PROBUS CLUB

At our June meeting Cheryl Deane was inducted into our Club. Welcome Cheryl. The Member Behind the Badge was Mary Vraka who told members how her father came out from Italy on the recommendation of his father, finally settling in North Murchison, where Mary was born. Mary married Joe Vraca and they raised their family in North Murchison.

Our Guest Speaker was Kay Ball from the Murchison Historical Society, and Ann Findlay came also. Kay gave us an overview of the historical events in Murchison. These included the first irrigation system using a brick lined well and pumps and a series of channels prior to the Goulburn Weir being built in 1891. There was the aboriginal protectorate from 1840 to 1853 and the story of Titambo, the aboriginal leader, who insisted on a white man’s burial, so his grave, which includes his wife’s remains, is in the cemetery at Murchison, together with that of his son’s, Captain John. Then there was the punt across the river, as this was the main route from the goldfields at Eldorado to the gold at Ballarat and Bendigo. Kay spoke of the Winter Irving family and their land holdings and the mansions they built, also Gregory’s Hotel, now known as Thornbridge, and Day’s Mill. She then spoke of the Camps that were set up in the area, and how the Italian Ossario was built in 1960 to take the bones of those Italians who died during this period. Then in 1969 the meteorite landed in Murchison, and Kay explained that, although most of the pieces were taken to America, they have one piece on show at the Historical Society, and that there is continuing research on the composition of the meteorite.