Albury & District Historical Society

Albury & District Historical Society The Albury & District Historical Society was founded in 1960 to play a part in the preservation of t

Part of the huge crowd to welcome Santa at Mate’s Corner in 1949. Santa’s ‘horse’ was drawn along Dean street by four yo...
19/12/2025

Part of the huge crowd to welcome Santa at Mate’s Corner in 1949. Santa’s ‘horse’ was drawn along Dean street by four young man wearing tall peaked hats (dunces hats?). Santa’s arrival on his wooden horse was an annual tradition that lasted in Albury for 20 years.
In November 1954 the ‘Border Morning Mail’ reported that “Santa won't ride up Dean street tomorrow. Albury police have banned the parade of a wooden horse carrying Santa Claus in Dean street, scheduled by Mate's Ltd for tomorrow afternoon. The ban has caused the break of a 20 year old annual custom. Previously. Santa Claus had ridden his ‘horse’ along the street, throwing balloons, and his appearance had been a great day in the lives of the children of the city and district. Inspector Moore said last night that in other years police protection for on-lookers had been necessary. This year it was felt that with the growing traffic and congestion, children's lives and limbs would be jeopardised if they were pushed under the ‘horse's’ wheels.”

Urana Road at the 5-ways intersection, in 1977 and about 40 years later (about 2017). The buildings are not looking a lo...
12/12/2025

Urana Road at the 5-ways intersection, in 1977 and about 40 years later (about 2017). The buildings are not looking a lot different but the trees and shrubbery have improved the look of the area.

The ‘Then’ photo is on a postcard from very early in the 20th century. There is very little development on Eastern Hill....
05/12/2025

The ‘Then’ photo is on a postcard from very early in the 20th century. There is very little development on Eastern Hill. If you look closely you will note that there is no Overhead Bridge across the rail lines, it did not come until 1931. The closest rail crossing was across the tracks at Wilson street where most of the housing development is; vineyards still cover much of the hill. Dean street is still a dirt road. There are still lots of empty blocks in central Albury, particularly north of Dean street. The Hume Flour Mill is on the corner of Dean street and Wodonga Place where the Albury District Hospital moved to in 1918. And the photo is captioned ‘From Western Hill’, the hill was not commonly known as Monument Hill until after the War Memorial opened in 1925. The Albury Butter Factory is on the corner of Elizabeth and Stanley streets and the Federal Theatre at the top end of Stanley street.

Then: A photo from March 1976 when super fuel at the Caltex service station on the corner of Wagga Road and Kaylock Stre...
28/11/2025

Then: A photo from March 1976 when super fuel at the Caltex service station on the corner of Wagga Road and Kaylock Street was selling for 68.9 cents per litre (metric for fuel was introduced in July 1974).
Now: fast food outlets at the same corner in 2025.

The Albury Butter Factory was located on the south-east corner of Creek and Stanley streets, the site in 2025 of a car p...
21/11/2025

The Albury Butter Factory was located on the south-east corner of Creek and Stanley streets, the site in 2025 of a car park. They opened on February 27, 1897. The top image is as the factory appeared c1900, the bottom one is from the Hume & Hovell Centenary Booklet of 1924. Holdenson & Neilson purchased the factory in 1921 for £5975 cash. In 1926, the factory moved to the Victorian side of the border, opening on what is now the Lincoln Causeway.

Local Threads: A History of Macquarie Textiles in AlburyOn now in the Lane Gallery at Albury LibraryMuseum. Until 8 Febr...
14/11/2025

Local Threads: A History of Macquarie Textiles in Albury
On now in the Lane Gallery at Albury LibraryMuseum. Until 8 February 2026.
This exhibition brings together images, objects and documents from the Museum and Social History Collection and on loan from members of the community to showcase the history of Macquarie Textiles in Albury.
The Amalgamated Textile Mill started production in February 1925. At their peak, they employed about 700 workers. The company became known as Macquarie Worsteds Ltd in 1957, and as Macquarie Textiles Group Ltd in 1994.
By 2000, Macquarie Textiles was Australia’s largest woollen and worsted textile mill, manufacturing wool-rich fashion fabrics, machine knitting yarns, woollen blankets, upholstery cloth, industry cloth, safety cloth and weaving yarns for both domestic and overseas markets. Macquarie Textiles closed permanently at the end of 2020.

Albury from the west in 1963. Gone are - the Dean St Carlton Hotel, railway sheds, Parkinson St, the overhead bridge acr...
07/11/2025

Albury from the west in 1963. Gone are - the Dean St Carlton Hotel, railway sheds, Parkinson St, the overhead bridge across the rail line, Terminus Hotel, Hoyt’s Theatre, Preston Motors, old Base Hospital. Also note, no traffic lights in Dean St, St Matthew’s Church before the fire. What other differences can be spotted?

Albury Brewing & Malting Company staff - a photo by Pearson and Brook photographers. The company was formed in June 1888...
31/10/2025

Albury Brewing & Malting Company staff - a photo by Pearson and Brook photographers. The company was formed in June 1888 when two breweries merged, Albury Brewery and Hume Brewery. With another merger in 1911, they became the Border United Co-operative Breweries Ltd in new premises near the Union Bridge, South Albury. That business was purchased by Murray Breweries in 1914. Production had stopped by 1920, the ‘Albury Banner’ reporting “that the premises were being offered for sale owing to the impossibility of reviving the brewing industry through the unsuitability of the water for beer.” More on Albury Breweries at https://alburyhistory.org.au/resources/border-mail-history-articles/

In the 1850s, Albury people were obliged to go to Beechworth if requiring hospitalisation. In 1858 it was reported that ...
24/10/2025

In the 1850s, Albury people were obliged to go to Beechworth if requiring hospitalisation. In 1858 it was reported that “a piece of land had been granted by the Government for the er****on of a hospital at Albury” and a promise £1000 if Albury could raise the same amount by subscription.
The hospital was built by Albury builder Thomas Allen for £2100 and the first patients admitted in October 1861. It was located on the west side of Thurgoona street, next to the Albury Gaol and looking down Stanley street.
A new hospital opened in Wodonga Place in February 1918. In 1920 the old hospital building became the first home of Albury High School. After the school moved to their Kiewa Street site in 1928, the building became a home for local unemployed. In November 1933, the 40 occupants received notice to vacate within one month. The building was demolished in 1935 and public housing built on the site.

A view of Dean street in about 1915 from west of the corner with Kiewa Street. Richard Rankin was then licensee of the G...
17/10/2025

A view of Dean street in about 1915 from west of the corner with Kiewa Street. Richard Rankin was then licensee of the Globe Hotel. Rankin took over the license in May 1908. In 1913 he commissioned the extension of the hotel west along Dean Street. Rankin handed over his license in August 1919 and moved to Sydney.

Recently the Albury LibraryMuseum sourced a photo from the NSW State Archives depicting central Dean Street in the late ...
10/10/2025

Recently the Albury LibraryMuseum sourced a photo from the NSW State Archives depicting central Dean Street in the late 19th century. From left to right, the east wing of the Albury Courthouse, the Crown Land Office, the Albury Municipal Office and partly visible is the Mechanics’ Institute.
The west side of the Land Office survives intact in Dean street. However the lower floor of the south side is now obscured by the MAMA shop – compare with the ‘Now’ photo. Just visible is signage “Crown Land …” The first mention found of the Crown Land Office was in the Albury Banner in June 1879, a reference to “the state of the footpath opposite the new land offices in Dean-street.”

The Hume Dam 100 years ago, almosr six years into construction. A view of the worksite inside the northern coffer dam, b...
26/09/2025

The Hume Dam 100 years ago, almosr six years into construction. A view of the worksite inside the northern coffer dam, built to keep the work site dry. Three men ride the flying fox. From tower to tower the flying fox spanned 400 metres.
Top left is the flying fox tower, about 25 metres tall. It can move east to west (left to right in photo) on four railway lines enabling materials to be carried to all parts of the construction site. Next to the flying fox tower is the smoke stack of the steam driven electricity generator for the NSW works site.
The northern ‘wing-wall’ is under construction. Foundations of the northern portion of the spillway are complete, the southern end of the spillway had to wait until later in the project.

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PO Box 822
Albury, NSW
2640

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