From the President’s Pen May 2025

Hello, fellow Geelong Historical Society members. I hope you are well. Welcome to another edition of the President’s Pen. I am pleased to report that I was installed as President for another 12 months and have the opportunity to continue our Vision of: “Looking Forward and Outward”. The next twelve months will be exciting and will result in you receiving more benefits and accessibility. I hope that our forthcoming initiatives will not just deliver more benefits for you, but also entice a younger generation to join and carry on the work of our Society.

Meetings

April 2nd was the date of our Annual General Meeting and the opportunity for our members to participate in our Society’s administration with the election of the General Committee. Apart from chairing the meeting to install a new committee, I was required to submit a report on the past year’s activities. A copy on my report is attached.

Two members from the previous committee, David Brunton and Justin Corfield, did not seek re-election. I thank them both for their services to the Society. David was a Committee member since 1998 and his contribution has been enormous. Justin was also a valued committee member for many years. We now welcome two new committee members, Mark Thomas and Coral Turner. Mark has taken the role as Vice President and Coral, a position on the General Committee. I look forward to working with them and to utilise their many skills and talents. The nucleus of our former committee is still present, with Tony Cust (Treasurer), Lana Capon, Peter Fogarty, Freda Craddock, Pauline Fairfoot and Michael O’Donnell all continuing in their former roles.

Our monthly meetings continue to draw between 20 and 25 members and there is plenty of room for more to attend. In February’s meeting we listened to Andrew Caddy speak about the Western District Car Club. March was a presentation from Margie Mackay and Ben Petkov about the City’s Heritage Strategy and in April Dr Ros Otzen shared her knowledge of the Baird family in Geelong.

Investigator & Membership

At our April Committee Meeting I was very pleased and honoured to present Pauline Fairfoot with Life Membership to our Society. Pauline’s contribution to our Society has been enormous. She has assisted with the distribution of Investigator for decades and served on the Committee for many years. Pauline contributed articles to Investigator in collaboration with Freda and continues to offer storage for our Society’s artefacts.

A significant change for the forthcoming year is the rise in membership fees from $35 to $40. This due to increased expenses in the production of Investigator. However, changes we are making will hopefully return the membership fee to its former amount or perhaps lower!

If you have not paid your membership fee, then please take this as a friendly reminder that payment is now due. Society expenses are paid quarterly for Investigator, so your payment means we can pay for the magazine, envelopes and postage promptly.

In the absence of a permanent Editor, Daryl Wight stepped in to produce our June edition of Investigator and we are grateful for his experience, time and assistance. We can now announce that an Investigator Editorial Committee has been formed to guide Investigator into another year, Roger Southern (a former Investigator editor as well as researcher and writer “par excellence”) and multi-talented, Coral Turner, (who has produced 28 annual Pegasus magazines for Geelong College) have agreed to create the September Anniversary edition onwards. More to come in my August Newsletter.

Sadly, our efforts to scan the Investigator have not come to fruition, due to technical issues, however, arrangements to have been passed by the Committee to scan them professionally. Soon, members will have all back copies at their fingertips with online access. Our next stage is to update the index from 2009 to the present day. I thank Julia, Noel, Peter and Marianne for their willingness to volunteer for the scanned task, There may still be associated jobs they can perform for this project.

Excursions

Successful excursions were enjoyed by our members in February and March. Moorabool Antiques made us feel very welcome in February. Owner, Paul Rosenberg, gave a wonderful talk about local pottery and he shared background details about items in his forthcoming Auction. One special item was up for sale was associated with the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Geelong in 1954. It was a large commemorative glass,(pictured) engraved by renowned artist William Wilson (1905-1972). This magnificently, engraved glass goblet was manufactured for her visit to our city. Only a few exist. When the glass did not sell, member, Jennifer Bantow, commenced a public funding project for its purchase under the auspices of our Society. Paul Rosenberg is not charging a sales commission. Once purchased, it will be presented to the City of Greater Geelong. As I write, we require just $90 to complete the purchase.

Our March visit was to the Lara Historical Society Museum, and we were greeted with scones, tea and coffee as well as a welcome presentation by Jean Rees. A team of volunteers catered for our needs and we roamed freely through the magnificent displays related to the development of Lara’s township.

Membership Database and contacting YOU

We have constructed a new membership database to replace the old, tired and clunky previous version. The database has many new features that will assist with our Society’s management of membership details, with invoices, receipts and notifications. In this regard, in the list of our 230 individual members, we only have 107 telephone contacts and 122 email addresses. While this is a considerable improvement on 12 months ago, we hope to gather more. Like me, you probably forget when Bills are due and often pay on a reminder. Once bedded in, we will produce reminders to be sent by post and email. In the meantime, please don’t wait to be reminded.

If you haven’t already sent these details, then please do so. You can email them to admin@geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au

If you received this newsletter in the mail, then we do not have your email address. If you don’t have an email address, then we will continue to deliver Investigator and this Newsletter by post, however, a telephone contact would be very helpful to send you a message if urgent communication is needed.

Community Involvement

City Connection

Recently, I attended two City of Greater Geelong Committee meetings: Geelong Heritage Advisory Committee and Geelong Heritage Collections Advisory Committee. Our meeting attendance gives us a voice in helping to make collection and building heritage decisions of our City. Involvement will also give us an opportunity to provide input to the new Geelong Heritage Strategy which is currently being crafted.

Roger Southern and I have responded to a survey from the Geelong Heritage Centre related to the recent changes in display and practices. We appreciate them including our Society member’s views in their evaluation process.

Of great interest at the Heritage Advisory Committee meeting was a presentation for a proposed recommendation that Corio Villa be placed on the World Heritage List. Other important ‘transported’ buildings in the Geelong precinct were also discussed during that presentation.

Historical Societies

Our next to speakers are evidence of our Society’s desire to broaden community relationships. In May, we have a talk from Les Sanderson, who is President of the Little River Historical Society, and in June Jean Rees, from Lara Historical Society, will share her considerable knowledge of the town. Developing closer ties and relationships with like organisation has great mutual benefits, because we can develop friendships and assist each other in achieving our Society’s goals.

Website (www.geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au)

Have you seen the latest stories on our website? Webmaster and Secretary, Michael O’Donnell, has boosted the number of stories available for your enjoyment. I enjoyed reading Michael’s account of “Mr J.T.Gellibrand’s Memoranda of a trip to Port Phillip in 1836”. The transcript of the diary tells what Geelong and district was like at the very beginning of European occupation.

The website also contains valuable information about meetings, past and future speakers as well as; News, Events, Lectures Publications and meeting minutes. It’s easy to register for the exclusive member’s section, with no additional payment to your membership fees for access. We ask you to register only so that the general public can’t access the stories. It is for members only.

Ford Centenary Invitation

Our Society has been invited to send a representative to a special combined event on May 21st at the Wool Museum. It is organised by the City of Greater Geelong Event to celebrate Ford in Australia’s presence in Geelong for 100 years. Unfortunately, I will be overseas and can’t attend, so I produced a video on behalf of our Society to explain the Legacy of Ford in Geelong.

Can you Help?

Telling Your Story

Investigator moves into its 60th Year with a focus on Geelong’s Post War Migrant history. Did your family settle in Geelong from Europe in the late 40s, fifties and sixties? We are interested in publishing stories that reflect on Geelong’s multicultural community history. Can you provide photographs of the Belmont and Norlane Migrant Hostels and briefly tell the story of your experience while arriving to live in Geelong? Our editorial team can use parts of your story to write about Geelong’s Post War Immigration boom. Attached is a list of points that will assist you in framing a response. Geelong’s Pako Fest has been celebrating Geelong’s cultural diversity since 1983. Now we will record those contemporary experiences in the same way we have recorded Geelong’s early settlement (also by migrants!)

Multicultural Geelong: Immigrant tales

Geelong Historical Society Inc. plans to publish stories of people who have made Geelong their home. We start at the beginning of the post-WWII immigration boom. Interesting and well-written articles will be published. Sections of your story might be included in a larger series. Articles should be between 500 and 2,000 words.

Up to four photographs may be included with your story to illustrate places, people and events. However, if you want to share more photographs then we can cache them for future reference.

The questions below may assist you in planning your article.

• Were there factors or events that forced you to leave your country of birth?

• Why did you, or your parents, choose Australia? What factors influenced you to live in Geelong?

• How did you get here?

• What hardships did you endure getting here or settling here?

• Did you get assistance from the Australian government to settle here?

• Did you receive support from any people or groups when you arrived?

• How old were you when you arrived in Geelong?

• Did you go to school or work when you first arrived?

• Could you speak English? If not, how did you learn English?

• Was language a barrier or problem for you or your family?

• In what area did you live? Was your decision influenced by people of your nationality living in the same area?

• How were/are you accepted by the Geelong community?

• Can you identify any strange, unusual, or funny incidents when you arrived and/or lived here?

• Have you and your family retained the cultural traditions and religious faith of your homeland?

• Have you (and your parents and children, if applicable) adopted an Australian lifestyle and customs?

• Are you now an Australian citizen?

• If you had your time again, would you make the same decision to live in Geelong? Why or why not?

Note: If privacy is a concern, you may choose to have your article published anonymously or under a pen name. For the same reason, we will also accept articles written in the third person rather than the first person (using ‘they’ rather than ‘I’) and in which personal names are changed or omitted.

Note: September’s Investigator will mark the 60th anniversary of its publication It will include some new features that might interest you.

Take care,

Harry Roberts

President, Geelong Historical Society Inc