Local Gems: Showcasing the work of the Albury Lapidary and Allied Crafts
Lapidary is the ancient art of shaping and polishing semi previous stones.
This exhibition ran from 7 May - 18 June 2016.
Albury & District Lapidary Club held their inaugural meeting on 23 October 1964. An advertisement for the new club was put out, and 70 prospective members attended the meeting held at Albury High School.
The popular new club needed a home, and in March 1965 it moved into the then 90-year-old Wagners Store building in Jindera. When the building was later purchased by the Jindera Pioneer and Historical Society and became the Jindera Pioneer Museum, the Lapidary Club moved to a cellar in Wilson Street, Albury.
Throughout these changes, members brought their own chairs and equipment to meetings, and necessities such as cups, mops and buckets were all donated. When the lease on the cellar expired in 1969, the club was forced to move again. For $3 a week it was able to rent a building from the North East Dairy Company on the Lincoln Causeway.
In November 1970, the club received a land grant from the Albury Council for a site on North Street. Over the next few years, club members made $1 cabochon pendant lucky dips and held stalls at local shows and events to raise enough money to start the building process.
By July 1973, the plans for the building were complete. In addition to the money they had raised, members were asked to loan money to a fixed-term deposit. This gave the club enough collateral to borrow the remainder of the money for the build.
After repayments to the Rural Bank were completed, Lapidary Club members were able to retrieve their money. The final cost of building the clubrooms was approximately $10,000. This amount was raised by teamwork and the generosity of club members. The new club was officially opened by Mayor Cleaver Bunton on 14 August 1976.
In September 1987 the club was incorporated, making it a legal entity in its own right. To allow for more members and interests, the club changed its name to Albury & District Lapidary and Allied Crafts Incorporated. What had begun as a club for the cutting, polishing and engraving of gems and stones became a centre for fossil and gem fossicking, jewellery making, enamelling, carving, silversmithing and other arts.
In the early 2000s the Road Transport Authority’s Hume Highway Bypass project cost the club its headquarters. AlburyCity Council provided land for the current clubrooms at Eames Street in 2004. The heritage of the original clubrooms was maintained, as some of the original building materials were reused, and the equipment collected at the North Street building was relocated to Eames Street.
On 11 March 2007, the new headquarters were officially opened. AlburyCity Mayor Amanda Duncan-Strelec and Mr Greg Aplin MP attended, and a brass plaque was donated by the council.
The club has now been operating for more than 50 years. New equipment has been purchased with grants, and an extra shed built to house these new acquisitions. With more than 80 members, a juniors club and regular field trips to mines and fossicking locations, the Albury & District Lapidary and Allied Craft Club is stronger than ever.
This exhibition was on display at Lavington Library from 7 May - 18 June 2016.
A short film was produced for the exhibition Albury Libraries and Museum - YouTube
