The call has gone out to families with connections to Orange to help find the names of all Orange's ex-services personnel from World War I. Orange City Council has formed a Community Working Party in the lead up to plans to mark the 100 year anniversary of the 1914 start of WWI. If you have information to share please contact Orange City Council's Community Liaison Adviser Alison Russell or Orange City Library. The response so far has been wonderful after articles appeared in the Central Western Daily. Read more about it by copying this link into your web browser: http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/news/local/news/general/battle-to-name-our-soldiers-begins/2420152.aspx#

With every best wish for the festive season we hope you have a lovely Christmas and stay in touch with family and friends. See you in 2012 - the National Year of Reading!

Greetings everyone, our December newsletter is now available and you can read it online. Catch up with all the latest news via the Orange Family History Group newspage: http://www.ofhg.com.au/pdfs/December%202011.pdf

And what a bumper edition it is. We have lots of interesting research snippets to tell you about as well as an update on our newspaper indexing project, tips on collecting information, holiday opening times, the National Year of Reading 2012 and much more.......Enjoy!

A love of collecting and writing oral history has led to a unique book titled History Talking by local writer Helen McAnulty covering reminiscences of people from Gulgong, Mudgee and Orange. In his foreword Alexander Jenkins Professor Emeritus, University of Sydney, says "There is scarcely any aspect of life in those early years that escapes Helen's incisive gaze. Ranging from pioneering life through settlements, natural disasters, railways, communications and foreign war service."

Discover how Orange handled the Spanish flu, about switchboard operators, postal services, women in war time, the days of special deliveries, childhood games, washing days and changes in transport with stories from local residents.

Helen has been collecting and writing oral history for the past 30 years. Her newspaper column History Talking is based on her ongoing gathering of oral history and featured for many years in the Mudgee Guardian and now appears in the Central Western Daily.

In 1992 the Australia Day Council presented Helen with an award for "Achievement and outstanding contribution to the Community" and in 2002 she was recognised with a Premier's Award for outstanding service, both given for her work in gathering oral history Her research was also used by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in the 2002 documentary When the War Came to Australia. This book has been published by the Marsden Memorial Rural History Research Centre and supported by the Oral History Group.

History Talking on Friday 2 December, 11am at Orange City Library Byng St, Orange. Please book your place by calling the Library on 6393 8132.

Education, one of the basic building blocks upon which people build their lives, will be the subject of Orange & District Historical Society's next monthly History Alive meeting, on Wednesday, November 9 at 7.30pm. The meeting will focus on the development of local schools as well as the teachers and the way children were taught.

The first schools started in Orange in the 1850s. Following the Gold Rush and subsequent expansion, schools were established in many of the small settlements which sprang up around the district. The first public school in Orange was a National Board school on the corner of Anson and Byng Streets. This later became Orange District School. Orange Public School was opened in the 1880s on its current site on the corner of Kite and Sale streets, while Orange East Public School started in the 1890s. Orange High School was established in Sale Street in 1912.

There were several church schools, including Patrician Brothers, Sisters of Mercy, De La Salle and Santa Maria. Private schools included Weymouth House (later Wolaroi College) and PLC, which later merged to become Kinross Wolaroi. Now Orange has the full range of public and private educational establishments from pre-school to kindergarten, infants, primary and high schools as well as a TAFE college and a university (formerly Orange Agricultural College).

Guest speakers at the meeting will be Denis Mullen and Ross Maroney. Denis Mullen started his teaching career at small schools near Kempsey, Cooma and Dunkeld before starting at Orange Public School in 1949. He was there for 12 years before becoming headmaster at Lucknow Public School, then Nashdale School. He retired in 1985. Now aged in his late 80s, he will be remembered by generations of local people he taught who are themselves now well into middle age.

Ross Maroney, who grew up near Young, started his teaching career at Condobolin in 1963 before teaching history at Orange High School from 1965 to 1990. He is well known as a passionate local historian and, like Denis Mullen, has a wealth of knowledge about local schools and education.

Members of the society as well as the general public and current and former teachers are welcome to attend and comments and questions from the audience are welcome. The meeting will take place at Orange Senior Citizens Centre (entry from Woolworths car park) at 7 for 7.30pm. There is a small charge of $3 for members of Orange and District Historical Society and $5 for non-members, to cover costs. Light refreshments will be served.

If you have any inquiries or would like to attend the meeting, please RSVP to Julie Sykes on 6362-1682, or Phil Stevenson on 0402 412 188 (email: ibiswines@bigpond.com).

Dairies, milkmen and ice cream and butter factories will be the subject of Orange and District Historical Society's next History Alive meeting, to be held on Wednesday, October 12 2011.

Cows were essential to all the early settlers in the Orange district: their needs were few – plenty of grass to eat – and provided milk twice a day, from which cream, butter and cheese could be made. These were some of the few perishable products which could be transported safely to Sydney markets before there were railways. In the early years every farm and smallholding had a few cows, even if they weren't dairy farms, and surplus milk could be sold if they were licensed or turned into cream and sold to the butter factories. Even the remaining skim milk was not wasted – it was fed to the ubiquitous pig.

There was a proliferation of dairies in the Orange district, some with as few as four cows, which were licensed to sell milk. They all had their particular group of customers and deliveries were made twice daily, seven days a week. In 1945 there were 130 registered dairy farms in the Orange district. The sale of milk locally was estimated to be worth £39,000, and for cream to factories £4000.

When pasteurisation of milk became compulsory in the mid-1950s the Milk Board set up offices in Orange and Barrett's became the agent. Deliveries were made once a day and eventually Sunday deliveries ceased. From the 1960s farms began to amalgamate as people moved into the city and the number of dairies was substantially reduced. Larger mechanised operations started, making regular milk deliveries to Barrett's milk and ice-cream factory (later Dairy Farmers), firstly in 10-gallon cans and later by bulk milk tanker. There are now less than 10 local dairy farms in the Orange district.

Guest speakers at the meeting will be: Merv Wilkie, who started his life on a dairy farm in Kenna Street; Dave Wilson, who drove milk trucks in the 1950s and became familiar with all the local dairies, particularly on the southern side of Orange; and Fred Brooking, who has had a career with Barrett's for many years. There will be a number of former dairymen attending and audience participation will be encouraged.

The meeting will take place at Orange Senior Citizens Centre (entry from Woolworths car park) at 7 for 7.30pm. There is a small charge of $3 for members of Orange and District Historical Society and $5 for non-members, to cover costs. Light refreshments will be served.

If you have any inquiries or would like to attend the meeting, please RSVP to Julie Sykes on 6362-1682, or Phil Stevenson on 0402 412 188 (email: ibiswines@bigpond.com).

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but often that's only half the story. Sometimes the best memories come from recalling the stories behind the photo. And this includes your family stories!

The Central West Writers' Centre and ABC Open are inviting you to share your stories behind your favourite photos. Select three of your best photos and come along to the workshop to learn how to upload your photos to the ABC Open website and tell the story behind the images. It can be a family holiday pic, a photo of your ancestors and their story or just a favourite snapshot.

Maybe you vividly remember the moment it was taken, or maybe there is something captured within the image that speaks volumes about that time in your life. Whatever the image and story, we want to know about it. Select a couple of images to be emailed or brought along to the workshop:

Central West Writers' Centre

Orange City Library

Byng Street, Orange

Thursday 3 November

2.30pm – 4.30pm

Please book your place by calling Jasmine at the Library 6393 8125 or Luke at ABC Open 6393 2542. Free. For more details about the project go to abc.net.au/open

Just wanted to remind you that through our links with Central West Libraries we have partnered with Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and FamilySearch International Research. We are pleased to have Affiliate Status with the FamilySearch International Research and Library system. The Library is now designated as a 'FamilySearch Centre'. This affiliation provides clients with the opportunity to access the resources of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and FamilySearch International Research

Microfilms and Microfiche may now be ordered online by patrons of Latter-Day Saints Family History Centres or affiliated FamilySearch Centres. The patron can logon to www.film.familysearch.org. Upon registering on the site, the patron will choose the FamilySearch Centre where they would prefer to view the films (Central West Libraries). The films ordered will be sent to that centre.

Films and fiche rentals are paid by Visa or Mastercard. Microfilms are rented for $7.75 each. Microfiche are charged $7.75 per set.

When the ordered films arrive at the centre, the patron will receive email notification. Patrons are entitled to view films they are reading for up to 60 days from the date the films arrive at the centre/library, should they so wish. Patrons may renew the film rental for another 60 days, online, for an additional $7.75. Microfiche are kept at the centre, with the understanding that the ownership for the fiche remains with FamilySearch. Happy researching.

Members of Orange Family History Group participated in the Words from the Dust writing workshops series held across the Central West as part of a Central West Writers' Centre project supported by a Positive Ageing Grant. The workshops helped people to recall stories from their childhoods and generate ideas for writing family histories. Pictured is Marie (centre) explaining her memory map to Jennifer (left) and Carole. Stories from all the workshops can now be read on the words from the dust website: www.wordsfromthedust.com.au

Greetings everyone, our August newsletter is now available and you can read it online. Catch up with all the latest news via the Orange Family History Group newspage: http://www.ofhg.com.au/pdfs/August-Newsletter-2011.pdf

Find out about FamiySearch Internationl Research, Australian Generations Oral History Project, see if you can help with locating Orange photos for a new book by Lis Edwards, there are also details about the Underwood family reunion, Centenary of WWI news and find out who your street is named after and more....