Minutes of Public Meeting held on Sunday 8 June 2008

Welcome & Apologies

John McKenna welcomed everyone in attendance, with a special welcome to our Guest Speaker, Nick Gleeson from Vision Australia.

In Attendance at today’s meeting, as per the Attendee Sheet:
John Walz, Beth Warner, Lawrie Thomas, Dorothy Thomas, Judith Moller, Angela Caire, Rod Malcolm, Raema Walker, Pamela Zopf, Roland Zopf, Noelene Brown, Ann Ravenscroft, Adriana de Haas, June de Zoete, Jan Thomas, Vanessa McNeill, Pat O’Brien, Coral Hamilton, Sue Evans, Kaye Weaver, Helen Olde, Dorothy Warwick, Peter Warwick, Audrey Murphy, Irie Olde, John McKenna

Apologies:
Merle Warwick, John Warwick, Flo McMaster, Adela Donohoe, Christine McKenna, Stan Thomas, Julie Walz

Confirmation of Minutes of Public Meeting held on Sunday 20 April 2008

The Minutes of the Public Meeting held on Sunday 20 April 2008, which were mailed to members, were unanimously accepted by the Meeting.  

Business Arising

Any business arising will be covered later in the meeting.

Correspondence

Helen Olde tabled the Correspondence folder, noting two more responses to our letter to the Heritage Office.
A letter from the Office of the NSW Premier, and a letter from our Patron, Mr Laurie Ferguson MP, supporting our stance and enclosing a donation.

President’s Report

Good afternoon and welcome. Once again it has been a busy couple of months since our last meeting so we will try and bring you up to date with what has been happening.

As usual, I will start with ‘show & tell’ - showing you those donations of memorabilia we have received since our last meeting – and we certainly have some interesting ones this time!

• John Warwick has lent us a timber tea trolley circa 1920-30, a large framed Constable print, a framed Edwardian print of children (these 2 prints are already on show in the hall), a pair of Japanese ‘Exportware’ Vases circa 1920, an Edwardian Mantel Vase, a 1930’s German mantel clock and a plaster lion figure, also circa 1920-30. As you can see, all of these fit in perfectly with the age and character of the house.
• Stan Thomas has donated a leather briefcase and a Kodak Box Brownie camera.
• At the last Open House, Mr Alan Bentlin visited and kindly donated this Meopta Axomat III Black & White Enlarger to add to our photographic collection. He told me that it has only ever been used twice, so is in perfect condition.
• Sue Evans has donated this kindergarten chair which will go well with our other ‘school’ bits & pieces.
• Noela Wallace has donated this book “Children in Need” of 1955 which is ‘an account of the administration and functions of the Child Welfare Department, NSW: with an examination of the principles involved in helping deprived and wayward children’. I have transcribed the part in the book about ‘Lynwood Hall’ if anyone would like to read it – and would be very interested to know if the girls of that era agree with what has been written! There area also a couple of photos in the book as well, which I have enlarged.
• Enid Turbitt has donated a copy of what appears to be a bookkeeping page from Mrs G McCredie of “Linnwood” Guildford. I am not sure where Enid copied this from or what it really is an account of, as it is not dated, and it does not appear to be ‘housekeeping’ but more from a school, as some of the entries are for ‘Fees, Calisthenics, Dinner & Day Boarding etc’ – so this one is a bit of a puzzle.
• We have also had the offer of a framed lace project from the Epping Lace Group (part of the Australian Lace Guild who meet at Linnwood) entitled “Tree of Life and Energy” - they would like to donate it for display at Linnwood. We have a photo of the project here for you to look at.
• Just today, Rod Malcolm has donated this box of assorted old tins.
• Lastly we have from members of the ‘Swift’ family of Guildford, this original, beautifully scripted Illuminated Address, presented to Mr WT Swift by members of the Guildford community. You may recall the ‘Swift’ Building on the corner of Railway Terrace and Guildford Road, which is still standing. The Address is not dated, but coincidentally, while doing some other research, Pat and I came across a newspaper article dated 27th August, 1926 in the Cumberland Argus describing the occasion. Again, we have transcribed the article for those who may be interested in reading about the event.

 

Again, we would like to thank those FOL members, and community members, who have so kindly donated or lent these items to us. We now have some very interesting items of local history amongst our collection and it is very important that these are kept for future generations to appreciate.

At our last meeting, you will recall that we had representatives from the Heritage Office and the Department of Planning, Office of Strategic Lands, on hand to answer questions in relation to the major security problems that had occurred in previous months. We would like to thank Cameron, Rosa and Deirdre for taking the time to attend that meeting and also, would like to thank Sam and his team from Men at Work, for all the maintenance that has been done on the site since then.

John and I met with Rosa and Deidre on-site a week or so after the meeting and did an inspection of McCredie Cottage, Faulds House and the overall property, and they indicated they would be recommending that McCredie Cottage be fenced off, more security lighting be installed, the power to be re-located and a security fence be erected at the rear of the property.

You may have noticed as you arrived today, that there has been a security fence erected around McCredie Cottage to prevent further break-ins and vandalism. This was completed last Friday week – but not before we had had 2 more break-ins. Fortunately no further damage was done to the power, and it would appear that it was more than likely school kids breaking in. In fact, Pat and I saw 3 youths exiting the property whilst waiting for the police to arrive, and then another 2 were seen by the police shortly afterwards. Hopefully, now that the fence is up, we will not have any further problems.

At the rear of the property, another fence will be erected, partly along the proposed subdivision boundary, and then across from the rear of the vehicle compound used by Pioneers. This was supposed to have happened last week, but the rain has delayed its construction. There will be a set of gates in this fence so that we will still be able to use the rear of the property for parking on our Open House days.

A Project Manager for the site has been appointed and he is in the process of obtaining quotes for the electrical work to be done.

At this stage, as far as we are aware, there are no plans to fence the Byron Road frontage.  This is a shame, as we noticed this week that two of the gum trees lining the driveway have been ‘tagged’ with graffiti and our concern now is that these ‘artists’ may move up to the house and other buildings. A front fence may well prevent this, and we have again approached the Department asking that a front fence be considered.

So – all in all, we have had some progress made since our last meeting, but as we reported, there are still a lot of issues to be addressed and we are hoping to have a meeting with those representatives again within the next couple of weeks, to try and resolve some of these.

As you will hear in John’s report, the committee decided to replace the broken security screen doors on the rear of the house, thus hopefully improving the security on Linnwood itself.

On to other events………………….

Our May Open House went well, with the added attraction of the Holroyd City Brass Band, and it was unfortunate that the weather prediction for the day seemed to have scared off some of our visitors, but we are very pleased to announce that our July Open House should be an extra special one, with some American Independent Car Clubs, eg. Packard, Studebaker, Austin-AMC and Willys Overlander spending the day with us. In addition, the Holroyd Band will be back and have indicated that they will perform some music in keeping with the American theme. We have also been approached by a Rock’n’Roll Dance Troupe who would like to do some demonstrations of their dance routines. Add that to an exhibition by the NSW Coca Cola Collectors Club and we will all be transported back in time for the day! The Traditional Tools Group is also getting into the theme, with a display of rare American tools. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us and it will be a GREAT day – so please help us promote this one and tell all your friends and rellies to come along and share the day with us.

Our September Open House will have a Scottish theme again and we are hoping to have the Parramatta Caledonian Pipe Band, some Highland Dancers and possibly some Gaelic Singers in attendance.

We are still working on November’s Open House, and are hoping that Pioneers will be a large part of the day – so will keep you informed as soon as exhibits are confirmed.

Hewitt House is having a festival on Saturday 30th August and we will be having a stall there on the day, so if you would like to help out, please let us know.

The Holroyd and District Historical Forum had a recent meeting at St Bartholomews, Prospect, and it looks like the planned History Fair will be going ahead on Sunday 26th October. This will be held at Linnwood and we are hoping it will be a big day. Again, we will keep you informed as more details come to hand.

Last weekend, I attended the official opening of CLAN’s new temporary office at Bankstown. CLAN is short for ‘Care Leavers of Australia Network’ and is a support group for anyone who spent time in ‘care’ as a child.  We have worked closely with CLAN over the past years and they have always attended any of the reunions we have held for the Girls of Lynwood Hall, to give support to those who find it difficult to cope with the memories associated with re-visiting the homes of their childhood. The morning was quite an emotional event, with care leavers coming from WA, Victoria and Tasmania, especially for the occasion. As part of the proceedings, the temporary home of the ‘National Orphans Museum’ was also officially opened and personally, I found this to be particularly heart-wrenching. On display were many small pieces of memorabilia from many of the ‘homes’ these children had lived in. It is a credit to the two founders of CLAN, Joanna Penglase and Leonie Sheedy, both women having been brought up in ‘care’ - what they have achieved over the past few years. On the day, there was also a farewell to Senator Murray from Western Australia, also in attendance, who is soon to retire from politics. Senator Andrew Murray was a staunch supporter of CLAN and was instrumental in launching the 2004 Senate Enquiry into the treatment of children in care.

I have another album here with some photos of the recent Cavalcade of Fashion, the May Open House and the CLAN office and Orphan Museum opening, if you would like to have a look and pass around.

Don’t forget that the next public meeting is our AGM, so if anyone would like to consider coming on to the committee, then that’s the time to put your hand up! 

So, with that, I will finish and again thank you all for coming and hope you enjoy the talk by our guest speaker and invite you to stay for afternoon tea afterwards.
PS.  For those that receive a membership renewal with these minutes, please do consider rejoining – we do not know what is ahead of us in the next few months and your support, by rejoining, would be much appreciated.
Also, if you can help to promote our next Open House Day by handing out copies of the flyer to friends, relatives and local shops, again, it would really be appreciated.

Vanessa McNeill then asked if we have been reimbursed for the money we have spent on securing McCredie Cottage.  Dorothy advised, not yet, we have to have our meeting with the Department of Planning first, we were waiting to see what happened with the rest of the security issues.  Every time the sensors go off there is a cost involved, which comes out of FOL funds as we are paying the monthly monitoring fee.  Motion sensor lights will be installed on the outside of McCredie Cottage, Faulds House and Linnwood, as part of the security upgrade.  We have the option of whether FOL is responsible for checking out any disturbance, or whether the security company sends a car.  If the second option, there is a callout fee of $60, which is why John or Dorothy check the situation and wait for the police to arrive.  Also, the security company does not have access to McCredie, FOL does.  The protocol for the security company to follow if the system detects motion within McCredie is that they phone the police first, then John McKenna, then Dorothy Warwick.  It is anticipated that the Heritage Office and the Department of Strategic Lands will be taking over the purchase and installation of security measures on the estate, as we do not believe that this is our role.

Treasurer’s Report

                                                              April                                         May
Income                                                 $   891.30                                   $1,837.05              
Expenditure                                         $2,777.32                                   $2,525.83

The large expenditure was mainly on security issues on the site, and we hope to be reimbursed after we meet with the Heritage Office. An amount of $1,412.42 was spent on sensor alarms installed in McCredie Cottage, and there is also a monthly fee for monitoring the building.

Other major expenditure was spent on replacing the security doors at the back of Linnwood itself ($2,080.00), and our annual public liability insurance with RAHS ($511.50).

At the end of May, our bank balance (including the interest bearing deposit account) was $28,814.49, with Cash on Hand of $373.00, giving us a total of $29,187.49.

At the end of June our bank balance will probably be a little less than when the financial year started in July last year. 

We would like to spend some of this money on projects, however we are limited in what we can do owing to the heritage nature of the house, and we will discuss any proposals with the Heritage Office when we meet with their representatives in a couple of weeks.

General Business

Beth Warner advised she hadn’t seen the photos taken by the journalist from The Advertiser who came to the May Open House.  Dorothy Warwick advised that there were photos printed in the paper two weeks after the event, but if you go to the Advertiser’s website, click on the 'newsphotos' link on the bottom of the first page and then type “Linnwood” in the search function, the photos are posted there - mostly of the Holroyd City Brass Band, but some other good ones as well.  One of the problems with sending information to the press is that sometimes they run with it, and sometimes they don’t - we have no control over that.  So if anyone can help to promote our functions, with giving out flyers to put up in shop windows, or letter box drops, that would be appreciated.

Irie Olde queried whether we should publish photos of the damage to McCredie Cottage so people know the problems there.  As a former child care worker at McCredie Cottage, she is very distressed to see the state of the building now.  John McKenna advised this would just let people know that the building is empty and might inspire more vandalism. 

Vanessa McNeill said we should be sending out positive messages about the Friends of Linnwood and the house - the more positive the better.  If we project negativity, people will tap into that.  For the moment, unless we are blocked by bureaucracy, we should remain positive.

Dorothy and John said that we have to work with the NSW Heritage Office and the Department of Planning.  We have been given assurances that things will happen and we have to work in the background to get issues raised and sorted out, and give positive news to the community.  If we had not received any response to our April letter we would have gone further to the media, but because we have had responses we will work together and see if they live up to their promises.

Vanessa McNeill said that the Friends of Linnwood would be one of the most effective and efficient community groups in this city, and has every confidence in what we decide to do.

Dorothy advised she had received an email from radio station 2CCR FM 90.5 Breakfast Show - they had seen Linnwood mentioned on Holroyd Council’s website and have offered to promote our Open House days.  Naturally we will take them up on their offer.  We are also very grateful to radio station 2CH which promoted our May Open House over that weekend - we have sent them a letter of thanks.

Vanessa McNeill has volunteered to conduct a letterbox drop and we will produce some strip flyers - if anyone else would like to drop some flyers into letterboxes that would be great. 

Jan Thomas suggested the best security for the site is for the buildings to be occupied.  John and Dorothy advised that we have had this view for the past six years.  There are a lot of issues that require a lot of money, and FOL is not in a position to facilitate that - it is up to the NSW Heritage Office and the NSW Government.  Expressions of interest for the other buildings had been received over time, such as:  a security company had expressed interest in having their base on site at Linnwood, which would have provided 24-hour security, but we are not sure if this offer was rejected or if the offer was withdrawn.

Jan Thomas also queried whether an approach was made to Youth Off The Streets to lease McCredie Cottage.  Dorothy advised that representations to that affect were made to YOTS and suggested they discuss with the Heritage Office.  Irie Olde also raised the issue of a child care centre having DA Approval to be built up on the next corner from Linnwood, for 40 children.  Dorothy again advised that the possibility of McCredie being used as a child care centre was raised a few years ago, however Council rejected this idea as they believed there were enough centres in the area already.

Guest Speaker

John McKenna then introduced Nick Gleeson, Community Relations Officer with Vision Australia. 

Nick started off by asking everyone to put up their hand IF YOU CAN’T HEAR ME!!  He said he appreciated our laughter, and that we will share some wonderful moments, not just in his life, but in the work and history of Vision Australia.

Nick brought along a DVD on the work of Vision Australia for us to look at, but before that he said he would like to focus on the changes that have occurred in recent years for Vision Australia, formerly known as the Royal Blind Society of New South Wales.  The organisation was originally formed in 1879 due to the generosity of John William Wood and a ₤5,000 legacy.  It did have a number of name changes before it got to the Royal Blind Society.  Why change the name to Vision Australia?  In September 2004 the members voted to form a more national identity, so a number of organisations for the blind in other States came together and after a lot of debate and discussion it was felt that the word “blind”, in many ways from a marketing point of view was seen as a positive.  However they felt that looking at the people who came through their front door, the word “blind” created a lot of fear and often people would say “I didn’t realise I was even eligible for assistance because I have some sight”.  They thought you had to be totally blind to receive services.  Over 70% of the people Vision Australia assists are over 70 years old, and over 90% of these people have remaining vision. 

Almost every day, someone is diagnosed with an eye problem.  Vision Australia is the largest provider of services to vision impaired people in Australia.  It is an organisation that has evolved and adapted over a period of time, and fulfils such an important role in Australia.  Services are free and it is an outstanding compliment to the Australian people that over all these years they have been able to maintain that wonderful opportunity for people.

Children’s Services is very much a family involvement.  Parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, are very much involved in helping the person become a well adjusted adult who can be successful in life.

Nick is formerly from Broadmeadows in Melbourne (about a kilometre from where “The Castle” was filmed).  Historically Broadmeadows was a disaster in the sense that the government of the day, in the 1950’s and 60’s, lacked a lot of planning knowledge and basically put thousands of housing commission homes in the area with no recreational opportunities for young families.  Subsequently no children played in the streets, there were often environmental problems and basically young adults and families trying to cope, were not coping. 

Nick is the youngest of 7 children (“a good Catholic family”) and at birth had perfect sight.  At the age of 7½ he was with his mother in the local supermarket, he was walking in front of her and the electronic swinging door hit him in the head, causing retinal detachment.  He became totally blind but “I was lucky”.  He said he was very fortunate that his parents taught him that there are many challenges in our lives, whether you are blind or have perfect sight, and in his case blindness would only be one of the challenges he would have to face.  They equipped him with the knowledge and understanding that he could have goals and dreams just like anyone else, and they would help him to achieve his dreams.

Nick’s fantastic athletic career saw him represent Australia as a Para-Olympian, and he raced marathons in a number of countries, including Hong Kong, England and USA, and he very much enjoyed the competitive aspect of athletics.  Being a 100 metre sprinter, he assured us that there were not 8 vision impaired athletes on the track all at once, trying to run a straight line, but these races are time trialled - one person at a time.  He said he had an advantage over his competitors - he had a gorgeous female coach!

He played blind cricket for many years and said it is a very competitive game - and is played in true Trevor Chappell style.  The sledging that takes place would rival the Australian cricket team.  One third of the team is totally blind, and 2/3rds have low vision, and supposedly the umpire has full sight!

Nick said that Vision Australia organised a “come and try - drive a car” day at Eastern Creek (the NSW Police were in attendance).  Each vision impaired driver had a fully sighted passenger guiding them, and being in true Nick Gleeson style, everything is a challenge so by the time he got up to Lap 5 he was doing 90 kilometres an hour, and “like any good cricketer, once you’re in the 90’s you have to keep going”!   

Bungy jumping in Queenstown New Zealand was another challenge he overcame, but was left dangling upside down a few feet above the water, “with an elastic band round my ankles”, until a boat came and rescued him.  The team went to the pub afterwards, and “the more a blind person drinks the more you can see, which is totally the opposite for sighted people”.

He joined the Achilles Running Club which booked him a ticket to New York to run in the 1997 New York Marathon (42 kilometre race).  He remembers standing on the starting line in Statten Island, and the runner next to him was Lisa Ondieke.  He was also invited to be the first blind person to participate in the annual event of running up the stairs of the Empire State building (he said it was a lot easier coming down).  He has also participated in marathons in South Africa.

He has always wanted to know what it’s like to experience high altitudes, so he put together a wonderful expedition known as Blind Ambition, to go to Tanzania to climb the 6,000 metres high volcanic Mt Kilimanjaro.  Nick’s description of each day’s climb was amazing, and on 27 May 2001 he reached the summit.  He was told how “the clouds majestically and miraculously lifted away and the sun shone upon us” when they reached the top, and “we could see across the plains of Africa”.

Nick then demonstrated the latest technology in talking book machines - these are provided free of charge for those who have low vision or are blind, and are of great help to all who use them.  It holds a disk like a CD or DVD, and holds up to 50 hours of recording.  It remembers each page you are up to when you turn it off - it is invaluable for students.

Nick is an amazing and inspirational person, with a great sense of humour, and the Friends who heard him speak today have been privileged to meet such a special human being.

Vision Australia - for information on what they do or how you can help, call 1300 847466, or make a donation by dialling 1800 422077 toll free, or visit their website at www.visionaustralia.org.au

Next Meeting

The next Public Meeting of the Friends of Linnwood will be held on Sunday 10 August 2008, and will also incorporate our Annual General Meeting.  Guest Speaker, Margaret Elder, will talk to us about Florence Taylor, Australia’s first female engineer.

Raffle

The raffle was drawn by Nick Gleeson and won by Judith Moller.

Meeting Close

The meeting closed at 3.50pm.