Sunbury history Facebook group opens up the past and rekindles memories
SOMETIMES social media is not about the here and now. For one Sunbury Facebook group it is much more about the here and then.
North West
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THE modern Facebook medium has become a new tool to inspire Sunbury memories and recollections, many from users more au fait with typewriters.
When long-time Sunbury resident Dave White established the Historical Sunbury & Surrounds Facebook page in 2013, he was not expecting a massive response.
It’s now closing in on 2000 members.
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“I’ve always been a history buff and I spent literally 10 years of my life chasing Ned Kelly records across the state,” he said.
Two groups of people have gravitated to his Sunbury history page, the newcomers to Sunbury who wonder what the former small rural town was like before they came.
A second unlikely group of more senior members have also flocked to the site.
Many not living in Sunbury any more discuss old corner stores, routes to school and who lived in the old homes of Sunbury.
The interactions of the second group have been particularly satisfying for Mr White, old friendships rekindled and small mysteries resolved.
“You’d read a comment like ‘are you the Mary that lived on such and such street’,” he said.
“In some cases I’ve had to sit down with people for a few hours to teach them Facebook and they naturally have misgivings, but it’s been really good for them to bring up these old memories.”
Frequently going to the Victorian Archives to pore over old newspaper articles, Mr White stimulates many of the discussions by posting old pictures or the news of the day.
Among the historical gems he has found include the surprisingly lethal role Jacksons Creek has played in drownings, the role Sunbury hotels played in unlikely activities such as inquests and the war games of Cannon Gully.
“Cannon Gully was old Clarke land, but its scale is incredible,” he said.
“In the mid-1860s there would be up to 20,000 people going there from all over Victoria to participate or watch sham battles — that’s pretty comparable with the pop festivals, but in the 1860s there was only the train to Sunbury.”
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