Posts related to 'history'

Maroondah Council celebrates NAIDOC week

Published by Alex Makin on Friday 11th of July, 2008

NAIDOC is an acronym for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’, in recognition of the initial committee that organised the week, which aims to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Indigenous Australians.

NAIDOC Week for 2008 is between the 6th and 13th of July and as part of the proceeding Maroondah City Council held a ceremony celebrating the permanent flying of the Indigenous flag at Council’s civic centres.

The celebration included Indigenous elders, the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place and local reconciliation groups, such as Maroondah Movement for Reconciliation and Learning and Reconciliation Maroondah. It was encouraging to see the mayor deliver an acknowledgement of country to officially recognise Indigenous Australians and and their connection to Maroondah.

While the Mayor did not deliver acknowledgement of country during Reconciliation Week, it was certainly good to see proper process being followed for NAIDOC week and this is a positive step forward in terms of Maroondah’s commitment to the Indigenous community.

The NAIDOC theme for this year is ‘Advance Australia Fair?’ and it is a pertinent reminder of the current health, education and wellbeing issues that affect Indigenous Australians. Maroondah is finalising its Reconciliation Policy for consideration at Monday night’s council meeting. This document will solidify Maroondah’s commitment to reconciliation and the steps we can take as a local government to ensure that we Advance Australia Fair.

Media Release: Tell the story of your street

Published by Alex Makin on Wednesday 9th of July, 2008

The Maroondah community are invited to tell the story of their street in a search by ABC Radio National for a new multimedia project.

Councillor Alex Makin believes the possibilities are endless and encourages Maroondah residents to think about telling the stories that belong on their street in either words, pictures, video or sound.

“Many streets throughout Maroondah have a story to tell, from an historical perspective and from a human perspective. This is a great opportunity to not only tell those stories, but to have them shared by a wide Australian audience,” said Cr Makin.

ABC Radio National’s Street Stories program tells the stories of local community streets through My Street, a new multimedia project that will be heard every Sunday at 1.30pm (repeat 8pm) or as audio on demand and podcast at www.abc.net.au/rn/streetstories.

My Street stories need to be told in no more than seven minutes using video, audio, images or up to 700 words of text. You can record it on your mobile phone, an MP3 player, a video or digital camera. Or you could submit an animation, a story, a photo montage – the choice is yours.

Share a story from your street with My Street, until 7 November, and the best entry will win the chance to work with the Street Stories team to produce a radio documentary about your street, or another mutually agreed topic. All entries will be available to view on the My Street website as soon as they are uploaded.

For everything you need to know about My Street and to view entries, visit www.abc.net.au/rn/streetstories

Ringwood Historical Society meeting - discussing the architecture of Ringwood

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 24th of June, 2008

Tonight’s Ringwood Historical Society meeting included two topics, with the first speaker discussing the evolution of cameras followed by an examination of the historical architecture within Ringwood.

Greg Wade, a member of the society, displayed an impressive amount of historical cameras and traced the evolution of photography and film. Greg covered the early cameras, through to the mass commercialisation of photography and into the digital era that is prevalent today.

The discussion on architecture traced Ringwood’s history and development from the early Victorian era of 1840 through to the post-war development in the 1950s and beyond. Much of Ringwood’s early development, such as the Ringwood Railway Estate, reflected the 1920s interwar style of architecture, with brick featured chimneys, common at the time.

Following World War II another housing boom in Ringwood occurred with the settlement of returned soldiers and housing reflected a simpler design with contrasting colours. Throughout the 60s infill development occurred particularly in parts of Ringwood East and Ringwood North with an emphasis on flat roofs and native gardens.

While Ringwood may lack the traces of early architecture evident within inner Melbourne, there are still examples of historical housing, reflecting the changing character and pace of development within Ringwood.

Discussing the Croydon Conservation Society with Channel 31’s Eastern Newsbeat

Published by Alex Makin on Saturday 31st of May, 2008

This morning the Croydon Conservation Society was interviewed as part of Channel 31’s Eastern News Beat program. Participants in the interview included the President, Liz Sanzaro, the Secretary, Sandra Hardiman, committee member Margot Seidel and myself as the group’s Treasurer.

The interview covered topics such as the history of the Croydon Conservation Society, its successes over tree canopy protection and parkland improvements and current campaigns such as lobbying for the introduction of container deposit legislation, similar to the successful program that has been operating in South Australia.

I also discussed the Croydon Conservation Society’s involvement in the lobbying for public transport improvements, including the need for ongoing advocacy to ensure the redevelopment of Ringwood Station. The Society provides a crucial voice for the Maroondah community and assists in demonstrating the support that exists to improving the sustainability of our municipality.

Eastern News Beat is a weekly program that provides news and information from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. The program is broadcast each Monday at 9.00am and on Thursday at 11.30am.

For more information on Channel 31 please visit www.channel31.org.au. For information on the Croydon Conservation Society please visit www.croydonconservation.org.au.

Ringwood Historical Society - Children of the Early Licensees of the Coach and Horses Hotel

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 27th of May, 2008

Tonight’s Ringwood Historical Society meeting featured a presentation from Anita Barker, who is submitting a thesis on the childhood toys that were uncovered at the original site of the Coach and Horses Hotel.

Anita’s research is unique to Australia and the world, with very little being researched in regard to historical toys, where she covers toys that were used during the early 1900s when the Coach and Horses was leased by the O’Meara family. Over 200 artefacts were excavated at the Coach and Horses site, which at the time was located along the southern side of Maroondah Highway.

The Coach and Horses, which was a log cabin structure at the time, was burnt down in a fire during 1907 and while the O’Meara family escaped the blaze, the hotel was completely destroyed. The toys that were excavated at the site were dated from the early 1900s through to the time of the fire. While some of the toys, such as tin soldiers would have melted under the heat of the fire, tea sets, marbles, writing slates and bisque dolls were able to be recovered.

In the early 1900s, toys were sold through the local post office as well as mail catalogue and the O’Meara family appeared keen to provide their children with some of the latest toys that were available at the time. Consumerism also appeared to be rife, with shops directly marketing to children through the use of coupons, brochures and toy makers that provided eye catching decorative designs. The intricate nature of the toys was remarkable, given that they would have been hand made and spent many months being shipped over from Europe.

The O’Meara family remained in Ringwood until the 1907 fire and later appeared to have relocated to the South Melbourne area.

Anita’s presentation is another example of the diverse topics that are discussed at the Ringwood Historical Society. Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 8pm at Federation Estate.

For further details please visit www.rhs.org.au.