For over 25 years, our dedicated Research Team have been compiling weekly abstracts of News from 100 years Ago.
Many of the newsworthy issues of 100 years ago are uncannily similar to those of today – development approvals, telecommunications, latest movies and social events, and public health concerns. Except that now we discuss the NBN and COVID, then it was the location of telephone exchanges and the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918-1920.
Led by John Sewell, the initiative commenced in August 1998. The extracts were sent to local newspapers, and the MDHS publishes annual compilations. Research Librarian Wendy Simes now oversees the process, and the extracts are published weekly online through local newspapers and the MDHS blog.
Since its inception, the project has captured the interest of readers, who relish the opportunity to immerse themselves in these snapshots of everyday life.
Now searchable through the Internet, these abstracted news snippets also provide a research tool on their own right – an insight into the noteable people, events and activities of the day. Like boating cruises on the Moruya River, concerts at the Mechanics Institute and the far-reaching impact of floods on the community.
Extracting the News of a Century Ago
The Research Team trawls through microfilms of historic newspapers to select news items. It then matches them with photographs from MDHS’ extensive image collection. While newspapers generally did not include photographs back then, the images help to bring the stories alive to the modern reader.
The MDHS microfilm collection includes a complete set of the Moruya Examiner for 1881-1939, purchased from the NSW State Library through the generous donations of Bob Colefax and Nell Greig. These microfilm records are photographic – not digital – and a special machine is required to read them. The MDHS reader was obtained through the generosity of founding member Hilda Zanadvoroff.
In future the microfilm will be replaced by a digital version, accessible to all through the Internet via the National Library Trove system. The NSW State Library has committed to achieving this for all NSW historic newspapers, although a timetable has not yet been set.
But while Trove conveniently converts scanned copies into digital text, the automated translation can often be patchy. Despite advances in AI, a discerning eye will always needed to select and present the most compelling stories from the past for today’s audiences – that’s the enduring value the MDHS Research Team brings!
Read More:
- 100 Years Ago – Online Version – published since October 2013
- 100 Years Ago – Index – index of articles from 1899 – 1919
- History of Moruya’s Newspapers – articles published in the MDHS Journal
- Olive Constable – Moruya Examiner Editor 1913-1939
For annual compilations of these fascinating extracts, please contact moruyamuseum@gmail.com
MORUYA and District Historical Society Blog 
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