A BOOK that has been lost for nearly fifty years that detailed the history and early life of Jumbunna and captured images of the town and its people, has been found.
The book was handwritten and dates back to the 1900’s.
Rumour has it that in the 1970’s a Jumbunna teacher loaned the treasured book to his sister who took it to London and it never came back – to the great disappointment of many locals.
The real story of the lost book recently came to light, however, along with the book itself.
Previous third-generation Jumbunna resident and student of the Jumbunna Primary School in the seventies, Ron Cruickshank, remembers the book being kept in a cupboard under the War Service Honour Roll.
He also remembers being one of 22 students from Prep to Grade six taught by a single teacher in the old school building which also doubled as the town hall.
The building was constructed at the turn of the century from messmate and blue gum trees that grew in the area.
Like many buildings of its time, it was a large wood-panelled room, with impossibly high ceilings, a fourteen-foot chimney and no insulation.
By the late 1970’s the big old cold building was considered no longer fit for purpose and a new, warm demountable would take its place.
But first, the historical structure needed to be removed and the council put out a tender for the demolition of the building.
A local resident and teacher (who doesn’t wish to be named), put in for the tender and was awarded a contract to remove the building.
The local disassembled it and reused many of the materials, including the hardwood planks and bricks to erect a shed in Kongwak to live in while building his own home.
He also found a few things that had been left behind in the school and one of these was an old suitcase that was stuffed with papers.
It was stowed away within the shed and forgotten about.
Almost fifty years later during a recent cleanout of the shed, the now Kongwak local came across the suitcase.
He opened it up and among some papers found an old book.
He took the book over to his neighbour, Les Cruickshank (brother of Ron) who confirmed that it was indeed the lost book of Jumbunna that had disappeared nearly fifty years ago.
Les subsequently informed his brother Ron and both were delighted as the book has personal significance to them.
Included in the book are photos of their grandfather who served on the Jumbunna school board after returning in 1918 from World War I, serving in the 4th Light Horse at Gallipoli and Palestine.
The Jumbunna Book has since been scanned and shared on Facebook, with some positive comments about the find.
An amazing find, I have seen one of these images before but not at this quality (miners on trolly car). Very significant for Jumbunna and the district as a whole.
Thank you so much for sharing this document in its entirety. It is strange to see my paternal grandmother as an 18-year-old! And lovely to see my great-grandfather as a member of the school council/parent committee, something which my Dad and I both did for our children, also.
Wonderful! A great piece of local history. Thanks for sharing.
The book of Jumbunna will now be donated to the Korumburra and District Historical Society for safekeeping.
