By Derek Schlennstedt
The book ‘When Roads Were Tracks – A history of the roads of Monbulk, Kallista, The Patch and Sherbrooke’ has been shortlisted for the Victorian Community History Awards, which recognises the contributions of Victorians in the preservation of local history.
When Roads were Tracks joins 42 other community history publications and projects from across the state.
The 250-page book is Monbulk Historical Society’s most ambitious project to date and documents the development of Monbulk, Kallista, The Patch and Sherbrooke, and the history of the naming of the roads in these townships.
Jill A’Vard and Armin Richter from the Monbulk History Society co-ordinated the creation of the book and said it was a surprise to hear of their shortlisting.
“This project was a dream of mine for about 15 years, but it didn’t get off the ground until Armin, who had the same passion as I did, was keen to see it in print,” Ms A’Vard said.
“Monbulk Historical Society has many photos and personal stories, which we were able to draw from for information. Our objective was to find actual evidence rather than repeat what we found in books previously written of the area.”
“Armin spent many months searching old newspapers on Trove and at the Knox Historical Society, while I did the graphic design and jointly we pieced it together.”
The book covers 175 roads, the walking tracks throughout Sherbrooke Forest and the other tourist tracks in the area.
It includes a unique collection of historical photographs, newspaper articles and maps that have never been assembled in one place before.
“As our research progressed through talking with older members of our community and Monbulk Historical Society’s records from interviews of passed residents, we found a lot of local and family history that had not been documented before, so we decided to include that in this book before it gets lost with time,” Ms A’Vard said.
“As a result we ended up with 250 pages covering over 200 roads and tracks and including about 600 images.”
Ms A’Vard said the book was launched in March and in only two months, all 300 copies were sold.
“We were overwhelmed with the wonderful support of several local businesses, community organisations and individuals who generously supported the printing of this book enabling us to keep the price to a minimum.”
All the shortlisted nominees are up for cash prizes ranging from $500 to $2,000 – with one to be named the winner of the $5,000 Victorian Premier’s History Award.
Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings will announce the major award and category award winners at a ceremony at the Arts Centre on 14 October.
