A little piece of our local history has made its way into Council’s archives – thanks, appropriately, to History Week and the focus on locally produced food. The History Week talk on the place Davis Gelatine played in our local industrial history jogged the memory of one of the attendees. He remembered that an old business associate had an old record book that might be of interest for ourarchives. He asked his friend and this led to our archives acquiring the Minutes Book of the Botany School of Arts and Mechanics Institute for safe keeping. The first entry in the Minutes Book is dated April 24, 1884 and the following pages record the activities of what in the late 1880s and early 1900s was in reality the university for the workers. The School of Arts and Mechanics Institutes were found in all Sydney’s early suburbs and with lectures and libraries they expanded the education of many young Australian workers. We’re grateful for the donation of the Minute Book as it adds to our local archives. If anyone has any old record books or other material that gives insights into our history council would welcome them for the archives. Without archives we won’t have a full picture of our history. The writing in the Minutes Book is superb – classic copperplate, pen and ink, which were how things were record pre typewriter and definitely pre Word era.
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