Our guest speaker for July is Matthew Etty-Leal.

Matthew is a former winner (2022) of the city of Booroondara Volunteer of the Year Award and a valued member of Basscare for over five years. He is a member of the Balwyn Historical Society, serves as a Parish Council member and COVID officer and is a reader with Vision Australia.

With his Historical Society hat on, his talk for our meeting is about the central Victorian town of Maldon.

Maldon was classified in 1966 by the National trust as the First Notable Town in Australia, it’s greatest treasure is its 19th century streetscapes, maintained since the goldrush days ended in the late twenties. In 1850 the town had a population of 20,000 with the discovery of gold, but now there is less than 2,000.

Test cricket captain of the 1930s William (Bill) Woodfull OBE was born in Maldon, and Henry Handel Richardson's mother at one point ran the local post office.