Mrs. Vanessa McDonald was born in Beechworth in 1917. Christened, Agnes Bertha Collins, Vanessa changed her name in 1960. Mrs. McDonald's family's connection with gold mining in the district reach back to the first of Beechworth's gold rushes, when her great grandfather, a Dutchman who adopted the name Charles Collins, arrived in 1851-1852. Mrs. McDonald spent her childhood in the isolated hamlet of Stanley, in the area known as 'Little Scotland', where she recalls helping her mother to raise younger siblings, picking apples and walnuts on the family farm, and roaming the hills for wildflowers. As a young woman Mrs. McDonald attended religious and social gatherings in the local community. In 1940 she went to Melbourne to work as a mothercraft nurse during the Second World War. She met her husband at a Beechworth football match and was married at the Stanley Methodist Church in 1941. The gold diggings known as the 'Nine Mile' became the hamlet of Stanley, after the British Prime Minister, Lord Stanley, in 1858. By the late 1850s, Stanley boasted schools, an athenaeum, a church, a weekly newspaper and several hotels and other civic infrastructure to cater for a growing population. The area attracted large numbers of Chinese miners, whose presence was frequently resisted. Like other early Victorian mining settlements, Stanley was a hotbed of political and racial tensions during the gold rush. One side of the Nine Mile Creek was known as 'Little Scotland’, the other, 'Little Ireland'. A number of Christian denominations built congregations and churches in Stanley, including the Church of England, Methodist Church, the Catholic Church, and Presbyterian Church. Stanley became part of the United Shire of Beechworth in 1871. By 1880 timber was being cut and two sawmills were established by 1887. River-dredged gold mining consumed vast amounts of timber from the forests in the area, and in 1931 the first of several softwood plantations began. This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: 'Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth'. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke.Following the decline in the mining and associated industries during the early-mid-twentieth century, the Beechworth district experienced a period of general economic decline. On the east side of the Dingle Range, Mrs. McDonald's father, William Henry Collins, felled timber and the family were pioneer apple orchardists. The establishment of apple orchards in Stanley reflects changes to how land was used and contributes to our understanding of the historical development of rural communities following the gold rush. Mrs. McDonald's recollections are significant for understanding family and social life in a small rural town in years leading up to the Great Depression and prior to the Second World War. This oral history recording may be compared with other oral histories and items in the Burke Museum's collection. This oral history account is socially and historically significant as it is a part of a broader collection of interviews conducted by Jennifer Williams which were published in the book 'Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth-century Beechworth.' While the township of Beechworth is known for its history as a gold rush town, these accounts provide a unique insight into the day-to-day life of the town's residents during the 20th century, many of which will have now been lost if they had not been preserved.This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.Mrs Vanessa McDonald /listen to what they say, beechworth, oral history, burke museum, emigration, gold rush immigration, victorian gold rush, mining families, apple orchard, forestry, forest plantation, little scotland, stanley, twentieth century history, regional australia, rural australia, farming, harvest festival, great depression, dingle range, the nine mile, australian wildflowers, high country wildflowers, mothercraft nurse, rural and regional women, social history, collins, mrs. vanessa mcdonald, building community life, shaping cultural and creative life, fruit growers, family history, changes to land use in regional victoria

Two items about this family. Three photocopied pages from Henderson – Early Pioneer Families of Victoria and the Riverina. Article gives history of William Lyall and associated family. Includes his family and grandchildren’s history and mention of his Murrumbeena property Frogmore. One photocopied page, including photo from Who’s Who in the World of Women, of Mrs. Ernest Ricardo (Bertha Maude) who was the daughter of William Lyall of Frogmore Murrumbeena and Harewood Westernport.lyall william, lyall annabella, brown annabella, house names, frogmore, german migrants, cotswold sheep, charcoal, farmers, lyall maude, ricardo maude, ricardo bertha maude, lyall bertha maude, ricardo ernest, murrumbeena, pioneers

A conference paper prepared for the Victorian Association of Family History Organisations (VAFHO) Conference, Ballarat, 2013dianne campbell goldfields lawyers collection, lawyers, ballarat, legal, central victoria, maryborough, stawell, maldon, chiltern, otago, pyrenees, ararat, carisbrook, day, daylesford, court houses, pleasant creek, beaufort, creswick, golden plains, avoca, tarnagulla, alexander fraser, alan fraser, william rainy, raffaello carboni, butler cole aspinall, edward john lewis, richard ireland, richard davies ireland, charles gavin duffy, robert molesworth, edward fitzgerald, nicholas fitzgerald, maurice mcdonough, james william dunbar, robert walsh, joseph henry dunne, redmond barry, eureka stockade, michael walsh, family history, genealogy

2 copiescountry womens association of victoria, cowes branch, history

Hand painted silk handkerchief with scalloped edge, painted gold on outer edge. Bottom left corner hand painted logo edged in gold paint, shows two women in Grecian style dress flanking a shield with the Southern Cross and floral designs and banner beneath, then the words 'Victoria 1834 Centenary 1934'.

Blue cloth-covered board covers and spine. Black text on front cover and spine.

(a) Buff cardboard certificate. Honourable mention awarded to Mrs. A. E. Osbourne, in the Women's Centenary council Empire knitting competition. (b) Appraisal slip of piece of knitting, giving score out of 100 (92)Front: (a) 'Mrs A.E. Osbourne Box 18 Portland Victoria' 'C' - hand written, blue ink (b) '49, 18, 12, 13 = 92' - hand written, black ink

Coloured photograph: MDC, inside. 3 women looking at items in souvenir shopBack: 'B17'

Black and white photograph (reproduction) A group of 12 young men and women, standing arm in arm in the shallows at Henty BeachBack: '791' - in pencil

Identifying Numbers: 8553 a,b Two linen tea towels depicting the arrival of the Hentys at Portland Bay Nov 19 1834. Back and front border white, front background blue, yellow sand, green grass, two trees with foliage. One man in dinghy, rowing another standing on beach, with boxes, barrel, sailing ship at anchor. Large 'HENTY' in black, Country Womens Association logo, 'Landing of Hentys, Portland Bay, NOV 19 1834'

Contemporary reproduction of period photo of Wando Villa/ Stanton Drew. Front / side view, showing garden and trees. Two women on front steps. 89 Wellington Road, Portland, Victoria