By Cam Lucadou-Wells
It’s not only important to preserve the stories of Dandenong’s past, says local historian Christine Keys.
History only lives when the stories are shared.
Ms Keys, the president of Dandenong and District Historical Society, was recently named as Greater Dandenong’s 2020 citizen of the year.
She intially felt embarrassed, though delighted by the honour.
But she hopes to use it as a chance to kick-start a project to collect the stories of new arrivals and their communities – the next wave of Dandenong’s rich history.
She’s emboldened by the success of the society’s exhibition last year that portrayed settlers of Irish, Italian, Greek, Vietnamese and Afghan descent.
“It is an opportunity for people who come to live here to record their history and make sure it’s retained.
“I want to make sure we don’t stop collecting history.
“The news of today is the history of tomorrow.”
Her handiwork – and that of the historical society – is apparent in the interpretive signs throughout Greater Dandenong laneways.
There’s also the photos adoring real estate agencies, as well as the Looking Back weekly columns in the Star Journal.
“One of the things I do with Looking Back is I pick a story that people can compare to today, such as talking about the currency before decimalisation.
“I always try to think what would appeal to people today.”
Her passion for local history was kindled after exploring her ancestry.
The Keys family – after whom Keysborough is named – has stayed in the area for generations.
Her lineage is intrinsically linked to the pioneer families and many of the street names in the region.
Such as the Ordish, Corrigan and Foster families. Being a small country town, these families inter-married.
“Everyone jokes here that when someone gets their local history that they’re related to Chris Keys.”
Ms Keys has lived her whole life locally, experienced its seismic changes.
Even the small details tell so much. She remembers the 1950s when people took a saucepan to collect takeaway from Dandenong’s two Chinese restaurants.
She recalls that on Sundays, her family visited Steve De George’s Place café, home to Dandenong’s first cappuccino machine.
And yet most days in the historical society’s offices, Ms Keys will still learn something surprising.
Someone recently asked about the origin of Ross Street – sparking an enquiry into Captain Ross who sailed into Port Phillip and lived in The Grange.
Streets have been in turn named after his children James, Ann, Herbert and David.
“I love delving into each individual family and finding out what they did, where did they travel.
“If I can recognise the name of a person or the place that someone’s talking about, that thrills me.”
Her research has been greatly assisted by the digital age, searching online portals such as Ancestry.com and the National Library of Australia’s online database Trove.
Aside from adding to the historical society’s bulging archives in Clow Street and Hammond Road, Ms Keys is part of Greater Dandenong’s heritage advisory committee.
She hopes to influence the preserving of significant places and the managing of the city’s heritage.
“I am very honoured,” she says of her recognition as citizen of the year.
“I hope that I can continue to do things to make Dandenong a better place.”
