Life in diaries of a dynamo

By Kath Gannaway
THEstory of a “remarkable Victorian” has been told in Diary and Reminiscences of Andrew Ross 1828-1895, which covers the period of his writings that he started when he was a school boy, is to be launched at the Eltham Little Theatre on 24 July.
Mr Ross was headmaster at the Kangaroo Ground State School for 25 years until 1876. Christmas Hills historian Mick Woiwod has edited, annotated and introduced a book on Ross for the Andrew Ross Museum in Kangaroo Ground. “On Sunday he would generally be found preaching in the church pulpit; and of a Monday, maybe attending to his hotel or general store,” he said. “On other days registering the region’s births and deaths, or perhaps toiling into the small hours publishing the Yarra Valley’s first newspaper.”
The book pulls together the diaries he kept for 67 years and a string of 47 ‘Reminiscences’ for the Evelyn Observer, the newspaper he founded in 1872.
The book will be launched by Andrew Lemon, president of the Royal Victorian Historical Society at 3pm. Phone 9712 0801.