Introduction to The Arnold Committee.
THE ARNOLD FAMILY HISTORY COMMITTEE UPDATE
June 2020
The gathering of family information began in Albury in 1970 when Peter Arnold (2.2.2.2.1) collected much of our early history in Australia. Letters were the main source of this information until Peter, together with his mother Nancy travelled to the Barossa Valley in July 1974 and visited many members of the Arnold family.
By 1985 Noel Jackling (2.9.8.1) was able to produce a booklet about the Gottlob branch and presenting this at the first family reunion of the Arnold family held in Murray Bridge in June 1985. It was at this Murray Bridge reunion the first steps were taken to publish a book on the wider Arnold family in Australia. That book ‘Changing Pastures’ took eight long years to produce.
Thus, the first Arnold Family History Committee came into existence in 1985 to produce not only the ‘Changing Pastures’ in 1993 but also the Supplement to Changing Pastures in 2003. In more recent time the committee has come together to utilize the changing technology to create both a Facebook and website presence.
The present committee (2020) include:
Lorraine (2.9.1.8.3) and John Powers (Gottlob); Peter Arnold (Gottlob); Dawn Bowman (3.5.10.1) (Ehrenfried), Treasurer Grace Schache (2.4.2.1.1) (Gottlob), Christine Gates (3.5.11.3.2) (Ehrenfried) and Mark Bachmann (1.4.4.11.2) (Gottlieb).
Some committee members have particular knowledge about their branch which is linked to one of the five Arnold brothers who came to South Australia from Silesia, now in southwestern Poland.
The committee is keen to keep records up-to-date and available to interested people.
A brief history of the Arnold Family Committee
A first committee in 1985 included Arthur Arnold, Dawn Bowman (3.5.10.1), Doris Gogel (3.9.6), Linda Hensel (3.5.2.4), Ray Klingberg, Elma Pfitzner (4.2.6.1), John Powers and Lorraine Powers (2.9.1.8.3), the chairperson.
The committee achieved three major goals.
- To collect, organize and publish information about the Arnold family in ‘Changing Pastures.’
- To bring together descendants of the family and launch the Arnold book by organizing the first reunion in the Barossa Valley.
- To locate and renovate all significant memorials and sites of the first generation in Australia.
Following the successful 1993 reunion the committee continued gathering information for the second Arnold family book, ‘Supplement to Changing Pastures’ 2003. This second committee included Dawn Bowman, Ray Klingberg, Grace Schache and Keith Thompson (5.2.2.5.1). Ray was the chairperson until illness forced him to retire and Dawn took on this role. Keith Thompson played a major part in the creation and publication of the Supplement. For the 2003 reunion John Coles (3.9.4.2), David Arnold (5.6.2.2), John Arnold (5.6.2.1), Robert Pfitzner (4.2.6.4), John Powers and Lorraine Powers joined the committee.
At that time the Committee aimed:
- To launch the Supplement to “Changing Pastures.”
- To organize the second Arnold Family reunion in 2003, ten years after the first reunion.
- To complete marking and improving the memorials and sites belonging to the first generation in Australia.
Where to now?
The current committee continues to improve pathways to Arnold family information to ensure current and future generations can learn and reflect on our rich family history. We meet three or four times a year in Adelaide and welcome family members to become actively involved in the committee.
Christine Gates (3.5.11.3.2)
Original Family History Committee – 1985
Family History Commitee 2016 – 2020
Meetings were often held at Peter Arnold’s home between 2016 and 2020 Present was John Coles, Grace Schache, Lorraine Powers, Christine Gates, Dawn Bowman and Peter Arnold.