NTSA Hahndorf Branch - Annual General Meeting
Draft of Minutes of Meeting Held Sunday 29 May 2005 at 20 Main Street, Hahndorf SA at 1.00 pm.
The day began at 8.30 am with the firing of the 19th Century bakeoven in the backyard of this site which consists of the oldest intact German pioneer farm complex (circa 1840) in Australia and a later construction adjacent to Main Street dating from 1854. The significance of the oven is that it is the lone survivor of a common method of feeding the family in this farming community established in 1839. Every family in Hahndorf had a similar structure in years gone by. Today, a number of tourists wandered up the drive to see what was happening and were escorted around the site which is still in the throes of conservation works and therefore not generally open to the public. The Courier reporter arrived at noon and took photographs of Rodney Allen at the bakeoven.
Jaan Fox and Rodney Allen conducted the firing and subsequent baking of bread rolls and fruit tarts (prepared by Lia Fox), two legs of lamb, potatoes, pumpkin and zucchinis (prepared by Annette Oien and Lyndell Davidge) accompanied by garlic and dill butter and salad (thrown together by Anni Luur Fox after preparing the open air kitchen for food production). A leisurely lunch took place with red and white wine under the trees in the old poultryrun lately cleared of junk closely examined for signs of historical significance.
The AGM followed lunch at 2.30 pm.
Present
Noel Hittman, Kylie Storey, Annette Oien, Margaret Finnis, Tony Finnis, Lyndell Davidge, Anni Luur Fox, Bryon Finch.
Apologies
Carlsa Carter, Lynn and Algis Radzivicius, Josie Larkin, Rachael Elliot (director of Hahndorf Academy), Reg Butler, Eric Aliffe.
Minutes
The minutes were tabled and read. Lyndell moved that they be accepted. Seconded by Tony. Carried.
Business Arising
Nixon’s Mill - Lyndell reported that our application for funds to paint the structure had been added to the National Trust HQ application and was unsuccessful. We need to return to Mt. Barker Council for assistance.
Entrance to Hahndorf - Council has planted 54 trees to acknowledge the 54 founding families of Hahndorf. A plaque will be erected, according to the President of the Community Association.
Reports
Chairperson’s Report: Anni tabled her report in the form of a profile of the Branch since 1976 and a dot point overview of current contribution to the community. Attached was Lyndell’s report to HQ showing reasons why the Branch was a valuable resource for Hahndorf despite its small number of members.
There are five members doing volunteer work for the Hahndorf Academy which has a serious need for people with historical knowledge and a variety of skills required to run this community facility effectively, ie Lyndell Davidge, Annette Oien, Margaret and Tony Finnis, and Bryon Finch. Anni and Reg provide some specialist information and Anni has written two articles on Hahndorf matters published in 2004 and 2005 in the Trust’s magazine “Heritage Living”. Kylie, Lyndell and Anni own historic sites and are caring for them. Noel Hittman is a mine of information about farming methods and historical matters related to his family and experiences. Tony Finnis is the computer expert and Website instigator.
Anni reported she has contributed almost 3500 hours to the South Verdun “expansion of a petrol station on the floodplain issue” and has been called as an expert witness in a case pending in the Environment, Resources and Development Court. She also spent 40 hours correcting information in the recent Mt Barker District Council Heritage Survey, using Title searches corroborated by Reg Butler who is in his twelfth year of solving historical riddles via research into Titles and shipping lists. She also answers calls from people requesting historical information and sends data via email or snail mail when required.
Anni apologised for the lack of Branch events due to time constraints and the lack of an organiser at this time. She thanked Branch members for soldiering on with their very valuable contributions to a site of national significance.
Treasurer’s Report: Annette tabled her report and spoke to it. Our cheque account balance is $3138.11. The Windmill account is $1,890.00. We have not sold many books or cards this year.
Margaret moved that these reports be accepted and posted with the minutes on the Branch Website. Seconded by Kylie. Carried.
Bryon moved that accounts be paid. Seconded by Margaret. Carried.
Annette moved that Rob Kilpatrick be approached again to audit our books. Seconded by Bryon. Carried.
Annette asked for figures of hours spent on National Trust business required by HQ.
Annette moved that the Branch donate $500 to the Hahndorf Academy for use in preparing the $13,500 display by Archetype for the Academy to present an overview of its history. Seconded by Kylie. Carried.
Election of Officers
Chairperson: Anni Luur Fox. Moved Bryon Finch. Seconded Tony Finnis. Carried.
Hon. Secretary: Annette Oien. Moved Tony Finnis. Seconded Margaret Finnis. Carried.
Hon. Treasurer: Lyndell Davidge. Moved Kylie Storey. Seconded Bryon Finch. Carried.
Committee: Eric Aliffe, Kylie Storey, Bryon Finch, Tony Finnis, Margaret Finnis, Noel Hittman, Reg Butler.
Correspondence
Lyndell tabled the correspondence regarding Patrons Government House reception on 27 September. Two delegates required.
Report from Our Patch.
Regeneration of Wicks Reserve.
HQ request for registration of Branch events to celebrate Trust’s 50th Anniversary.
Business
1. 50 Anniversary Events. We discussed the possibility of conducting a walk along the Pioneer Women’s Trail in October and need to find out the current status of the Trail marking by the Office for Sport, Recreation and Racing. Annette will be in England from 7 August for 3 months. At this point there were no volunteers for the Patrons reception at Government House.
2. South Verdun: Anni gave an overview of the continuing saga which has escalated with State government involvement seeking a quick-fix solution for longterm environmental problems caused by industrial development adjacent to the Onkaparinga River which provides a large percentage of Adelaide’s water supply. The case in the ERD Court has been deferred again to allow government to seek ways of filling the needs of 4 businesses which have chosen to set up in an area notorious for flooding. Residents who will bear the impact of the environmentally suspect proposals, have been excluded from meetings with Planning SA and 5 other government agencies. The great cranking machinery of government is poised to go through an expensive exercise of formulating proposals for formal public consultation in future, despite environmental evidence against their proposed measures being readily available. In this time of drought, water shortages and exhortations for WaterCare, the spectacle of the State bent on accommodating business applications that do not adhere to the principles of the Adelaide Hills Development Plan in terms of watershed protection, is extremely worrying as is wasting taxpayers money on public consultation regarding a serious pollution issue.
3. Branch Website: Tony reported that to date our domain registration has cost $60 and the Main posting $40, which he has paid. He said the site has two parts -
(a) National Trust of SA, Hahndorf Branch, which is fairly complete but requiring photographs.
(b) A section based on Anni’s book “Hahndorf: A Journey through the village and its History” which is copyright. A computer crash resulted in the loss of 500 photographs. Although he would like to post more information he acknowledged that copyright is always a problem. Anni pointed out that lots of people conduct research and write their own versions of history in their own words, but that authors generally have a problem if great slabs of their hard work becomes available free of charge off the net when they are trying to cover publication costs via sale of books.
(c) Tony said that our registration, which is currently in his name, will be due again in six months and that he will contact the Treasurer. The main problem lies in hosting the website. When Hahndorf is connected to Broadband he will swap to this facility. He will have to change hosting from club-based to Broadband which will cost considerably more. We cannot use the club-based host for commercial purposes. We cannot do it on the cheap.
Lyndell moved that Tony investigate options and write a report for the Branch to consider. Seconded by Annette. Carried.
Tony expressed the desire to “grab the Hahndorf.org domain name” costing $68.00 for the Branch.
Lyndell moved that we do so and the Branch covers the cost. Seconded by Annette. Carried.
4. Publicity: Margaret suggested that we publicise our activities in the Traders and Community Association newsletters as well as schools and church communications.
Tony reported that Eric Aliffe would allow us use of the Institute for no cost.
5. Anni thanked everyone for their attendance and sterling efforts on heritage matters.
The meeting closed at 4.15 pm with afternoon tea with freshly baked quince and apple tarts.
Anni Luur Fox
