Camperdown & District Historical Society Inc. in Camperdown, Victoria | Museum

Camperdown & District Historical Society Inc.

Locality: Camperdown, Victoria

Phone: +61 417 352 987

Address: 241 Manifold Street 3260 Camperdown, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.camperdownhistory.org.au/

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25.01.2022 A STUDENT OF JEANIE PETER Alice Doreen Jacka (nee Emerson) begins five pages of fascinating writing like this: "I was asked to write the story of my life when I turned ninety that was two years ago. I’ve now finally got around to it" Here's a snippet about her music lessons which began when she was about thirteen years old: "I learnt (piano) from Miss Jenny Peters (sic), a wonderful teacher, and I would practise every afternoon. I passed all my music and theory exams: we... had to go down by train to Colac for those. An examiner came out from London as it was London College of Music exams that we sat for." The pictures show young Alice at her Music graduation in 1926 and, in 1928 with her younger sister Edna and her husband-to-be, Arthur Jacka. See more

24.01.2022 ROBERT BURNS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS The Robert Burns World Federation will be holding a virtual Burns Supper in honour of the bard's birthday. It will be held on Saturday, 23rd January and their invitation says: We have a special message which will be delivered at that occasion. You don't want to miss it!" We understand the our own Dr John Menzies has already been recorded playing his bagpipes for the world-wide occasion - to be used to pipe in the special guest. Members from... Australia can attend this virtual event at 6 am AEST on Sunday 24th. (We assume the supper will be BYO hagggis!) See more

23.01.2022 HERE IS YOUR NEW COMMITTEE It looks very much the same as your old committee! We've just finished our Zoom AGM and those happy faces you see below are President, Rob Wuchatsch, Vice Pres. Bob Lambell, Secretary, Maree Belyea, Treasurer Jan Whamond, IT Guru, Angela Preiss and Communications, Gillian Senior. Ray Watson has resigned from committee but is still our go-to man for photographs. You'll be pleased to know that one of the decisions was that Membership fees remain the same as last year. You can check our website for those details.

23.01.2022 IT'S NEWSLETTER TIME! At least something stays the same in this new world of Covid19! As scheduled, the CDHS Newsletter, "Past Matters, is in the mail - both email and post - and it's full of interesting reports about the behind-the-scenes activities that have been going on over the past three months. The AGM is also on its way, but it will be held in a totally new way as you can see from the article on our front page.

23.01.2022 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Since the start of our lockdown period, the first face-to-face meeting of the committee was held yesterday (socially distanced, of course!). Future opening plans are being discussed and will be publicised as soon as they are finalised. The work on new displays is still going on - one of which is the "Women's" display in which a local piano teacher, Jeanie Peter is featured. Below is the plaque which would probably have been displayed on her front fence and there's a lovely photo of her with her students c1928. Miss Peter was born in 1884 and lived until 1973, so perhaps some of our Facebook watchers were taught by her. If so, we'd love to hear from you.

23.01.2022 "CAMPERDOWN AND ITS CUP" Produced for the Camperdown Turf Club, this is the title of a beautiful photographic record of Camperdown's 2013 Annual Cup Race. CDHS was horrified to discover that we didn't have a copy of this very special book in our collection. We have now rectified that omission and are so delighted with it that we are now singing its praises to anyone who will listen. It's still available at McCann's Newsagents in Manifold Street for $40, and online at: www.camperdownanditscup.com. Price $40 (plus $15 postage). It would make a great present for any occasion. Pop in and have a look at ours or find it at the Newsagents.

22.01.2022 SORRY EVERYONE, BUT ...... Due to the worrying surge in Coronavirus cases in nearby areas, we regretfully advise that the Camperdown Heritage Centre will be closed to the public until further notice. We will do our very best to meet your research and other enquiries via our website and email. Fortunately, a lot of the work volunteers do can be done from home so we're not entirely idle during this difficult time. Our thoughts go out to you all - take care and stay well.

21.01.2022 LAFF'S GENEROUS DONATION Many thanks to Laffs Camperdown for their donation of $114 from their Sales/Promotion section. Great support to our community from a local business.

21.01.2022 SUE COLE SHARES SOME MEMORIES As a contribution to the Corangamite Shire's memoirs project, CDHS Life Member, Past President, 5th generation Camperdownian, etc. etc. Sue Cole agreed to be interviewed by our IT expert, Angela Preiss. Here it is - full of memories of riding her pony to school, marriage at St Paul's, photographs and more. Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNJmzrgKM4Y

21.01.2022 SOME MORE FROM ALICE JACKA (NEE EMERSON) Her memoirs, written at the age of 92, are filled with interesting snippets of information: "For our schooling, Edna and I had to walk up to Talindert School for about six months, then the people applied for a local school, which was eventually built. They did not know what to name it; someone suggested we were in Heytesbury Shire, so why not name it that. Finally, someone suggested Tesbury, as the last part of the Shire name." Is this new information about the name of Tesbury? And is it correct? Sadly we have no pics of Tesbury School but the picture below is the earliest we have of Talindert School No.3644, taken in 1931. Two VERY well dressed lads at the back, with collars and ties, and one even with a handkerchief tucked in his top pocket.

19.01.2022 ARE WE COLD ENOUGH? We've shared these historic photos before but it seems like it might be that time again. The first two pics are our earliest photographs of snow in Camperdown: 1901 in Manifold Street and looking down Park Lane. The second two are at Rennie Hill in 1981. Will we have to wait another 80 years for the next fall of snow? Hope you are all staying safe and W-A-R-M!!

19.01.2022 Heritage Centre to reopen 7th July - Visitor Guidelines here.

18.01.2022 LOOKING BACK LOCALLY Here's a terrific way to spend some of your lockdown time - write your life story! And it's not as difficult as it sounds with the prompts and suggestions on the Corangamite Shire website. If you click on this link: https://www.corangamite.vic.gov.au//Local-Community-Activi it will take you to the project and you may be inspired to write your memoirs. Think about your childhood, your sweethearts, your adventures - your children and grandchildren may learn things about you they never suspected!!

16.01.2022 https://camperdownhistory.org.au/maree-belyea-ray-watson-a/ if you missed the presentation you can read the acknowledgements/citations here.

16.01.2022 CALLING 60 TO 61-YEAR-OLDS! Did you go to Camperdown State School? Were you in Prep Grade in 1966? Here's a photo sent to us by Tony Esh with some of the names, and he'd really like some help in filling in the blanks. Of course, we said we'd be happy to put it on Facebook and see whether we can get the complete set. Now it's over to you .....

16.01.2022 ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO In June 1920, a Royal Train transported Edward, Prince of Wales to a number of regional towns and cities, one of which was Camperdown. This month, Victoria's monthly rail magazine NEWSRAIL has an article on this Royal Progress and includes a number of photographs. One of these photos - of the Prince outside the council chambers, comes from our collection. Other pics are from Cressy & District History Group as well as PROV. A couple of them are below. Well done to Maree Belyea who supplied the photo to the magazine. Can you spot the lady with the camera? We think she's just winding on her film to the next frame. If you're old enough, you'll know what that means!

16.01.2022 OOOPS! CORRECTION OF PREVIOUS POST! It seems that the spelling of the name of the Camperdown Hospital's original building was misspelt in the book: Shire of Hampden-1863-1963. It should be: Monamithgya - a correction from our eagle-eyed researcher! Also, apparently, the Manifold Crest has been spotted in one place, and that is the book "The Wished For Land, the migration and settlement of the Manifolds of Western Victoria", written by W. G. Manifold. Let's hope we've have the facts right this time!

15.01.2022 STAY AT HOME FESTIVAL We received a letter from the Royal Historical Society of Victoria with a link to this wonderful site: https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/stay-at-home-festival/ There are loads of activities for anyone with about a year of spare time! An interest in history is not essential but there are many memories of past times shared and for sharing. Well worth a look! Just click on the link and you'll be there.

15.01.2022 CDHS & NAIDOC Mercy Regional College marked NAIDOC week with a comprehensive program for their Year 7 students, and Bob Lambell from CDHS spent all morning sharing his knowledge with them. There were three groups of Yr.7s and Bob spoke to each of them at the Aboriginal Reconciliation Park and at the Memorial Obelisk in the Cemetery. He also told them the history of Wombeetch Puyuun, whose remains are buried there. Congratulations to Bob for a great job on such a VERY hot day. There will be a comprehensive report on this event in our next Newsletter.

13.01.2022 CLEANED AND POLISHED AND ON DISPLAY Just some of the pieces given to us from Talindert and cleaned so industriously by Sue Cole. They now look very different from when they first arrived a few months ago. There's a carriage bridle, showing the blinker with the Manifold monogram, as well as the polished silver headband and monogram. On the wooden rack, is a monogrammed harness saddle with breeching attached, and the next picture shows a collar with traces attached to the hames. (NOTE: Just hoping that all the horse language is correct!)

13.01.2022 XMAS BREAK-UP, LIFE MEMBERSHIPS AND END-OF-YEAR CLOSING On a rather chilly evening last Tuesday, about 30 or so members gathered at the Botanic Gardens for a final gathering to end this most unusual year. An extra surprise (for some!) was the awarding of Life Membership to two of our long-time stalwarts - Maree Belyea and Ray Watson. Both have contributed "above and beyond the call of duty" during their many years of volunteering to the society. They are pictured below with President Rob Wuchatsch and their full stories will be on our website soon. The Heritage Centre will be closed from noon on Tuesday 22nd December and will re-open on 5th January 2021. Wishing all our members all the best for 2021 - let's hope it's a bit better than 2020!

12.01.2022 VIRTUAL BURNS FEST LIVE! Today's the day! The Camperdown Robert Burns Festival has risen to the challenge of Covid19 and turned a cancellation of public events into a winner! Visit the website: https://camperdownburnsfestival.com.au/ for a full rundown of all the programs available. Also the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RobertBurnsFestival/ for updates, links and live music streaming. The CDHS is there too, talking about the origin of the Festival and how it fits into the history of the town. Enjoy a weekend of music, dance and all things Scottish. The whole program is on the website and a live concert streaming begins at 2pm today with Kate Burke.

12.01.2022 NAMES ON THE BACK OF PHOTOGRAPH Well, these should be the right names! They came from Janet Phipps (now Fitzgerald) whose mother wrote on the back of the photograph. Dean Brown filled in some of the first names for us. If anyone has any corrections of the picture and names below, let's know! Thanks everyone for your interest and help with this.

11.01.2022 THE WORK GOES ON.... All the leather harness pieces from Talindert are getting a thorough clean with saddle soap and toothbrush from our expert in all things to do with horses, Sue Cole. Then, she says, they will need to be properly oiled to preserve them and stop them from cracking. THEN we may be able to display them. It's a big job - we have an awful lot more to do.

11.01.2022 "AIR FORCE BABY" Thanks to Nicole Cummins, who sent us the pic of the badge/medal below. She found it in a wall when renovating. A little bit of research tells us the competition was held in Camperdown in November 1943 as a wartime fundraiser and was a "howling success"! The winning babies' names were published in the Camperdown Chronicle. The house where the medal was found belonged to the Wade family. Does anyone recognise a name belonging to that family in the list of winners?

07.01.2022 HOSPITAL HISTORY ON DISPLAY As we can't open to the public right now, we can at least show you some of our new displays - with interesting snippets of information as well. In 1907, the Manifold brothers purchased "Monomythga", the residence of J. H. Robinson, and offered the building to the Shire Council as a hospital. They also offered money for the renovation, furnishing and equipment of the building. Below is the Camperdown Hospital's emblem which incorporates the Manifold Crest, as explained on the plaque below it. The surprising thing is, that nowhere else have we been able to find the "Manifold Crest" used - not by the family or on any of their belongings.

06.01.2022 EXCITING DISCOVERY This little perfume bottle sat unnoticed in one of our display cabinets for many years. It was only when the cabinet was emptied for refurbishment that we became curious about its history. THE BOTTLE: The Grossmith Company, discovered still operating in London, were able to provide us with the following information about the bottle. They believe it was manufactured in Anor, Normandy, France before 1906. The cork stopper with the Maltese cross top was know...n as a sprinkler fitting and enabled the user to sprinkle the fragrance over their clothes or into water in a hand basin. At that time all bottles were normally fitted with a glass stopper and the very small hole needed to sprinkle rather than dab was impossible for the glassmaker of the time to produce economically.hence the need for this type of fitting, which was used as far back as 1860. THE PERFUME: From the remains of the band around the neck of the bottle we were able to ascertain that the perfume was a toilet water "Floral Extract Parma Violet" part of the Floriala Series. Floral Extracts were sold in a variety of bottles at various times between 1880 and 1930. See more

05.01.2022 HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMPERDOWN CHRONICLE Congratulations to WD News and Stewart Esh for the 146th birthday of the Camperdown Chronicle. CDHS has an actual front page of the first edition, 1st October, 1874, in our collection. We also have a photocopied and framed version expertly preserved for posterity. It says a lot about the strength of our community that our local paper is still going and still supported during this difficult time of Covid19. With no local sport to report and not much happening anywhere it can't be easy. Good work!

05.01.2022 IT'S TIME TO REMEMBER THAT "PAST MATTERS". In other words, it's time for the latest edition of our newsletter. Actually, it was published and sent out on the 27th but at last it appears on our Facebook page. (Sorry for the delay!) Lots of different subjects covered in this edition - have a look at the contents list - and it's full of heaps of good reading. We hope to be able to open up our Heritage Centre again soon so we can share all the work that's been going on since "lockdown". Hope to see many visitors then!

02.01.2022 WORK GOES ON BEHIND THE SCENES Over the past few weeks, while the community has been in lockdown, dedicated members of the Historical Society Executive have been quietly using the time to re-design our displays and working areas. A display focussing on the histories of women is in the process of being completed in one corner, another area is given over to our hospital records and stories, and our Aboriginal display is being updated and re-organised. We are all looking forward to the time when we can open to the public again and show you the results of all the hard work.