20-YEAR-20-OBJECTS V9.Pdf
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20/ years 20/ objects Some twenty years ago, current President of the Brighton Historical Society Jill Golley OAM, showed great foresight when she advocated for the City of Holdfast Bay to form a history collection. The Holdfast Bay History Centre, its collection and volunteer program was consequently established in mid-2000. Starting from very little, today we are thousands and thousands of objects, photographs, paintings and documents strong. The program has grown with great gusto, led by the passion and enthusiasm of hundreds of volunteers through the years. As of April 2020, the City of Holdfast Bay has recorded more than 20,000 hours of service. This does not take into account the hundreds of unrecorded hours we know have been completed. The Centre’s collection incorporates the collections of Glenelg Council, Brighton Council and Brighton Historical Society. Today, we collect anything and everything of importance that relates to the City of Holdfast Bay. Dieuwke Jessop, former Curator at the South Australian Maritime Museum, was the Centre’s first Coordinator. With an army of eager volunteers, she worked tirelessly for fourteen years to advocate for the Centre and to promote Holdfast Bay’s history. Though I have been in this role for a fraction of the time, it has been a privilege to work beside such a strong, capable and enthusiastic group of volunteers. Without them, we would have very little. I congratulate them on their dedication, some having been in their roles for as long, if not longer than the Centre’s existence. I thank them for the hours they have spent cataloguing objects, researching, talking with community, scanning images, and advocating for our past and our future. It has been with their dedication that we have left for future generations a record of how our City came to be. It is my pleasure to present you with 20 Years, 20 Objects. A timeline of donations, one from each year, as it was entered into our official Collections Register. A reflection of all that we have achieved. Julia Garnaut Local History Coordinator May 2020 Our first acquisition in the register 26 October 2000 Accession Number HFB0001 A collection of Councillors robes brought together after the amalgamation of the City of Brighton and the City of Glenelg. It would take us some twenty years to decide what to keep and what to catalogue. This collection was finally pulled together in 2019 by volunteer Noel Leach. Elaborately decorated this robe was used by the Brighton Town Clerk for ceremonial occasions until 1997 when Brighton and Glenelg Councils amalgamated. It is made from Grosgrain and decorated with velvet. Today the term “Town Clerk” is no longer used, the position is now known as the “Chief Executive Officer” or C.E.O. OB-BR-0097 23 February 2001 With the current COVID-19 pandemic, we thought this a perfect choice to demonstrate the breadth of our collections and the way in which we were tracing the spread of disease some 60 years ago. This register, kept by the Local Board of Health contains names for the Glenelg Register of Infectious Diseases. Patients were suffering from notifiable, and infectious diseases, such as anthrax, cholera, leprosy and typhoid. Ages range from 1 through to 84 years. This register, hand written, ranges from 17 October 1944 to 25 June 1959. It is leather bound, with a suede spine and is decorated with a floral motif. The Centre is home to hundreds of bound ledgers like this, representing everything from past Council business, folded community organisations and long closed businesses from across the City. DC-HB-0101 Some time in 2002 Keeping track of donation information can be very tricky. Particularly for photographs, of which we have more than an estimated 30,000 in the collection. This is an intriguing little photograph album with a red hard cover. It made its way into the collection via the Brighton Historical Society who inherited it via the former Enfield’s and Districts Historical Society. Inside, photographs were meticulously recorded with descriptions underneath. History has unfortunately claimed many of the names, dates and stories of the people contained with its pages. This mysterious album does however give a few clues as to its owner. Many of the names we can pick are of wealthy, prominent South Australian families likely holidaying in the Brighton area from 1912 to 1914. After much deliberation and discussion over names, volunteers concluded the names of the families we can identify within the album: Crossman (Mr and Mrs); Wyatt; Whyte (Kitty); Hammond (Heather and Hazel); Kingsborough (Mr A. W); Bonython; De Reyher? (Helen); Bagot (Lucy nee Ayer); Crowe (Rita); De Lissa (Lillian) and; Parson and Mason (Eileen). Locations in the album include; Victor Harbor, Mount Breken, Inman Valley, River Torrens, Brighton Road, Brighton Beach and sand dunes, Brighton Railway Station, Hackett Avenue now Ilfracombe Ave, Brighton land (now Minda) and Glenelg Beach. Do you recognise any of these names? PH-AL-0067 8 July 2003 In 2003 the History Centre received a generous and extensive donation from decedents of the Voules Brown family. Through the years, the family have continued to grow this donation to now include objects, textiles, photographs and documentation. The sewing box, made in China for export in the mid-1850s, belonged to Lucretia Sarah and Harriet Louisa Voules Brown and is thought to have been sent to them by their brother Victor Voules Brown when he lived in Darwin from 1873 to 1910. William Voules Brown (1809 – 29 January 1893) and Harriet Brown, née Perkins (1812 – 6 July 1897) of Brighton, South Australia, emigrated on the Coromandel in 1837. They moved to Brighton from Kangarilla where they had owned a prosperous farm so that their children could attend school. Voules Brown became the owner of the Thatched House Tavern, St Jude’s Cemetery and a member of Brighton’s first Town Council. The box contains a large collection of original bone tools and implements. Decorated throughout in black and gold gilt lacquer with chinoiserrie scenes of oriental figures in landscapes of pavilions and pagodas. The interior has a lift out top tray with storage compartments and there is a lower draw beautifully fitted for silk painting. OB-BR-0290 Lucretia Sarah Brown Circa 1900. PH-AH-VS-0092. 7 December 2004 In 1957, the first Adelaide Metropolitan Marching Girls teams were formed in the Holdfast Bay area including the Bay Royals, Brighton Guardettes, Dolphins, Holdfast Hussars and the Sovereigns. The Troubadours, originally called the Brighton Juniors, formed in August 1959 with Ann Eastwick as Captain of the girls, whose ages were between 12 and 15 years. They practiced every Saturday afternoon at Brighton Primary School and regularly competed. Our marching girl’s collection includes uniforms, photographs, a marching banner and documentation. It is part of a larger Holdfast Bay sports and community group collection dating from photographs of Glenelg and Brighton Cricket teams in the late 1800s through to our vary latest acquisition of Bay Tigers 2019 Premiership memorabilia. OB-BR-0073 12 April 2005 A collection of tools used by the Rose Family in their building and plastering business. Three generations of the Rose Family worked in the building industry in Glenelg. John Rose arrived from England with his parents in 1859. On leaving school he was apprenticed to the plastering trade, and, after working as a journeyman, entered into business on his own account as a plastering contractor. His son, Victor Rose, took over the family business. We wonder which buildings across Holdfast Bay the Rose Family worked on? OB-GL-0226, 227, 228, 229, 230 26 September 2006 This 1940s swimsuit is one of the first accepted by the History Centre. The collection has now grown to include more than 50 swimsuits as part of the Violet Rowe Swimwear Collection. This women’s yellow and grey check patterned, cotton one piece swimsuit, with a sweetheart neckline and adjustable shoulder straps fastens with two white buttons on the top of the back. The back and sides are shirred. Manufactured by “Cole of California”, a popular American swimwear manufacturer famous for producing garments that had a glamorous Hollywood look. The actress Ester Williams was signed in 1950 to promote the brand. OB-GL-0206 You can view favourites from the Violet Rowe Swimwear Collection here: www.holdfast.sa.gov.au/bathingbelle 30 January 2007 Council remains grateful to John Dowie AM for his generosity in donating his oil painting to the collection. Dowie is a celebrated South Australian artist and sculptor. Dated Circa 1938, the work was probably painted in his studio at Dulwich after making a sketch on site at Glenelg. The painting has been painted on a wooden panel and is one of the artist’s early works. He was 23 at the time. John Dowie’s works are found in Galleries across the world, though he is best known for his sculpture which can be seen across every Capital City in Australia, the Mawson Base in Antarctica, Windsor Castle, London and in Kingston Park the Tjilbruke Monument, commemorating the Kaurna dreaming story. The Centre has a beautiful collection of Australiana works dating to the formation of Glenelg Town Council. Amongst the works are pieces by noted artists John Michael Skipper, Florence Fitzgerald R.B.C. and James Doveton Stone. Four Wooden Windmills at Glenelg PI-FR-0124 John Dowie AM Oil painting on wood panel Circa 1938 Aerial view of Dover Olive Oil Mill, 1948. PH-BS-0072. 22 January 2008 In 2008 we started our relationship with Carmel Earl nee Norman. The Norman family ran the Dover Oil Mill and had land holdings between Folkestone Road and The Broadway, South Brighton, as well as property at McLaren Vale.