Broadmeadows Historical Society Melbourne Victoria Australia

"Not to know what happened before one was born is to remain a child." Cicero.

itellya wants everyone to have the opportunity to move out of childhood. My particular object is to encourage a love of PLACE such as Australia's first inhabitants had. It was so strong that they no longer wanted to produce offspring, or even live, when they were moved off their particular places to refuges, on Flinders Island for the Tasmanian aborigines and near Healesville for the remnants of the Wurundjeri and Boon-wurrung near Melbourne.

In my case,I spend much time at the beach at Rosebud, but if I was offered a free holiday on a Pacific island, it would seem like a gift from heaven.But if I was then prohibited from leaving the resort and snorkeling to see the colourful fish on the reef,my usual "way of life", I would feel just like those early aborigines. I'd soon return home and resume my traditional way of life but that was not an option for the first Australians.

I do have the love of PLACE and I want everybody to share it. When I visit a new place on holiday, such as Sale, one of my first things to do is to walk around it and find what makes it worthy of love. Every history board is read; the more I know about the place,the more I love it.At Rosebud,one thing I'd like to do is visit the museum and find out about the old days from long-time residents of the area at Rosebud Historical Society meetings.

Unfortunately there is neither a museum nor a historical society at Rosebud. There is a historical society and museum at Broadmeadows but maybe not for much longer if the bean counters at the City of Hume get their way.The local museum is important in enabling newcomers to appreciate and love their new place,by learning about its heritage. My journal WAKE UP AUSTRALIA shows that the Broadmeadows Historical Society was struggling back then and the city's plans for increased rental fees for the museum would surely make Elayne and Alan's small band of volunteers give up their dedication to preserve the area's history.

I received the following email today from Elayne.

Hello xxx,

Firstly, you have no idea whatsoever as to how much the Members, Member Volunteers, Volunteers appreciated your comments in the local paper this week. There was an enormous shout of joy when each read it.

Now - I received the email below* and wondered if you can throw some information on it. You can either answer them directly or send me the information and I will forward it on. I know I have read something of this somewhere, but trying to find it at the moment with the Hume City Council hanging over my head is not something I can do at the moment. I am trying to get everything prepared for next Wednesday.

The original meeting was to be held this Friday (March 6) but the Council came up with some small, belittling excuse to change it to the following Wednesday (March 11) - a date that was considered well out of reason when I suggested it. Funny how it was changed when Friday March 6 is the start of a long weekend.

Thanks again for your support.

*
Elayne Whatman
Hon. Secretary
Broadmedows Historical
Society Inc. and Museum

Ph: 03 9302 1456
Mob: 0487 371 543
From: Hine, Benjamin
Date: 3/03/2015 11:37:02 AM
To: broadymuseum@australiaonline.net.au
Cc: Bennett, Rohan; Stojanovich, Natasha
Subject: Research on Mickleham Road Area [DLAP-AUMatters.FID591743]

Dear Elayne

I refer to your recent conversation with my colleague Emma Maguire.

As discussed, we are trying to obtain information about Mickleham Road in Mickleham. Specifically, we are looking for:

· Information about the:

o History of Mickleham Road, including its date of construction / historical uses.

o Trees in Mickleham Road, Mickleham (in particular between Bardwell Drive and Donnybrook Road), including details of the planting of the trees in this area, and those in the Avenue of Honour.

· Copies of any historical maps, surveys or photos of the road / the trees in the area.

Can you please let us know if your library holds any information about the matters described above?

We look forward to speaking with you.

Kind regards

Benjamin Hine
Graduate
Natasha Stojanovich
Senior Associate

I don't just write journals. This is what brought the shouts of joy.

SO HUME Council wants to treat volunteers as businesses and charge them for providing a free service to the community. (Volunteers to pay more", Hume Leader, February 17).
Alan and Elayne Whatman and their small group of enthusiastic members of the Broadmeadows Historical Society must wonder why they bother!
If we're going to be so businesslike, I'll charge the council $10 for every time my history is quoted and donate the proceeds to the BHS to cover the extra charges.
If the historical society lost council equipment, one would expect the council to demand compensation.
If an item was irreplaceable, the compensation demanded would be huge.
On the same basis, I could claim compensation for the many items provided to me by descendants of pioneers, the Federal Airports Corporation airport acquisitions map etc, that I donated to the Hume Library Service.

The letter to the Hume Leader left out my calculations of how much my charges for quotes and compensation would be and that when the proceeds were donated to the society it would be able to pay council's outrageous fees for many years to come.