The guest speaker for our September meeting will be Bill Crocker. Bill taught in small schools before taking up studies in oral communication, which he taught at the Armidale Teachers’ College. In his retirement has been an active volunteer in a number of organisations. As a guide on the Armidale Heritage Bus he endears himself to his passengers, his teaching skills providing his audience with entertaining and informative commentary. The title of his presentation is
Working on the Railroad: Memories of a Young Teacher
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, 17th September at 7.30pm in the ADHS rooms at Dumaresq Chambers, 114 Faulkner Street. As usual, the Chambers will be open from about 7pm on the night of the meeting, and we people are welcome to come early to chat, look at resources, or have a cuppa.
This post is from Tim Shaeffer and Denise Towns – thank you both for your contribution!
Most old places have an atmosphere – think of Port Arthur, Norfolk Island, Fremantle Gaol and the old Teachers’ College, on the site of the even older Armidale Gaol. What goes on inside its walls, after dark or even in broad daylight? Some stories of the darker side exist, maybe imagination, maybe not. Keeping in mind that six people were executed on the Old Teachers College site.
When the College was in use as an educational institution it
was a busy place, with corridors, lecture rooms, offices, staircases full of
people. Too occupied with everyday
affairs to think of anything out of the ordinary. Just occasionally someone would mention
something …
Like the staff member whose office was located on the lower
ground floor, past the boiler room and adjacent to the art studio,
affectionately termed “the dungeon”. At
some time, the lecturer found it necessary to leave her room and work
elsewhere. “I just can’t stay in that
room”, she would say. “It is freezing
cold, I have to leave it for a while”.
And this would be in the summer term…
At the end of that corridor the stairwell went up from the
lower floor to the ground floor then up to the top floor, with the outer door
adjacent. This became the entrance to
the College at night, when the students requested that the library be available
after ordinary hours. Not very many
students took advantage of the extended hours, except for exam times, and it
was not uncommon for the librarian on duty to spend the hours alone. “Anyone about last night?” the staff would
ask. “Only the ghost…”
Whatever it was never bothered anyone, except to raise the expectation that someone was coming up to use the library. The door downstairs would open, footsteps come along the corridor and up the first flight of stairs, then stop. And come no further…
The next meeting of the Society will be on Tuesday, 20th August, 7.30 pm at ‘Dumaresq Chambers’.The speaker will be Martin Gibbs, Professor of Australian Archaeology,Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences at UNE, whose interests include research projects on aspects of historical and maritime archaeology. His talk is titled Seeing Beneath the Soil: is there a buried Armidale? and is based on describing UNE’s newly acquired geophysical survey instruments, how they work and where to survey.
The August meeting is the AGM, followed by the general meeting. The AGM will be conducted by patron William Oates, all positions will be declared vacant. Please consider taking an active role in the Society. We welcome volunteers and have positions we need to fill: 1) Someone to deal with research enquiries, and 2) a publicity person (or persons).
As usual, the Chambers will be open from about 7pm on the night of the meeting, and we people are welcome to come early to chat, look at resources, or have a cuppa.
New England Regional Art Museum Exhibition, ‘The College on the Hill’: A display of Armidale Teachers’ College photographs and memorabilia from the UNE Archives will complement the permanent NERAM exhibition on display in the Howard Hinton Gallery. Howard Hinton OBE donated almost 1000 original artworks to the Teachers’ College over the years 1929 – 1948 and these graced the walls of the College building. With forced amalgamation of College and University, the paintings (principally by Australian artists) were placed in storage until the community and Government funded Art Museum was built in Kentucky Street where they could once again be displayed. The beautiful permanent Hinton Gallery features around 130 works of art from the Hinton Collection. ‘The College on the Hill’ exhibition will remain open until 18th August.
The next Society meeting which will be held at Dumaresq Chambers, 7.30pm on Tuesday, 16 July. The speaker will be Phillipa Charley-Briggs, Curator of the ‘Invergowrie’ Museum project who many may remember meeting on the most enjoyable 2018 ADHS excursion to ‘Invergowrie’. Phillipa’s talk is Invergowrie Memorabilia – Establishing a Museum.
As usual, the rooms will be open from about 7pm, so do feel welcome to come early and browse through the resources or catch-up with other members.Visitors are very welcome. There’s no need to book. Tea and coffee will be served after the meeting.
The next meeting of the Society will be on Tuesday, 18 Juneat 7.30, at Dumaresq Chambers, 114 Faulkner Street when the speaker will be Wayne Hoppe, President of the Armidale Family History Group. In his ongoing recording of Armidale Cemetery history, his research has included the Undertakers and Stonemasons who have serviced the cemetery and his talk will present his interesting findings on the history of The Undertakers of Armidale.
The rooms will be open from about 7pm, so do feel welcome to come early and browse through the resources or catch-up with other members.Visitors are very welcome. There’s no need to book. Tea and coffee will be served after the meeting.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, 21st May at 7.30pm in the Society’s rooms at 114 Faulkner Street. The rooms will be open from about 7pm, so do feel welcome to come early and browse through the resources or catch-up with other members.
I’ll update this post with information about our guest speaker soon!
Our April meeting will be on Tuesday, 16th April, at 7.30pm in the Society’s rooms at 114 Faulkner Street. The rooms will be open from about 7pm, so do feel welcome to come early and browxe through the resources or catch-up with other members.
The guest speaker will be Graham Wilson OAM, whose recent research on War Memorials has revealed a wealth of information and interesting stories of designs, placement, form and decisions behind the many War Memorials in the district.
Visitors are very welcome. There’s no need to book. Tea and coffee will be served after the meeting.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 19th, commencing at 7.30pm in the Society’s rooms at 114 Faulkner Street. Louise Brennan will be the speaker.
Louise will present her fascinating research associated with Sion House, originally an Armidale hotel ‘on the wrong side of the creek’ and which later served the community in numerous ways. North Hill was known as Sion or Zion Hill for some time and Sion House and the Reverend Johnstone’s Presbyterian Church and Manse were the two early structures on the north side of Dumaresq Creek.
Visitors are very welcome. No need to book. Tea and coffee will be served after the meeting.
Welcome to the new website of the Armidale and District Historical Society.We’re currently setting up the site – please come back again soon for news, updates, and other information.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday February 19th At 7.30pm at Dumaresq Chambers, 114 Faulkner Street Armidale. All welcome to attend.
