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Book Launch of "The Story of Pella", 14 May 2011 by John Noack."The Story of Pella", which was first launched in 1975, was planned as a publication in connection with the 60th anniversary of the dedication of the Pella Church held in May 1971. The "Back to Pella Committee" for this celebration included John and Ross Heinrich, Syd and Rudy Drendel, Louis Keller, Mick and Stuart Mitchell and myself. An important task was to collect information, documents, photos and personal memories of the Pella residents and to record and compile the history of the Pella community. At the time, this Pella history was a pioneering grass-roots study of a local area. Files were begun on the various Pella families past and present and on the wide range of district activities such as education, farming life, sport, church life and so on. When I left the district in 1972 to continue my studies at the University of Melbourne, Ian Maroske was approached about researching this Pella area further and about eventually writing a book on Pella. He agreed to this and continued the research with the full support and continuing energy and enthusiasm of the Pella Book Committee. Being located at Horsham as Principal of the Horsham High School, Ian conducted many interviews and collected many photos and documents from former Pella residents who had moved to Horsham in retirement but who had personal knowledge of or remembered stories relating to Pella's pioneering generation of settlers over the previous 60 years from 1911-1971. Minutes of church meetings were translated from German into English and a realistic view was obtained of early life with its ups and downs at Pella. One incident, known in the Minutes as the "Blatter werfen", kept rearing its head. A Sunday task of the Heinrich boys was to take Father Nitschke to his home after the church service in their horse-pulled cart. On a particular Sunday trip, one of the Heinrich boys must have broken off a branch of a tree and hit the horse with it. The horse bolted and the cart tipped over. Father Nitschke, who fell onto the ground, then featured in church meetings, regularly seeking an apology from the Heinrich boys, which was not forthcoming. In regard to the naming of Pella, the generally accepted origin is its naming after the town "Pella" in trans-Jordan, to where the early Jewish-Christians from Jerusalem fled in 70 C.E. This is the date when Titus, the son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, destroyed both Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple on Mt Zion and this flight is recorded by the church historian Eusebius. Pella also has for me some professional, personal and family connections. My Grandfather Pastor J.F. Noack of Natimuk officiated here at the Pella church's dedication back in 1911. One of the Mackenzie boys called Hugo married Bertha Noack, the sister of Pastor J.F. Noack. The Noack family had settled at Hopevale already in 1892 and they lived in the Noack homestead which is in ruins just north of Neville Roll's farm. I also recall with great pleasure and warmth, my four years from 1969 to 1972 as the Lutheran Pastor of the Pella congregation. In my football activities, I played in the Rainbow team with players from Pella and I was pleased to see my name on the wall as "best and fairest player" for 1969 and in the photo of Rainbow's premiership team which beat Hopetoun in the grand final in 1970. On 14 May 2011, I attended the football match in which the Lakers (Rainbow and Jeparit) beat Woomelang. It was good to see a game in which the players who obtained the football still believe in long kicking! In farming life, improvements are always being made. On my way to Pella, Dennis Gould a former Yaapeet footballer, gave me a ride on his 8-wheeled tractor run by a computer. He was "direct drilling" on Helyar's farm for Lynette Helyar, following the tragic electrocution of her husband John and son Michael Helyar, after their windmill hit very high-voltage power-lines. From what I could see, his GPS, his computer and his auto-steering tractor were doing most of the hard work. Additions to the book indicate that Pella farmers are right up to date with this technology as well. I warmly congratulate the Centenary Committee: Mark and Ross Heinrich, Eunice Drendel, Ruth, Russell and Michael Eckermann and Glenda Keller, as well as other Pella folk, who worked so hard to make this Centenary Celebration so successful and who have organised the re-issue of "The Story of Pella" in such an attractive format. This is an important reminder of the early families, settlement and pioneering experiences in the Pella District during its first 60 years. It is also an inspiration for the younger generation to maintain family files, to conduct research and to keep photographic and written records of Pella's next 60 years, for what could eventually be called "The Story of Pella Continues, 1971-2030". We need to remind ourselves that life today will always be history tomorrow! Yesterday is now history! In the light of the community achievements of the Pella residents in relation to both its well-presented Pella history, as well as its promotion of good-quality music through its remarkable Fuller pipe organ, it is with sincere gratitude to you that I have been invited to your Centenary Celebration on 14 May 2011 and it is with the very greatest of pleasure that I now re-launch your book which helped to pioneer the compiling of Australia's "grass-roots history", namely "The Story of Pella. John Noack, 14 May 2011. |