Albury & District Historical Society

27/07/2025

A great photo supplied by one of our followers.
The photo was taken in the Albury Botanic Gardens and appears to be a group involved in a theatre production. One of our members thought that she may be able to tentatively identify the man at the right hand side, left of the tree with the bow tie as Valentine Flood Nagle.
We would like to be able to identify who the group represent and perhaps a few names.
It will be difficult as the photo is probably about 100 years old. Any help would be appreciated.

25/07/2025

Flooding at the Albury Sportsground, in the early 20th century, possibly 1905, 1906 or 1909. The 'Border Morning Mail' of July 13, 1905 reported "The sports ground in its lowest corner is totally submerged." But the 1906 and 1909 floods were higher. The pavilion shown was used until 1915 when the present grandstand was built.

21/07/2025

18/07/2025

Earlier this year Albury & District Historical Society partnered with Albury LibraryMuseum to conduct three bus tours of local sites with a connection to World War I. Doug Hunter’s “Recovering the Past” gave us a glimpse of both the inspirational work of the mothers, wives and sisters who were left behind as local men went off to Worls War 1 and the tragedy of men who never returned.
A ‘virtual bus tour’ was a feature of the June A&DHS general meeting, Characters from the wartime era tell of events and their role in them. Characters include the mayor and mayoress, Red Cross president, concert group performer, clerk-of-courts, schoolboy, battery sergeant major, building contractor, church organist. Letters from the battlefield are shared. Cast members are from LibraryMuseum and Historical Society. Costumes are rudimentary, but ample to set the scene.”
You can see the 70 minute video ‘World War I Comes to Albury,’ a recording of the ‘virtual tour,’ by following the link to the A&DHS YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDzIPypinJegksrO-l2ssVg

11/07/2025

A panoramic view of South Albury from Monument Hill about 1920 - the Murray winding through Noreuil Park and Hovell Tree Park. Victoria is on the right and the hills and mountains in the background. The second Union Bridge can be seen, completed in 1898 and replaced by the present bridge in 1961.

04/07/2025

OUR JULY MEETING Our Annual General Meeting will be held on July 9 at the Commercial Club commencing at 7.30pm
After our AGM, guest speaker Nat Ward will speak on the topic ‘Commemorating Noreuil in France and Albury.’ Nat is an Albury based artist. She is primarily a painter of landscapes, with the Murray River and surrounding foreshores and wetlands providing constant inspiration. Nat has produced a series of paintings exploring the connection between Noreuil Park in Albury and the village of Noreuil in France. Noreuil was the site of intense World War I battles including an April day in 1917 when the ‘Albury Battery’ played a significant role in repelling a German advance. Nat will have just returned from being honoured in France and she will talk about the significance of her Noreuil project. ALL WELCOME

27/06/2025

In 1848 William Conley purchased the block of land on the corner of Smollett and Townsend streets and built the single storey Squatter’s Hotel. The hotel was taken over by Americans Adam Kidd and William Brickell, adding the second storey and renamed the hotel the Exchange. They retained the hotel until 1861 and with the money made from this and other business ventures in Albury, Brickell returned to America, purchased land in Florida and founded the city of Miami.
The hotel closed in 1884 and the building converted to a store. Later the site became Farmers & Graziers wool stores. The former hotel was demolished in 1933 as F & G significantly increased the size of their Albury wool store. Later business on the site included the Australian Tax Office, and more lately Quest Apartments.

20/06/2025

In the very early days, the town that we now know as Holbrook was known as Ten-Mile Creek. In 1858 the town became known as Germanton though its postal address remained Ten-Mile Creek for some time. Due to anti-German sentiment during World War I, the town name was changed to Holbrook in 1915 in honour of Lt. Norman Douglas Holbrook, a decorated wartime submarine captain and winner of the Victoria Cross.
In 1878 the NSW Government Gazette called for tenders to build a police station at Ten-Mile Creek, the tenders closing on April 23, 1878. The ‘Albury Banner’ reported on May 25, 1878 that the tender had been awarded to Albury builder Mr A (Adolph) Reiff.
The station survives and remains operational. Currently major restoration works are underway.
Photos supplied by Superintendent Paul Smith of Murray River Police District.

13/06/2025

Hume Weir Racing Circuit - the Albury and District Car Club formed in 1954, the final car race meeting was held in March 1977. Australia’s Formula 1 Champions Jack Brabham and Alan Jones both drove at the “Weir” as well as all the great Australian drivers of the sixties and seventies including Moffat, Geoghegan, Brock, Beechey and Jane. This unique venue always produced close and exciting racing and possibly the best spectator viewing of any circuit in Australia.
Members of Albury & District Historical Society are doing some research related to the circuit. We would like information on questions such as when was the first race, who built the circuit, who provided finance, who were on the first committee, when was the last race held. You can send any information to [email protected] Greg

06/06/2025

OUR NEXT MEETING: Next Wednesday, June 11, 7.30pm, Commercial Club Albury
Topic: Uncovering Albury’s World War One Story
On Anzac Day, Albury commemorated the centenary of the dedication of the Albury War Memorial.
To prepare for the historic occasion, a series of guided tours took locals to sites with special significance to Albury’s involvement in World War I. At our June meeting at the Albury Commercial Club, a “virtual tour” will duplicate the tours. Members and visitors will “visit” sites around Albury. Society members, dressed in period and/or military costume, will share stories of those who enlisted and those who supported the enlisted from home. Letters from the front and from home will highlight the heroism and the tragedy of war.
Cast: Albury LibraryMuseum staff and Albury & District Historical Society members

30/05/2025

The sundial in Albury Botanic Gardens was presented to the City of Albury 75 years ago. A gift from Mate’s Limited, it was unveiled on June 6, 1950 to commemorate 100 years of trading by the firm.
Thomas Hodges Mate opened his first Albury store 175 years ago in 1850 on the corner of Hume and Townsend streets. In 1884 he moved into the two-storey building that still survives on that corner. Mate’s moved to the corner of Dean and Kiewa streets in 1899. That store was totally destroyed by fire in 1915 to be replaced by the building that is still there in 2025 with a few building extensions and several changes of ownership.

27/05/2025

Good news for researchers, The Border Post from the first issue of October 4, 1856 through to the end of 1861 is now available on the Trove website. Apart from some gaps, we now have coverage on Trove from the very first Albury newspaper through to the end of 1954. Albury & District Historical Society decided back in 2018 when the project started to have Albury’s newspapers covered on Trove through to 1954. It has cost close to $200,000.
Thank you to all the generous donors who have contributed to the project.
We hope to now complete the project by filling the gaps. It is an expensive project, each scanned page costing $1.54. So if you have liked Trove and wish to contribute to getting our project finished, go to our webpage for details https://alburyhistory.org.au/about/donations/
Browse local newspapers on Trove by following this link: https://trove.nla.gov.au/search/advanced/category/newspapers – you can start by typing ‘Albury’ in the line ‘All these words.’