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Don S ch m it z e r Don Schmitzer and his partner, partner Kate Kate, have established their very own private museum, with an extensive collection of the most eclectic memorabilia. Don is our Collectors Corner guest this month … and a very timely guest too, as he’s also a member of the Taree Collectors Club, which is holding its annual Collectors Fair at the Taree PCYC on April 26 and 27. Don will be at the fair in person, so be sure to introduce yourself! ow long have you lived in the Manning area, Don? All my life – 75 years, which is a fair while. How did you become interested in collecting in the first place? I don’t really know! I’ve had a few things for a number of years, and then started to collect even more about 12 years ago. Both Kate and I are interested in collecting … and it grew from there. Typically, what kinds of items do you like to collect? We sort of collect everything – we don’t draw a line at one type of item. We have a pretty broad spectrum in our collection and collect everything from clothing, to traps, to bells. We have a lot of historical items. You have so many items, in fact, that you have your own private museum. Describe this for us … why did you decide to put your items on display, and are you open to the public? The Taree Private Museum is open to the public for groups on a booking only basis. There is no charge for entry. It is run so people can enjoy a trip down memory lane. We enjoy the stories and information the older generation tell us about the past. A lot of collectable items are still being thrown out at the dump and disappear forever. We are happy to buy good items for our museum and save the loss of our history. The items in the museum are pretty broad – Kate collects items to do with sewing, clothing, hat boxes … and there are Armed Forces uniforms, a good collection of milking gear, including milk cans and other items to do with the milk trade, we have a 12 manning-great lakes focus.
baker’s cart, lots of animal traps, interesting tram, ship and school bells, shaving items, blacksmith’s gear and anvils … these are all a part of history. We learn a lot from the older generation. There a lot of people, who as they get on in years, collect things that have been in the family – and they just don’t know what to do with them. I guess one of the issues here, is that people are often unaware of the value of items – and I don’t just mean monetary value, but the actual historical significance … That is quite an interesting point, because that’s exactly what happens. Even older people don’t know whether some items are significant in one way or another – and with the younger generation, some are interested in this and some aren’t – and quite often this is why items may get thrown out. What are some of the favourite pieces in your collection? One of the things that is my favourite – and I did get it quite by chance – is the workings for the town clock in Taree. The clock used to be on the corner of Victoria and Manning Streets, and it was moved in early 1960. The workings were actually sent to be scrapped at Haydon’s Foundry … but they didn’t melt it down, and it surfaced again. But that’s a huge part of collecting; if it wasn’t for collectors, a lot of these things would be scrapped. It stuns you what can come out of the woodwork, but we come across items like this quite often. We have a RAAF flying suit owned by Pillip E. Lucock of Wingham, Federal Member of Parliament from about the 1960s. This is
a winter flying suit (no air-conditioning in those days) used in the 1939-45 war, with kit bag and goggle and helmet. There’s the telephone exchange from the Burrell CK post office, Buckets Way, Taree. It was worked by the Martin family. Calls were timed to 3 minutes, then the operator would ask if you were extending. We’re training a new worker for the telephone exchange … he is 100 years old, and a bit deaf, but Doug always does his best! Ryan’s shipyard was situated on Browns Creek at Taree. They built fishing trawlers, milk boats, also boats for the American Navy. The bigger boats were normally launched on the king tides around Christmas time. The photo shows scale models of boats and also some of the tools used in building them. The lifebuoy is from the ‘Sunrise’ – a milk boat owned by the lower Manning factory. It was used to pick up milk from the dairies on the river. We purchased the life buoy from Ivan Geary, a former milk boat driver who is a source of information about the Manning River. We have theatre seats from the Boomerang Theatre, Taree, which became The Savoy, then when The Savoy closed, the seats went to the Tinonee Theatre, which also closed a couple of years ago. Where do you source your items? We travel all over Australia – we have travelled overseas and brought back a few items too. We go to a lot of markets and swap meets, and we’re always looking to source different items. How long have you been a member of
the Taree Collectors Club? About 7 years now. How valuable have you found being a member of the club in terms of your collecting? The club has been very valuable – there are about 60 members, and there is a lot of knowledge in the club. The other interesting thing about this is, at the Collectors Club you get to learn a lot about different items. It’s often very difficult to know what an item’s worth, because unless you see an item sold, it can be very hard to come up with a figure. And the club will host the annual Collector’s Fair this month, which you’re also planning to attend? Yes, the Taree Local Collectors Club is staging its annual fair at Taree’s PCYC in Commerce Street on 26 and 27 April. There’ll be lots of interesting displays, and also many sales tables of antiques and collectables. The hours are 9am to 4pm Saturday, and 9am to 2pm Sunday. Where can people contact you if they’re interested in booking a visit to your museum? They can call me on: 6551 4902. Thanks Don. For all enquiries regarding the Taree Collectors Fair, contact Don – 6551 4902 or Rex: 6553 1086.
are you a collector? We want to know about you! Let us know what you collect, and you might just be our next Collectors Corner guest! e. jo@focusmag.com.au