Posts related to 'ringwood historical society'

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.

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.

Ringwood Historical Society March meeting

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 25th of March, 2008

This evening’s Ringwood Historical Society meeting included two guest speakers. Firstly, Neville O’Connor, a local Ringwood East resident spoke about his interest in theatre organs and the current locations of the surviving organs within Australia.

The second presenter was Matt Winzenried, President of the Ringwood City Soccer Club, who discussed the unique history of the club. Ringwood City Soccer Club, based at the soccer field in Jubilee Park, Ringwood. The club was founded in 1953 as Wilhelmina Soccer Club by John van Hoboken who desired to create a professional soccer club for Dutch players who migrated to Australia.

Wilhelmina Soccer Club was based in various suburbs including North Balwyn and Hawthorn before it was relocated to Ringwood’s Jubilee Park in 1962 and renamed Ringwood City Wilhelmina Soccer Club. The club had tremendous success in the early years fuelled by the quality of players that were being recruited into the club.

While the Dutch connection remained strong throughout the first two decades, this waned in latter years due to the establishment of a professional soccer league in the Netherlands, which hampered efforts to recruit new Dutch players. As a result the club’s standing and revenue began to fall causing a re-evaluation in its direction.

Today, as an amateur soccer club, the focus is on the Ringwood and Maroondah community catering to the needs of local residents. The Ringwood City Soccer Club has definitely had a unique and interesting history.

Lastly, there was discussion around a new website for the Ringwood Historical Society. I have volunteered to design a new site, which will provide the ability to add new content and photos quickly and easily. The website, which is currently being finalised, has been developed using Wordpress, the same software I use to power my own site.

As I was showing a demonstration of the new site someone asked about the costs associated with Wordpress. Wordpress is freely available for download and I personally have a preference for free software. My main operating system is Kubuntu Linux, which I use due to its reliability and additional features that are not found on other software. The next version of Ubuntu 8.04 is expected on the 24th of April.

For more details on the Ringwood Historical Society please visit www.rhs.org.au.

Ringwood Historical Society meeting

Published by Alex Makin on Friday 25th of January, 2008

Tuesday, 26 February 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
8:00 pm	to	10:00 pm

The Ringwood Historical Society aims to collect, promote, preserve and document the history of Ringwood, from its early origins in antimony mining and orchards through to its suburban expansion and beyond. As Ringwood undergoes another transformation the importance in documenting its history cannot be underestimated.

The Ringwood Historical Society meets ten times a year at Maroondah Federation Estate on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Meetings often include guest speakers who are available to discuss prominent people, families or events that helped shape the history of Ringwood. Members of the community are encouraged to attend and share any knowledge they have on Ringwood’s history.

For more information on the Ringwood Historical Society please visit www.rhs.org.au.

2007 Ringwood Historical Society AGM

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 25th of September, 2007

The Ringwood Historical Society serves to preserve and promote the history of Ringwood and includes extensive archives of documents and photographs and other content relating to Ringwood’s history at Norwood Hall in Warrandyte Road.

I was invited to officiate the AGM, which marked the retirement of the Society’s President Richard Carter after ten years, as well as the Secretary Sandra Smart, who provided twelve years of service to the society. Ringwood is poised to undertake significant changes over the next few years and while this will transform Ringwood into a vibrant suburb, it is crucial that we preserve the historical integrity of Ringwood through highlighting and promoting its history.

Maroondah Council needs to ensure it works alongside organisations such as the Ringwood Historical Society to ensure that Ringwood’s transformation strengthens our links to our local history.

The meeting also included discussion around Alan Robertson, former Chief Executive Office and City Engineer, who served the former City of Ringwood for over 40 years, after beginning his career in local government as a cadet engineer.  Alan shaped much of Ringwood throughout his professional life and oversaw a number of major projects, including the construction of Eastland and the relocation of the Clocktower to its current site. Alan Robertson also saw the growth of Ringwood into the fully fledged suburb it is today.