PORTRAITS for the men who guided Clunes through its founding century of settlement will once again take their place in an historic line-up. Clunes Museum has pieced together official mayoral photographs for the Borough of Clunes, which operated for 105 years before a merger with Talbot.
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Each mayor donated his own frame.
Museum secretary and volunteer Peter Spark said over time and through mergers, many of the original portraits had become lost. The museum had managed to recover more than a quarter of the Borough's leaders, of which there were about 80.
All photos, largely oxidised, were copied and refreshed to be placed in the original, restored frames for a special exhibition, Mayors of the Borough of Clunes 1860-1965.
Mr Spark said the understanding was all had once hung in the Clunes Town Hall, from the Borough's first mayor CT Sutherland in 1860 through to its last, WC Foulkes in 1965. Many, like Foulkes, had served multiple terms as mayor.
There is also William Barkell (mayor from 1898-9 and 1924-5), whose family donated the Fraser Street building now housing the museum to council in the 1970s. Barkell was also the first ratepayers' selection for mayor in 1925-6.
Mr Spark said it was important to try and preserve and promote what they had from the town's rich history.
The museum's mayoral exhibition is the the Esmond Gallery at The Warehouse until February 28. The museum is open daily, except Tuesdays.
Clunes is now part of the Hepburn Shire.
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