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This year we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Broadford township.
 As a way of supporting communities along the path of the new north/south rail upgrade, Inland Rail, along with Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) have been offering community groups funding to strengthen these communities. Broadford Historical Society was successful in obtaining funding “To improve our public displays and digitally preserve our oral, photographic, and printed local history.” For this we received a grant of $3830. It was a huge boost for a small group which struggles to pay its way with raffles, membership fees, morning teas, and book sales. We applaud their generosity and thank them for their support. We received the funding in 2020 but with Covid lockdowns and subsequent supply issues, we did not complete our purchases until late 2022. All items have now been purchased and can be seen on Australia Day, January 25th at our annual Open Day.  In an email today we were advised by Sally Chadwick at the Bendigo Bank. that we have been successful in our grant application for some significant funding help from Bendigo Bank. This was fantastic news and will make a huge difference to both our working environment, and the materials we have available to preserve the history of our area. The grant was for $3685.00 and will pay for new holland blinds in both the Schoolhouse building and the Courier newspaper office. The blinds will replace old cotton blinds that we made ourselves about 20 years ago, and which are now starting to fall apart. New blinds will give our museum a real lift, and make for a more pleasant experience for volunteers and visitors alike. Also in the grant is money to purchase archival folders and containers for the safe storage of historic photographs, documents and newspapers. These items are usually considered "consumables", and therefore nor eligible for grant applications. We were very grateful that Bendigo Bank understood our argument that these things are not consumed, but last at least as long as their contents. They are expensive to buy and we normally have to work hard to raise the money to buy them. Bendigo Bank has supported Broadford Historical Society and many other community groups since their arrival in this area. We applaud the bank's contribution to our group and to our community. We hope the community in turn responds by supporting the bank.   Broadford looks back to its school days (As printed in the North Central Review. )
January 21, 2020 Broadford and District Historical Society members Graham Neill, Marg Inness and John Brissett work on the Broadford Primary School exhibition, which opens on Australia Day. A new exhibition depicting the life and times of Broadford Primary School will open on Australia Day. For many visiting Broadford and District Historical Society’s exhibition on Sunday January 26, it will be a walk down memory lane as they see the many photographs, historic items, books and games on display. The exhibition follows the success of last year’s Australia Day display of Broadford’s Australian Paper Mill. The already-established link between the historical society and the primary school helped members come up with the idea for next exhibition to feature the school. A call-out via social media soon sparked a strong contribution of photographs and items from people who had been associated with the school over the years. Historical society member Marg Inness said the primary school began as Broadford State School in 1873. “The earliest photo on display at the exhibition is from some time in the 1880s,” she said. The earliest photographs depict some school children dressed quite formally, while others are in bare feet. Ms Inness has also collated a book of information, facts and stories throughout the school’s history, gathering information from the internet and from various former students and teachers. “Sandy and Barry Withers, former teachers at the school, have been amazing with their contribution,” she said. “The school has also been extremely helpful, especially with printing the book.” Items such as a Gestetner printer, scales and a portable writing desk have also been donated or loaned for the exhibition. “The small writing desk belonged to long-time residents George and Shirley Bilton, and its from the 1900s,” Ms Inness said. There are also marbles, toy guns, satchels, a grammar phone, uniforms and readers from yesteryear. Society member John Brissett, and former Broadford Primary School teacher, has also helped out with collating the exhibition. Mr Brissett was librarian at the school for 17 years, and helped with a library upgrade in 1999. He said the primary school had undergone many changes with buildings coming and going over the years. The building the historical society calls home was formerly a primary school building, moved to the High Street location in 1995. The exhibition will open from 10am to 5pm on Sunday at 120 High Street Broadford, opposite the memorial park. In May 2019 our Society hosted a surprise birthday party for our much loved, oldest member, Ruth Davern, who was turning 90. Friends and family converged on the old schoolhouse to wish her all the best for the future and to celebrate her long association with the Broadford Historical Society and the town she has lived in all her life. Ruth is always our first human resource when we are conducting family history research. Her remarkable memory and her willingness to share her knowledge is very much appreciated by everybody, and especially the 'Wednesday regulars' at the schoolhouse. Ruth is perhaps best remembered for the book she wrote, with our assistance, entitled "When Broadford Was Young And So Was I". She has generously donated the profits from the book to the Historical Society. We have sold our 2 print-runs and unfortunately it is no longer available for purchase. You can find out more about the book below under the heading "Book Launch 15th December 2015". Mitchell Shire's Community Event of the Year for 2019 goes to Broadford Historical Society.31/10/2020
Congratulations to Mitchell Shire's 2020 Community Event of the Year, the Broadford and District Historical Society's Australia Day Exhibition 2019 entitled History of Australian Paper Manufacturers, Broadford.
Our Society was recognised at the Australia Day Awards and Citizenship Ceremony on Sunday. Hear all about it here. See the story under More at the top of this page, under the AUSTRALIA DAY heading
In late 2017 local radio station station OKR FM and Broadford & District Historical Society came together, and were successful in obtaining a grant to create a short series of broadcasts about the Broadford Courier newspaper. The download file below is of Russell Searle being interviewed in the first program of the series 
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