About

Rye Historical Society – In the Beginning

The Society was formed at a public meeting held in the Rye Hotel in May 2000.

The Rye Primary School was to be rebuilt elsewhere and the community wanted to save the Old Schoolhouse from destruction.  However, the new school stayed in the same position, and the Principal and School Council offered the Society the old building, which we occupied in 2003.

Pauline Powell, the founding President, led a team on a community fund-raising initiative and this support enabled the Society to fund a new purpose-built classroom for the School in exchange for full use of the Old Schoolhouse.  The Society continued to raise funds for the restoration and renovation of the Old Schoolhouse and it is now utilised as a museum and office space.

Since then our collection has grown steadily, all items are catalogued electronically, display cases and panels set up and one corner is set up as a schoolroom. Several books have been published and there are more on the way.  The members meet monthly with guest speakers and excursions.

Six graves in the cemetery have been sealed or restored (using profits from the Rye Cemetery book ‘Amongst the Old Folks’).  Garden parties, open gardens, stalls at Rye market and open days at an historic house have provided funds for our work.

Numerous community events to mark Rye’s 150th anniversary of being proclaimed a town in 1861 were celebrated in 2011.

Meetings:

2pm, Fourth Monday of each month
St Andrews Anglican Church Hall
35 Lyons Street, Rye
Guest speakers.  Visitors Welcome.
CLICK HERE for Membership Details