extracted from On this Day in the North East - Graham Jones 1855On 1stApril 1855 the old Assumbly Rooms reopned as the Salle De Valentino. The hall had been undergoing renovations for several months under the guidance of the renowned London and Melbourne catering maestro James Ellis. Ellis advertised a Grand Ball and Prmenade Cenert every evening at 1/- admission and patrons could listen to the best musicians who could be lured to the goldfields. 1860 ALL FOOLS DAY In Chiltern Doctors and Lawyers were awakened by midnight calls to attend imaginary emergencies. They would go to some poor soul sleeping soundly, thinking they were attending to the ill and taking death bed wishes, only to hear from the "ill one" NO NO NO 1899 Jean McNamara was born on this day in 1899. She became one of Australia's most desitinguished medical pioneers. Born in Beechworth her remains on her death wer cremated and returned to Beechworth (1968) where as per her wish, she is laid to rest under a rock she remembered so well from her early days in town. This rock now stands in the C/E section not far from the front gate, is a large rock and on the rock is a plaque. I saw it last week. Quite different to the surround graves and quite impressive. Jean McNamara pioneered teatment for the effects of polio and was instrumetnal in bringing about he control of Australia's rabbit population by her efforts to introduce mysomatosis. Denise