The day started by threatening to be 35C, but only reached a lovely 31.2C instead (at 2pm when we were inside the thick walled and cool St Gertrude’s). The journey was uneventful, until we caught up with the slow moving trucks carrying mining equipment. With three forward escorts as well as the police escort, we sat behind them for about 6kms, when we had to opportunity to overtake them, along with several others and 2km later we hit the turnoff to New Norcia. The carparks were filling up and morning tea wasn’t far off…
As usual, the organisers, Kerry Smith and Peter Hocking, along with the New Norcia Monks welcomed us to a varied programme revolving around Unearthing our stories: role of libraries in preserving local history and heritage.
The morning session started with Gareth Dixon from the City of Armadale, talking about the Birtwistle Wiki. Found in the History & Heritage section on the Armadale Library webpage, it started from research by Linton Reynolds, looking at the Armadale and Kelmscott Memorial Obelisks and realising the mistakes and omissions on the panels. This has been extended to include all types of information about people who served during The Great War, personnel records, places (ships, units, hospitals, etc.) and prewar occupations, religion, district information etc., cemeteries, and also linked to the Australian War Museum and other websites where possible. With World War Two and the Korean War under construction, all information by individuals is welcome. Just see them at the Birtwistle Local Studies Library in the Armadale Central Shopping Centre, Armadale.
Janet Megarrity was next, with the presentation about the history collection of the Town of Bassendean. It also covered the local military history along with town planning documents, geolocation of heritage sites, both aboriginal and more recent sites. It also encompasses Trove lists of local interest and biographies of local personalities. All types of media are represented: books, pamphlets, diaries, letters, local government archives, maps, photographs, oral history tapes and transcripts, microfiche, videotapes, maps, newspapers, periodicals and ephemera. All material is available through the library catalogue.
The morning finished up with a presentation by Sue Lefroy from the City of Albany. This presentation covered a whole lot of history from the region, the centre was renamed in 2024 as History Great Southern – Kaartdijin Biddi Albany, recognising the cultural significance of the regions First Nations people. Oral history is an integral part of the collection and the importance is reflected in the funding of a professional interviewer, and volunteers transcribing the interviews Records come from a variety of sources: local residents, researchers, Family history (the Albany Regional Family History Society Inc resides in the library and can be consulted for family history enquiries), newspapers, ephemera, manuscripts, harbourmaster records, etc..
We then broke for lunch, a lovely buffet provided by the Monks and volunteer staff and a chance to taste the latest New Norcia Shiraz . Attendees had a chance to visit the Abbey Press and/or the Archives before heading back for the afternoon session…
The session opened with Marta Perez-Rey from the University of Western Australia giving an animated presentation on The Marsa Diary, her translation of the diary by Brother Francisco Marsa – a monk resident at New Norcia from 1849 until 1853 when Marsa returned to Barcelona. This period was important as Abbott Salvado was in Europe during this period and is a very detailed of his travels and every day life. The diary resurfaced 150 years later and went through a couple of hands before being seen on a list by a Friend of New Norcia and donated to the Monastery in 2005.
The next sessions covered books being launched. Ken Spillman launched his story about the Rodoreda family – Not by Bread Alone. The story of Jeroni (Jerome) Rodoreda, a 17 year old who joined the missionary group heading to New Norcia in 1849 and became a successful baker in Perth. Dr Ian MacLeod talked about the The Chronicles Volume 3. His interest in the years 1911-1916 were insightful and raised a few laughs when he recounted stories from the book. The last book was presented by Odhran O’Brien, on behalf of Geoffrey Coad – Torres, New Norcia into the 21st Century. It follows the Dom Fulgentius Torres, the second Abbott of New Norcia, taking over from Abbott Salvado.
The day was rounded out by a short concert by pianist Fr. Robert and world-renowned mezzo-soprano Allegra Giagu performing several pieces composed by Abbott Rosendo Salvado, amongst others (check out the programme!). the music was rousing and the singing superb. Personally, I loved it when the maracas came out! I believe it was a first for the Library Studies Day!
The journey home was only marred by being caught by what looked like the same slow moving trucks, except we were facing them this time and not following them! Looking forward to my next trip to New Norcia to celebrate history intertwined with beautiful story-telling.
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