“The Eclipse” Wingham, NSW
by Philip Gleeson
This is a history of the “Eclipse Garage” Wingham NSW. An overview of its operations 1926 – 1964/5
Available for purchase
BOOKS
Manning Valley Historical Society is proud to publish a wide-range of books written by local historians as well as its own outstanding researchers. The publications we offer provide a unique insight into the people, places and events that have shaped the history of the Manning Valley.
Want to learn more?
Books may be purchased at Wingham Museum or ordered online at booksales.mvhs@outlook.com. Come in and take a look around or browse through the list of publications below.
100 Years of Fashion in the Manning 1860 – 1960
Margaret A Clark
A history of the clothing worn in bygone days that MVHS now holds in its collection.
Softcover
72 pages with photographs
21 cm x 29.5 cm
Printed 2014
Cost $10
A Condensed History of the Manning Valley
By Tom Woollard
A brief history of the Manning Valley.
Softcover
24 pages
14.5 cm x 21 cm
First Edition 2003
Cost: $5
A History of Mt George
Compiled by Narelle Smith
Narelle has taken the history of Mt. George and produced a collection of stories touching many different facets of the community’s establishment and evolvement over time.
Softcover
115 pages with photographs
21 cm x 29.5 cm
printed 2017
cost $24
A Peaceful Revolution
Helen Hannah
This book records the history of the Bulga Plateau during the period 1970 to 1995. It is essentially an oral history that allows the inhabitants to tell their stories about life in an alternative community on the Bulga Plateau.
Softcover
153 pages with photographs and maps
21 cm x 29.5 cm
Printed 2011
Cost: $25
A Soldier of the 2/30th Battalion
Terry O’Rourke’s War
Margaret A Clarke
Biography
Terry endured three and a half years of incarceration at Changi P.O.W camp. His story is told in his own words the the journal he maintained throughout the long years.
172 pages including photographs
13.5 cm x 21 cm
Printed 2022
Soft cover
Price: $20.00
At the Going Down of the Sun
A Manning Valley Remembrance – Volume 2: 1939 – 2014
Edited by Maurie Garland
This is the second of two volumes commemorating the sacrifices of young men and women from the Manning Valley in the campaigns of war. This volume covers the period from 1939 to 2014.
Softcover
96 pages with photographs
21 cm x 29.5 cm
Printed 2014
Cost: $15
At the Going Down of the Sun
A Manning Valley Remembrance – Volume 1: 1885 – 1918
Edited by Maurie Garland
Dedicated to those from the Manning Valley who served in conflicts and wars commencing with the Sudan in 1885, and especially those who gave their lives in some foreign field.
This is the first of two volumes commemorating the sacrifices of young men and women from the Manning Valley.
Softcover
82 pages with photographs
21 cm x 29.5 cm
Printed 2014
Cost: $15
Australian Style
by Margaret A Clark
This is a short history of pottery with particular reference to items in the collection of Wingham Museum.
Softcover
32 pages with colour and black and white photographs
21 x 29.5cm
Printed 2019
Cost $8.00
Back to Lansdowne 1985
Paul and Di Elger
This book is the story of pioneering families in Lansdowne, one of Australia’s better rainforest areas and of people concerned with the betterment of all through community involvement.
Softcover
80 pages with photographs
21 cm x 29.5 cm
cost $20
Bacon To Beef
by Bill Beach
The Manning Valley’s journey from failed bacon factory to export beef abattoir.
Softcover
87 pages photographs
21 cm x 30 cm
Printed 2024
Cost: $25
Boomer – A Decade on the Manning
by Robert Milliken
Travel with Robert, no seat belts, as he drives you into an utterly different Australia and brings alive the epic of the Milliken and Cross families. Join the ancestors arriving in Australia from Ireland and England as they settle, pioneer, and prosper in mid northern NSW, people of their times, certain of their ambition, qualm-free of their impact. The focus sharpens at the start of Robert’s childhood when as he says, the tail end of the settler mentality met the start of post – World War Two Australia.
Softcover
206 pages with photographs
15.2cm x 23 cm
Printed 2024
Cost: $20
Bow Bow Creek School 1859-1967
Its Neighbouring Community, its History, its Churches, its neighbouring schools and its Families.
Compiled by Glenda May Smith
Bow Bow Creek School (now known as Bo Bo Creek) was the fourth National (public) school to be established in the Manning Valley.
Softcover, spiral bound
208 pages with photographs
21 cm x 29.7 cm
Printed in 2014
Cost: $30
Bringing Prosperity to the Valley
A History of the Manning Valley Dairy Industry
Bill Beach
This book is a history of the Manning Valley dairy industry from the 1890s to the present.
Softcover
138 pages with photographs and maps
21 cm x 29.5 cm
printed 2017
cost $25
Changes of a Lifetime
Author: Tom Woollard
Tom has searched deep into his memory to give us detailed history of how life used to be when it was an everyday occurrence to rise before dawn and light the wood stove for the first cuppa of the day, a challenge to move cattle long distances to market without the use of cattle trucks. Also, when the only light was a candle, and the depression was the backdrop of the struggle faced by most families living on the land.
“It is my sincere desire to dedicate my book to the memory of the previous generations, especially to those who came to Australia in the 1840 to 1860 era. These folk were the real nation builders who sought new lives and fortunes in a new and sometimes inhospitable land.”
Tom was born in 1927 and this book was first published in 1995. Tom’s memories and stories of this lifetime growing up in the Manning Valley, just outside Wingham, give us an insight into ways in which adversity was faced and conquered in the past. Tom’s extensive contribution to the community was honoured by a Premier’s Award in 1992, but even more widely in the hearts of those his goodwill touched.
Second-hand book – good condition
164 pages with black and white photographs
17.5cm x 24.7cm
Reprinted 1996 (now out of print)
Cost $45.00
Cricket in the Manning 1893-2015
Les Eastaway
This book has a tribute to John Martin, early history of cricket in the Manning, cricket clubs, grounds and ovals, curators, cricketers, and a photo gallery. There’s a great deal about cricket including stories, fibs, articles, folklore, club records, statistics, and much more.
Softcover
248 pages with photographs, index and bibliography
21 cm x 29.5 cm
Printed 2015
Cost: $30
Diary Of A Country Hall-Killabakh 1907-2007
Killabakh Community Association Inc.
This book is dedicated to all people of the Killabakh Valley – past and present- who have volunteered their time, energy and other resources for the betterment of their Hall and their community.
Softcover
107 pages
21 cm x 29.5 cm
printed 2007
cost $10
Down To The Sea in Ships
Edited by Penny Rich
The book details the proud record of ship building, in the Manning Valley, from the 1830’s when William Wynter built the “Tarree” up to the crafts built by Steber and Linton today.
It also contains the details of every boat built on the Manning River.
Softcover
64 pages including over 60 photographs
21 cm x 29.5 cm
Published 2002
Cost: $10
Enlisting for Gallipoli
Maurie Garland
This is the story of the 18th Battalion at Gallipoli. We follow the men from their Australian camp to Egypt and the Gallipoli. During the first week on Gallipoli the 18th suffered over 6000 casualties. An Honour Roll of those killed in this week is included.
466 pages including photographs
13.5 cm x 21 cm
Soft cover
Price: $30.00
Forest of Dreams
and Other Journeys of The Red Road
by Roderick Williams
“Rod gives us another superb helping of his ingenious poetry and short stories in a way only Rod can serve it. He writes of characters and places within this Great Southern Land, with words which can be as gentle as the breeze through a gum tree, or as potent as the bite of a tiger snake.”
Neil McArthur