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The original Committee was formed in 2012 by Annie Bickmore-Hutt and Angela Dalrymple and comprised Angela’s sister, Margot Hall as President, Ross Leabeater as Treasurer, Elizabeth Denny as Secretary, John Ryrie and Sally Kalina.

Their interest in recording local residents’ oral histories commenced after they attended an oral history training workshop, conducted by Rosie Block, ex-President of the Oral History Association.

A list of interviewees was drawn up and progressively interviewed over seven years, with the Committee members recording 40 individual oral histories onto CDs which were then transcribed and collated with additional verbal and written contributions from a number of other people.

The later Committee consisted of Sally Kalina (President), Stephen Curtis (Treasurer), Elizabeth O’Connor (Secretary), Angela Dalrymple, Jennifer Turner, Jackie Nolan, Eleanor Murphy and Richard Wild.

With such interesting information obtained, the Committee then decided to gather this collection of stories and memories into a publication entitled: THE WAY WE WERE, Stories of Watsons Bay & Vaucluse, to be enjoyed by the wider community. The recollections have been woven together with formal historical content to provide a complete picture.

The Committee has been very fortunate and grateful to receive financial support in the form of cultural grants from Woollahra Municipal Council and The Royal Australian Historical Society to enable the project to progress in a professional manner to publication in 2020. More recently the Committee has received a Volunteers Grant from the Australian Government, Community Grants Hub to assist with the production of this website.