WESTLAND GENEALOGY GROUP (INC) February/March 2010 Newsletter February/March 2010 Newsletter Editor: Rachel Bruhn Telephone: (027) 429 7443 Email: [email protected] From The Editor Welcome everyone I would like to remind everyone about our open day on the 24th of April which will be held at the Genealogy Rooms from 10 am — 3 pm and there will be a $5 - door charge. We are still on the look out currently for a new premises for our library, so if you know of any one that has a office space etc to rent which is in a good location preferably central and reasonable rent, as we are a non profit organisation, please let us know. A reminder that the 2009/2010 subscriptions are now due and a notice was sent with the last newsletter. A big thank you to Julia Bradshaw at Shantytown, Margaret Mort at History House, Peter Lawn at Blacks Point Museum, Mary Rooney at West Coast Historical Museum, Jackie Gurden and everyone for their contributions to this edition of our newsletter. Happy Easter and I hope you enjoy the holiday and spending this with your family and friends. Also welcome to our new member: Rachel McAdams Regards Rachel Kete West Coast http://ketewestcoast.peoplesnetworknz.info Don’t leave your memories in the shoe box – learn how to digitise them and store them on Kete West Coast. About Kete West Coast Kete West Coast is a site being developed as a partnership between the National Library, the Buller, Grey and Westland libraries and the West Coast ICT Uptake project. It is a site where people can upload stories, images, video, oral recordings/podcasts, relating to the West Coast. It is easy to use and free. Importantly, the site is part of the National Library and everything loaded on is backed up and stored within their archives. This means that this is a great way to ensure a record of the material is kept long term. We would like to capture as many records as possible from people about our region - past and present. Those photos that are put into shoe boxes, end up discarded or sit in you family collection but that could tell a story about your family, community or a West Coast event, lets get them on the site with a short story. There are also lots of current stories and happenings that could be captured and uploaded. Clubs can use this site as their own website free. You can be set up with your own area or ‘basket’ and someone from your organisation can manage it. The Launch Workshops and Uploading Information The site is operational now however over the next few months it will be launched. We are planning to run workshops to teach people how to and put a short story around their photos and upload them onto the site. Also taught will be how to digitise photos. The Buller workshop is to be held on Saturday 17th and Thurs 22nd of April. Greymouth and Westland dates have not yet been confirmed but are proposed for May. If you are interested in joining these workshops or would like to know more please contact Jackie Gurden on 03 768 5444 or [email protected] or your local librarian. And remember – you can start uploading material anytime. Jackie Gurden Page 1 WESTLAND GENEALOGY GROUP (INC) February/March 2010 From Shantytown Here at Shantytown we are busy with summer visitors and I am working on new displays. My main project at the moment is new interpretation for the gold-claim area with information about gold, the West Coast’s gold-rush story and some of the characters associated with that. I am keen to get in touch with descendants of Sarah CHISNALL and her husband Louis LOUSICH who was maimed in a dynamite explosion near Kumara in 1884. I would also like to find descendants of Harriett and John Maunder LANGDON who arrived during the early days of the gold-rush. The couple’s only surviving son was killed in the Brunner Mine Disaster but of the daughters; Mary married Thomas GRAHAM, Julia married Charles SHANN, Patience married Thomas SMITHERS and Sarah married a Mr WINTER. The children’s play area at Shantytown has recently been upgraded and we now have the blacksmith’s forge operating from Friday through to Sunday and Shire horse and buggy rides on Saturdays and Sundays through to April. Julia Bradshaw CURATOR [email protected] From Blacks Point Museum Jack Lovelock Memorial John Edward Lovelock (Jack) born Crushington, Reefton, 5 January 1910 and died in New York, 28 December 1949. Remembered for his Gold Medal, which he obtained for winning the 1500 metres running race at the Berlin Olympics. Jack Lovelock’s father was the Battery Manager of the old Globe/Progress Gold Mine at Crushington, the largest stamping battery in the area with 65 stamps. On 5 January 2010, a memorial was erected to celebrate Jack, as it would have been his 100th birthday. The quartz stone used for the base of the memorial, came from the site of the old Globe/Progress Mine which is now Oceana Gold Mine. The wrought iron design on top of the rock showing a runner in front of a silver fern, was designed by Alun Bollinger, Blacks Point and made by his brother-in-law Danny Bass who lives at Crushington. Graham Gollan of Blacks Point Museum, organised raising the necessary funds and also organised the day. Ally Caddy, Blacks Point Museum Committee Chairman, was the MC, Pat McManus, Buller Mayor spoke, as did the West Coast Historian, Les Wright, who gave an insight of the area as it was in Jack’s day. Belle Watson, whose ancestor, Thomas Watson started and built the Wealth of Nations Gold Mine in Crushington and an Engineer for the Consolidated Gold Fields Company of New Zealand who owned the Globe/Progress Gold Mine, unveiled the Memorial. The Memorial can be found at Lankeys Creek Car Park at the eastern end of Crushington. About 50 people attended the unveiling. Also in attendance were representatives from TV1 and TV3 as well as reporters from The Press and Grey Star newspapers. Radio New Zealand also interviewed Graham Gollan on the morning of the unveiling, so nationwide coverage was achieved and a high profile for the area accomplished. After the unveiling, everyone was invited back to the Blacks Point Museum for a successful afternoon tea with the wonderful spread being supplied by the local Community Board. Peter Lawn - Blacks Point Museum Page 2 WESTLAND GENEALOGY GROUP (INC) February/March 2010 Article From History History In the dress of ladies, great latitude is allowed, but the aim of the gentle sex should also be simplicity and taste. Dresses should always be suited to the occasion upon which they are to be used. In the morning, at home a lady may wear a loose, flowing dress, made high in the neck, with a belt at the waist, and with loose sleeves fastened at the wrist. On the street a walking costume should be worn, and the dress should clear the ground. Fashion may sometimes demand a trailing dress for the street, but no lady should submit to such a demand. There is nothing more disgusting than to see a rich dress sweeping up the dirt and filth of the street. The shoes for the street should be high, warm and easy to the feet, with a low, broad heel, and should be always neatly blackened. For ordinary street wear, a lady may use either a hat or a bonnet. This is a matter of taste. The evening dress of ladies is governed by the fashion of the time. It always means full dress, but it is impossible to give any fixed rule regarding it. A competent dressmaker, or the fashion publications of the time, will give the neces- sary information. In Europe the evening dress requires the exposure of the arms and neck, but in this country the more sensible plan of covering these parts of the body is fairly the fashion. The street dress of a lady should be simple and without display. To dress conspicuously or in brilliant colours for the street is a sign of bad breeding. In bad weather a light India rubber waterproof with a hood is more convenient and a better protection than a umbrella. To wear much jewellery on the street is vulgar. In large cities it subjects a lady to the danger of robbery. A lady should always dress neatly at home. She is then ready to receive a morning caller with- out having to change her dress. A lady should change her dress for the evening. Some neat and dainty costume should be worn according to her taste, for it is in the evening that she is thrown most with the male members of her family, and is most likely to have visitors. In making evening calls upon her friends, a lady should wear a hood, or some light head wrap easily laid aside. A bonnet should always be removed at the commencement of such a visit. For balls, or soirees, the dress should be of the richest and most elaborate description, with elegant jewellery. This is a matter of taste with the lady, who should avoid being over dressed. White kid gloves and white satin or kid boots are most suitable to a ball dress. If the overdress is of black lace, black satin shoes are worn. For church the dress is simple and plain. Very little jewellery should be worn, and the costume should be of quiet col- ours.