Unframed photo of Brigadier "Sandy" C.M.I. Pearson, Commander 1st Australian Task Force speaking at the opening of the Pearson Community Centre in Nui DatAWM/BEL/69/0609/VN1st australian task force, brigadier "sandy" c.m.i. pearson, pearson community centre, nui dat

The Restoration of The Bendigo Gasworks Boiler House Complex, A Community Jobs Project March 2002 - June 2002. Final Report. Researched, compiled and written by: Fiona Gust and Simone (Mona) Krause. Front cover is purple, back cover is black and some inside pages are red or yellow. Topics in the book are: History of the Gasworks, How a Gasworks Works, Heritage Requirements, The CJP Crew, Crew Profiles, Initial Condition of the Boiler House Complex, O, H & S, Work Begins - Asbestos Removal, Clean-up, Iron Removal and Glazing. Artifact Cataloguing, where artifacts and where they were found were cataloged. On Going Discoveries. Exhauster ad Tank Room Ceilings, Pipes, Oil Spray Tower, Skillion over the Amenities Block, Posts, Beams along the Exhauster Room Wall-NE side, Beams on the SW side of the gable .. The join between the skillion and gable roof, Donuts on the Exhauster Room Wall - NE side, Trusses, Gutters and down pipes, Paint and Whitewash, Brickwork, Iron Fittings, Internal Fixtures, Generator Room/Compressor Room, Floors and Conclusion. The Captains Last Words by Peter Roberts. Acknowledgements. The coloured pages in the back are Edition One - 19.4.2002, Edition Two and Edition 3 of Combustible News which gives a progressive account of the work.buildings, gas company, the bendigo gasworks, the restoration of the bendigo gasworks boiler house complex, fiona gust, simone (mona) krause, city of melbourne gas and coke company, the bendigo mercury, the gas and fuel corporation, central deborah, community jobs project, peter roberts, chrysalis constructions, cvgt industrial training center, rod mclaughlin, allan fox, david gilroy, glen slater, aaron ott, ron whitford, daniel keogh, paul atkins, nick pearson, leigh williams, des leahy, anthony jennings, heritage victoria, the bendigo shire, central deborah, david bennear, david wright, deborah simm, community jobs unit, james thompson, mac booth, mine, tramways, discovery centre, mandy cooper, delwyn douglass, cindy tassie, helen yorston, brenda stanley, greg o'connell, kym smith, darren hutchesson, julie cain, john bullen, joe slaviero, mario joh;ns, norm harris, paul green, len cutting, jim morrissy, melissa tuddenham, fiona beckwith, leo trainor, gary anquetil, helen lynch, abbotts supply, action auction, garry floyd, bendigo trailers and hardware - matt, ron & jack, brennans - butch & robbie, bunnings - evan, brett crapper, hip pocket, jason kiel, country victorian scaffolding, paint right bendigo, alan gladman, deborah simms, graeme jennings, hugh ward, leigh williams, paul eccles, peter sporn, barb & mal krause, peter & shirley turner, bendigo copy centre

This book was produced as part of a raft of community projects under the umbrella of COWCH (City of Whitehorse Community Houses) with funding from the federal government. Projects aimed to celebrate the Centenary of Federation by recording a broad base of aspects of life and experience in Whitehorse drawn from a cross-section of ordinary members of the community. The steering committee for the book worked with the management of the Vermont South Community House - Marjorie Morgan, Carol Pawsey, Val Eldridge, Sue Barnett, Anne Jones, Margaret Banks and Murray Lewis (editor).A collection of stories contributed either as written memoirs or drawn from oral histories that reflect the ways in which the contributors have been associated with the City of Whitehorse. Title page: stamp top right hand corner :Surrey Hills/ Neighbourhood Centre / 157 Union Road; Hand written note "Gifted to Sue Slonek/by Sue Barnett/ Sept. 2012; stamp: Surrey Hills History - top of page.whitehorse, (ms) susan barnett, (ms) susan johns, (mr) arthur tonkin, (mrs) kathleen beanland, (mrs) nancye gration, (mr) norman kerr, (mr) murray lewis, tara cameron, andy hannam, christine howarth, danielle burgess, yeek hoon tija, ian grandy, frances warren, jessie williams, joan nethercote, joyce kotze, john pawsey, hope hughes, thelma osborn, margaret sharp, merle forrest, catherine jenkins, ted o'rourke, judy gordon, george ellis, rene stevens, albert stevens, jessie barnes, mary roberts, howard broadstock, valda broadstock, nelliesutherland, jean johnson, evan walker, joan roberts, pat nitz, joan crummy, patrick crummy, ray stanfield, plaatjien braaf, kath ferrugia, noelene whitaker, margaret wood, phyllis johnson, marie stubbs, eileen pearson, jennifer o'sullivan, joy edwards, virginia burns, walter thompson, mae buckingham

In 1857, tanner John Pearson purchased three and a half acres of land in Little Eltham, at the western end of Pitt Street, with a 70-foot frontage to Maria Street (Main Road) and stretching down to the Diamond Creek for £100. He contracted Benjamin Oliver Wallis to build house for him. Wallis, a mason by trade who originated from the Cornish village of Newlyn, migrated to Melbourne in 1853 and was shortly engaged by Richard Warren to build the Eltham Hotel, which opened in 1854. When Warren fell into financial difficulty in 1858, Wallis purchased the hotel. That same year, Pearson constructed a tannery below the house with access to the water in the Diamond Creek. When Pearson became bankrupt in 1867, Wallis similarly acquired the house from Pearson’s creditors in 1868 and lived there until his death in 1896. For some of this time the house was in the name of Wallis’s son Richard but following his death in 1888, ownership reverted to his father. It was purchased by retired teacher Richard Gilsenen in 1899. Gilsenen was made acting head teacher at the Eltham State School in 1906 following the sudden death of head teacher John Brown. In the 1950s the house was bought by retired engineer Dr Alfred Fitzpatrick and his wife Claire who made various modifications to house goats and poultry as well as structural modifications to the house. In the early 1970s, Eltham Shire Councillors Frank Maas and Don Maling proposed an extended communities’ activities program be set up and the Commonwealth Grants Commission was approached for financial assistance. In 1974 a $50,000 Commonwealth Grant was received by the Shire Council to acquire the Fitzpatrick property as part of the planning to establish an extended communities’ activities program. The Fitzpatricks moved next door and Claire taught at the new Living and Learning Centre, which began in 1975, one of the first community education centres in Victoria. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p59 It’s a centre for sharing knowledge and friendship and it stands on the former hub of Eltham’s original township near Pitt Street. The Eltham Living and Learning Centre, with around 2000 participants a year, began in 1975 as one of the first Community Education Centres in Victoria. Classes ranging from macramé to wine making to environmental living have enriched the lives of thousands of people through the generosity of tutors sharing their skills free of charge. The centre’s heart is the brick cottage, built in 1858 by tanner John Pearson. He bought the three and a half acre (1.4ha) allotment fronting Maria Street (now Main Road) and stretching down to the Diamond Creek. The allotment formed part of a 316 acre (127.8ha) subdivision, owned by Josiah Holloway, called Little Eltham, north of the original Eltham Reserve.1 The allotment then passed through the hands of several speculators before it was sold to Pearson for £100 in 1857. Mr Pearson’s children attended the Eltham Primary School from 1864 to 1867. But creditors took possession of the property when his tannery folded in 1867. It was then sold to publican Benjamin Wallis, who owned the Eltham Hotel at the corner of Pitt Street and Main Road. In 1899 the property was bought by Richard Gilsenan, who became acting head teacher of the Eltham Primary State School in 1906. In the 1950s, retired engineer Dr Alfred Fitzpatrick and his wife Claire bought the property, and made structural changes. Claire, a journalist and community campaigner, modified and built pens for goats and poultry, a stable, a garage and planted fruit trees and a vegetable garden. In the early 1970s a young woman called Carina Hack approached Gwen Wesson at the Diamond Valley Learning Centre (Victoria’s first Community Education Centre) about starting a community centre. Following Wesson’s suggestion, Hack spoke to Shire President Alistair Knox ‘one bleak rainy afternoon, sipping hot drinks and discussing life’.2 Eltham Shire Councillors Frank Maas and Don Maling proposed a community activities program and the council received a $50,000 Commonwealth Government Grant for this venture.3 The Fitzpatricks sold their property to the council and moved next door and Claire taught at the new centre, which Hack named. Eltham obviously wanted such a centre as Hack recalls. ‘During the next two months we had about 50 volunteers working day, night and weekends, scrubbing down, plastering and painting walls, replacing floors, repairing fences, recycling furniture, sewing curtains and cushions, donating furniture, toys, equipment, clean-ing and gardening…’4 The first enrolment day saw a queue stretching up the driveway nearly to the gate and the first sessions attracted 270 people a week. Soon the outbuildings were converted into pottery studios and a large workshop. From 1979 the Eltham Art and Craft Market was held in the centre’s grounds and the Friends of the Centre ran it from 1980. A former program coordinator, Margaret Johnson, remembers enrolment day in the late 1970s and 1980s, when hundreds of people would queue – and some even camped overnight! Overnighters were greeted in the morning with fresh tea and toast. Another tradition was The Enrolment Day Cake with Recipe, given to volunteers. ‘One happy Enrolment Day fell on February 14 and let’s just say that St Valentine found some willing participants, paying $2 for a kiss.’5 Meanwhile the participants’ children could play at the Council Eltham Lower Park house in Hohnes Road, later in Susan Street. But the centre has had difficulties too. In 1990 a fire destroyed the stable and the police suspected arson. However the pavilion was built in its place.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, benjamin oliver wallis, claire fitzpatrick, don maling, dr alfred fitzpatrick, eltham living and learning centre, frank maas, john pearson, richard gilsenen, tannery