Hall Museum 2018 News Archive

February 2018

'The little spinster' - The old Hall school became a film set on 12th January. Annie, the film director, has given us this information about the project. The project is a low-budget feature film written and directed by local student film-maker Annie Liana Scott. Among...

April 2018

Student invasion - The Centre was delighted to again host a large (thirty four) group of student from the University of Canberra for their Filed Work day. Students were required to select and object from our collection, make a drawing of it, photograph it, and...
'Two Villages' launched - Labor Member for Yerrabi, Michael Pettersson, launched 'A tale of two villages' at the Centre yesterday. The exhibition is a contribution to the Canberra and Region Heritage Festival, which has dozens of events going on all around the region....
Memorable Tenth Anniversary Concert - Well over three hundred patrons enjoyed an afternoon of fine band music under a sunny sky at the re-scheduled 'Twilight' concert. The Bands, under the direction of Adam Power (Victoria Street Brass and Canberra Youth Brass) and Kevin Knapp (Canberra...

June 2018

ANU Intern signing off - When ANU Masters student (Museums and Collections Program) Katrina Marshall chose to undertake her Internship with us, none of us knew quite where this might lead. Now that her time working with us is almost over, it is clear that the Centre...
'Cricketer's Arms' was home - Heather Duthie remembers as a five year old finding coins beneath the old verandah when the Cricketer's Arms was demolished in 1938. Her father William Patrick O'Brien and mother Eleanor had left their farm at Bedelluck some time before and...
Purdue (Indiana) students visit - A group of twenty five students from Purdue University visited the Centre on 18 June. They were health / medical students on a three week study tour of Australia to learn about Aboriginal health. Their Canberra host organisation was the National...

July 2018

Loan to National Capital Authority - Today we officially signed off on the loan of Aboriginal stone artefacts to the National Capital Authority (NCA) for incorporation into their refurbished National Capital Exhibition at Regatta Point. In late 2017 the NCA asked us if they might...
HAGSOC pays a visit - HAGSOC abbreviates the full name of the Heraldry and Genealogical Society of Canberra - the home of family history, and more. We were pleased to get a visit on 26 July, and hear Vice President Jenny Higgins give a talk about HAGSOC and its many...
Thanks, but not 'good-bye'...... - The visit of representatives from the Heraldry and Genealogical Society of Canberra seemed the ideal time for us to give Katrina Marshall a proper 'thankyou' for all the good work she has done. As an ANU Masters student at the Centre for Heritage...

August 2018

Annual meeting - wisdom and cake - At our annual meeting on 2nd August Dr Alison Wain from the University of Canberra supplied the wisdom, and all the usual trusty cooks supplied the cake! Alison, who is course convenor of the Heritage, Museums and Conservation program at UC,...
Heritage Automotive Restorers visit - Yesterday the Museum hosted a visit by about 40 members of the Southern Tablelands Heritage Automotive Restorers Club. Phil introduced the museum, and Ken gave a brief talk on 'Eight Points of Similarity between Aboriginal Stone Artefacts and...
Isla Patterson pays a visit - Isla Patterson has been painting Canberra buildings and localities since she came to the ACT in 1979 - including many paintings of places in and around Hall. There will be an exhibition of her recent works at the Kyeema Gallery (Capital Wines)...
William Morris descendant calls in - On Thursday 9 August, Norm Butt from the NSW Central coast visited the Museum, with a special interest in the Morris bootmaking display which can be found in the 'Tale of Two Villages' exhibition. Norman is the great grandson of William ('Billy')...
Fine gift for our library - The Centre is now the proud owner of 'Three Henry Currans. A family history'. Good friend of the Centre and scholar James McDonald dropped in to donate a copy of his substantial and authoritative study of the Currran family. The book is to be...

September 2018

Isla Patterson Exhibition launch - Hall's Kyeema Gallery is hosting an exhibition of watercolour paintings - 'Hall and Beyond' - by Isla Patterson, well known Canberra artist. The Gallery was the venue for the launch of the exhibition by visitor Helen de Jonge, President of the...
ACT Heritage Grants announced - The Centre is again an ACT Heritage grant recipient - two grants in fact! Our two grant applications were 'Stories in dirt' - a geomorphological study of a section of Halls Creek - and for a project to add an augmented reality dimension to...
Stone artefacts get royal treatment - A number of our volunteers were treated to a preview of the new National Capital Exhibition at Regatta Point by curator Roslyn Hull and colleague Amanda Swadling. The focus of our interest was of course the hundred or so stone artefacts that...
Val Wiseman's Memorial Garden - On Thursday 20th September Greening Australia staff and several volunteers from the Centre managed to plant about 200 native ground covers and small and medium shrubs to create what will become a perfect memorial to Val Wiseman. Val was a valued...
Family History Unit gets a boost! - The Centre is now (officially) the proud winner of the Cynthia Foley Encouragement Award. The Award was announced and presented at the Conference Dinner at the NSW ACT Association of Family History Societies in Bateman's Bay on 15th September....
Visiting Southwells on the heritage trail - On Saturday 29 September we had a special visit from a trio of Southwells who are descendants of Samson Southwell and his wife Elizabeth (Veness). They were particularly keen to see the Bible that belonged to Elizabeth Veness, which he had tracked...

October 2018

'Armistice and After' - an Exhibition - The Centre will mark Remembrance Day 11th November 2018 with the opening of a new exhibition – 'Armistice and After'. Those who enlisted from the Hall district were the subject of our earlier 'ANZAC' exhibition 'When Hall Answered...
Val Wiseman - Plaque unveiling - On Thursday 4th October a large crowd gathered in the Peace Garden for the unveiling of a plaque in memory of our departed friend and colleague Val Wiseman. Amongst the large crowd were Val's husband John, son Andrew and his partner Bron, and...
Encouragement Award - presentation - President Nick Reddan and Secretary Gina Tooke of the Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra (HAGSOC) visited the Centre to present us with the Cynthia Foley Encouragement Award for 2018. The Award carries free membership of the NSW / ACT...
New location recommended for bike track - The ACT Heritage Council has determined that the proposal to construct a 'mountain bike track' along Hall's Creek would entail unacceptable risks to Aboriginal cultural heritage. The site initially chosen for the track lies within the...
Big boost for Gillespie Collection - The Director-General of the National Library, Marie-Louise Ayers, has just announced that the Centre has been awarded a Community Heritage Grant for 2018, to carry out a 'significance assessment' of the Gillespie Collection. The grant of...

November 2018

Previewing the Armistice display - Lt Colonel Michael Pearson was a visitor to the Centre on Thursday. Michael has been invited to give an Armistice address at Gold Creek school, and discovered that he could gather information about the local enlistees from our Armistice and...
Andrew Leigh opens Armistice and After - Andrew Leigh MP, Member for Fenner was guest of honour for the official opening of the Centre's latest exhibition - Armistice and After. Curated by Allen Mawer, with the support of many other volunteer members, the exhibition was made possible...
Remembrance Day service - Hall - A large crowd of Hall and district people gathered at the Rochford Memorial Grove for the annual Remembrance Day service on Sunday The 6.00 pm service was supported by an army catafalque party, a piper, and a Naval Officer who gave the address....

December 2018

'Stories in Dirt' - Consultant geoarchaeologists Philip Hughes and Marjorie Sullivan, who had just begun their field-work in the Aboriginal Sites Zone on Halls Creek kindly gave some precious time to a briefing for a number of very interested museum volunteers....
'Dutch Hall' - Some sixty years ago Dick Buitendam was a ten year old fresh off a ship from the Netherlands where his family had been living in Amsterdam. Another Dutch family had helped them find accommodation in a small cottage next to the garage. Dick...
Katrina's farewell - After nearly ten months we have said 'goodbye' to Katrina Marshall. At a big gathering of volunteers on 13th December. Katrina delivered copies of 'Voices in the Hall' to one and all - her compilation of 'volunteer stories at the Hall School...
A Christmas visitor - Distinguished Canberra historian Lyall Gillespie left his extraordinary collection of books, photographs, Aboriginal artefacts, personal papers and diaries, and more, to the care of his son Neil. As well as managing and undertaking conservation...

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