The ties that bind us … Burrumbuttock history book coordinator Marion Vile (left) with Janene Whitty and Greg Ryan from the Albury and District Historical Society. Photo: Supplied.
There is a certain danger in asking country people to have a rummage through the family archives.
One photograph becomes 10 … or 20.
A name sparks a memory. A memory leads to another family. Someone remembers a story their grandfather told them. Somebody else has the photograph to prove it.
Before you know it, what was supposed to be an update of a history book has become 10 months of digging, detective work, interviews, dusty archives and an awful lot of volunteer hours.
Nearly a year after the tiny community of Burrumbuttock threw itself a rather sizeable 150th anniversary party (October 2025), the bunting may be packed away, but its people have pulled off one more feat.
And this is one designed to last.
Burrumbuttock 150 Years: From Then to Now is a nearly 200-page collection of the people, photographs, farming families, clubs, characters, milestones and memories that have shaped the district.
It wasn’t originally meant to become quite such an undertaking.
The idea was to bring Burrumbuttock’s written history up to date, building on earlier publications, including the school centenary book produced back in 1989.
For coordinator Marion Vile, the town’s 150th anniversary was too good an opportunity to waste.
“We realised that if we didn’t update our town’s history for the 150th, then when would it ever be done?” she said.
“So much has changed, and so many new families have become part of Burrumbuttock’s story.”
And so they started digging.
For the next 10 months, volunteers chased photographs, interviewed families, revisited archives, checked facts and pieced together generations of local knowledge.
The deeper they dug, the bigger the story became.
Because this wasn’t simply about documenting who settled where, who married whom and what happened in what year. It was about preserving the stuff that so easily disappears.
Stories handed down around kitchen tables. Photographs living in boxes and cupboards. The characters everybody once knew. The farming families whose names have been stitched into the district for generations and the newer families now adding their own threads.
The result is something far more personal than a dry local history.
“The book is far more comprehensive than anything we’ve produced before,” Marion said.
“It honours the founders, the early families, the sporting clubs, the legends – but it also celebrates the newer families who’ve become part of Burrumbuttock’s fabric.”
If the finished book tells the story of community spirit, its creation beautifully demonstrates it.
“Community spirit is strong here,” Marion said.
“The volunteer hours that have gone into this book are enormous, and they show what pride and commitment can achieve.
“We were also very fortunate to collaborate with Greg Ryan, of Albury and District Historical Society, who helped us create a really professional product.”
The book is the result of an enormous collective effort and untold volunteer hours. Photo: Supplied.
Perhaps nowhere is the thread between then and now captured more neatly than on the book’s cover.
The photograph reaches all the way back to 1918, when Burrumbuttock farmers rallied behind servicemen returning from World War I.
Long-time resident and history book committee member James Jelbart brought extensive local knowledge to the project, helping verify the facts and stories anchoring the publication in truth and lived experience.
“In 1918, the Burrumbuttock branch of the Farmers and Settlers Association organised local farmers to plough, harrow and sow 50 acres of land at ‘Stony Park’ to support returning First World War servicemen,” he said.
“The crop was sown and later harvested collectively by the community, offering practical support to those coming home from war.
“The Burrumbuttock community has always pulled together in times of need. Over the past 150 years, we have organised working bees, fought fires defending farming properties, and supported people at times of loss.”
More than a century later, the machinery might be newer, but the instinct to muck in appears remarkably intact.
Alongside the pioneers and early farming families are the sporting clubs, community milestones and people who have carried Burrumbuttock forward.
There is even a special section devoted to the 150th anniversary itself, recording how the idea began, the hurdles, fundraising, hard graft and army of people who brought the celebration to life.
Perhaps the true value of all those volunteer hours won’t be fully appreciated for another 50 years.
Local history can be fragile stuff.
It lives in photographs nobody has labelled yet, anecdotes, and details remembered by people who may be the last ones able to explain who, where or why.
Albums are packed away. Properties change hands. Memories fade.
Burrumbuttock’s volunteers have spent the best part of a year catching as many of those vital threads as they can and binding them together.
On 9 October, the community will gather to celebrate the book’s completion and watch Jacqueline Schulz’s fashion parade and event videos from last year’s celebrations.
For many, it will be the first chance since that whirlwind anniversary weekend to sit down together, look back and take stock of what they achieved.
Because the real story inside Burrumbuttock 150 Years: From Then to Now isn’t simply that this community has a remarkable past.
It’s that, 150 years on, its people still care enough about each other, and those who came before them, to make sure nobody forgets it.
Books can be ordered by emailing [email protected].
