She Gave her Utmost': Annie Whitelaw from Briagolong, and her Family
Linda Barraclough 23

Photograph Folio: Jean Caldwell's Family Photos 29

AGippsland Grevillea Grower: Leomin Hodge
Robert Haldane 36

William Morris: On the Threshold of Gipps' Land
Annette Peisley 41

The Boys on the Honour Roll
Lyn Skillern 46

Views of Jumbunna 52

John Arabin
Shirley Arabin 55

Avon Shire Voters' Rolls 57

Booknotes 59

Abstracts from Historical Society Journals 62

Foldout - Map: East Gippsland detail from Map of Victoria (revised to January 1930)

Signature TableCloth/Quilt at Stratford

2006-02-23T13:44:00.000+11:00

The cataloguing team were sorting through some stuff in the Stratford Museum the other day, and this was located. The Museum is currently closed for redevelopment (hopefully open again in May), and this came in, we think, while the museum was closed.

At first appearances, it looked like this:

When it was (very carefully) opened out, it was found to be this:

There is a much larger picture HERE if you want to try and read the names.

This is what is known so far:

The signatures were probably collected at the Stratford Methodist Church Harvest Festival in 1918. They would have been written, and then embroidered over, with different people doing different blocks. It was probably a fund-raising venture.

The names have been transcribed, but it is going to be some time before they are converted from paper to digital. Details will then be made available in some form. So no lookups are available yet. But they may be in the future.

Stratford Historical Society books

2005-12-12T08:37:00.000+11:00

The other day I was totally gobsmacked to hear that someone paid $45 for a publication that Stratford Historical Society is still selling for $5!!!!!!

So I have put a quick page up on the net to let people know exactly what Stratford have for sale, and at what prices. Some of them also have my online indexes, so you can check before you buy.

And they have just found a few copies of the John Wilson History of the Avon Shire, which has been getting quite hard to find. It is there too.

$45!!!!! I still cannot believe it!!!!

GHJ Distributed

2005-11-29T21:06:00.000+11:00

Time to sit back and make a good cup of coffee - GHJ #29 has now been distributed to all outlets.

Retail stockists are listed HERE.

Just a little break for Christmas, then I am off to work on #30.

And check out the relocated Traralgon Library - must see what the local section looks like there now.

Book on Eileen Finlay

2005-11-24T08:03:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I happened to be in Melbourne at just the right time - when Sue Thompson picked up from the printers her book on Eileen Finlay.

Eileen was born at Maffra, the daughter of P.C. Moroney, first shire secretary at Bairnsdale, and shire engineer at Maffra. This book comes out of Lilydale, where her widowed mother moved with the children about 1890.

Eileen Finlay began writing late in life, long after her husband was killed in a boating accident at Lakes Entrance. Her best-known book is her first, The Caravan Passes, but she is known for many more.

Copies are $28.00 plus $5 postage and handling - but I will also have copies at the Centre for Gippsland Studies conference on Saturday.

Need to go off and keep packing for that bookshop now.

Annie Whitelaw

2005-11-21T07:25:00.000+11:00

Next thing to happen is the Centre for Gippsland Studies Conference this Saturday at Churchill.

I am due to run a bookshop there (everyone arrives with their books, from historical societies and the like, and we consolidate them on heaps of tables and sell - lots you do not see around, plus bargain basement stuff from Kapana Press).

My subject for the day is Annie Whitelaw - this is her headstone in the Briagolong Cemetery:

GHJ #29

2005-11-19T12:01:00.000+11:00

Gippsland Heritage Journal #29 is almost out. We do have a cover:

The cover (and foldout) feature Jumbunna, there are articles on the Gippsland Lakes, Gabo Island and Whaling, a house at Koonwarra, the wreck of the Saros at Point Hicks, naturalist Ruth Clark, Morwell Municipal Buildings, photographs of the Snowy River bandit and Wooden Men, and a photograph folio from all over Gippsland.

A full list of contents is HERE.

Early Heritage Journals

2005-11-19T11:56:00.000+11:00

Sorting is going on for the bookshop at the Centre for Gippsland Studies conference next week, and it looks as though most back issues of Gippsland Heritage Journal before #20 will be sold out after that.

So if you are hanging off buying back issues, you are going to have to get in this week.

Napier

2005-11-16T07:27:00.000+11:00

I have been having an interesting time with an old railways tourist map for around Yarram. It has a Napier siding - I have never heard of that as a place name before.

People remember the railway from South Gippsland to Yarram, but not a lot now realise it went as far out as Woodside, in a big loop through Calrossie and Won Wron. Bit like the one from Maffra to Briagolong being forgotten.

Arthur Rice obituary

2005-11-10T10:07:00.000+11:00

I have been asked about the obituary of Arthur Rice that appears in The Maffra Times of 24 April 1933, so am posting it here - I hadn't realised his Warragul and Omeo connections.

The original is held in the Local Collection in the Maffra Library, and requests for copies should be directed to the Maffra Historical Society.

Two at Once

2005-11-09T22:01:00.000+11:00

Wellington Landscapes has arrived back from the binders, and is ready for launch on Tuesday. And Gippsland Heritage Journal #29 is at the binders in Melbourne, on track for launch on 26th November at the Centre for Gippsland Studies conference.

Space in several sheds is at a premium.

"New" Maffra Newspaper

2005-11-09T12:15:00.000+11:00

This newspaper recently appeared with some others in the Historical Society material in the Maffra Library, and has a few of us wondering - as we have never heard of it before.

It is a Maffra edition of the Gippsland Times from Sale, dated 24 April 1933. We have no idea how long this was published. Has anyone else any ideas??? It is not the Maffra Spectator, which was taken over by the Times much later, in 1980, but appears to be a much earlier competitor to the Spectator.

Heyfield Primitive Methodist

2005-10-29T01:43:00.000+10:00

This was the church that first caught my eye all those years ago - and I would have sworn it used to have a sign on it saying "Primitive Methodist", but it doesn't seem to have now. It is just a beautiful and simple little church, and now much loved and used by the Uniting Church.

Methodist Churches in Gippsland

2005-10-28T09:17:00.000+10:00

I am starting to do some work on Methodist Churches in Gippsland, and am wondering just how many are left out there.

I know the ones at Heyfield and Maffra, and watched the one at Bairnsdale being demolished.

How many others are there, I wonder?????

Think I am about to head for Heyfield with the digital camera.

Progress

2005-10-27T17:41:00.000+10:00

Life is getting a little more under control. Wellington Landscapes is at the binders in Melbourne, and will be back well in time for the launch on 15th November. That now includes a public release at the Sale Museum from 11am to 1pm (and some are off after that for a counter lunch). Everyone is most welcome. And it is a good chance to have a look around the Sale Museum, with its revamped Local Government display, and newish archives and research rooms.

Gippsland Heritage Journal #29 went to the printers yesterday, and we are hopeful that we will have it for the Centre for Gippsland Studies conference on 26th November. A full list of contents is HERE - and we are already working on #30 - which will mark 20 years of GHJ.

Glencairn

2005-10-05T06:34:00.000+10:00

Sunday I was fortunate to go to Glencairn (14 miles past Licola, north of Heyfield), to have a look at the B&B opening there. Which is really special. This is in a beautiful mud-brick in a wonderful, remote location that is rather special for me, and is a very important place historically. It is the fourth house built by the same family on that exact spot, and some buildings remain that were there with the first house.

The storeroom, dairy and cookhouse can be dated back to at least around 1900 - they are on the left in this photograph:

This is how they looked in 1986:

and, unfortunately, how the cookhouse looks today.

I think the cookhouse was originally bark, with a bark roof, but the stone floor inside is original - or at least from before 1911.

The dairy, the centre of the three buildings, is in even worse condition, but the storehouse of hand-split weatherboards is as good as new.

But they are in really caring hands, who hope to preserve these buildings, and people will be able to access them through the B&B. No website yet, but hopefully very soon.

And yep - I was so busy taking pictures of the old buildings, I didn't get one of the actual new house.

We have a cover!

2005-10-04T06:56:00.000+10:00

Wellington Landscapes is getting closer - we have a cover design, and the whole book is at the printer's for artwork.

The cover and order form are HERE. Launch date is confirmed for the morning of 15th November - more details here soon.

Wellington Landscapes

2005-09-25T13:46:00.000+10:00

Wellington Landscapes: History and Heritage in a Gippsland Shire is bubbling along quite well. Hopefully it goes to the printer on Wednesday, and I can get back to Heritage Journal.

In the meantime - I am having fun with the map to be included in the book - it is the first time such a complete map has been done, and I am enjoying the process.

Part of that process has been to go to the Gippsland Regional Maritime Museum at Port Albert, where I was quite taken with their new display on the Chinese fish-curing site that has been recently discovered. Here is a section:

And, while I was there, I did see in their bookshop they have a couple of issues of Gippsland Heritage Journal #12 - they have been unavailable for quite some years, so if anyone is looking for a copy to complete their run .......

Centre for Gippsland Studies conference

2005-09-25T13:42:00.000+10:00

This year's Centre for Gippsland Studies conference is on 26th November, 10am to 4pm, at Monash Gippsland (at Churchill). The theme is "Gippsland, War and the Community". It includes displays and the usual local history bookshop.

More details are availabe from Meredith Fletcher on 5122 6356

e-mail Meredith.fletcher@arts.monash.edu.au

Wellington Shire Heritage Study

2005-09-11T20:01:00.000+10:00

The good news in the Shire of Wellington is that the environmental history, which covers the main themes in post-contact history, compiled by Meredith Fletcher and Linda Kennett, is to be published.

Publication has been funded mainly by the Shire, but is being managed by the Maffra and District Historical Society. Meredith has previously compiled short histories of the major towns in the shire, and this has also is being included.

Hopefully the book will be launched about the 15th November - but there may be a pre-publication offer. I am beavering away on the editing at the minute, but if you are interested in receiving the pre-publication offer, drop me an e-mail on

kapana [at] netspace.net.au and I should be able to forward one to you.

Wellington Shire takes in almost all of the former City of Sale and Shires of Alberton, Avon, Rosedale and Maffra.

Looking from Space

2005-07-30T14:09:00.000+10:00

I have just been having an interesting time with Google Earth. This, for example, is how the Sale Cemetery looks from space:

Sale, Stratford and Briagolong are in high resolution areas, so detail like this is available. But elsewhere in Gippsland is not as good - Boisdale and Maffra are in lower resolution.

To check it out, you need to be on Broadband. Do a Google search for "Google Earth" and, after downloading a small program, you can look at anywhere in the world!

The Boisdale Shed

2005-06-26T19:55:00.000+10:00

For those who have not caught up on the news - Boisdale House sold at auction to someone we believe is from Melbourne.

However the locals at Boisdale have been attempting to gain ownership of one of the other lots - one of the two remaining (there were three) sheds at Boisdale.

I think it is the closer of the two above - it was originally the stables, when the Foster family built the town. The community wishes to bring the shed into public ownership, for a local museum.

Index to #17 on line

2005-06-26T19:53:00.000+10:00

The Index to GHJ #17 has now been posted online. This is the first GHJ to publish "Abstracts", so this is a fairly large index.

It can be accessed at

http://kapana.customer.netspace.net.au/GHJindex17.html

Stocktaking Finds

2005-06-25T17:19:00.000+10:00

Well, it was like this. We were stocktaking the Journals, and found another black hole. And in it were a heap of #10, #11, one #12 and a few #13. I don't have a waiting list for the #12, so it goes to the first comer.

And we had thought they were all out of print. Totally. I had to photocopy some so Terry could do the lookups for us.

Oh well, back to re-jigging the webpage. :)

And there were even a few of the old Index to issues 1-5 there, in case someone wanted one to bind in with a set of journals.

[Late Note - #12 has gone]

More indexes

2005-06-18T22:39:00.000+10:00

Busy, Busy, Busy.

The index to Gippsland Heritage Journal numbers 11-15 has just been placed on the web at

http://kapana.customer.netspace.net.au/GHJindex11-15.html

and I am part way into #17. However in the meantime we have been talking about #29, the next issue due out. It seems to be full, so it is now moving into the stage of layout and editing. Looking good - articles on the wreck of the SAROS, the shed at Gabo Island, a photo folio from the Anglican Church Archives - must go and check what else is confirmed.

Catching Up

2005-06-13T09:47:00.000+10:00

I haven't had a lot of time to put news on here recently - but now I have two new items (no - neither picture has been identified).

But I have merged my two computers onto one laptop, and am starting to catch up on things again. So as a result

1. I am now cataloguing the Maffra Library Local Collection photos - these are the Historical Society photo collection with some library ones, and

2. I have put the first of the Gippsland Heritage Journal indexes on line - this is #16. And I have managed to get the full contents of the in-print ones online as well. One good, hard session will get the contents up as well for the earlier ones.

Will write more about both soon.

Another unidentified photo

2005-04-28T18:43:00.000+10:00

I bought this postcard yesterday, and have not yet been able to identify it. Someone has, in modern times, written "Gipps" on the reverse, and I thought it was Sunnyside or Glen Wills.

However out resident expert has looked at it, and doesn't think it is. On reflection I think she is correct - apart from everything else, there is too much cleared land in the background.

So I am wondering about somewhere up near Aberfeldy or Matlock??? Does anyone know the photo????

There is a much larger copy HERE. Don't forget that once you get there you will need to either click on the icon or click on the photo with your cursor (depending on your browser) to get to the maximum size.

I have put a strong lens across the copy, and can say that you are looking at the house that is in front from the rear (that is the outdoor dunny in front of it), and that the building at the rear is a fenced house, not a large shed.

Any suggestions as to location are welcome. The identity of the earlier photograph is still unknown.

The original Stratford Mechanics'

2005-04-26T20:21:00.000+10:00

Have just been looking - they did do a really good job of the restoration (see below)

Can you identify this town?

2005-04-23T19:23:00.000+10:00

Can anyone out there identify this town???? The photograph was in the collection of Rayner's Fancy Museum in Sale, so I think would be well before 1960. Someone else might like to have a go at a better date than that.

There is a larger version HERE. Please just remember when you get there you may need to click on it with your cursor, or use the enlarge icon, depending on your program.

It appears to be a mining town, although I wouldn't eliminate a works or sawmilling town. We are reasonably sure it is not the West Camp at Yallourn, or Licola, but after that, all options are open.

If anyone can help, we would really appreciate it.

Stratford Mechanics' Institute

2005-04-23T19:10:00.000+10:00

While it was sad to see what is happening to the fabric of Sale Mechanics' Institute, it is really good to see how the changes were made to the one at Stratford.

I don't have an earlier picture of it handy, but it had a terrible extension on the front, where toilets had been added in a most unsympathetic manner. This is how it looks now, after restoration:

I was taking this photo at the wrong time of the day, so it is not brilliant - but if you want to see a much larger version, it is HERE - just remember when you get there you may need to click on it with your cursor, or use the enlarge icon, depending on your program.

And, just across the road, there is a shed going up beside the Stratford Museum, which is the former Methodist Church. The wonderful band of people there have designed it with a gable to mimic a Church Hall that could have been built beside it many years ago. The Museum is currently closed, but will re-open in a couple of months once reorganisation has happened.

Eileen Finlay

2005-04-09T17:07:00.000+10:00

Word out there is that a book is in final stages on Eileen Finlay, born c.1878 at Maffra, the daughter of P.C. Moroney, shire engineer. Finlay is famous for a number of books from the 1940s-50s, the best known being The Caravan Passes, set in a fictional location near Moe. She also set a number of books near Wilsons Promontory.

Boisdale House Auction

2005-04-09T17:02:00.000+10:00

Much discussion and excitement around Boisdale, as the entire Boisdale Estate is going up for auction.

Off the top of my head I am unsure how long the Foster family have held the land (late 1840s to early 1850s), but there are auction boards all over the place, and it appears each title is being sold seperately, including the main house.

Sale Mechanics' Institute

2005-04-09T16:09:00.000+10:00

Sale Mechanics' Institute opened (I think near the current courthouse) in 1862, and the much larger, two-storey building that was later incorporated into the Sale School of mines (later Sale technical School), was built in 1891.

For many years, this is how it has looked to the passing world:

However expansion of the Sale Secondary College Senior Campus has led to the removal of the later, rear section. Despite local concern about the demolition of the rear section, this is how the site looks at present.

I am unsure as to the long-term future of the section still standing.

These photographs were taken 7 April 2005. For anyone wishing to download slightly larger photographs, they are HERE, HERE and HERE. You do sometimes have to click on the larger photos with your cursor for them to go to the full size.

Great Excitement!

2005-04-07T20:19:00.000+10:00

There has been a cleanup in a shed where we have previously stored books, and it has come up with some books and Journals we thought were out of print.

We now have more Heritage Journals #17, which means we still have a complete run available from #14 to #28.

And, even more exciting, was we have found a pile of Taming a Town: Law and Order at Omeo. And a smaller pile of The Story of Sale (a small chronology). Both have been unavailable for years – details in a few days on the Kapana Press pages.

Seaton School Registers

2005-03-07T20:15:00.000+11:00

There are all sorts of treasures still to be found in the Local Collection at the Maffra Library.

Today I was looking at the Seaton School Registers, which were handed to the Maffra Historical Society a number of years ago by Dave Aubrey. When the school closed c.1943 Mr Aubrey found the teacher who was closing the school burning the records in the paddock, and took away the Registers and Punishment Register.

The Registers cover the period 1876 to 1942, and are quite fragile. The Punishment Register, which is not a book I have seen elsewhere, covers from 1913 to 1943. In 1923 the teacher was often applying punishment with the strap for "poor spelling", and the inspector noted in the book "too much punishment for poor spelling", which is probably the equivalent today of a fair slap on the wrists.

There is a photocopy available for study at Maffra Library, as the original records are too fragile for casual use.

WWII incident at Boisdale

2005-02-27T14:03:00.000+11:00

Well, the Book Fair at Maffra is over, and was fairly quiet. Which is good, as it gave me time to talk to a few people.

One of the interesting stories I was told was of an incident at Boisdale, with a plane from the RAAF base at Sale and a pilot who apparently "went troppo".

The first thing anyone knew, is Mrs Greaves was out in the paddock at Boisdale getting the cow, and the plane dive-bombed her (flew down very low and close to her) a number of times, scaring her out of her wits.

My informant says that two other planes came out from the base, and somehow "got him down", although she cannot remember if he is the plane that "crashed into the channel". As a young child of the time, her strong impression is that he was forced to crash.

And nothing was ever written in the paper, it was "all hushed up".

I wonder how many incidents there are like this, still in memory, that have not been recorded. I know there was supposed to have been a Japanese submarine located underwater off Red Bluff, near Lake Tyers. It supposedly showed up on the radar (would they have had it???) of a local fishing boat, who notified the Navy. A navy boat appeared and the submarine was supposedly dispatched by way of depth charges.

I mentioned it recently to another historian, assuming it was reasonably well-known. And he hadn't heard of it, so it may not be all that well recorded either.

Gippsland Heritage Journal

2005-02-23T09:02:00.000+11:00

Have been having a hectic time running around the countryside. Gippsland Heritage Journal is now in the Book Nook at Morwell and Red Door bookshop at Warragul. Both have taken all available back issues, which is good, as we didn't have a strong presence for them in the western end of Gippsland.

Someone was asking how one gets back copies??? One has a look HERE. Although there may not be any #10, #14 , #17 or #18 left after the book fair finishes on Friday.

RHSV index

2005-02-21T07:38:00.000+11:00

Thanks to Eric over on the Gippsland List, I have now found the online index to the RHSV Journal. Which is electronically searchable (ie you have to type in a keyword). It is a quicker search than reading the paper index, but there is still a place for the paper index. If, for example, you read down the Gippsland entries, you find all sorts of possibilities. I searched under Licola and Glenmaggie, and didn't find the classic 1927-1931 discussion on how the Hunter brothers came to Gippsland. They didn't even come up when I put in Heyfield. Yet I am sure both places are mentioned in the article.

So there is still a place for those who actually want to read indexes. That place, in the case of the RHSV Journal, is the Maffra Library Local Collection. :)

Coopers Creek Hotel

2005-02-20T17:30:00.000+11:00

It is part of the magic of the internet that we chat so easily with strangers half-way across the world. I was recently contacted by Jim in England, who, in the 1950s used to have a beer at the Copper Mine Hotel at Coopers Creek. And he was asking what had happened to this hotel near Walhalla.

As luck would have it, I photographed the hotel, then unoccupied and derelict in 1998, and then a short time after the main part was destroyed by fire in July 1999. I was up there again a month or so ago, but without a camera. Which is unfortunate, as a replica hotel was rebuilt and even traded for a time. I understand that once some more developments happen that it may reopen.

So, Jim, here is your pub. You are welcome to download the pictures, and you will see links to larger ones. They are also available to anyone else who wishes to copy them, for private use only - if you are considering using them elsewhere I would appreciate the courtesy of a conversation.

Above: The main section of the hotel in 1998. Larger version HERE

Above: July 1999, immediately after the fire. Larger version HERE

Above: View from the other end, 1998. Larger version HERE

Above: The same view, immediately after the fire in July 1999. Larger version HERE

Book and Antique Fair at Maffra

2005-02-19T19:56:00.000+11:00

Just confirming dates and times for the Books, Antiques and Collectibles Fair at Maffra.

It is 11am to 7pm this Thursday (24th) and 11am to 4pm on the Friday (25th), at the Maffra Memorial Hall. Entry is $2.

I have seen a list of attendees, but no doubt it is fluid. Rudi Paolotti will be there, and Ian Stapleton, plus some locals - including the Stratford Historical Society, whose books do not often get into shops.

And I gather there will be a heap of second-hand books.

Apparently a collector of wood-working tools is also selling off his collection there. And who knows what else?????

GHJ roll-out

2005-02-18T20:33:00.000+11:00

Just had two days of running around - GHJ #28 is now all in the mail (and some people have actually got theirs), and in about half of the shops. Some of the other shops the rollout will be a bit slower, but they will be there by the end of next week.

Now, what was it that was going in the next one .......

It's Here

2005-02-16T18:52:00.000+11:00

Well, it looks like it was a nice story, but it doesn't seem that photo of the Snowy River Bandit was ever used in the newspaper.

But on the good news side - Gippsland Heritage Journal has got as far as here, so the next few days will be spent bagging and posting it, and then delivering to the shops. Hopefully it will be in most of the main shops by Monday afternoon. At the minute it is a pile of boxes in the corridor.

I like the cover - it is the Hamilton brothers of Ensay station engaging in a little "home barbering"

The Snowy River Bandit

2005-02-16T11:02:00.000+11:00

Well, I'm not really sure that we expected that!

Bob Haldane has just been on the local ABC talking about his article on the Snowy River bandit in the GHJ just coming out. And two people rang in to say how the photographer from the Argus arrived in Orbost to photograph the bandit after he was captured, in 1940. But the police had taken him away. So the photographer dressed up a local and photographed him as the Snowy River Bandit.

Thank Heavens we didn't find THAT photograph and reproduce it as the actual Bandit.

Journals still at the bindery in Melbourne - but I have a car picking a few up today, hopefully.

Maffra Mechanics' Institute Minutes

2005-02-15T16:21:00.000+11:00

Life is getting a bit busy here in preparation for the arrival of GHJ #28, and the Book Fair at Maffra next week. I'm sharing tables with Stratford Historical Society who have an impressive publishing stream, and they have been ferreting around in boxes looking for their books - their whole museum is currently packed up while they reorganise/clean/build a shed etc. When they open they hope to be able to re-organsie their research facilities as well, which will be most impressive - they do have an excellent collection of unique material. They also tell me they have been handed some of the old Shire of Avon records from the Public Record Office - more about them as time goes on.

In the meantime, yesterday I was working in the Maffra Library collection again, and with the help of Marion, sorted out the Maffra Mechanics' Institute Minutes. These are a complete set from 1885 to 1970, and are going to be a fertile field to till, looking for what life was like over the years in Maffra through the eyes of the Mechanics' Institute. There are also papers from traveling cinemas and borrowing libraries and other books that have yet to be worked on.

A quick read of some papers I received in the mail the other day seemed to indicate moves are afoot to record the whereabouts of existing MI records - I know of these, Briagolong and Newry/Upper Maffra for starters, and need to check the whereabouts of the Sale MI ones - I think that series has been broken up.

We're hoping GHJ will arrive here tomorrow - need to go and clear the decks!

Gippsland Heritage Journal

2005-02-14T17:27:00.000+11:00

The good news is that Gippsland Heritage Journal #28 should be back from the binders in Melbourne on Wednesday or Thursday. The bad news, if you are waitng for it in a shop, is that it won't be there until the week after, as we need to mail out to subscribers first.

But it won't be long now.

RHSV

2005-02-09T06:34:00.000+11:00

Just been trying to log into the Royal Historical Society of Victoria's online catalogue. Doesn't seem to work for me - and it is always a worry when the URL you are trying to bring up includes the word "test".

But the Home Page of the RHSV may well be worth a bookmark - one day the catalogue may work. Maybe even later today!

Newsletters and Royal Historical Society Journals

2005-02-07T18:43:00.000+11:00

I have just been working on sorting in the Local Collection in the Maffra Library (I am spending part of every Monday afternoon there at the minute), and have been looking at the Journals (and their indexes) for the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. And I got quite excited. I knew there were later indexes there (I donated them), but I think I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that their first index is there.

So this means, at the moment, that you can check the indexes for any reference to material published in their Journals from 1911 to 1979.

The actual RHSV Journal collection there starts from 1978, so there is not a lot of chance you will then find the article there, but the RHSV are friendly people, and I am sure would manage copies if you contact them. But I am still excited, as I didn't realise even the early indexes were publicly accessible in Gippsland.

Historical Society Newsletters

I have also been working on sorting the Historical Society Newsletters that are in the local collection there. The Maffra and Stratford Society newsletters are held in the compactus, so have to be requested. But the good news is that there is an index to them, which you can also request. Stratford Society published their Bulletin from Sept 1979 to June 1983, and their index is complete, with all names mentioned. I don’t know anywhere else that this index is held that is publicly accessible (I think the only other copy will be at the Stratford Society).

The Maffra Bulletin sadly ceased publication at number 120 – I think it started at a similar time. There is a full index with it currently to issue 100 – although I understand an update is intended in the near future. It is also held in the campactus, and individual copies must be requested.

The newsletters of a number of other Gippsland Historical Societies are however held on open shelves in the library for the casual browser. They make interesting reading.

Maffra Library is open from 10am to 6pm on Mondays, Wed to Friday (ie closed Tuesday), and 10am to 12md on Saturday.

Book and Antique Fair at Maffra

2005-02-06T10:32:00.000+11:00

Plans are afoot for a Book and Antique Fair at Maffra Memorial Hall for the Maffra Mardi Gras. The organisers are making all sorts of attempts to have people there selling local books, so hopefully I will be going along. Hopefully I will have the Stratford Historical Society with me too - they have one new book out and a number of others - I think they were the recipients of all the books Flora Johns published that she had not sold. These include books such as The Peck Plaques, Bundalaguah to Marley Point etc.

I need to check the hours again, but I THINK it is 10am to 6pm on the Thursday and 10am to 4pm on the Friday - but I will find out.

Family History Enquiries

2005-02-02T20:09:00.000+11:00

Just a quick note for anyone who is looking for family in Gippsland. This blog is in no way intended to replace the Gippsland Mailing List at Rootsweb, with which I am also associated - I still see that as the place where people should be posting about the families for which they are looking. There is no way, for example, that people can safely leave messages here with their e-mail addresses, without them being harvested.

So, if you are looking for somewhere to post about your own family, check out the AUS-VIC-GIPPSLAND mailing list. I hope it brings you success!

Maffra, Stratford and Briagolong Collections

2005-02-02T19:49:00.000+11:00

One of the other things that has me excited at the minute is that I am working again on the Maffra Library Local Collection, which is based on the collection handed to the library by Miss Flo Pearce of Boisdale. I worked on this with a team about ten years ago (doesn't time fly!), and I am now spending a little time with it again.

And I am about to spend time with Stratford Museum (who are currently packed up for re-organisation), and are considering how to best approach a catalogue update. They have a wonderful photograph collection, which my team did catalogue, but lots of other documents as well, and an active publishing program.

And finally, I heard a whisper yesterday that a Local History working group is about to be formed at Briagolong.

I hope to write more about all of these soon, plus any other snippets that come to hand.

Heritage Journal progresses

2005-02-02T19:41:00.000+11:00

GHJ27cover
Originally uploaded by Linda_at_Kapana.

Having started this blog, there is so much I want to talk about, but I am going to have to go slow. At the minute is is raining and I am working on Gippsland Heritage Journal #28. It came to me today by e-mail, and I have run it off, page by page, for checking. It was fascinating, watching each page come slowly out of the printer, and seeing what the page looked like with the photos.

We have been with E-Gee printers since we started, in 1986, and things have progressed so much. We started going in there and typing it ourselves on the linotype - now it comes as an e-mail attachment. But it is still very similar to when we started. The picture in this post is of GHJ #27 - Mr Stringy on the Omeo Highway.

I am hoping (all fingers and toes crossed), that it is only a couple of weeks away - it needs to be printed, and then goes to Melbourne for binding. Then we mail out to subscribers. And do the rounds of the shops.

Welcome

2005-02-02T11:55:00.000+11:00

Welcome to my regional history blog - where I will drop by on a semi-regular basis to leave news about current happenings in Gippsland history, maybe discuss things I have discovered and muse on related things in general.

Kapana???? It is the name of a publisher I operate with Debbie and which, with Meredith, publishes Gippsland Heritage Journal. It is taken from the name of a property my family held on the Darling River in New South Wales - a heck of a long way from Gippsland.

For those who are wondering - Gippsland Heritage Journal #28 is currently at the printery.