ROY and Yvonne Bradbery recently found some historic documents that caught their interest.
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The couple live a bit more than a block away from the site where the former water and soil conservation shed was on Johnston St.
About two weeks ago, when the building was being demolished, the couple found some stray bits of paper that had caught in a fence near their home after a windy night.
They were shocked upon piecing together some of the papers back to discover weeds records dating as far back as the mid-1940s – the most interesting of which was a note from the weeds council of the day discussing the removal of prickly pear from his property.
Mr and Mrs Bradbery said they felt lucky to find the papers.
“It’s a bit sad though because it made us wonder what happened to all the other files and things; were they taken and put somewhere or destroyed when the building was knocked down and then rolled into the dirt?” Mrs Bradbery asked.
“It would be sad to think that history can just be forgotten and destroyed like that.”
Torn and faded, the collection of five papers are a mixture of typewritten letters and longhand notes etched on the pages with a nib dipped in ink.
“The handwriting on some of them is really quite beautiful,” Mr Bradbery said.
The 1945-dated letter suggests the landowner of a property in the Inglis County would be required to pay £30 for the removal of prickly pear on his land.
It also suggests some of the prickly pear should remain on the property where livestock was housed.
“... Because there is a fee shortage,” the handwritten note, dated September 12, 1945, said.
Mr Bradbery said he would not be surprised if other residents in the area had picked up some of the historic notes, too.
“I would like to think other people took an interest in them,” he said.
A process to demolish the former weeds and soil conservation shed began at the beginning of the month to make way for the proposed development of the Newcastle University’s Tamworth Education Centre.
It will house a number of education and accommodation facilities for students studying allied health-related degrees through the University Department of Rural Health at Tamworth hospital.
