Discover your past in Wycheproof

The War Heritage Roadshow, Caring for Collections Day
 at Mount Wycheproof Museum
 A free event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of WWI armistice.
Find out the story behind some of your family history treasures and learn how to care for your precious memorabilia from experts from Melbourne University at this special event at the Wycheproof Community Museum, Mount St, Wycheproof on Monday 20 November.
Marion Parker is one of the experts to visit Wycheproof. Marion, a textile conservator, she worked on conserving the Wycheproof Autograph Flag. She will be joined by Jude Fraser a senior conservator with expertise in preservation of paper documents and photographs.
These experts will be on hand to appraise items and memorabilia from all modern conflicts from WWI, WWII, Vietnam and middle east theatres. No weapons or munitions.
Two sessions are offered:

• In the morning, from 10am to 1pm, experts can advise and discuss conservation of artefacts, textiles and uniforms, and ephemera including prints, photographs and documents.
• The afternoon session, from 2pm to 4pm join a 'how to' workshop on storing, cleaning and researching military history.

For information see the website and see this link to book your time with the experts. Or search for War Heritage Roadshow 2017.
Your local contacts are Elaine Storey phone 03 54 937 525 or Maureen McKersie phone 03 54 937 592.

Vietnam Framed

In his speech at the ANZAC Day service, Paul Haw had mentioned that his father had bought him a camera when he was called up for National Service in 1967. “Dad had said, they are taking Minolta cameras to the moon”, and so we went to Bendigo and bought one and I took mine to Vietnam, he said.

During his time he captured on film fellow soldiers at work and Vietnamese villagers and their daily activities. From that time he amessed a body-of-work of around 500 photographs and, with his wife Cathie, has put together 70 framed photographs in an exhibition ‘Vietnam framed’.

The exhibition is a collaborative undertaking between Wycheproof RSL sub-branch, Wycheproof Historical Society and Boort Development Committee. It is open at the Court House, High St, Wycheproof, Sunday to Friday until 7 May.  

There are photographs of Vietnamese school children and children at work getting water from a well repaired by Australian soldiers, juxtaposed with himself on a Howitzer gun, Chinook and Huey helicopters, piles of shell casings, tangled barbed wire and other detritus of war. Each photograph is captioned and tells but a snippet of the story of men named Peter, Steve, Shorty and Jock; perspectives of war in the jungle, and village life in rural Vietnam.

He said the photos and captions and the work collating the exhibition were a release for him and helped him emotionally. This record of life has also helped families of Vietnam veterans. He recalled one family whose father had returned from the Vietnam War broken emotionally and spiritually. Paul said he had met the man’s daughter and was able to provide photos of his time in Vietnam to show her and her family that at one time he had been a happy man. 

The Minolta camera is part of the exhibition, as too are letters saved by his mother. In opening the exhibition Mr Haw said that he had received letters daily from his large extended family, he had 57 first cousins and 20 aunties who all wrote to him, but when evacuated from Vietnam he had burned all those letter. When he arrived home his mother presented him with a package, she had kept every letter he had written to her.  

ANZAC Day 2017 RSL Wycheproof Branch speaker Paul Haw and photographic exhibition

A Gunner’s view of Vietnam remembered

With his Minolta AL-F camera, Gunner Paul Haw took hundreds of photos after being called up to National Service in 1967 to serve in Vietnam. On ANZAC Day he will tell his story at the Wycheproof Branch RSL service in Centenary Park at 11.00am and at 1.30pm an exhibition of 70 photographs will be opened at the Courthouse in High St.

     The photographs are an essay, telling the story of his time with his battalion and depicting life in rural Vietnam during the war.

     His service in Vietnam was cut short in a minefield on Good Friday 1968, when two mates died and he was one of five injured.  Paul Haw returned to Australia and home to Boort where the environmentalist and historian has since run a family business and co-authored a history, ‘Footprints across the Loddon Plains’.

    The exhibition will be open Sunday to Friday 10am to 4pm for two weeks, last day will be Sunday 7 May. For further information phone Mobile 0409 937 525 or 03 5493 7525, or   see the Wycheproof Historical Society newsletter at,  http://wycheproofhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com.au/

Anzac Day 2015 - WW1 Exhibition Opening

Locals and visitors enjoying the exhibition on Anzac day

There was a fantastic turn out for the opening of the WW1 display at the old primary school museum on Anzac day.  There has been a great deal of work done by our small team in the lead up to the event, so it was wonderful to see it enjoyed by so many and hear all the positive feedback.

Thank you to all who attended. The exhibition is now open by appointment for those who couldn't make it or would like to have another sticky beak, please contact Elaine and Len Storey on (03)54937525 or Mick and Pam Giddings on (03)54937227.


  

Len Storey, Mick Giddings, Maureeen McKersie, Adrian Jorgenson, Elaine Storey and Ainslie Pym alongside the restored  1918 autograph flag.

Mount Wycheproof Community Museum

The old Primary School building which now houses the Wycheproof community museum.

The Mount Wycheproof community museum is currently in development stage, featuring items relating to local history with themes such as the King of the Mount, our local churches, agriculture, the Shire of Wycheproof, and local businesses.

We are volunteer run and open every Wednesday 1:30 - 3:30pm from the 7th of January 2015 onwards, or if you would like to arrange a visit at another time please contact Elaine and Len Storey on (03)54937525 or Mick and Pam Giddings on (03)54937227.


Wycheproof and district brass band instruments.

We believe these instruments date back to the very early days of the Wycheproof brass band, we hope to gather some stories relating to their history shortly, if you have any information feel free to drop us a line.

Mervyn John's uniform and memorabilia.

We are currently preparing an exhibition for the centenary of the Great War and are seeking photographs and information on local servicemen and women. If you have any information or images of interest please contact Elaine Storey on elainestorey@bigpond.com

Autograph Flag commemorating WWI volunteers from Wycheproof & District

The Autograph flag that commemorates WWI volunteers was created by the local Patriotic Guild, a group of women who raised money to send parcels of food, clothing and food to soldiers on the front in Europe during WWI.

The embroidered silk flag has a red background with cream embroidered lettering. On one side is listed the names of all the soldiers who enlisted from our area and on the other side the names of the volunteer women and those who had donated to the Patriotic Guild fund during war period.
The flag is colourful and shows our links to Britain.

The Autograph flag was originally presented to the Shire of Wycheproof and was later stored away and virtually forgotten until rescued by local historian Mancel Giddings around 20 years ago.

With the ANZAC Centenary imminent a grant was received from the Department of Veteran's Affairs to restore and conserve this beautiful flag, lovingly created by the women of Wycheproof. The flag is currently being restored by a team at the University of Melbourne and is expected to be returned to Wycheproof in the next six months. The flag will then be housed in the Wycheproof Community Museum, located in the historic primary school on Mount St.