Calendar

 
Feb
26
Wed
Adventures in archaeology in Turkey: ancient land and ancient peoples (Jan Bailey) @ Eltham Central Pavilion
Feb 26 @ 9:30 am – 11:00 am

Jan Bailey will describe the day-to-day life of an archaeologist on a dig. Two cultures will be discussed: the Kura Araxes group of people who were present in the region for more than 1,500 years, from around 3000 BC; and the Urartian Empire, which dominated the region for 250 years from approximately 900–600 BC, before they were wiped out by the Scythians.

Jan is a retired teacher from the tertiary sector, who has long been a passionate student of archaeology, achieving her Bachelor of Arts (Honours – Archaeology) as a mature-age student.

Mar
12
Wed
A literary tour of gardens (Christine Lister) @ Eltham Central Pavilion
Mar 12 @ 9:30 am – 11:00 am

Throughout the centuries, nature, gardens and beauty have inspired many great writers and poets to put pen to paper. Christine Lister will explore one of literature’s most intimate relationships: authors and their gardens. This tour features twenty acclaimed British writers (including George Orwell, Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, the Bronte Sisters, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, J.R.R Tolkien and Virginia Woolf) and the settings that they lived in and loved.

Christine Lister, once a school principal, is now a wise woman, an elder and an old soul who is passionate about orchids, gardening and her precious poodle, Bella.

Mar
26
Wed
Rowville’s Italian prisoners of war (Darren Arnott) @ Eltham Central Pavilion
Mar 26 @ 9:30 am – 11:00 am

In March 1946, the war was over. The Italian prisoners of war who had been captured several years earlier in northern Africa were interned in camps around Australia and were waiting to be returned home. One Saturday evening, the commandant of the Rowville internment camp, Captain Waterston, shot and killed a prisoner, Rodolfo Bartoli, who he claimed was attempting to escape. What initially appeared to be a straightforward case of an Australian army officer carrying out his duty, soon appeared to be something else. Allegations of assaults, reckless firing of weapons, drunkenness and stolen goods began to emerge.

Darren will be sharing his discoveries after delving into military and court archives, historical police reports, newspaper articles and personal accounts from former locals who still had memories of the Italians and the camp. He learnt of the brutal treatment of some of the internees and of a romance between the young shooting victim and the daughter of a local farmer.

Darren Arnott is a former Rowville resident and the author of No regard for the truth, shortlisted for the Victorian Community History Awards 2020.