public history Archives - History Matters

More Than Just A Game: The Importance Of Community Building At My Local Netball Club

*One of the first West Ryde Rovers Netball Teams. 1969.*

At some point or another, every child dreams of being a famous singer… or an astronaut… or a film star. Well, as a girl, my biggest dream was to one day play professional netball for the NSW Swifts. A little unconventional, I know, but as an 8-year-old nothing could be better. So it goes that my Saturdays (and my parents’) were spent running around Meadowbank Park where I played for my local club, the West Ryde Rovers.

West Ryde Rovers began its life in 1956 when Lester Waud travelled to the Olympic Games in Melbourne and watched Australia defeat Japan in the men’s football (soccer for those of you who may be confused). With co-founder, Perce Rouse, he coached two boys football teams in the Hornsby-Epping Association that same year. Of course, some credit must be given to Mavis, Lester’s wife, who helped to hand sew the first teams’ jerseys.

It wasn’t until 1967 that Rovers’ first netball team emerged, although at the time the sport was known as ‘women’s basketball’. It went from strength to strength and by 1971, the West Ryde Rovers Netball Club had fourteen teams. I don’t know what was more impressive; the rapid development of teams in the netball club or the perms of the ladies who played in them! As of the 2024 season, the Rovers Netball Club has over 25 teams ranging from Under 6’s to Open Ages. As well as this, in 2015, Rovers was proud to introduce an All Abilities training program which aimed to encourage girls and women living with disability to participate in a team sport. Since then, the program has flourished and there are now three All Abilities teams in the Eastwood-Ryde competition.

While I eventually grew out of my dream to play professional netball, the importance of West Ryde Rovers in my childhood has not been lost on me. More than this, I can now see the importance of the club to the development of my own community. Although West Ryde Rovers has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1956, its evident that the values upon which the club was built are still at its core today. The club is primarily a community organisation and it relies purely on the hard work of volunteers to keep running. This is evident if you ever go down to Meadowbank Park on a Saturday morning where you will see an army of volunteers; there is Ruth coaching her team, and over there is Despina in the umpires room, and there is Karen making the rounds. Alongside them are the many more committee members as well as parents and friends who coach, manage, score and come to cheer on the teams. Nowhere will you see a greater show of community spirit and I believe that this is what makes Rovers’ history worth telling. I hope you’re as excited as I am to hear these amazing peoples’ stories!

*A busy Saturday at Meadowbank Park. 2024.*

Public History Drafts: “They answered their country’s call”

In Week 4 of this semester, I was still thinking about possible organisations to work with. On a Saturday, my dad found that near our old house, they had turned the old library into a small museum, and suggested we check it out. There, in the City of Canada Bay Museum, I had an incredible opportunity to join an existing project the museum had ready – thus began my work.

The City of Canada Bay Museum is a small museum that first opened in 2009 at its current premises, housing a collection of over three and a half thousand items significant to the local community. For example, they have one of the original Victa Lawn Mowers, which Mervyn Victor Richardson invented in his Concord backyard. The museum also has a host of Arnott’s memorabilia, as Arnott’s also has a history in the area and is currently based in North Strathfield. The City of Canada Bay Heritage Society also manages the Yaralla Estate, the home of Eadith Walker.

With a grant given to the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society, a past museum member created over 1600 biographies of World War 1 veterans from the Canada Bay area – this project was called “they answered their country’s call.” It became a ‘virtual memorial’, a large digital collection of unique individual histories directly related to the local community’s families. However, their issue arose when trying to share these with the community. The project I have been working on is a series of posters that can publicise and direct people to the virtual memorial, allowing the community to find their ancestors and see the tangible history of their community.

Over the last few months, I have started volunteering and working with the City of Canada Bay Museum on Saturdays. I have helped to plan and create many drafts of the possible posters. The current plan is to create four different posters for four locations: Five Dock Library, Concord Library, Five Dock RSL, and a travelling poster that will be used in markets, schools and other opportunities. Each poster will feature a different person’s biography and a photo of the person. Below are some of the drafts I’ve designed with the key elements of the poster – the title, “They answered their country’s call”, the subheading, “More than a name”, the four future locations of the posters, a QR code that will link to a website and/or directory, the person’s face, name and details, and a reference to the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society. (Note: in place of the actual people, I have used an image of myself. This will not be the final image used – I don’t think I’m Gertrude, and it is probably incorrect to make people think I am Gertrude.)

This is an image of a poster. The poster reads as follows: In dark navy blue text, "They answered their country's call. More than a name." Below, an image of Vanessa sits to the right of the words, "Matron Gertrude Moberly RCC. Army. Royal Red Cross, 1st Class." Underneath in yellow is: "Do you have an ancestor from WWI? Find out more at:" Underneath, a QR code sits to the left of, "City of Canada Bay Museum, Five Dock Library, Concord Library, Five Dock RSL" in dark navy blue. At the bottom of the poster, in dark navy blue, is: "In association with the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society." The background of the poster is a dull green colour with a paper-like texture. There is a small decorative yellow piece on each corner of the poster, acting as a border. A small red poppy is in the top left corner of the image of Vanessa. The full image is covered with the word 'draft' repeated as a watermark. — This is the first draft I made of the poster on the 24th of August using Canva.

This is an image of a poster. The poster reads as follows: In red text, "Do you have an ancestor from WWI?" Below, to the left in dark green text, "Find out more: Five Dock Library, Concord Library, Five Dock RSL, City of Canada Bay Museum." Besides this is a QR code. Below, in green, the words "More than a name" curve over the top and around the head of Vanessa. The image of Vanessa takes up the bottom 60% of the poster. Directly below Vanessa's face reads "Matron Gertrude Moberly RCC. Army. Royal Red Cross, 1st Class" in white. On either side of these words are a single light red poppy. The words "They answered their country's call" are in yellow. At the bottom of the poster, in white, is: "In association with the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society." The background of the poster is grey. There are green swirls that create a large border around the whole poster. The full image is covered with the word 'draft' repeated as a watermark. — This is the first draft I made of the poster on the 24th of August using Canva.

This is an image of a poster. The poster reads as follows: In pale green text, "They answered their country's call. More than a name." Below, in red, is: "Do you have an ancestor from WWI?" The text is on a small grey background. Below is an image of Vanessa with a small light red poppy in the top right corner. Underneath are the words "Matron Gertrude Moberly RCC" on a grey ribbon banner. Below are the words "Army" in pale green, and "Royal Red Cross, 1st Class" in white. Underneath is: "Find out more." This is white text on a small red background. Below this is: " Five Dock Library, Concord Library, Five Dock RSL, City of Canada Bay Museum" in red. To the right of the text is a QR code. At the bottom of the poster, in yellow, is: "In association with the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society." The background of the poster is a dark navy blue. There are small, thin, curved red lines that make a border around the entire poster. The full image is covered with the word 'draft' repeated as a watermark. — This is a later draft I made of the poster on the 31st of August using Canva.

This is an image of a poster. The poster reads as follows: In pale green text, "They answered their country's call. More than a name." Below, in yellow, is: "Do you have an ancestor from WWI?" Beneath is "Find out more" in white on a small red background, followed by "Five Dock Library, Concord Library, Five Dock RSL, City of Canada Bay Museum" in white. To the right of the text is a QR code. Below is an image of Vanessa with a black border and a small red poppy in the top right corner. Underneath are the words "Matron Gertrude Moberly RCC" on a curved grey ribbon banner. Below are the words "Army, Nursing" in white, a thin white line, and "Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital Matron, Concord" in white. At the bottom of the poster, in yellow, is: "In association with the City of Canada Bay Heritage Society." The background of the poster is a muted green with a paper-like texture. There are small, yellow branches with small green leaves that form a small border around the entire poster. The full image is covered with the word 'draft' repeated as a watermark. — This is a later draft I made of the poster on the 31st of August using Canva.

I’ve also been able to assist in other ways. The museum itself is fully run by volunteers who come in twice a week to handle any and all requests by the council, schools, libraries, RSL clubs, and members of the public. These people are constantly working from 10am-4pm each day they come, speaking to people who walk in wanting information on their families, handling many new items donated to their collection, and numerous administrative activities. I’ve therefore gotten some opportunities to help out elsewhere. For example, last week I helped to edit an article going into the next edition of their Monthly Newsletter, Nurungi. It was a really cool opportunity to see what else the museum and heritage society has been doing in terms of public history and community engagement.

Over the last few months, it has been an absolute pleasure to see how these people work and help them via this project and in other ways. I have absolutely loved getting to work with these people through this course and am looking forward to further developing these posters for the community.

For more information about the museum or heritage society, check out the following links

https://www.canadabay.nsw.gov.au/lifestyle/arts-and-culture/city-of-canada-bay-museum

https://canadabayheritage.asn.au/

For the Love of ACE – An oral history of one collaborator’s experience with Arts and Cultural Exchange

https://aceinc.org.au/

My public history project is a half-hour interview with a long-time collaborator with Arts and Cultural Exchange (ACE) about her experiences with the organisation. Hawanatu Bangaru, a filmmaker and social worker originally from Sierra Leone, has been involved with ACE since 2009 and has collaborated on many projects over that time, while benefiting from numerous opportunities including placements and training.

The ultimate form this interview will be presented in on ACE’s website has yet to be fully agreed upon, but will likely take the form of a profile of Hawanatu and a couple of short testimonies I have pulled from the longer interview, potentially in both audio and transcript form.

The argument implicit in my project is that the work ACE does in collaboration with marginalised or disadvantaged communities matters. It matters in the way the programs ACE runs provide opportunities to people who would have seriously struggled to find them otherwise: opportunities to learn and practice new skill sets; for career growth, guidance and networking; for developing creative outlets; for cultural rejuvenation and celebration. It certainly had that impact for my interviewee, Hawanatu Bangaru.

The main themes that emerged through the interview were of opportunities that would have otherwise been hard (or impossible) to come by; of long-term committed support and encouragement from ACE for the community of creative’s it has grown; of a dedication to inclusivity and overcoming structural barriers for disadvantaged and underrepresented communities. All of these themes link back to the central argument of the project, as they are proof of why ACE matters to the communities it services. The support ACE offers these communities is enduring, passionate and has a concrete, positive, measurable impact on their lives.

My hope is that the beneficiaries of this project will include ACE itself, the communities it serves (and hopes to serve), and potentially anybody who cares about the social history of Western Sydney. ACE will benefit by having a detailed testimony they can use in advertising, on their website and potentially when seeking grants. The communities it serves will benefit largely as a direct result of this activity – more grants equals more opportunities for the marginalised and disadvantaged communities of Western Sydney, while having the testimony on ACE’s website may convince individuals to reach out and get in contact with ACE. Despite the organisations significance and long history, it does sometimes fly under the radar in the local community (I myself only became aware of ACE as an adult, even though I live in the area and have a long interest in the arts), so any possibility another person can be convinced to get involved because of that testimony would be a significant service. My hope is that by providing ACE with the full interview – transcription, audio and video – for their archives, it can maybe be of use one day to anybody else seeking to explore the history of Western Sydney. In that context, this project may just be a small piece of a much larger puzzle, but that still seems a valuable contribution.