Dad and daughter – 90-year-old Anne Thoroughgood holding the steel sculptured hand of her father, George William “Alf” Evans, on the site of his Glenroy property ‘The Echoes’, which later became the site of the Pioneer Women’s Hut. Photo: Marguerite McKinnon.
Anne Thoroughgood is a spritely 90-year-old, but put her next to the black steel cut-out sculpture of her dad, George Evans, immortalised with his two beloved dogs Kelly and Floss, and she looks like a little girl again.
The sculpture is part of The Pioneer Women’s Hut at Glenroy near Tumbarumba in the Snowy Valleys, an hour’s picturesque drive from Wagga Wagga. It was once described by former Australian journalist and Professor Donald Horne in his bestselling book The Intelligent Tourist as “the most innovative small museum in Australia”.
The Pioneer Women’s Hut near Tumbarumba has been described as “the most innovative small museum in Australia”. Photo: Supplied.
For 40 years the Pioneer Women’s Hut has been run by a small group of volunteers, including Anne Thoroughgood. It’s a jewel in Australia’s collected history, with an extensive collection of everyday items carefully collated and displayed to show life in Australia in the 1880s, through the First and Second World Wars, to The Great Depression of the 1930s, and beyond.
For Anne Thoroughgood, The Pioneer Women’s Hut is more than just an unmissable historical treasure to visit, it’s an ode to her family.
The site of the Pioneer Women’s Hut was once her father’s property “The Echoes” before he founded the nine-hole Glenroy Golf Club in 1945. In 1957, part of the property was sold to The Department of Lands and became the Glenroy Heritage Reserve. When the golf club closed in the 1970s, the clubhouse became a home for Glenroy Cottage Crafts.
The craft shop quickly became very successful, which made local farmers decide to add “something historical”. This coincided with a rebuilding program at the local Mannus Correctional Centre, and so the old prison cells were transported to the site to make the Pioneer Women’s Hut.
The site grew, with a machinery shed, the Heritage Quilt Museum, the Pannikins and Billycans building (that reference the metal cups and handled cooking pots that every household, drover and traveller owned), a craft shop and amenities building, golf course memorial, wagons, sculptures and play equipment, and most recently the cylindrical Button Hut that has skylights to look like button holes. The Button Hut houses more than 3000 buttons from the 1800s to the 1950s, collected by one woman, Jackie Fox from Cooma, who faithfully showed them at fetes and functions in the hope of raising funds for her daughter who was a Miss Australia entrant.
“She was happy doing it but sadly she died just before the Button Hut was opened in 2017,” Anne said.
“Her two daughters have been back several times with their families.”
Anne said people who visited the Button Hut were amazed.
“They can’t believe that it’s one person’s collection, and it’s so beautifully displayed,” she added.
Meeting Women’s Pioneer Hut committee member Anne Thoroughgood, and hearing her tell the stories of the women and families behind the photos and the artifacts, feels like a love song to those who went before.
The heritage quilt room is especially personal for Anne.
“I have to tell you the story of the mural,” Anne said.
“The lady in black in the middle is my great- great-grandmother, Julia. My great grandmother is on her left with a black top, and my grandmother is the baby, Florence,” Anne said.
“It gives me goosebumps to tell you this but a distant cousin related to these people who came to visit said, ‘I’ve got a photo that might interest you’, and he sent it.
“While this was happening, another lady in Tallangatta (Victoria) said, “Oh, I’ve got an old quilt that you can have, and I think someone here might have made it.
“It turned out that she had (my great-great-grandmother) Julia Jeffries’ quilt, and it was sent to the local bakery. On the same day I collected the quilt, I also received the photo in a brown envelope. I got them on the same day and that gives me goosebumps,” Ann said.
Anne’s dedication to The Pioneer Women’s Hut resulted in an Order of Australia Medal in 2023, and yet, the Pioneer Women’s Hut almost didn’t happen.
“It caused a lot of controversy to start the Pioneer Women’s Hut here in Tumbarumba and there was even a public meeting to try and stop us from collecting “all this old rubbish” you know; tin and wire and boxes, and old rags, but we just kelp going,” Ms Thoroughgood said.
When asked why she kept going with the Pioneer Women’s Hut, Anne’s answer epitomised the pioneer spirit.
“Well you have to do something, don’t you?” Anne said.
The Pioneer Women’s Hut and Quilt Museum is located at 449 Tumbarumba Road, Tumbarumba, and the opening hours are: Wednesdays, 11 am to 3 pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am to 3 pm; check public holidays. For further information regarding the Pioneer Women’s Hut and Quilt Museum, please contact the Tumbarumba Visitor Information Centre on 02 6948 3333 or email [email protected].
Original Article published by Marguerite McKinnon on Region Riverina.
