Gunning & District Historical Society

WW1: Alchin Parents Who Farewelled Their Sons by Garry Norman Smith Louisa & Albert Alchin  (Doug Langdon, via Ancestry.com.au) Albert Noah Alchin did not see his son go to The Great War. Albert died in 1913, before war was  declared. His wife Louisa Susannah Alchin was the next-of-kin for their sons, Arthur Montague Alchin, when he enlisted in 1916 at Goulburn. Louisa Susannah Alchin was also the sister of a Great War soldier. Frank Henry Borman shared the same fate as Arthur Montague Alchin; both were killed in action on the Western Front. Arthur left a grieving mother; Frank left a saddened sister. Albert Noah Alchin & Louisa Susannah Alchin nee Borman (Debbie Longhurst) Albert Noah (Bert) Alchin was a teacher for some years. He was born in Araluen in 1870, the eldest son of Charles and Mary Alchin (nee Stear). He attended Chain of Ponds Public School. At the age of 21 years he began a career in teaching. In 1892, while living in Gunning, he was instructed to take...

Two treadle sewing machines with a Touch of Old World Charm This post covers two nineteenth-century sewing machines displayed in “A Touch of Old World Charm” exhibition in the folk museum in Pye Cottage, Gunning, New South Wales.  They are the Singer Sphinx and the Beale. Two hand-operated machines donated to Gunning and District Historical Society were described in an earlier blog, and a treadle machine made in 1910 will feature in a later post. A foreign country? “ The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. ” is the opening sentence of L P Hartley's The Go-Between  (1953). But those words were first spoken by the writer’s friend in a 1949 lecture. (1.) Obtaining clothes was undoubtedly different in rural New South Wales in the late nineteenth to today’s easy shopping. Of course, then there was a local store or two and mail-order from the big city, for a price, for ready-made clothes. When the train line was extended from Goulburn to Gunning in 1875, ...

Eastern Spinebill at work.  Image: I Am birdsaspoetry.com https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/41576558371/ December Bird of the Month:  The Eastern Spinebill This is the final story in a 12 part series in which we look at a bird recorded in Gladstone Weatherstone's notebook between 1962 and 1981, see if anything is different today and, if so, try to explain why. Gladstone was an expert amateur naturalist who lived on Lyndfield Park near Gunning from 1941 until 1996.   Image of Gladstone Weatherstone courtesy Wayne Weatherstone Just Because I Like Them On 20 December 1975, Gladstone wrote “Eastern Spinebill Honey-eater noted near sheds today for a short period "  He saw them again later - twice in 1979, twice in 1980 and once 1981.  In 1979 he observed "These are rare visitors here ”. Sometimes Gladstone exclaims about the beauty of birds he sees or birdsongs in which he delighted, but the Eastern Spinebill's undoubted attractions go unremarked.  I a...