Books sell out during Benalla Festival

More copies of Benalla Migrant Camp: A Difficult Heritage will soon be available through the Visitor Information Centre in Mair Street, from the Immigration Museum Giftshop and also during exhibition open days.

Bruce presented us with a most fascinating summary of the findings of his 48 page book. The book is at this stage only available for sale at the exhibition as well as at the Benalla Visitor Information Centre.

An audience of about 80 people attended the launch.

Author Dr Bruce Pennay OAM was available for book signings after the launch.

John Joyce of NEMA (at left) also spoke before unveiling the Benalla Migrant Camp Historical Banner that their organisation sponsored.

Come to our exciting launch of our book next Friday November 6th

Benalla Migrant Camp History : A Difficult Heritage
Friday November 6th, 6-7.30 pm at the new Benalla Library, Entry by gold coin donation.

We are so very proud and happy to invite you to the launch of the first ever book about the history of the Benalla Migrant Camp by Dr Bruce Pennay of Charles Sturt University Albury. Bruce is an eminent historian on post war migration and Bonegilla in particular. When he agreed to take on this job of writing the history of Benalla Migrant Camp as a commissioned work from us, we were delighted and knew it would be good. It would also give us a much higher profile and assist us with obtaining State Heritage Protection.
Bruce embarked on extensive research involving the Canberra National Archives and the Melbourne Public Records Office and extensive literary reviews. The resulting work is a fantastic achievement for Benalla, and Bruce will take our history all over Australia in his lectures and presentations. Whilst the book uncovers a lot of the Australian political context in which the camp existed it also poses the question - why is the camp (previously) not publicly acknowledged? For people who stayed at the camp and their descendants, but also for Victorians and Benalla folk this is a fascinating read.

A short presentation by the author will be followed by questions, light refreshments and book sales.
Limited copies available at this stage, so be there. $25

Next Open Days during Benalla Festival

Come and see the newly refreshed exhibition on 

Saturday November 7 and Sunday November 8

OPEN both days, from 10 am - 3 pm.

Thanks to our local sponsors Consisto Holdings (Anne and Linsday Thomas),

as well as the Rotary Club of Benalla, we have finalised a

complete re-print and re-hang of all images. Lots of new pics 

have been added - and a slide show of the Bonegilla Cards,

found in the Canberra National Archives is also there. 

We will have for sale Dr Bruce Pennay's newly completed 

and just-launched book 'Benalla Migrant Camp: A Difficult Heritage'

Check this out, everyone.

Andy Donaldson of Truvista Videos recently put this short clip together for us.
You can download it from Vimeo - just search under Benalla Migrant Camp.

Welcome and thank you to Deb Randich!

It is a big job to keep the exhibition open and looking good, as well as organising our volunteer roster. I am delighted that Deb Randich has now taken on the volunteer coordination role. Deb's heritage is Maltese and she feels the exhibition touches on the difficulties her family encountered when settling in a new land. The migrant experience is universal.
If anyone is interested in finding out more about volunteering, please contact us. We can always do with more friendly faces to greet our visitors and we promise you, volunteering with us is fun.

Beverley Brown remembers good times as Camp Kindergarten Teacher

Beverley Brown nee Bourke points at herself on the photo which features prominently in our advertising. The photo shows Beverley walking across the kindergarten grounds holding hands with a row of migrant children in her care. Beverley said she loved the work and formed a close connection to the families whose offspring she looked after. "When I got married and left the job, I was showered with beautiful gifts." "Looking back today my years of work at the camp bring so many happy memories. I loved the job. Townsfolk would occasionally say "How can you do that sort of work, how can you put up with them (the migrant children). But I just loved the privilege of teaching them, they were a joy."

Introducing our 2015 Major Sponsors

Thannk you so much to Anne and Linsday Thomas whose donation means that we can finish reprinting all photos on archival paper, which will now last us up to 5 years. Behind us is a sample of newly updated photos, and you can see how fantastically crisp and clear they look.

We would also like to thank Rotary for their generous sponsorship, which took care of the first half of the exhibition reprints. A wonderful gesture towards commemorating Benalla's migrant past.

Our continued support by the Benalla Lakeside Craft and Farmers Market is also most appreciated.