Funding Announced for Brickwork.

We have two wonderful pieces of news this week.

Heritage Victoria have announced announced funding for projects across Victoria, including

1. Repair and conservation of heritage places and objects
2. Interpretation of heritage places and objects
3. Local government heritage studies and advice
4. Community collections management

Stratford has been most fortunate to receive a grant of $14,000 for "Building repair works to brickwork, windows & repairing structural cracks".

We appreciate very much this support from Heritage Victoria.

In a second piece of news, we can announce that the root barriers to protect the building have been installed with assistance from Wellington Shire Council.

Although we were delighted to have this happen, and equally delighted to have the worthwhile rain on Tuesday, it did serve to remind us that planning for (minor) disasters should include having a good supply of tarps and bags handy, as there was no way to enter the building without making a bridge across the very wet and sticky clay on the surface that resulted from the work.

But survive we did, and it was a minor inconvenience compared to the thrill of seeing the works progress. Thanks Martin, Tim and Team.

Indian Hawkers

Does anyone out there have any stories about Indian Hawkers? Because they were obviously a problem in the Avon Shire in 1892-1893. Or the council thought so.

When a new database comes out, it is always worth checking local place names. In this case it is the new Museum of Victoria online collection database. There are two search boxes, use the one on top right, as it brings in more results.

In this case, a notice from the Avon Shire in 1893, sent to all councils in Victoria, asking them to support a move to control licences for hawkers.

"[T]he 'Indian Hawker' nuisance should be put a stop to, as it is an increasing source of terror to females and children, and grave anxiety to heads of families whose avocations take them from their homes in the daytime, and thus leave their families unprotected from the growing insolence of these Hawkers'."

A copy of the notice, sent to an inner-Melbourne council, is in the Museum of Victoria Collection. We don't have anything about Indian Hawkers in our own collection.