This is a summary of the articles and events taken from the newsletters sent to the Secretary from SEHA Groups and Societies. November 2019. Compiled by Heather Arnold.
Bass Valley Historical Society https://bassvalleyhistoricalsociety.com.au/
• Dinner Meeting Friday, December 13, 2019. Guest speaker is Tony Hughes: Two Rivers Run – The Andersons of Western Port revisited. All the details are here http://seha.org.au/event/bass-valley-historical-society-dinner-meeting-10
Berwick Pakenham Historical Society
• They now have a website – https://bphs.com.au/
Brighton Cemetorians http://www.brightoncemetorians.org.au/
• The September The Cemetorian has interesting articles on the people buried at the Brighton Cemetery. This issue includes Philomena McKenna (1912-1932) who drowned at Yarrawonga with Ellen and Nancy Naughtin; Robert Gray Ford (1833-1891) blacksmith, engineer and inventor; Harry Browse Gibbs (1858-1918), Architect; Thomas Edward King (1867-1918), Barrister; Ernest Petherick, Presbyterian Minister and Army Chaplain (1879-1956) and David Tully (1857-1909), pastoralist.
Chelsea & District Historical Society
• The August newsletter has a look back to 1959 – a new pavilion was built at the Chelsea Football Club at a cost of £4,000; Aspendale Technical school opened. There are obituaries of Frederick Frewin, who arrived in Chelsea in 1913 and died in 1947; and George Gilding, who came to Chelsea in 1927 as a policeman and remained at the Chelsea Police Station until his death in 1945.
Dandenong & District Historical Society http://ddhs.com.au/
• The October 2019 Gipps-Land Gate has a comprehensive history of Dandenong High School, which is celebrating its centenary this year. There is also an article on Alf Goldburg, Dandenong local, who received an Order of Australia medal in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. The Annual report has many interesting statistics including the fact that volunteers contributed 3,284 hours of their time in carrying out all the functions and activities of the Society.
Friends of Cheltenham & Regional Cemeteries http://www.focrc.org/
• Raves from the Graves September 2019 has an article on Michael ‘Mick’ Ward, World War One veteran, who passed away in 1962. When his wife died in 1986, their belongings went to members of her family. Amongst their possessions was a suitcase of memorabilia from Mick’s time at the War and on his return to Australia in 1918. The suitcase was acquired by Museums Victoria in 2016 and this is the first part of a two-part story on the contents of that suitcase. There is also an article on Catherine Childerhouse, who died in 1923 at the age of 105.
Hastings Western Port Historical Society http://www.hwphs.org.au/
• The September 2019 newsletter has an article on the 75th anniversary of the Cowra Breakout and an article on Shirley Davies, who received an Order of Australia medal in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Shirley was the President of the Western Port Historical Society for many years and their SEHA delegate. Also mentioned in the article is Dianne White, past president of the Mornington & District Historical Society, who also received an OAM.
• The next morning coffee is on November 14, 2019 at 10.15am. Guest speaker: Ian Thompson on Paddle steamers of Port Phillip Bay. All the details are here http://seha.org.au/event/hastings-western-port-historical-society-morning-coffee-4
Heritage Hill, Dandenong
• Join the Dandenong and District Historical Society to hear enthralling tales of the characters who lived or were associated with Laurel Lodge, November 14, 2019 at 1.30pm. All the details are here http://seha.org.au/event/the-characters-of-laurel-lodge
Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society
• The August 2019 newsletter has an article from The Argus on the train accident at Koo Wee Rup, which occurred on December 24, 1928. 54 people were injured. The September newsletter has an article on William Lyall and the Acclimitisation Society by Heather Arnold. The October newsletter has an article by Henry Boxshall, Families at Yallock, transcribed from the book The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson. The November newsletter has some photos of the Monomeith Railway Station in the mid-1960s showing the train that transported 760 head of cattle from Lismore in NSW on account of Hughie Bourke, of Monomeith.
Lang Lang & District Historical Society http://www.langlang.net/historical.html
• The November newsletter has an article on Allan Robert Eden, from Caldermeade. Allan went Missing in Action in World War Two in February 1942, his body was never found and he was declared ‘Presumed Dead’ in April 1946. There is also an article from the Lang Lang Guardian of 1909 on A.T. Priestley’s model dairy farm at Yannathan, where he employed 18 people and could milk 50 cows an hour in his modern dairy.
Mordialloc College Alumni Association (MCAA) http://mordialloccollegealumni.org/
• We have received three of their newsletters which contain, amongst other things, stories of past students – the December 2018 issue has a story on Marjorie Kean (nee George) who started at Mordialloc-Chelsea High School in 1939; Marjorie was the first secretary of the ex-students association which started in the 1940s after the War. The March 2019 issue reports that the MCAA have been given access, by the City of Kingston, to the former Parkdale Infant Welfare centre for their meetings. Tony Palmer, Executive Designer at Penguin Random House, shares his memories of the school from the 1970s. In the June 2019 issue Stan Alves, AFL coach, talks about his time at the school, he started in 1963. Alumni Historian, Paula McCarthy, was nominated for the City of Kingston, Woman of the Year. Paula also runs the Edithvale-Aspendale History group on Facebook.
Mornington and District Historical Society www.morningtondistricthistory.org.au
• The August 2019 newsletter has an article on their past president, Dianne White, who received an Order of Australia medal in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. There is also a short biography, by Val Wilson, of Herbert Dyce Murphy, Mornington Shire Councillor and President and a member of Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1912 Antarctic Expedition.
Narre Warren & District Family History Group http://nwfhg.org.au/
• The August 2019 Spreading Branches has an article on Member of the Year, Barbara Sharp. Barbara received the Award at the August AGM. There is an article by Eileen Durdin on haystacks, illustrated with photographs from the Max Thomson collection. Max also donated a number of photos to the State Library of Victoria, just use his name as a search term if you are interested in finding them. There is an article, written by Jane Rivett-Carnac, on Sister Madeline Kirkpatrick, who has a tree in the Cranbourne WW1 Avenue of Honor. The Casey Cardinia Combined Index is 15 years old. Members of the Family History Group have indexed over 140 publications with a Casey Cardinia connection and there are now 134,000 names on the Index, a valuable resource for researchers looking for information on their ancestors. The Index can be accessed in the Group’s Research Room at the Cranbourne Library Complex. The November Spreading Branches has a report on the Bunyip Cemetery tour, that took place on October 27. Eileen Durdin has another article, also illustrated with Max Thomson photographs, on local roads. Barbara Sharp has an article on Bayview Park, a new park in Narre Warren on the old Bayview Quarry. The land was originally owned by the Aurisch family.
Rye Historical Society http://ryehistoricalsociety.weebly.com/
• The Whitecliffs newsletter from October-December 2019 has an article on the horse trough that was in front of the Gracefield Hotel and later the Rye Hotel. There was some thought it may be a Bills trough, but as it was installed in 1926, it can’t be. George Bills, who left the money for horse troughs, died in 1927. There is also some information about Bills’ troughs. Noel and Ann Erbs have written an article on Anders and Martha Andersen of the Rye General store. They operated a store in Rye from around 1881 until 1911.
Somerville Tyabb & District Heritage Society http://home.vicnet.net.au/~stdhs/
• The September newsletter reprints an article from the Mornington Standard of March 29, 1902 of a case heard at Frankston Court of five youths from Somerville, who behaved in a ‘riotous manner’ – sand throwing, quarrelling, fighting and disturbing the peace. The chaps had attended a ‘tin potting” or welcome home and had a few drinks. They were all fined £2 with 3s in costs. ‘Tin potting’ appears to be beating cans or tins to make a noise. There are also some illustrations of Charles Hammond, who in 1893 drew some local scenes at Langwarrin and Hastings. Finally, the newsletter reproduces Dick Ovenden’s caricatures of local Somerville and Tyabb men, as published in the Weekly Times in 1949.
Wonthaggi and District Historical Society http://www.wonthaggihistoricalsociety.org.au/
• The essay in the August 2019 Plod is about Llewellyn Rhun Davies-Griffith, the first European settler in the Wonthaggi area. He arrived in 1878. The September Plod essay looks at some of the members of the Society and their special personal items. The October Plod essay is on the Wonthaggi and District Post-War Reconstruction Plan written by the Wonthaggi District Trades and Labour Council around 1945.
• The Annual Dinner will be held on November 29, 2019 at 6.00pm. All the details are here http://seha.org.au/event/wonthaggi-historical-society-annual-dinner