History & heritage

After 117 years of worship, Cambooya Uniting Church will be holding its final service on Good Friday, 29 March 2024.The service begins at 3pm and combines the Good Friday service with a special service to mark the closure of the congregation.

Step back in time to a world of yesteryear when draught horses ploughed the fields and pulled the wagons. This weekend the Allora Showgrounds comes alive with the third annual Darling Downs Heavy Horse Festival – a celebration of our agricultural history and the pioneers who built this great nation.

Horsham Regional Art Gallery (HRAG) is proud to announce our first major exhibition of 2024, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). Know My Name: Australian Women Artists tells a new story of Australian art.

Team members from Aboriginal History Western Australia (AHWA) and the State Library of Western Australia's Storylines will be hitting the road this March to jointly hold free family history sessions in the Great Southern and Wheatbelt. Usually located in Perth, the teams will be visiting Narrogin, Katanning, Kojonup, Gnowangerup and Albany...

Bendigo Art Gallery’s latest blockbuster exhibition, Paris: Impressions of Life 1880-1925, will open this Saturday ... Journey through the streets of historic Paris, brought to life in more than 170 works of art and artisanal objects from the renowned collection of the Musée Carnavalet – History of Paris.

So in the last two articles we’ve covered the role the Royal Australian Navy had played around the periphery of the war, the action in Rabaul right at the start of things, escorting the first convoy, involvement in the Gallipoli campaign and the patrolling undertaken by the HMAS Psyche. But, just as it was on the land, the only real chance of bringing the war to a successful conclusion was to directly target the German forces in Europe.

Nancy-Bird Walton AO, OBE was known as "The Angel of the Outback" and was the founder, patron and was elected first chair of the AWPA (Australian Women Pilot's Association) ... Several pilots from the AWPA will be doing a ‘fly past’ at the Nhill Airshow.

Campaspe Shire Council and Heritage Victoria have been working on the new Rail Trail project in Rushworth. After detailed historical and site investigations, Heritage Victoria have placed the former Rushworth Railway Station on the Victorian Heritage Inventory (number H7924-0100).

The Lost Trades Fair is a fantastic celebration of craftsmanship, ancient arts, heritage crafts, rare trades and knowledge passed down through generations. Come along to the Bendigo Racecourse this weekend ... and see the tools, traditions, techniques and trade  secrets on show.

Thanks go to Maldon resident Barry Murfett, who read last week’s article in the [Tarrangower] Times about a postcard (c. 1907) which pictures an early motorbike. Barry put the [Tarrangower] Times in touch with Greg Smith, the owner of an antique motorbike which is almost certainly the machine pictured on the old postcard.

Mark Blythe. Tomorrow (Saturday 2 March) at the Maldon Progress Hall you can attend the third biannual Maldon Classic Bike Show ... You will be privileged to see possibly the biggest and best display of classic pre-2000 road racing bikes anywhere in Australia.

I just phoned Bunnings;    I wanted some picture hanging strips so I don't have to stick nails in a wall... I spoke to a bewildered girl that eventually, after much explaining, found what I wanted, and she made me feel very old. I asked her to read out the directions on the pack, and she said to me - and I quote - "It says it holds up to a lub but I don't know what that means..."

Ian Hutton. Some years ago Island resident, Esven Fenton, brought a very worn copper coin to the Museum. Esven had found this on the ground close to the site where Perry and Sarah Johnston had their cottage on the south side of Capella hill.

John Williams. In the 1950s, reports of "flying saucers" became a cultural phenomenon. And Nhill was not alone when it came to such sightings. It was 10 minutes to midnight on an October night in 1954 when three local residents saw what they thought was a flying saucer.

Michelle Daw. Stenhouse Bay and a rising full moon formed the stunning backdrop to the on-Country preview of Adelaide Festival production, Guuranda, at the weekend ... It tells the creation stories of Guuranda/Yorke Peninsula and is led by artistic director and Narungga /Kaurna theatre-maker Jacob Boehme.

Lillian Colless had her dream come true when a monument to the fishermen of Evans Head was unveiled ... as part of a Fishermen’s Reunion weekend. The monument honours the fishing industry – in the 1950s there were 70 trawlers fishing out of Evans Head.

Robin Letts. It was 1948, the year after I had left the Royal Australian Naval College at HMAS “Cerberus”, to take up a position with the family newspaper, “The Donald Times” ... During an informal chat prior to the running of the 1948 Melbourne Cup, Howard had told me of a small wager he had made on a horse called Rimfire, to be ridden by Birchip jockey, Ray Neville.

Fine art lovers rejoice - the Cascade Art Gallery re-opens next week ... The fine art gallery’s opening will be a boost for the town of Maldon, which has been feeling the pinch with the temporary closure of the Kangaroo hotel, the loss of a restaurant and the impending closure of Le Sel.

An exciting new radio play is about to hit the airwaves. ‘Trouble At Towong’ has been written by Carol Lowden and centres on the alleged appearance of Squizzy Taylor at the Towong Cup meeting of 1927. Carol is a Mansfield writer with ties to the Upper Murray and a particular interest in the Towong races.

The collection of animals will feature a dog representing the mascot dogs, donkeys symbolising the tale of Simpson and his donkey, and a mule commonly utilised in the Pacific during both wars. Additionally, there will be two ponies typical of those utilised in Timor, alongside riding horses and a heavy horse sourced from an S Kidman & Co. cattle farm.

The grand old dame of South Hay, Bishop’s Lodge Historic House, is receiving a face-lift ... Work carried out over the past weeks include repairs to cracked plaster in the dining and drawing rooms and chapel, render to large parts of walls and general paintwork on windows.

Greg Davis likes to photograph buildings. Somehow, he captures the essence of a building in his pictures showing the character and history of a town through bricks and mortar ... That trip included Warwick, Stanthorpe – and Kyogle.