80th Anniversary Dinner

Hello everyone. Happy New Year!

I hope you are well and looking forward to many exciting and interesting events in 2025. I am pleased to inform you that Michael O’Donnell has been appointed to fill the role as Secretary. This was announced at our December monthly meeting. You may know him from his outstanding work on our website. Michael filled the secretary’s role in a temporary capacity recently and decided in November to continue that work. I am very grateful for his decision and for his enormous assistance to me as President.

You may be wondering why you haven’t received my Newsletter from my email. That is because I believe all our Society correspondence should be directed via the Secretary and in addition, I have had problems with my emails going directly into the receiver’s spam or junk file.

Did you have a good break from daily routines over the festive season? I certainly did. In December, I went exploring the coastline of Corio Bay with two members, Peter and Mark, to decipher the Journal of James Flemming. Flemming wrote the daily account of the Charles Grimes’ expedition through the Geelong area in 1803 in February 1803. I thank them for their assistance and participation. It was a difficult task with only basic descriptions of land to follow. Later this year my article will provide my interpretation of their journey.

Another pleasant task for me in December and late January was the preparation for our tour and lesson for the Bacchus Marsh Grammar School Excursion to Geelong. That will take place on February 12th. Fellow member, Michael O’Donnell, and I will extract our academic gown from the wardrobe, (only joking, we don’t have them) and give Year 11 students a lesson on Geelong’s past as it relates to the natural and built environments. It will involve a tour of important places to link with their studies. We hope this will start a new community service for our Society, and it might enable us to connect with a younger age group from which we can generate memberships.

Last year there were many changes to the way we operate with more frequent communication by letter, email and through our website. We also had a major event with the 80th Anniversary dinner in November. This year we are planning for more of the same. As you will read, those plans are developing. Communication is the force that binds society and keeps members informed and knowledgeable about events. Through our communication with you we also want to strengthen your participation, even if that is just passive such as reading my newsletter, responding to an email, reading Investigator and/or taking more of an interest in our Society’s events. The result might be talking to a friend and getting them to join, or just your pure enjoyment.

If you receive this Newsletter in the mail, it is because we don’t have your email address. Our communication with you is faster and less expensive by email. Just send a message to president@geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au and we shall register your email on our records. We currently have about 100 email addresses on our data base.

Participation is the theme for this newsletter. Participation can take many forms and can be achieved at various levels. I know many members just want to receive our magazine. That’s fine and I’m pleased you share that same interest with all our members.

80th Anniversary Dinner
80th Anniversary Dinner

A recent example of participation was the recent 80th Anniversary Dinner. The evening was memorable and a great success with all participants enjoyed the venue and the programme for the evening. I will mention more about special events later in this Newsletter.

Another form of participation is attendance at our monthly meetings. The number of attendees exceeded 20 on many occasions, with the highest attendance being 40. Last December’s meeting was the epitome of participation. We had an early beginning at 6:30 for those who could attend at that time with Pizza and other food consumed amid interesting conversations. That was followed by a short meeting and interesting presentations from members: Don Patterson, Una McIllwraith, Barry Sydenham, Peter Mackinlay and Victoria Spicer provided interesting and diverse topics for the audience. It was followed by an extensive and ‘belt expanding’ supper.

I understand the difficulties that some members experience in going out at night, or simply just going out. Where possible we try to have a follow up a précised account on our website and/or article in Investigator. This leads me to another area of Participation. At the commencement of 2025 we have two excursions in which you might want to participate.

Many members have told me they can’t attend evening meetings and have requested we hold a day time activity. Two excursions will be offered : one in February and the other in March.

There has been frequent mention to restore the trips our Society conducted in the past. I hope the two excursions that are planned will fulfil that request. I would like to begin with two short excursions to test the level of demand and the logistics involved. Here are the first two that are planned. Further trips/excursions will depend on your response.

Moorabool Antiques

I am pleased to announce that our first excursion for 2025 will be on Saturday, February 22nd. Paul Rosenberg has invited us to join him at his Moorabool Antiques shop in Ryrie Street to view his collection of Geelong memorabilia. Many of you may have known his parents who were very active member of our Society. I would estimate the event will be for between one and two hours. Every time I visit Paul’s shop I am in awe of the vast extent of his wonderful items. I hope you can attend. The start time will be at 2:00 pm and there is access at the rear of the shop to avoid the stairs if you enter from the front door.

80th Anniversary Dinner
Moorabool Antiques

You need to organise your own transport for this event. Please meet at the 16-18 Ryrie Street rear entrance at 1:50pm – No steps when entry is from the rear entrance. I estimate our tour and talk will take about one hour. More details to follow.

Our second excursion is to the Lara History Society Museum on Saturday March 29th. (There is no Geelong Football game or public holiday on that day). Lara’s History Group is looking forward to meeting with us and opening the museum just for our excursion. A delicious Devonshire Tea will be available, if you want to indulge. You have the option of meeting us at the venue in Forest Road Lara or you might need the assistance of a bus. I visited the museum recently and found it to be of outstanding quality and the people very friendly and helpful. All rooms are easily accessible for people with mobility issues and there is little distance to walk between the exhibits. A small fee will be incurred to assist with their running costs and the Devonshire tea is a separate purchase.

Lara Museum
Lara Museum

I need to obtain participation numbers for our own logistics and for their guides and catering. Tell me if you want a Devonshire Tea during the visit.

Cost: Museum and Devonshire Tea (to be advise).
Time: 9:00am at the bus pickup point with a 9:30am departure (If a bus is required)
Arrival time for car travel: 9:50am at the Lara Museum (limited parking at the rear) for a 10am start.)

One of Lara’s History Group’s members, Jean Rees, will be speaking at our May monthly meeting. She has a detailed knowledge of the Lara community and her ancestors are some of the original inhabitants of the town. I will provide more details in the near future.

Note: There will not be members of the general public in attendance at both venues when we attend.

Contact me before February 10th if you want to attend our Moorabool Antiques Excursion. Please email or call me president@geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au or 0402025226

We are always looking for individual participation in projects and I was pleased to accept the assistance of four members to digitising past copies of Investigator. Technical Issues and the flood at the Heritage Centre have delayed the starting date for this project. More details to follow.

The process updating the index of Investigator continues and by September a complete index should be available for you to interrogate. At the moment we have a complete index of the stories and author and that can be interrogated on our website member’s section.

Another aspect of individual participation is in the writing and contribution of stories for Investigator and for our website. I hope you are able to craft some story about the past we can all share. Your story could be based on a personal experience such as migrating to Australia, moving to Geelong, or remembering a special event from the past. Perhaps you have researched something you can share – it doesn’t have to be long.

Don’s History Puzzles on our website have been a great hit with me and my grandchildren. I hope you have had a chance to piece them together. Sharing experiences, stories and pictures is what we are about, and your work and contribution is as valid as anyone’s.

Our new look, comprehensive and highly praised website is designed and intended for you to participate in our Society with greater frequency and depth. Immerse yourself in the stories that are online, keep up-to-date with our news, interrogate our data sets and view our stories. This is an easy and relaxed way for you to increase your participation as often as you want and at a time of your choosing. It is there for you visit often, because our content changes and continues to grow and diversify.

Our Investigator Editor has indicated it is not possible for her to continue in the role after the March Investigator has been published. I thank Victoria for her hard work in stepping into the position since Daryl Wight retired and I wish her well in the future. If you have an interest in editing our magazine, then please contact me. You may want to share the editing with a friend to spread the load or collaborate in the selection and editing of articles. That could be fun. No layout experience is required, but would be advantageous. We can outsource that part of the job.

Reporting the year’s events and selecting our Committee

I will be providing a report to members to describe the year’s events. Our financial report will also be presented. One of the most important tasks is to select a new Committee. Our present Committee’s term expires at the end of March and all positions will be declared vacant. Here is your opportunity to nominate for the Committee. There are 11 positions available: three specific (President, Secretary Treasurer) and eight general committee members, from which other roles will be allocated including Vice President.

In April, we hold our Annual General Meeting where you will receive reports of the year’s activities from members of the outgoing Committee. That day also presents an opportunity for you to become involved in our Committee for the following 12 months. We welcome people with new and fresh ideas and skills from various backgrounds. Can you help us to drive our Society forward? I would like a Committee that has a breadth of background and experience to lead us forward.

Our new Secretary, Michael, will provide details about the date and nomination procedure. Only current financial members are able to nominate.

The Annual General Meeting will be followed by a presentation by Dr Roslyn Otzen based on Geelong’s Baird Brothers of the 1850s.

Our participation in City of Greater Geelong Committees continues and the relationships we form are valuable for all concerned. It’s good to speak to people from the City and other like-minded organisations.

Membership fees are due at the end of March. We will be sending reminders soon as well as the ways in which you are able to make payment.

Monthly Lectures at Virginia Todd Hall

We have a full syllabus of presentations for 2025. You can view the list on our website. I am pleased that we have reached out and included presentations from other local History Societies. City of Greater Geelong presentations have also been included this year and we will learn about the city’s plans and activities associated with our history. Our two 2024 presenters from Deakin, Tony Joel and Bart Ziino have agreed to present to us again.

Investigator turns 60!

This year will mark the 60th anniversary of our Investigator Magazine’s publication. We intend to celebrate that event in September. More details will follow.

60th Anniversary Year
60th Anniversary Year

New Projects

We have some interesting and exciting plans in train to service our community needs and inform the Geelong Community of our work. I can’t share those details with you at the moment, because they have to be approved by our February Committee meeting.

I look forward to seeing many of you at our monthly meetings or on our excursions. Until then take care

Harry Roberts

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