Catherine Green is the newly elected president of the Ballan Shire Historical Society. She spoke with Oliver Lees about everything she loves about Ballan, past and present.
What is your connection to Melton and Moorabool?
I have lived in Ballan for most of my life, and I have seen it change during that time from a small town of around 500 people, to the busy town it is today. I have always had an interest in family history and local history, and I have been a member of the Ballan Shire Historical Society since shortly after its beginnings in 1984.
What do you like about where you live?
I think that it is great that there are still local newspapers in Ballan and in Moorabool. The local newspaper is a great space for local organisations to be able to share news and promote their activities, and for local people to be able to receive news and information about people and places that they know. I like that there are still some of the older original buildings in the Ballan streetscape and that we can still see the history of the local area in the streetscape and landscape. I also like that the signs for street names in Ballan include some historical detail about the person after whom the street was named.
What, if anything, would you change about where you live?
Ballan is certainly a growing area and lots of people are attracted to its small town character. I hope that the area is able to retain its small town character and its sense of community, and that this character is not eroded by over-development and over-expansion. The sense of community in the town comes from local people getting involved in local activities. So many of the organisations in small towns would not be able to keep going without the support of volunteers and contributions by the community, and every local organisation needs people to be able to keep operating. It is great when newer residents to the area get involved in local organisations and support the community by supporting local businesses.
What do you enjoy about your involvement in the Ballan Shire Historical Society?
I am fascinated by the stories of the people who lived in the area in the past. The Historical Society receives lots of requests for information from people searching for the history of their ancestors who lived in the local area. I have been tracing my own family tree for more than 30 years, and I can understand the sense of excitement when the society is able to find information which might be the missing piece of someone’s family tree or can add some more detail to the life story of their ancestor.
Does this organisation have anything exciting coming up that we should know about?
The Ballan Shire Historical Society aims to preserve and promote history of events and people and community groups in our small towns in the geographical area of the former Shire of Ballan. At the moment we are working on an idea to make our local history more visible by sharing historical information through interpretation signage in our towns, and also projects for walking tours of the towns and local cemeteries. The local cemeteries are full of such interesting characters, as well as some tragic life stories.
October 2022 marks the 160th year of the creation of the Ballan District Roads Board, which was the forerunner to the Shire of Ballan, created in November 1864. The Historical Society is working on a publication highlighting the history of the former Shire of Ballan and the local people who acted as Councillors for the 130 year history of the Shire, and we are planning to launch the publication later this year at the time of the anniversary.
