The time Tonny boomed
TONGALA began to boom when returning World War I soldiers established farms under the Soldier Settlement Scheme.
The town’s public hall will now host a large display of memorabilia from the war in the exhibition starting on Wednesday.
Coinciding with Anzac Day tomorrow and Damian Callinan’s one-man show The Lost WWI Diary on May 5, the Tongala World War I and Soldier Settler Display will present a swag of items and information about soldier settlers and local history.
‘‘This display will contain extracts from the Melbourne’s Old Treasury Building “Soldier On” Exhibition highlighting stories about WWI soldier settlers, supported by displays from the Tongala RSL SubBranch, Tongala Family and Local History Group, Tongala Aged Care and from local family collections,’’ Tongala Community Activities Centre coordinator Jessica Dunstan said.
‘‘The exhibition will also highlight both the contribution of Tongala’s diggers to the war as well as the mainly city based returned soldiers, who relocated to take advantage of the government’s Soldier Settler scheme.
‘‘And in spite of much hardship these soldiers contributed to Tongala and district’s growth and the expansion of the local dairying and horticultural industries.’’
The exhibition will run until Friday, May 12 in the hall supper room at 94 Mangan St, Tongala.
It is open 9am-3pm Monday to Friday, entry is free and light refreshments will be available.
‘‘We will be opening special days on the weekends and a longer evening during the week so keep an eye out on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ tongalacommunitycentre/ for these extra times,’’ Jessica said.