‘IT CAN’T end with me’ … that is the impassioned plea of the 25-year-old president of Rosewood Scrub Historical Society.
Alice Sippel is the society’s youngest member and one of its most passionate.
She’s fighting for a section of society that values the past and understands the benefit in preserving it.
“We have a historical society but not enough volunteers to keep it going at a good pace,” she said.
“There were a lot of people helping out after retirement but many are no longer able to continue their volunteerism.
“At the last meeting we had around four people helping to keep it going.
“I volunteer but I also work full time and that makes it is hard because I can’t do it alone.”
Alice is not doing it all, and there are other members doing what they can to help but most are many decades older like the 92-year-old who is always putting up her hand to help.
“Even if people can help out for a couple of hours once a month, that would make the world of difference,” she said.
“And it’s not even open that many times but at the moment it’s one person who is trying to do it all it and it feels very heavy.”
Alice isn’t wanting to quit or call an end to a society that adds so much benefit to the community.
She is holding on and hoping others will step up to help when they discover how wonderful the society is.
“In the past we’ve been able to produce books and sell those to raise money,” she explained.
“Some of [the books] are older than my age and they’re good sellers, they sell and we reprint them.
“Previous members of the society wrote them and are credited within them.”
However, like the books, members are more weathered than what they once were and new blood is needed to keep the society viable.
“We have a lot of old photos and information that need organising,” she explained.
“We need help preserving them and volunteers prepared to help out at least twice a month.
“We attend special events like the Marburg and Rosewood Shows and Rosewood school’s 150th anniversary.
“People ask a lot of questions around their own family history and it would be helpful to have more members available to find answers for them.”
If you love history and have time to spare, contact the Rosewood Scrub Historical Society and become a member.
• The Rosewood Scrub Historical Society was formed in 1979 and fittingly is based in an historic building in Marburg (a former shire office which was built in 1913).
• The society’s name also has historic significance. A dense vine scrub, which in the days of early settlement was known as the Rosewood Scrub, once covered today’s localities of Ashwell, Fernvale, Glamorgan Vale, Haigslea, Lowood, Marburg, Minden, Mt Marrow, Prenzlau, Rosewood, Tallegalla, and Tarampa. The ‘Rosewood’ part of the name comes from the trees that once proliferated in the scrub.
