A member of Cootamundra’s History Society for several years, when Marie Scott read about the Cootamundra Remembers Facebook page in a Cootamundra Herald article some five years ago she immediately signed up to the social media site.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
No other site had encouraged her to join the Facebook bandwagon prior, however Ms Scott said she has not looked back.
Since it was established in 2013, the Cootamundra Remembers Facebook page has accrued almost 4500 followers.
Ms Scott, the History Society publicity officer and assistant treasurer, is encouraged to see the popularity of history on the rise as people make the most of a treasure trove of information at their fingertips.
“W get 12-20 people at our meetings, however pages like Cootamundra Remembers can tap into thousands of people,” Ms Scott said.
She grew up in Cootamundra and has always had a strong will to know about her hometown.
“I’ve always loved the history of the region,” Ms Scott said.
She said it is important people realise that history does not necessarily mean the turn of last century, history can be as recent as the 1990’s and even the first decade of this century.
Currently the History Society is focussing on identifying the stories behind all buildings in the main street and Ms Scott said she has been able to turn to Cootamundra Remembers to fill in gaps in the knowledge of members.
Creator of the page Steve Theobald has been pleased, but not necessarily surprised, by the continued popularity of Cootamundra Remembers.
“Within a month of starting it had snowballed and I enlisted the help of two of the earliest members to administer it in approving requests to join as well as some moderation duties,” Mr Theobald said.
He puts the increase in people turning to history down to the generally fast pace of life.
“Looking back makes things appear simpler and easier,” Mr Theobald said.
He was inspired to create the page after becoming a co-administrator of Facebook page Kiama Remembers.
Mr Theobald had grown up in Kiama, before moving to Cootamundra in 1985.
“I realised I had then lived in Cootamundra longer than anywhere else and knew little of its history apart from the books of photos published by the History Society,” Mr Thobald said.
His wife Karen, who's father was Barry Clarke, had a collection of photos taken by Barry, and with her permission, Mr Theobald created the page and used several of the photos hoping that people might be interested and could tell him more about them and also have the opportunity to post their own photos and stories as well.
He has been encouraged to see similar Remembers sites for Stockinbingal, Junee, Tumut, Gundagai, Temora and Young.
Among the most popular posts is the first photo ever put on the page, being about the Roxy Theatre.
“The Roxy Theatre definitely created, and still does, the most discussion, both in memories spent there and it's demolition, as does the Peppercorn tree at the Post Office. Both were central to many peoples lives,” Mr Thobald said.
He added that family members notifying a loved ones death now create the largest response on the page, as a majority of members no longer live in Cootamundra and it is a way of informing them.