From the Editor : In 2024 ADHS will celebrate its 40th Birthday.
The society has been operating for 40 years and has assisted many hundreds of visitors and researchers during that time. While the society now operates from the Avoca Court House and Helen Harris Room, it was 9 years before the committee acquired the Court House building and renovated the interior. The Helen Harris Room was finally added at the rear and was opened in 2000.
We look forward to acknowledging the hard work of the many volunteers who have supported the society during the last 40 years on Sunday 19th May 2024.
The birthday celebrations will commence with a light lunch to be served at Uniting Church Wesley Hall from 11:30am. Cost $10
After lunch (1pm) we will gather at the Court House, 85 High St and welcome our guest speaker Judy Martin from Lexton, with the cutting of the 40th Birthday cake to follow.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2022-2023 President’s Report : At our AGM last November the financial report was presented by Treasurer Dorothy Robinson and while our financial position is adequate we need your continued support via your renewed membership to enable us to pay our bills. Our renewal forms will be distributed in June and renewals for 2024-25 will be due 1st July 2024.
It is with great pleasure that I present my report for 2022-23. Following the difficult years of Covid it has been pleasing to welcome members and researchers back to the Court House. During the year our research officer has been kept busy assisting both visitors to the Court House and researchers via email. The Court House continues to open on the 1st & 3rd Wednesday of the month.
To support the generous donations we received during the year, we successfully applied for 2 grants. One from the Bendigo Bank Community Enterprise Foundation Grant program to repair and repaint the Helen Harris OAM Room and the second from the Pyrenees Shire Community Grants Program to ensure the restoration work was completed in full. The Helen Harris Room repairs and painting was completed earlier this year and now presents a welcoming face for members and visitors alike.
Meetings with the Pyrenees Shire Council representatives revealed that the ramp railing leading to the Helen Harris Room is in need of repair along with the front fence. We will investigate funding opportunities with the Shire to ensure the railing is stabalised.
We purchased a new computer as the main computer was aging, along with our committee!
The future of the association continues to be of great concern to the committee. The current dwindling and aging committee of 7 has the massive task of maintaining and managing the vast collection at the Court House. They not only file and record the items that are presented or donated to the society but they also make themselves available to assist researchers in their quest for family history or local information. We are regularly told by researchers that our collection and knowledge is awesome but without more volunteers all this may disappear! We are desperately in need of new office bearers and volunteers to open the Court House twice a month to manage the collection and assist with research. We also need helpers to help keep the Court House displays neat and tidy. The committee looks forward to increased volunteer numbers to ensure the viability of the historical society- it would be a shame to see the vast collection left unattended due to lack of numbers.
Recently we hosted the CHHA AGM at the Uniting Church Hall and welcomed 24 members from the Central Highlands region. Following a delightful morning tea the CHHA committee presented their reports for 2022-23.
The guests then had a meal in town and visited the Chinese Garden of Fire and Water where President Margaret explained the history of the site and the process that lead to the development of the garden. The members then proceeded to the Arts & Gardens precinct to view the Silo Art and Gallery 127 at Historic Railway Station, where Hugh Forster presented the history and future of the station precinct. Next year we look forward to celebrating our 40th Birthday on Sunday 19th May 2024. Please save the date and join us at the Court House to recognize the importance of the Historical Society to the local community and visitors and researchers who visit Avoca and district. I would like to thank the current committee for their dedication and expertise and our members for their continued financial support of the society. By Marg Pilgrim, President
Office Bearers were elected : President—Marg Pilgrim; Secretary—Jill Hunter; Treasurer– Dorothy Robinson; Other Committee members: Elizabeth Williams, Cheryl Mallinson, Glenda Williams, Gayle Amore.
Spotlight on Early Businesses : Textile Arts Pty Ltd : In 1950, 24 Avoca men agreed to invest 2400 pounds in a building to house a new industry for Avoca to provide employment for male labour. The managing director was Mr Harold Barnes.
Band to be Gay for Celebration
Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), Friday 20 October 1950, page 7
AVOCA. Thursday.— It Is intended to have the local brass band fitted with uniforms for the Back to Avoca celebrations at Christmas.
A new Industry, which will open shortly, is making a big contribution toward solving the problem of buying the uniforms.
The managing director of Textile Arts Pty. Ltd. (Mr. Harold Barnes) said his firm could give souvenir scarves, worth £100, for sale in connection with the celebrations. The money raised would go to the band to help in purchasing the uniforms. A design for printing on the scarves has been drawn by the firms artists.
The Town Improvement Fund committee, sponsors of the celebrations, voted £150 to the uniform fund.
It Will Be Smart Now Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), Friday 22 December 1950, page 7
AVOCA, Thursday.— Members of the town band have been issued with new uniforms — just In time for the nine-day back to Avoca celebrations which begin on Saturday. The uniforms will be paid for mainly by the sale of souvenir scarves, valued at £200, which have been designed, printed and presented by Textile Arts Pty. Ltd., a firm which recently opened a factory in the town. The scarves are of pure silk and are printed in four colors, depicting local mining and primary industry with the local shire hall as the centrepiece.
Another £150 has been guaranteed by the town improvement fund committee, promoters of the Back to Avoca celebrations. The band has been functioning for less than two years and has made good progress. Most of the players are lads of teen age.
In 1952 the company faced the threat of having to close down due to lack of orders, leaving many skilled craftsmen out of work, but the workers rallied and devised a plan save the company.
Team Spirit Saved Factory from Closing Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), Saturday 25 October 1952, page 5
A factual story of how the team spirit of employees saved a country textile factory from closing down was recounted yesterday by the Decentralisation Division of the Premier’s Department.
When the recession in the textile industry struck Avoca, the directors of Textile Arts Pty. Ltd. decided they would have to close down through lack of orders.
The skilled craftsmen employed there decided the industry must remain. They organised themselves into two teams. One went into the country selling the factory’s products direct to storekeepers. The other went into the bush to cut eucalypts for sale to eucalyptus oil distillers.
Their combined efforts enabled wages to be paid. Today, following the revival of the textile trade, the Avoca factory is again in full production.
WORKERS SAVED FACTORY : Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 – 1954), Saturday 25 October 1952, page 2
Melbourne, The decentralisation division of the Premier’s Department has revealed how employees of a textile industry in Avoca prevented it from closing down. When the recession in the industry hit Avoca, the director of Textile Arts Pty. Ltd. decided that the factory would have to close down through lack of orders. The employees, all skilled craftsmen, organised themselves into two teams. One team went into the country selling the factory’s products direct to storekeepers. The second went into the bush cutting eucalypts to be sold to distillers of eucalyptus oil. The combined efforts enabled wages to be paid to the industry’s employees. Yesterday, with the revival of the textile trade, the Avoca factory is in full production again.