Giddens family history and the Barraba newspaper

27th August 2024

History Notes

This week I have been searching for the Upper Horton School's year of closure without success at this stage but it is amazing just what else can be found in a heap of paper cuttings.

Recently we have tried to assist with the Giddens family history and today I have found that Mrs. H. Giddens owned the Barraba newspaper during the First World War. Harry Newling bought the paper from her at the end of the war.

The list of owners of the Barraba newspapers through the years has been printed some years back but I had not noticed the Giddens name in there.

Looking through some other cuttings from the papers it seems that cars ran into bulls on the roads every now and again in the later part of last century, causing considerable damage and the paper plane managed to collapse its landing wheel while landing at Barraba - we do not have the luxury of an evening paper these days!

I notice that Council Amalgamation was in the news in 1974- it included all the local councils that have now been amalgamated in spite of all the objections that were put forward at the time - six local councils eventually were united in 2004.

Barraba has had several rather severe storms over the years - a windstorm removed the roof from the Victoria Hotel in 1977 and another storm in 1985 removed the grandstand roof and damaged several other buildings around the town including the school.

In 1968 the Commonwealth Bank built its new branch where the Post Office is now. This block of ground was the site of the Royal Hotel and had been vacant since the hotel was destroyed by fire in the 1930's. There is also a note in the 1972 paper referring to some miss information about our town clock which will have to be found before November.

In July 1970, Barraba residents suffered from a flu epidemic- at one stage there were 36 people in hospital - I wonder how we would cope if that happened again.

Finally, perhaps I should mention that Rupert Richardson, President of the Barraba Shire for quite a few years decided to retire from the council in l992 and, concentrate on his painting. Rupert was a good president and most amusing especially when he had to make a speech at the art show or some other function. He mostly began with a search of his pockets to find his notes but did not use them anyway!

News for August 2024