Jeff Huddlestone
Chris Holden’s passion for and love of history now has him making some of his own.
Mr Holden, the youngest of six siblings, was raised in the in Eudunda where he attended the local area school.
After school Mr Holden took on a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in history, and before completing his honours at the University of Adelaide.
He met his wife Anna Young in Adelaide, and the couple moved to Penola in 2021.
With two sons Mr Holden was a stay at home dad for a while, but has now taken on a bit more work and study.
“There was only so much baby talk to deal with, so I enrolled in a Master of Education Science through the Queensland University of Technology. focusing on information architecture,” he said.
“And that’s when I began to apply my interest in history and merge heritage and history with information science.”
Now Mr Holden is tackling a PhD through the University of Canberra, where he also teaches online, which involved a research project on the heritage of the air and 100 years of civil aviation in Australia.
Part of the research was the sustainability of community aviation museums.
“I learned of a group of people looking to set up an aviation museum down here, so I got in touch with them,“ he said.
The rest is history, with Mr Holden as chairperson of the Mount Gambier Aviation Museum Incorporated.
It is entering a licensing agreement with the district council of Grant , which has been supportive of the project.
It will focus on the rich aviation history of the region and community engagement in establishing the Aviation Museum in a section of the Bellman hangar at the airport.
“I think there’s going to be far greater awareness of the role of aviation in Mount Gambier and the Limestone Coast than there has been before.
“It will bring people to the public space and engage them with their knowledge“, he said.
The significant history of the airport includes the first flight in 1917 , a training base , involving around 4000 personnel and a local community of its own during the second world war.
The airport has also played host to a variety of local and regional airlines, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, fire and areal protection services and aviation
agriculture.
The local aviation museum will complement the network of up to 50 others around the country.
“From a museum perspective, we’re ideally positioned to promote tourism, host air shows , display exhibits and draw people from the major population bases of Adelaide and Melbourne to the region,” Mr Holden said.
He’s been involved with the project for nearly two years, and there’s an organisational structure in place, with appropriate policies and procedures, focusing on community participation.
“If people want to be involved , come to us, our door is open for discussion. I really want the aviation museum to be driven by the people,” Mr Holden said.
