Author: Rod Kemp

Celebrating the launch of the book by Hamish Cooper about the History of the Aldgate CFS, is our current display in the History Centre at the Coventry Library in Stirling

Once again our volunteers continue to catalogue new donations to our archive. Click on the image for a glimpse of just some of the items registered this month to whet your appetite.

Our History Centre in the Coventry Library is open between 2 and 4 on all days that the Library is open, so come and visit us for more local and garden history.

And remember that we depend upon our community to think of us when historical items are discovered, so if you are taking the opportunity of holidays to have a clean out and you come across something you think may be of interest, don’t throw it out, but let us have the chance to see it first. (Unfortunately we don’t have the space for large objects, but any written information, books, letters, photographs, films, slides, articles, etc may be donated).

We wish our members and friends all the best for the festive season as we take a short break from staffing our History Centre and Archive at the Coventry Library ourselves.

We will be open again on the 18th January as usual from 2 – 4pm on all days that the Library is open. Please note that on extreme temperature days the History Centre will not be staffed and on declared Catastrophic days, the entire Library building will be closed.

Of course our facebook page and website will continue to keep us all in contact.

We thank The Hut for the photos on this page which were taken at the 2019 Stirling Christmas Pageant.

And you are invited to participate in our closing event for 2021

Please remember that the COVID rules of the day will apply and you must RSVP as requested.

If you have not visited our History Centre and Archive in the Coventry Library in recent times (and many haven’t for reasons we all know about), here is a quick glimpse of some of the new items which have arrived and been catalogued by our hard-working volunteers during September.

Many thanks to all of the people who donate the historical items which continue to expand our collection and provide a wonderful resource for historians, not just locally but worldwide via our digital presence.

New Acquisitions September 2021

A unique opportunity to hear from family historian Beth Robertson about the well-known local Stirling Family and their past connections to slavery.

This will be a popular event and is constrained in numbers by COVID restrictions, so book early to avoid disappointment.

Our History Centre and Archive in the Coventry Library is currently open again for visitors in compliance with the COVID-19 restrictions in place within the Adelaide Hills Council buildings.

Our volunteers will be available to assist you in your historical research, but you must comply with the COVID-19 restrictions in place within the Adelaide Hills Council buildings. This requires you to wear a mask at all times and to follow the QR code check-in procedure and any other rules in place at the time of your visit.

We hope this is a sign of more freedom to come, but we accept the need to be cautious at present.

We are open on all days that the library is open, between the times of 2 and 4pm

On the 1st September each year we celebrate “Wattle Day”.

The tradition was born many years ago and has unfortunately slowly faded away. Of course we all still see the many wattles in flower at this time of year but we may not take the time to reflect on their place in our history.

Liz Hansman has updated her article on Wattle Day to include the “Wattle and Daub” method of early house construction. You can read about all things wattle by clicking here.

                                                     Deferral – Friday September 13^th 2021

                                            Chris McCabe – The Travelling Gardener Presentation

Dear Members

You will all be aware of the complexities of event planning in the current Covid19 environment. While the constraints which social distancing and mask wearing for audience and workers remain in place, hovering over us all is the ongoing potential for the virus to move over the border. Sudden cancellation of events is a strong possibility.

Chris McCabe, author of the celebrated Adelaide Hills Gardens – is our guest speaker for Friday 13^th September 2021.  In her role as a travel writer Chris has been travelling extensively around South Australia. Sometimes  the communication systems are erratic and our conversations have been fractured by distance and weather conditions.

We finally made contact last week and discussed, in detail, the constraints we were facing and the benefits of deferral to a later date. We also considered how we could turn adversity to advantage.

Our final decision was to defer – probably to September 2022. One of the benefits of deferral is that Chris has been gathering together a some marvellous stories about the extraordinary gardeners she has met in her travels. These stories will form the basis of her presentation next year – introducing a new element into our knowledge of garden history. Watch out for our 2022 Program of Events which is currently being prepared.

With regard to the other events scheduled for 2021, including the highly popular Murder at Christmas – we are maintain a watch and wait approach. If the conditions improve we will go ahead and will keep you all informed.

Meanwhile life in the History Centre is very busy. We are recording donations, building the data-base, preparing new displays, cataloguing our research collection in collaboration with the Library, preparing a commemoration edition of the Flinders Column, making additions to Gateways and updating the website and Facebook, responding to enquiries , expanding the Newspaper Collection and engaging with other organisations – while masked, sanitised and socially distanced as required!

Amazing times!

Warm regards to you all.

Ann Herraman

President

Mt Lofty Districts Historical Society Inc.

M 0419 816 490

“Murder at Christmas” Presentation by Dr Tony Stimson

Friday 13^th August 2021 from 7.00pm for 7.30pm to 9.30pm

COVID 19 RESTRICTIONS DEFERRAL

New date to be advised.

Dear Members

Over the last three weeks the MLDHS Team has been responding to the restrictions placed on public performances and presentations due to the current Covid19 outbreak and lockdown. In collaboration with presenter Dr Tony Stimson  and the Coventry Library Management the MLDHS Team has agreed that the mandatory requirement for all participants – audience, workforce and presenters – to wear masks will prevent us all from experiencing this ‘blockbuster’ event in all its extraordinary dimensions. As soon as conditions and regulations permit we will arrange an alternative date – probably in October – when we can present the “Murder at Christmas’ program again.

Meanwhile, Dr Tony Stimson is continuing his investigations and will be available as soon as an appropriate date can be settled. We will retain our booking list and inform our guests and the public as soon as the date is available.

Although we are all disappointed at the delay we are in no doubt that the wait will be well worthwhile.

Many thanks for your support and interest in this fascinating topic.

Kind regards to you all. We will be in touch!

Ann Herraman

Dr Ann Herraman

President

Mt Lofty Districts Historical Society Inc.

M 049 816 490