Kyancutta is set to hum with history and heritage as the Bedford family prepares for a momentous celebration at the Kyancutta Community Club on the weekend of 28 and 29 March.
This landmark event marks the 110th anniversary of the arrival of Robert and Ethel Bedford, pioneering figures whose contributions helped shape the very fabric of central Eyre Peninsula.
The weekend serves as both a family reunion for the extensive Bedford family and platform for a highly anticipated guest speaker.
The centrepiece of the weekend is a talk from author Robin Wagner, who serves as the Dean of the Gettysburg University Library in Pennsylvania.
The author is currently in Australia and will visit Kyancutta in late March.
Ms Wagner will launch a biography later this year, the result of four years of research detailing the life and times of Robert and Ethel Bedford.
Travelling from the United States, Ms Wagner will share the journey of tracing Mr Bedford’s life from England to Australia.
The author will illustrate her presentation with images provided by the Bedford family and other documents she has uncovered.
Mr Bedford’s impact on the health and survival of early settlers is the stuff of local legend, particularly his work at the Kyancutta Cottage Hospital.
Assisted by Ethel, he delivered 99 babies from 98 confinements without the loss of a single mother or infant.
Beyond the maternity ward, the weekend will highlight his unorthodox yet life-saving medical skills.
Attendees will hear the storied accounts of locals like Colin Olsen, who was born prematurely and survived thanks to Mr Bedford’s makeshift humidity crib fashioned from a baking dish and a wood stove oven.
Other stories include the revival of Ron Holman after a horrific chaff cutter accident and the innovative fever-breaking techniques used to save Cyril Matthews from the ‘strangling angel’ of diphtheria.
The weekend will be a rare opportunity for generations to reconnect and reflect on the district’s pioneering spirit.
To ensure the Kyancutta Community Club can cater for the expected crowds, organisers require expressions of interest by Thursday 19 March.
Those wishing to attend can contact Ned Luscombe on 0400 812 025 to confirm their numbers for a momentous weekend in Kyancutta’s history.
