A review of the day...

Hello to you all,

I'm writing in support of Cameron's earlier e-mail regarding our big day at Tarnagulla last Sunday. Everything about the day went really well and we couldn't have wished for a better outcome.

There are 160 names recorded in the visitors book, and there were many others that somehow escaped the sign-in process despite Cameron's vigilant efforts to get them to register.

We had quite a few new visitors this year, with a number of people travelling great distances to be with us. Descendants of the Green family travelled all the way from Western Australia, and we had others from New South Wales and right across Victoria. We also had many more people from around the Tarnagulla district who had heard about how good last year's event was and had decided to come along this year.

The fresh photographic material we had on show this year certainly gave things a new and exciting look, and the displays mounted by Des Akers, Mary Ann Mitchell, the Williams/Condick/Perry family, Richard Shiel and his Brideson material as well as the excellent Radnell display all added significantly to the day.

Quite a bit of new photographic material has been made available to us to scan. Graeme Ison of Shepparton (older folk will remember Dick Ison as Tarnagulla's butcher up until 1960 when he sold the business to Fred Williams) has entrusted his family albums to me and I will scan this up over coming days and load them onto the Tarnagulla website. There are some very interesting photographs which haven't previously been available, including a nice photo of the railway station in about 1920, the flour mill, the damage done by the big windstorm of 1927, the Methodist Church and other previously unseen images.

I will also upload the images of the interior of the Hall on the day itself, and you will see that we did indeed have an excellent attendance and that the displays were quite elaborate and well worth seeing.

One of the really rewarding aspects of the day from my point of view is that we provided a very appropriate and accommodating venue for families and old friends to get together in their old home town and to reminisce about their lives and times in Tarnagulla, and we will focus a little more on this aspect in the future. I was also really pleased to see a number of newer Tarnagulla residents taking a great interest in the history of the old town and especially the recorded histories is of their own properties. Brett Treneman, the current owner of the old Colonial Bank building, and also the current owner of the old Gold Warden's Office/Post Office, were just two among many who made themselves known to us and had a good look around.

I've already forgotten people that I should be thanking for their efforts on the day, so please forgive me for overlooking you if I have inadvertently done so. I must pay a great deal of credit to my Tarnagulla History Group colleagues for their efforts throughout the year. Thank you Richard, Phil, George, Peter and Cameron. Also a special thanks to the Condick and Perry families for their help and support.

Very best wishes to you all, and keep your eyes on the website for new photographs.

David Gordon.