Rediscovering Ginninderra

28 February 2017

"I hereby notify you that the land hereunder described......has been acquired by the Commonwealth of Australia under the Land Acquisition Act 1906". These fateful words, in a letter to Edmund Rolfe of 'Gold Creek' station in 1915, brought a bureaucratic end to the flourishing farming venture of three generations of the Rolfe family. Given the option of becoming tenants on the land they previously owned, they moved on, along with many others.

A new exhibition at the Hall School Museum and Heritage Centre will look at the origins of Ginninderra at 'Palmerville' station, its growth from the 1860's, and hey day around the turn of the century. 'Gold Creek' and the Rolfe family is part of that story, along with other families such as the Gribbles and Gillespies, and local institutions such as the Cricketers' Arms, the Ginninderra Farmers Union, and the Ginninderra blacksmiths shop. The display will incorporate a number of old Ginninderra's buildings in miniature - including the 'Arms'.

The photo shown here (Courtesy Queanbeyan Museum) is a bunch of the local blokes half ready for a cricket match, outside the Cricketers' Arms, around 1915. Among them are Bill and George Gribble, Harry Curran (the blacksmith) and Charles Thompson (Ginninderra teacher) - leaving four unaccounted for! No prizes, but we would love to know who the others were......

We also have a 1905 school photo with two pupils, May Bard and Clive Pollock, for whom we have been unable so far to find any family connections. Can you help?

The exhibition will be open 10 - 4 every weekend of the ACT and District Heritage Festival, 2-18 April. It will be launched on 2 April at 10 am by Minister Mick Gentleman. Come along and rediscover Ginninderra!