Fairy Lamps Promised at the Grand Moonlight Concert, 1897

The Moonee Valley Library Service has this leaflet advertising a Grand Moonlight Concert in the Recreation Reserve in Racecourse Road.  The concert, in support of the local library, would feature the Victorian Railways Military Band, the Flemington and Kensington Liedertafel AND beautiful fairy lamp illuminations.  Courtesy of the Community Heritage Collection, Sam Merrifield Library.  

The leaflet has been added to the Time Travellers website to further illustrate the fortunes of the Flemington and Kensington Free Public Library and Mechanics Institute.

Boy on a Bike

This is Bob Kent, a telegram boy in Queenscliff in 1923.  We do not as yet have a photo of a telegram boy from the local area - yet. Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria Collection.

Marilyn Kenny has spun us a wonderful new story, called A Boy on a Bike, about telegram boys and postmistresses in Ascot Vale, Moonee Ponds and Essendon.  In this story you will learn about the Essendon Postmistress who rode to work sidesaddle on a Shetland pony; a telegram boy who was highly commended by a customer for delivering a telegram (on foot) within two and a half hours of receiving it at the Essendon Post Office; and ponder the identity of the mysterious Miss Young, postmistress at the Moonee Ponds Post Office.

Don't forget, you can sign up to receive an email alert when there is something new added to the Time Travellers blog and website - see the panel on the right of this page.

Burke and Wills tree again

Courtesy of the Moonee Valley Library Service, HER-00102.

On the grounds that you can never have too many photos of the Burke and Wills tree in Moonee Ponds, this one has turned up in the Moonee Valley Library Service Community Heritage Collection which has lately gone online.

This one has a rural flavour to it with the horse and cow grazing quietly in the background.  The young trees look about the same size as in the photo taken in 1910, which is the year given also by the library.   I have added the photo to the article on the Burke and Wills tree in the Time Travellers website.

Is this Edward Webster Dodgshun of Moonee Ponds?

Most likely the Essendon Lacrosse Club circa 1914.  The man who may be Edward Webster Dodgshun is seated third from the left in the front row.

This photo shows a duffle bag in the foreground labelled E W Dodgshun. It is by no means certain that Dodgshun is in the photo, but the man with the arrow over his head looks similar to the man in the lacrosse team.

This detail from the above photo shows the head of the man possibly Dodgshun straightened for purposes of comparison.

The man in the lacrosse team  on the top photo who may be Dodgshun is evident in several other photos of the Woman Haters' Club.  He is shown to be quite tall in photos where he is standing, and Dodgshun's height according to his WW1 service record was 5 feet 11 and a half inches or 181.6 cm.

Here he is again, third from the left, taller than his friends at the Women Haters' Club.

These and other photos associated with the Woman Haters' Club, have been kindly loaned for scanning by Jenny Ryssenbeek, and will find their way onto the Time Travellers website in the next few weeks.  Identifying and dating the people in the photos will be a challenge, and I warmly welcome any assistance with this.

St Thomas' Church Choir, Essendon, circa 1912

St Thomas' Church Choir, Essendon,  circa 1912.

Help needed with identifications.  Go to Time Travellers to see a larger image and the identifications to date. (Not many!)

Moonee Ponds Central School 1922

Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria Collection, H2008.12/93

Moonee Ponds Central School, Grade 2, 1922 has been added to the Schools section of the Time Travellers website.  Get in touch if you can identify anyone.

Judy Allen's "Gay Social Chatter"

Melbourne's ladies brush up their tiaras for a Royal Ball, 1954

Although Judy Allen wrote a social column for the Essendon Gazette for thirty-five years, from 1947 to 1983, the highlight of her reportage was the Royal Visit in 1954.  For the most part Judy described the major social events of the City of Essendon, and the comings and goings of the people and what they wore for the occasion.  She also made a signficant contribution to charity work in Melbourne and Essendon. 

Follow the link to read Marilyn Kenny's story of Ada Alice Ely, known professionally as Judy Allen, JP, MBE, who became a  local institution.