TROVE TUESDAY 28TH MARCH, 2017.. 'SCHOOL OF ARTS' AUSTRALIA

Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts

Is that a name you are familiar with? If not, you're not alone... after all, it was founded in 1833 as a non profit organisation with the aim of making a difference through learning. It was also known as the Mechanics' Institute and is known as the oldest continuous lending library in Australia.

There is a lot more about this particular institute on Wikipedia...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Mechanics%27_School_of_Arts

It was a great step forward when  the first dedicated building was established. Prior to it's inception in Pitt Street, Sydney, in 1837, meetings had been held at various places around the city. There were to be many changes ahead. 

From TROVE...

Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW / 1876 - 1954)  Thu 3 Feb 1898  Page 7 

School of Arts Buildings were built across the country... they varied enormously in size, some started out small and were added to as funds permitted. Around our home town other School of Arts were in Raleigh, Coff's Harbour, Bellingen and Dorrigo, to name just a few..

They were used for so many purposes including town meetings, meetings for numerous organisations, for libraries, for council offices, even for the visiting bank officers. Weddings and all manner of receptions were held in them, as well as dances and balls, flower shows, concerts, travelling shows, e.g. such as Col Joye and Judy Stone, the hypnotist, Ron Rico, Slim Dusty and so many more.

Some were used for showing the early picture shows. There were even boxing bouts in some, including Coffs Harbour.

When we left our small town, in 1960, like many others who were well known in the town, we were given a farewell evening.. a few speeches, some entertainment, including my young brother whistling "Bimbo" while smiling... his party trick, encouraged by Dad's great friend, Stan Morris. Then there was the supper, provided by the community who 'brought a plate'. I don't recall what my parents were presented with as a farewell gift, but I do recall my father and mother being very embarrassed, as they didn't expect it. My Dad's family had been in Urunga since 1927.. his sister lived there still till her passing in 1987.

These are just a few examples of how popular they were, and in many cases still are...

The Raleigh Sun(Bellingen, 

NSW/1898-1918) Fri 26 May 1911.

Urunga.

From Our Correspondent

On Saturday last in the School

of Arts the Oddfellows' Minstrel

Troupe, under the conductorship of

Mr. Claude Hefren, played to an ex-

ceptionally large house and was a

complete success. The performers

were as follows Mr. W. Smedley

(centre man), F. Atherton, W. Kay,

R. Wilson, and C. Larsen (corner

men). The above artists caused

considerable amusement which was

well appreciated by the audience.

Mr. M. J. McGrath (Secretary) must

be congratulated on the success of

the concert, also the performers who

performed their parts very well in-

qeed, especially R. Wilson and F.

Atherton. Mr. Claude Hefren acted

as conductor and stage, manager. The                              

concert ended with a very laughable

farce, called "The Telephonograph"

which had the house in fits of laugh-

ter. The proceeds amounted to about

£20. Very creditable to the per

formers.

A lucky escape for the Urunga School of Arts

Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW / 1876 - 1954)  

Thu 28 Nov 1929  Page 7  URUNGA BLAZE

      

Coffs Harbour Advocate (NSW / 1907 - 1942; 1946 - 1954)  Tue 7 Jun 1949  Page 7 

The School of Arts was run by trustees, the group changed over the years but it was always in the good hands of community minded citizens...

1911... trustees

1925.. trustees  Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW / 1915 - 1954)  Sat 24 Sep 1927  Page 2  URUNGA

In later years, the original School of Arts became the Urunga Museum and was shifted from it's first position to another site.. the large hall that was added many years ago, remains where it was opposite the              bottom of the school, across the road from the War Memorial.

  From the Bellingen Urunga Museum..

Photo courtesy of Lynne Sanders-Braithwaite

 Long may the now museum bring back memories to all who love history, especially that of Urunga. For me, it will always be the School of Arts and the memories of the very first library I ever saw will stay with me always.

 I would love to hear if your community has a School of Arts and what it is/was used for... Feel free to leave a comment below...

TROVE TUESDAY 14TH MARCH, 2017 - LOOKING 'BEHIND THE PAGE'

HOW TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT NAMES IN TROVE

For a small town like Urunga, NSW, losing three long time residents within a few days, all unrelated, was something that affected many in the town. I was too small to have known these particular people, but I did know the family names, mostly the AINSWORTH and the VAUGHAN names... 

friends of my parents.

 That got me searching to see if I could find out more about at least one of them. Following the trail through TROVE and other resources, I managed to discover quite a bit more about Cecil Ainsworth.

CECIL GEORGE AINSWORTH.. the article tells us that he was a returned soldier of WW1. That is an easy place to start...

record search.naa.gov.au

As he was in WW1, all the service records are digitised and free to read/download. Firstly, he didn't show up as Cecil George, so just looked for Cecil... This is the first page of his 12 page record...

It gives us quite a bit of information.

He has just given his name as Cecil Ainsworth. His address .. just Urunga, NSW. It was a small town, more a village, so that is all that would be needed to find his family.

He is a British born subject, aged 19 years and 8 months, occupation looks to be 'horse driver'. He had never been an apprentice, nor had he been married. His next of kin was Mrs. Lousia Ainsworth, his mother, of Bellinger River, NSW. We can see that he joined up on 19 September, 1916. Looking back at the top of the page, he was in Unit 23 of the 15th Battalion. His service number was 6932.

 Without uploading all pages, the next page tells us that he enlisted in Lismore. The next, see below, gives his physical description.

Very precisely, his height is stated as 5'9 1/8 inches. I don't recall seeing anything quite that precise before. Weight 11stone, 10lbs, dark complexion, brown eyes and brown hair and of Roman Catholic (RC) religion. He did have a distinctive mark.. a scar on back right hand.

( If you wish to read the whole lot, you can go to record search and look for the following.. Barcode 3023281 Ainsworth C Series number B2455 or just Ainsworth Cecil WWI )

He enlisted twice, rejected the first time...though I have yet to find the reason.

On the second and successful time, according to the records, Cecil was sent to England, but never saw the firing line, despite his 14 weeks training. In 1923, he sent this letter to the Army...

He was refused ...

but on return to page 4, it seems that that decision was overturned...

A LITTLE EXTRA..

Cecil was born to George and Louisa J Ainsworth in the Macksville District in 1896. He married Eva Miles in 1921 in the Bellingen District.

TROVE: Nambucca and Bellinger News Fri Jan 21, 1921

A few days before Cecil enlisted for the second time, he attended the Bazaar at Urunga... and won a prize.. Wonder if his mother was the recipient of this treasure?

This brings us back to the beginning.. Cecil George Ainsworth, former soldier, admired footballer, community minded resident, husband and father, passed away on May 5, 1950 aged just 54 years. He rests in Urunga Cemetery. His wife, Eva, died in 1962.

Image courtesy of Reg McDonnell, creator of austcemindex

Information sourced from TROVE, naa.recordsearch.gov.au, NSW BDM, austcemindex