Port of Yamba Historical Society
winter
22
newsletter
page 1
We acknowledge the Yaegl people as the traditional custodians of the land on which Yamba Museum is located and recognise their continuing connection to Country. We pay respect to Yaegl Elders past, present and emerging.
Greetings and welcome to winter, as well as to the latest edition of the Yamba Historical Society newsletter. As the cold months settle in, we invite you to unwind while we bring you the latest updates, events and historical insights from our society. Expect fascinating stories, important dates and upcoming activities. We hope you find this newsletter enjoyable and informative.
President's Report
40th Ruby Birthday Anniversary
On Saturday 28th June we’ll celebrate the official opening of Yamba Museum, 40 years ago in March 1985. The planning group has been working for many months on a very special occasion and exhibition in the Old Kirk for members and our community in general. This exhibition will feature a newly created gigantic birthday cake fashioned by Susan Ong and her team, with new donations to our collection from Deb McCredie of Yamba Cinema taking a central position in the birthday’s theme of 40 Years in Pictures. By now, you will have received emails about the Open Day, starting from 10am and including a Devonshire Tea from 1pm, followed by official speeches and opening of the exhibition. There are several achievements to honour from this 40 year period so I’m very much looking forward to celebrating with you.
Due to the intensive workload in preparing for this celebration our next Members Meeting will NOT be held on the advertised date of Friday 14 June – instead we’ll announce the new date at the AGM on Friday 8 August and in the next newsletter.
New Committee Member
I was very excited to welcome Sue Hughes as a Committee member at our Monday 12th May Committee meeting. Sue has returned to live permanently in Yamba and her experience, enthusiasm and strong work ethic will add much to our current range of skills and expertise in managing the Society. She will be known to many members from her time as a Councillor.
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Sue has already been active in promoting the Society as she volunteered along with Brenda Salisbury and Graeme East to organise and staff a market stall at the recent SongBird event on Saturday 24 May in Coldstream Street - many thanks to all three.
I would also like to sincerely thank VP Jan Angelo for acting as President while I was travelling overseas during April and May. Jan successfully managed many issues while continuing to lead the Collection Team.
The position of Secretary is still vacant. If you feel you could contribute and would like to chat to me about the role, please contact me via the Society’s email: yambamuseumnsw@gmail.com.
New publication
At last I can announce that a new Society publication has been finalised and will be available for sale in our Bookshop: Yamba Across Two World Wars 1914-1945, compiled by John McNamara, PYHS research officer. John has spent more than two and a half years researching and cross-checking information from numerous sources to provide us with details of developments in Yamba from the start of World War I to the end of World War II. This new book of 242 pages covering 19 chapters is the third title in the series and follows on from Yamba – The Next Thirty Years (2016). It will cost $40, with members benefitting from their 10 percent discount. Congratulations to John for his dedication in continuing to record our history and also to Denise Patten for her patience and creative digital design skills in enlivening the information.​​
Committee Members 2024 - 2025
Lesley Pickering (President), Jan Angelo (Vice President), Kerry Hulm (Treasurer), Anne Dinham
Phil Cousemacker, Sue Hughes, Margaret Lawrence, Jude McBean and Brenda Salisbury
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Back Then ... 1988
In view of the upcoming 40th birthday celebrations for the official opening of Yamba Museum in 1985, it is appropriate that we include a photo of the building as it was in the 1980s. The last newsletter contained a selection of early photographs including the building as it was on its former site on the Golf Course and the building being relocated to its present site in 1982.
This delightful photograph, taken in about 1988, has only recently been discovered amongst a collection of 35mm slides that was uncovered by the Collection Team.
The red roofed building in the right foreground is “Lily Amba” located at No. 46 Yamba Street. The photograph was taken from immediately behind “Lily Amba”, perhaps from the roof of the shed at the rear of No. 46 or, more likely, with a zoom lens from the “Green Dolphin” at No. 25 Queen Street.
Birrungan Lodge can be seen in the left foreground with the old Palmers Channel bridge and Pilot Station flagstaff in Story Park. The Golf Club shed, which was actually within the bounds of the existing Museum site, was not removed until a few years later.
At the time of the photograph, the Museum building consisted of the Entrance Room/Library and the Clarence/School/File Room (being the Bowling Club building that was moved to the Golf Course in 1960), together with a small extension on the western side of the building to house the toilet area.
Rob Knight
28/02/2025
Interesting Surprise
As the Society’s Collection Team works their way through an audit of the collection items, they continue to uncover unusual items of interest. They recently discovered a box containing a stereoscope viewer and a number of glass plate stereo positive slides and glass plate negatives. Although incorrectly labelled, the collection item had previously been accessioned so the provenance is known but little further detail was available about the images themselves.
The box was the property of Robert Aitken Bell (1862 – 1919) who was the Manager of the North Coast Steam Navigation Company from 1900 until 1911 and Managing Director until his death in 1919. It was donated in 2008 by Robert Bell’s granddaughter. Unfortunately, the reference to the NCSN Company is the only real connection between this collection item and the area of interest to Yamba Museum. The glass plate negatives are mostly unidentified family photographs and, as such, offer little or no interest at all. The glass plate stereo positives, however, were mostly labelled and included the photographer’s initials so further investigation was warranted. An example is shown here.
The initials are those of Arthur Dumas Whitling (1876 – 1973). Arthur was a NSW civil servant and an active member of the NSW Photographic Society. He enlisted for war service in July 1915 and details of this service can be obtained from the Australian War Memorial, which is acknowledged for the source of this information1. Before the war, Arthur obtained a Verascope stereoscopic camera and used it to acquire images of events such as the visit of the American ‘Great White Fleet’ in August 1908, Sydney University’s Commemoration Day of 1910, the SS Canonbar aground near Lismore in 1911, embarkation images, views of Egypt and England from 1915 to 1918, views of Gallipoli and Anzac Cove, including the May 1915 Armistice to bury the Turkish dead, the Prince of Wales’ visit to Australia in 1920 and Bradman at the 5th Test Match, SCG, in 1933.
In the Society’s collection there are five boxes of stereo slides containing images of golfing, Sydney University Commemorations 1910, shipping, North Coast road trip of 1911, First NSW Expeditionary Force and other miscellaneous and travel items.
The example shown here is a view of Lismore taken from what was the Ballina Road in 1911, not far from the present-day Lismore Heights Lookout. The centre of the view contains the area enclosed by Leycester, Orion and Hunter Streets. On close inspection, the Cathedral can be discerned to the right of Leycester Street near the centre of the photograph.
Rob Knight
28/02/2025
RIVER OF LEARNING
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River of Learning Art Show -Living Along the River
The Maclean High School Art Show has been running for several years; it is another way we can connect positively with primary schools in the transition of Year 6 students to secondary education in 2026. The Art Show is a project that runs through Reconciliation Week as a way of inviting the community to view art works on the very spot where many of our Elders and their families lived as children. This year
we have asked the students to depict Living Along the River, as the theme for this year’s exhibition.
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Australia’s history of reconciliation is not a linear one, we have made great strides and experienced disappointing setbacks.
Twenty-five years ago, Corroboree 2000 brought together Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander and non-Indigenous leaders in a historic call for reconciliation. We continue that work in 2025, inviting all Australians to join us in Bridging Now to Next – building a more
united and respectful nation.
The dates for National Reconciliation Week remain the same each year; 27th May – 10th June .
These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey- the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively. Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
This exhibition was held in the Old Kirk for from Monday 26h May – 6th June, 2025
Consider Volunteering ?
Come and be a volunteer at your museum. Meet like-minded pepole, build new skills, have fun and create connections within a vibrant and dynamic cultural environment. Embrace the chance to be a part of something meaningful and make a difference by becoming a dedicated volunteer at your museum .
Call Bev today for a chat or send an email.
Mobile: 049 958 8137 Email: bevmans67@gmail.com
Jan and Meredith researching the museum's collection