Council celebrates history

East Gippsland Shire Council celebrated the 150-year anniversary of the proclamation of the former Shire of Bairnsdale at a civic reception last Tuesday.

The shire was one of five former shires that amalgamated in December 1994 to form East Gippsland Shire Council.

To mark the Sesquicentennial Councillors toured the exhibition that has been running at the East Gippsland Historical Society before attending the civic reception in the Council Chambers.

A special feature of the reception was a presentation on Bairnsdale’s street names by author Tony Meade.

Mr Meade’s book ‘Gravel and Bitumen – The history of the street names of Bairnsdale’ tells the story of almost 400 street names.

“I’ve been researching for almost 10 years. I didn’t start with the intention of writing a book; I was gathering information and it grew into a book,” Mr Meade explained.

“A lot of work has been with the East Gippsland Family History Group and East Gippsland Historical Society.

"As well as locals, I’ve been in contact with people interstate and overseas to compile the information.”

He also sourced a lot of information from Trove, an online tool that provides access to content from libraries, museums and archives, amongst others.

Details of this free program are available at council’s libraries.

East Gippsland Family History Group's Debra Squires, Tony Meade, and East Gippsland Historical Society's Ian Hollingsworth at the civic reception.

Merrolyn Wiles, Margaret Hannington and Don Hannington. Merrolyn and Margaret are descendants of Joseph Taylor, namesake of Taylor Street.

 Diana Wolter, Don Love and Janet Palmer have an interest in local history.