Kilmore Historical Society

About Us

COURTHOUSE_LOGO

KILMORE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Inc. No. A000329W

ABN No. 34919103457

Kilmore, Victoria, Australia

Victoria’s oldest inland town

Kilmore Historical Society celebrated 50 years in 2014

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The Society’s Research rooms are open every Tuesday, 10am to 3pm, Thursday, 10am to 3pm, and on Saturdays, 10am to 1pm at the old Kilmore Post Office, 2 Powlett Street, Kilmore.

Please address all correspondence to:

The Secretary
Kilmore Historical Society,
2 Powlett Street,
Kilmore, Victoria, 3764
Australia

Member of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria

Our website is archived by the National Library of Australia Pandora project

https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/collection/19425

12 responses to “About Us”

  1. Matthew Meier Avatar
    Matthew Meier

    My name is Matthew Meier & was born, raised & educated in Kilmore. A fellow ack student a year above me Tim Braybon had alerted me that the Australian War Memorial(AWM) are after photos of William Stockdale who fought in WW2. The AWM is doing a tribute to Bill on March 24 but have no photos. Could you kindly email myself & Tim (tbraybon1138@gmail.com) if you can help us out. This would be something for the district to be truly proud of. Tim will fill you in with all details.

    Thanks

    Matt

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    1. kilmorehistory Avatar
      kilmorehistory

      Assume you are referring to the Last Post Ceremony on 24 March for Private William Hallett Stockdale of Wallan who was killed 08 May 1915 (WW1). https://www.awm.gov.au/events/last-post-ceremony-calendar/#march15

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    2. grthom Avatar
      grthom

      Hi Matthew

      My name is Grahame and I am the Research Officer of the Kilmore Historical Society. We are aware of William Stockdale’s service in WWI and we too are looking for a photo of him. We are unaware of anyone holding a copy, and that includes some Stockdale family members. Could you please let Tim know, cheers, Grahame

      PS Perhaps you might like to do a short post here, commenting on your time as a student as a student in Kilmore.

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  2. kilmorehistory Avatar
    kilmorehistory

    Hi Tamara – Many thanks for your message. KHS wrote an article about William at war and that was published in the North Central Review in September 2015. There is not much information about Bylands on the internet. There are mentions in the book Pretty Sallys Hill and the three local history books about Kilmoire and District. What is the name of your great grandfather? Grahame Thom, KHS

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    1. Tamara Avatar
      Tamara

      Hi Graham,
      Thanks for your reply.
      My GG was Fred Ronke (Fredrick Henry Ronke) he originally came from Whitlands in Victoria, but after WWI settled in Bylands.
      Funnily enough he was on the same boat as William, very strange!

      Thanks

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      1. kilmorehistory Avatar
        kilmorehistory

        Hi Tamara – He is not mentioned in the four local history books. Nor is he mentioned in the Kilmore Free Press – checked on Trove

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      2. Jim Avatar
        Jim

        Hello Tamara,
        A Fred Ronke and his wife lived in Bylands in the 1950s. They lived in an old house we owned on the farm which, in its day, was a mansion but had begun falling into disrepair at that time. I am not sure how long they lived there but it was for at least five years. I think he worked on some of the farms around the district.

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      3. kilmorehistory Avatar
        kilmorehistory

        Hi – we looked into the Ronke story and have been able to find a surprising amount on the Ronke Family. There were two Freds, father and son. The son served in WWI and seems to have died in 1972, so it would likely be the son rather than the father who lived in Bylands in the 50’s. Do you know the address of the house he lived in ? The Ronkes seem to have been Melbourne based around the WWI era but did move around a bit later on.

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  3. Geraldine Ellis Avatar
    Geraldine Ellis

    Hi, my name is Geraldine. My great grandfather had a brick factory in Kilmore at one time. His surname is Lucas. Not sure if he was George or Samuel? But the daughter Lydia Ann born 1890 at Yourarang , was my great grandmother.
    Do you have any family history available for the surname of Lucas in Kilmore?
    Best Regards

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    1. kilmorehistory Avatar
      kilmorehistory

      Hi Geraldine

      Yes we are aware that Samuel was a brickmaker in Kilmore around 1860 to 1880. We do have a research file on a Lucas family but from home I cant tell if it is your Lucas family. I had a look in our three local history books and none had a Lucas in the index. I doubt we have a photo of the family. We have the Kilmore rate books information for the period 1863 to 1875 and I would expect the name Lucas will appear in this index. Also we have other records that may help, such as headstone transcriptions for our two cemeteries.

      At this time of isolation our rooms at the old Kilmore Courthouse are closed so it is difficult to do much research. Also much will depend on how much you know already, such as details of birth, dearth and marriage entries. You can find details about our research service on our website page at
      https://kilmorehistory.wordpress.com/research-service/

      If you have any further questions please contact our Society by email.

      Grahame Thom
      Research Officer
      Kilmore Historical Society

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  4. Carol Ennis Avatar
    Carol Ennis

    HI MY mother Claire and her siblings grew up in the Kilmore post office when her Father Mr Opperman was
    Post Master they also had the lock up and Cob and Co coaches.
    My mother is now 94 years old and tells us many happy stories,
    Of growing up there
    We did come by a few months ago however you had not long closed
    I am looking into when you are open and l can arrange for mum to come over to Kilmore from Emerald have a look have a chat and reminisce,
    about some of her childhood.
    Kind Regards
    Carol Ennis

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    1. grthom Avatar
      grthom

      Many thanks for contacting KHS. We are most interested to talk to people who worked at or were connected to the old Kilmore Post Office building. We are planning to celebrate the 160th Anniversary of the building in October this year and to obtain or borrow Post Office items for the event.

      In relation to being open we are now back to normal hours and hopefully that will be so into the future. Our times are TuesdAys 10 am to 3 pm, Thursdays 10 am to 3 pm and Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm. We would very much like to meet your mother and yourself. It would be best to let us know in advance please. Also if our normal opening times are not suitable, please let us know and we may be ab;e to arrange a different time.

      Could you also use email in preference to message as we keep tabs on email every day – kilmorehistoricalsociety@gmail.com

      kind regards
      Grahame Thom
      Vice President

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