Albury & District Historical Society

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Albury & District Historical Society

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

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/

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.

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.

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.”

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.

19/09/2025

A Google Earth image overlaid with a map of the village of Bowna in the approximate position of the village (not to scale), drowned by the rising waters of Lake Hume as it first filled in the early 1930s.
The blue line shows the original path of the Sydney Road (it became the Hume Highway in 1928) as it went along Telegraph Street, the main street of Bowna. The highway was moved to travel around the lake (red line) in about 1930.
The yellow line shows the route of the Hume Freeway from 2009.

12/09/2025

Inside Albury Court House about 1920 - an image from the NSW State Archives. The old Albury Courthouse was completed in 1860. It was built out of local grey granite by Thomas Allen of Albury. In the press gallery there has been a tradition of journalists to carve their names. Many local residents saw the inside of this building!

05/09/2025

The Australian Joint Stock Bank on the corner of Dean and Kiewa streets was built in 1877. The building was described in ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ in December 1877: “The splendid building erected by the Australian Joint Stock Bank at the corner of Dean and Kiewa streets is just completed. This is by far the handsomest structure of the kind in Albury, and would indeed compare favourably with many of the metropolitan banks.”
The bank became the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney in 1911. They demolished the old building to rebuild in 1936.
After the merger of the National Bank with the CBC bank, the old National Bank building further west on Dean St closed.

29/08/2025

Albury railway refreshment rooms - the well stocked bar area. From 1883, the refreshment rooms had a license to sell liquor, but to rail passengers only. The Melbourne ‘Argus’ reported in July 1883 that “Mr Moses, licensee of the Albury railway refreshment-rooms, has now received his licence for the sale of liquors and this has proved of great convenience to overland travellers.” There were complaints that the process of changing trains at Albury was too fast for passengers to adequately enjoy the hospitality available in the rooms. In 1942 it was reported that soldiers on troop trains were banned from the room “because of certain incidents in special military trains when troops had been allowed to get liquor at railway refreshment bars.”

22/08/2025

Albury & District Historical Society has a new video on our YouTube Channel. The video covers the development of the eastern end of Dean street. After a slow start, in the early 20th development accelerated at that end of the main street. There is a focus on the contribution of the Syrian/Lebanese community and other families who had a role in the commercial development from Olive street to Young street.
Go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDzIPypinJegksrO-l2ssVg

15/08/2025

A very muddy corner of Smollett St and Olive St in about 1871 – work is underway building St Patrick’s Church, it was blessed and opened on November 24, 1872. The building to the left of centre is the temporary Catholic Church, St Bridget’s, built in 1858 - it doubled as the Catholic School and continued as a school after St. Patrick’s Church was completed, demolished in 1938. Visible on the left of the old photo is the Mercy convent. The Christian Brothers opened their school (left in the new photo) in 1917, the section visible in the photo is part of the 1931 extension.

08/08/2025

175 YEARS OF ALBURY PUBLIC SCHOOL
"The tenders for the new buildings for the Albury Public School have been examined, and that of Mr. Charles Hardy, contractor of Wagga, for £3400 accepted ... The plans for the new buildings are very handsome, and the school, when finished, will by no means be a disgrace to the town.” ‘Albury Banner,’ May 1, 1891.
The ‘Banner’ followed up on July 15, 1892 with “… the Superior Public School was occupied for the first time on Monday [July 11]. The new structure is very tastefully designed and fitted with all the conveniences and appliances found in the best school buildings of the day. The attendance is now over 600 …”
Tomorrow, August 9, there will be OPEN DAY activities from 11am to 2.30pm, with student performances, open classrooms, history display, merchandise, art show and bbq.

Address

PO Box 822
Albury, NSW
2640

Website

https://www.alburyhistory.org.au/

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