Well-known local archivist, historian and actress Helen Hopper is leaving Goulburn to live on the Isle of Man.
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Ms Hopper got to know many in the community through her broad range of interests.
She moved with her West Highland White Terrier Poppy from England to Australia in 2009, starting off in Adelaide where she was Archive Collections Manager at the South Australian Museum.
She then undertook anthropological research on the Barngarla Native Title Claim, working with the Barngarla Native Title claimants as well as other Indigenous groups in South Australia.
In 2012, Helen took up an archivist position at the Noel Butlin Archives, ANU and settled in Goulburn.
Since then she has been heavily involved in local theatre, music, and sport.
At the Lieder Theatre, she appeared in the staged reading of Miles Franklin, Calendar Girls, Agatha Christie’s The Hollow, David Cole’s Life’s a Bitch, Two Weeks with the Queen and Much Ado About Nothing. He daughter Rosalyn also appeared in A Street Car Named Desire at the age of two weeks old.
Ms Hopper has also been involved in local sport and music, including the Goulburn Aquathon, Geoff Stewart-Richardson’s string group and Paul Paviours Dividing Range choir.
She was joined by Sandy, another pooch in 2014, and then her daughter, Rosalyn, in January, 2016.
After nearly 10 years in Australia and with a young daughter, the pull of family in England became very strong.
“I had been looking for somewhere with castles, stone circles, archives going back hundreds of years, and beaches, and which was closer to family without actually moving back to England,” she said.
“So when an opportunity came up to move to another Island much closer to home, I jumped at the chance.”
She will be starting her new role of Information and Records Officer for the Cabinet Office of the Isle of Man Government in September. The Isle of Man has castles, stone circles, beaches, and also steam trains, horse drawn trams, the TT races and is only 4 hours away by ferry from her family in the Lake District.
As a leaving gift from a former colleague at ANU, who also resides in Goulburn, Ms Hopper was surprised to receive a bone carving.
“This had been discovered in an antique shop in Goulburn and was inscribed ‘Knockaloe Isle of Man 1914-1916’. Further investigation revealed that Knockaloe was the internment camp on the Isle of Man during WWI, where ‘enemy aliens’ were interned for the duration of the war, with over 23,000 men being held there,” she said.
There is a project, www.knockaloe.im to bring together stories from Knockaloe and also develop a visitor centre on the site.
Former Internees and their families moved all over the world after the war and the project hopes to reach out to unearth some of those tales.
“How did a knockaloe bone carving, carved on beef bone by an internee during the First World War, end up here in Goulburn?” She asked.
If anyone knows about this, please get in touch with the Knockaloe project (link above) or leave comments on the Goulburn Post Facebook page.
“We will be sad to leave our friends in Goulburn. We’ve loved living here and being part of the community, but in moving to the Isle of Man, the Knockaloe carving will be returning home after 100 years,” she said.