Perhaps a clue to the advanced education of Joseph
Furphy can be gained from the memoirs of some of our pioneering squatters-
those who settled in rural Australia prior to Government legislation opening
it up to selectors.Virtually all highlight the importance placed upon having
books, and in many cases those chosen were of a very high standard.
Perhaps the best known local recollections come
from Edward Curr, who wrote:
"...when the concern had grown, leisure became plentiful,
and time often difficult to dispose of At that period reading became our
chief resource at Tongala ... from a pair of stout wooden pegs in the wall
plate of the sitting room of our rough but not uncomfortable slab hut at
Tongala ... hung in the place of honour, some shelves made of bark on which
were ranged our literary treasures. These volumes, our great resource
for years against ennui, for want of something new, were read, reread,
and discussed I cannot say how often. In fact, several of them became
studies in our small circle. Amongst them were a number of histories,
ancient and modern, Bourrienne's Napoleon', Segur's Histoire de Napoleon
et de la Grande Armee, O'Meara's 'Voice from St. Helena', 'The Court and
Camp of Bonaparte,' The Alhambra, or a New Sketch Book the plays of Racine,
Corneille, and Moliere; the poetical works of Milton, Shakespeare, Byron,Tommy
Moore, Scott and Burns "
As phrases throughout his memoirs reveal, Curr was
fluent in French, and it did not stop there:
"...Periods of loneliness ... were our bad times
... when thus shut out from conversation, we employed ourselves very actively
with our books, and on one occasion I took up vigorously the study of Italian
for some weeks,.."
Edward Curr and Joseph Furphy never met, of course,
but perhaps a conversation between the two would have been similar to some
of those we find in Such is Life!
EDWARD CURR, Recollections of Squatting in Victoria,
Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. 1965
FROM THE FAMILY HISTORY GROUP
Dear Members and Friends,
The year 2002/3
has been difficult but during this time, members carried on helping with
enquires from near and far. Many thanks go to Barbara Mitchell for
allowing meetings to be held at her home thus keeping members up to date
on matters affecting The Heritage Centre and The Family History Group,
therefore giving encouragement to members to carry on.
Financially the year ended on a positive note which
allowed the Group to give assistance to the newly elected committee for
The Heritage Centre during their difficult times.
Space in the Library is becoming an issue and I
suggest we actively canvas the Council for the use of space in the new
library/community centre to be built in Mooroopna.
The final episode of The Heritage Centre impasse
will be a court appearance on the 9th October. This date may be in
the past tense when this Newsletter is published.
The future for both groups looks bright and I am
sure that with our positive outlook for the future, commonsense will prevail.
Special thanks must be extended to those members who carried on in a very
normal matter ensuring the ongoing success of the Family History
Group during this difficult period.
I personally wish to thank all members for their
help and support during this period.
Bruce Manson
President- Shepparton Family History Group inc