The South Eastern Historical Association (SEHA) was established in 1965 and covers the south east suburbs of Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula, the Bass Valley, Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp, Wonthaggi and Phillip Island. Or, the municipalities of the City of Kingston, City of Greater Dandenong, City of Casey, City of Frankston, Mornington Peninsula Shire, Cardinia Shire and Bass Coast Shire. Delegates from each group meet quartlery at various locations
Successful programs run by the Association include many Discovery Schools, the last one being held at Koo-Wee-Rup in 2010. The 2012 Discovery School will look at the history of the Hastings Tyabb area.
The 2012 SEHA Discovery School is promising to be a great weekend for all concerned.
Bookings are now open for members of member societies, places are expected to fill fast for this exciting weekend on the 20th and 21st October. So make sure you don’t miss out on a place.
Booking forms in Microsoft Word and Adobe pfd are available on the 2012 Discovery School page.
I am sure everyone involved with the SEHA will join me in congratulating the Mornington & District Historical Society on their win in the “Best collaborative community work” category of the Victorian Community History Awards 2011.
Their entry “Our Boys at the Front” (book & DVD) gives an account of the Great War through local eyes and is based on the Peninsula Post’s news, letters from the front, etc. From today’s Souvenir Brochure ” It is an excellent example of a local history that illustrates the interconnectedness of its community with dominating world events.”
This a great resource for anyone
Continue reading Our Boys at the Front
The German Cruiser Koln Source: Wikimedia Commons
Some time ago, a well known local gentleman came into the Old Post Office Museum, Mornington and asked if we had any information on the German Cruiser Koln that had anchored off Mornington in the mid 1930s. This gentleman told the story that as a young boy, he and a friend rowed out to the ship and a warning flare or similar was shot across the water at them.
As part of the team down at the museum who handles any enquiries or research questions, I endeavored to find the answers to
Continue reading The Discovery of The Koln
One of the things I love about history is the connections between people and places that just pop up when you least expect them. In my ‘work life’, I am the Local History Librarian at Casey Cardinia Library Corporation. Amongst my duties I maintain the local history blog http://caseycardinialinkstoourpast.blogspot.com/
I did a blog post on Captain Robert Gardiner, an early Berwick landowner, and found out that he had met Burke and Wills and was the great grandfather of Sir Robert Helpmann (1909-1986), the ballet dancer. It is these sorts of connections that make history so interesting. In fact, when I
Continue reading The Serendipitous Nature of Historical Research
The February meeting of the SEHA was held at the Fisherman’s Cottage Museum on the Foreshore at Tooradin. The Museum is operated by the Cranbourne Shire Historical Society. The curator and caretaker, Rosemary Mynard, gave guided tours of the Museum throughout the day. The Museum is housed in an old cottage, built c.1873. The builder was most likely Matthew Evans who was an early landowner in Tooradin. Evans owned most of the early town lots in Tooradin and donated land for the Anglican Church in 1890.The cottage is one of the earliest houses built in Tooradin and one of the
Continue reading Fisherman’s Cottage Museum Complex, Tooradin
The November SEHA meeting was held at Mornington. After the meeting Val Wilson and Frank Green from the Mornington Historical Society gave us a very informative tour of Mornington Park. Mornington Park was temporarily reserved as a park on November 24th, 1863 and permanently reserved as a ‘place for promenade and recreation’ on May 1st, 1874. It shows the foresight of the citizens of the town that they worked to have the Esplanade frontage permanently reserved for recreation.
In her history of Mornington (see details below) Leslie Moorhead has written an interesting account of Mornington Park, which is worth quoting
Continue reading Mornington Park
This is an interesting account of the Methodist Church in Wonthaggi. I have taken it from A Century of Victorian Methodism by The Rev. C. Irving Benson. Published by Spectator Publishing in 1935.
Wonthaggi – Here we were the first Church on the coalfields. On the arrival of the first batch of miners, thirty-five in all, they were met by the Rev. Courtenay Thomas, who sensing the possibilities of the place, promptly secured a tent, which would accommodate 200 men and obtaining meanwhile a supply of red-gum planks for seats, was ready to begin operations. A Sunday School was opened
Continue reading The Methodist Church in Wonthaggi
The guest speaker at the August meeting of the SEHA was Julie Box (nee Harris). The Harris family have lived on Phillip Island for over 100 years. Julie spoke on the wreck of the Speke at Phillip Island.
The Speke was an all steel ship of 310 feet, beam of 35 feet and weight of 2,712 tons and triple masted. She was built in 1891 at Carnarvon in Wales for a cost of 22,000 pounds. The wreck of the Speke was purchased for a mere 12 pounds after it went aground in 1906.
The Speke had come from Peru to
Continue reading The Wreck of the Speke
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