July 19, 2018
The Nanango Tourism and Development Association (NaTDA) will offer to take over the assets of the Nanango Historical Society (NHS) if the Society votes to wind up at its Annual General Meeting on August 2.
The future of the NHS and its extensive collections of historic items were discussed at NaTDA’s monthly meeting on Thursday night.
Members were told NHS president Ros Gregor had announced the group would consider winding up if new members didn’t come forward to fill its executive positions.
This was because the increasing age of the executive was taking its toll, and the group felt they were unable to progress their plans.
If the NHS were wound up, this could see control of the group’s assets pass to another group with no direct connection to the town.
And if that happened, Nanango would effectively lose control of its own history.
“That would be a disaster for our town,” NaTDA president Barry Green said.
“Ros and her fellow members have worked for more than a quarter of a century to build one of most extensive collections of artefacts reflecting Nanango’s history that’s ever been assembled.
“The Society’s collections are a tribute to everyone who has worked with this group over many, many years, and it would be an immense loss to see this collection pass into the control of some distant organisation, such as the National Trust.
“This is situation where I believe we can assist.”
Barry told members the NHS would like to turn the former Masonic Lodge in Gipps Street into a tourist attraction and put their collections back on public display.
“Since developing tourism is one of our group’s core functions, I believe NaTDA would be a suitable successor organisation to inherit the Historical Society’s assets if the group shuts down.
“In fact, I think we’re the only organisation in Nanango that has similar aims and objectives to the historical society.
“So we should step in to help ensure their collections continue to be available for the public to view.”
The meeting resolved to write to the NHS to propose that if the Society winds up, it should pass control of its assets to NaTDA to ensure the collections remain in Nanango.
- Related article: Historical Society Debates Its Future
