Welcome & Apologies
John McKenna opened the meeting at 2.10pm, and welcomed everyone in attendance.  He also welcomed our Guest Speaker, Margaret Elder.

In Attendance at today’s meeting, as per the Attendee Sheet:
Pat O’Brien, Gerry O’Brien, Stan Thomas, Jan Thomas, Pam Zopf, Noelene Brown, Ann Ravenscroft, Olive Wicks, Eileen Nash, Bill Nash, Raema Walker, Rosemary Wood, Peter Warwick, Coral Hamilton, Audrey Murphy, Hazel Keepence, Rodney Malcolm, Margaret Elder, Kaye Weaver, Sue Evans, June de Zoete, Adriana de Haas, Beth Werner, Dorothy Thomas, Lawrie Thomas, Pam Richardson (also representing Wentworth Quilters), Judith Moller, Angela Caire, Michael Griggs, John Walz, Dorothy Warwick, Helen Olde, John McKenna.

Apologies:
Irie Olde, Christine McKenna, Julie Walz, Vanessa McNeill, Florence McMaster, Adela Donohoe, Merle Warwick, John Warwick, Russell Werner.

Confirmation of Minutes of Public Meeting held on Sunday 8 June 2008
The Minutes of the Public Meeting held on Sunday 8 June 2008, which were mailed to members, were unanimously accepted by the Meeting.  

Business Arising
Any business arising will be covered later in the meeting.

Correspondence
Helen Olde tabled the Correspondence folder, and read a letter received from the Hudson-AMC Car Club expressing their thanks and congratulating the Friends for the wonderful Open House on 9 July 2008.

President’s Report
Good afternoon and welcome everyone to Linnwood once again. It’s nice to see you all here – usually at the mention of an AGM, everyone stays away in case they get talked into doing something they don’t want to do - so thank you to those of you brave enough to come today!

Again, as I have done at previous AGM’s, I won’t actually give an annual report as such, as I believe we keep you up-to-date as much as possible during the year, so will just give my usual report with ‘extra’ bits at the end.

As usual, I will start with ‘show and tell’ - those items very kindly donated to us since the last meeting. We have:

• From Stan Thomas – an aeronautical instrument (a ‘dead reckoning computer’) and instruction book (which is just as well as I doubt that any of us would know the first thing about this otherwise).
• On loan from John Warwick we have a 1930’s radio/record player, which is a lovely piece of furniture, 2 framed tapestries and a gold framed mirror (these 3 items are hanging in the drawing room already), another framed ‘Constable’ print (hanging in the old refreshment room), and a framed ‘Cavalier’ print  (hanging in he library).
• Florence Sumner has kindly donated a lovely USHA sewing machine and table (originally owned by the Ewin family of Guildford), assorted artists utensils and an original painting by Doris Hansen.
• Ron Harber has donated this old wooden ‘bowls’ ball with an early date stamp of 1912 on it, together with a very old hammer which was found under an old house out at Pitt Town.
• Kevin Woodward has donated a 1967 Prospect County Council Bulletin and a brochure for an Emmco Fyrside Kerosene Heater.
• David Farrar has donated a collection of old 78 rpm records and album, and hopes that we might be able to play them on our old gramophones in the drawing room.
• Dorothy and Laurie Thomas have donated a beautiful Singer Treadle Sewing Machine, and Laurie has done some research and found that this model was made in Clydebank, Scotland, in 1939.
• Margaret Warn has donated 3 pairs of nylon stockings.
• Helen Farraday has donated a selection of old doilies.
• Hazel Keepence has donated a copy of her invitation to the 1991 Linnwood Centenary Celebrations, together with some newspaper articles.
• Val Craig has donated this 80 year old wooden high chair which will go really well with our other nursery furniture – in fact at the last tour that came through we put it all together and had a lovely display of our bassinets, cot and high chair, baby clothes and embroidery, and Pat, Coral and I brought in some dolls and Teddy Bears to use as props – and it worked really well!
• Pat has also donated various old cotton reels to add to our handcraft collection.

Quite a varied lot of donations this time – so many thanks to all those Friends and community members who have donated or lent these special items to us.

Now, on to other things……

Since our last public meeting John, Pat and I attended a meeting with Cameron White and Petula Samios (the new Director) from the Heritage Branch, and Rosa Pangallo from the Department of Planning, to discuss some of the ongoing issues regarding the site.

We took with us quite a list of issues to discuss and are still waiting for some answers or progress reports on some of these, but can report to you that:

• The security fencing has been completed around McCredie Cottage and along the general line of the proposed subdivision at the rear of the property.
• The fire hydrant near the front of the house that was accidentally hit by a car, has been repaired.
• An after-hours security service is in place - but we have not been informed of any new procedures.
• Work is continuing on the removal of dangerous or dead trees.
• Pioneers have now had their new lease delivered.
• A quote for the upgrading of the security lighting has been accepted – subject to approval (and we have certainly heard that phrase before!).
• The quote to have the power put underground has also been accepted – again subject to approval, but they have indicated that this work should commence in September – so we will wait and see what happens.

It would appear that the security fence around McCredie Cottage has already had some impact, as according to the neighbours, the number of late night ‘meetings’ that were occurring in and around the building has dramatically decreased. Unfortunately, more of our trees have been ‘tagged’ with pink and green graffiti and there just doesn’t seem to be any way to prevent this from happening, other than erecting a fence along the Byron Road frontage. We are aware that some environmental feasibility studies have been done on the rear of the property with soil samples being taken, so it would appear that the subdivision plans are going ahead whether we like it or not. Unfortunately, a residential development will create a major problem for us on our Open Days as we will lose all the area we currently use for parking.

We have heard no word on the future of McCredie Cottage or Faulds House but will continue to monitor these and other issues discussed at the meeting.

It was indicated that instead of reinstating the Steering Committee, the Department would prefer to continue having ‘informal’ meetings with us to discuss any issues, so we will continue to keep you informed of any outcomes.

On to the good news………………

We have had two very successful tour groups through in recent times and again, so many visitors are amazed by the size, history and ‘feel’ of this house (and are also very impressed with our wonderful Devonshire Teas, thanks to Coral!).

Last Sunday we participated in Holroyd Council’s Local Government Week festivities at Holroyd Gardens by having a stall, and we will also have a stall at the Hewitt House Neighbourhood Centre Festival on 30th August.

For the past year or more Michael has been representing the Friends at the meetings of the Sydney West Tourism Network and we have now officially joined the Network and will be hosting the August meeting and providing the members with a tour and morning tea. This group’s aim is to promote tourism in Western Sydney and we have also invited representatives from groups within the Parramatta area to also attend on the day.

Our website is hosted by Holroyd City Council, and as part of their recent software upgrade and ‘new look’ of their own website, the webmaster has offered to give our site a face lift also, so stay tuned for that one!

Plans for CityFest 2009 are underway and we are in the process of trying to book another presentation from the Cavalcade of History and Fashion as our contribution to the Festival.

Our last Open Day in July was a spectacular success!!!!!! We believe we had over 500 people through the front door and many more outside drooling over all the cars parked on the front lawn from the American Independent Car Clubs. With many thanks to Tony Atkinson from the Hudson Car Club for all the promotional work he did, the day, even though it was a bit gloomy and cold weather-wise, was by far the best day we have had since our very first Open Day in October 2002. Special thanks must also go to all the volunteers who worked so hard on the day – from the BBQ outside, to the refreshments inside, to the welcomers at the front door and everyone in between, many, many thanks for the time and effort put in on the day – it was just great. The Rock’n’Roll Dancers and the Holroyd City Brass Band really had everyone tapping their feet and the atmosphere was just wonderful. And to me, that’s what the Friends of Linnwood and this house and its grounds is all about – providing a great venue for the community to get together and have a really good time - so let’s hope we can do it all again next year! I have some photos in the album if you would like to look at them and one of our members, Robert French, has done this sheet of photos for us which includes a great panoramic shot of the cars in front of the house. Our latest fundraising venture is some ‘Linnwood” bookmarks for $2 each. These proved very popular at the July Open House – we sold out!

Don’t forget to keep checking your Calendar of Events to see what’s coming up for the next two Open Days for this year.

As you know, today is our AGM and I believe we can look back over the past 12 months and be very pleased with our achievements. It has been a mixed bag this year – some very definite highs (all of our functions) and some very real lows (the continued vandalism and cutting of power). Linnwood is now known to so many more people across the wider Sydney area, and beyond, and that is a great achievement in itself – one of the Aims and Objectives of the Friends is “To actively promote Linnwood as a community asset”, and I think we are doing that as best and as much as we can.

Today is also the time to publicly thank those who support us in many ways during the year.

Holroyd City Council – for continuing to support the Friends by making sure the grounds are in pristine condition for our Open Days – their mowing schedule is geared to coincide with our Calendar of Events – for continuing to host our website, and also to Diane Jogia and her staff for continuing to support us with our mailouts to members.

A very big Thank You to Holroyd Select Meats - for continuing to supply us with sausages at no charge, for our Open Days. So, if you can help them to support us, by buying your meat there, please do so – you won’t be disappointed!

Our Gardening Committee – the Linnwood Diggers – not only for looking after our gardens, but raising an amazing amount of money from their plant and craft sales at the Open Days. All money raised by these ladies is earmarked for future garden works.

A very big Thank You to all our volunteers who help out not just on Open Days but at other times as well – doing all those exciting jobs like coming in the day before and cleaning and preparing the house for an Open Day, or spending hours here at a working bee. To Stan and Don – our ‘handymen’ - who do lots of little jobs around the place. To Peter, for the reams of photocopying he does for us throughout the year – without this kind of support, we just wouldn’t be able to function as well as we do.

To the Holroyd Art & Craft Society for showing their support by attending each and every Open Day – setting up and pulling down their displays of work each time is a feat in itself. To our other regular stall holders for also attending when they can – they all add something to our Open Days.

To you, the members – thank you for continuing to support us with your membership and your attendance at our functions. Linnwood belongs to all of us and your continued attendance proves that it is an important community asset and indeed a social outlet for many.

Last but by no means least, I would like to personally thank the current committee for their time, efforts and support over the past 12 months. It has been in some ways a difficult year – not quite knowing whether to or how hard to push the State Government for the action we believed needed to be taken, but then feeling that we had indeed done the right thing by Linnwood and our members by taking that stand. As you may realize, our functions don’t just happen – quite a few hours are put in by the committee behind the scenes to try and make each occasion a success.  For each and every function or meeting held here, or stall held, or tour provided, or talk given, one or more or all of the committee are involved - and it is a credit to John and Christine, Pat, Helen, Coral, Pam, Adriana, Michael and John that they have been willing to put the time and effort in to get the job done. We are extremely lucky that this committee has worked so well together and it has been a pleasure to work with them all, so please join with me in thanking the current committee members for their commitment over the past year.

As part of the AGM, nominations for committee positions will be available to financial members of the Friends, so if you would like to become more involved - even more than you are now - have a think about becoming a committee member. The committee meets one night a month and keeps in touch via email or phone if any issues arise between times that need to be dealt with.

To finish up, thank you all once again for your support - we hope it will continue! Please enjoy the rest of the meeting and stay and have a cuppa and a chat afterwards.

Thank you.

Major income in June was reimbursement of $3,630.42 from the NSW Heritage Office.  This was in respect to maintenance and security expenditure (including the alarm system) at McCredie Cottage paid for by The Friends of Linnwood earlier in the year, and the installation of security screen doors at the rear of Linnwood house.

Major income in July emanated from the July Open House, and membership renewals.  Major expenditure was in respect to catering for the Open House.

At 2.40pm, the Public Meeting adjourned in order that the Sixth Annual General Meeting of The Friends of Linnwood Inc could be held.

The Public Meeting re-opened at 3.00pm.

Gerry O’Brien thanked everyone on the Committee for the fabulous work they have done throughout the year.

John McKenna, on behalf of the Committee and members, thanked Dorothy Warwick for her continued leadership and for being the face of The Friends of Linnwood.  She is still as enthusiastic as she was in the beginning of the campaign to save Linnwood, and certainly provides the central focus for the way ahead for Linnwood.  John also thanked Peter Warwick for his support of Dorothy spending so much of her personal time on behalf of Linnwood.

General Business
There was no general business to be discussed.

Guest Speaker
John McKenna then introduced our guest speaker, Margaret Elder, whose subject today is Florence M Taylor, Architect and Engineer.

Margaret stands up for women’s rights and equal opportunity, though she doesn’t believe they should be given anything just because they are women - they have to earn it.  Margaret has a nursing/social work background and has 5 children and 9 grandchildren.  She works in industrial relations employment law and anti-discrimination law.  In her first case she was up against a male lawyer who said to her, “Listen girlie, you’re not going to win this so you might as well forget it.”  Margaret retaliated with, “Next time you threaten me, you’ll be singing soprano”!

Florence Mary Taylor was a very interesting woman - a woman before her time.  She achieved what she did through sheer grit and determination.  The glass ceiling in those days was too high.  There is a much more level playing field in industry, commerce and the humanities now. 

Florence was born in England on 29 December 1879, and came to Australia when she was 4 years old.  Her father (John Parsons) was a labourer and her mother Eliza (nee Brooks) was a washerwoman.  Her father was very good at drawing, and found a job at Parramatta Council as a draftsman/clerk.  Florence attended a local public school, even though in her biography she said she attended the Presbyterian Ladies College.  She was brilliant at mathematics and sometimes helped her father with his calculations.  Unfortunately her father died in 1889 - there were 8 children by this time - and her mother had died the year before.  Florence had to leave school and look after her two younger sisters (she looked after them for the rest of their lives).  She said she worked in an office, but records show she worked in domestic service.  Florence was building up an image of who Florence was going to be - she wanted something much better for herself.

For women in Florence’s time, they were forbidden to participate and be involved, and many were forbidden to study at university.  However Florence ignored all that and ploughed on.

She managed to get a job in an engineering firm when she was 19 - the construction industry at that time was not regulated or specialised, and there was no OH&S.  She decided to become an architectural draftsman so she enrolled at Sydney Technical College - she was the only woman studying amongst 200 male students, and only two of them ever had a dialogue with her.  She failed in her first year but went back and repeated the year, and went through and finished her studies with Honours.

She had also received an apprenticeship with a Sydney architect, however she was only allowed to do technical specification writing.  Her male colleagues were given the stimulating design drawings to do.  As soon as she completed her Articles she was appointed Chief Draftsman in a prestigious architectural office.  She designed and planned very comprehensive homes on the North Shore, but her boss’s name appeared on the plans.

Florence was still determined to become a qualified architect so after 8 years she completed her architectural degree from Sydney University.  At one point she was receiving 15 shillings per week - her two sisters were earning 5 shillings.

Her boss nominated her to the NSW Institute of Architects but she was unsuccessful - they would not recognise her qualifications or abilities.  It was to be another 13 years before the professional governing body finally admitted her to the Institute.  She was totally undeterred by rejection.  She was never paid as an architect at that time even though she had designed some of the most beautiful homes in Mosman, Darling Point and Neutral Bay. 

She then decided to study engineering and fell in love with one of her lecturers - George Augustine Taylor who was an engineer.  They married in 1907 and were equals in every way.  They decided not to have children because George was an epileptic. 

Shortly after they married, George became interested in aeronautics and built gliders and small aircraft, and urged the government to establish an air force.  Florence was the first woman to take a glider flight after overcoming her fear of heights.  They established their own publishing company and published many journals promoting the interests of architects, builders and engineers.  Florence became a Life Member of the Master Builders Association.  She advocated for some form of compensation be set up for families of people who were injured or killed at work.  She campaigned for urban planning and improved construction methods.  Both George and Florence advocated modernism in town planning.

In 1913 they founded the Town Planning Association of NSW, and were involved in Walter Burley-Griffin’s plans for Canberra (however Florence did not get on with Walter and did not agree with some of his thinking).

They were extremely materialistic as that was a display of their achievements.  They were also very right wing and Florence even congratulated de Groot after he cut the ribbon at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Florence and George spent many exciting and productive years together but because of George’s illness there were some constraints to what they wanted to do.  George died in their Sydney home after 21 years of marriage.  He had a seizure in the bath, and Florence found his body.  She decided to devote her life to work and carry on with their business, and try and improve conditions for people in the work force.  Her biggest challenges were the traffic subways for Sydney and an express route to the Eastern Suburbs.  She actually proposed that Sydney would need a second airport - at Newport - and she also thought that instead of having a harbour bridge, Sydney should have an underground tunnel, and actually predicted that cars would become a huge force in our major cities.

She was always “beautifully feminine” and was known for her hats and beautiful clothes - she was every essence a woman but totally engaged in men’s work.  She had a definite stand on women and did not believe they were the weaker sex.  The contemporary journalists used to write more about her fashion than her achievements. 

Florence received an OBE, but she wanted to be a Dame of the British Empire.  She was very focussed on business success so was able to look after her sisters very well.  She was seen as strong, ruthless and an outspoken “soft” feminist.  She used to make public speeches and was scathing about people who were paid for not working.  She ignored criticism but loved receiving awards.

In the Master Builders Association she dedicated money for an award for people who made outstanding contributions to the building industry - and would probably turn in her grave if she saw the quality of buildings being constructed today.

She was 90 years old when she died.  She definitely made her mark as a woman of Australia, and she once said you should never make the excuse that you’re “just a woman”.

There have been a few books written about Florence, but you can also go to the Australian Dictionary of Biography at www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120195b.htm

Next Meeting
The next Public Meeting of the Friends of Linnwood will be held on Sunday 12 October 2008.  Our guest speaker will be Katherine Bilusic, Community Relations Officer at Merrylands Police Station, who will talk about Personal Safety.

Raffle
The raffle was drawn by Margaret Elder and won by Dorothy Thomas.

Meeting Close
The meeting closed at 3.45pm.