THE history of Eltham

Caretakers of a district’s past Ray Cleaver | Thursday, September 30, 2010 12:28 THE history of Eltham and surrounding districts is in good hands but there’s a search on to find volunteers interested in preserving the past. In the iconic old Bank of New South Wales building on Bridge St, there is a massive repository of historical records, newspapers and photographs that chart the history of the area since early pioneering days. For 38 years a small group of dedicated people have assembled and stored a number of comprehensive and important collections of local people, buildings and events. Many people use the services of the society to search family history or learn more of the past. Even authors use the facilities to research for books. So lets look back at the history of the historical society. In 1972 the founding members decided to set up an organization, planning ahead to the 1982 centennial of the town. The founding members included Hazel Jenkins, Audrey de Jong, Jack Worthington, Joan Cherry, Dave Birchler, Jim Best and Russell Standish. They met at various venues around Eltham until 1974, when the Eltham Borough Council gave the society a home – rooms above the council chambers on Stanners St. They were housed there until 1999, when due to a generous grant from Taranaki Electricity Trust, they moved into the old Bank of New South Wales, where they reside today. The old bank was built in classic style in 1911 and is a fitting historic home for the society. The society’s collection of newspapers is impressive. In the 1970s the society became caretakers of the bound collection of Eltham Argus newspaper, dating from 1904 to 1967. These are an invaluable resource of information on the history of Eltham and are frequently referred to. They belong to Ian and Pauline Turpie. They have copies of the Taranaki News from 1875 to1882 and The Budget and Taranaki Weekly Herald of 1899 and from 1926 to 1932. They have a huge collection of Photo News magazines, from 1957 to 1974. About eight years ago they were given a collection of bound copies of Daily News newspapers, dating back from 1911. They are also caretakers of the Connell photographic collection. This contains about 300 glass plates, many of World War I soldiers plus hundreds of thousands of film negatives, Founder Nigel Connell began the collection in 1904 and Sheila and the late Paul Connell donated the collection in 2004 to be kept for posterity. The society has also amassed thousand of local photographs of local people and buildings, given by people and donated from estates. The fireproof vault in the bank contains school records of the district and many other precious documents. Over the years volunteers have spent countless hours putting together files, with photos, of thousands of World War I soldiers, of those who died, went missing in action or were wounded, soldiers from all over New Zealand. History is preserved on card files, microfiche, computer files, with obituaries and lists of early settlers, and almanacs from the 1800s. The most common enquiries come from people seeking family history. The society charges a modest $20 research fee and has a number of genealogists with wide experience of local and even worldwide research on family history. Some members belong to the Stratford Branch of the NZ Society of Genealogists. There are 30 current members in the society and 10 of these work actively at the rooms. They are seeking more members to spread the work and make sure is it maintained, so if you are interested in history and expanding your world, phone Maureen, 7647172. The rooms are open every Thursday and Friday from 1pm to 3,30pm.