ON Monday, March 24, the Public Record Office Victoria and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria were pleased to present the 2024 Victorian Community History Award winners at a ceremony at the Langham in Southbank.
Inverloch local Judy Vrandenburg received the Collaborative Community History Award for her book Wallace Avenue Community Park Inverloch: A Short History (which she published under the name JM Anderson). The judges honoured the work of Judy stating that the Wallace Avenue Park Inverloch was almost lost to development.
“This small book, full of colourful photos and illustrations, details an exciting success story of a passionate community who sought to save it. It describes how many volunteers provided or sought out information that helped compile the history of the park and thus contribute to the book.
Amongst them was one man who preserved hand-typed Council minutes with the Inverloch Historical Society, and another was a lady who kept a scrapbook, both of which proved invaluable. The book was a collaborative effort with many direct contributors in addition to the author’s work. Many supplied photographs. Inverloch Primary School provided Cretaceous period fauna and flora artworks in honour of the Koolasuchus cleelandi sculpture, a feature of the park. In addition, the author lists the large number of those who helped in the process of saving the park, from MPs, councillors and community groups such as Rotary and Lions to those volunteers who organised fundraising sausage sizzles or shook collection tins.
It is an inspiring story of collaborative community action which enriches the history of the area and its local community.”
Judy was surprised and honoured to win the award for the short history piece, which originated with the Bass Coast prize for non-fiction competition during the pandemic and recognised in 2021 for community activism. “This award has been most humbling and the biggest honour,” said Judy.
“Initially, I sat down and wrote the story but of course writing it down was just the beginning. This book and the award are a credit to the Inverloch community, and this park is so precious to the town.”
“There was a lot of people I needed to thank with this book, including the Bass Coast Shire Council, the Inverloch community – this book stands in honour of volunteers everywhere – they are the silent heroes, and I’d also like to thank the South Gippsland Sentinel-Times for their outstanding reporting and recording of history, because it played an integral part in the preservation of the park.
The Wallace Avenue Community Park in Inverloch is serving the community, is home to Koolasuchus Cleelandi - a local prehistoric amphibian discovered by Mike Cleeland and Lesley Kool; an eight metre long sculpture by Phil Stray of Crafted Landscape, and is home to the integral Bunurong Educational Centre.
The award-winning book, Wallace Avenue Community Park Inverloch: A Short History is available at PaperPlay Inverloch, and the Bunurong Environment Centre Inverloch.
