April 2021

Contents

• President’s column and recent acquisitions - page 1Introduces the Haydon family glass-plate collection, rescued Mittagong Star issues and electricity-supply documents, and newly supplied information on motorcycle racing at Mittagong airstrip.
• Society notices and Mittagong Town Band - page 2Includes Bruce Moore’s humorous account of choosing paint colours, Society notices and photographs of Emil Hill and the Mittagong Town Band.
• Charlotte Atkinson and family-history resources - page 3Discusses the donated book Searching for Charlotte, Louisa Atkinson of Oldbury, an early NSW genealogical compilation and William Chalker’s account of the 1806 Hawkesbury flood.
• The Haydon family collection and Chant house - page 4Traces Florence Haydon’s Chant family, their Mittagong house later called Boston Ivy, dressmaking and the donated glass negatives associated with newspaper proprietor Emil Hill.
• Emil Hill and the Mittagong Star - page 5Follows the Hill family newspaper business, Emil’s interests in music and swimming, the Star’s closure in 1960 and the planned preservation of the Haydon collection.
• Iron Week and the Mittagong airstrip - page 6Introduces the 1948 Fitzroy Iron Works centenary festivities and motorcycle racing, then recounts the emergency landing ground and wartime airstrip construction.
• Airstrip recollections and motorcycle races - page 7Presents Alan Worner’s alternative recollection of the airstrip completion date and John Campbell’s research into motorcycle races in 1948 and 1949.
• Society information and office bearers - page 8Lists Society contacts, opening times, membership fees and office bearers as printed in April 2021; these details are historical and may have changed.

Issue highlights

• A donated copy of Searching for Charlotte and an early NSW records publication are introduced (p.3).
• A donated collection of glass-plate negatives opens a story of the Haydon and Chant families of Mittagong (p.4).
• Emil Hill’s scrapbooks reveal his printing family and interests in Mittagong music and sport (p.5).
• The 1948 Iron Week celebrations and the changing uses of Lower Mittagong airstrip are described (pp.6-7).

Original Society source