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DURAL AND DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC. – FIDDLETOWN

Three young men from local pioneering families trying to establish their own orchards amused themselves in the evenings by learning to play violin. Soon they were good enough to play at district events and earned a reputation as “fiddlers”. They were jokingly said to have come from “Fiddletown”. In 1899 a “Conditional Purchases” notice had […]

The Sorry Story of Little Peat (Eerie) Island

The Dharug and Lower Hawkesbury Historical Society invites you to The Sorry Story of Little Peat (Eerie) Island afternoon with our Special Guest Speaker Adrian Mitchell. The Dharug and Lower Hawkesbury Historical Society is pleased to welcome author Adrian Mitchell on Saturday, 29th September, who set out to write more than an institutional history of […]

DURAL AND DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC. – The June Roughley Memorial Lecture

Six years ago the Society wanted to establish a suitable memorial to its founder and a patron, Mrs June Roughley. It was to be a recognition of her remarkable research skills and generosity. To this end a quality, wellresearched, public lecture, presented by a professionally recognized historian, on a subject connected to our district, was […]

A short snippet from the past…

The Glenorie "Fleet" 1960

Glenorie Bus Company GBC was a privately owned family company. Its origins go back to the early 1900’s when the village of Glenorie was a staging post for horse drawn wagons hauling produce between Wisemans Ferry and Castle Hill. Motorised bus services began Hill during the 1st World War. In the early 1920’s, George Deaman […]

Dural and District Historical Society Inc.

With the death of Celia Van Tilburg, our Society lost a valued member who worked diligently behind the scenes. On the 22nd of May, ten members toured No. 3 Quarantine Cemetery on North Head. It was a beautiful day, with Sydney Harbour stretched out before us. Our guide was Don Napper and members remembered the […]

Gravely Speaking – What’s it mean? The Messages behind Symbols

Anchor symbol

Epitaphs are verses describing the deceased in basic form informing who they were, age, origins and ancestry. However some headstones go a few steps further, giving hidden clues and hints through the use of motifs and symbols. Apart from the obvious motifs denoting the major religions that is, the Christian cross, Jewish Star of David […]

Dural and District Historical Society

What an interesting and enthusiastic guest speaker the many members heard at our 10th March meeting! Rhonda Davis, curator of the Macquarie University Art Gallery, spoke about the nationally known artist, Margaret Preston and her life while living in Berowra. Members were able to add to the University’s knowledge of Mrs Preston and even exhibit […]

Two Important Local Buildings

THIS IS WADDELL COTTAGE. It is situated within the grounds 0f Galston High School. It was built in about 1845 by James Waddell, who worked the twenty acre citrus orchard that surrounded it. His son, James 11, was born there and lived all his long life at this cottage. He never married and died in […]

Convict Road Gang Site Guided Tour

The Dharug and Lower Hawkesbury Historical Society in conjunction with the Convict Trail Project would like to extend the invitation to the general public to join us in our walk along the Convict Road Gang Site. Visit the old convict road camp site and learn about the life of a convict on the Great North […]

Dural and District Historical Society

Our first meeting for 2018, on the 10th February, kicked off with an almost full house. It was excellent to see many new faces which was a worthy way to support our guest speaker, Garry Smith, researcher and historian who spoke of the difficulties and strange laws affecting women in Colonial times. Mr Smith used […]