Holden museum seeks funding Snapshot of the past

Plans are on the table for a major expansion of the Trafalgar Holden Museum and Baw Baw Shire Council has been asked to assist.

Museum founder Neil Joiner presented a submission to council's recent special meeting to consider budget requests from community members.

Mr Joiner said the museum had plans to expand with the creation of a Holden Heritage Centre to house a permanent exhibition of more than 70 vehicles at the museum.

He said the project was expected to cost more than $550,000 and they were seeking $30,000 from council to assist with the construction.

"I know it's a substantial amount of money but it would be a massive tourism boost to this area. A lot of people come to our museum and say we didn't know Gippsland was so beautiful," he said.

The museum also has sought funding through the Regional Tourism Investment Fund. Mr Joiner said council's $30,000 contribution would help the museum to come up with the one to four funding ratio needed to secure the RTIF grant.

Mr Joiner said 65 volunteers supported the museum. Before COVID, he said the museum was on track to up to 15,000 visitors and year and the past three months indicated they were back on that track.

"Our mission is to display the history of Holden from 1859 to its sudden demise. Our collection has been assessed as having national significance and we want to grow that even further," he said.

Mr Joiner said the heritage centre project would give them room to expand the current collection. He said the blue house adjacent to the museum would be demolished and the new centre would be built onto the existing building.

A photograph of students gathered at Longwarry State School c1900.

In part two of the "Education in Longwarry" series, we reflect on schooling in the Longwarry district.

The Longwarry State School No. 2505 opened on July 1, 1882 in an 8.5 metre by 3.5 metre weatherboard building with a bark roof on the corner of Mackey St and Drouin Rd.

Parents and teacher Maria McBride argued that the building, owned by William Rhodes, was not suitable. By February 1884, the Education Board decided to build a new permanent school.

In May 1884, the department selected a site for a permanent school - exactly where it still stands today. A seven metre by five metre school with a three-room attached residence was built. By October 1885, the Longwarry children moved in.

Maria McBride was glad of her new school and remained in charge until 1894.

As an aside, getting kids to school was a big problem. A report from 1889, shows that 87 students were enrolled but barely half attended.

But what of the Rock Cutting School mentioned in part one of our series? The school was the first opened in the Longwarry district in 1880 at the railway workers camp about 1.5km east of the township.

Records show it was certainly still operating in 1885 with 17 pupils. However, the Board of Education wanted to close it and for the students to travel to Drouin.

This was not an acceptable alternative for the families. Travelling to Drouin was a very difficult trip, and almost impossible in the winter months.

The Rock Cutting School closed its doors in 1886 and presumably the children came into Longwarry. The Rock Cutting Camp would not have lasted long after this date anyway.

Photograph and information courtesy of the Longwarry and District History Group.

The history group focuses on history in the 3816 postcode, including Longwarry, Labertouche and Modella.

For further information, visit longwarry history.org.au.