In 1965 the Clarke & Smith Talking Book Cassette Cartridge made it's debut at the Olympia Show. Popularly known as a 'tapete', it weighed considerably less than the earlier book cassette cartridges and allowed for up to 6 tracks (13 hours recording time) to be played.Clarke and Smith talking book cassette cartridge player consisting of plastic rectangular case with buttons for navigational controls, light green front and top of machine and darker green on sides, power cord and 5 buttons. Also includes tapete "Words for murder perhaps" by Edward Candy and ready by Stanley Pritchard.Clarke & Smith Track change Play -- Off Volume Phones This equipment remains the property of the Braille & Talking Book Library, 31-51 Commercial Road, South Yarra, 3141. Phone: (03) 267 6022 Dyna Tape labels: J21075 Play Rewindaudio equipment, clarke and smith

Produced by General Electric (GE) for American Printing House for the Blind in Kentucky, this player has dials to control tone, volume, speed, side and buttons to record, rewind, forward, play, pause and stop tape. Handling both 2 and 4 track tapes, these players were targeted towards the vision impaired, as it allowed greater freedom to adjust recording styles to suit individual listeners. Plastic rectangular brown audio player with buttons for navigational controls, a handle and black vinyl carry pouch.audio equipment, assistive devices

In this example, nineteen 33-speed gramophone records are needed for a single title. Labelled with His Master's Voice, and recorded solely for the use of the blind by the Sound Recording Committee by Arthur Bush, they were dispatched via post to members who were in possession of commercial record players. Australian blindness agencies were purchasing overseas titles to expand their libraries for a growing number of users.19 vinyl records :12 in., 33-speed ;in paper sleeves, Reference number JG5433-JG5451audio books, royal national institute for the blind

Jenny Watson is a long-time employee of the Port of Echuca known for her extensive knowledge of the Murray River and associated stories of past and present. Born in Rhodesia, Jenny escaped internal conflict and came to Australia at 19 years old. A great horsewoman and also a natural on vessels, when she came to Echuca in the 1980s, she soon trained for her Masters Certificate with the encouragement of skippers such as Kevin Hutchinson and Alan Bartch. She skippered the P.S. Canberra and P.S. Emmylou for many years. Jenny worked at the Tourism Centre before the Discovery Centre was built. Her knowledge helped her become an integral Tour Guide at the Port of Echuca and her sensitivity to the unseen world, led her to develop the special Port After Dark Tour revealing some of the spirits and energy that runs unseen through the Port from past events. This remains a very popular tour with visitors and locals. Jenny currently comes in as a specialist volunteer talking to visitors about every subject to do with Port. Jenny is a living legend. Jenny features in the Women of the River Exhibit in the Discovery Centre.Digital recording of oral history interview with Jenny Watson riverboat captain in the 1980s. discovery centre, tour guide, port after dark, captains, murray river captains, women of the river, p.s. canberra, p.s. emmylou, 1980s

EDHS Newsletter No. 266 October 2022 It is 150 years since the Colony of Victoria introduced the Education Act in 1872. At our next society meeting at 7.30pm on Wednesday 12th October we will look at the early history of some of the schools in the Eltham district. What were the driving forces behind the establishment of some of these schools and what challenges were encountered along the way? At this meeting Dr Geoffrey Sandy will speak about the Church of England Denominational School at Little Eltham, Dr Andrew Lemon will talk about the history of Research State School, Jim Connor will speak about the Eltham Primary School and Irene Kearsey will comment on some of the findings from her recent project digitising the early class records of Eltham Primary School.1:21:48 duration Digital MP3 file; 28.0MBaudio recording, eltham district historical society, meeting, society meeting, eltham, 150th anniversary, dr andrew lemon, dr geoffrey sandy, irene kearsey, jim connor, public education victoria

EDHS Newsletter No. 268 February 2023 Prior to the extension of European people into the lands of the Nillum-bik in the late 1830s the Wurundjeri people had been meeting in the area now known as Eltham Lower Park for thousands of years. Waterway junctions had a particular attraction as tribal meeting places and the junction of the Diamond Creek with the Yarra River (Birr-arung to the Wurundjeri) was one such important location in terms of aboriginal culture. The sculpture “Not Just a Pretty Place” by Aleks Danko, located near the junction of these two watercourses pays tribute to this important cultural location. The first European settlers were squatters or leaseholders and itinerants such as timber workers. Records of their early occupation are sketchy but the Eltham Lower Park area was probably included within the pastoral run established in 1841 by Henry Foley. He sold his leasehold in 1845 to Joseph Wilson who in turn sold it to Frederick Faulkner soon after. From this early history the Eltham Lower Park area has undergone many changes and has been developed to provide residents and visitors with a range of passive and active public open space, including even being used for various horse racing events. At our next meeting, Jim Connor will explore the history of Eltham Lower Park and touch on various individuals and groups involved along the way.1:05:19 duration Digital MP3 file; 22.4MBaudio recording, eltham district historical society, meeting, society meeting, jim connor, eltham, eltham lower park

EDHS Newsletter No. 270 June 2023 At our next meeting at 2.00pm on Saturday 10th June 2023 we are pleased to have Dr. Geoffrey Sandy to present to us on the WW1 Soldier Welcome Home Committees, with specific reference to Eltham. Geoffrey is an author, parish historian and parish archivist for St Margaret’s Anglican Church in Eltham. Soldier Welcome Home Committees (SWHC) were established throughout Australia during WW1 by the soldier’s local community - their home. Despite WW1 being a well-researched area of Australian history, little has been published on the SWHCs. The work of these committees is an important part of our war history, and our volunteer history. As women were often well-represented, and active within the SWHCs, it is also important to our history of Australian women. Geoff has undertaken a detailed case study of the Soldier Welcome Home Committee at Eltham (SWHCE). During the WW1 period Eltham can be described a small rural community. What is fortunate is that the Minute Books of the SWHC Eltham meetings are extant and readily accessible, as these are held in the archives of Saint Margaret’s Anglican Church Eltham.1:17:13 duration Digital MP3 file; 26.5MBaudio recording, eltham district historical society, meeting, society meeting, eltham, avenue of honour, dr geoffrey sandy, welcome home committee

EDHS Newsletter No. 272 October 2023 Our next meeting will be a special evening, if not a little unusual. On pages 3 and 4 in this newsletter edition there are articles about Eltham Films, with particular reference to the film ‘The Prize’, made by Tim Burstall in 1958/59. As Burstall had strong connections with Eltham it would have been an easy decision for him and his associates to use the local area as the setting for his first film. Following this film Burstall went on to make many more. He became a key figure in Australian postwar cinema and was instrumental in helping to rebuild the Australian film industry, at a time when it had been effectively dead for years. At this EDHS meeting we will view this film, or should we say review this film, stopping at times to attempt to identify the main actors and where certain scenes were filmed around Eltham. Some locations may be more obvious than others. The actors are mainly children playing the characters in the film. So this will be an exercise in identifying people and places, whilst enjoying the rare opportunity to view a valued example of early Eltham film history.1:12:11 duration Digital MP3 file; 24.7MBaudio recording, eltham district historical society, meeting, society meeting, eltham, eltham films, guest speaker, the prize (film), tim burstall

EDHS Newsletter No. 271 August 2023 Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) is the Archive of the State Government of Victoria. Established fifty years ago under the Public Records Act 1973, PROV at the Victorian Archives Centre in North Melbourne now holds around 106 kilometres of public records from 1836 to the present day. There are also PROV collections at Ballarat, Beechworth, Bendigo, Geelong and the University of Melbourne. Our next meeting will be about PROV and former PROV staff member Andrew Lemon, will briefly reminisce about his work there, in it’s early days. As Assistant Director Access Services at PROV, David Taylor oversees the management of, and access to, the State collection. David will be outlining PROV’s unique role in Victoria, the nature of the public records it holds and how researchers can use increasingly sophisticated online resources to discover more about their ancestors and Victorian history. Finally, our Society member Irene Kearsey will talk about her experiences as a long-time volunteer at PROV.1:21:12 duration Digital MP3 file; 27.8MBaudio recording, eltham district historical society, meeting, society meeting, eltham, david taylor, dr andrew lemon, irene kearsey, public records office victoria (prov)

EDHS Newsletter No. 275 April 2024 The Shire of Eltham was established in 1871 and ceased to exist, due to a municipal restructure, when all councillors were sacked on 15 December 1994, which is 30 years ago this December. At this meeting, Jim Connor will provide a presentation about From Eltham to Nillumbik Shires - a personal perspective. Jim has been active in the local community for over 40 years and was the last councillor elected to the Shire of Eltham. Following the restructure he became a member of the Nillumbik Shire Council Planning Special Committee, which included three commissioners and three community members, and was also chair of the Nillumbik Disability Advisory Committee. In both roles he obtained insights into the early operation of the new council. Jim has also been a member of the Eltham District Historical Society since 1990 and president from 2009.1:35:44 duration Digital MP3 file; 32.8MBaudio recording, eltham district historical society, meeting, society meeting, eltham, guest speaker, commissioners, community engagement, community protest, council amalgamation, demolition, eltham gateway action group, eltham shire offices, jim connor, planning application, shire of eltham, shire of nillumbik

EDHS Newsletter No. 274 February 2024 Our EDHS member Irene Kearsey is forever searching, researching and at times discovering hidden historical gems. One such discovery is finding details about the life and career of “Senior Constable Dungey – Eltham’s third policeman” and what he and his wife had in the Eltham police house; now our Local History Centre at 728 Main Road, Eltham. At our meeting on Wednesday 14th February 2024, Irene with talk about the career of Arthur Eggleston Dungey leading him to Eltham and then describe what was in the house. We now know how he and wife Louisa furnished the house in 1890, down to the number of teaspoons. If you had ancestors in 19th century Victoria, Irene has a suggestion for your research that might reveal such details1:02:35 duration Digital MP3 file; 21.4MBaudio recording, eltham district historical society, meeting, society meeting, eltham, guest speaker, eltham police station, irene kearsey, snr constable arthur eggleston dungey, eltham police residence

EDHS Newsletter No. 269 April 2023 At this meeting we are pleased to have Peter Pidgeon, our vice president, as our speaker to talk about a selection of photographs recently added to our collection. Peter, who is our Digital Collections, Website and Social Media Manager, has scanned and catalogued much of the content on our Victorian Collections website and maintains our website, facebook and social media. The focus of his presentation will be on new additions to the collection, records of interest that have been digitised over the past year and added to Victorian Collections and the processes we undertake.1:26:31 duration Digital MP3 file; 29.7MBaudio recording, eltham district historical society, meeting, society meeting, eltham, activities, catalogue, collections team, peter pidgeon, victorian collections

Guest speaker at Eltham Community Action Group (ECAG) Annual General Meeting The Shire of Eltham was established in 1871 and ceased to exist, due to a municipal restructure, when all councillors were sacked on 15 December 1994. Jim Connor, a past Councillor of the former Shire of Eltham and current President of the Eltham District Historical Society gave a very interesting presentation about the machinations of how and why Eltham became Nillumbik. He also displayed and discussed images of the various plans that have been suggested for the former Shire Office Site since the building was demolished by the decision of the commissioners in July 1996, the commissioners having replaced the elected council when the Kennett government amalgamated all Victorian councils.1:08:28 duration Digital MP3 file; 23.5MBaudio recording, meeting, eltham, guest speaker, commissioners, community engagement, community protest, council amalgamation, demolition, eltham gateway action group, eltham shire offices, jim connor, planning application, shire of eltham, shire of nillumbik, agm, eltham community action group (ecag), eltham district historical society