Hobby's Outreach, Vol 8 No 6
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HOBBY'S RERCH BLUE MOUNTAINS 99 BLRHLRND RORO WENTWORTH FRLLS 2782 HISTORICAL SOCIEN Vol.8 No.6 Mar,Apr.1998 EXECUTNE COMMITTEE President: Coral Ewan 4 784 1831 Vice President: Gwen Silvey 4782 1292 Treasurer: David Dodd 4757 1535 Secretary: PO Box 1 7, Members: Wentworth Falls, 2782 4757 3433 Clyde Francis, Alan Tierney, Shirley Jones, Valerie Paddock. Ass't Sec: Shirley Jones 4757 2270 Building Maintenance Mgr: Research Officer: Clyde Francis 4759 1774 Gwen Silvey 4782 1292 Garden - Curators: Tarella - Curator: Bob Henson 4757 2675 Coral Ewan 47841831 - Native Area: - Conservator: Noreen Skellam 4757 1845 Ron Radnidge 4758 6556 Hobby's Reach Helpers Shop Mgr: Pam Johnson 4757 3945 - Convener: Editor, Hobby's Outreach: Valerie Craven 4757 3433 Roberta Johnstone 4757 2024 ~-----~-------~- CALENDAR OF EVENTS - MARCH, APRIL 1998 Monday 2 March Research activity day Saturday 7 March Annual General Meeting Monday 9 March Excursion - Catalina Park, Katoomba See page 2 for details Friday 13 March Research activity day Tuesday 24 March Research activity day Saturday 28 March Research activity day ~ \...._./- Saturday 4 April Meeting - Speaker : Colin Slade Subject: History of the Garden Palace ( 1879) See page 2 for details. Monday 6 April Research activity day Friday 10 April Easter Friday - No Research day Saturday 11 April Easter Saturday - Open Day - Tarella Sunday 12 April Easter Sunday - Open Day -Tarella Monday 13 April Easter Monday - Open Day - Tarella No regular excursion Saturday 18 April Autumn Festival - Open Day- Tarella Sunday 19 April " " Open Day- Tarella Saturday 25 April II " Open Day - Tarella. No research day Sunday 26 April fl II Open Day - Tarella See page 2 for details of Open Days Tuesday 28 April Research activity day Saturday 2 May Meeting - Speaker : Dr Brian Craven, Gwen Silvey and others Subject: "T.B. or not T.B. that is the question!" Monday 4 ~1ay Research activity day Friday 8 ' May Research activity day COMING EVENTS March Excursion Catalina Park (Frank Walford Park), Katoomba. We have permission form the Blue Mountains City Council to use the facilities in Catalina Park for our picnic lunch on our March excursion. Come and learn about the early Katoomba swimming pool and its associated Catalina Flying Boat, and also about the lake which J.B.North planned, in 1885, for this pretty little valley. The lake did not-eventuate, and the area was later developed as a motor racing circuit. Some of Katoomba's earliest houses and sites will be pointed out on the way back to the highway. DATE: Monday, 9th March TIME: 10.00am MEEfAT: Grassed area opposite the entrance to Katoomba Swimming Pool, Gates Ave (off Cascade St), Katoomba DURATION: Usual day trip GRADE: Walking in the area if desired - but it will be possible to drive around the Catalina Race Track, and to the other sites of interest during the day. April Meeting Our speaker will be Colin Slade who has researched the history of the Garden Palace. This building was hastily erected in 1879 in an attempt to vie with the Melbourne Exhibition Building. He will talk of the large structure and the surprisingly interesting events which took place there during its existence before it was destroyed by fire in 1882. Open Days "Tarella" and the Research Centre will be open to the public from 10.00am to 4.00pm on the days indicated in the Calendar of Events. This is our major fund raising effort and any time you can give is important - even if it is only one hour at lunchtime or at the end of the day. We need people to be in the rooms at "Tarella", to take money at the gate, and to help in the kitchen. Please ring Judith Tierney (4757 2086) if you would like your name placed on the roster. If you have any small items or books to donate to the shop, they would be very welcome. NEW MEMBER APPLICATIONS The person(s) whose name(s) appear below has/have applied for membership of the Society. Their membership fee(s) has/have been paid and their application(s) correctly nominated and seconded. Under the tenns of Section 5 of the Society's rules of association, any objection to an application for membership must be lodged within 14 days of an applicant's name being circulated to members. If no such objection to a person is received within such period, that person will be deemed to have been accepted as a member of the Society. Helen J.Raphael Roslyn Brasier 37 Alexander Ave, 1 6 Charles St, Haze!brook 2 779 Lawson 2789 2 SPEAKERS' CORNER The Blue Mountains Historical Society is renowned for the quality of its monthly speakers. The subjects covered are always interesting, well presented and illustrated, often humorous - just right for the sophisticated audience attending! I am pleased to be able to report that our last two speakers have been well up to standard. Following is a brief account, for those who were unable to attend, of ·what the rest of us enjoyed so much . Allen Smith "Clean and Decent" - 1st November 1997 An intriguing title, but most apt for a history of sanitation! Allen confessed that he had set out to cover a broad history of the water, sewerage and drainage process in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. He was sidetracked when his research led him to the state of public health and sanitation in Britain from its earliest history, and to the astounding fact that any effort to address the problem was made only recently. We were led through the history of bathing, with illustrations of the elegant Roman baths - what a pity they didn't take on - to the Turkish steam baths introduced by the returning Crusaders, which soon became 'bordellos'. Then to the horrors of the Middle Ages - King John actually bathed every three weeks, and some monks only once a year at Easter! Woollen clothes were never washed, water supplies came from polluted rivers, and the ever present problem of the disposal of human waste was often solved by sending it down the gutters to the river, from whence it returned during flooding! Disease was rife as a result of these conditions. The well-known rhyme "Ring a ring of rosy, A pocketful of posy, Atchoo, atchoo, We all fall down," referred to the Black Death of 1665 - the symptoms, the herb posy to ward off the 'badd ayre', the manifestations of the disease and its inevitable end. Edwin Chadwick, a social reformer, was the real hero of the Great Sanitary Awakening of the 19th Century. He tackled, apart from the obvious problems, side issues like intemperance - it was far safer to drink alcoholic beverages, than to risk the impure water supply. The forerunner of our death certificate gave valuable information from which to attack disease, and the many prison reforms enabled the social workers to assess the effect of the changes, The history of the introduction of a sewerage system in London, contained the fascinating story of that well-known Royal Plumber, Knight of the Realm and developer of the flushing cistern, Sir Thomas Crapper! These reforms were under way when the colony of New South Wales was already fifty years old, so it will be doubly interesting to hear what was happening in our own backyard (literally!) when Allen makes a welcome return to the soapbox. Dr Brian Craven - "The Light's Better Over Here!" - 7th Feb. 1998. Another intriguing title, but quickly explained by Brian, who, professing to have no sense of humour, then proceeded to tell us a joke! It seems a drunk was seen down on his knees searching around under a lamp post. When questioned about his activities by a passing policeman, he explained that he had lost his wallet in the neighbouring park, and when asked why he was looking for it under the lamp post, he declared "the light's better over here!" All of which led Brian, most conveniently, to his theme on how moments in history and scientific events can be side-tracked or neglected simply because they are not in the spotlight of the times. Brian referred to a previous talk he had given on the history of the barometer, then spoke of early thermometers and the work of scientists such as Santorio (Sanctorius), notable for developing instruments to measure pulse rate and body temperature, Torricelli, Angelista, and Aristotle of "nature abhors a vacuum" fame. 3 He spoke of early calculators, investigations -into chance-and the laws of probability which called for visits to the gambling halls, and of Pascal and the barometer and the subsequent interest in meteorology. From this point, it was over to Von Guericke and his air pump and the beam engine (1777) which promoted the industrial revolution. Thence to a discussion of the concept of history that encompasses the actions of people versus what caused the action, and the conclusion that history is, therefore, partly what people do, and partly how the physical world reacts to people. Brian's talk was based on a detailed graph showing ages in pre-history to civilisation. with the relevant temperature changes which led to population increases and decreases. Modem experiments in peat bogs and coral beds can show temperature variations in pre-history and the dreaded El Nino effect. He talked of the transition from barbarism to civilisation, early agriculture and animal husbandry, Egyptian civilisation and the first recognition of malaria, in Africa. Warmer temperatures resulted in population increases which pushed the northern Europeans westward, and you should forget any romantic notions you may have about the Vikings - they were actually clever thugs!.