The museum has a limited stock but currently available at $25 postage $15.00

Jill Plowright will give an illustrated talk on ‘Birds and South Gippsland’ with historical overtones.

This meeting is held in Crawford Hall, access via the car park adjacent to the Foster & District Museum, and is open to members and general public. Light refreshments, tea/coffee will be available at the close of the meeting.

Tuesday 1  October, 7.30pm, Crawford Hall, rear of the Museum. Margaret Rees will be speaking on her recently published book, ‘Stories of Bena: The People and the Country’. Members, guests and general public welcome.

Richard Barrack and Neville Gee will speak about The Great Southern Railway, with a particular emphasis on the section from Meeniyan to Yarram, including some great photographs.
We look forward to a good turn out. Guests and non-members welcome. Light refreshments after the talk.

Tim Whitford, Yarram, will be our guest speaker with our meeting commencing 7.30pm. Entry as normal, from the Rotunda car park, up the ramp to Crawford Hall.
This promises to be a fascinating insight to the investigations leading to retrieval of long lost members of the Allied Forces dating back to World War I. Members, guests and the general public are most welcome. There will be a chance to talk with Tim over a cup of tea after the meeting.

Back row: Elsie McMaster, Noel Erbs, Sandra Rickards, Jennifer Jones, President Foster & District Historical Society, Bill Ringin Front row: Julie Fenley, Centre for Gippsland Studies, John Murphy, Eulalie Brewster, Patrick Morgan.

HISTORIANS GATHER AT FOSTER MUSEUM

On Saturday 18 May over 50 representatives from historical societies across Gippsland met at the Foster Museum for the Annual General Meeting of the Gippsland Association of Affiliated Historical Societies (GAAHS). People travelled from Lakes, Maffra, Warragul, Inverloch and places in between to network and discuss issues relating to the history of our wider community. Issues such as oral histories, exhibitions, significance workshops, Mechanical Institutes were shared, and some concern was expressed about the future of the Centre for Gippsland Studies, currently located at the Gippsland campus of Monash University, which is soon to be merged with the University of Ballarat and other regional universities. The Centre was established in good faith by the people of Gippsland as a central repository for our history and hopes were expressed that the facilities of the Centre would be expanded and a permanent Director appointed.

The accompanying photograph shows the winners of the inaugural GAAHS Awards:

Gippsland Region History Awards:
– John Murphy of Leongatha for an outstanding contribution to recording and publishing the history of Gippsland.
– Patrick Morgan of Boolara for an outstanding contribution to recording and publishing the history of Gippsland.

Achievement Awards:
Bill Ringin for an outstanding personal contribution to the Moe & District Historical Society.
Elsie McMaster for an outstanding personal contribution to the Morwell & District Historical Society and Latrobe Combined History Group.
Eulalie Brewster for an outstanding personal contribution to the Leongatha & District Historical Society and the Inverloch Historical Society.
Noel Erbs for outstanding written contributions to the history of Trafalgar & neighbouring districts.

Bruce Lester will discus his family’s involvement in the early days 

of Wilsons Prom. His talk, open to the public, will commence at 8pm in the Crawford Hall, rear of the museum complex. Entry is via the ramp from the Rotunda car park. This promises to be an enthralling glimpse of the development of this area.

Members only meeting will start at 7.30pm.

Members, guests and the general public are invited to stay for tea, coffee and snacks after the main presentation.

Bill Davies will discuss the role played by his family in opening up and developing  the land in this area.

Members, guests, and the general public are invited to attend what will be a most informative discussion. Tea/coffee and light refreshments will be available.

7-30pm Crawford Hall, enter from the car park.

The monthly society meeting is at 7.30pm, Crawford Hall and will be followed, at 8pm, with an address by Les Francis on the Vietnam War. Society members, friends and the general public are invited. Tea/coffee and snacks available after the meeting.

This was a well attended meeting and an excellent dissertation on the supply chain in Vietnam. Les gave an entertaining talk which has been recorded for the Society’s archives.

Meeting 1st May 2012

This meeting will take the form of an excursion to the recently discovered graves at Yanakie. Meet at the the car park by the Museum, 2.45pm. Arrangements will be made to car pool and proceed to Yanakie Hall, arriving 3.30. After visiting the graves site we return to Yanakie Hall for a BBQ. Mike, from the General Store, will be our guide and informant.PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE BY EMAIL TO enquiries@promcountryhistory.org.au

The meeting at the Crawford Hall, Museum, Foster on Tuesday 6th March 2012 at 7.30pm was followed at 8.00pm by guest speaker Neil Shaw, Secretary of U3A who discussed lifelong learning and U3A (University of the 3^rd Age).

Prom Coast U3A (University of the 3^rd Age) was established in August last year at Foster.  The central purpose of U3A is to deliver educational courses and “active ageing” activities to its members, all of whom must be either retired or semi-retired (hence the phrase 3^rd Age).  With 23 courses and now 133 members, the Prom Coast U3A is fulfilling its pledge to local retirees with free courses ranging from science, arts, craft, philosophy, Buddhism, crosswords, health, dancing, and golf.

Guest speaker 

Dr Rosemary Francis, a F&DHS member for over 10 years, gained her PhD at Melbourne University. She was a teacher of history at Wonthaggi for many years ansd now works for the National Foundation for Australian Women.

Rosemary’s topic will be on Muriel Heagney (1885-19740 a former teacher, born in Queensland but lived in Richmond, Victoria. Muriel Heagney actively campaigned for equal pay for women.