Minutes of Public Meeting held on Sunday 11 April 2010
Venue: Linnwood, Byron Road, Guildford
Welcome & Apologies
Dorothy Warwick opened the meeting at 2.10pm and welcomed all in attendance, with a special welcome to our Guest Speaker, Greg Brace from the Antique Bottle & Ceramic Collectables Club.
In Attendance at today’s meeting, as per the Attendee Sheet:
Helen Olde, Pam Richardson, Angela Caire, Judith Moller, James Ratcliffe, Beth Werner, John Walz, Lillian Patterson, Michael Griggs, Coral Hamilton, Pat O’Brien, Kaye Weaver, Raema Walker, Del Donohoe, Sue Evans, June de Zoete, Adriana de Haas, Olive Wicks, Margaret McKenzie, Greg Brace
Apologies:
Irie Olde, John McKenna, Christine McKenna, Julie Walz, Laurie Thomas, Peter Warwick, Russell Werner
Confirmation of Minutes of Public Meeting held on Sunday 14 February 2010
Pam Richardson moved that the minutes of the Public Meeting held on Sunday 14 February 2010 were a true and correct record - Seconded by Michael Griggs.
Business Arising
There was no business arising from the minutes of the August meeting.
Correspondence
Helen Olde tabled the correspondence folder and passed it around to members to view.
President’s Report
Good afternoon and welcome to our April Public meeting – not an Open Day as advertised by Council as part of CityFest.
I think for the first time in a long, long time, we don’t have many donations for ‘show and tell’ – only these couple that have arrived today.
From Kevin Woodward we have some school ink pens and nibs and a newspaper article on vintage caravans, and from Angela Caire we have an old telephone – remember these black ones we all used to have?
I have added some photos to our album - the March Open House, a kookaburra that posed nicely for me in the trees out the front, and also some photos of the crepe myrtle trees along the driveway when they were out in full bloom – looking absolutely wonderful! Most of them were just a good excuse to have a play with my new camera, but thought you might like to have a look anyway.
There are also a couple of photos of our committee member Pat O’Brien who was recently nominated for an award sponsored by UWS, “Women of the West”, as part of International Women’s Day. The function was held at the UWS Parramatta Campus. Although not winning an award, Pat was up there with the best of them – there are some truly amazing women in the Westerns Suburbs of Sydney!
Now, on to the updates:
• We bought another new fridge to help out on Open Days – the two we have just aren’t enough to cope with all the sandwiches and other goodies we need to keep cold on these days, so we bought a fridge only (no freezer compartment) to try and help with the load.
• The cheque for the large grant must still be in the mail. We have filled in more paperwork and sent it in – but the wheels must turn very slowly, as we have received no acknowledgment, no further paperwork and no money!
• We have again applied for the Federal Government Volunteers Grant – basically for the same things we applied for last year. i.e. ladders, tool kit.
• The negotiations for the Memorandum of Understanding are going slowly – our last meeting was cancelled by the Department and we are still waiting for a date for the next one.
• Work has been happening on the property for the relocation of the electricity supply and new security lights at the front of the property. There was a lot of activity for a week of two – but it seems to have slowed down and we haven’t seen anyone on site for a while now.
• Two of the she-oak trees at the front of the house have been cut down, the large gum has had some trimming done and all the palm trees have had hair cuts and look so much better now.
• We have had one planning meeting for the 120th Birthday celebrations next year and are due to have another meeting soon. We are planning to rebuild a rose garden to dedicate to all the children who lived on the site, have an interpretive sign for the history of the McCredie family and the house itself, and publish a book which hopefully will include stories from some of those children who lived in ‘care’ on the site. We have also applied for a Community Assistance Grant from Holroyd Council to help with the cost of funding the garden, the plaques and the book.
• Just last week we had a visit from an ex-Lynwood girl (now living in Queensland) who was here in 1958 – again a story of being here through no fault of her own – her mother deserted a family of 11 children and they were all split up and put in care, fostered and/or adopted. This lady, in the past few years, has found all her siblings (two of whom have passed away), the last one only six months ago. This youngest sister was only a baby at the time and was adopted – and never told. Imagine her surprise when she found out she had so many natural siblings! The happy ending was a family reunion here in Sydney over Easter – which went off really well – they all felt that special ‘family’ connection with each other – even after all those years. It was a very sad story, but probably very common at the time it happened.
• We have received a Certificate of Appreciation from CLAN as a Thank You for our support of CLAN and the work they do.
Don’t forget next Sunday is our Cavalcade of Fashion presentation of “Lace in the Edwardian Era” at 2pm. Those of you who have been to previous presentations will know just how good they are, and if you haven’t been before – come along and see what you have been missing! Cost is $10 per person which includes afternoon tea.
Our Open Days for the rest of the year are shaping up really well – don’t forget to check the Calendar of Events for any updates.
I think that is all for the moment unless you have any questions……………..
Please stay and enjoy Greg Brace’s talk about ‘collecting’ and then some afternoon tea and a chat. Thank you.
Treasurer’s Report
In the Treasurer’s absence, Dorothy Warwick presented the financial reports for February and March 2010.
February March
Income 64.80 2,148.30
Expenditure 32.70 2,127.83
Balance at end of month 8,681.23 9,010.59
Interest Bearing Deposit 17,081.07 17,217.95
Major income in March came from our Open Day (including $417.00 from Refreshments, $426.50 BBQ, $404.75 Entry, $105.65 Books, $201.90 Garden Committee, $181.00 Bric-a-brac stall), as well as memberships and donations. We also took $81.00 for the sale of some obsolete chairs and other pieces of furniture that we don’t want to keep.
Major expenditure in March was due to expenses relating to the Open Day, as well as $1,245.00 for the new fridge. We did not have the storage space on Open Days for all the sandwiches that were required, and this expense will pay for itself in the long term.
We have set up two separate accounts within the working account. One is for the grant money (if we ever receive it!). The other is for the collection of hiring fees. When we do finally sign the Memorandum of Understanding, the agreement is that from that time onwards, any hiring fees received will not have to be forwarded to the Heritage Council but can be kept by the Friends of Linnwood, on the proviso that this money is used to pay for minor repairs and maintenance.
Moved by Michael Griggs and seconded by John Walz that the Treasurer’s Report be accepted.
General Business
There was no general business raised.
Guest Speaker
Dorothy then introduced our guest speaker, Greg Brace, Eclectologist. Greg kindly gave us permission to reproduce his presentation, rather than your Secretary taking notes.
I’m Greg Brace and I’m a collectaholic.
What is “Eclectic Collecting”? Eclectic - choosing from various or diverse sources. Eccentric - deviating from the recognised or usual character: irregular, peculiar, odd, etc.
So, who here collects?
- Spot the collector - currently 1 in 3 people collect or has collected throughout their lifetime. That’s around 2.5(ish) billion people worldwide (currently)
- I’m genetically predisposed to collect - so what’s your excuse? (my mother had 4 husbands!)
- So if you collect you’re not alone, but you share it with some strange people
Thanks to British journalist Peter York, who studied them for his book “Dictator Style We Know”:
Sadam Hussein - Sci-fi fantasy paintings featuring menacing dragons and barely-clad blondes.
Adolf Hitler - Bavarian 18th century furniture. Munich antique dealers were ordered to keep an eye out for him.
Kim Jong Il - 20,000 videos (Daffy Duck cartoons, Star Wars, Liz Taylor and Sean Connery flicks).
Idi Amin - Several racing cars and loads of old film reels of “I Love Lucy” reruns and Tom & Jerry cartoons.
Joseph Stalin - Westerns with Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable and John Wayne. Stalin also inherited Joseph Goebbel’s films.
Peter York also points out that “Some of these people”, he says, “were really very short.” Other motives possibly include:
- compulsion
- competition
- exhibitionism
- desire for immortality
- and the need for experts’ approval
What is collecting? From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, the hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organising, cataloguing, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector.
The items collectors may collect may be antique, or simply collectable. Antiques are collectable items at least 100 years old; collectables are less than antique, and may even be new.
History:
Collecting is a practice with a very old cultural history. The early Egyptians kicked off collecting a few books (Library of Alexandria). The Medici family, in Renaissance Florence, made the first effort to collect art.
The redistribution of Collectables (looting) was also a popular pastime in old and not-so-old Europe and many collections of fine art, ceramics and early artefacts moved from “collector to collector” in this way (“Dad found it in the War”).
Collectors and Users:
- Users and Collectors - collectors fooling themselves
- How to tell if you are a collector? - sell it and see
- Effects of collecting - family, financial and emotional
- Collecting Clubs - (Collectors clump - “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours”). There is a need to have a peer group of people who can understand what you do and not judge you, but who can appreciate what you have done.
Phases of Collecting:
The Normal Collector - 170 fish paste jars.
Driven Collector - Physical, emotional and financial risk in collecting. Collectors will regularly place themselves in danger just to further their hobby, digging old tips with the risk of cave-in, diving in dangerous, dirty and often polluted waters, and driving long distances on the off-chance of picking up THE piece.
Obsessive Collector - This is where the collection becomes a central driving force, with the collector often spending huge amounts of time and money hunting for that special piece or pieces, to the exclusion of all other normal social activities.
Just Plain Weird - The Serial Hoarder - A person for whom there’s never enough, these people will gather objects and items generally considered to be rubbish and hoard them. This is often misunderstood by neighbours, who can’t see the value in 20 years of old newspapers or piles of empty toilet roll tubes, old cereal boxes, toothpaste tubes or dead cats.
So Why Do We Collect?
Envy and ego in collecting - emotional gratification and satisfaction (thanks to Hilary Rubenstein - Psychiatrist).
- I got it and you didn’t! Yes, but mine is special or different
- Object envy and lust (who has the most, biggest, best, rarest, costliest)
- Collector Shows and the paper ticket prize - fierce competition regardless of the fact that there is nothing but the emotional satisfaction at stake (look what I did - aren’t I good?)
More is better - but you can’t have too much, all collectors like to have the objects they collect, however they will swap over to another or similar collectable, if they can no longer get the original. This supports the argument that there is an emotional high for some collectors in hunting or winning an object.
The Hunt - seeking the item (modern day treasure hunting for the average person). When asked about diving for bottles, I’ll often describe it as modern treasure hunting, the thrill of a find, the danger and adventure of the hunt. This is generally undertaken often in dim and dirty conditions with the idea of sharks lurking in the murky background.
The Collecting Phenomenon
- The dollars and cents of collecting:
- value and the perception of value
- in the UK in 2008 - ₤500,000,000 were spent on collecting - that’s more than $1 billion Australian
- worldwide the amount must be staggering - some of it mine!
- Google and Collecting - 48,100,000 hits for the collecting search
Types of Collections - everyone knows about stamps and coins, BUT
- Archtophilist - collects teddy bears (3,938,000 Google hits)
- Conchology - collecting seashells
- Lotology - collecting lottery tickets
- Oology - collecting eggs
- Scripophily - collecting stock certificates
- Sucrology - collecting sugar sachets
- Horologists - clock people
- Deltiologist - collects postcards
- Vecturist - collects subway tokens
In an article written by Mark B McKinley, Ed.D - “The Psychology of Collecting” - he writes, “Possibly Noah was the most famous collector of all. After all, he collected two of every living animal and housed them in one place.”
Greg’s passion is collecting old bottles of all shapes and sizes (including fish paste bottles), and he showed us just a small selection of his collection. He told of his diving expeditions in Sydney Harbour, hoping for that special find - he has found a lot of bottles made by convicts. One particular bottle he found was shown to an antiques expert who advised him it wasn’t an antique but an antiquity (probably over 1,000 years old) - they believe it was brought to Australia by a family on one of the many ships that came in the late 1700’s/early 1800’s, and because its handles broke off and the top and bottom were damaged, the owner just threw it in the harbour. After much cleaning, it has scrubbed up beautifully and Greg has made a special stand for it, and naturally it is worth a lot of money. At the other extreme, one of John’s favourite bottles is the very first one he collected - and it’s not worth much at all.
Raffle
The raffle was drawn by Greg Brace and won by Adriana de Haas.
Next Meeting
The next meeting of The Friends of Linnwood Inc will be held on Sunday 13 June at 2.00pm, and our guest speaker will be John Brock. His topic: “From Steam Trains to Satellites: A Survey of Part of the Great Zig Zag Railway”.
Meeting Close
The meeting closed at 3.35pm.