Rochester’s history is in safe hands, although the dedicated executive of the riverside society isn’t sure just how many people know of the organisation’s existence.
Lorraine Haines and John Foster, who occupy the presidential and secretary roles, work closely with another long-time member — Margaret Harley — and about a dozen more dedicated individuals to maintain records of Rochester’s lengthy past.
Fittingly, the organisation is based out of an 1874 school building, the first of its kind in Rochester.
It was sold for 572 pounds in 1892 and converted into a residence before being restored by Rochester shire in 1986 and handed over to the historical society.
The 2011 flood forced another renovation, but it now — along with the Salvation Army Hall and two brick buildings which house farming and dairy machinery — houses a vast array of items telling the Rochester story.
The society was established in 1985 after an amalgamation with the pioneer society, when Mrs Ross gifted the High St land parcel to the historical society.
The 1926 Salvos hall was relocated to the site in 1987, then the dairy display shed was added and, eventually, the Machinery display shed.
For three hours, twice a week — Wednesday and Friday — the doors of the buildings are swung open and occupied by a member of the society for any onlookers to wander through the buildings and grounds.
The past two years have been particularly busy for the society’s membership base, which specialises in providing a family history research service.
“We have all the old newspapers, cemetery records, bank records and signatures back to 1973 in the union bank book,” Lorraine said.
“We went into overdrive during lockdown. It seemed to be people’s go-to project (researching their family history).”
She said it was surprising just how many people, when they get to 50, started to wonder about where they had come from.
“Grandpa may have died, or something or like that and suddenly people start to realise they don’t really known much about the history of their family,” she said.
“That’s when the questions starts to get asked.”
The small fee charged by the society for research is a significant component of being able to fund the operation.
While John and Lorraine do the most, they are ably assisted by their membership in other areas of the society’s activity.
“If we are real busy we will call people in,” she said.
“The family history I am working on now is for a family which arrived at Timmering in 1880s.”
John has been responsible for digitising the newspaper history of Rochester.
His goal is to allow people easier access to the history of their families.
“The old papers we have are digitised allow people to type in a name through Trove and up comes any mention of their family,” John said.
“We received a grant and have transferred newspapers from 1874-1929 in this form.”
He is engaged in a Rochester Irrigator project, a Bendigo bank grant enabling him to scanning all those editions onto a digital system.
The state library has the only other copies of the Irrigator editions and because of their condition will not allow them to be used for this purpose.
“The only other copies of the Rochester Irrigator are here,” he said.
“If we don’t do it they will be lost forever.”
While each edition takes John three hours to scan and convert to digital form, he said “they come up as good as new’’.
Lorraine was a pharmacy worker at Echuca before moving to Kerang and eventually returning to Rochester in 2005 — where she had originally married into a Rochester family.
John was a dairy farmer at Bellendalla who saw the writing on the wall and sold up in 1989.
Lorraine started a family history group at Kerang before becoming a devotee of Rochester’s Margaret Harley at Rochester.
The society has at least two or three people wander in off the street a week and regularly has bus tours booked.
They will soon host an OAM group from Bendigo, which is having lunch at the historical society in the coming weeks.
It is ironic that the common school building is Rochester’s oldest building, albeit after a couple of renovations, and it houses the history of the town.
There is a constant supply of items on offer to the society, which has officially run out of room and is regularly discussing potential expansion.
“We do have some mannequins we have been given by a military musueum at Townsville that will form a new exhibit. We will find room for them,” John said.
The dairy shed has a decade-long history at the site, but the executive team said there was probably at least half of the town that was not aware of the society’s existence.
“We often hear people say ‘I’ve been meaning to come over and have a look’,” Lorraine said.
The group works closely with Echuca and Lockington historical societies, sharing resources, experiences and knowledge.
As for the financial status, the society owns the building, operates as an Incorporated body and a registered charity.
“We rely on grants for almost everything we do,” Lorraine said.
“We run the day to day costs with the small fees we charge for research and entry.”
And the society event has its own website www.rochesterhistoricalsociety.com.au
Last year the society launched its own calendar, an experience they learned from as only 200 were printed and sold at $10.
“We could have printed twice as many. We will do that this year as they sold out, and this year will be $12,” Lorraine said.
The group will soon be making a decision on what photos will be used in the 2023 calendar, because the proof needs to go to the printers later this month.
And the group’s next big project is the restoration of the old Salvation Army Hall.
“Nothing has been done to this building since it came here,” Lorraine said.
“We are currently looking to find some builders to have a look at it, but most of them are booked up for two years.”