HORSHAM Historical Society will mark its 60th year with a dinner for past and present members and those that helped along the way.
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Society president Rod Jenkinson said the event at 6pm on Wednesday at the Mechanics Institute on Pynsent Street would preempt the official anniversary by a few days.
The society was founded on May 13, 1957 with 10 inaugural members and membership set at 5 shillings.
“My great uncle Vernon Carter was one of the founding members of the society,” Mr Jenkinson said.
“We have 91 members at the moment, plus life members.
“Our collection includes 30,000 pictures, negatives, film, slides, newspapers and almost 1000 objects.”
The society has found newspaper clippings from 1951 noting the lack of a historical society in Horsham.
The issue was raised after a member of the Australasian Locomotive and Historical Society had difficulty finding information about the McKenzie Creek Quarry tramline.
“It was also written at the time that Horsham might not need a historical society,” Mr Jenkinson said.
These days the most common inquiry at the historical society is from people trying to look up their family history.
One of the society’s latest acquisitions was a box of contract books for the construction of a dam at Wartook from 1885 to 1889.
The books contained handwritten details such as the cost of a pump at Dooen and the channel at Kalkee.
“They’ve got the water depths and temperatures as well,” Mr Jenkinson said.