BENDIGO Historical Society president Jim Evans is calling it a day after 20 years.
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The tireless champion of the city's history has addressed members with a tongue-in-cheek "before I forget" themed talk on his time charge.
"I thought 20 was a nice number," Mr Evans told the Advertiser.
He will hand over a club that is a hive of activity.
Members are preparing a new museum and storage space in McKenzie Street for the many pieces of civic history they are entrusted with.
The move will bring an end to a search the society has been conducting since long before Mr Evans joined, and that in some ways began at its very first meeting.
"A museum was the first item on its agenda in 1935," he said.
The society wants to set up a space to show off a fraction of its collection and give the public unique insights into the history of Bendigo.
Anonymous benefactors have made the McKenzie Street move possible.
Mr Evans said that over his 20 years he has been most proud of his efforts to promote Bendigo's history to a wider audience
That has included civic tours, television appearances, advice to amateur historians and - for many years - a regular column in the Bendigo Advertiser.
Mr Evans has been a regular feature at Red Ribbon Rebellion reenactments that have given Bendigo's school children an insight into the 1850s act of civil disobedience that kickstarted Victoria's democracy.
He hopes those sorts of activities have kindled a new generation's interest in history.
Mr Evans studied history at Melbourne University and focused on it during his years working as a humanities teacher in Bendigo and other parts of Victoria.
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When he helped reinstate drama at Golden Square Secondary College in the 1980s, the first public performance was Stockade, a retelling of Ballarat's Eureka Rebellion.
Mr Evans said the way Bendigo remembered its history was changing for the better.
Even in his time as president of the historical society, people had become more conscious of Indigenous people's stories.
It was a heartening trend Mr Evans hoped would continue.
He will keep looking for ways to share his love of history, perhaps presiding over tours of historic landmarks.
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