TWO of the Balnarring and District Historical Society’s longest-serving volunteers have been recognised with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria’s (RHSV) Award of Merit, for their contribution to local and Victorian history.
Ian Wisken and Ilma Hackett were announced as recipients at the RHSV’s Annual General Meeting on 26 May.
Wisken founded the Balnarring and District Historical Society (BDHS) in 1990 while serving as vice principal of the newly opened Balnarring Primary School. His research into the history of Balnarring’s original state school led him to call a public meeting to gauge interest in forming a historical group – a meeting that led to the society’s first gathering that June.
He served as founding president for twelve months, later took on the role of treasurer for fifteen years from 2011, and was made a life member of BDHS in 2004. He has now been a member for 36 years.
“I feel an obligation, seeing that I had started it, that I should keep on with it,” said Wisken.
His research culminated in the publication of Balnarring State School (1872–1950): Balnarring Primary School 1990–. It’s now become a project he and Hackett are working to republish with updated information and photographs. Along the way, Wisken has also uncovered details locals might not expect, including the route once used by Cobb and Co coaches.
“The Cobb and Co coaches would stop at Warrawee Homestead, which was at that time a hotel on the way to Flinders,” said Wisken.
Hackett has been a member of BDHS since 2000, taking on the roles of Information and Research Officer and Membership Secretary over more than two decades of service.
She is also the writer behind Snippets, a multi-page newsletter circulated to BDHS members every quarter since 2003, a project she began alongside her husband.
“I would come up with the ideas, and he was one who was able to help me put them into practice,” said Hackett.
She spends at least two hours every Monday in the society’s history room, cataloguing newly received material ahead of BDHS’s transition of its collection to Victoria Collections, and was instrumental in researching the content featured on the Balnarring Heritage Trail, a series of markers funded with the help of a Bendigo Bank grant. The accompanying booklet was published in 2019.
Hackett has also represented BDHS across the broader Mornington Peninsula History Network, recently worked with Victorian Railways historians on material related to the centenary of the Red Hill railway line, and is now hoping to restore the broken gravestone of local pioneer Captain Tonkin.
“If possible, we’d like to get that gravestone restored,” said Hackett.
For Hackett, the appeal of historical research has always come down to the people behind it.
“Everybody that you speak to has a story of some sort, and I just find these very interesting,” said Hackett.
Wisken, who supported Hackett’s nomination, said her steady presence had shaped the society over the years.
“She’s been the glue… she’s a knowledgeable person who has all the facts and figures somehow in her head … she’s amazing,” said Wisken.
BDHS said the pair’s sustained dedication to preserving and sharing local history – through research, writing, talks and mentoring – had helped shape the organisation’s growth from a handful of founding members into the incorporated association and registered charity it is today.
First published in the Western Port News – 1 July 2026
