The Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Coonabarabran Inc. Club No 17922 President: Ian Klein Secretary: Doug Winter Treasurer: Peter Young

COONABARABRAN

COMET

ROTARY CLUB OF COONABARABRAN INC

Charter

13 May 1949

1 June 2013

Calendar

Mon 8 July

Fran’s French Night - Partners welcome

$20 a head

Wed 10 July

3pm VRA commissioning of new vehicle &

afternoon tea

Boggabri Changeover

Fri 12 July

BBQ at Shire Hall 10am for Excess Sale

27 July to 10 August

Vanuatu trip

Sat 3 August

Race meeting - catering

23-26 August

RV Fellowship visit

Sat 5 October

Siding Spring Open day

Notes from the Meeting 1 July 2013

Please ring Gordon before lunch on Mondays if you are an apology 6842 1070.

An interesting and enjoyable evening at the Golden Fountain Restaurant on Monday, with guest speakers Nancy Wiese and Joy Pickette from the DPS - Dead Person’s Society, otherwise known as the Local and family History Group.

Welcome also as always to Sue B and Trish S, given on this oc-casion by Lindsay.

We have been asked to provide a BBQ on Fri 12 July at the Shire Hall for their excess sale, probably starting at 10am. Ro-tary to retain profits.

Fran’s Farewell next Monday night - 6.00 for 6.30pm $20 each. Bring snails if you have some!

Hugh, Peter and Ian visited St Lawrence during the week to look at their new curtains which are proving to be very effec-tive and much appreciated.

Sue B expressed thanks for receiving a grant to radio track her

Nancy Wiese

and Joy

Pickette, guest

speakers on

Monday night

Correspondence:

In:

1. Shire Council requesting letter of permission

from Flood’s re mural - Jo to follow up

with letter already sent to the Council.

Trees to arrive on 25 June.

2. Aust Business Register

3. Westpac Helicopter - letter of thanks and

framed certificate

4. Community Mutual - term savings

5. Dues from Rotary International - $40/hd

6. Thank you card from Dorothy Burkey

7. Invitation from VRA to attend Commission-

ing of new vehicle Wed 10 July 3pm

8. Invoice for District hoodie for Fran $33.00

Rotary Book Shop Roster

9.30am-1.00pm 1.00-5.00pm

Wednesday Alan or Jo

(alternate weeks)

Doug & Terry

Thursday Trish Robert &

Rowanne

Friday Wilkin Girls Bob & Jill

Saturday Sheila

If unable to attend please find a substitute

Substitutes

Colin Welsh 68421437

Gordon Jewiss Afternoon only 68421010

Jim Pearson 68421278

Sue Raadgever 68421640

koalas when they are released shortly. This will alleviate the need to track them physically, a great improvement.

Bill Kelly is recovering from the removal of a growth from his kidney. He has lost 1/3 of it, but they are hopeful of a good result. He and Joyce are staying with their daughter Lyn at Kurrajong while Bill is recuperating.

Merelyn Stevenson is also recovering from some illness. We hope that both of them get better soon.

Guest Speakers Nancy Wiese and Joy Pickette

Nancy Wiese and Joy Pickette from the Dead

Person’s Society otherwise known as the Lo-

cal and Family History Society were our guest

speakers on Monday evening. They began by

giving an account of the history of the group.

Established in 1999, it opened its research

centre next to Flood’s Bakery in John Street in

2003. Here, they hold their monthly meetings

on the third Tuesday of each month, starting

at 10am, and they also staff the centre for

people to visit during the morning Tuesdays

to Fridays. It’s a substantial commitment for

a small group of people to provide this service

for anyone wanting to find out more about the history of the area or of their family.

Nancy and Joy then told us about their activities. They include writing books, and the examples shown were

very impressive - ‘ Pioneer Register Volumes 1 and 2’, ‘Isolated Graves in the Region’,’Coonabarabran - As

Time Goes By’,’Somewhere along the Way’, and ‘Skeletons in the Cupboard’, this last one based on stories from

newspaper articles. They also undertake field trips to places in the area, they have made a photographic list of

history items attached to churches in the town, and are making plans for how we should commemorate the

centenary of ANZAC in 2015.

The highlight of their presentation however, was to give an account of their current major project - to

build a Memorial Wall at the Coonabarabran cemetery recognising the names of people buried in un-

known graves in the town area. Court records and the Register of births, deaths and marriages reveal that

there have been hundreds of people buried somewhere around the town but the whereabouts of these

graves are unknown and cannot be traced.

Building the patchwork pattern of a community’s history helps to enrich and strengthen it as it looks criti-

cally but positively at its present and its future. The American poet John Greenleaf Whittier, most famous

for advocating the abolition of slavery, wrote

‘The great eventful Present hides the Past; but through the din

Of its loud life hints and echoes from the life behind steal in.’

The Memorial Wall is a wonderful way to allow the ‘hints and echoes from the life behind’ to ‘steal in’. It

will provide a permanent record of these people having lived and died here in Coonabarabran, and will

ensure they are not forgotten. President Ian then stated that the club was pleased to be able to support

this project with a donation of $1,000. Both Nancy and Joy expressed their appreciation for this.

I downloaded some photos from Lindsay’s camera last night - it obviously hadn’t been downloaded for

a while for I found these photos taken last April!