For over thirty years Gumeracha and District History Centre volunteers have been collecting and filing information about the people and places of the Torrens Valley. Some of the material is unique to the Centre and unavailable from any other source. There are Council records from Talunga, Highercombe and Para Wirra dating back to early settlement and church records, including births, marriages and deaths.
Other material of interest to the “Family Historian†or “District researcher†includes many biographies, school admissions, Gumeracha and Birdwood Police Journals, various minute books of clubs and associations, Lodge records and detailed histories of all the towns of the district. The large filing system contains many maps and plans of the area, newspaper articles, war records and thousands of photographs of residents and developments past and present, dating back to 1860. Continue reading Gumeracha & District History Centre→
The Learning Assistance Program at the Birdwood High School is up and running again. Several people responded to the article in Along the Grapevine and Bill Chartres has already begun helping a student with Technical Studies.
Bill lives in Lobethal, where he and his wife, Peg, generously open their garden every year for the Lobethal Lights Festival. Bill had a packing shed at Cudlee Creek, which was destroyed in the 1983 Ash Wednesday Fire. He subsequently got a job in the East End Market with a firm which specialised in Tropical Fruit.
The newly formed Eastern Hills Tractor Society Inc held a very successful “Farming as it was†Plough Day at Monarto on Sunday, May 6th. All proceeds from the day went to Canteen.
The idea for this day emulated from a couple of sources:-
Firstly, a tractor run which is run annually through the Adelaide Hills and secondly, from suggestions of actually working tractors with ploughs, preferably on ‘flats’ with working horses also a high priority.
An ideal ‘patch’ was offered by Trevor and Alice Jericho and a successful “Farming as it was†Plough Day in June 2005 became a reality. It was more successful than anyone had imagined it could be and the bigger boys had a great time playing with their bigger toys!
“Enjoy the Season”, is the current exhibition at Top of the Torrens Gallery in Birdwood. The exhibition was opened by Roland Weight of Riverton on Sunday, April 1st. The exhibition showcases the art work of four Mid North artists who are current members of the Balaklava Art Group.
Ana Tossell’s iconic Australian paintings are vibrant, whilst her delicate unframed watercolours are delightful and very affordable. Valerie Veitch’s brilliant landscapes and still life works are counterbalanced by three delightful portraits. Continue reading “Enjoy the Season”→
If you were in the vicinity of the Old Mill on Saturday, April 21st, you may have heard the Mill Whistle blow!
Alistair and Phil of the Lobethal Bierhaus, together with Brian Brock from the Lobethal Heritage Association, got together at the Bierhaus and connected the old whistle to a boiler.
The whistle is currently on display at the Heart of the Hills Market in the Woollen Mill display.
Brian took the whistle up the road and a plumber connected it to a gas boiler, and pulled the cord exactly on 1 o’clock for a few moments. Continue reading The Whistle Blows Again→
On Saturday, March 31st, Geoffrey King of “The Bush Telegraph Boysâ€, spoke at the Kersbrook District Men’s Breakfast.
The theme of the meeting was, “One hundred years of telephonyâ€.
Three other “Bush Telegraph Boysâ€, who collectively brought along items from their collection of telephones, accompanied Geoff.
Two teams from the Birdwood High School travelled to Christchurch, New Zealand, earlier in April to compete in the first ever World Student Golf Challenge. Student teams from around the world will be competing.
There are 54 teams from around the world competing in this world-first event in Christchurch, New Zealand.
27 schools from Australia (17 teams), South Africa (7 teams) and New Zealand (30 teams) will contest in the event at four different Christchurch courses (Coringa, Templeton, Waitkiri and Harewood). Continue reading Birdwood High School enters first ever World School’s Golf Challenge→