Canberra & District Historical Society Inc. Founded 10 December 1953 PO Box 315, Curtin ACT 2605 ISSN 1839-4612
Edition No. 467 June 2018
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 1
Canberra & District Historical Society Inc.
Council President: Nick Swain Vice-President: Esther Davies; Richard Reid Immediate Past President: Julia Ryan Hon. Treasurer: Vacant, Julia Ryan A/g Hon. Secretary: Vacant Councillors: Patricia Clarke; Tony Corp; Peter Dowling; Allen Mawer; Marilyn Truscott; Ann Tündern-Smith, two vacancies Honorary Executive Officer: Helen Digan CDHS Canberra Historical Journal Editors: David Wardle and Kay Walsh (Published two times each year) CDHS Canberra History News Editors: Ann Tündern-Smith, Sylvia Marchant and Karen Moore (Published four times each year)
Location Curtin Shopping Centre, Curtin ACT (Entrance from Strangways Street car park, opposite the service station)
Postal Address Phone PO Box 315, Curtin ACT 2605 (02) 6281 2929
Email Website [email protected] www.canberrahistory.org.au
Facebook page Canberra & District History https://www.facebook.com/groups/829568883839247/
Office Hours Tuesdays & most Wednesdays: 11.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. Most Saturdays: 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon
Monthly Meetings Conference Room, Telopea Park School, New South Wales Crescent, Barton Held from February to December on the 2nd Tuesday of each month Be sure to arrive between 5.00 and 5.30 pm, as the entrance then is locked until the meeting finishes, between 6.30 and 7 pm
Front Cover: Annie Mercy Fallick, née Gale, one of the Pioneer Women of Queanbeyan described by Nichole Overall in her presentation to the Society’s Monthly Meeting on 8 April. For more, please see page 8. Photograph courtesy Nichole Overall
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 2 Canberra History News The Newsletter of the Canberra & District Historical Society Inc.
Edition No. 467 ISSN 1839-4612 June 2018 The Canberra History News is issued QUARTERLY in March, June, September and December of each year.
Contents Calendar of CDHS Events 4 New Venue for July Meeting 4 Other events 4 June Guest Speaker: Malcolm Beazley 5 July Guest Speaker: Peter Dowling 5 Council Report: May 2018 6 Canberra Day Oration: Monday, 12 March 2018 The Unknown Soldier and the Centenary of ANZAC with Brendon Kelson 7 Monthly Meeting: Tuesday, 10 April 2018 Pioneer Women of Queanbeyan with Nichole Overall 8 Monthly Meeting: Tuesday, 8 May 2018, Is the ‘Kingo’ Heritage? with Marilyn Truscott and Nick Swain 9 Canberra and District Heritage Festival, 14-29 April 2018: ‘My Culture, My Story’ 10 Do You Know a Community Group Which Would Enjoy the Jefferis–Whelen Journals? 10 Jefferis-Whelen Journal Workshop, Thursday, 19 April 2018 11 Robert Digan, 18 January 1938 – 29 December 2017, by Ben Digan and Michael Hall 12 Tribute to Manuka Pool Swimmers by Frances McGee 14 What Do We Mean By ‘& District’? by Nick Swain 16 Two Members Get Plaques on Canberra’s Honour Walk! 17 A Tale Of Two Villages by Alastair Crombie 18 Tuggranong Post Office, NSW by Tony Curtis 19 Membership Matters 23 News from ArchivesACT 23 Note to Contributors 24 Note to Advertisers 24 Annual Subscription Form 25
The Canberra History News is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without permission. Views expressed in articles, reviews, etc., are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Society.
Deadline for the June issue is Tuesday, 7 August 2018
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 3
Calendar of CDHS Events Saturday Jefferis-Whelen Journal Presentation at Lanyon Homestead 2 June 2018 Fireside chat in the Barracks Espresso Bar and Eating House, 2.30-3.30pm Bookings by 31 May at Eventbrite: Lanyonfireside.eventbrite.com.au General Meeting: Malcolm Beazley on Celebrating Australia’s Educational Heritage: The Role of the Australian National Museum of Education Tuesday Dr Malcolm Beazley AM is the founder and Director of the Australian 12 June 2018 National Museum of Education at the University of Canberra (see p 5)
Telopea Park School Conference Room, Barton Tea and coffee from 5pm (doors closed at 5.30pm) CDHS annual subscriptions due. You can pay by bank transfer, credit card July 2018 by phone or in person, cheque by snail mail or in person. See notice on page 25 of this newsletter with subscription rates, bank details, etc. General Meeting in a new **venue**: Peter Dowling on Paleopathology of Tuesday Australian Aborigines pre- and post-Contact (see p 5) 10 July 2018 **ALIA Conference Room, 9-11 Napier Close, Deakin**
5pm tea/coffee for a 5.30pm start General meeting: Jenne Kelson on A Musical Snapshot of History Tuesday Venue to be advised after July Council meeting 14 August 2018 5pm tea/coffee for 5.30pm start Annual General Meeting Tuesday Venue to be advised after July Council meeting 11 September 2018 5pm wine and cheese for a 5.30pm start General meeting: Jane Goffman on The History of Dickson and Planning for its Tuesday Future 9 October 2018 Venue to be advised after July Council meeting 5pm tea/coffee for 5.30pm start Members Night: Tell Us About Your Own Research Three to four speakers needed: Please advise the office or a Council Tuesday member 13 November 2018 Venue to be advised after July Council meeting 5pm tea/coffee for 5.30pm start
** New Venue for July meeting** (Telopea Park School is closed during holidays.) The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has kindly offered us their Conference Room for our July meeting. It is just inside the entrance of their building at 9-11 Napier Close, Deakin The CDHS Council will consider the location of future General Meetings the week afterwards, on 17 July.
Other Events Third Wednesday Regional Studies Network every month CDHS, Curtin. 12.30 – 1.30 pm Living Stones exhibition and guided tours of the Church of St Andrew, 1 Wednesdays State Circle, Forrest. More information from Ann on 62812436 or David on 11.15 am – 12.15 pm 0402215303 Thursday mornings 10.00 am -12.30 pm A Tale of Two Villages exhibition First Sunday Hall School Museum and Heritage Centre, Victoria St, Hall. every month Groups by appointment with
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 4
June General Meeting Guest Speaker: Malcolm Beazley
Canberra born, Dr Malcolm Beazley AM, has been a teacher, academic, administrator and writer for over fifty years. He has been an educational consultant to both local and federal governments and has written and edited numerous publications and articles. His career has been marked by a Fulbright Award in 1982, when he researched programs in the USA, which focused on the development of language and writing abilities in children. He was made a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators in 1987 and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 1991 Queen’s Birthday Honours for his pioneering work in the application of state-of-the-art technologies to pedagogy both in Australia and overseas. Through the Computer Pals Across the World (CPAW) organization, which he founded in 1983 and which is now based at the University of Central Florida, USA, he has become known as the Father of Social Media. As the Founder and Director of the Australian National Museum of Education, at the University of Canberra, his current research is on the history of education and schooling. He has a great interest in global issues and in building bridges between the peoples of this planet.
July General Meeting Guest Speaker: Peter Dowling
Dr Peter Dowling is a CDHS Council member. He studied archaeology, Australian history and biological anthropology at the Australian National University, specialising in the biological consequences of European and Aboriginal contact. His doctoral thesis examined the distribution and effects of introduced diseases into the Aboriginal population of Australia from 1788 to 1900. After working for many years in the fields of archaeology, history and biological anthropology, Peter is now trying hard to retire and to further his work on paleopathology of the Australian Aborigines. He summarises his talk to the July General Meeting thus: It is well known that, following the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and the subsequent European colonisation, the indigenous populations of Australia suffered severe losses. In many areas populations which had existed for as long as 50,000 years were reduced to very few numbers in a matter of 100 years. It was a crucial period in the human history of Australia. Many historians writing about the early contact period have given introduced diseases as the major cause of population collapse but have not elaborated further. Which diseases were responsible for the population decline, when and where did they occur, how severe were they, and which diseases were more responsible for population collapse? What were the diseases that afflicted Aboriginal populations before the arrival of Europeans? In this talk Peter Dowling will discuss these diseases and provide answers to these questions.
Back copies of the Canberra Historical Journal (Nos 1–60) are available from the CDHS Office for $1 each, unless they are judged to be rare (less then ten copies on hand). Rare editions sell for $10 each. Later editions are priced at $4 each unless they (editions 71 and 78) are rare. (If you have copies of the Journal which you no longer require, the Society would be pleased to receive these. They can be dropped off at the Society’s Office in Curtin—details on page 2.)
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 5 Council Report: May 2018
We are just coming out of a very busy period which has included the Canberra Day Oration by Brendon Kelson, the multi-event ACT Heritage Festival (Book fair, Open Day, a stall at Lanyon Homestead and a Jefferis-Whelen journal presentation) and our April general meeting (a big thanks to Nichole Overall, all the way from Queanbeyan!). Detailed reports about these events are elsewhere in this newsletter. All this has been possible only with the help of a small band of very active volunteers whom we thank very much. Some volunteers are stretched and it would be great if a few more people could help out. Even Council members burn out. Your Council has vacancies and these need to be filled. Without these positions being filled, the Council and other volunteers are struggling to provide the current services to members let alone more services, such as excursions. Please volunteer! There was good news about Federal government funding for our peak body, the Federation of Australian Historical Societies—initially discontinued but reinstated for at least the next year thanks to a concerted campaign. Many thanks go to everyone who made their views known to the Minister. Our Facebook group page, Canberra & District History, is going well and we now have more than 220 members. We are reaching many more people this way and reading their stories. If you are not a member of our group page please sign up—you can post your own stories and photos. The nomination of the Kingston Hotel for inclusion on the ACT Heritage Register has resulted in the building owner admitting it was for sale. It appears that some offers involved redevelopment of the site. ACT Heritage Council Chair David Flannery has confirmed that the Kingston Hotel is, for the time being, protected as if it were on the ACT Heritage Register. We have just submitted an application for a National Library of Australia Community Heritage grant to have the significance of the Pat Wardle papers assessed. The collection comprises 24 boxes of material including diaries, letters and photographs. Pat’s papers include some from her mother Pattie Tillyard, her father Robin Tillyard and some of her sisters. We have been checking out a promising venue for our general meetings on 10 July and 9 October when Telopea Park School is unavailable during school holidays. Watch this space! Finally, we thank Sharon Green of Bridges Financial Services for her donation of a compactus previously used by that company. The donation was organised by the CDHS Honorary Administrator, the ever-resourceful Helen Digan. While the compactus took a full day to install, it has replaced one desk and two cabinets which did not offer nearly as much storage space. One metal cabinet and one 1950s-style office desk with green vinyl insert on top are now looking for new homes. The compactus has been installed in the room behind the front office in our Resource Centre. The CDHS Council decided to name this the Digan Room at its May meeting, in memory of Bob Digan and in less than adequate recognition of all that Helen Digan has contributed to the Society over many years. We hope you enjoy reading the rest of this newsletter.
Nick Swain and Ann Tündern-Smith
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 6 Canberra Day Oration, Monday, 12 March 2018 Brendon Kelson on the Unknown Soldier and the Centenary of ANZAC In 1993, the remains of an unknown Australian soldier killed during WWI were exhumed from a French cemetery and interred in the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial (AWM). Brendon Kelson, Director at the time, led the repatriation push together with Michael McKernan and Richard Reid. Rob Allison offered his services as an honorary consultant and acted as funeral director in the ceremonies at Villers-Bretonneux, the Menin Gate at Ypres in Belgium and at the Cambrai-Niergnies Air Base in France. In the 1920s, Britain had interred an unknown soldier at Westminster Abbey and the French buried a soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. John Treloar, archivist at the AWM, commented that to bury our own unknown soldier would only serve to detract from the significance of the original interments. These, he stated, should stand for all the unknown service personnel who died in WWI. Objections were raised by other individuals and groups, including the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Despite these and after years of negotiations and planning, it was decided that an unknown soldier’s remains would be exhumed from the Adelaide Cemetery in France. His remains were transported by a Qantas 747 aircraft specially named The Spirit of Remembrance for the return to Australia. On arrival in Canberra, the Unknown Soldier lay in state in King’s Hall in Old Parliament House for four days with thousands coming to pay their respects. Many of these visitors came because they could not visit the gravesite in the traditional manner. On 11 November 1993, the funeral cortege made its way up Anzac Parade accompanied by a tri-service guard and service bands, followed by a nineteen-gun salute. Here, Brendon referred to a VIP’s comment to a guard by way of thanks at the parade, ‘Soldier, you’re on my Christmas card list’ to which the soldier replied, ‘Well, you’re not on mine!’ The Unknown Soldier represents more than 100,000 men and women who laid down their lives for Australia in the wars of the twentieth century but as Prime Minister Paul Keating said in his eulogy, ‘He embodied a story of bravery and sacrifice and a deeper faith in ourselves and our democracy and a deeper understanding of what it means to be Australian. He is all of them and he is one of us.’ A vote of thanks to Brendon Kelson was moved by Esther Davies and fully supported by the large and appreciative audience. Tony Corp
A transcript of the address will be included in the next issue of the Canberra Historical Journal.
Vice-President, Esther Davies, thanks the Canberra Day Orator, Brendan Kelson Photographer: Nick Swain
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 7 Monthly Meeting: Tuesday, 10 April 2018 Pioneer Women of Queanbeyan with Nichole Overall Telopea Park School Principal, Kerrie Blain, welcomed members to the Primary School Library, a temporary move from the usual Teachers Common Room. Nick Swain, CDHS President, then introduced Nichole Overall, a Queanbeyan-based journalist, author and social historian. Nichole began by thanking the Society for the favourable review of her book on Queanbeyan: City of Champions in the Canberra Historical Journal. She went on to outline stories of over twenty individual women since European settlement in the district. They included: The two European women of the 1820s census—among 70 men; Jane Hunt, who married innkeeper William Hunt after the death of her first husband; Emma Rowley, first businesswoman in the district, who purchased four blocks of land at auction in 1839; Elizabeth Faunce, married to the Magistrate, Captain Alured Faunce, and a ‘civilising’ influence in the township in its early days; Annie Fallick, daughter of newspaperman, John Gale, who became a compositor at age 17, then edited the Gunning Leader and later, in the 1870s, became proprietor of the Queanbeyan Observer; Mary Anne Wright, first Lady Mayoress who instigated one of the first divorces in the region; Maryann Brownlow who, in 1855, stabbed her husband for infidelity and selling her property, whose hanging was delayed until after she delivered her third child; her sentence is believed to have been the first step towards the introduction of a Married Women's Property Rights Act; Mary Rusten, matron for three decades at the Queanbeyan hospital, she died in 1882. Nellie Hamilton, (Queen Nellie), a Ngambri woman who was an honoured guest at opening of the Tharwa Bridge in 1895. The 500 women who played Rockley, a 'feminine' version of cricket in the district in the 1890s and 1900s Elizabeth McKeahnie, ‘Aunt Elizabeth’ to the large McKeahnie family, a poet who stood over six feet tall and owned a dairy property near Tharwa, which she operated with female assistants only; Margaret Donoghoe, who in 1949 became the first woman elected to the Queanbeyan Council; Miles Franklin, author, who set her novel Old Blastus of Bandicoot in the district, when Queanbeyan was the hub for the Brindabellas; Heather McKay, world squash champion 18 times between 1962 and 1979. A lively discussion followed, with members and guests thanking Nichole for her research and presentation and adding their own recollections. Julia Ryan
CDHS annual membership subscriptions are now due. You can pay by bank transfer, credit card by phone or in person, cheque by snail mail or in person. See notice on page 25 of this newsletter with subscription rates, bank details, etc.
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 8 Monthly Meeting: Tuesday, 8 May 2018 Is the ‘Kingo’ Heritage? with Marilyn Truscott and Nick Swain Marilyn and Nick presented the case for the Society’s nomination of the Kingston Hotel to the ACT Heritage Council for listing on the ACT Heritage Register, to twenty attendees in the Teachers’ Common Room at Telopea Park School. Marilyn explained the four core values used in assessing Australian heritage generally. Normally, it is necessary to meet only one core value to be listed. The Kingston Hotel nomination focuses on two of the four core values, that is, historic and social values. The Hotel does not qualify for its aesthetic or scientific values. Based on Jill Waterhouse’s chapter in the CDHS publication, Canberra’s Early Hotels: A Pint Sized History (on sale at our Curtin Resource Centre), Nick outlined the history of the ‘Kingo’. It was built in 1936 by Tooheys Breweries, with an unusual footprint, designed to maximise sunlight in the bedrooms in February. Historic events associated with the Kingston Hotel include the Petrov defection from the Soviet Embassy across the road and the subsequent Royal Commission, in 1954-55, and the 36 Faceless Men gibe of 1963. The ALP’s National Conference was meeting in the ‘Kingo’ to discuss policies to take to voters in the next Federal election while the Party’s two Parliamentary leaders, Arthur Calwell and Gough Whitlam, waited outside for the decisions. Journalist Alan Reid organised a photograph of Calwell and Whitlam as they waited, leading the Liberal Party to invent the 36 Faceless Men title and to campaign against the ALP with it. Actually there were 35 men only (six from each State but no-one from the Territories) and one woman delegate, Phyllis Benjamin of Tasmania. The ‘Kingo’ was and is regarded as the ‘people’s pub’. In the 1930s, a leading SP bookie operated there, while it also has hosted the celebration of many major events, such as the 2017 passage of same-sex marriage legislation. The nomination of the Kingston Hotel has been accepted by the ACT Heritage Council. The next step is provisional Registration and the third step, the final Registration. A lively discussion followed the presentation, but time ran out before it the discussion could finish. A fuller account of the Society’s Kingston Hotel Submission will be found in the September edition of the Canberra Historical Journal. Julia Ryan
Books for sale at the CDHS Resource Centre in Curtin at members’ prices!
Belconnen’s Aboriginal Past by Peter Kabaila for $10
The Neighbourhood of Hughes by Jenny Tyrrell for $30
Building a City by Jennifer Horsfield for $25
Canberry Tales by Allen Mawer for $30
Cotter Country by Bruce Moore for $30
Prime Minister’s Lodge by Graeme Barrow for $10
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 9 Canberra and District Heritage Festival, 14-29 April 2018 ‘My Culture, My Story’ Esther Davies organised another very successful Book Fair to coincide with this year’s Heritage Festival. The first session was between 5 and 7 pm on Friday, 13 April, a date which led to gloomy but inaccurate predictions from President Nick. The second session ran the next day, from 9 in the morning until noon, alongside our Open Day outdoor stalls. The book sales alone raised more than $830. The plants people were quite proud that their takings of $94 just exceeded the $93 raised at the bric-à-brac tables. This is the second time that the Curtin Residents Association has run a Curtin Autumn Fair at the same time as the Heritage Festival. There seemed to be better synergy between the two events this year. The Residents Association advertising in several media always mentioned our Open Day. We also put up many signs in the main Curtin Shops square— which is now becoming known as Curtin Square to the locals—with arrows directing shoppers and fair-goers to our stalls. Those who helped Esther set up, pack up and who prepared and operated stalls on the Open Day were Allen Mawer, Nick Swain, Ann Tündern-Smith, Dawn Richardson, Eva Yager, Dudley Yager and Julia Ryan. Our thanks go to all of them and anyone missed in the list. Our human resources were stretched on the Open Day, though, as the Heritage Festival organisers had chosen the same day for the National Trust Open Day. Our Book Fair organisers had to stick to 13-14 April, despite the clash, for personal reasons. Those at the CDHS Resource Centre in Curtin thought that the weather was warm if windy. Marilyn Truscott with two helpers, Maureen Cashman and Syd Comfort, found herself in wide-open spaces at Lanyon Homestead and exposed to strong, direct winds. Despite the gale-force weather, some sturdy members of the public did come to explore Lanyon and the special offerings of its Open Day. Those who found the information stands showed an interest in our activities and took away membership forms. Julia Ryan was interviewed on ABC Radio 666, resulting in extra registrations for the Jefferis-Whelen journal workshop at the Resource centre on 19 April. It was attended by a full house. We now are looking for other groups which might like to enjoy looking through these heritage-listed records from the 1920s. Please see the next two items. Ann Tündern-Smith
Do you know a community group which would enjoy the Jefferis – Whelen journals?
The Society now has 25 high-resolution AROUND AUSTRALIA’S CAPITAL facsimile copies for research and education THE JEFFERIS AND WHELEN JOURNALS purposes, thanks to an ACT Government 1926 - 1931 Heritage Grant. The J-W team has already presented the Journal to groups at U3A, the Wesley Centre, Lanyon Cultural Centre and the Society’s Resource Centre at Curtin. The Journal fascinates people and the presentations are an excellent way of advertising the Society’s work. Contact the CDHS office if you know of an interested group. Frontispiece to volume III, Three Hundred Miles with Note-book and Camera
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 10 Jefferis-Whelen Journal Workshop Thursday, 19 April 2018
Nick Swain and Julia Ryan presented Around Australia’s Capital 1926-31 in three volumes to twelve participants, from both the community and the CDHS membership, at a Heritage Festival event in the CDHS Resource Centre on 19 April. Each participant had a high- resolution facsimile to inspect. The facsimiles are now enhanced by the addition of two aerial photographs of the Hotel Canberra and surrounds, from about 1927, provided by Telopea Park School Archivist and CDHS Vice-President, Esther Davies. Each time the Journal is presented the participants respond with enthusiasm and great interest to this unique, heritage-listed collection of photographs, watercolours, sketches and written impressions. This time was no different. Mary Gleeson, from ACT Heritage, dropped by and took the photograph below. If you have not yet attended a presentation, the next one will be held at Lanyon Homestead on 2 June 2018. Julia Ryan
The 2018 Heritage Festival Jefferis-Whelen Journals Workshop with presenters Nick Swain and Julia Ryan seated at the rear Photographer: Mary Gleeson
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 11 Robert Digan 18 January 1938 – 29 December 2017 by Ben Digan and Michael Hall It was a “dark and stormy night” when Allan then lived, and romance blossomed. Robert Digan was born on 18 January 1938 On 1 June 1967, Rob and Helen married at in London, or at least that’s what he liked to St. Thomas More’s Catholic Church in tell people. The son of Irish migrants from Campbell. They settled in Cook, where they County Galway, Rob was a book lover built their home, and raised three children. throughout his life and that was his Rob remained in the public service favourite phrase for starting any anecdote: for 36 years, going on to work in Defence, he had once read that it topped the list of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the worst opening sentences for a novel. It also Australian National Audit Office. In 1972 he appealed to his sense of humour for, as his was a founding member of the Department son Ben pointed out in his eulogy, the day of Aboriginal Affairs and counted men such Rob was born was unusually clear and mild as Reg Saunders and Charles Perkins as for winter in London. friends. Two years later he was at work After leaving school at fifteen he went when two Aboriginal activists, armed with a to work for Macmillan Publishers in London pistol, held him and several other men as which, for a bibliophile, was a dream job. On hostages. He did not let this traumatic learning in 1955 that the Digan family was experience interfere with the important migrating to Australia, Rob had to resign work that had to be done. from Macmillan, so the company offered him A lover of jazz, Rob was also a keen £5 (or more than week’s wages) or a book of bird watcher. He was a member of the his choice. Typically, he chose a book, War Canberra Ornithologists Group and the and Peace, the biggest book that he could Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union and find. wrote a number of articles for journals and Along with his parents and younger books on the subject. His interests extended sister, Rob arrived in Sydney in February to history, so when Helen joined the CDHS in 1956 after a four-week voyage through the the mid 1980s he joined as well. For ten of Suez Canal, Aden, Bombay and Perth. The the next seventeen years, Rob served as family moved to Hillston in western New secretary of the Society, where he was a South Wales—as hot, dry and sparsely calming and considered contributor to populated a place as London is cold, wet and council meetings. As well as being a member crowded. In this strange, new environment of the mapping project team, which plotted he found work in various jobs: on a dairy historic sites on modern maps of the ACT, he farm, in the local garage and in the was a reliable contributor for the Newsletter, menswear department of the local general producing reports that were precise and store where his English accent was concise. undoubtedly an asset. Rob was amongst the most prolific of In 1960 Rob joined the Postmaster book reviewers for the Canberra Historical General’s Department and was sent first to Journal, contributing at least twenty-five the Roto Post Office, north of Hillston, reviews. It probably was an excuse to read moving two years later to Manuka. Then he another book. His reviews were on a range was moved to Khancoban, in the Snowy of topics as diverse as birds, biographies, Mountains, in 1963, before getting a job as a military history, Aborigines and telegraphist at Parliament House. While in immigration. They were not so much those the Snowys he became friends with Allan of a critic but of someone who loved books McGrath and on a trip to Allan’s hometown and appreciated the efforts authors made to of Braidwood he met Allan’s sister, Helen. bring their subject matter to the attention of They met again, at a party in Downer where the public. Rob’s last review, published in
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 12 2015, was on a book about the bushranging Clarke brothers from the Braidwood district. Sometimes a picture tells more than words as revealed in the wedding photo of Rob and Helen as they left the church in 1967. The joy clearly expressed on both their faces lasted through fifty years of marriage (even if time slowed the step in their jump) and was evident in the things most important to him—Helen, their children Andrew, Ben and Alexandra and their grandchildren. Ben describes his father as modest and humble, as indeed he was. A true gentleman in an age when poseurs and braggarts are celebrated and humility is derided as weakness, Robert Digan showed that you could achieve much with quiet determination. After a long illness, he passed away at Clare Holland House on 29 December 2017 and was later buried at Braidwood. On behalf of the Society, we offer our deepest condolences to Helen and her family.
This article is based in part on the eulogy which Ben Digan delivered at his father’s funeral service on 5 January 2018 at St. Vincent de Paul’s Catholic Church in Aranda.
Photograph courtesy Helen Digan
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 13 Tribute to Manuka Pool Swimmers by Frances McGee Bill Dullard leaned out of the train window The plaque is now housed in a large at Canberra Railway Station, smiling at frame, along with the photograph of Bill family and friends gathered to bid him Dullard and his mates. Some very special farewell. It was 1942. Behind him were eight guests attended the unveiling ceremony: Mr mates from the Werriwa Regiment, all Merv Knowles, brother of Lindsay Knowles, departing for war service. Someone took a and a former President of our Society, Mr photo. That photograph now features in the Barry Browning and Mrs Judith Stephenson, restored Honour Roll at Manuka Swimming brother and sister of Frank Browning and Pool. two nephews and a niece of Bill Dullard. The Honour Roll, a small bronze Lindsay, Barry and Bill are three of the men plaque, was first unveiled at the Pool in 1947 remembered on the Honour Roll. and records the names of nine members of Other VIPS included: the Canberra Amateur Swimming Club who Mr and Mrs John and Su Taverner, whose died during the Second World War. They family managed the Pool for 55 years; were Frank Browning, Mick Clemens, Bill Ms Gai Brodtmann MP, Federal member for Dullard, Wally Hall, Ian Ingram, Lindsay Canberra; Knowles, Eric Peterson, Ian Ray and Harold Ms Candice Burch, MLA for Kurrajong; Thorpe. Mr Greg Moriarty, Secretary of the For more than seventy years the Department of Defence; Honour Roll hung in the Pool’s foyer on the Air Commodore Matt Hegarty, representing way to the men’s changing area. Generations the Chief of the Defence Force Air Chief of Canberrans have passed it on their way to Marshall Mark Binskin; swim, probably without even noticing it. Mr Allan McKinnon, Deputy Secretary, Over the years the plaque was neglected and representing the Secretary of Prime Minister the lettering faded. Now the restored and Cabinet, Mr Martin Parkinson; and Honour Roll hangs proudly in a prominent Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, Chief of position at the entrance to the Pool. Army. The restoration project was initiated The unveiling ceremony commenced by the Friends of Manuka Pool, a small group with Professor Clive Hamilton, President of established in response to the proposed the Friends of Manuka Pool, providing a brief development of the area and the potential outline of the restoration project, the loss of the Pool’s amenity and heritage opening of The Swimming Pool (as it was values. The plaque remains a poignant originally known) and the Canberra Amateur symbol of the Pool’s early social history. Swimming Club. While the Pool and its grounds are heritage- Mr Merv Knowles was the next listed, its social heritage as the community speaker, and held his audience spellbound hub in early Canberra is equally significant. reminiscing about the early days of the Pool. The Friends enlisted the help of two Merv and his brother Lindsay attended both CDHS members, Frances McGee and current the Pool’s unofficial opening on Christmas President Nick Swain, to research the people Day 1930, and its official opening a month behind the names and produce a small later, on 26 January 1931. The Knowles boys booklet about them. were members of the swimming club and The restored Honour Roll was champion swimmer, although Merv unveiled in a ceremony at the Pool on 12 confessed that he preferred water polo. Merv March, accompanied by the release of a still swims at the Pool. booklet, Swimmers Who Gave Their Lives. The Air Commodore Matt Hegarty then CDHS office has copies for sale at $10 each. talked about each of the nine men named
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 14 on the Honour Roll. All grew up in Canberra and were neighbours and schoolmates, with most attending Telopea Park School. Several were champion swimmers who were coached by Olympic champion, Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton, while he lived in Canberra in the mid-1930s. During the Second World War the swimmers enlisted in the Army or the RAAF and served all over the world, including New Guinea, Malaya and North Africa. Sadly, all died, the youngest aged 18, the oldest 25. After his speech Air Commodore Hegarty pulled aside the curtain to formally unveil the restored Honour Roll. The ceremony concluded on the Pool’s concourse. People swimming in the Pool at the time respectfully left the water, and both audience and swimmers listened as a bugler played the Last Post, followed by a minute’s silence. A student of Telopea Park School, Ms Noam Yehezkel, read the Ode. On a sunny Canberra Day, by the sparkling waters of the Pool, it was a fitting and moving tribute to the swimmers who gave their lives in the service of their country. Friends of Manuka Pool thank the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for providing a Commemorative Grant to restore the Honour Roll, Mr Kim Morris and his team at Art & Archival for carrying out the restoration, the family of Bill Dullard whose generous donation funded the printing of the booklet and Mr Bryan Pasfield, the Pool’s manager, for his valuable support throughout the project. The booklet’s authors acknowledge Ms Ether Davies, Ms Helen Burfitt and Ms Pamela Hunt for access to resources about students at Telopea Park School, Canberra High School and Canberra Grammar School; Mr John Skene for material about the Canberra Amateur Swimming Club; the Australian War Memorial; the National Archives and the ACT Memorial for information about the swimmers’ war service, and The Canberra Times for swimming results from the 1930s. Bill Dullard never saw the photograph. He was killed on the Kokoda Track on 24 September 1942.
Clive Hamilton (left) and Matt Hegarty (right) with the restored Honour Roll Photographer: Frances McGee
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 15
Outside the Manuka Pool after the unveiling of the restored Honour Roll: Front row (l-r) Rebecca Scouller (Vice-President of Friends of Manuka Pool); Commodore Paul Kinghorne RAN; Beth Knowles; Merv Knowles; Greg Moriarty; Clive Hamilton; Matt Hegarty. Behind (l- r); Allan McKinnon; Judith Stephenson; John Skene, Frances McGee; Gai Brodtman; Bryan Pasfield, Barry Browning; Marea Fatseas (Chair, Inner South Canberra Community Council); Noam Yehezkel (partially hidden); Candice Burch; Angus Campbell. Photographer: Damian Morland
What Do We Mean By ‘& District’? by Nick Swain
Should we precisely define the localities covered by ‘& District’ in the title of our Society? On the other hand, should the coverage be left flexible? In times past, CDHS coverage has been stated as a list of localities, implying a boundary beyond which there was no interest. This list included the Canberra urban area plus Queanbeyan, Brindabella, Bungendore, Burbong, Burra, Captains Flat, Frasers Creek, Ginninderra, Gudgenby, Gundaroo, Hall, Harolds Cross, Hoskinstown, Jeir, Majura, Michelago, Mulloon, Molonglo, Naas, Nanima, Rossi, Royalla, Shannons Flat, Sutton, Tharwa, Tidbinbilla, Tuggeranong, Uriarra, Weetangera, Williamsdale and Yaouk. (CDHS Newsletter No. 86, September 1967, No. 388 of August-September 2003 and Canberra History 1953-2003 Celebrating 50 Years). Now is as good a time as any to ask if this statement is still relevant and useful. The interpretation of ‘& District’ comes up from time to time for several reasons. One reason is that the Society, in its early days, considered what to do about surrounding areas that did not have their own historical societies. The Society then deemed itself to have primary responsibility for filling the gaps. Many of these places, for example, Braidwood, Cooma, Yass and Goulburn, now have active historical groups. CDHS no longer has that primary responsibility, nor does it have the resources to duplicate other groups. However, the Society still has an interest in these places because it is hard to study ACT history without having a strong interest in the surrounding areas. The Society’s interest is in the
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 16 relationship of these places to the ACT, rather than in all of their history. This is reflected in the first object in the society’s constitution:
(a) To encourage the study of the history of Canberra and district and of Australia in relation to it [emphasis added]. My own approach to '& District' is deliberately open ended. It means, for instance, if the Duntroon trail led to Campbell's Wharf in Sydney, we could cover that rather than saying it was out of scope because Sydney is not in our area. Another example arose the other day when talking to a farmer, who he said he came from Leeton. This is a town designed by Walter Burley Griffin, like Canberra. There is a link to Griffin, but we do not need to consider all of Leeton's history. While this approach avoids the arbitrariness of a hard boundary, it means judgement is needed in the CDHS Resource Centre. It simply is not practical to minutely analyse every piece of historical material in case there is a remote reference to the ACT. Rather our collection needs to contain historical material judged to have a significant relationship to the ACT. Other significant reasons why we often ask ourselves about the meaning of ‘& District’ relate to assessing the relevance of: Articles proposed for our newsletter and journal; Talks, including at monthly meetings; Research inquiries. For anywhere in Australia, the key test of relevance to the Society is whether there is a demonstrated historical relationship to the ACT. An implication of applying the test of its first objective is that it is no longer possible to draw hard geographic boundaries around localities relevant to the history of the national capital. The historical relationships between Canberra and the rest of the nation are more like a web than an easily defined area. In practice, this means that our collections and activities should reflect only what is relevant to the ACT. A revised statement of geographic coverage could be along the following lines: “The primary coverage of the Society is the ACT. However the history of the area occupied by the ACT, the nation’s capital, is also influenced by the people and events in the surrounding region and beyond as much as events in the ACT influence the rest of the nation. Thus the Society has an interest, as far as it affects the ACT, not only in the surrounding region but in the whole of Australia.”
What is your reaction to Nick’s viewpoint? Does it mean a change in focus for the Society? Is it too comprehensive or too narrow? If you would like to put your reaction in writing for publication in the next News, please send it to the CDHS Office, which will forward it to the editors.
Two Members Get Plaques on Canberra’s Honour Walk! Dawn Waterhouse, lifetime Canberra resident and long-time CDHS member, has earned a plaque on Canberra’s Honour Walk. It is located in Ainslie Place, which is between London Circuit and the Canberra Times Fountain outside the Canberra Centre. Hers was one of six plaques officially added on Friday, 18 May. The Media Release from the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, described Dawn as having ‘had an influence on the history, heritage and community life of Canberra for more than 90 years, particularly through her former home, Calthorpe’s House’. Another plaque recipient on 18 May was Alan Foskett, who has a lengthy connection to our city and who is a frequent contributor to both the CDHS and the Regional Studies Network. The Chief Minister described Alan as someone who ‘has a passion for Canberra’s history, highlighted by the 36 historical works he has published about our city’. Congratulations to both! Ann Tündern-Smith
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 17 A Tale Of Two Villages by Alastair Crombie ‘The shortest walking trail over the longest time’ is how exhibition curator Allen Mawer describes A Tale of Two Villages. For the first time, Hall residents and others can view in one place the early development of their village and district. Hall School Museum and Heritage Centre’s new exhibition on the settlement story of the Ginninderra-Hall district was launched on 22 April by Yerrabi MLA Michael Pettersson, and will remain on display for the foreseeable future. It is in fact a composite exhibition of four inter-related displays. The entry foyer has an ‘Aboriginal heritage wall’ bringing together in text and images what is known about Aboriginal occupation of the district. It includes pictures and information on the native plants used for food or medicine which can be found in the locality. The immediately adjacent space tells of the disruption to Aboriginal lives and culture by the arrival of the first white colonists: George Palmer, Henry Hall, William McCarthy, and others. It tells also of the emergence of the village of Ginninderra: a store, blacksmiths, post office and telegraph, school, church, police station, and so on. They catered to the requirements of farming families such as the Gribbles, Rolfes, Gillespies and Hatches, as well as the ‘Squire of Ginninderra’. From here visitors walk through a passageway telling the story of the pub that was vivid in the life of both Ginninderra and Hall. Established nearly two decades before Hall, but much closer to it, a succession of licensees at the Cricketers Arms provided refreshment and entertainment to the locals and those passing through. The display includes a fine model of the pub and many images from the Gillespie Collection. The ‘Arms’ lubricated the citizenry of both villages for half a century until King O’Malley, opponent of ‘stagger juice’, took its licence away. Moving on, we are soon in Hall. The walls of the ‘Hall Room’ are covered by a mural that shows Victoria Street as it was in 1913. It is used to provide a setting for memorable events in the Hall story. Aspects currently featured are the first land sale, held in 1886, and the war waged against rabbits in the early twentieth century. The biggest and most interesting exhibit is a century-old rabbit-poisoning cart restored to working order by Kingsley Southwell. It incorporates a replica of George Kinlyside’s wheel- regulated Patent Pollard Distributor and visitors are invited to operate it. The story of the gradual eclipse of Ginninderra is told through a series of storyboards showing the movement from one village to the other of stores, schools, churches and post offices.
The Exhibition is open on Thursday mornings, Hall Market Sundays and for groups by appointment. Further details are at http://www.hall.act.au.
Victoria Street, 1913, with the Hall Premier Store Photographer: Alastair Crombie
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 18 Tuggranong Post Office, NSW by Tony Curtis Little has been recorded previously about the operations of the Tuggranong Post Office. Folklore has long held that it was located originally at the old Tuggranong Station, and later the Tuggranong Railway Siding, on the Queanbeyan to Cooma line. These speculations have been put to rest with examination of the official Post Office file.1 Not to be confused with the Tuggeranong Post Office, which did not open until some one hundred years later in 1976, Tuggranong was located eight miles from Queanbeyan and seven miles from the Lanyon homestead near Tharwa. It was on land later incorporated into the Australian Capital Territory (see map below) in 1910.2
Portion of ‘Map shewing the postal stations, mail roads & telegraph offices in New South Wales, 1894’, Sydney, Department of Lands
The area, first settled in 1828 and variously known as ‘Togroner’ and ‘Tagroan’, drew its name from a term in the Ngunnawal language of the Aboriginal owners of the land,‘Togranong’, meaning ‘cold plains’.
Petition to establish a Post Office On 21 November 1879, 54 residents of Tuggranong, The Murrumbidgee, Long Gully, Woden, Dog Trap (Creek as opposed to Dog Trap Road, Jeir) and Queanbeyan, petitioned the Postmaster-General through Mr James Thompson MP to establish a post office at Tuggranong.
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 19 Mrs Mary Kennedy, most respected and trustworthy wife of Michael Kennedy, teacher at the Public School, Tuggranong, was recommended to be postmistress. Investigation by Postal Inspector Moyse established that the proposed office would be utilised by about twenty-five families. As it was not supported by the postmasters at Queanbeyan or Lanyon, Moyse determined that it was not warranted and recommended accordingly. Instead, he proposed the establishment of a Receiving Office at the Kennedy residence and the appointment of Mary Kennedy as Receiving Office Keeper (ROK).
Tuggranong Receiving Office The proposal to establish a Receiving Office having been endorsed by the postal administration and Mary Kennedy having agreed to take on the ROK role, the Office opened at the Kennedy residence on 16 January 1880. The Kennedys are believed to have been residing in the provisional school building which had been constructed by public labour on two acres of land owned by Martin Pike Sr. Construction of a joint school house and residence for the couple, located on the Queanbeyan to Lanyon road, had commenced, with bricks being manufactured on the site. Sanders Helman, a builder, and Thomas McCauley, bricklayer, both resident in the District, and signatories to the community’s petition for a post office were involved in construction of the new brick premises. The completed building was occupied and officially opened in June 1880. It has now been restored and is operated as the Tuggeranong Schoolhouse Museum, Enid Lorimer Circuit, Chisholm, by CDHS member, Elizabeth Burness.3
Undated photograph of Tuggranong Postal Receiving Office, Schoolhouse and Residence Building, possibly 1970s, taken for the National Capital Development Commission From the author’s collection
The Tuggranong Receiving Office operated from this location for around only three months, until 16 September 1880. It was closed following receipt of correspondence from
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 20 Mary Kennedy to the Secretary, General Post Office, Sydney, dated 2 August 1880. This informed him that, as a consequence of other duties consuming all of her time, she was no longer able to fulfil the role of Receiving Office Keeper at Tuggranong and accordingly tendered her resignation. Prior to the closure, Mary Kennedy responded to a request from the Secretary that she nominate a successor. She indicated that she knew of only one person, Mrs John Brennan, Tuggranong, who would be willing to take on the role and only then if the Office was upgraded to a Post Office. Despite this, a decision was taken to close the Receiving Office, the correspondence file referencing the view that the Brennan residence was not centrally located and would constitute an inconvenience to some residents. Three to four weeks after the decision to close the Office and after Mary Kennedy had returned relevant stores to Queanbeyan Post Office, Mr John Brennan wrote to say that his wife was prepared to take on the role of ROK Tuggranong. She would meet the mail boy with the mailbag at the road, on the basis of payment of 10 pounds per annum. Later it was agreed that Mrs Mary Brennan would undertake the duties on payment of 6 pounds 10 shillings per annum. Mary Brennan was appointed ROK Tuggranong effective 1 November 1880. The Office at the Brennan residence on the Tharwa Road was on the banks of the Tuggeranong Creek and approximately three hundred yards from the road. The distance from the main road would later become a matter of contention with the mail contractor complaining about the extra time required for travel.4 Regrettably, Mary Brennan’s tenure as ROK at Tuggranong was to be short, as she died on 6 December 1881. Mary’s daughter, Mary Anne Brennan, replaced her.
Tuggranong Post Office Following representations by George Fane De Salis, a local member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly during 1882-1885, a review of the business transacted through the Tuggranong Receiving Office was carried out. On 1 September 1885, the status of the Office was upgraded to Post Office. Mary Anne Brennan was appointed Postmistress and the Office continued to operate from the Brennan family residence. On 8 April 1891, Mary Anne Brennan wrote to the Secretary, General Post Office, Sydney, tendering her resignation. She proposed a reduction in status to Receiving Office, to be operated by her father John Brennan, due to a decline in business. This was the result of employees of local pastoralists, the Cunningham brothers, now using a Private Mail Bag at a residence built by one of the brothers, near the Post Office. The recommendation was accepted and implemented on 1 May 1891. John Brennan continued to operate the Office from his residence for a further four years. On 1 July 1895, Michael Brennan notified the postal administration that his father was gravely ill and could no longer discharge his duties. He further advised that the Office mailbag and stores would be forwarded to the Queanbeyan Post Office. As a replacement for Mr Brennan could not be found, it was decided to close the Office on 3 July 1895.
Philatelic evidence Rated RRRRR, the rarest type of Post Office numeral cancellation, by Hugh Freeman, the double strike of a Type 4B ‘1299’ numeral cancellation below is believed to be the only recorded example of a strike from the numeral obliterator issued to the Tuggranong Post Office.5 I am not aware of the existence of any examples of the Tuggranong date stamp having been found yet, nor any manuscript cancellations from the periods during which the receiving office operated.6 The absence of postal markings might seem surprising. It is relevant to note that prior to the De Salis correspondence surfacing in the mid 1980’s, examples of postmarks
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 21 originating from other nearby offices were also virtually non-existent. In the case of Bulgar Creek, not a single example has been reported ever.
The only known cancellation at the Tuggranong Post Office, reproduced in Hugh Freeman’s book on NSW cancellations
Remains of a bygone era The site of the provisional schoolhouse is at approximately 17-19 Clift Crescent in the suburb of Richardson, about 600m NNE of the Tuggeranong Homestead. As noted above, the second Tuggranong Receiving Office has been preserved as a museum in Enid Lorimer Circuit, Chisholm, operated by CDHS member, Elizabeth Burness. It is open on the second Sunday of every month from 10 until 4, and at other times by appointment. It provides a fascinating look into our past and is well worth a visit The ruins of the Brennan residence, together with a few scattered orchard trees, are approximately 1500m east of the Tuggeranong homestead, very close to the ‘bridge to nowhere’ near ‘Silly Corner’, a well-known landmark. The bridge was known as Brennan’s Bridge. It is no longer an actual bridge for traffic but a concrete remnant of past road works in the 1950-60s. It crossed Tuggeranong Creek and was part of a rough triangular shaped road linking the Tharwa Road and the Cooma Road in what today is the suburb of Theodore. 'Silly Corner' referred to the unusual shape of the road.7
An original, fuller version of this article is held in the CDHS collection in our Resource Centre in Curtin.
1. National Archives of Australia: SP 32/1 TUGGRANONG 2. New South Wales. Department of Lands. Map shewing the postal stations, mail roads & telegraph offices in New South Wales, 1894 Sydney: Dept. of Lands, 1894. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231330944. Accessed 1/4/2018. 3. http://www.historywithadifference.com.au/tuggeranong-schoolhouse-museum/tuggeranong-schoolhouse.html. Accessed 23/4/2018. 4. Karen Williams, Melrose Valley Preliminary Cultural Survey Report 2003–2004, http://canberracamps.webs.com/aboriginal/Melrose Valley report PART 2%5B1%5D p27-64.pdf. Accessed 14/4/2018. 5. Hugh H. Freeman, The Numeral Cancellations of New South Wales, Brusden-White Publishing Broadway, NSW, 2017. 6. N. C. Hopson and R. Tobin, N.S.W. and A.C.T. post, receiving, telegraph & telephone offices: their circular date-stamps and postal history, [Sydney] 1991. 7. Rebecca Lamb, local authority on the history of the Tuggeranong Region, personal communication.
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 22 Membership Matters
We welcome new members Darren Bell of Curtin and Wendy Whitham of Hawker. We also need to advise of the passing of three members of long standing: Gwen Dickins of Turner, a member since 1963, Barrie Dexter, a member since 1974 and Val Emerton, a member since 1995. Gwen Dickins was the aunt of Don Garden, the President of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies, so clearly she came from a family with a deep interest in Australian history. The brief story of Barrie Dexter’s life can be found in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times of 21 April, but we note that he was part of the hostage situation described in Bob Digan’s obituary on page 12. Val Emerton is remembered fondly by current CDHS Councillors as a tireless volunteer. Our condolences go to all three families. We have received gratefully a total of $2,900 from the following members and friends: Esther Davies, Patricia Clarke, Tom Campbell, Ann Tündern-Smith, Allen Mawer and Curtin Turns 50. Donations of money are tax-deductible and mean the difference between our Society breaking even each year or running at a loss. You can make a donation when you renew your membership before September using the form on page 25, or at any other time. We are grateful also for the donation of books to sell from Anthea Bundock, Marie Stott and Harrie Quince. Books sales, just ahead of donations of money, are our second major source of income after membership subscriptions. We thank Jan Goodall for her donation of a set of Historical Indexes of the Canberra/Queanbeyan District, edited by Trish Frei for the Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra. HAGSOC describes them as ‘A remarkable collection of research notes and indexes comprising 29,900 records within 33 PDF files spread over four CDs, pertaining to the Canberra/Queanbeyan district’, including maps. Ann Tündern-Smith and Helen Digan
More Items For Sale at Member’s Prices!
Attractive burgundy ballpoint pens, stamped ‘Canberra & District Historical Society’, are on sale now for $5 each.
Settlers Stories (1913-1975) Why they came - and stayed in Canberra by the Canberra Stories Group for $10
News from ArchivesACT
ArchivesACT recently looked over the records of the Canberra University College. Dating back to 1932, these records are packed to the brim with early Canberra ‘celebrity’ signatures: C.S. Daly, Sir Robert Garran, “Fred” Whitlam and Patricia Tillyard to name but a few. The records include the original site plans, sketches and committee minutes debating the possible siting of the future university. Given the significance of these records, the ANU Archives have kindly digitised the file in its entirety and it can now be publicly accessed through the hyperlink: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/138205. For access to the original documents please contact ArchivesACT through our ‘Request a Record’ service on our website: http://www.archives.act.gov.au. Anne Paliaga
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 23
Note to Contributors Canberra History News welcomes article up to 1500 words in length about your research into the history of Canberra and the broader district. Longer articles should be offered to our sister publication, the Canberra History Journal. Priority is given to articles from CDHS members. On matters of writing style, our authority is the 6th edition of the AGPS Style Manual, on the shelves of the Main Reading Room in the National Library of Australia.1 The News can cope with most word-processing outputs, but not PDF. A PDF file will be accepted for publication only in exceptional circumstances, such as advertising. Photographs should be in the JPEG format, although GIFs are acceptable also for simpler images. This is not an academic journal but, as the CDHS takes copyright law seriously, all sources used should be cited, even if not previously published—for example, personal communications and manuscripts. The News uses the Oxford referencing system, also known as the AGPS Style Manual documentary-note system.2 Credits must be supplied for all photographs, including those taken by the author.
Deadline for the September issue is Friday, 7 August 2018
Note to Advertisers Canberra History News welcomes advertisements of interest to our members, which help with the cost of producing this means of keeping them informed of what our Society is doing. In this respect, we thank local real estate agency, Blackshaw’s (see next page), for their support this year. Our reasonable rates are below.
Size Rate per issue Rate for 4 issues ⅛ page $7 $25 ¼ page $15 $50 ½ page $30 $120 Full page $60 $200 Insert $60 $200
Does CDHS have your email address? If not, you are missing out on special invitations to book launches and other events which come to us between newsletters. You are also missing a timely colour version of the newsletter with some extra articles. And, your printed newsletter now takes a week to arrive by mail and costs the Society more to send to you. Please send your email address to [email protected].
1 Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 6th ed., Milton, Qld, John Wiley & Sons Australia, 2002. 2 Pages 187–232 of the Style manual.
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 24
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION Canberra & District Historical Society Inc. FOUNDED 10 December 1953
Annual subscriptions for the 2018/19 Financial Year are due on 1 July 2018. Payment may be made by EFT, at General Meetings, at the Society’s Office at Curtin Place Curtin ACT, or by post to PO Box 315 Curtin ACT 2605. Visa/MasterCard facility is available. The mailing of newsletters and journals cannot be continued to members whose subscription is unpaid at the date of the Annual General Meeting – 11 September 2018. The Treasurer Canberra & District Historical Society Inc PO Box 315 CURTIN ACT 2605
I enclose herewith my/our subscription for 2018/19 Membership Fees: 1 year 2 years $ $ Single 65.00 125.00 Seniors Single 60.00 115.00 Joint 75.00 145.00 Seniors Joint 70.00 135.00 Full-Time Student & Pensioners 45.00 85.00 Schools & Education 65.00 125.00 Corporate 130.00 255.00 Please circle amount.
Donations are most welcome! $2 and over are Tax Deductible. $………………………………………………..
NAME…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………..
POSTAL ADDRESS ………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………….……………………………..
Email:…………………………………………….…………………..…………………….………………………………………………….. I wish to pay by: Cheque ☐ Cash ☐ Money Order ☐ Visa ☐ MasterCard ☐
Credit Card No: …………………………………………………………………………………………………..CVV………………….
Name on Card: …………………………………………………………………………………… Expiry Date ……………………
Signature: …………………………………………………………………………………………... Date………………………………. Renewals can be paid by EFT also, but please make sure that you include your surname and ‘CDHS sub’. BSB: 633 000, Account: 146 738 141, Account name: Canberra & District Historical Society, our email address: [email protected] .
Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 25 Canberra History News – Edition No. 467 – June 2018 26