More History Week in Stratford

A second History Week function has now been listed for Stratford.

Maffra and District Historical Society is running an information session in the Maffra Library on Monday afternoon, but has now joined forces with Wellington Library Service to offer a similar session in Stratford. This will be a demonstration of the Gipspsland Times online through Trove, from 1861 to 1954. It will take place at the library from 10am to midday on Monday 24 October.

Find out just how easy it is to research your family, organisation or locality. Pick up tips that also apply to hundreds of other local newspapers online from throughout Australia.

The Shakespeare and The Shed

The Shakespeare Hotel, some time after it was delicenced in 1886,
and became a "Temperance Hotel"

For History Week, we are having a special opening on Sunday 23 October, 1pm to 4pm, The Shakespeare and The Shed. Ron Martin's exciting scale model of the Shakespeare Hotel will be on public display for the first time (we have worked out how to get it through the door!), and The (Extended) Shed will be open, with access to our usually restricted storage area.

We are a bit excited about the storage area - George has been inventing/building again. We are also excited about having the scale model on display - the Shakespeare disappeared many years ago, and this will give people an opportunity to gain some understanding about size of the complex.

You can see an 1855 plan of the site HERE.

We will also be open, as usual, on Tuesday 25th October, 10am to 3pm.

Newspapers Online

The Maffra Spectator is now online at Trove, from 1882 to 1920. You can access it HERE. Just put the word/s for which you are searching in the box at top right, and click on the "Limit to issues of this title" immediately below that box.

The same applies for the Gippsland Times, both carry articles on Stratford.

There are now a number of other Gippsland newspapers online - you can see the full list for Victoria HERE.

This is wonderful, wonderful news for local researchers, as although Stratford had two newspapers, they have not been microfilmed, so it will be a long time before they are online. The Stratford Sentinel and Briagolong Express operated from 1911 to 1916, and the Stratford Progress from 1925 to 1939.

Presentation to Wemyss Struss

Today we had a wonderful afternoon function, at which a RHSV Award of Merit was presented to our much-loved president, Mrs Wemyss Struss. Wemyss is shown above with the president of the RHSV, Dr Andrew Lemon, who is the latest recipient of a jar of marmalade from Wemyss. Wemyss started this tradition (as she says she could not cook a sponge) of presenting homemade marmalade to all guest speakers, when she became president of the society in 1990. There was no way she was going to miss handing one to him.

Wemyss has done much more than present marmalade to speakers, and a presentation was launched today outlining her work leading the society as it restored the museum building.

Congratulations Wemyss, from us all.