Leongatha History

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February 13th, 2011

Lennie’s Ride

Mary Small wrote a wonderful children’s book called Lennie’s Ride about local boy Lennie Gwyther. Lennie rode his pony to Sydney for the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932. He was 9 years old at the time and became quite famous. The book is on sale at our Society for $15 plus postage.

Activities for 2011

The Society holds a monthly meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of each month in our Mechanics Institute rooms. All welcome.

The rooms are open to the public on Thursday and Friday of each week from 12 noon until 4pm  or by appointment.

January

The theme for our exhibition is Summer Time

On display will be items and photographs about summer sports and activities.

Leongatha Swimming Club is 50 years old and part of the exhibition will be devoted to the history of this club.  .

February

At the meeting on Wednesday February 9th  we are inviting some early members of the Leongatha Swimming Club to speak on the club’s history.

March

Geoff Michael is planning a bus tour. Details will be published later.

Mary Small the author of Lennie’s Ride is coming to run a children’s workshop. Details will be published closer to the event.

April

On Wednesday April 20th members are welcome to have dinner at the Leongatha RSL

The dinner will be followed by a speaker and a tour of the items on display.

May

At the meeting on Wednesday May 11th  we will show some of the movies of local history we have on DVD and Video.

A Bair Street Walk is to be planned with the assistance of Jack Edney. 

June

Leongatha and District Historical Society

Program 2008

The Society holds a monthly meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of each month in the Mechanics Institute rooms. All welcome.

The rooms are open to the public on Thursday and Friday of each week from 12 noon until 4pm – or by appointment.

January

Saturday January 26th Australia Day.  A Street Walk will be held at 11.30 am. Meet at the Mechanics’ Institute McCartin St. The walk will go from the Mechanics’ Institute to the Commonwealth Bank and will be followed by a light lunch at the Mechanics’ Institute

February

Tuesday  19th     General Meeting

Saturday 23rd South Gippsland History Conference at Coal Creek 10.30 am to 3.30 pm

March

Tuesday 18th     General Meeting

Shingler Memorial Lecture and launch of “One Bag in Six” the history of onion growing in South Gippsland by John Murphy. A date to be organised

April

Wednesday April 23rd Meeting held at the RSL. Dinner followed by a talk on the exhibitions on display there. Speakers John Murphy, Lyn Skillern and an RSL representative will talk about the RSL displays. A short general meeting to follow at the Mechanics’ Institute

May

Tuesday 20th     General meeting

June

Tuesday 17th    Bronwyn Lowden  will speak on the history of Mechanics Institutes at 8 pm

July

Tuesday 22nd General meeting

August

Tuesday 19th Annual/General Meeting

Celebration of 25 years in the Mechanics’ Institute to be organised

September

Tuesday 16th Speakers local tradesmen on changes in the trades over time

Daffodil Festival will highlight the exhibition on the history of schools in the area. A fund raising activity involving the valuing of antiques will be held during the festival

October    21st General meeting

A bus tour of historic farmhouses in the area will be held on a date to be fixed.

November

Tuesday 18th The migrant experience with Johanna Haasjes

December Christmas break-up – location to be confirmed

Two exhibitions annually :     Exhibition 1 : February to July  The History of Sport

Exhibition 2 : September to February  The History of Local Schools.

Dates and details to be advised

Wednesday 8th General meeting  guest speaker

July

Wednesday 13th     General meeting

August

Wednesday  10th       Annual/General Meeting

Daffodil Festival Theme  “Lets get a Head”

The “Lets get a Head”  including photos of people, hats, shaving things, hair dressers, hearing aids, scarves, dental, dentists, hair dressing appliances. Spectacles

Heritage Listing for School

June 20th, 2008

It was recently announced that the historic section of Leongatha Secondary College was placed on the Victorian State Heritage Register. The listing refers to the Sloyd Room, built in 1913 as a woodwork room, the 1934 building, which replaced a building constructed in 1912 and destroyed by fire in 1933, the Jubilee Park planted in 1937 to commemorate the school’s 25th anniversary and a famous oak tree planted in 1912. Read the rest of this entry »

Inquiries to the secretary

October 8th, 2007

People wishing to contact the Leongatha and District Historical Society electronically can now send emails to our secretary, Mrs Lyn Skillern, at the following address: leongathahistsoc@yahoo.com.au.

Correspondence can be sent to:

The Secretary
Leongatha and District Historical Society
P.O. Box 431
Leongatha 3953

The society’s phone number is:

03 5662 2492

Newsletters Online

October 2nd, 2007

Newsletters published quarterly by the Leongatha and District Historical Society over the last four years are now online in our newsletter archive.

Read the rest of this entry »

Historical Society Publications

September 13th, 2007

The following books are available from the Leongatha and District Historical Society

By John Murphy

One Bag in Six — $20.00

No Parallel: The Woorayl Shire 1888 to 1988 – $20

The Meeting Place: The Leongatha Memorial Hall 1924 to 2004 – $15

The Leongatha Labour Colony  –  $10

Leongatha Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library 1891 to 1991 – $6

Knox’s Rockhill Farm – $5

Faith of Our Fathers – $10

Town Water – $15

The First Century : 100 Years of the Leongatha Butter Factory – $15

Read the rest of this entry »

Pioneering Kit feedback

September 13th, 2007

The Pioneering of South Gippsland” is a major component of this website. It is the work of Lyn Skillern, the secretary of the Leongatha and District Historical Society, and a teacher at the Leongatha Secondary College, built up from class work and originally presented as a Word document.

Read the rest of this entry »

Leongatha History Online

September 10th, 2007

Welcome to Leongatha History Online – the web home of the Leongatha and District Historical Society.

Funding for the website has come from the Local History Grants Program of the Public Records Office. The society is sincerely grateful to the PRO for the grant.

Leongatha History is proudly powered by WordPress,
site design by Andrew Cantwell.
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).

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Leongatha and District Historical Society Inc.