Welcome & Apologies
John McKenna opened the meeting at 2.10pm and welcomed everyone present.  John made particular mention of representatives from the NSW Department of Planning - Cameron White (Manager, Listings Team, Heritage Branch), Rosa Pangallo (Senior Property Officer, Office of Strategic Lands), and Deirdre Stewart (Manager, Land Policy, Office of Strategic Lands).  John also welcomed representatives from Pioneers (Living & Learning Services for Adults with Disabilities) - Sucheta Velankar (Service Manager), and Lesley Walzak (representing Parents and Management Committee).  Also Chris Piper from Holroyd City Council (representing Diane Jogia, Director of Library & Community Services), and our Guest Speaker, Barry Bullivant and his wife June from Granville Historical Society.

In Attendance at today’s meeting, as per the Attendees Sheet:
Convenor, Wentworth Quilters       June Bullivant                                            Barry Bullivant 
Stan Thomas                                       Jim Grainda                                                 Judith Moller    
Angela Caire                                       Beth Werner                                               Margaret McKenzie        
Rodney Malcolm                                Irie Olde                                                       Michelle Thomson          
Malcolm Hewitt                                  Gerard O’Brien                                           Vanessa McNeill             
Dorothy Warwick                              Peter Warwick                                            Pat O’Brien       
Helen Olde                                          John McKenna                                          Coral Hamilton 
Shirley Moore                                     Christine Piper                                            Norma Kedward               
Adriana de Haas                                Audrey Chaddock                                     Peg Jameson    
Noelene Brown                                   June Eglon                                                  David Eglon     
Douglas Marks                                   Richard Lau                                                Liz Ashard        
Christine McKenna                           Josephine McMahon                                Rosemary Middleton      
Arthur Marshall                                 Romano Solo                                              Carole Davies   
Pamela Richardson                            Sucheta Velankar                                       Lesley Walzak  
Julie Walz                                            John Walz                                                   Margaret Moulds            
Gwendoline Kearns                           James Ratcliffe                                           Bill Nash           
Eileen Nash                                         Olive Wicks                                                Bruce McCredie               
Doreen McCredie                               Robert French                                            Mal Barkley      
Cameron White                                  Deirdre Stewart                                          Rose Pangallo  
Robyn Thompson                             

Apologies:
David Borger MP (State Member for Granville), Jason Clare MP (Federal Member for Blaxland), Jill Finch, Sue Evans, Adele Donohoe, Flo McMaster, Margaret Warne, Diane Jogia, Hazel Magann, Richard Boots, Barbara McKenzie-Hunter, Audrey Murphy, Merle Warwick, John Warwick, Jan Thomas.       

Confirmation of Minutes of Public Meeting held on Sunday 10 February 2008
The Minutes of the Public Meeting held on Sunday 10 February 2008, which were mailed to members, were accepted by the Meeting.   Moved:  Vanessa McNeill.  Seconded:  Beth Warner.

Business Arising
There was no business arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

John McKenna advised that he would give his Treasurer’s Report before the report from the President, after which the Secretary would read the responses received in relation to our letter to the Director of the NSW Heritage Office, dated 4 April 2008.  The representatives from the Department of Planning would then be asked to introduce themselves and answer questions.

Treasurer’s Report

                                                              February                                  March
Income                                                 $474.00                                      $1,491.10              
Expenditure                                         $  65.59                                      $2,173.96

Bank Accounts:
Closing Balance                                 $16,321.44                                 $16,679.13
Interest Bearing Deposit                   $15,685.32                                 $15,861.30

Total:                                                    $32,006.76                                 $32,540.43

Current liabilities:    $1,226.14

During March we purchased a further 20 chairs, and maintenance expenses were $780.00.  Income from March Open Day was $1,223.10.

Vanessa McNeill asked if some of those expenses incurred were as a result of the recent problems on site, in order to make repairs and to ensure the buildings were secure.  John advised that those expenses would not appear until the April report, however $1,350 was spent on installing an alarm in McCredie Cottage.

President’s Report
Good afternoon and welcome to Linnwood once again. Well, it’s certainly been a busy time for us in the past few weeks as you would know, but before we go further into that, I will start my report as usual with the ‘show’ part of ‘show and tell’.

We have received quite a number of large donations since the last meeting, probably too much to go through individually, so I will just give a brief outline of some of the collections. They are all on display, so feel free to have a look after the meeting – but please don’t mix them up as most are not catalogued yet!

• From Flo Sumner we received a portable hair dryer, an old Cerebos Table Salt tin, a leather case, a book The Bible Story, a hearth brush and shovel, and a lovely black metal book or bible stand.
• Eileen Clarke has very kindly donated a large number of items – from a soil sieve to an enamel candle holder to some old wooden measuring rules – and these certainly bring back memories, I remember my dad always having one of these in his overalls pocket. We also have an electric jug and some old tobacco tins and lots of things in between. Probably the best part of this collection is a little old wooden donation box – maybe we need to pass this round and see how much we can collect!
• We also have another large collection donated by Doris Kelvington – an assortment of items – from another 2 cameras to add to our now very large collection (and again, we still have not doubled up on any), a hospital tea cup, some UKA ANT table castors, a WWII ammunition box, a celluloid trinket box, china, silverware, cufflinks, tins, and again lots of things in between.
• From Adriana de Haas we received 2 Polaroid cameras – both are very ‘plasticky’ and look more like toys than working cameras, together with an assortment of hair curlers – which will go well on display with our ‘walkabout’ hair dryers!
• Val Craig has donated 2 large lovely white damask tablecloths.
• Audrey Meisenhelter has donated a pair of blue hand embroidered gloves.
• Granville Historical Society – who have had to move out of their premises at Granville due to redevelopment of the site - have donated 3 large display boards, 11 small tables (which are an ideal size for putting those cups of tea on while you have a plate full of food), some smaller display boards, an oil heater and lastly - a new home was needed for a 1969 scale model of the Goodyear factory at Clyde – so it will now be living at Linnwood instead of going to the tip! It really is an impressive model, so please have a good look at it later. We would like to thank Rodney O’Brien for transporting all these items from Granville for us – his help has been much appreciated.
• Pioneers kindly donated some chairs that they no longer had a use for, and I think the last item is,
• From Cristine Andrews, granddaughter of Flora McCredie, some photos of the family both at Linnwood in 1985 and at Harborne in 1996 and 1997. Two of George McCredie’s daughters married into the Shorter family who were owners of Harborne at one time. I have added these photos to our album and will pass it around for you to have a look.

Again, many thanks to all who have donated items to us, our displays will certainly create a lot of interest in the future.

We have purchased another 20 chairs, as with the number of large groups hiring Linnwood for meetings, chairs always seem to be in great demand. We have also purchased a large First Aid kit which is now mounted on the cupboard wall near the pantry, for any minor injuries etc.

We had a successful Open Day in March and are looking forward to the rest of the year’s events. May will see a 50th Anniversary display by the Embroiderer’s Guild and we will also have the City of Holroyd Brass Band in attendance giving 3 performances on the day. July will see the Coca Cola Collectors of NSW here and we have some American Independent Car Clubs such as Packard, Studebaker, Hudson AMC, Willys Overlander and Knight Register Clubs interested in attending, which should create a lot of interest. We try and vary our exhibitions and there are certainly a lot of groups out there who appreciate being able to display their interests in such a lovely setting as Linnwood.

In early March we had a working bee, mainly to clean out the south kitchen area and we would like to thank those members who volunteered their time to come and work on the day. You may not notice the difference in the room, but we certainly do – we gave it a thorough going over and with the curtains up, the walls cleaned and all the rubbish removed we now have another usable room! Special thanks to Don Messer and his helpers for attaching castor wheels to all our display boards – it is now just so much easier moving them around!

During the clean-out we did come across some interesting items that would appear to have survived from the Lynwood Hall days. We found a 1962 School Fund page, itemising some expenditures, some small items of office equipment including a 1941 Kalamazoo Sundry Creditors folder – unfortunately empty, but still, it was an interesting mix of memorabilia to come across.

On the same day as our March Open House, Penrith City Council hosted a History Fair and many thanks to Pat O’Brien for attending and representing the Friends of Linnwood with a stall.

Last weekend as part of CityFest we hosted a Cavalcade of Fashion presentation of a ‘Victorian Cameo’ of fashions of the 1870’s–1890’s, similar to what Susan McCredie may have worn when Linnwood was built. This event was very well attended with visitors keen to come back again for another one.

As a supporter of CityFest, we were presented with this Certificate by the Mayor at a Thank You reception recently.

Since our last meeting, we were also once again contacted by some ex-Linnwood girls – sisters, who were visiting from Queensland and wanted to come back for a visit. We are contacted quite frequently by former residents of Linnwood (or Lynwood Hall as it was then), Faulds House and McCredie Cottage, who want to come back and visit their former homes. It is extremely important that these women CAN come back and visit – for some it is quite traumatic but they feel a need to come and face their memories of that part of their lives. Others are more than happy to come and visit, saying that their time here was the making of them. We hear many stories of what their lives were like then, good, bad and indifferent, and believe we play an important role in just being here and listening. For those who may need some extra support we give them the contact details for CLAN or the Aftercare Resource Centre who are able to give that extra support and advice. We were also contacted by Maria Amidu, an English artist here for a short time as an Artist in Residence at the new Artist’s Studio in Parramatta. Maria is doing a project on buildings that were children’s homes and is planning to make it a world-wide project. She spoke to women who had been in Parramatta Girl’s Home and asked to speak to some Linnwood Girls, which we were able to organize. Maria also came out for a visit and spent quite a few hours here taking photos and going through the information and photos we have been able to collect of that period in Linnwood’s history.

Now, on to events of recent times.

Actually, before I begin, I will pass around this small folder of articles you might like to read. Some of you may not be aware of the recent changes made by the State Government to the Heritage Act and the structure of the Heritage Council. The NSW Heritage Office has also virtually disappeared.  These are articles written by the National Trust, Royal Australian Historical Society, and also a couple of newspaper articles, voicing their concern regarding the future of Heritage in our State. They make interesting reading.

As members will know by now, we had some serious security problems occur on the site over the Easter period which prompted us to take the action of writing to not only the Director of the Heritage Office, but to send copies of that letter to quite a few politicians and also to Holroyd Council. I won’t go into all the details again, I think our letter pretty much covered what had happened, but what was so distressing to us was to see what has been allowed to happen to McCredie Cottage and to a lesser extent, Faulds House.

McCredie Cottage has been a target for break-ins over the past few years, with only ever band-aid solutions being used to repair any external damage. We have not had access to the building over this period, but at Easter we could finally go in, and I have to admit, I could not believe what has been allowed to happen. I have taken photographs of both the exterior and interior and will pass them around for you to look at. And remember, McCredie is less than 40 years old, and should still have many, many more years of useful life. The intruder was again after the copper wiring and I have a small piece here, similar to what was stolen.

For us, this was the final straw, and we felt that immediate action was needed. As you would be aware, the Friends then undertook to have a security system installed to protect the switchboard which supplies power to the whole site. We also undertook to pay the monthly monitoring fee.

At this point I would like to express our thanks to the Personalised Security staff, patrolmen and technicians and also to the electricians who were extremely helpful during the days it took to have power restored to the site. I might also add that it was either John McKenna or myself who dealt with all on-site visits by security or the electricians during this time, and also reporting to Merrylands Police.

In May 2006, the same situation had occurred and we were informed that necessary steps would be taken to secure the site and a letter was sent later that year to all neighbours, informing them that it would be necessary for security fencing to be installed to protect the property.

Well, we are still waiting.

Since that time, the amount of further damage to the buildings has been extensive.

We would also like to express our disappointment and frustration on the following issues:

• Very few, if any, of the recommendations of the initial Risk Assessment commissioned by the Heritage Office, regarding the security of the site, were ever implemented.
• In 2002 a Steering Committee for the Future Use of the Linnwood Estate was formed and met regularly until June 2004 – there was then a gap of 30 months before the Committee met again in December 2006 and has only met once (in February 2007) since then. FOL members on that committee have not been involved in any further discussions or meetings regarding the site.
• The Heritage Office and the State Government would appear to have chosen to ignore the announcement made in 2002 that “the transfer to public ownership by the Carr Government was to ensure that the homestead and its grounds would be protected and maintained for future generations”.
• 2003 saw many groups express interest in leasing McCredie Cottage and Faulds House, but due to inaction on the part of the Heritage Office in rezoning the property, no tenants were permitted to lease the buildings. The property has still not been rezoned. This shortsightedness has denied the estate of 5 years of income and led to the current situation of vandalized buildings.
• Repairs to Linnwood such as replacement of flooring and repairs to ceilings have never been completed.
• In 2004 the decision was made to sell the Tamplin Road frontage to generate funds needed for conservation work and future maintenance as there was no government funding forthcoming. The government would then take 50% of any money raised from the sale. The final plan of subdivision showing the total amount of land to be excised was substantially different to the initial plan outlined to the Friends.
• A survey carried out by the Friends amongst its members and visitors to the house regarding the proposed subdivision had an overwhelmingly negative response to a residential development, instead preferring to see the land leased to the neighbouring Leagues Club as a car park. As a result of this, the committee wrote to the Heritage Office asking them to reconsider their decision in view of the community’s response. There was no acknowledgement of or reply to this letter. A further letter requesting some monetary consideration for organizing all hirings and the opening and closing of Linnwood for hirers has also been ignored. FOL Committee members open and close for all hirers – morning and night, weekdays and weekends, collect, receipt and bank all income, with no commission or consideration whatsoever.  All hiring fees are payable to the NSW Heritage Office.
• A Property Consultant was contracted to submit the re-zoning application for the rear of the property in early 2007, but it was then decided that it may be better to re-zone the whole site at once instead of in 2 submissions. As far as we are aware, this has still not been done. The Property Consultant attended a Linnwood Open House for community consultations but these findings have not been made available to the Steering Committee.
• LJ Hooker was contracted to manage the property, but since their contract was not renewed there appears to be no plan of management in place for repairs and maintenance to the property. In recent times, with the restructuring/downsizing of the Heritage Office and its lesser role as a branch of the Department of Planning, we have been very concerned at their instructions that they not be contacted for any security breaches other than ‘major events’ such as a building on fire or the power being cut again. This begs the question as to who is to be responsible for repairs for ‘minor events’. If FOL request the security company to repair any break-ins, will we be expected to incur the cost? This is surely not our role. We have been made aware that a contractor has been instructed to effect repairs on McCredie Cottage and Faulds House, as soon as possible. In fact I was down here at 8.15am this morning to let him in so work could be started on Faulds House. The timing of these instructions seems to be just a little too coincidental – and sadly, far too late.
• In December 2006, the Steering Committee was told that many of the repairs to Linnwood itself were to start happening in January 2007. We are still waiting.
• In September 2007, the Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, made a short visit to Linnwood for a meeting with members of the committee, representatives from Holroyd City Council, Guildford Leagues Club and the Member for Fairfield, Mr Joe Tripodi.  Mr Sartor made some fairly sweeping comments about the future of the property on the day and again, we are still waiting to see or hear any of these come to fruition.
• In light of the State Government’s care and control of this site to-date, we wonder if there is a policy of  ‘demolition by neglect’ in place for McCredie Cottage and Faulds House, possibly allowing for future development, even though we were assured that the WHOLE site was to be retained for community use.

The Friends of Linnwood have worked tirelessly in the past and will continue to do so in the future to ‘protect and preserve’ the Linnwood Estate, but believe that it is well and truly time for the State Government to honour promises made to the community and take responsibility for the security and maintenance of all buildings on the estate.

To finish up I would like to thank you all for coming today and hope that you may have some questions you might like to ask Mr Sartor’s representatives here with us today - and more importantly, that they have some acceptable answers for us.

Thank you.

Correspondence
Helen Olde then read the responses to our letter dated 4 April 2008 to the Director of the NSW Heritage Office, noting that we have not received a reply from the Director.  Responses received are:

• Letter dated 9 April 2008 from Mr Barry O’Farrell, Leader of the NSW Opposition, noting our concerns and asking if we were not satisfied with responses to contact his office again.
• Email dated 15 April 2008 from the office of Joe Tripodi, MP, advising an acknowledgement would be sent soon.
• Email dated 15 April 2008 from the office of David Borger, MP, advising his apologies for not being able to attend the Public Meeting, however he has written to the Minister for Planning urging him to give priority to the security issues.
• Copy of letter dated 15 April 2008 from David Borger to the Minister for Planning, asking him to give this matter some priority.
• Copy of letter (undated) from the Minister for Planning to David Borger MP, advising that:

“The Office of Strategic Lands (OSL), property specialists within my portfolio responsible for government land acquisition and management, are to take immediate action on my behalf to install the additional security and perimeter fencing.  In addition, roofing and guttering works have recently been completed on the Dormitory Building to the value of some $87,000.
I am aware that the Friends of Linnwood did install a security system into McCredie Cottage as an emergency measure and the Heritage Branch will be reimbursing the Friends for this cost.
Senior Heritage and OSL staff will be attending the public meeting called by the Friends of Linnwood on Sunday 20 April to outline these measures.”

• Letter dated 16 April 2008 from Joseph Tripodi, MP, to The Friends of Linnwood, enclosing a copy of a letter (undated) received from the Minister for Planning.  (This letter is the same as that forwarded to David Borger MP).

Helen Olde then circulated the Correspondence folder containing the above letters, as well as other general correspondence received and sent since the last Public Meeting.

Security and other Issues on the Linnwood Estate
John McKenna then introduced representatives from the NSW Department of Planning - Cameron White (Manager, Listings Team, Heritage Branch), Rosa Pangallo (Senior Property Officer, Office of Strategic Lands), and Deirdre Stewart (Manager, Land Policy, Office of Strategic Lands).

Cameron told the meeting that, “Firstly I will just touch on the restructure of the Heritage Branch.  Some functions that we share with Head Office are being relocated to Head Office, so that’s really the purpose of the restructure, there is no down-grading of the role of Heritage, just a movement of some people.  FOL’s former contact, Murray Brown, has resigned as a separate issue to the restructure and now works with the Institute of Architects.  In future, I will be FOL’s contact, or the Director, Petula Samios.

In terms of wilful neglect, I can confirm there is no policy to let the property run into a state of disrepair, there is a proposal for it to be adapted and re-used.  There is change from day-to-day property management, which will be transferring from the Heritage Branch to the Office of Strategic Lands (“OSL”) within the Department of Planning.  They are property specialists and that is where their expertise lies and that’s a good initiative.

In terms of securing the buildings, there are people on site today so that is proceeding.  The other two areas of concern are the underground electricity and fencing.  OSL is looking at that now and getting quotes, and funding has been approved to carry out that work.  Once the quotes are in and we have contractors in place, that work should be able to proceed quite quickly.

Another thing that is being reviewed on site is the lighting.  We are aware from the Friends’ letter that lighting is unsatisfactory and is probably contributing to the lack of security, and I think lighting will increase people’s use of the site.

We will be reimbursing the Friends for the expenditure on the security system at McCredie Cottage, and $87,000 was spent recently on the Dormitory Building to fix roofing and guttering.

From today’s meeting, it is pretty clear we need to reactivate the Steering Committee and open the lines of communication again, so that any concerns can be discussed one-on-one rather than resorting to letters.  I think it’s much better to meet face to face, and I would also be proposing that the Branch of the Office of Strategic Lands meet separately with the Friends of Linnwood so that we can go through these issues and any other issues that are raised.

In summary, the Minister has directed a number of issues to be undertaken.  He wants the new security system and electricity installations to be resolved as soon as possible.  He wants the property to be brought into the OSL external contractors for security patrols so security can be improved on the site.  He has also directed us to give regular reports and updates to the Friends of Linnwood.  The long term issues with the site, rezonings etc, I will be happy to talk more about those issues etc in the meeting with the Friends and the Steering Committee.”

Question from the floor: What is the plan for the property?
OSL Response:  We are not supporting wilful neglect and demolition, we are supporting the re-use.

Vanessa McNeill advised that is the best news she has heard today, the fact that you want to reinstate the Steering Committee, because she was fortunate enough to be part of that Steering Committee and she was a former Councillor on Holroyd City Council.  The Steering Committee had worked very well and was supported by the then State Member for Granville, Kim Yeadon.  Vanessa also advised that we had a very good rapport with Murray Brown and were able to discuss all sorts of issues face-to-face.  That is the way forward, if we can all start to talk again and share information.

Question:  Liz Ashard raised the issue of wilful neglect and mentioned minor and major works.  She asked OSL how are they going to handle that. 
OSL Response:  Day-to-day issues will be the responsibility of OSL.  They are all under the one portfolio.  We are still the owners of the property and will be involved in the long term decisions and talking to the Friends etc.  Day-to-day minor works will be handled by OSL.

Question:  Helen Olde asked what does “Strategic Lands” actually mean. 
OSL Response:  It’s a new name - we were previously known as the Land Management Branch of the Department of Planning.  The whole of the Department of Planning is undergoing a restructure, as has happened with the Heritage Office which was taken under the umbrella of the Department of Planning.  We control all the assets of the State Government where we purchase land for open space such as Western Sydney Parklands.  Rosa manages all the properties in that area.  We purchase land zoned for public purpose and we manage it until it’s passed over to an agency, i.e. RTA for roads etc.  We have a skill set in property management and that is the service they will provide for Linnwood on a day-to-day basis  None of us comes from a Heritage background so we will always be working with our colleagues in the Heritage Office in relation to any long term plans.  We will manage any long term work for the house, but that’s not our area of expertise.  That type of work will go back to the Heritage Office.

Question:Liz Ashard asked if the people in charge of major works would be working with the Friends of Linnwood and the Steering Committee.
OSL Response:  That’s the idea, major things will be discussed with the Committee.  Day-to-day issues which Linnwood currently has are new to us, but we’ve probably learned a lot more from this meeting today than we’ve learned from the information that has been passed between the two organisations, that’s just the nature of not knowing the detail of the site.  That will help Rosa move forward with some of the issues noted today.  Decisions regarding the property and rezoning, OSL will be involved in that.  We’ve noticed in the hall the copies of survey plans that we haven’t seen.

Question:  Dorothy Warwick asked would the Heritage Branch and OSL be able to set up a meeting with representatives of the Friends of Linnwood as there are some immediate issues that the Heritage Branch may not be aware of.
OSL Response:  Yes, subject to everyone’s availability, we want to set up a meeting with Heritage Office people for long term planning and day-to-day management issues within our Branch.

Question:  Dorothy Warwick asked in relation to maintenance issues that come up on a day-to-day basis, will there be a procedure in place so that we can ring the OSL office to get someone on site as soon as possible.  This has been a major problem as to who do we go to.
OSL Response:  Rosa Pangallo will be the contact person for that.  We need to solve what are the issues, who is meant to deal with them - but we need to identify each issue to give the appropriate contact.

Question from the floor:  Those are short term issues.  The estate is not manned and the buildings are not being occupied.  Long term issues have to do with security and how OSL is going to handle those.
OSL Response:  These should be discussed within the Steering Committee, and more so within the Heritage Office.

Question:  Gerry O’Brien asked who owns this land.  We were told that DOCS owned it, and have also been told that another department owned it.  No-one seems to know. 
OSL Response:  We are currently searching as to who actually owns the land.  The current title shows the owner as King George V.  A change of ownership is just a technicality.  The intention has always been to transfer ownership to the Heritage Office.  It is not covered by the Crown Lands Act anymore, it is under State Government ownership.  We are under the direction of the Minister to fix up the outstanding matters.

Question from the floor:  Can we have that in writing?

Question from the floor:  Will part of this land be sold off?  Is this part of your responsibilities?
OSL Response:  This is one area which we will explore in the future.  We don’t have an answer to that at the moment.  That’s why it’s important to reinstitute the Steering Committee and work through those issues.

Question:  From Sucheta Velankar (Pioneers).  We work with people aged 18-39 with severe disabilities.  We have 33 clients, 50% of whom are in wheelchairs.  The problems over the Easter break meant we had to call all the families and let them know, and were hoping that the power would be restored on the Tuesday.  We actually had to organise another venue for the Wednesday and organise taxis to transfer our 33 clients, which cost us quite a lot of money.  I would like some reassurance that that will not happen again - it’s not very good for our clients or our staff.
My second point is that I have been in contact with the Heritage Office for almost 18 months following up on the lease that we were expecting to be signed.  I have had absolutely no information on when the lease is going to be signed - it expires at the end of this year and is two years overdue.  Why hasn’t the lease been signed for that long, and when is it likely to be signed?

Question:  From Lesley Walzak (Pioneers).  I am a carer for one of the clients, and I used to be Secretary of Pioneers.  In the minutes of the October 2006 AGM, Murray Brown said he was going to follow up re signing of the lease and the erection of the fences.

OSL Response:  My understanding is that there was some delay regarding the fencing due to the fact that the property was not under the ownership of the Heritage Office at that time.  We will follow this up next week.  The electricity problems are being looked into again now so the problems that arose at Easter won’t happen again.

Question:  Dorothy Warwick said that with regard to the fencing and the underground power, back in 2006 we were told that was all going to happen, that funding had been approved for these to occur, but Treasury never released the money.  What sort of guarantee do we have that it is actually going to happen?
OSL Response:  We are going to organise the work and the Heritage Office is going to pay for it.

Question:  Helen Olde said that we recently discovered in the 2005/06 annual report of the Heritage Office, that it was proposed that Linnwood be transferred to Historic Houses Trust.  HHT also comes under a government department - the Department of Arts, Sport and Recreation.  HHT is known to do really good restorations, but they are also known to sell off or lease those properties to fund further projects.  Helen asked the OSL representatives if they were aware of any plans to do that? 
OSL Response:  We do not know the answers to that.  The Steering Committee should look at that.
Helen said that the Steering Committee was not advised of this proposal at that time.

There were no further questions from the floor.  John McKenna thanked Cameron, Rosa and Deirdre for coming to the meeting today and understands that they are going to look at these issues now that they know much more about the history of the estate and the problems we have encountered.  It is vital that the communication lines are established and stay open.  We’re here to make this work, to see Linnwood become a community asset and are more than happy to work with OSL to get this happening as quickly as we can. 
OSL Response:  Asked for tolerance and patience as this is all new to us.  We will endeavour to get done what we have told you today, and work closely with the Steering Committee to take this further and hopefully have a good outcome.

General Business
There was no general business tabled for discussion.

Guest Speaker
John McKenna then welcomed Barry Bullivant, assisted by his wife June Bullivant, as guest speaker, for “A Walk Down Memory Lane”.  Barry then proceeded to show some old black & white photos of life in yesteryear.

Do we remember going to “the flicks”, standing up for the National Anthem, paying 6d to get into the theatre, having a penny to spend - 1/2d for an ice cream and 1/2d for lollies.  Rolling Jaffas down the aisle, and sometimes not being able to see the screen properly because of all the cigarette smoke.  We watched the newsreel first, then serials - “Green Hornet”, “Phantom”, “Superman versus the Kryptonites”.  The westerns and the cowboys - Hopalong Cassidy and his horse Topper, the singing cowboys Roy Rodgers and Gene Autrey, Eddie Cantor, Tom Nicks, Shirley Temple…. and there was always a milk bar next door to the theatre.

The 1930’s had Friday night shopping, with a Scottish band marching up the main street.  In the late 1940’s there was a Swedish sex education film, “The Facts of Life” for 13-15 year olds, and there was always a big crowd, but you had to be escorted by an adult.

Do you remember morning assembly at school?  Honour the King, salute the flag, trying to trip up the girls.  There was never any threat on the way to school.  And you had a bag of broken biscuits, or sherbet and liquorice sticks.  You were given free milk in the morning in those little bottles - we were told it was good for teeth and bones, and the girls were always served first.

Hats - do you remember when men didn’t go anywhere without their hats - and it was always good manners to tip your hat at a lady.  Barry showed a photo of a large crowd at a cricket match at which “The Don” was batting, and everyone (men and women) had a hat on. 

The outback dunny - it was down the back yard and the more uncouth in society used to call it the thunderbox, and it always had a candle and newspaper, though if you had money you used old phone books.  Inevitably there were red-back spiders, and the sanitary man always came to collect the waste when you were in there!!

The rabbitoh on his horse and cart going around the streets, selling rabbits for 6d a pair or 9d for a bigger rabbit, and there were many ways of cooking them.

The clothes prop man used to come round once a month.  The poorer families used to pull down the prop and use the wood in the fuel stove.  Remember the scythe and sickle to “mow” the lawn, or you might have had a sheep which did the same thing.

Milking the cows, carting the milk for distribution to houses, the drums with the cream and butter.  Feeding the chooks (rarely did we eat chicken, only on special occasions).

The ice man coming around with his cart with blocks of ice.  And the ice chest which you would put perishable in as there were no fridges in those days.  The meat safe to keep the flies off the meat.  Most people had a vegetable patch in their back yard.  Christmas dinner cooked on the old fuel stove, roast lamb or chicken, bread & butter pudding, junket, blancmange, and the Christmas pudding with 3d and 6d.

The baker’s cart used to come to the door each morning, selling half a loaf or a full loaf.  Putting a slice of bread on a fork and toasting it over the kerosene heater.

Ballroom dancing lessons, sewing all your own clothes on the Singer sewing machine, darning socks, wearing hand-me-down clothes.  Monday was washing day, with the fuel copper and using Reckitt’s Blue for whiter clothes, hand wringing the wet clothes, or if you were rich you had a wringer.

Bobbing or shingling your hair, women and school girls knitting socks for the soldiers at war - and there was only one colour, khaki.

The backyard was the entertainment area - picnics for the children.  Terrorism was the kids at the end of the street waiting to ambush you.  Sundays were for church and family - absolutely no playing of sport on that day! 

Unfortunately due to time constraints we weren’t able to see all of Barry’s great photos, but they certainly brought back a lot of happy (and funny) memories.

Next Meeting
The next Public Meeting of the Friends of Linnwood will be held on Sunday 8 June 2008 at 2.00pm, when our guest speaker will be Nick Gleeson, Community Relations Officer from Vision Australia, and well known adventurer.  His topic will be “A Vision to Share” and he will give a demonstration of a Talking Book machine, as well as recount some of his adventures.

Raffle
The raffle was drawn by Cameron White and won by John McKenna.

Meeting Close
The meeting closed 4.10pm and was followed by another wonderful afternoon tea catered by Coral Hamilton.