This is a collection of seven photographs of Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) personnel posted to the Army Headquarters Survey Regiment, Fortuna, Bendigo circa 1957 to 1964. After the disbandment of the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) in 1947 there was only one or two of civilian women in administrative positions at Fortuna. In February 1957 female positions from the disbanded Southern Command Field Survey Section in Melbourne were transferred to newly established positions at the Army Headquarters Survey Regiment, Bendigo. They were accommodated at the newly acquired ‘Turriff’ mansion in Carpenter Street, Bendigo. Their first Officer Commanding (OC) was CAPT Beryl Perry from 1957 to September 1960. Her replacement as OC was CAPT Carol Castor who served in several positions up to June 1967. The main areas of employment in these early days were in administrative positions, draughting in and retouching in Lithographic Squadron. WO2 MA McLaren was the female to reach the rank of WO2 as a Cartographic Squadron section commander in June 1961. WO1 Marj Knight served at Fortuna from 1959 to 1978 was the first female to reach the rank of WO1. WO1 Knight served in the senior Squadron Sergeant-Major and Technical Warrant Officer positions of Cartographic Squadron. She was also the first female PMC of the Army Survey Regiment SGT’s Mess. The WRAAC uniform seen in this collection was replaced in 1979. As the Australian Army implemented the disbandment of the WRAAC as a separate corps in 1980, WRAAC personnel posted to Royal Australian Survey Corps units were integrated into RA Svy.This is a collection of seven photographs of Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) personnel posted to the Army Headquarters Survey Regiment, Fortuna Bendigo circa 1957 to 1964. The photographs were printed on photographic paper and are part of the Army Survey Regiment’s Collection. The photographs were scanned at 300 dpi. .1) - Photo, black & white, c1957. Back row – unidentified personnel, Front row – centre: CAPT Beryl Perry, unidentified personnel. .2) - Photo, black & white, c1958. Back row – unidentified personnel, Front row L to R: unidentified, SGT Margaret McLaren, CAPT Beryl Perry, unidentified (x2). .3) - Photo, black & white 1959. Back row – L to R: PTE Gwen Hill, PTE Hilary Clarkson, PTE Helen Paisley, PTE Pam Carseldine, PTE Margaret Ross, PTE Barbara Minto, PTE Margaret Taylor. Front row L to R: PTE Barbara Hawkin, PTE Joan Murray, SGT Margaret McLaren, CAPT Carol Castor, CPL Jenny Murray, CPL Julie Williams, PTE Phillipa Bowman. .4) - Photo, black & white, October 1963. L to R: WO2 Margaret McLaren, PTE Kay Brown, CAPT Carol Castor, PTE Helen Pasley, PTE Bev Madex, CPL Marj Knight. .5) - Photo, black & white, October 1963. L to R: PTE Bev Madex, PTE Helen Pasley, PTE Kay Brown, WO2 MA McLaren, CPL Marj Knight. .6) - Photo, black & white, August 1963. Back row – L to R: PTE Hollingsworth, PTE GM Hill, PTE PE Sykes, PTE Nola Strawbridge, PTE Jan Cruickshank, PTE Margaret Taylor, PTE Prescott, PTE RR Hutton, PTE BJ Madex, PTE BM Fuhrmann, PTE Cockburn. Front row – L to R: PTE NA Falot, LCPL JA Hurst, SGT Marj Knight, CAPT Carol Caster, CPL Jennifer Murray, LCPL A Burrows, unidentified. .7) - Photo, black & white, 1964. Back row – L to R: PTE Dianne Fowler, PTE Leslie Mortimer, PTE Marlene Penglase, PTE Marg Cooper, PTE Irene Rankins, PTE Elaine Veith, PTE Lyn Ireland, PTE Marg Murphy, PTE Nola Downes, PTE Joan Lawler, PTE Henni Schunck. Front row – L to R: PTE Loretta Hall, LCPL Jo McNamara, SGT Marj Knight, CAPT Carol Caster, CPL Nola Strawbridge, PTE Mary McHugh, PTE Kalen Sargent..1P to .3P, .7P - no annotation, .4P to .6P - Personnel (surnames, no rank) annotated on back.royal australian survey corps, rasvy, army survey regiment, army svy regt, fortuna, asr, wraac

Colour photograph of students : back row Mrs. John Wakker ( teacher) Hayden Dixon, Matthew Hope, Kirby Adams, Casey Buck, Julia Morris, James Penno, Kate Steele, Ms Jo Bury ( teacher) Middle row: Joshua Gordon, Douglas Holt, Lauren Stirling, Alanna Noulton, Sam Needs, Scott Owen, Luke Scoble, Monique Hardwick, Nicole Clayton, Tim Kalms, Kyle Owen, Henry Anderton, Front row Natalie Carter, Naomi sullivan, Chloe Boyd, D'Cara Williams, Jayden O'Brien, Tyrone O'Neill, Emily Zeralla, Lisa Downes, Stephanie Murphy.bendigo, education, golden square primary school year

This photograph shows the Lady Harriett, her barge, the Wyrallah and Storm Bird with Captain Jimmy Bills at Harbeck's wharf, Lakes Entrance, The Lady Harriett was a small steamer that serviced the Tambo River and other areas. In 1895 the Lady Harriett was advertised to run between Bairnsdale and Mallacoota on a weekly service. The Lady Harriett and barge did two or three trips up the Tambo per week. She did not carry passengers or run to a timetable and would carry maize and beans as well as fish from Mallacoota where by 1900 the fishing industry was well established' Lady Harriett towed her barge carrying an assortment of goods up the Tambo from 1895 to 1913. The S.S. Wyrallah was a regular Melbourne header for over twenty years. She was run down and sunk by the steamer Dilkera with the loss of six lives at Port Philip Head. (ref. The Argus Friday April 11 1924)This is a pictorial record of a once busy wharf. From Lakes Entrance ocean-going vessels had access to the Gippsland Lakes, the largest navigable inland waterway in Australia.A large black / white photograph of two large ships and two smaller ones at a wharf. There are people on the wharf and on the boats.on back - "Jo-Bull", L-R Lady Harriet.........."lady-harriett s.s.-wyrallah shipping-east-gippsland harbeck's-wharf-lakes-entrance sea-transport

Eulogy by John McArthur t seems trite to say that it is a privilege to be able to speak about Alex’s work in the Church, but having known Alex for over 50 years and our various activities having been inextricably intertwined it is indeed an honour as well as a privelge. I first met Alex in the late 1950s when we were members of the PFA State Council – they were halcyon days for the young people in the church with very strong youth groups in most congregations. Alex was the state Treasurer. John Anderson was the President with Maureen Hancock, the secretary, Maureen, who with many others from that Council are here today. Alex was also very active in his local church at Canterbury in all aspects of its life and witness as we have heard from his children, Barrie and Jo, earlier in this service Alex who had trained as an accountant, applied for and been appointed to a position with the PCV and upon the retirement of his mentor, S. K. Williams, was appointed the Financial Secretary of the Church. When I was appointed as a member of the Trusts Corporation, I was very glad to see that Alec was the secretary – most members were nearly twice my age and it waas comforting to be with an old friend of somewhat similar age. The meetings were reasonably formal as one would expect from a gathering of some of the very senior business men in our State. Alex’s records were immaculate – not only did his agendas have the business arising from the previous meeting but there on the side were a list of matters that in Alex’s opinion had not been satisfactorily finalised over the past year. But one matter has stuck in my memory - only the correspondence that required action was considered, many other letters were left to be formally minuted. This time there was a letter from the Government advising that a building on the south side of Collins Street originally owned by the Free Presbyterian Church in the 1800s was to be placed on the Historic Register and this was our first intimation of the matter. One trustee, a knight of the realm, whose chin was always down on his chest, ( I wondered whether he was asleep or something) raised his head and said “If one just stood still in Collins Street for five minutes they would slap a historic citation on you” and back down went his head. I was not sure what would happen next when I looked at Alex and slowly, that recognisable smile appeared on his face – not really a smile , more like a grin as Barrie and Jo said earlier, one that would appear time and time again over the years at meetings which were meant to be quite formal. Alex had an encyclopaedic memory – for example, ask him about bequest funds, say, the W. S. Godfrey Perpetual Bequest, his answer would be, “Ah yes, donated by the man who founded the Grocery business in Carlton, the capital now would be about 53, 250 dollars, been no call on it for 2 ½ years”. If a new project was thought appropriate and needed funding, he would be able to find a fund or a bequest that, with a little tweaking, could be used to seed the programme. His financial presentations at meetings contained all the information one could want – he would choose his words carefully, and one would sometimes think – get on with it Alex - but his purpose was to make it quite clear what funds were available and what was their correct use. He took this financial acumen into other committees of the church, the Stipend Committee dealing with Ministers’ salaries, the Beneficiary Committee, the superannuation fund for both ministers and lay workers. There are many in the church who have had cause to be grateful for his financial input which added to their well being. But his work was not all with financial matters – as the Financial Secretary for the State, Alex was ex-offficio a member of the Presbytery of Maroondah where he was not the Treasurer and although as an ex officio member he was not expected to take that much part in the Presbytery’s activities – but Alex did, he took part in the strategy and pastoral care committees which showed his depth of concern for others in his church life. But I believe it was around this time that Alex produced some of his greatest work for the church – Church Union, not all Presbyterians wanted to be part of the Uniting Church – so a Statutory Commision was established on a national level, to divide the assets of the Church between those desiring to form part of the Uniting Church and those wanting to remain Presbyterian. Each State produced detailed records and submissions for the Commission – and Victoria was always the first to have its documents to the Commission – although Alex had made it quite clear that he would be with the Uniting Church, his work was meticulous, impartial and assisted greatly the work of the Commission relating to Victoria. And this in addition to his normal day to day work which continued over a period of some four or five years. The inauguration of the Uniting Church did present Alex, and indeed the rest of us, with some challenges. There were the financial records of three churches to be merged, properties to be considered, new community programmes required, new administrative structures to be put in place. Alex took these all in his stride – although after the initial planning, his role was to concentrate on financial matters only, the other activities had to be financed. As the chairperson of the Finance Division and the Resources Commission for a large portion of the early years of the Uniting Church, I was more than pleased to have Alex again by my side, reports were prepared, queries answered, it was just like old times. The Rev. Allan Stuart, now retired and living closer to his family in NSW was one on those young people from the Canterbury congregation – emailed me recently “Alex has been a faithful servant of the Church, at all levels from the National Assembly to the local congregation. But times are changing, and Alex had rightly passed the torch onto others” Allan was right but I also think that words of that great Scottish poet, Robert Louis Stevenson, sum up Alex’s life: “A man is a success when he has lived well, laughed often and loved much. One who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by work, relationships, one who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had.” To me, that is our friend who we remember today - Alexander Robert Gillespie. BW photo of Alex Gillespie dressed in shirt sleaves and tie, upper body.C&N 11/2/1987, p. 33alex gillespie (29/2/1928–1/9/2009) worked for the presbyterian church as its managing treasurer for many years before then moving to the uniting church as the synod treasurer.

Members of the Old Colonists' Association Council attend an online meeting during the Covid-19 pandemicold colonists' association council, covid 19, corona virus, pandemic, zoom meeting, andrew robson, gerald jenzen, travis hurst, vincent braybrook, gillian canavan, clare gervasoni, jo barber, travis hirst, geoff beechey, steve carter

Members of the Old Colonists' Association Council attend an online meeting during the Covid-19 pandemicold colonists' association council, covid 19, corona virus, pandemic, zoom meeting, andrew robson, gerald jenzen, travis hurst, vincent braybrook, gillian canavan, clare gervasoni, jo barber, travis hirst, geoff beechey, steve carter