We have a new date for our author visit with Adam Courtenay launching his latest book Three Sheets to the Wind: Why a motley crew of merchant seamen walked 600 miles to save 7,000 gallons of rum at  Cowra Library on Thursday 29 September at 2pm, and Orange City Library from 5.30pm to 7pm.  The date was changed from 22 September due to the Queen’s Memorial Public Holiday. 

When in 1796, Calcutta-based Scottish merchants Campbell & Clark dispatched an Indian ship hurriedly renamed the Sydney Cove to the colony of New South Wales, they were hoping to make their fortune. But when the Sydney Cove went down north of Van Dieman’s Land, cargo master William Clark and sixteen other crew members were compelled to walk 600 miles to Sydney Town to get help to save the rest of the crew and the precious goods. Assisted by at least six Indigenous clans on his journey, Clark saw far more country than Joseph Banks ever did, and his eventual report to Governor Hunter led to far-reaching consequences for the colony. And the rum? Find out more about this true story when Adam is our guest at Orange City Library. Please book your place online for Cowra or call us on 6340 2180, or Orange City Library online or call 6393 8132. 

It is History Week and Central West Libraries is celebrating the theme Hands on History with the success of Recollect Central West – a digital platform where collections can be shared online.

Statistics show a total of 7,558 items including 767 documents and 6,646 photographs are on the Recollect site and there have been more than half a million hits since the March launch!!!!

The Top 10 items viewed were:

1. CWD Negatives
2. Orange & District Historical Society
3. Tourist Hotel
4. Construction of Orange Olympic Pool
5. Summer Street
6. Emmco Cadet Engineer
7. Maps and Plans
8. Celebrating Orange 75 years of Orange as a city and 175 years of Orange as a village
9. [email protected]
10. Orange Small Schools Association presents 2013 OSSA Schools Spectacular Mamma Mia, Not Another Musical

The community can register with the site, become a member, and contribute photos, stories and memories about the Central West as well as update information about who is in a photo or where it was taken. Or they can just search the site. Visit Recollect at https://centralwest.recollect.net.au/ It is a free community resource.

Bestselling local author, Kelly Rimmer has recently penned, The Warsaw Orphan. The Warsaw Orphan enthralls readers with authentically woven moral dilemmas, complications and unavoidable truths of war.

It is Kelly’s most meticulously researched, compelling and emotional novel to date. Her family history saw her travel to Poland to research, which Kelly still says is ‘one of the best things she has ever done in her life’. She spent several weeks in Poland and her research had a profound affect on her, inspiring her writing, Kelly says the best fiction always contains threads of the personal.

The event will be supported by Collins Booksellers, Orange and books will be available for purchase and signing on the night.

Enjoy morning tea with Kelly Rimmer at Canowindra’s Montrose House at 71 Gaskill Street, Canowindra on Tuesday 11 May at 10.30am. Please book your place online or call Canowindra Library on 6344 1796.

Meet Kelly Rimmer at Orange City Library on Thursday 13 May at 5.30pm. Please book your place online or call Orange City Library on 6393 8132.

Be part of this amazing display of quilts at Wentworth Mine in March 2020. The deadline for entries has been extended to Monday 13 January 2020. The historic Wentworth Main Mine site, Lucknow, will host the inaugural Airing of the Quilts on 7-8 March 2020. The 1930s goldmine will be the back drop for the professionally judged and curated quilt show – revitalising the village of Lucknow’s economic heritage. Be part of it or tell a quilter you know.

Discover the incredibly powerful and moving stories of the Anzac kids who lied about their age to fight in the First World War- a unique and deeply personal side of history told here for the first time more than one hundred years on.

Join us for the author talk with Paul Byrnes on Tuesday 26th November at Orange City Library at 5.30pm – 7pm about the untold stories of under-age soldiers in The Lost Boys. 

This event is supported by Collins Booksellers. Please book your place online via eventbrite or call the Library on 6393 8132.