Jim Lancaster doesn’t often find the need to refer to himself as the great-grandson of anyone, so the retired road and bridge builder was quite content in describing his connection to a man he never met — but heard so much about.
Jim is the great-grandson of Samuel Lancaster, the Justice of the Peace who was elected president of the Kyabram Reform League at a meeting in the then-Kyabram Mechanics Institute on November 13, 1901.
He recalled meeting his great-grandmother as a child, with his parents, in 1951 — some 38 years after Samuel Lancaster had died at the age of 78.
Lancaster — the town — was named in honour of Samuel Lancaster’s father, Thomas, who was the original settler in the area and developed the family property, Gilgila.
Lancaster Jr has returned to Kyabram to live since retiring, having grown up — not surprisingly — just east of the town at, you guessed it, Lancaster.
Lancaster Sr was a member of the Rodney Shire Council from 1886-1918 and a three-time president, working heavily in irrigation and with the Kyabram Urban Water Trust.
He lost at his first attempt for a Victorian seat in parliament, but after the foundation of the Reform league he was elected in 1902.
Jim Lancaster said his family had originally settled in Victoria in 1860, after arriving in Melbourne aboard the Blue Jack steam ship.
After short stints at Lancefield and Echuca the family selected three plots of land, all 320 acres, in 1873.
They cleverly built a log cabin on the intersection of the three blocks to satisfy the legislative requirement of having a home on each plot of land.
“It was my great great-grandparents that first developed that land. They established the first post office, which became the Lancaster post office.”
They were also keys to the establishment of the first Methodist church.
Jim Lancaster wasn’t alone in his connection to the league.
Other guests, including a former Kyabram Free Press — now international — journalist Geoffrey Goddard, also had a story to tell.
Mr Goddard also had strong connections to a founding father of the movement, which was built of the promise of significantly reducing the size of the Victorian parliament.
Mr Goddard Jr, uncovered evidence to suggest that Benjamin Goddard, another of the prominent Kyabram identities involved in the reform league foundation, was the uncle of his grandfather.
Geoffrey Goddard, now living in Melbourne after working in Thailand and Myanmar as a journalist, started his career at the Free Press in 1971 — replacing a journalist who had been called up for National service.
Benjamin Goddard’s daughter, Eva Smart, played a major part in the exhibition as she first collected, and later donated, the weekly Punch issues which closely followed the story of the Reform league and eventual demise of then Victorian Premier Alexander Peacock’s government.
The Punch editions present a satirical storyline of the “Man from Kyabram” taking on Premier Peacock in an attempt to have the number of “snouts in the political trough” reduced in the state.
There were several other familiar names in the crowd, master of ceremonies and leading light in the event co-ordinator Sheila Atley, asking for a show of hands of those who had a family connection to the reform league meeting of 121 years past.
Several raised arms indicated that that the Kyabram Town Hall exhibition had retained a solid connection to modern society for its Sunday afternoon anniversary celebration of the Reform league’s establishment.
Kyabram Town Hall trio Maria Radanov, Shiela Atley and Vicki Neele combined their expertise, centres around research, exhibtiions and event co-ordination, to deliver the anniversary event to guests.
Among those was Camapspe Shire Council Deputy Mayor Colleen Gates, representing the organising that played a role in funding the re-establishment of a tile-art piece, which was the centrepiece of the Sunday afternoon event.
The Angie Russi-created artwork will now stand as a testament to the Kyabram Reform League’s role in reducing the Victorian parliament by 39 members, from 95 to 56, at the turn of the century.
Ms Russi was unable to attend the event, but provided a video recording to describe her role in the project.
It was 21 years ago that the artwork was commissioned to remember the role of Kyabram in the political shake-up, from a community grant.
Originally planned as a footpath piece, Ms Russi explained her delight in having the artwork on display in its “rightful home”, encased in a frame designed by Paul Zobec from Cantech Engineering.
The tiles had spent two decades in boxes at the Kyabram Town Hall prior to being revived, “touched up” and then re-established as a major memorial of the organisation.
Last year Ms Russi was contacted by the committee with the idea of bringing the tiles back to life as a wall piece.
Ms Russi’s art creation features a peacock, depicting the Victorian Premier of the day, and a young women representing Victoria and its vanquishing of Premier Peacock’s government.
Kyabram Bush Poets Greg McKenzie and Mick Coventry joined with Baden Howell from Mooroopna and Numurkah’s Des Ginnane to present several intermittent readings during the ceremony.
A commitment from Kyabram Historical Society, through EIleen Sullivan and Clive Toms, enabled the exhibition to expand significantly from original plans and become a fitting celebration of the Kyabram Reform League.
The historical society’s commitment to maintaining meticulous records, in particular by Mrs Sullivan, was the catalyst of the town hall group putting the display together.
Several of Kyabram’s street and public place names — unveiled during the ceremony last week — recognise many of those people that attended that meeting on November 13, 1901.
There were eventually 210 branches of the National Reform League formed, widely known as the Kyabram movement.
And on October 1, 1902, there was a change of Victorian Government.
Historical society chair, Clive Toms, presented two items that were saved by the historical society, with relevance to the event.
Among them a bible from the Presbyterian church at Kyabram South that was given to the historical society in 1974 when the church was closed.
He also had a Kyabram Cemetery Trust record book was 1944, the last of its kind as fires destroyed all previous records, from the group’s established in 1907.
“I am sure people have documents at home that need to be saved for people to have an insight into their past,” he said
He read from a yellow stained letter written in 1925 by his father Gordon (known as Bill), suggesting it was pieces like this that were so valuable to Kyabram’s history.
Following the month-long Reform League exhibition, the Kyabram Cannery centenary exhibition will be hosted by the town hall group.