Gippsland Guardian online

Much Excitement!

The Gippsland Guardian is now online through Trove, for 1855 to 1868.

While some of the earlier issues are yet to be fully uploaded, if you find an article you want by searching, that is not yet loaded, you can click on the little orange envelope, and you will be e-mailed when that article is fully uploaded - some time in the next month.

You can search the title HERE, by typing your search term into the box on the top right, and clicking on the "Limit to issues of this title", also at top right.

Funding to place the title online (for $7,300), came from a Wellington Shire Community Grant, contributions from the members of the Wellington Heritage Network (and supporters) and the Gippsland Prospectors and Miners.

Bulletin 130 is out

Bulletin 130 has been distributed

Included are:

The president's report (with photos!) of the planting of an oak tree in Victoria Park to recognise the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II

A report of the Royal Visit to Maffra in 1934 of the Duke of Gloucester

Description and further photographs of the Irrigation Photo Album.

Details of the Forster and Porter families of Maffra, and their connection with the construction of the Foster Building, and furniture in St John's Church in Maffra.

Rebecca Mills - notes, with photos, from a talk to the Society by Judy Rennick. Mrs Mills was a prominent philanthropist from Powerscourt, near Maffra.

Grogan's bridge and the Minerva - Doc Doherty has identified the car at the opening of Grogan's Bridge at Glenmaggie as that belonging to Henry Luke, the editor of the Gippsland Mercury at Sale.

Baptisms in the former Maffra Shire by the Rev John Roberts for January 1872 to March 1874.

Plus news and notes.

All in all - lots of good reading.

Maffra Copying Stand

For those who are wondering - this is the copying stand we are using - an old and very good Lupo from about 20 years or more ago, in the days of film cameras.

We changed the globes to cool white (at $28 each) and are waiting for extensions from the USA to lengthen the camera post to take the biggest books, but apart from that, it is great. It was gathering dust in the back shed, and has made us realise what else we can now copy.

Also, for those wondering - that is a member's expensive Nikkon on there. Which manages to do just as good  job as another member's small "point and click" Cannon.

AND (Late Note) we have now seen Yarram Historical Society's Cannon "PowerShot" in action, and it is pretty darn good too, as a mid-range camera. This is the one the PRO recommended when we rang, if we had to buy a camera. We haven't had to, but it was good to see it in action. 

We are in the process of documenting what we need to do with the images, once they are captured. If anyone else has some written procedures for this, would they be willing to share? Happy to send ours along to anyone else.

Maffra Shire Rate Books

The Society is very excited to have been allowed access to the Maffra Shire Ratebooks, before they leave the Yarram archives for the Public Record Office.

We are currently copying them from 1876 (the first book), to about 1920.

They are not yet available to for consultation or to answer enquiries, but we thought people may wish to see the sample below. You can see  larger copy HERE.

Bulletin 129 is out

Maffra and District Historical Society Bulletin No. 129 is currently being distributed. This issue sees co-editor Pauline Hitchins join the team, and she has provided the first article in an intended series on Johnson Street. The Foster Building was built in 1908, one of the first in the state of hollow concrete blocks, and was recently added to the Victorian Heritage Register.

Doc Doherty considers Maffra architect Steve Ashton (who coincidentally designed the Foster building), and his two early FN cars from Belgium. Baptisms by the Reverend John Roberts for the former Shire of Maffra Jan 1870 to Jan 1872 are also included, along with the usual news, notes and calendar.

Copies are in the mail to members, or you can purchase one from the Museum on the first Sunday of the month.

Sugarbeet Factory Bricks

 

It isn't every day we get excited about a brick, but the day this was donated recently was an exception. This is a brick from the original 1897 Sugarbeet Factory building. They were sourced from all over the place, and came to Maffra on the train.

This one came from the Morwell Tile and Pottery Company - not a brick brand that we have seen around. Which is  bit of a surprise, as we think a lot of bricks went local when the factory was finally demolished in 1964.

The Year 2012 in Review

Jill Ball at Geniaus has asked us to look back at the year, and Accentuate the Positive. Which is easy for us, as it has been a really brilliant year.

Highlights for the year - there are plenty.

We are more than half way through loading just under seven hundred photographs from a 1948-1952 album of major irrigation works based at Heyfield.

We have almost reached our target for fundraising to get the Gippsland Guardian online 1855-1868. This is a Wellington Shire Network project, in which we have taken a large part.

We survived the flooding of the major part of our collection.

We have published a book on milk trucks and tankers, on dairy factories in the adjoining shire, on Maffra shire dairy factories, and other smaller booklets.

We had a successful History Week function.

And we are sure when we look at the blog, there will be heaps more. Blogs are good for things like that.

Thanks to all the crew who work in the Maffra Library on a Thursday afternoon - especially John, Spencer, Carol, Doc, Paula and Ruth. Nothing will beat the number of photos John has scanned this year with the new Flip Pal scanner (where he can still scan  photo in thirty seconds, and it then takes Linda four and  half minutes to process it). Spencer is now bringing all the newspaper clippings under control, so they can be accessed via the catalogue.

Thank you everyone, and we look forward to 2013.