Historical information

NILLUMBIK SHIRE COUNCIL
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Interview: Doug Orford

Date: Tuesday 19 March 2024

Place of Interview: Aurrum Aged Care in Plenty

Interviewer: Katherine Sheedy; Way Back When Consulting Historians

In 2023 Nillumbik Shire Council agreed to support two Oral History projects associated with local history groups within the shire.

One project was training sessions for group members on undertaking oral history recordings, which occurred in November 2023.

The other project involved a professional historian recording two selected history group members, which occurred in March 2024. The interviews were undertaken by Katherine Sheedy of Way Back When Consulting Historians.

Doug Orford, whose family first came to Eltham in about 1853, was born in Eltham in August 1929. Doug recalled his family’s connection to the area, starting with his grandfather in 1853, getting to school, growing up on an 18-acre block, working on the orchard, his father’s horse and cart, shops, deliveries, the war and rationing, Black Friday bushfires in 1939, and a little bit about establishing the Shire of Eltham Historical Society, later Eltham District Historical Society, of which he was a life member. Sadly Doug passed away just four months after his interview, in July 2024.

Physical description

MP3 file; 83.1 MB, 00:59:42
WAV file, 671.8 MB 00:59:42
PDF Transcript of interview