Anna Castles, nee Brunner, checked the letterbox, inside was a letter from Sabine Smyth seeking stories and photographs of people who lived at the Benalla Migrant Camp.
As the family was all together they discussed their memories of the camp, and decided to support the project in memory of their parents.
Anna took on the job of gathering photos and documents about her parents’ journey from Germany to Australia.
She made contact with Ms Smyth, and the Brunner family photos were scanned and reprinted.
Ms Smyth said documents and passports tracing their five-week ship voyage were loaned to the exhibition, and Anna’s father Anton’s Lederhosen, feathered Felt Hat (National German-Bavarian costume), as well as her mother’s pastry rolling pin, were donated to the Benalla Migrant Camp collection.
“A large financial donation was also made at the time, and this buoyed me incredibly,” Ms Smyth said.
“Anna’s support in those early days made me persist, and as a result she is an important part of why we now have the Benalla Migrant Camp Exhibition at Hut 11.”
The Brunner family photos and documents were among the very first photos for the Benalla Migrant Camp Photographic Exhibition at Hut 11 in 2013.
“I asked Anna to join our committee early on in 2013 and I was very happy when she did,” Ms Smyth said.
“Anna added excellent financial management skills to our team, she brought a calm, common sense approach to any challenge — of which there certainly have been a few.”
During the past 10 years of Anna’s time on the committee, she has done some amazing things.
“Anna helped welcome hundreds of visitors at our open days,” Ms Smyth said.
“Then she took a travelling version of the Benalla Migrant Camp Exhibition to The Piers Festival in St Kilda in 2015 and raised lots of funds by organising and managing the bar at our incredibly successful 2017 reunion.
“Probably the biggest, and most significant task Anna undertook was transcribing the entire hand-written enrolment records of the Benalla Migrant Camp School into a digital format.
“So it could be alphabetically sorted for easy reference and uploaded onto our website; not a small or easy task considering the unfamiliar names of the students.
“Anna’s recent decision to resign from the committee has prompted the rest of our committee to want to acknowledge her amazing contribution.
“We are all so glad Anna will still be part of the volunteer team that hosts our monthly exhibition open days. Thank you Anna.”
The next Benalla Migrant Camp Exhibition open day will be on Sunday, April 2 from 10am to 3pm.
10°C