The next meeting of the Society will be held at the Imperial Hotel on Tuesday 19th July at 5.30pm The speakers will be Jane Lally and Graham Wilson OAM who will present An Evening with the McNutts.

Although the name McNutt may not be familiar, their careers deserve to be remembered and Jane, a librarian, has recorded the life and works of Mollie McNutt (1885-1919). Mollie and husband Andrew commenced teaching as pupil teachers at Hillgrove Public School. In her short life Mollie won prizes for poetry and prose and published the book ‘Songs of the Bushland’ reflecting her love of Australian birds and countryside which was shared by her husband.

The July newsletter (download link below) contains a short obituary for Professor John Ryan, and information about the upcoming centenary celebrations for Dangarsleigh Hall, on August 22nd.

Members and friends of the Society will be saddened to learn of the death of Professor John Ryan. John’s wife, Susan Mason, has requested the following message be passed on to members:

Dear Family and Friends,

We wish to advise that John Ryan died peacefully in the early hours of Sunday morning.

To celebrate his long and extraordinary life, we are holding a small memorial service and we would be delighted to see you there. We understand that time and distance may make it difficult to attend; for anyone unable to attend, we invite you to reply to this email with any reflections you’d like to share and we will read out a selection at the service.

Our heartfelt thanks to all our wonderful family, friends and colleagues who have been so supportive and offered a hand in friendship to our special John over such a long and busy life.

The memorial will be held at 11am Friday 15^th July at the University of New England, Arts Building, Lecture room A3. We request that attendees at the service wear a mask.

From John’s beloved wife Susan, and his adored sons Thomas and Matthew.