In addition to yesterday’s post some comments by Tom Woolman
Have been a member since the 1980s, because I’d heard that my late mother’s mother’s father had been born “up in the Pyrenees” and his wife at “a pub in Bung Bong”, then nothing until what I vaguely remembered from visiting them as a child on their farm in Torrita/Underbool in the Mallee.
For a very small number of $, the Society provided me with an amazing amount of very relevant information, which, over time, I shared with now late siblings of the grandmother I never knew because she had died in 1927. That gave me the motivation to keep sharing information with the Society. When I retired from full-time work in 2006, I became a drive-in/out volunteer research assistant, and was exposed to the massive amount of information the Society had for just about any family who had been in the area for quite a while. 80,000 index cards to local records held take some beating!!
These days, the Internet can reveal some history for about just about any colonial, through what’s freely available on social media, government websites like the Public Records Office, the Victoria Government Online Archives 1836-1997, the National Archives of Australia, plus paid websites like Ancestry, and probably best of all, at the National Library of Australia. TROVE, the free Historic Newspapers Online at www.trove.nla.gov.au
In Trove, the Society has online, not just the local papers for the Great War Years 1915 -1918 (funded by the Commonwealth), but also the local papers from the first surviving paper in 1863 to 1900, funded locally. It puts Avoca “up there” with Ballarat, Castlemaine, Bendigo and Maldon as preservers and sharers of local history. (That’s also very useful to the nearby towns who don’t have many of their historical papers online, because when Avoca was having a “slow news day” the paper would sometimes print something about a nearby town).
If you’re going to contact or visit the Society, here are some tips from this ancient volunteer helper. If you have the time, find out as much as you can about the background to the question(s) you have, where you have already researched, and what you found of relevance. Send that to the Society well in advance so there is time for us to think about it a length. Your skills are NOT being assessed – we’re just trying to make best use of your and our time. 
Bring your questions with space to write the answers/tips. And bring your $30 research fee, which we use to keep the Society afloat. We’ll definitely say “We totally understand,” if you say your family gave it to you on condition you didn’t go on and on all the way home about the new stuff you found out, and how you want to come back very soon. Most of us have been there! and years later, most of them are glad we did.
Here’s a photo from an album which has been in the care of the descendants of another son of my “Mountain Hut, Pyrenees” great great grandparents, the one who was the last to leave what’s now known as MCVICAR’s Gate. Before the help from the Society, I had no idea they or the photos existed. Of his siblings who lived to adulthood, three were male, and five female, so expertise in dressmaking was probably inevitable. In the photo, Eliza MCVICAR, is the tallest with the tape measure around her neck, outside her High St. Avoca, “Dressmaking, Millinary, and Fancy Goods” shop, (which burnt down in 1894), while her assistants, from the left, are Kitty LATCH, Miff POWERS, and Tot KAYE. The sign under the verandah advertising Mr DOUGHTY’s business around the back, is “Wholesale and Retail Tinsmith”. The property was owned by John COGHLAN OF Avoca and was insured in the Royal Insurance Company, the shop and dwelling for 100 pounds and the stable for 20 pounds, the local Agent being John ROSS. The newspaper report includes the extra names of FRAYNE, MICKLE, DOWNTON, BANNISTER, BROOKS, CALNAN, and GOLDER.
Avoca Mail, Tuesday 27 February 1894, page 2
FIRES IN AVOCA.
The alarm of fire was sounded on the fire-bell about a quarter to six on Saturday morning, and the public speedily turned out to find that a stable at the rear of Miss McVicar's dressmaking establishment, and an outbuilding on Mrs Frayne's property were on fire. The Fire Brigade were on the scene with great promptitude, and had the water on from the Victoria Hotel tank just in time to overt a disastrous conflagration. When the water came through the hose Mr Doherty's workshop was on fire, and had this not been at once mastered the fire would undoubtedly have swept away the whole of the buildings from the Victoria Hotel to Mr Mickle's barber's shop, which would have been a very great loss, the buildings in danger were the Victoria Hotel, Mrs. Frayne, stationer ; Miss McVicar, dress maker ; Mr Doherty, tinsmith ; Mr G. Downton, draper ; Miss Powers, bookseller,, and Mr Mickle, hairdresser. These were unquestionably saved owing to there being a fire brigade in the town, and every credit is due to the firemen under Lieutenant Bannister for the work they did. The stable destroyed was insured for £20, and the buildings above mentioned together with stock, were protected to the extent of some £3,300. The loss sustained by Miss McVicar is about £15. The origin of the fire is unknown, but it is generally surmised that is was caused by a swagman, who, without permission, used the stable as a sleeping place. This suspicion is strengthened by the fact that one had been hanging about the place.
A second alarm was given on Sunday morning just as the churches were coming out, and on this occasion the fire proved to be in an unoccupied house, the properly of Mr H. Brooks, adjoining Mr D. Calnan's residence. The Brigade, under Foreman Guard, were on the spot very quickly after the bell was rung, and got the engine on to Mr Lusby's tank. Again they proved to be of much use, for though Mr Calnan's place had caught and could not be saved the buildings on both sides, occupied by Mr Golder, sen., and Mr H. Powers, jun., were saved. Valuable assistance was rendered by some of the public at this fire, and those who did come to the fore to give the brigade a helping hand are deserving of much credit. Both of the places destroyed were uninsured.
