This plaque commemorates the official opening of an occasional child care centre and pre-school in South St, Wodonga in 1989 by the Governor of Victoria Dr. Davis McCaughey. With strong population growth in Wodonga community services had expanded rapidly throughout the 1980s. The first child minding centre had opened in 1975. BY 1987 Upper Murray Family Care provided full-day family day care and occasional care and there were also 2 private child care centres. By 1986 there were 350 full-time places and 75 part-time places, but pre-schools were unable to fill the demand for another 511 applicants. This new facility helped to ease a little of the problem. As well as the inscription included here, the name of the Mayor, all members of the Wodonga Council, City Engineer, Architect and Builder are listed on the plaque.This item illustrates an important development in the provision of pre-school and child care services in Wodonga.A bronze rectangular plaque with detailed inscription, designed to be attached to the wall of a building. There is a hole in each corner for bolts to be inserted. The text is raised above the surface of the plaque. It features the symbol of the shield of the Rural City of Wodonga in the top left corner.fiction"RURAL CITY OF WODONGA WODONGA OCCASIONAL CHILD CARE CENTRE AND SOUTH STREET PRE-SCHOOL CENTRE OFFICIALLY OPENED BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR. DAVIS MCCAUGHEY, A.C., GOVERNOR OF VICTORIA ON 9TH DAY OF MAY 1989child care facilities wodonga, children's services wodonga, pre-schools wodonga

Edendale Farm is Nillumbik Shire Council's environment centre situated in Gastons Road, Eltham between the railway and the Diamond Creek. The homestead on the property was built in 1896 and is of historical significance, being the subject of a Heritage Overlay under the Nillumbik Planning Scheme. The Edendale property was originally part of an extensive land purchase in 1852 from the Crown by pioneer Eltham farmer Henry Stooke. He initially purchased 51 acres and later expanded his holdings by purchasing another three adjacent Crown allotments extending northerly from Josiah Holloway's Little Eltham subdivision. Despite clearing the land, Stooke did not build on this property, choosing to live on his property "Rosehill" at Lower Plenty. In 1896 Thomas Cool, Club Manager of the Victoria Coffee Palace in Melbourne purchased 7 acres of the original Stooke land and built the house now known as Edendale. Cool did not farm the land, instead using it as a gentleman’s residence, retiring to Eltham at weekends. In 1918 he purchased an additional 7 acres but in 1919 he sold the property. Later owners included J.W. Cox, the Gaston family and D. Mummery. In the 1980s the Eltham Shire Council purchased the site for use as a Council depot, but this use did not proceed. Subsequently, it was used as the Council pound. The Edendale Farm Pet Education and Retention Centre was established in the summer of 1988/1989 and was set up to replace the existing dog kennels with a high standard pet retention centre. The design style of the building was established to compliment the features of the existing house. It was equipped with 10 retention pens, a veterinary room and a pet education area where school children and other interested parties learnt about pet care procedures. It was later developed into a community farm and was run by an advisory committee and in 2000 it became an Environment Centre. In early 2006 an advisory committee was established for the development of a master plan for future development at Edendale Farm. The committee included Russell Yeoman, a former long-time shire planner and founding member of the Eltham District Historical Society. At the time of filming the Master Plan and future for Edendale was about continuing to develop Edendale as a centre of environment learning and looking at expanding displays and school program, running a lot more of life-long learning and workshops around sustainable living. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p101 A sharp turn from busy Wattletree Road by the railway line, brings a surprise. Only 1.4 km from Eltham’s centre, sheep feed, blissfully unaware of the hectic suburban activity so close by. At the entrance to the 5.6ha Edendale Farm is another surprise. A work of art that looks like huge tree trunks transformed into bowler and top-hatted men. The Fences Act 1968 by Tony Trembath with Mark Cain and John Doyle, 1996, is classified by the National Trust of Australia as having Regional Significance. The title refers to a government act on disputes between neighbors over the placement of fences and boundaries. This takes a ‘wry swipe’ at a community divided by trivial squabbles. It also celebrates making do with limited resources.1 Further along on the left, the office wall is decorated with a massive Eltham Copper Butterfly, designed by Robert Tickner and made by school children with used plastic bottles and other waste material. Nillumbik Council runs Edendale as an Environmental Education Centre, to help preserve and enhance the local environment. As early as 1988 the former Eltham Shire Council realised Edendale’s importance in meeting people’s needs, particularly of children, to enjoy farmland. The centre, with the Eltham North Reserve to the north - including remnant bushland and open parkland - makes up the major part of the public open space for this area. The council considers this area will become increasingly important to the local community for recreational use.2 Educational programs aim to encourage community involvement to ensure the long-term rehabilitation and protection of natural bushland areas. Edendale is used by people of all ages - from school children to adults - for environmental programs and workshops, as well as for recreation, to enjoy the domestic animals and to picnic. Edendale is also home to the Environmental Works staff who manage reserves and roadsides and support Nillumbik Friends environmental groups. The Friends propagate plants at the nursery, which grows indigenous plants and sells these to the public.3 The centre demonstrates the sustainable living the farm teaches, with features like solar hot water and drive lighting and for the fireplace, logs of recycled cardboard. Edendale has had a varied history as a dog pound and even as a retreat for Thomas Cool, Club Manager of the Victoria Coffee Palace in Melbourne. His single-storey weatherboard house built in 1896, which still stands, was grander than most homes in Eltham. Although such buildings were common in many other parts of Melbourne, Eltham’s poverty and remoteness did not encourage such construction. The Victorian rectangular-shaped house, with a corrugated iron roof and veranda, has elegant large rooms, leadlight windows, ceiling roses, two bay windows and ornately carved wooden fireplace surrounds. Cool bought seven acres (2.8ha) from pioneer Eltham farmer Henry Stooke’s 200 acre (81ha) farm, which he had bought from the Crown in 1852. In 1918 Cool bought an extra seven acres (2.8ha) but in 1919 sold the estate to farmer John Cox. In 1933 Cox sold Edendale to Mrs Elizabeth Gaston, after whom the road leading to the centre was named. The property was owned by several Gaston family members, who called it Edendale, then by a police constable, Douglas Mummery, until the Shire of Eltham bought it in 1970. Oddly Edendale was known as Mummery’s for almost 20 years, although Mummery owned it only for a short time.4 The shire used Edendale as a dog pound until amalgamation with other municipalities in 1996. The pound then moved to the Yan Yean Road, Plenty site, which had been used by the former Diamond Valley Shire Council. To the west and north the centre is bounded by Diamond Creek and on the east by the Melbourne-Hurstbridge railway line. Part of the Research creek forms the centre’s southern boundary.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, edendale farm

In 1928 the Committee of the National War Memorial of Victoria called on the public to donate funds to the building of the Shrine of Remembrance (see booklet at 01206). This receipt is an example of the certificate provided to the donor to show their contribution. The donation from Miss R. Booth was for 1 shilling. The right hand portion was intended to be detached and kept, it did not record the amount as it was to show she had made a gift to the Shrine regardless of the amount. In the booklet at 01206 people were asked to donate whatever they could depending on their circumstances and made a point that the amount wouldn't be shown on the certificate. The Legacy Interview/Report Form shows that Mrs R Innes donated this artefact to Legacy in 1981. It is part of the business practice of recording how things were donated to Legacy and all the details of the items. Items were in an envelope with other photos and programmes from different items relating to the Shrine of Remembrance - including discussions on its location and design. Labelled 'Shrine of Remembrance S1 - S14' it was part of an old archive numbering system, that showed there has been efforts in the past to collect, order and save items of Legacy's history. (01181 - 01190, 01206 - 01211).A record of the general public contributing to the building of the Shrine of Remembrance, in 1928 Victorians were asked to contribute approximately £100,000 to the building project. Also that items relating to the Shrine were donated to Legacy for archiving and that procedures were in place to record the event. There was an effort to record historical events for the "Archive Committee" which collected this and other documents relating to the Shrine together in a file (see items 01181 - 01190, 01206 - 01211)A receipt of a donation in 1928 to the fund for building the Shrine, off white paper and black print. Plus a pink foolscap Interview/Report Form detailing the donation of the receipt to Legacy in 1981, black print and blue pen handwriting.S14 in red pen in top right corner. Handwritten message signed by J Mangan in blue pen.memorial, shrine of remembrance