Century of life to uncover at Peterborough

A CENTURY-OLD paperweight depicting the Bay of Martyrs has mystified a group of Peterborough history buffs.The small glass object, which contains a sepia photograph of the local icon, has surfaced ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Falls of Halladale shipwreck.Lynda Avery and Jenny Stevens have been busily collecting Peterborough artefacts to display at the celebrations planned for next week.Ms Avery said the paperweight was by far their most intriguing find."I didn't know they ever made Peterborough paraphernalia -- especially back then," she said."We don't know how old it is but it would have been made early last century."The question, of course, is how many did they make? It's most unusual."Little is known about Peterborough's early history, with no definitive existing accounts.The pair has asked locals to loan their artefacts and photos to the Heytesbury District Historical Society to be catalogued."We just want to know what's out there," Ms Avery said. "The Peterborough hotel and boarding house was built in 1889 and families started visiting the town around the turn of the century."Artefacts found so far include the pair of scissors used to cut the ribbon at the opening of the first Curdies Estuary bridge in 1927.All items will be on display at the Peterborough CFA shed on November 15 from 9am.The community is set to celebrate the centenary of the Falls of Halladale sinking. The cargo ship struck a reef about 1.5 kilometres west of the town.Local resident Jessie Scott MacGillivray documented the salvage operation of the ship. A transcript of her journal has been published and will be on sale during the celebrations.