St Augustine's, Moreland quilt

St Augustine’s, Moreland quilt. Dated June 1895. (National Gallery of Victoria collection. Gift of the congregation of St Augustine's Anglican Church, Moreland, 2012)

This wonderful crazy patchwork quilt was made of many small scraps of material, then the names of the congregation were added in chain stitch. It was stitched in 1895 and presented to vicar Rev. W. Jordan. 

Reverend William Jordan, 

One foundation: a parish journey in Moreland 

by Peter Sherlock

As I looked at the names on the quilt I saw two that relate to my World War One research - Goding and Draeger. You can read about them here.

How fortunate we are that the congregation donated the quilt to the National Gallery of Victoria and that NGV has shared it with all of us online!

Promoting train travel in Coburg - 1953

This ad is from the 1953 Ruskin's All About Coburg:

The method of promotion might be different, but 66 years on, the message is still relevant:

Use your trains

Anyone for tennis?

As a keen tennis fan, I've already spent many hours this season watching my favourite sport on TV.

So imagine my delight when I came across a photo of Merlynston Tennis Club members playing mixed doubles at Merlynston in 1932 - 87 years ago.

Image courtesy Coburg Historical Society.

Some close-ups so you can see what the best dressed Merlynston players were wearing:

And in the background you can see the growing suburb and its railway station.

If you're interested in how Merlynston began, you might be interested in my earlier blog entry.

And just to show how popular tennis was, here's a photo from Coburg Historical Society's collection of the entire tennis club, taken in the 1930s. Looking at the photo, I somehow don't think they were all playing members!

And so you can get a better look at the faces, here is the same photo in three sections.

I'm just glad I didn't have to play with the racquets featured in the middle image!

Brunswick College, Sydney Road

Thanks to Kylie McKay of Romsey for this postcard. 

Brunswick College was quite a well respected private school in its day and operated from at least the 1870s until well into the 20th century, probably as late as 1928.

It was run by Robert McKay. In 1906 he had 65 students and employed the following teachers: T.G. Howden, D. Wilkie, H.E. Wallace, W. Smith.

I've just started researching this school, so if anyone can provide any information on the school itself, on staff members or students, that would be very much appreciated.

Happy New Year!

Again, thanks to Kylie McKay of Romsey for supplying this postcard. 

The writer is Elsie of Chandos Street, Coburg. Fanny McKay lived at Hill Croft Farm in Newlands. Elsie refers to two former students of Coburg State School - C. Phillips and L. Libbis - and there's been some sort of tiff because she's not speaking to them.

I'm not sure who C. Phillips was, but the Libbis family lived in Mayfield Street, Coburg between 1909 and 1912 when they moved to Nelson Street. Leslie and Bill Libbis both served in World War One (Bill was killed in August 1915). They had a sister Myrtle Lilian, so perhaps she was called Lilian. Otherwise, it appears Elsie's argument was with Leslie. We may never know!

Season's Greetings!

Thanks to Kylie McKay of Romsey for providing this card.

Fan is Fanny McKay of Hill Croft Dairy, Newlands. The Hugh she refers to is Hugh Hilliar and Will Geddes is his nephew. They, with Will's cousin William McKay, died in a boating accident at Tarwin in July 1917, just before the cousins were due to leave for WW1. You can read about it here. 

A very Coburg Christmas - 30 years ago

Thanks to Fred Asciak of Pascoe Vale for these photos. In the 1980s Fred was responsible for decorating the Coburg Town Hall at Christmas time. For him, it was a labour of love.

These photos were taken in 1988:

Fred worked for the Council at the Harding Street Depot, just a short walk from the Town Hall. He loved his work and he loved doing the decorations which he started preparing in the early 1980s.

The following photos, taken in the late 1980s, show you just how popular the Christmas Concerts for Senior Citizens were and how many people attended.

Around 1989, Murray Gavin wanted to get back to the message of Christmas and asked for a religious theme. Fred obliged.