Category: SEHA News

This is a summary of the articles and events taken from the newsletters sent to the Secretary from SEHA Groups and Societies. August 2019. Compiled by Heather Arnold.

Brighton Cemetorians       http://www.brightoncemetorians.org.au/
• Forthcoming events: October 6 – Jewish graves – https://seha.org.au/event/brighton-cemetorians-cemetery-tour-jewish-contribution
• October 20 – Graves connected to the Boyd family https://seha.org.au/event/brighton-cemetorians-cemetery-tour-boyd-family-of-artists-walk

Chelsea & District Historical Society
• The May newsletter contained a report on the Chicken and Champagne luncheon attended by 105 people. There is a short biography of Hugh Rigby, who arrived in Carrum in 1898 and operated a dairy farm. He was also a builder. He died in 1950 aged 86. There is an excerpt from the City of Chelsea News of August 6, 1959 about the death of Frank Groves, the first Mayor of the City of Chelsea, who died June 3, 1959, at the age of 86.

City of Moorabbin Historical Society    https://victoriancollections.net.au/organisations/box-cottage-museum#collection-records
• The Society operates Box Cottage in Jasper Road in Ormond, thought to have been built in the 1840s. William and Elizabeth Box lived there from 1865 to 1914. It is opened on the last Sunday of the month from 2.00pm to 4.00pm or by appointment.

Dromana & District Historical Society    http://avoca.vicnet.net.au/~dromana/welcome.htm
• The May newsletter has a request for family information on their WW1 soldiers for a proposed publication. They are looking for information about the soldier’s lives before and after they enlisted.

Friends of Cheltenham & Regional Cemeteries      http://www.focrc.org/
• Raves from the Graves May 2019 has a story by Rosemary Reddick on the Reverend Canon Fred Wray (1864-1943). He was a Chaplain in the Boer War and the Great War, serving at both Gallipoli and the Western Front. When he returned to Australia, he was appointed to Holy Trinity Cathedral at Wangaratta. He retired in 1935 lived in Sandringham. Sue Beazley is the author of an article on the Brigidine Nuns who established St Patrick’s College and Kilbreda College, both in Mentone.

Hastings Western Port Historical Society     http://www.hwphs.org.au/
• The June issue has an article on two Scottish fishing families – the Carstairs and the Mentiplays. William Carstairs was the brother-in-law of Thomas Mentiplay, Thomas being married to Margaret Carstairs. The families moved to the Gippsland Lakes in the late 1870s, when the Melbourne to Sale railway line opened up the area. The article has information on the early days of the fishing industry at the Gippsland Lakes. William Carstairs is the great-uncle of John Woolley, who attends our SEHA meetings for Hastings. One of their guest speakers at their Morning Coffee meeting was Jenny Bryant, who rescues and cares for injured koalas, with the aim being to return them to their original habitat. The newsletter has a report on her interesting talk.

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society
• The June newsletter had an article by Heather Arnold on local High Schools. The July issue has reproduced the Koo Wee Rup and Lang Lang Identities, published in the Weekly Times in February 1950. See the Koo Wee Rup feature here http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225452841 and the Lang Lang here http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225443615

Lang Lang & District Historical Society     http://www.langlang.net/historical.html
• The June newsletter has a biography of Peter James Post (1872 – 1928) the foundation President of the Lang Lang RSL. He was a Boer War and Great War veteran.

Mornington and District Historical Society      www.morningtondistricthistory.org.au
• The May 2019 newsletter has an article about the Langwarrin Military Reserve and Toorak College in Mt Eliza, which started in 1874.

Narre Warren & District Family History Group       http://nwfhg.org.au/
• The May 2019 Spreading Branches has a report on the Group’s 30th anniversary celebrations. The Research room at the Cranbourne Library has been named the Lorraine Taylor Research Room. The Group first met in Lorraine’s lounge room at her house in Narre Warren. There is a story by Fay McCoubrie on her great-uncle, James Roulston, who was one of the ‘Lost Soldiers of Fromelles’ whose grave was discovered by Lambis Englezos and his colleagues in 2008.

Phillip Island & District Historical Society       https://pidhs.org.au/
• The May 2019 newsletter had an article on Alice Robinson, a generous supporter of the Society who passed away in April 2018.

Rye Historical Society       http://ryehistoricalsociety.weebly.com/
• The Whitecliffs newsletter from July-September 2019 has an article by John Bertacco on local Indigenous place names, such as Balnarring, Moorooduc and Tyabb. There is also an article on a proposed railway line that was to go from Frankston, to Rye and Sorrento, in the 1880s. It never eventuated.

Somerville Tyabb & District Heritage Society      http://home.vicnet.net.au/~stdhs/
• The June 2019 newsletter an obituary on Arthur Comelli (1921-2019), who operated the Welcome Motors garage in Somerville for over 50 years. There is also an obituary on Eric Unthank (1923-2019) educated at Tyabb State School and Frankston High he became a teacher, then a lecturer at Melbourne University and Dean of Burwood State college.

Wonthaggi and District Historical Society      http://www.wonthaggihistoricalsociety.org.au/
• The essay in the May 2019 Plod is by Rod Churchill on racing pigeons and the Wonthaggi Pigeon Club. The June 2019 Plod essay is a look at old remedies such as ‘cures’ from coughs, piles, tumours and wounds. The July Plod essay has reproduced cartoons from the Criterion, Wonthaggi’s first newspaper. The cartoonist was Cyril Dodds.

This is a summary of the articles and events taken from the newsletters sent to the Secretary from SEHA Groups and Societies. May 2019. Compiled by Heather Arnold.

Bass Valley Historical Society      https://bassvalleyhistoricalsociety.com.au/
• The Dinner meeting will be held on Friday, June 14. Guest speaker is Colin Robinson of the Victorian Re-enactment Society – the Battle of Waterloo. All the details are here https://seha.org.au/event/bass-valley-historical-society-dinner-meeting-3 The Grantville History website has the issues of the Western Port Times as well as lots of historical information on the Bass Valley, Grantville and San Remo areas. http://www.grantvillehistory.com.au/

Brighton Cemetorians        http://www.brightoncemetorians.org.au/
• The March Cemetorian is an all-female issue and takes a look at some of the many women buried at the Brighton Cemetery – Dr Edith Barrett, who graduated as a Doctor from Melbourne University in 1901 and founded the Bush Nursing Association of Victoria in 1910; Emily Dixon who founded Shelford Girls Grammar School in 1898; Dora Blundell, Head Mistress of Shelford from 1905 and Mary Doris Greenwood, Opera singer.

Chelsea & District Historical Society
• The February newsletter reported that it is 90 years since the Chelsea Court House opened on February 4, 1929. The City of Kingston is undertaking an extensive renovation of the Court House, which houses the Society’s Museum. The Society is hopeful that the renovations will be finished by the end of the year.

Dandenong & District Historical Society       http://ddhs.com.au/
• The Gipps-Land Gate of April 2019 has an article on Early gold in the district and an article on Dr Pat Wellington, who studied medicine at Melbourne University 1932 – 1937. It is a delightful extract from her memoirs – High school years, University years and her romance with her future husband Dr Medwyn Hutson. Carmen Powell has retired as the Gipps-Land Gate editor after 36 editions.
• The Annual Luncheon is on Saturday, June 15. The guest speaker is Martin Culkin – retired Principal of Dandenong High School. All the details are here https://seha.org.au/event/dandenong-historical-society-annual-luncheon

Frankston Historical Society      http://www.frankstonhs.org.au/
• Ballam Park Homestead opening hours – Tea Rooms are open every Sunday from 1.00pm to 5.00pm. Guided tours through the house and museum available every Sunday from 1.00pm to 4.00pm (Tea Room closed and no tours on the 5th Sunday of the month). Tour Groups by appointment.

Hastings Western Port Historical Society      http://www.hwphs.org.au/
• The March issue has an article on the history of Victorian Railway bus tours by David Taylor.

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society
• The March newsletter had an article on the Bennett’s Stump Puller, trialled by Carlo Catani on the Koo wee Rup Swamp in 1894; the April newsletter has an article on Life on the Koo wee Rup Swamp in 1893/1894, taken from newspaper reports at the time. The May newsletter has an article on Thomas Roxburgh – first commercial grower of asparagus on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. All articles by Heather Arnold. The April issue also has an article by Libby Skidmore on Sam’s Pears – an orchard planted by Samuel Anderson at his property on the Bass River in 1835. It is illustrated with two photographs taken by David Mickle in 1968, one of the Anderson home and one of the pear trees.

Mornington and District Historical Society      www.morningtondistricthistory.org.au
• The February 2019 newsletter has a report of a recent Mornington Peninsula Shire Local History Network meeting, where the Mayor, Cr David Gill, raised the idea of collecting information about the history behind the names of street names. Some groups are already documenting the names, but this would be more of a collective project where members of the public could also add information. It’s a great idea.

Rye Historical Society         http://ryehistoricalsociety.weebly.com/
• The Whitecliffs newsletter from April-June 2019 has an article by Noel Erbs, on the Rye saleyard, which opened in 1918. There is also an article about the Lifesaving Track along the Ocean Beach by John Hazeldine. It is an 11 km track from Sorrento to Rye built in 1904.It had beach access tracks which were numbered and marked for rescuers. It is largely intact and now used as a walking track. An article looks at the life of Alfred Ernest ‘Tommy’ Short who was a resident of Rye for 50 years. He died in 1961 aged 83.

Somerville Tyabb & District Heritage Society       http://home.vicnet.net.au/~stdhs/
• The March 2019 newsletter has a report on the unveiling of a photo of Colonel Annie Sage at the local community centre, the Annie Sage Community Centre, which was named in her honour in March 2017. Colonel Sage was born in Somerville in 1924 and you can read about her life, her nursing and military career in her Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sage-annie-moriah-11601

Wonthaggi and District Historical Society       http://www.wonthaggihistoricalsociety.org.au/
• The essay in the February 2019 Plod is on Bill Robertson, who arrived in Wonthaggi in 1958 to take up a teaching appointment at Wonthaggi Technical School – he fell in love and married Barbara Dakers and fell in love with the town and joined the local council and became Mayor of Wonthaggi. The article was written by his son, Mark, and was part of Mark’s eulogy to his Dad, whose funeral was in February. The March Plod essay is on Wally ‘Hefty’ Stuart, Wonthaggi Cycling champion and also has a general look at the history of cycling in Wonthaggi, written by C. Landon. ‘Hefty’ went to England in the 1930s with Hubert Opperman and Ernie Milliken and raced over there and in the World Championships in Belgium in 1935. He tragically died in 1938 as a result of an accident at Olympic Park where he was doing exhibition rides. The April Plod essay has an essay by Gill Heal on the Wonthaggi Theatrical Groups 1982 programme in the newly rebuilt Union Theatre, which had been destroyed by fire in April 1980.