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80 years: RAAF Crash Commemoration
On the 11 December 1944 a Mitchell bomber crashed into the sea off Pt Addis with five airmen on board. Three airmen were not found and two were rescued by Torquay fishermen. Torquay and Anglesea civilians participated in the search and rescue. See https://torquayhistoricalsociety.com.au/crash-of-a-b-25d-mitchell-bomber/ for more information.
The Torquay Historical Society in collaboration with Anglesea Historical Society are hosting an exhibition at the Anglesea Historical Society, situated in the community precinct on McMillan St, Anglesea. The exhibition charts the story of the crash, the biographies of those involved, the role of the Volunteer Air Observer Corps and the aftermath.
Exhibition dates and times are:
Friday 6 Dec 4.30pm to 8pm
Saturday 7 Dec 2pm to 4pm
Friday 20 Dec 4.30pm to 8pm
Sunday 29 Dec 2pm to 4pm
Sunday 5 Jan 2pm to 4pm
Members’ Night & Christmas Supper: December 4 Meeting
There is no speaker for this meeting, it will be Members’ Night and Christmas Supper. Please note the early starting time of 6:30pm.
The president has offered to order some Pizza and non-alcoholic beverages. Members can bring a plate. We will still conclude with a supper of festive season treats at the normal time.
If you are not interested in attending at 6:30pm, please still attend at the normal time of 7:30 for the start of presentations and the supper following them. So far, we have four presentations planned, so it really promises to be an excellent evening.
The Index to our Investigator Magazine
Members have two options for searching the Investigator Magazine archive: first a search of the Index of Article Titles and the second is a Keyword Search. The Index of Article Titles searches through all the article titles from the first edition in 1965 up until July 2024. The second is a keyword search of issues from 1965 to 2009.
The Index of Articles 1965 – 2024
The following 2 minute video shows how to undertake the search:
How to search the index
Searching the Investigator Article Titles
The Keyword Search of Investigator 1965 – 2009
The Investigator Index was first published in 2010 after many years toil a dedicated team of society members collated and indexed all the articles published in Investigator from the first issue in December 1965 until 2009. The main file in this index contains over 75,500 records – it was an amazing task!
We are now undertaking a trial of that Index online. This is only available to our members who have registered to use the society’s website. You can find the Keyword Search to the Index under the Publications Pages Menu or from the Members Pages menu or just click here.
It is also available as PDF document. Members can still purchase the database but we are looking at ways to make it more accessible.
The Website Refresh
After some feedback from users of the website, I decided to give the site a refresh. There is some new content and also a rejig of the menu structure with the intent of improving its ease of access. Here is the list of things that have changed:
- A shorter main menu
- An expanded sub-menu with short descriptions
- New buttons for Member Login and New Memberships
- A new calendar showing upcoming events – https://www.geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au/events/
- An archive of Newsletters, like this one – https://www.geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au/email-archive/
- A search page that permits keyword searches of website posts – https://www.geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au/archive-of-member-posts/
- New menus for users viewing the site with tablets and mobile.
If you have any suggestions for improving the site or have some articles to contribute please don’t hesitate to contact the Web Manager, via email at web@geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au.
The Joseph Francis Costa Collection
The Geelong Historical Society is proud to put on display some of the digitised images from an amazing series of photographs of Geelong, dating from the mid-19th century and the early 20th century. Some of these photographs you will recognise from other collections but there are also other rare images that so perfectly capture the life of our city and district from very early days.
To provide you with the flavour of the collection, we have selected three of the photographs for general display. The remaining 93 images can only be viewed after registering for access to the members site, which is of course free to financial members of the Geelong Historical Society.
Hubcaps to Creative Hubs
In 2016 Dr Cristina Garduño Freeman from the University of Melbourne and Dr Fiona Gray from Deakin University had a dream; to tell the stories of three Geelong industrial sites, making the journey to an amazing transformation.
Together they set to work to build a team of likeminded people to create a series of films that showcased how a new creative and maker culture can connect the past with the present. They found that team in Jennifer Cromarty and Helen Kostiuk of Creative Geelong Inc. and documentary producer Nicholas Searle.
With permission of the Copyright Owner, Dr Cristina Garduño Freeman now of the University of New South Wales, we are able to bring you these films that take the viewer through three relatively untold stories of Geelong’s history of important historical buildings that were facing the threat of obscurity and disrepair. Part 1 puts the lens of the Returned Soldiers and Serviceman’s Mills (RS&S) In Pakington Street, Part 2 has a focus on former Federal Woollen Mills in North Geelong and Part 3 the Fyansford Paper Mills.
The Story of Geelong
The Story of Geelong series began in the first volume of the Investigator. Under the editorship of Ian Wynd, it continued to publish a regular series under that title and I have opted to use that name too. The writer of these small histories is not formally recorded but comments in later editions suggest it was Ian Wynd and I have credited the writing to the magazine and its editor. Included also are some articles published by current members that focus on Lt Grant and later Matthew Flinders. Each month I will continue to add to this history of our region.
Some Important Society News
The President emailed and posted a newsletter after our August 1 Committee meeting. We have also created a dedicated page for Society newsletters and they can now be found on the website here. There were some issues with some emails going to members’ spam folders. In attempt to address these issues he has created a new email address and included a dedicated mobile number to improve member access. Harry Roberts can now be contacted on 0473807944 and via email at presidentgeelonghistoricalsoc@gmail.com.
Some Key GHS Committee Changes
As most members would know our long-serving Secretary, Editor of Investigator and Committee Member, Daryl Wight, has resigned from all his positions but hopes to remain active within the society. The Committee Meeting endorsed the appointment of Victoria Spicer as the new editor of Investigator magazine and also co-opted her as a member of the Committee.
The key role of Secretary of the Geelong Historical Society Inc has yet to be filled. As state regulations require the role to be filled within 14 days of an incumbent’s resignation the Committee has nominated Michael O’Donnell as the Acting Secretary. He will assume the role until our November meeting. This time frame should give members time to consider nominating for the position. If you are interested please contact the President but there will be more information regarding the nomination process published shortly.