The Yass and District Historical Society Inc. are set to host their Archives Open Day this weekend, Saturday 15 April, to allow the public to come in and see their collection.
After their recent urgent relocation from the Soldiers Memorial Hall to the former ambulance station at 88 Meehan Street, Yass, it created considerable interest in the local community as well as further afield.
During their move, passers-by were astounded to see the extent of the collection that is now housed in the area formerly occupied by ambulances.
The old ambulance station is only a temporary location as the Yass Historical Society search for a permanent home for the collection by the end of June next year.
If you have ever wondered what their local archives contain, you are invited to join the Yass Historical Society for a short, guided tour of their storage area on Saturday between 11am to 3pm, with tours on the hour.
Admission to the tours is free, but they do welcome donations. Tickets in the Historical Society’s wood raffle, which will be drawn on May 2nd, will also be available.
Cheryl Mongan, President of the Yass and District Historical Society Inc. spoke to The Times about the upcoming open day.
“When we were moving, people who were going past or were quite aghast at the amount of material that we were moving. So, we decided that to make the community more aware of what we hold, that we will have an open day,” Mongan said.
“There will be tours starting on the hour, just for people to come and have a walk through that storage area, to see what we’ve actually got.
“We’ll have some of the interesting things in the collection out on display that people will be able to look at.
“Because it’s coming up to Anzac Day, there will be a few objects relating to local men who were in the First World War.
“We will be displaying a lot of unusual things as well, like the original plans and things of the Memorial Hall.
“We’ve got records relating to early entertainment in the Yass area. There are things like programs from concerts and lots of photographs.
“It’s free admission, but we’re very happy to take donations because the society actually has to fundraise to keep the roof over our head.
“We pay for electricity and computers and all these sorts of things. We maintain the cost of all this, so we do welcome donations this particular opening day.”
People can turn up on the hour to arrive for the following tour, with groups set to an approximate limit of 15 each.
“We would really welcome people to come and actually see what is there, so they have a better appreciation of the importance of the archive.
“There’s virtually 200 years’ worth of records that we’ve accumulated, and we hold records for more than 50 local organisations over the years, dating back from fairly early community groups right up to the present.
“The groups actually lodge their records with us for safekeeping.”
Tim Warren
