General News
30 May, 2024
Hidden history unearthed in op shop
AN Echuca man was “delighted” to learn a 101-year-old piece of his family’s athletic history had been discovered in a central Victorian op-shop and donated to the Terang and District Historical Society (TDHS) recently.
TDHS research officer Margaret McIntosh said she had recently received a call from a woman in central Victoria to say she had found a pair of medals referencing Terang and Noorat in an op-shop.
“She had some similar items in her family and believed they shouldn’t be just sitting in an op-shop, and asked if she could send them to us,” she said.
“When the medals arrived, we saw they were the inaugural Noorat and District Inter-guild Championships, which started in 1925.
“The athletics competition was held between the Presbyterian Churches at Noorat, Glenormiston and Mortlake, held every year until the mid-1930s.
“The first year Pat Davidson had won pretty much everything.”
Pat Davidson was the son of Reverend Arthur Irving Davidson, who was ordained and inducted as Reverend to the congregations of Noorat and Glenormiston according to a report in the October 19, 1901 edition of the Camperdown Chronicle.
Reverend Davidson arrived in the region after a stint in the Victorian Football League playing for Fitzroy.
“The athletic prowess must have passed on to Pat Davidson, because he won every category he entered in the Noorat and District Inter-guild Championships,” Mrs McIntosh said.
Mrs McIntosh was able to utilise online genealogy platform ancestry.com to find living ancestors of Pat Davidson, which led her to his 90-year-old son Michael – who now lives in Echuca.
“I called him and we had a chat on the phone, and he said he had some items he could bring down – so he made the drive just to bring those items and tell us what he knew about his father,” she said.
Michael Davidson praised the “diligent” work of Mrs McIntosh to reconnect him with the piece of his family’s history.
“I was delighted to be told that I was the son of the recipient of two medals awarded at the Noorat and District Inter-guild championships held in 1925,” he said.
“The winner of the highest aggregate points is inscribed with the name Pat Davidson – my father.
“The second medal is for coming first in the 100m, 220m, 440m and 880m races, no mean feat even today.”
Mr Davidson was so excited to receive the news, he offered to make the four-hour drive to Terang to see the pieces up close and to donate additional items which would help to preserve the historical records.
“I visited the TDHS on Sunday and was able to donate some historical items concerning my father,” he said.
“This included a snapshot of him winning the 880, photographs of the Terang Football team of 1924 in which he played, a page from a 1926 edition of the Weekly Times featuring the Terang team, and shots of him working on Denis’ station.
“I was also further able to provide photos of him in Tobruk, where he served in the second AIF during the famous siege.”
Mrs McIntosh said the TDHS relishes the opportunity to not only preserve local history, but ensure families can learn more about their forebears.
“We have a lot of descendants visit or people with connections to the town,” she said.
“I think every month we have people donate things like this, which is good because it won’t be lost.”