Honoured in history

After the presentation of the awards by Mitchell Shire Councillor Andrea Pace, Ms Halpin, who is the society’s research officer, said she was proud that her commitment to history was recognised in this way.

“Life membership is really, as I see it, a contribution to the community,” she said.

“It’s really an honour to be given life membership.”

Ms Halpin has been a member of the society since 2014, with her husband, Geoff, joining not long after she began.

Some of her biggest contributions have been her work putting the displays together and her efforts producing a soon-to-be-published novel on Seymour’s Pioneer Cemetery.

“She takes a lot of work home with her,” Mr Halpin said.

Mr Halpin has served as president of the society for much of his involvement.

His major milestones include his leadership during big clean-outs of the society and his efforts to recover the flood-hit building the society calls home.

“I went in to find out about some history and I decided that I really liked learning about it,” Ms Halpin said.

“The more involved I got, I involved Geoff into it as well because his family go back very early to around 1885.”

Mr Wallis has been involved in the society since about 2012, and has made many contributions in his time.

His own family date further back in Seymour’s history than Mr Halpin’s.

“He’s been with the society for many, many years and has done a lot of work with it. He’s vice-president at the moment,” Mr Halpin said.

“He puts in every time you ask him to. He helped a lot when we shifted out of the building, and he was working virtually full-time as well.”

Ms Halpin said their work over the years was all about supporting the community and ensuring its legacy was preserved.

“The involvement in the community, as we see it, is so future generations can see what the past was all about,” she said.

The Seymour Historical Society is always on the lookout for volunteers.

For more information, phone 0427 936 671.