Special people

V for Violet Vimpany

Miss W. 1881-1910, 1911-1940, 1941-1970, 1971-2000, Special people , , , , , ,

Violet Emma Alomes was born 15 April 1886 to Walter Alomes and Emma Jane Parker at Forcett. She had 7 other siblings.

According to her daughter in 1975, her mother collected tin foil and used stamps as a child so she could help others through the Dr Barnardo’s homes in London. During the wars her mother knitted scarves and donated food parcels.

At age 23, Violet married Amos Vimpany at St David’s Cathedral.

Vimpany Alomes marriage

In the late 1920’s, Violet attended Hobart Technical College where she studied art under the wing of Lucien Dechaineaux. In the late 1930’s she studied under Max Meldrum in Melbourne.

In 1934, one of Violet’s paintings Auriculas was shown at the Women Painters exhibition in Sydney. She used oils and watercolours as well as etching in her career. Violet exhibited in New York in 1939 at the International Women: Painter, Sculptors, Gravers exhibition.

Violet was on the council for the Art Society of Tasmania and would often present their report at the National Council of Women of Tasmania annual meetings.

In 1938, Violet was involved in a contempt of court case with the Lord Mayor (J Soundy) and Mrs Olive Calvert.

Violet shared a studio with Florence Rodway, Mildred Lovatt and Edith Holmes who were also exhibitors as many Art Society events.

In 1940, Mrs A Vimpany was honoured at the National Council of Women meeting. She was a definite champion of women’s rights and a philanthropist and was a member of many societies in Tasmania.

In The Mercury in Margot’s Notebook section, there is a great description of clothing worn by Violet.

Clothing

In 1944, at the Art Society’s 60th anniversary, Violet exhibited a portrait.

Her husband Amos, a well known stonemason, passed in 1945 leaving many memorials incomplete. Violet decided she would need to learn the skills and techniques so she could finish his work.

At the 1947 Art Society exhibition, held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art gallery, there were few portraits hung, but Violet had one she had painted of “Jenny”, the librarian of the Art Society.

To find out more about Violet’s life, read this article written by her daughter Gwen which was published in The Australian Women’s Weekly magazine in 1975.

Violet passed on 2 March 1979 and is buried in the cemetery at Forcett.

 

P for Photography

Miss W. 1851-1880, 1881-1910, 1911-1940, General information, Special people , , , , ,

Albert Archer Rollings was born on 24 March 1865 to parents James and Martha Rollings (nee Wiggins).

In 1888, he was elected as secretary of the Lower Sorell road trust.

On 4 June 1890 he married Sophia Dodge, youngest daughter of Ralph Dodge, in Hobart.

In 1894, Arch was selling off a lot of goods at Rosy Vanyan, Forcett, the property owned by his parents who had both passed.

By 1895, Arch was the manager of the Forcett Milk Company operating from 78 Murray Street, Hobart.  In 1898, he was now manager of the Country Milk Supply Company and he was sent to Sydney to scope out how milk was supplied to customers there. Arch was present in 1917 when the Primary Producers Union was formed.

He was appointed post-master and savings bank agent at Forcett in 1896 after his sister Kate resigned.

In the late 1890’s, Arch had a photography business in Harrington Street, Hobart with his partner Harry Dart. In the early 1900’s he sold his part of the business and moved to Sorell where he set up his own shop. He also had a partnership with H E Howard until 1906.

Arch was a member of the Sorell cricket club and often mentioned in reports. In 1914, he donated pendants as trophies for cricket. In 1916, he was secretary of the re-organized Sorell Rifle Club and by 1921 Arch was captain of the Sorell Rifle Club  also donating a trophy that year.

When a public meeting was held in August 1915, Arch used his skills to throw the anthems of the Allies onto a screen so everyone could join with the choir in singing.

In November 1922, Arch was selling his drapery business in Sorell. Sophia Rollings died on 28 September 1928. Arch remarried to Julia Adelaide Rapp. He died on 2 March 1947.

As Rollings and his wives had no children, the business was up for auction in the late 1950’s when the second Mrs Rollings died.

Robert Tanner, a former Sorell history teacher and a resident of Sorell, was attending the viewing for the auction of the Rollings business in Sorell. He noticed an old dunny (outhouse) in the backyard, looked inside and found it had been used as a dark room. It contained lots of boxes filled with glass plate negatives. He thought these could be used as part of his grade 7 local history studies at school. There was no lot number, so the auctioneer added a number. On the day of the auction, Robert was teaching, so a friend bid for him and it cost 10 shillings and 6 pence. A lot in the late 1950’s.

Robert and some of the older residents of Sorell could name people in the photos, so they were then sent to the Tasmanian Archives where they are now held. To listen to the ABC interview of Robert, follow this link. Also find out more about the discovery by reading Robert’s article in Pitt Water Chronicles Vol 2 (p39-42).

Below is a selection of the first 100 images of Arch Rollings negatives now digitized by the Tasmanian Archives.

NS1553-1-1 Forcett football team
NS1553-1-45 Eileen (Blossom) and George Ward wearing their grandfather’s shoes Joseph Green
NS1553-1-52 Forcett shop and Post Office owned by Mrs Bailey
NS1553-1-57 Sorell Council Chambers, Court and Gaol demolished 1910
NS1553-1-61 Ferry “Cartela” at Lewisham jetty
NS1553-1-68 Mrs Hacks wedding – Nugent church
NS1553-1-73 House, Gordon St, Sorell formerly owned by G and L Phillips, later Strides Drapery
NS1553-1-74 Mrs/Miss Howard and students at Wattle Hill School
NS1553-1-91 Sorell Council dinner
NS1553-1-98 Madsens property, The Ferns, Wattle Hill

F for First People

Miss W. 1821 and prior, 1821-1850, Special people , , , , ,

Thanks to Melinda Reed for writing this post for the A-Z challenge. These words are adapted from articles in Pitt Water Chronicles Vol 1 and Vol 3 published by the Sorell Historical Society.   Blue links will take you to websites for further information.

Sign at Blue Lagoon area

The first people of the land and coastline we now know as Sorell Municipality were the Mumirimina people of the Oyster Bay nation, who lived here for 2000 generations until dispossessed of their home.

Thick forests and grassy plains provided an abundance of animals to hunt, shells and kelp gathered from the ocean beaches, river reeds and other foods collected along the river banks. Women made reed and kelp baskets and collected ochre to decorate hair, faces and bodies. Necklaces were made of wallaby sinews and ochre, or strips of fur or of shells strung on sinews or string made from reeds. Deep spiritual beliefs and an enduring culture evolved over 40,000 years.

Then in 1642 Oyster Bay people watched Tasman’s ships, and in 1772 encountered French ships and explorers who killed one Aboriginal man. In 1803 life changed drastically with the arrival of the British and the rapid colonisation of the south east.

In 1809 Mumirimina man John Shinall (Shiney, Aboriginal name unknown) was born in the Carlton area, living a tribal life with his family until land grants in that area from 1812, then lived with a settler family and later worked as a farm labourer.

Between 1815 and 1819 an Aboriginal ‘mob’ traversed between Risdon and Pitt Water in the summer and retired to the east coast in winter, including a camp at Sweetwater Hills at Penna.

On 9 December 1826, fourteen Oyster Bay Aborigines were believed killed and nine others, including Kickerterpoller, were captured and lodged in the Sorell gaol.

In 1828 Governor Arthur declared martial law against the Aboriginal people and in December 1830 Sorell settlers took part in the Black Line.

In the 1830s George Robinson documented the Oyster Bay word tipina, the name for what is now Midway Point. It is the only recorded Aboriginal place name in the Sorell area.

On his death in 1839, John Shinall was mutilated and his severed head preserved in alcohol; eventually returned from Dublin University to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people in 1990.

Today, in commemorating 200 years since the naming of Sorell township, we respectfully acknowledge this always was and always will be Aboriginal land. The ancient stewardship of the land and coastline continues in the unique culture of the Palawa/Pakana (Tasmanian Aboriginal people), one of the world’s oldest living cultures.

Image source: Owned by Melinda Reed, author of this post