Community Heritage Grant for our Local Studies Collection

Late last year the library was awarded a $4400 grant to fund a significance assessment of its local information collection. This significance assessment is essential as it provides an understanding of why the collection is significant before appropriate decisions about long term management, conservation and interpretation can be made. It can lead to important outcomes including improved resource allocation, enhanced research value and greater community respect for cultural heritage preservation. A qualified assessor will undertake the assessment early in 2012.

Above are some of the items that will be assessed in the significance assessment of local studies.

Just Not Cricket!

I recently came across an amusing article from the Australian Town and Country Journal dated December 30, 1878. The article was based on a report of a cricket match between Campbelltown and a combined team from Menangle and Morton Park played on December 28. After Campbelltown won by 13 runs the reporter described how "The losing team were most "splendidly" treated, being left to fish for themselves, not even a sandwich or a glass of beer being provided by the Campbelltown Club. The sooner the committee resign the better." One would hope they lifted their game!

              Above is a photograph taken in 1881 of a cricket match at "Glen Lorne" on Appin Road.

Written by Andrew Allen

The Water Tower

The photograph above was taken in the 1920s and shows Georges River Road (today's Colonial Street) with St. Patrick's College and a water tower in the background. The water tower held an iron open water reservoir that supplied the nearby Soldier's Settlement and by stand pipe to Kentlyn. It was filled by a main charged by a Pump Station situated in Hurley Park. In a recent interview with Margaret Templeman (nee Worrall), she explained how as a girl in the 1930s that sometimes on a hot afternoon after school, she would stop for a swim in the reservoir! It was located on the corner of Waminda Avenue and Colonial Street where the small shopping centre is now located.

Photo from the Moy Collection (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Written by Andrew Allen