Author: Rod Kemp

Celebrating the centenary of the dramatic and pioneering flight of Keith and Ross Smith and their crew in 1919

Please note that RSVP is essential for this event and COVID rules will apply

This Friday, 16th April, at the Coventry Library

Please RSVP

The Old Post Office is one of very few remaining wooden buildings in Upper Sturt and the Adelaide Hills. It is an integral part of the settlement story of Upper Sturt. It has been a post office, a shop, a home and we hope it will ‘live again’ as a place for people to use and enjoy.

The community consultation will be held on Tuesday 27 April from 7-9pm in the Upper Sturt Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, 173 Upper Sturt Road.

All COVID-19 requirements for the event will be followed. The Hall has a COVID Management Plan and 4 COVID Marshalls.

John Halsey (Dr) Secretary, Upper Sturt Soldier’s Memorial Hall.

0417886896

This local event is a part of South Australia’s History Festival and showcases the old Stirling East School, built in 1864 and still thriving as the “Old School Community Garden“.

Our Community Garden is on 2 ½ beautiful acres of the Adelaide Hills – the former Stirling East Primary School.

The historic school and teacher’s residence were used from the mid-1860s until 1969, when Mt Lofty CFS made it their base; it’s now an expanding community hub.

Tours or explore this wonderful space in your own time (access inside buildings has been limited due to Adelaide Hills Council preservation work).

Free workshops and activities for all ages (see facebook). Quality teas, coffee, cakes, wood oven scones, lunch options, trading table (all cash only); discover gardens/trails/art and more in this historical location.

Please see the attached notice giving details of our Annual General Meeting for 2021, including special presentations to our participants in the “Pathways to Education and Employment” oral history project.

RSVP essential on 0419 816 490

Note: Our Facebook page is currently offline due to their banning of news content in Australia. Hopefully this will be restored very soon.

At long last we can announce that our History Centre in the Coventry Library has re-opened for business and you will be able to visit our Archives and consult with one of our volunteers on any day that the Library is open between 2 and 4 pm.

And while we were closed, our team have been steadily adding articles to the Gateways section of our website, so remember to visit it regularly.

Here are a couple of pictures with links to some of the latest articles:

While COVID-19 has had its challenges for us all, even here in lucky South Australia, it has also given some of our authors the opportunity to produce more stories for the Gateways section of our website. Elisabeth Anderson, Chris Chardon, John McGregor and others have been busy researching and bringing to light more interesting stories for us all to enjoy.

One of the joys and frustrations of historical research is the uncovering of an unexpected and apparently unsolvable mystery. Read about one of these in the new article about Crafers Primary School

Do you remember Dragan Miljanovic or perhaps you’re unfamiliar with him and his contributions to the district?

And have you ever heard of Felix House, one of the many guest houses which took advantage of the desire of Adelaideans to escape the city for some cool and refreshing country air?

Keep up to date with all of these stories and more by checking in to the ever expanding content of the Gateways section of our website.

Just In!

Several new articles have been added to the Gateways section of our website today.

You can learn about Crawford’s Store at Mt Lofty as part of our Industry and Business topic or discover the story of an Adelaide Hills WWI serviceman, Edward Mullin in our War, Peace and Memorials section.

This is just a taste of what is available to pique your interest and perhaps inspire or entertain you, through our local and garden history Gateways so have a browse and learn more.

Our History Centre and Archive are still restricted at present but we do hope to be able to announce resumption of normal hours before too much longer.

The 1st September is of course the first day of Spring, but do you know it is also “Wattle Day” in Australia?

Read about the history of Wattle Day in one of our recent Gateways articles and don’t forget to do some browsing to see what else is new on our website.

If you are a facebook user, you can also check out our facebook page for more interesting local and garden history and a multitude of contributors.

Our writers continue to make the most of their time at home to generate articles for the Gateways section of our website. Quite a few topics have had new stories linked to them, so have a browse and enjoy the articles.

We welcome comments on the content and particularly additional information you might have which can enhance both the articles and contribute to our Archives, so please respond if you can.

And don’t forget Coventry’s Corner for the young and young at heart; there are all sorts of interesting articles there.