1.Welcome and Apologies

John McKenna opened the meeting at 2.05pm and welcomed all in attendance. Apologies: Lillian Ford, Audrey Murphy, Noelene Pascal, Lila Richardson, Anne Thomson, John Warwick

2.Confirmation of Previous Minutes

Minutes of the Public Meeting held 11 January 2004, which were mailed or emailed to members, were accepted by the Meeting.

3.Correspondence

Correspondence inwards and outwards was noted, as per the agenda.

4. Business Arising

There was no business arising from the previous minutes.

5. Reports

President's Report

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Linnwood and thank you for coming along this afternoon. As usual, I would like to begin my report with our "Show & Tell" segment. Acknowledging those people who have donated items of interest to our growing collection of memorabilia. To start with we have:

From Peter & Joyce Jackson - an original "Friend of Linnwood" Certificate from the Holroyd & District Historical Society when they were in residence here.

Phyllis Messer has donated a silk handkerchief with Bobbin Lace edging, sewn on by hand and a beaded milk jug cover with a kangaroo design on it - very patriotic!

From Jean Shaw we have received a Bebarfalds Blue Bird Sewing Machine & Cabinet, complete with instruction manual and tin of accessories - this is now on display in the drawing room. We are collecting quite a few old sewing machines now and it's amazing just how different they all are. Jean has also very kindly donated an old Band-aid tin.

Mrs Bowerman has donated an all-in-one coat-hanger, clothes brush & shoe horn. A very practical item for the man of the house!

George Reisses has donated a Kodak Six-20 'Brownie' C Camera. Again, our collection of cameras is growing - and again, they are all different!

Lisa Nash has donated a book "Poems of Australia" released for the Bicentenary by Auburn poet & historian Fred Wills. It has quite a few poems about the Auburn-Lidcombe area and all the poems appear to have been written by people of the district.

From Margaret Moulds we have received a glass mint sauce container with lid and also a glass vinegar pourer. Margaret tells us that these belonged to her grandmother, Annie Ellis nee' Corbet.

To all those who have donated items - our sincere thanks and if they are not all on show at the moment, it's because we are running very much behind in our cataloguing of items. We have been trying to work out the best and simplest way of doing this and hope to be able to get stuck into it very shortly. We have decided to set aside the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays of the month as our days to 'catalogue' - so if anyone is interested in helping, please see one of the committee members. We have also been in touch with the Museums & Galleries Foundation to try and tap into their resources and hope to have one of their people come out in the next month or so for a half day workshop to set us on the right path.

Now, on to other 'happenings' since our last meeting in January.

One of the best pieces of news we have to tell is that Pioneers have finally moved into the dormitory building. They moved in about the 9th February and I believe that they are very happy in their new environment They have even been able to accommodate more clients now that they have more room, so that is really good news for the families of those young men & women who need their care.

We have had a little bit of vandalism recently with one of the lamps on the southern verandah having been pulled from the wall. We had hoped that having Pioneers in residence now would have lessened the vandalism, so we will have to hope that this was just a 'one-off'.

There was a Steering Committee meeting held at the end of February - the first since August last year - and unfortunately there isn't a great deal to report from it.

The Heritage Office is still waiting to hear from Treasury regarding their request for more money - it seems the wheels of government turn very slowly when it comes to heritage items. The good news is that the builders are to come back and complete their contract to repair the roof and fix the flooring in the back room. We still have a leak in the front room and thanks to John, who clambered around in the roof last weekend when it was raining, have determined where the water is coming in. John intends to mark the spot with a big "X" so the builders will know where the problem is - as of course, they were never here when it rained to know where the leak was. It will be of great benefit to Linnwood to have that back floor fixed - just think of how many more things we can do out there - for one thing we won't be cramped into these smaller areas for our meetings! Although the builders have been told to complete their work, there hasn't been a time frame mentioned, so I guess we will just have to keep on waiting...

At the Steering Committee meeting, City Plan Heritage submitted the final version of the Conservation Management Plan and we were delighted to receive a copy of this most important document.

The insurance issue has reared it's ugly head with regard to our Open House Days and we have recently written to all our exhibitors explaining that they must all carry their own Public Liability Insurance cover. We hope this won't affect the number of craftspeople wanting to show their wares here, but unfortunately, insurance is such a big issue these days, we can't afford to take any risks.

We had a very successful Open House in February - even though it was an extremely hot day. Kevin Ryan from Guildford Rotary organised their first Garage Sale on the front lawn and the NSW Corps of Marines brought their 1820 cannon along and actually fired it 3 times! The stand of bamboo down past Faulds House had a decided lean to it by the end of the day! Inside the house we had a display of a private collection of antique dolls and they were absolutely beautiful. There are some photos in the album for you to look at if you weren't able to come on the day. We did very well out of the day - one of our most successful Open House Days yet and we thank all those who came along and helped on the day - your time and effort in making the day a success was much appreciated. Rotary very kindly gave us a donation of $100 from their day's takings, for which we thank them sincerely. They are also considering having another sale here later in the year - but this time, hopefully on a cooler day!

We have taken some bookings already for other Open House Days this year - the Australian Lace Guild will be here in June with a demonstration and display, in August the Young Textile & Fibre Group from the Embroiderers Guild will be holding a display and a workshop for school age children. This group meets at Linnwood once a month under Christine McKenna's expert tutelage and there is the possibility that Christine may start an Adult Group here in the future as well, so if you are interested in embroidery and would like more information, please see Christine after the meeting. Don't forget at the April Open House, there will be a Colonial display of early police and convict memorabilia.

The Australian Miniature Enthusiasts Assoc. who were here at the December Open House, are interested in having a 2 day workshop in September and they also did a very nice full page article about Linnwood and their day here, in their recent newsletter.

Toongabbie Historical Society has also been in touch and is also going to do an article about the house in their newsletter.

Prospect Heritage Trust have booked a group tour for Sunday 19th September as part of one of their bus tours, so we will be showing them through the house and providing afternoon tea for about 20 people.

Our fame is spreading!

We had a meeting with the librarians at the Parramatta Heritage Centre and they were very interested in Linnwood and offered to have brochures at the Centre to help promote it. We have now finalised a brochure - one of those things that has been on our 'to do' list for quite a while and our thanks to Helen for putting it all together. We will be printing and distributing these in the future to try and promote the house as a usable community asset.

Committee member Pam has put together a "Time Line of Achievements" for the Friends of Linnwood and I'm sure you will find it most interesting to read through and see just how much we have achieved in a relatively short space of time. With your continued help and support we really have achieved a lot - things I'm sure a lot of other groups would be envious of. It is so good to see that interest in the house and support for the Friends has not diminished since we 'won' our battle to save Linnwood. We may have won the battle but the war continues on if we are to see any improvements or restoration works done to the house.

We must continue with our Open House Days and other events to keep Linnwood's profile high not only in our own community but in the wider community also - and we can only do that with your help. So thank you all for your support - and may it please continue!

A great example of community support has been the arrival of a second hand fridge, courtesy of Keith Moxham from Bing Lee at Merrylands. If any of you have seen the poor excuse for a fridge that was in the small kitchen, you will know just how much we appreciated the arrival of a 'newer' one. Again, we must thank Kevin Ryan from Guildford Rotary for making the initial contact with Keith on our behalf, and then also, thanks to Keith's drivers Chris & Joe for keeping an eye open for something that would be suitable for us and then having found one, not only delivered it, but took the old one away - what a bonus!

In January, we had Trish Skehan from the Concord Heritage Society come along as our guest speaker and her talk was so interesting, that members requested that Trish come back with more stories of Yaralla and the Walker family. Well, Trish has agreed, and will be our guest speaker in November, so make sure you have that one marked on your calendars and in your diaries.

As part of Holroyd CityFest 2004, yesterday we had a stall on Merrylands Road, near the old Crazy Prices store. Thank you to John & Christine, Helen and Pam for their time in 'manning' the stall and helping to promote Linnwood. We don't expect to make much money out of this type of thing - it is more of a PR exercise - again, keeping our profile up in the community. So thank you again to those who gave up so much of their time on a Saturday.

For those who may not know, today's meeting will be followed by our main contribution to the Festival, an evening of "Rhymes, Rhythms, Writings and Refreshments" with members of the NEW Writers Group and U3A Guildford Creative Writing Group reading some of their own compositions - and musicians,Stewart Peters, Leigh Boland and band Rock Solid Faith, performing as well. Our thanks to Jacqui Douglas from the Writers Group for helping to organise this event.

So, after the meeting, don't rush off straight away, stay and be entertained - and it's for free too! Don't worry about your dinner, our sausage sizzle chef extraordinaire, John, will be on duty to make sure you don't go hungry and there will be tea and coffee and cold drinks available as well.

A couple of late items to add to my report: Today we had a meeting with the bride and groom of the wedding to be held in the grounds of Linnwood in July and they have asked if we could provide a Devonshire Tea for their guests after the service, while the bride & groom are having photos taken in and around the house. The Committee feels that we could do this for a fee per head, but we would need some volunteers here on the day to help set up and serve. If you think you could help on the day, could you please notify a committee member.

We would also like to set up a Gardening Committee to start work on the garden on the south side of the house. We had a very successful working bee there in October last year and as we may have more garden weddings or photo sessions at the house in the future, it would be nice to have at least one of the gardens looking presentable. We would like to have a committee set up who could then organise volunteers for working bees etc. - so again, if you are interested in either being on the committee or a volunteer- please let us know.

Well, I think that's all I have for you for now - thank you.

Treasurer's Report

John McKenna presented his report, and noted that following an excellent February Open House (close to $1,800), the bank balance at end February 2004 was approximately $12,500.

6.General Business

Jan Thomas asked what is happening with the fire control box inside the front door. John McKenna advised that a consultant in the fire industry has inspected the new installations and will be submitting a report on what should have been done with regard to fire protection for both Linnwood and the dormitory building. The consultant made the comment that the current installation was inappropriate and incorrectly installed and was not in fact in compliance with the building codes.

Richard Boots asked that as Dorothy Warwick was giving a talk at the Parramatta Historical Society on Wednesday night, could she take some promotional brochures about Linnwood. Dorothy said she would take a supply to leave with the Society.

There has been an instance of people acting suspiciously around McCredie Cottage recently and Christine McKenna advised that a neighbour had contacted police. The police responded within 20 minutes and removed these people who were using drugs.

7. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Friends of Linnwood will be held on Sunday 16 May 2004 at 2.00pm. Our guest speaker will be Dr Joanna Penglase of CLAN (Care Leavers of Australia Network).

8. Guest Speaker

John McKenna welcomed Dr Neil Graham and his wife Elaine, from the Historic Houses Trust. Dr Graham and Elaine are volunteer guides at Elizabeth Farm House and Old Government House. Whereas the National Trust is a private organisation, the Historic Houses Trust is part of the Premier's Department of the NSW Government, and has been in existence for 25 years. Elizabeth Farm House, Lyndhurst, Vaucluse House and Elizabeth Bay House were all owned by separate government departments until Neville Wran brought them together under the Historic Houses Trust ("HHT").

HHT now has 13 properties, not all of which are houses. The houses have either belonged to a famous person or they were thought to be an example of a "typical Australian house".

Dr Graham gave a brief history and description (showing colour slides) of the properties currently under the umbrella of HHT. Some of these properties hold educational days for children.

Elizabeth Bay House
Vaucluse House
Elizabeth Farm House (the oldest of our historic houses)
Baroogle at Nowra (one of the prettiest houses in the Trust)
Rouse Hill (owned by James Rouse, one of the builders on Old Government House)
Justice & Police Museam in Sydney
Lyndhurst
Museum of Sydney (former site of the original Government House which was built in 1788)
Rose Seidler House
Hyde Park Barracks
The Mint
Susannah Place at The Rocks
Government House Sydney

We thank Dr Neil and Elaine Graham for a really interesting talk and presentation.

9. Raffle Draw

The raffle was won by Noelene Pascal.

10. The meeting closed at 3.50pm.