Sunday. 24th November 2002.
Today and for the past 3 days it has been hot and humid with little relief from a breeze off the bay.It is unusual to not have the sweet smell of the sea coming through my upstairs bedroom window.The grass on the parks is tinder dry and some small trees planted early in the year have died or are about to die.The beautiful Olive trees in the park are in need of water as well.The poplars and elms and the well established older trees seem to be managing,I have no memory of the weather being so dry perhaps my Mother Jessie may have remembered a time like this to tell me if she were alive.
Today I attended a Southern Region Meeting of Historical Societies held twice yearly to catch up on our news and their news.Groups like ours are perhaps dying as there seems to be a lack of interest in preserving and documenting the past.It is important to know how we came to be as a community and what it took to build that community.The early settlers were our pioneers and they shaped history in what they did but perhaps the world has moved so quickly that others feel they like things as they are today
WE talked to shopkeepers in the older part of our city who are using renovated old buildings for todays needs be they restaurants antique shops,furniture and gifts florists and on @ ON AND ON. They are in the main not interested in the history of the shop they own or rent ,I suggested that they could have a display of all the businesses that occupied the building in the past 100 years as this would create a talking point for customers perhaps even generate sales if the display was in a prominent place perhaps on a window or sandwich board outside,but no this was a non goer.We have all these beautiful photos in our archives and it is such history to see them all.
,I came home this afternoon quite despondent and wondered if the Royal Society of Victoria is really interested in communities trying to hold on to their wonderful past or are more concerned in saving larger mansions and buildings that once belonged to another part of society and perhaps not so much the working class......Lois Daley