April 2019

36 MEREDITH and DISTRICT NEWS
Forgotten Souls:
it’s history
Meredith History Interest Group
You are invited to the Meredith Cemetery on Sunday,
May 5 at 1.30 pm to discover the stories of the Forgotten
Souls who are buried in the outer reaches of the cemetery.
Fay McFarlane and Jan McDonald have been researching
and discovered some wonderful stories associated with
these people.
Annual Meeting:
The Annual Meeting was held on Sunday, March 3 at the
History Centre. Marg Cooper was elected President, Tony
Scott -Vice President, Jan Crump-Secretary, Fay
McFarlane -Treasurer and Jan McDonald, Paul Ryan and
Heather East elected to the committee. It was reported that
the project with Geelong Heritage Centre to index some of
the Meredith Rate Books has been completed and that
MHIG is about to issue its first Newsletter for members. If
you haven’t paid your membership, it is only $15 and can
be mailed to Treasurer, 5 Lawler Street, Meredith or
dropped in at the History Centre on a Thursday.
Sign and Seat:
After the Annual Meeting the new sign announcing
“Meredith History Interest Group” was unveiled by the
maker Anthony Hamilton Smith and one of our older
members, Lila East. It is now attached to the fence: being
both distinctive and attractive. The sign was funded by the
Golden Plains Shire as part of the Community Grant,
MHIG received in 2018.
We then proceeded to unveil the John (Jack) Nolan seat.
Marty Nolan spoke about the Nolan family and living at
Cargarie. Doug McFarlane spoke about their friendship
and John’s community involvement and Greg Peel spoke
about John and the Music Festival.
Mary Nolan, John’s wife, Marty, Doug and ‘Peelie’ lifted
the sheet to unveil the seat after Chris, John and Mary’s
son blinked. Mary Nolan then thanked MHIG and all who
came for the unveiling.
Kerrie Kruger described how her husband Peter used steel
wheels from the Nolan farm, batons from Henry Saffins
old shearing shed for the seat, metal from Ken Kilsby’s
farm for the back frame and a new sheet of metal for the
writing. The bluestone step in front of the seat was
originally from the Robbie Burns Hotel in gold rush
Buninyong. The seat sits proudly on the right lawn inside
the gate of the History Centre. Recently June and Neil
Cameron had their photo taken on the seat for their 62 nd
wedding anniversary.
The seat was funded from donations contributed at John’s
funeral and the first anniversary of his death.
Visit to sit on the seat or view the Wool Classing display
by Heather East
MADMAN PERISHES FROM
EXPOSURE.
MEREDITH, Friday. Mr. Henry
O'Brien, J.P., held an inquiry on
Thursday into the cause of death of a
man whose body was found in the
Bamganie forest reserve. The medical
evidence was that the cause of death
was exposure. The deceased was a
stranger to the district, and is
supposed to have left Melbourne by
steamer for Geelong on Wednesday,
August 21, on his way to Ballarat. He
was seen on August 24 camping on
the road near the Duke of Athol mine,
Bamganie, in company with a younger
man. On the night of the 25 th the man
became raving mad. He tore the tent
to pieces, and wandered up and down
the road, clad only in his shirt and
trousers. His mate watched him for
three or four hours and spent the rest
of the night at the Athol shaft. At
daylight the deceased was seen by a
miner making for the Crown lands,
and nothing more was heard of him
till his body was found by a
prospector. Death had apparently
taken place about 10 days prior. The
police searched his clothes but could
find nothing by which to identify him.
The Argus Monday 9 September 1901
Marg Cooper and Mary Nolan try out the “new historical” seat.