Genealogical Society

The West Gippsland Genealogical Society will hold its next meeting on Thursday, March 26.

Guest speaker, Gavin Dwyer, will present The Dwyer family.

Ruth Burleigh presented ‘Living History’ at last month’s meeting. The project was something Ruth always wanted to do. At the time she was completing a course at the Melbourne School of Art and Photography (MSAP). Part of the requirements of the course was to complete a major project. Ruth’s idea was to photograph the many volunteers in the Neerim District to acknowledge their tireless contribution to the community. 2001 was the year of the volunteer. Ruth photographed 60 volunteers and prepared for an exhibition which was held at the Algie Hall at Neerim South.

A huge crowd turned out for the official opening. The exhibition then went to Melbourne to the Tacit Gallery. It then came back to the West Gippsland Arts Centre.

In January, 2002, Lions Club member, David Green, asked Ruth if she would consider creating a book to preserve all these images and Ruth decided she would do this. Ruth needed to revisit all the volunteers to obtain further information. Many interesting stories of how and why they came to the area Ruth was able to put into the book. So much history.

The book was launched and a further exhibition of the images was held in November, 2002, at the West Gippsland Arts Centre.

The society will host ‘The Freemasons and Family History’ event on Saturday, March, 28 from 12.45pm, at the Nilma North and Lillico Memorial Hall, 488 Bloomfield Road, Nilma North. Rob Hamilton, who has spent more than 48 years researching and building his collection,