Welcome to the new BRAC newsletter!
Fresh season, fresh look for the Bendigo Regional Archives newsletter - we hope you find it an interesting read and are very keen to get feedback on what you'd like to see in our quarterly missive. Once the website has been relaunched, we will be able to include and link to more in-depth content.
It is important to note, with the festive season fast approaching, that the BRAC Reading Rooms will be closed to the public from Friday 21 December to Tuesday 5 February while maintenance and auditing is undertaken - please note the dates Thursday 20 December and Wednesday 6 February as the final and returning dates for the Reading Room.
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Christmas is coming!
Our collections are a veritable Santa's sack of interesting and intriguing items from our region's history when it comes to Christmas and what was going on around the place. We wish you a very merry Christmas, remind researchers to check our extended Summer closure period before visiting, and hope that you fare better than some of these folk from the archives who made Santa's naughty list.
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Bendigo Council Correspondence
Were Sandhurst residents lounging about after Christmas lunch, taking a post-meal nap? No! Many of them were off to play cricket on Christmas Day, and competition for the Upper Reserve for this purpose was fierce. Every year, multiple requests for the space - and others around the city - were made to council in the months leading up to the event. In 1882, a request was received from the Order of Rechabites (Star of Bendigo Tent No 5), requesting use "...for the purpose of a cricket match between Harcourt Tent" and their own on Christmas Day; three days later, the Town Clerk received a similar request from the Order of Oddfellows Sandhurst Lodge, asking same. The Clerk informed the Rechabites that their request was granted, provided they played "on matting", while the Oddfellows request was denied due to the earlier booking.
Much like the modern day Summer in the Parks season in Bendigo, in 1921 the Council worked with local groups to produce a Summer program in the Upper Reserve, and issued the draft roster to the Drum & Fife, Marist Bros and Hopetoun Brass bands, the Bendigo Swimming Club and Bendigo Fire Brigade for final approval on November 18th.
The Clerk was also busy acknowledging well-wishes and gifts for the Mayor at this time of year - in 1922, a letter was issued to the Bolton Bros of Mitchell Street, thanking them for their "very unique Christmas souvenir", featuring the motto 'don't burn the candle at both ends'; the Clerk assured them the Mayor appreciated the sentiment but could not avoid doing so as he was so very busy.
Shire of Marong Minute Books
On the subject of gifts, at the December 1935 meeting of the Marong Shire Council, a resolution was made to firstly thank the President for his gift of 1936 diaries and then to Cr Clement for "his xmas present of his photograph and a short history of his life". Best wishes to our readers on receiving some wonderful gifts this Christmas!
Images of some of the documents referred to above can be found on our Facebook Page, and you can order items from these series to the Reading Room via the links in each section.
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Collection Focus - 1969 Town Clerk Reports
This unit includes the 66 reports for the year by the Town Clerk; the reports have detail on planning applications & objections, an annual report on cemeteries (total interments in Bendigo Cemetery = 42,264), a proposal for a new library building (est $200,000), information on the Infant Welfare Service, White Hills tip, and the audit of Council vehicles (including a 1950 Morris Dropside!).
You can order this record to the Reading Room HERE.
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Meet the new BRAC staff...
BRAC welcomed two new staff members in September, Marnie McKeown - BRAC Coordinator, and Desiree Pettit-Keating - Archives Officer. With experience in library management and local history engagement, both Marnie and Desiree look forward to meeting and assisting clients in the new year.
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Movember Memories...
It's nice to see some clean-shaven faces around the Library now Movember has concluded - but the humble mo' was very much the norm if our archives and the local history collection is anything to go by...
Take a look at some rather impressive facial sculpturing of councillors and businessmen from the Local History collection in the Reading Room HERE.
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Successful Facebook launch for BRAC
In mid-November, BRAC released a Facebook Page to build engagement with new people in the community and showcase our collection. With over 300 followers already, there is clearly great interest in what the archives have to offer - the Page will feature stories & images from our collection as well as information about events - follow today!
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