Established since 1925

President: MyFanwy Fallenby
Secretary: Babbs Lambert-Philpott
Treasurer: John Russell

Our mission
The aims of the Society are to:

• Increase awareness of the historical and environmental issues related to the Bilby community, including the importance of the local graveyard and its nearby wetlands area
• Develop written materials on issues such as the historical background of the community, the importance of preservation of unique habitats, lobbying to preserve both the history and environment
• Increase capacity to capture the history of Bilby through oral storytelling, historically important sites and early settler resources
• Negotiate with local interested owners to maintain historical sites such as farmhouses, old shops and early settler historical materials
• Liaise with state Heritage and Environmental organisations.

Membership
The society meets every 2nd Tuesday in the month, at the Museum, starting at 7.30 pm. All community members and other interested historians and environmentalists are invited to attend. Contact Myfanwy on 55555 44318 or Babbs on 55555 44999.

Office Bearers:
President
Myfanwy Fallenby has been the leader of the Bilby Historical Society for many years, and has become more involved since reducing her time at Material Designs recently. Myfanwy has an international reputation for her costume design in films produced in the 1990s in Sydney. She was instrumental in bringing the TV show City Stresses Country Pleasures to Bilby, through her friend Valerie Geranini.

She has a strong concern to ensure that Bilby’s past is preserved, before the changes and economic developments lead to destruction of a sense of the history of this region. She is currently researching material on the early settlers, including the large numbers of Welsh settlers working at the tin mine at Mount Owen in the early 1870s (including her own family).

Secretary
Babbs Lambert-Philpott is well known in Bilby, as part of the extended Lambert family. She has become interested in historical research since marrying local grazier Bob Philpott, who has a magnificent original family homestead on his property LoftyView.
Babbs did a communications degree at Bendaby University, and is very keen to redevelop the strategies of BHS to include a website and blog, electronic newsletters, social media campaigns and sponsorship/liaison with organisations which can rejuvenate the Historical Society. She is also interested in the stories starting to emerge of the new settlers to Bilby, and wants to find a way to capture this history.

Treasurer
John Russell is well-known to long-term Bilby residents as the leader of the Bilby Landcare group, seen most Saturdays collecting rare local grasses in and near the graveyard to propagate and cultivate out to local waterways.
John owns the Russell Native Nursery, specialising in native flora. He completed a degree in environmental management. John is a member of the local branch of the Greens. He is keen to record and protect the local flora and fauna, particularly in the forests and grasslands up the valley, where he has made sightings of several threatened species. A few years back, John was elected to the shire council, which meets each month in Bendalong. He has taken on the Treasurer role as a favour to his old school friend Myfanwy.

Historic Trust
Local writer Mary Woolcott (see below) works part time with Historic Trust, the organisation which is helping BHS to maintain and preserve the graveyard. She has indicated that the Historic Trust is preparing a report on the historical validity of gravestones and key monuments, including a listing of all those considered integral to the history of Bilby.

Bilby Museum
The Bilby Museum was set up by the Bilby Historical Society in the late 1920s and many of the objects in its collection were acquired in the two decades after its establishment. Volunteers from the Society ran the museum until the collection and building were gifted to the Council in the mid 1980s. It was upgraded five years ago with an exhibition featuring the TV show City Stresses Country Pleasures and also has a particularly fine exhibit exploring the effects of both world wars on the small town, developed as part of the Anzac Centenary. The City Stresses Country Pleasures highlights included a model of the Bilby town showing key scenes and sites from the show, as well as costume designs for some of the key characters. There were also several videos showing humorous outtakes involving local characters – Robert Cox from the garage, Chops Lambert and his dray used in the opening credits and Felicity Hempel with Benjamin Handleby from the Tourism office re-enacting the capture and escape of Ben Travers, our famous local outlaw.

Breaking News:  ‘Bilby Regional Museum – a new direction’
After a decade of losses, a new manager – Chris McPharlane – was appointed to the now Council-run Bilby Regional Museum. Taking a cautious approach, Chris made few changes in the first three years, apart from developing a new quarterly event, Bilby Conservation Festival – a day of events, workshops and stalls, which showcases sustainable living, local produce, and conservation initiatives in the region. General visitation is increasing slowly, prompted by a focus on improving customer service and a small increase in the meagre advertising budget. Chris took the first three years to learn about the museum, making small changes to operations. The museum is now almost at a break-even financial position, and McPharlane wants to set the strategic agenda for the next 5-10 years.
The Bilby Historical Society has a long association with the museum. Indeed they were the volunteers that set up the museum. They still have an exhibition space in the museum and have regular temporary exhibitions.
The strong direction from the Council is that the museum needs to improve its financial position and stop being a drain on council resources. They are pleased that the financial position has improved, but do not take an active role in the management of the museum. Indeed they see it as a financial risk. If they think any further about the museum at all, they see it as part of the tourism offer, and they also pay lip service to a community building agenda. The Bilby Regional Tourism Authority are more supportive and have been talking about the need to upgrade and expand the museum.

Bilby Historical Society publications
The most recent publication is the Bilby Historical Society Cookbook. This is not an ordinary cookbook. It has historical treasures such portly hog, flaming fancies and trotter pie — local delicacies that none of us have made for years.

There is also the Historical Perspective on Bilby booklet, which was launched last year. The author Mary Woolcott (on left, centre between John Russell and Myfanwy Fallenby) was commissioned to write this by the BHS.
The BHS is looking at several other publication opportunities, including a history of the Craft Association, and the Myfanwy Fallenby research on Mount Owen and the tin mines of the 1870s.
Babbs Lambert-Philpott is exploring the possibility of publishing e-book versions of BHS publications on the new website she is preparing, and has started on a series of Stories of New Settlers.