Some of the artefacts in the Inglewood Heritage Resource and Research Room. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Some of the artefacts in the Inglewood Heritage Resource and Research Room. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Inglewood’s town history is being preserved, one document at a time, says Gay Lawrence.
For the past 10 years, Gay has been researching the history and heritage of Inglewood’s buildings and businesses.
That information now has a permanent home at the Inglewood Heritage Resource and Research Room in the FunHo! Toys and Inglewood Information Centre building.
“I retired from my job as the Inglewood High School librarian in 2014. I wanted something to do so I started to research the town.”
Since she started the project, Gay has been given plenty of extra items to include in the collection. She says people have been giving her old photographs, toys and even old cameras from families who have lived in the town in the past.
Gay has created a catalogue of all the items, to make finding individual things easy for visitors.
“It’s fairly simple. Each different subject has a number and the front desk has a copy of the catalogue. That way when people come in, they can say what they’re looking for and it can easily be found. All of the items are things given to me by local families. We’ve had a lot of things donated because people want them preserved. There’s a lot of treasures in here.”
Gay Lawrence and Richard Jordan inside the Inglewood Heritage Resource and Research Room. Photo / Alyssa Smith
She says the room has as much history as the items in it.
“This part of the building used to be where the post boxes were. We’ve kept some of the equipment and utilised it.”
The room is open for people to come and see, she says.
“It’s a resource for everyone. People like to know where their family is from and what they did. I’ve had lots of people come in searching for things and knowledge and it’s great to be able to help them.”
Gay also volunteers at Fun Ho! Toys and the Inglewood Information Centre. She sets up displays in the museum using items from the resource room.
The Inglewood Heritage Resource and Research Room i artefacts and photos are catalogued using a simple number system. Photo / Alyssa Smith
“Each month I focus on a different building or business. This month I focused on the Inglewood Rail Motel. My husband Kevin builds items such as a bar or small-scale models of the building.”
She also creates information booklets on the different buildings she’s researched.
“It’s great to offer them to the community.”
Gay Lawrence's husband Kevin created a bar for the Railway Hotel display. The information used in the displays is from the Inglewood Heritage Resource and Research Room. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Fun Ho! Toys owner Richard Jordan says the Inglewood Heritage Resource and Research Room is a great addition to the building.
“Retaining our history is important. No one else can do it for us. We’ve seen a need for this room and we’re happy to provide this for our community.”
Where: Fun Ho! Toys/Inglewood Info Centre 25 Rata St, Inglewood
Open hours: Mon-Fri 10am-4pm. Sat-Sun 10am-2pm
Gay Lawrence has created small booklets containing the information she researched for the Inglewood Heritage Resource and Research Room. Photo / Alyssa Smith
