Local studies resources : Indigenous resources

Local studies has a very good selection of resources around local area Indigenous history, geography, language and more.
The featured book, Survival Legacies : Stories from Aboriginal settlements of southeastern Australia , by Peter Kabaila, is a valuable resource which includes information on the Cootamundra Girls Home, various settlements along the Murrumbidgee , Macquarie and Lachlan rivers and a wealth of other meticulously researched information.
There is also a copy of Survival legacies in the general collection for loan, but if someone gets that out before you do, ask for the copy from local studies so you can have a look at this excellent book in the comfort and cool of the library.

What's your line ? : how to use local studies resources

What's your area of research ?
The local studies collection is catalogued in exactly the same way as our general non - fiction collection by the Dewey decimal system - for example, Wagga Civic Theatre history is in the 700s, local sport and sporting heroes around 796.
Council documents are to be found in many different subject areas, depending on the subject matter. For example, salinity is in the 630s, and social planning 300s.
Family histories are to be found in the 929 area, and Indigenous history in 994.
If you are a member of the library, items from local studies are issued onto your card as a short loan and the item can be read or viewed within the library for two hours.
Not a member of the library or from out of town ? Ask at the information desk on how we can assist you to view items.
And to save time , you can access the library catalogue online and make a list of the items you wish to look at - and if you're not sure if we do have an item ask at the information desk - the friendly staff will be happy to help you with your area of interest !

Music, dancing...

Two more great resources in the local studies collection :

Bruce Carty's history of Australian radio is a recent addition and has information on all Australian radio stations , station logos, including  wireless radio history , and more importantly , explains the letters in station identifiers - which were always a mystery to me..

Bill Forrest has compiled a history of dance bands in country New South Wales - photographs of early dance bands with names like the Col Thompson Swingtet ( Harden Murrumburrah 1953 - 1960) , the Ganmain Revellers (1938) , The Blue Diamonds ( Forbes 1958 -1966 ), and smoothly named Rhythmaires ( Molong 1960s ) and the stories surrounding the bands and the venues make for interesting reading. If you played in a dance band or went to dances where local bands played send me an email ( wagga.local.studies@gmail.com ) or come into the library to tell us your memories.

News on microfilm

Another great resource in the library for local studies researchers is the collection of newspapers on microfilm .The collection includes :

• The Wagga Wagga Express ,October 1858 to December 31 1929
• The Wagga Wagga Advertiser October 17 1868 to June 30 1911
• The Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser July 1 1911 to the current day.

There are also some district papers. These include :

• The Ardlethan -Beckom Times
• Coolamon Farmers Review
• Tumut and Adelong Times
• Australian Town and Country Journal 1880 -1889

other records of interest on microfilm that may be of use to researchers are

• the Wagga Rate books 1917 -1931
• Tichbourne case papers
• The Police Gazette 1900-1930

There are also a lot of records on microfiche too numerous to mention here but well worth a look for the merely curious or the serious researcher.
The microfilm reader is fully computerised and you can save the documents you choose to your USB / thumb drive to take home. The newspapers hold a great deal of valuable information that suits a variety of research purposes and looking at old advertisements and news stories from different eras can be a lot of fun in itself.


One of my favourite pieces from this edition of a 1938 Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser is the example below - the Railway Time table on top of an advertisement for a rheumatism cure- from the mundane to the melodramatic - the "devilish torture" of rheumatic pain.


 The district news has snippets of information about local people and events which can be useful for family history researchers, as long as you have the patience and time to look through the papers. It's free to use the microfilm reader - but you must be a member of the library and book the reader at the front desk.

 Come in and enjoy hours of entertainment travelling back through time!

Murrumbidgee Ancestor

The Murrumbidgee Ancestor is the journal of the Wagga Wagga and District Family History Society. The journal contains research articles about such diverse subjects as Wagga's Jewish families in the mid-Twentieth century (by Ruth Barnett), Alfred Edward Jelly- a newspaper trail ( a story about a man injured while working on the paddle steamers at Wagga) by Barry Williams ; local war or criminal identities, requests for information and much more.
The local studies collection also has the monthly newsletter of the society.
The journal and the newsletters may be of use to you in your local or family research - come into the library to view these useful items which are available for use within the library.

Poetic Justice

The local studies collection at the Wagga Wagga City Library has a substantial literature section. At the Wagga heat of the recently held Poetry slam local poets read their works and I started thinking about Wagga's literary precedents - Dame Mary Gilmore being the most famous author (her visit to Wagga during Book Week 1948 a gala event ) . Within the wider region , Miles Franklin comes to mind, though not strictly famous for poetry.
Included in the collection are diverse editions of Four W, anthologies of prose and poetry produced by Charles Sturt University , Booranga Writers Centre and Arts NSW ; "Pages from Sages", slim volumes from various local poets- but one treasure I found particularly stands out for me : "Mainly lousy mid nineties covers of early eighties hits" by the enigmatically named Zeb'e.a die.
Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach , Mainly lousy is not lousy at all. There is no biographical information about the author, who writes about everyday experiences and feelings in a witty, sometimes heartbreaking, and intelligent way.
Are slim volumes of poetry a thing of the past? I wonder what Wagga poets are writing about now ? Do you know the identity of Zeb'e.a die? or even better, Zeb'e.a die let me know if you are still writing.
email me at wagga.local.studies@gmail.com.

Dame Mary Gilmore and Book Week 1947

Illustration for "Dogs" by YLLA. 

Literary legend Dame Mary Gilmore visited Wagga Wagga for book week in 1947. She was the Celebrity guest at many of the events she attended during the week long celebration, including such diverse entertainments as a civic reception, opening a flower show, guest spots on the local radio, listening to recitations from the Shakespeare Club, and visiting schools (including her old school at Brucedale).
Dame Mary visited the Wagga Free Library on Tuesday 21 October 1947, at 10.30am. Partaking in a morning tea, she commented that the library had a "harmoniously dignified appearance" , that "the books are well arranged, and there is a good selection of reading."
Book week was a big community event in the 1940s and 1950s. Competitions included book review essays, poetry, dolls in character costumes, illustrations for nursery rhymes, and bookmarks. Dame Mary distributed the prizes at a gala event held at the Plaza theatre, also attended by the Mayoress, Mrs Barrand, and the City Librarian Miss Jean Hay.

Illustration for "Golden Path Adventure" by Mary Gervase.

All these events and their significance show how valued books and reading were within the community. Dame Mary's presence added importance and literary glamour to the week long festival in a very Australian way- though interestingly most of the essays written by Wagga school children were reviews of English and American books. It was a fun and exciting way of involving the whole community in a celebration of what is really a solitary pursuit, and would have been a welcome diversion so soon after the end of the second world war.
Book Week is still celebrated and this week the Wagga City Library has posters from previous book weeks on display downstairs near the large print. These posters from the fifties and sixties are works of art - come in and relive your childhood love of reading and books !