Many of the trees have been cleared illegally or died due to dry conditions.
Louise Skidmore (third from left, second row) is among the residents who have been working to protect the butterfly.(Supplied: Louise Skidmore)none
Locals working to protect the butterfly said news was encouraging.
“It’s absolutely encouraging,” Louise Skidmore said.
Ms Skidmore set up a fenced area at Leyburn three years ago to allow the butterflies to breed safely.
“When we put our fence up these guys were endangered, now they’re critically endangered,” she said.
“It now shows just how important conservation is.”Dr Sands has been studying the bulloak jewel butterfly since it was first discovered in the late 1960s.(ABC News: Ann Jones)none
‘Temporary reprieve’
Despite the work to conserve the species, Dr Sands said climate change remained a major challenge because insects like the bulloak jewel butterfly were sensitive to rapid changes in temperature.
“I think it’s a temporary reprieve and I’m hopeful that it can survive those very desiccating conditions,” he said.
“The butterflies are adapted to only very limited temperature changes … if it gets too hot, they go into torpor and die.
“If it gets too cold they become sterile.”
Dr Sands said the butterfly’s habitat needed to be protected if it was to survive.
“It’s a very ancient butterfly, in historic terms — it’s probably one of the oldest that we’ve got of Australian origin,” he said.
“We’re very keen to see that living fossil, if you like, continue its life in that area.”Many of the bulloak trees near Leyburn have been cleared or died from drought.(ABC News: Ann Jones)none
Wildlife experts are also calling for increased protection of habitats.
“Very simple things like removing rubbish from sites, preventing illegal removal of trees, cutting down trees for firewood or for whatever other reason, that’s a big issue,” Australian National University entomologist Michael Bumby said.
“There needs to be more education and local landholders and people to get on board that this species is worth investing in.”
Ms Skidmore said it was worth the fight.
“It can’t survive without the ant, and the ant can’t survive without the mistletoe, and they’ve managed to survive,” she said.
FEATURED ABC NATURE & ENVIRONMENT NEWS REPORT
Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external sites or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram:https://t.me/acenewsdaily and thanks for following as always,I appreciate every like reblog or retweet and comment thank you
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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Apr.17: 2023:
#AceHistoryDesk – Faith Thomas, the first Indigenous Australian to play in a recognised Test match for Australia, has died at the age of 90.
Faith Thomas is one of four Indigenous Australians to have played Test cricket.(Supplied: SACA via Getty Images )none
Note to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: Thomas’s family have granted permission to use her name and images.
Renowned as one of the fastest bowlers in the women’s game, Thomas played her first and only Test for Australia against England at Melbourne’s Junction Oval in 1958.
Thomas remains one of just four Indigenous Australians to have played in Test for Australia, alongside Jason Gillespie, Ash Gardner and Scott Boland.
“Faith Thomas made a wonderful and groundbreaking contribution to cricket and the community, and this is a very sad day for all those fortunate to have known her or who were touched by her many accomplishments,” Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said.
As the first Aboriginal woman to represent Australia in Test cricket, Faith was an inspiration to those who have followed and she leaves an indelible mark on the game.
“Faith’s work in the community in many roles including as a nurse and midwife was also immense, and the care and compassion she displayed for the many people she helped was truly remarkable.
“On behalf of everyone across Australian Cricket, I offer my heartfelt condolences to Faith’s family, friends, teammates and all those who have benefited from her vast contribution to Australian life.”
Thomas was born in Nepabunna in 1933, was a survivor of the Stolen Generations and was raised at Colebrook Home in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges.
Outside of cricket, she was one of the first Aboriginal college graduates in the country and one of the first Indigenous nurses in South Australia.
South Australian Cricket Association president William Rayner said her impact was impossible to measure.
“Faith Thomas’s story is as inspiring as it is incredible,” he said.
“A brilliantly unique and successful cricketer, Aunty Faith’s journey was never simply about personal achievement – instead she always sought ways to improve the lives of others.
Aunty Faith will be greatly missed, but such is the impact she has had on this country, she will forever be remembered and honoured for the way she lived her life.”
In 2019, Thomas was awarded the Order of Australia for her services to cricket and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
ABC AUSTRALIAN HISTORY NEWS REPORT
Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and comment thank you
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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Apr.16: 2023:
#AceHistoryDesk – A historical society in Melbourne’s east is racing to preserve thousands of photographs that were almost destroyed in a freak accident.
The Box Hill Historical Society’s archives hold more than 100 years of history.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)none
The Box Hill Historical Society’s collection came close to destruction in April last year, after rewiring works in the town hall building caused a humidifier to malfunction, increasing the humidity levels within the archive’s rooms to nearly 90 per cent.
Lead archivist Helen Harris had stopped by the archive on a Saturday and found condensation dripping through the building and paint beginning to melt.
“It’s every archivist’s worst nightmare, to open a door and find condensation running down the walls,” she said.
“I think I lost 10 years just looking at it.
“We had stuff spread out in other rooms [to dry]. It’s an entire archive, it’s too much to take out.”Much of the archive’s material is yet to be catalogued and digitised. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)none
Whitehorse City Council paid for a conservator to review the damage, who confirmed how close the archive was to being lost.
Had the fault been discovered a day or two later, the delicate documents, papers and photographs of the archive would have been destroyed beyond repair.One of the photos in the archive showing a performance of the Box Hill Ballet Group, date unknown.(Supplied: Box Hill Historical Society)none
The digitisation drive will become part of Victoria Collections, a state-wide catalogue that is available online, run by Museums Victoria as a record of Victoria’s past.
As an area rich in history ranging from the traditional owners, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, early European settlement in the 1830s, to the migration boom of Chinese-Australians in the last few decades, the treasures within the archive are numerous.
The rapid development has prompted organisations like the volunteer-based Box Hill Historical Society to redouble their efforts to preserve the history of the area.
Box Hill residents face a battle to preserve the area’s heritage as the suburb continues to grow. / (Supplied)
Gathering from the last century
Founded in 1963, the society works to preserve the local history of Box Hill, Mont Albert, Burwood and surrounding areas.
“Some of the images we get are in very poor condition — they’ve been stuck in someone’s back shed, for example,” Ms Harris said.
“It’s not just a matter of scanning them, it’s working with them and removing the blemishes, tears, the spots, the drops, whatever.”Helen Harris is the lead archivist and secretary of the Box Hill Historical Society.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)none
“Old photographs can deteriorate fairly rapidly if they’re not kept in archival condition. And most of the stuff we get is not kept in archival conditions,” she said.
“There are still albums and albums that we haven’t even catalogued yet, so there’s lots and lots of work to do.”
The photographs range from school photos, beauty pageants, and ballet shows to unusual council records of a changing suburb.
“In the 1980s, when a lot of Box Hill houses were being demolished, a council employee went around with a Polaroid camera documenting houses being destroyed,” Harris explained.
“That’s the sort of more unusual things we have.”
Other materials found in the collection include a carte de visite, a tiny business-card-sized, hand-coloured photograph stuck onto cardboard and generally shared among friends and family.
Some documents are more than a century old and highlight demographic and cultural shifts over the decades, as well as changing fashions and technology.
One archived item from the 1950s depicts an advertisement for the first Chinese restaurant in the area. Decades later, about 60 per cent of residents currently living in the Whitehorse council area born overseas and about half of that number were born in China.An advertisement from January 1958, promoting what is believed to be the first Chinese cafe in Box Hill. (Supplied: Box Hill Historical Society)none
Preserving the record
John Gothorp is a photographic archivist whose work to conserve and digitise the society’s archive has been enabled by a $14,500 grant from the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) Community Projects Fund.
Mr Gothorp said the sheer amount of material, combined with the slow and meticulous process to scan, photograph or otherwise record what is in the collection, would take months to work through.The Heinz Baby Show in Box Hill, 1960.(Supplied: Box Hill Historical Society)none
“We’re getting the low-hanging fruit first. What we can do on a flatbed scanner, we will, which is what we’re mostly doing now. Anything large format, we’ll be using a Hasselblad camera to retake the photos rather than using a drum scan,” he said.
“It’s so fleeting. If you don’t record this stuff it’ll disappear really, really quickly. It’s amazing how quick history goes.”
Mr Gothorp said the photos showed a wide variety of people from the 1880s onwards.
“There’s a fair range. Photos back in the day were quite rare, so they tried to make them count,” he said.
“You see the same personalities, faces, et cetera. The dresses and props change, but the people don’t.”One of the oldest photos in the collection, depicting an Easter picnic at Sandringham in 1887.(Supplied: Box Hill Historical Society)none
Harris described the funding from SRL to catalogue and preserve the collection of photographs as “just wonderful”.
Whitehorse City Council Mayor Mark Lane said it was important the community’s stories could be accessible in the future.
“The City of Whitehorse is a vibrant, multicultural community,” he said.
“It is important to recognise our diverse, unique history and preserve local stories for future generations to appreciate.”
FEATURED ABC HISTORY NEWS REPORT
Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of the external sites or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram:https://t.me/acenewsdaily.Thanks for following. As always, I appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and comment. Thank you
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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Apr.16: 2023:
#AceHistoryDesk – By all accounts, it was a typical hot December day in 1991, when all the fire fighters of Tullibigeal raced from the town with their fire-fighting equipment in tow.
The Bedford truck was already old when it helped save the town of Tullibigeal in 1991.(ABC News: Hugh Hogan)none
” We had a big bushfire out of town on a farm and all of our men were out there with a bushfire truck,” local Maxine Imrie said.
Ms Imrie vividly remembers that dry and windy day, as another grassfire started on the edge of the tiny town in central-west NSW while its fire fighters were away.
“We had a bunch of women and kids and a couple of fellas trying to put this grass fire out with wet bags and buckets of tank water,” she said.
Ms Imrie remembers “a very senior gentleman, Mr Tom Glasgow” — a local mechanic — arriving with an old Bedford fire truck.
The vehicle was the town’s fire truck from the 1960s onwards but fell into disuse as more modern options became available.
“We got [the truck] going — but thankfully, a crew from Ungarie coming through … [and] helped us put the fire out,” she said.Maxine Imrie said forming an all-female fire brigade was empowering for the women of Tullibigeal.(Supplied: Maxine Imrie)none
The close call prompted the women of Tullibigeal to take fire-fighting matters into their own hands.
About eight them got together and trained themselves on the Bedford truck and formed a women’s brigade.
A tribute to the women’s brigade
The old Bedford fire truck is need of a thorough service but the town is keen to save it.(ABC News: Hugh Hogan)none
The small town, of just over 200 people, is now determined to restore the truck for future generations.
The truck is owned by the Lachlan Shire Council, but is too old for use and has been sitting in a shed gathering dust
“It’s affectionately known now as ‘the ladies truck’ because of the deeds of the ladies in 91,” local Doug Taruffund said.The old truck was the only fire fighting asset left in town when the fire started.(ABC News: Hugh Hogan)none
Mr Turriff is working to preserve the history of the ladies truck, as well as the truck itself.
The council recently secured a $125,000 grant to put the Bedford on display.
“It’s a tribute to them as well to the ingenuity of the ladies to train themselves and get up to scratch on how to use it,” Mr Turiff said.
‘We were kind of trailblazers’
As it became more common for women to become regular RFS members, the women’s brigade dissolved.
But Ms Imrie said learning to fight fires with the old truck was empowering.The old Bedford truck is currently gathering cobwebs at the fire station.(ABC News: Hugh Hogan)none
She eventually went on to become a bushfire captain and president of the local bushfire brigade.
“It was a time when women weren’t really involved in the bushfire [fighting] movement,” she said.
“It was a time when women made sandwiches and … went, ‘No, we’re not going to do that.'”
Ms Imrie said in the early 90s, the women’s brigade caused a buzz and was offered lots of opportunities for training.
“I think we were kind of trailblazers … and I know that what we were trying to do created a lot of interest,” she said.
“It gave a bunch of girls another interest in a very isolated community.”
ABC AUSTRALIAN HISTORY NEWS REPORT
Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and comment thank you
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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Apr.09: 2023:
#AceHistoryDesk – In an unassuming terrace house in a quiet street, in a quaint country town in New South Wales, hangs an extraordinary collection of enchanting theatrical costumes.
Julie Hancock is preparing to bring Little Shop of Horrors to the Wellington stage.(ABC Western Plains: Zaarkacha Marlan)none
This is the home of the Wellington Amateur Theatrical Society, which first entertained patrons in 1910.
Some of these costumes are more than 100 years old, and to walk between the racks of vintage clothing is like taking a stroll through Oklahoma!, a skip down the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz, or a scamper through the streets of 1930s New York with Annie.
Now, as newly minted director Julie Hancock prepares to present Little Shop of Horrors to the residents of Wellington, on the state’s Central Western Slopes, she’s hoping to find inspiration among these outfits.
The Wellington Amateur Theatrical Society has been performing since 1910. (ABC Western Plains: Zaarkacha Marlan)none
You can look around, and pretty much any show we’ve done over the last 100 years is represented here in our little costume house,” Julie said.
“The ladies that run this costume house, if you ask for something, they can go and put their hand exactly on it, which I find incredible because there’s so much stuff.”
Behind the curtain
The society is made up of volunteers, and for many years theatre in Wellington comprised two groups, the Wellington Drama group and the Wellington Musical Society.
Throughout the 1930s the two groups operated as one, putting on the musical production ofHigh Jinks in 1930 and a drama production in 1934 calledIt Pays to Advertise.Julie says being part of a theatre group teaches people lifelong skills.(ABC Western Plains: Zaarkacha Marlan)none
By May 1994, both groups had officially merged to become the Wellington Amateur Theatrical Society — also known as WATS.
For the first time in more than a century, the society was forced to cancel its productions in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19.
Despite the setbacks, the society has remained strong and dedicated to its mission, returning in 2022 with the performance of The Sound of Rodgers and Hammerstein.
“Peter Panwas one that they’re still talking about,” Julie reminisces.
“It’s funny, I meet kids that were in Peter Pan and are now going to university and they remember it so fondly.
“That’s why it’s so important we keep going, because you give those children a bit of a taste of showbiz, who knows what might happen.”
Lifelong skills
For Julie and many other members of the society, the experience of being part of a production is more than just a hobby. It’s an opportunity to develop skills that are useful both on and off stage.
“I remember I did a lot of amateur theatre when I was younger. But then when I went into the business world, it’s the same thing,” she said.
“A good manager is like a good director, and he or she knows how to get the best out of a group of people.
“So you do take those skills you learn, like teamwork, into the wider world.”My Fair Lady was a popular production in 1982.(ABC Western Plains: Zaarkacha Marlan)none
Keeping the show going
Beyond personal development, the society plays an important role in fostering a love for the performing arts in the community.
“It’s like being part of a great soccer or football team, you’ve basically got a group of people with one aim, and that’s to put on a show at the end of it.
“But there’s three months of really hard work to get to that point, and for some it’s that first sense of going through that process.
“Then there’s the accomplishment of that end result, and who doesn’t love a whole audience clapping and cheering at the end. It doesn’t matter what age you are, it’s fantastic.”The cast of Everything Goes which was put on by the Wellington Amateur Theatrical Society in 1997.(ABC Western Plains: Zaarkacha Marlan)none
However, the society is always in need of fresh faces to help keep the show going.
“No matter if it’s us, or if it’s the Wellington Race Club or the Art Society, having a strong volunteer committee is crucial to it happening,” Julie explained.
“If the next generation doesn’t come through, then it doesn’t happen, we don’t exist.”
ABC FEATURED NEWS REPORT
Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and comment thank you
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