Rediscovering a Geelong Original: The Snow‑Flake Washer You listen to reading of this article by clicking the following link: When Abby and Dale Stephan of Warracknabeal contacted the Geelong Historical Society about a weather‑beaten washing (more…)
The Fyansford Paper Mill: Industry, Ingenuity and Community Listen to a reading of this article by clicking the link below: The Society was delighted to welcome Rod Morrison to a well-attended meeting, with thirty members (more…)
The Fyansford Paper Mill Don Patterson has once again sourced an iconic photograph of one of Geelong’s few remaining examples of colonial industrial architecture – the Fyansford Paper Mills. This images taken around 1876 and (more…)
Geelong Industries 1891 Jigsaw Don Patterson has selected another iconic image for this month’s jigsaw puzzle. It has a Barwon River theme, taking you from upstream at the Barwon Paper Mills, down river via the (more…)
160 YEARS AGO IN GEELONG (From the pages of the Geelong Chronicle) Daryl Wight’s 1864 piece on pawn broking opens a rare window onto a Geelong caught between respectability and hardship, where the quiet traffic (more…)
In 1864, Geelong marked the Queen’s Birthday with a dazzling display of fireworks that lit up the night sky and stirred the town’s imagination. Though not as riotous as Guy Fawkes Night — with its (more…)
1864: from the pages of The Geelong Chronicle In 1864, Geelong was a town in transition; but at its heart it was a community shaped by the rhythms of rural life, the bustle of commerce, (more…)
In March 1864, Geelong’s Irish community and their friends turned St Patrick’s Day into a showcase of sport and celebration. Though the banks stayed open and the day was not a public holiday, Belmont Common (more…)
Adams’ Circus: Clowns, Acrobats, and Colonial Applause In the autumn of 1864, Geelong welcomed a week of wonder as Adams’ Circus pitched its tent and dazzled the town. Eschewing exotic animals, the company offered a (more…)
For the last Jigsaw Puzzle of the year, Don has selected an early photograph from the corner of Fitzroy and Corio Streets in about 1862. It captures the reality of the post-gold rush Geelong, with (more…)
Lou Lane’s article, Waurn Ponds National School, was published in Investigator Magazine Vol 26 No 3 in September 1991 Pp 116-119. In this short article, Lou Lane traces the little-known story of the Waurn Ponds (more…)
Lou Lane’s article “Those Foreigners”, from Investigator, Vol. 31, No. 3 (September 1996), pages 85–94: In this richly textured memoir, Lou Lane departs from her usual focus on Aboriginal history to offer a vivid, affectionate (more…)