Category Archives: News

February meeting and newsletter

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The February meeting will be held at 5.30pm on Tuesday, 20 February.
The meeting will be held at the ROYAL HOTEL in a room on the right of the bar.
Note that the Imperial Hotel is closed for renovations until further notice, hence the change of venue.
Meals will be available at the Royal Hotel after the meeting and it is best to put in your
order prior to the meeting to assist the staff and to avoid waiting time.

The speaker will be Jesse Dick, providing the fascinating history of the house at 148 O’Dell
Street, which he purchased some years ago in a derelict state and has renovated with care
and respect for its circa 120 years of age. Maybe a drive past the house prior to Jesse’s talk
will add to the appreciation of his story of the restoration.

The February newsletter is now available for download:

ADHS-Newsletter-February-2024Download

November excursion and newsletter

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The November Newsletter, wth updates about the excursion, the AGM, the journal, the Museum of Education, and the UNE Archives & Heritage Centre can be now downloaded:

ADHS-Newsletter-for-November-2020Download

November Excursion

Covid19 regulations will allow the traditional November bus excursion to go ahead
on Saturday, 21st November. The bus will leave the Visitors Centre at 8.30am. It can
accommodate 30 people socially isolated and more when family/friends/partners are
happy to sit together. Masks optional.

Cost $40 includes bus, morning tea, lunch.


The plan is to go to Black Mountain via the old settlements at Saumarez Ponds and
Dumaresq and basically follow the rail route to Guyra. A tour and morning tea has
been booked at the Springwater Trout and Yabbie Farm at Black Mountain.

David Barclay will then show us the Baptist Church (1902) and we can visit the Railway
Station and Cemetery and see the school (1882) which currently has 14 pupils.

From Black Mountain to the Mother of Ducks Lagoon in Guyra for a BBQ lunch and
there is a Peony Festival on the day in the main street. Then a visit to the newly
refurbished Guyra Historical Society premises followed by a drive around Guyra to
view the tomato and peony farms before heading south to the Black Mountain Plant
Nursery on the way back to Armidale. Graham Wilson will be our tour guide.

Hope you can come!

Bookings can be made at Dumaresq Chambers, per phone 67751205 or email at
contact@adhs.org.au

AGM notice and October Newsletter

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The Society has still to have an Annual General Meeting and October is our final meeting for the year. Covid 19 has called for new arrangements for a meeting on

Tuesday, 20th October, 7pm at the Dangarsleigh Hall

This will be an Annual General Meeting at the Dangarsleigh Hall at 7pm.
At this meeting elections for President, Secretary, Treasurer, Committee, Patrons, Public Officer, Newsletter and Journal Committee need to be undertaken. Please consider nominating yourself or others to assist in the running of the Society. Following the elections entertainment in the form of excerpts from Barbara Albury’s excellent play: ‘Armidale – Our Town’.

Dangarsleigh Hall, 8.4kms on the right hand side of Dangarsleigh Road is large enough to have 45 people gather to comply with current Covid 19 regulations. Attendances at our last three AGMs have been 31, 35 and 41, so it seems unlikely that attendance would exceed 45. A ‘Covid Marshall’ is required to monitor social distancing, signing in, hand sanitation and to request that people remain seated.

The October newsletter has information about the November Excursion to Black Mountain, the Journal, and two articles – one about the Armidale celebrations for the Inauguration of the Commonwealth in 1901, and the second about the history of the Dangarsleigh Hall and its origins in Hillgrove. Click on the link below to download it:

ADHS-Newsletter-for-October-2020Download
Image of Dangarsleigh Hall

June and July newsletters

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I’ve just uploaded the July newsletter, and realised that I missed uploading the June one. My apologies – that’s now remedied!

Good news in the June newsletter is that the Society’s rooms are now open again, with Covid strategies in place, Please use the provided hand sanitiser, sign in on the book at the entrance, and maintain a 1.5m distance from others. And it should go without saying, please do not attend the rooms if you are unwell, or have been in contact with anyone at risk of exposure to Covid.

Unfortunately, our monthly meetings will not be able to resume yet as we do not have sufficient space to provide the 4 sq metres per person required for safe gatherings.

However, in good news, on Tuesday, 21 July we will have a 1.30pm meeting at ‘Middle Farm’!

Julia and Phillip Rose who are in the process of selling ‘Middle Farm’, the property originally
belonging to the Blencowe family have invited us to hear the history, and see the original
house and sheds on our normal meeting date on site at 1.30pm Tuesday, 21 July. This is a
great opportunity, but will be Weather and Covid19 Permitting. There will be around 20
chairs available, rug up and bring your own mug for a cuppa. There is ample parking and
anyone who requires transport will need to contact Judith at 67751205, while anyone who can
offer transport please let me know on that number.

The July newsletter is a bumper edition with updates, reports on current projects, and an article by John Burrell – Across Australia by Train 1920 – about the journey required t cross the continent in the days before the Indian Pacific service. So make yourself a cuppa and download it now.

And in the June newsletter, as well as updates and news, there is a report about the fire that ripped through Beardy Street in 1887.