Documenting, sharing and promoting the history of Leneva has received a boost with a grant from Victoria's Tiny Towns program.
The 18-month project, initiated by the Leneva Hall Committee, will document Leneva's history and place it on story boards and interpretive signs at the hall and around Leneva.
Funding for the project was announced recently by Victoria's Minister for Regional Development, Ms Jaclyn Symes. The Leneva Hall Committee will also contribute funds and in-kind work to the project.
Chair of the Hall Committee, Richard Patrala, said that the committee welcomed the funding which would consolidate information about Leneva's history as well as inform new residents in the district and new housing estates about the history and achievements of the area.
"Many people assume Leneva is just a rapidly growing suburb of Wodonga but it was once a separate community with an important and proud history," Mr Patrala said.
Mr Patrala said that project would acknowledge the First Nations people who first lived in the area for thousands of years. "They were custodians, not owners, of the land which provided them with everything they needed," Mr Patrala said.
European settlers moved into the area in 1836 and by the 1870s, Leneva was one of the most densely and rapidly settled areas outside of Wodonga due to the attraction of Middle Creek.
"Some initial research shows that over the years, Leneva has had Chinese market gardens, gold mining, sheep, cattle and dairy farms, wineries, two halls, a library, a wine shanty, two post offices, tennis courts, a telephone exchange, three schools and a church," Mr Patrala said.
"The area was originally called Middle Creek but had to change its name to Leneva in 1873 when the community set up a post office," Mr Patrala said. "The community suggested the name Leneva, which was Avenel spelt backwards!" This also meant changing the name of the district's schools.
The history project will be co-ordinated by Adrian Wells, a member of the Hall Committee and author of several books on community groups along the Murray River.
"Leneva became quite a multicultural community after Europeans settlers moved into the area in the 1850s," Mr Wells said. "These settlers had English, German, Irish, Scottish and South African backgrounds. Ancestors of those families still reside in Leneva and have strong memories of their family and district's history."
The first hall at Leneva was built by the community in 1877 as the Leneva Athenaeum and Free Library. It was described by the Wodonga newspaper as 'one of the prettiest little halls in the district'. After the first hall fell into disrepair, a new hall was built with volunteer community members on the same site and was opened in 1937.
In February 1940, a bush fire swept through Leneva, nearly burning down the new hall. The hall's back doorstep caught fire but the building was saved by quick action of a volunteer team from the Border Mail.
A Wodonga Council heritage study in 2010, recorded the hall as a building of local historic, heritage and aesthetic significance. The report also described the hall as a good example of a local community designing and building their own hall with local expertise, labour and building materials.
Mr Wells said that the two halls had a strong connection to almost everything that happened in Leneva since 1877.
"This includes education, dancing lessons, recreation, sport, social events, card nights, supporting the war effort and establishing a fire brigade, CWA and Landcare group", Mr Wells said.
Several past Wodonga councillors and mayors also lived at Leneva.
The history project will also help the Leneva community prepare for the hall's 150th anniversary in 2027.
The application for the grant was supported by the City of Wodonga, Westmont Aged Care, the Leneva CFA and the Wodonga Historical Society.
