A lot happens in a short space of time …

It was scary looking at the date of the last blog I posted for Geelong and District – FAR TOO LONG AGO!  But I have some good reasons …

• There have been TWO Geelong & District Historical Association quarterly meetings (the second was yesterday at Birregurra)
• I have done SIX presentations to various groups / events (including the Don Grant Memorial Lecture for VAFHO as part of the Family History Feast at the State Library of Victoria).
• I have moved house (after more than NINE years) AND managed to keep my nine largest bookcases full of books.  For a historian my new home is in the heart of historical Geelong – not the “new” Geelong on Corio Bay but the original old Geelong beside the Barwon River – the area now known as South Geelong – and it’s just beautiful.  I can’t wait for some warmer weather and longer daylight house to explore the area more on foot.
• And MOST importantly I have a fantastic full-time job (after 22 months of being unemployed).  My position is Administration Coordinator with Bellarine Memories / Kings Funerals.

So what does the picture above have to do with all of this?  A lot actually!

I mentioned that yesterday we had our Geelong & District Historical Association quarterly meeting at Birregurra – a picturesque and historic town at the foot of the Otways.  Our meetings are for representatives of family history societies, local history societies, and museums in our region.  They are great meetings and attendees can take all sorts of useful information and ideas back to the members of their own groups.  The beauty of these meetings – although we sometimes have a set topic for the second hour – is that you just don’t know what comes up in the “around the room” session – some fascinating, useful and informative items.  After our two hour meeting, we continue chatting over lunch – the traditional country “bring a plate” lunch.  That’s when I sampled the PURPLE CHIPS in the picture above.

The potatoes are specially grown by a local and after some enquiries I found out that the Provedore next door sold the chips – of course I had to purchase a packet (two in fact) before heading home – they were really yummy!  In this image, the Provedore and Cafe are on the left right beside the Birregurra Historical Centre on the right.

Although I will be adding HEAPS more information in my post-meeting newsletter, there was another important piece of news that I’ll share with you here.

Another one of our groups has a brand new web site – the Colac & District Historical Society Inc. – an attractive web site with plenty of information – hopefully you’ll all add it to your list of favourites / links.

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