This rectangle black and white photograph shows a bush scene with part of a suspension rope and wooden plank bridge visible in the middle of the image. It is likely this suspension bridge was used by the Tannery workers to move between the town and the Ovens Tannery located South-West of Beechworth due to its secluded bush location, the bridge likely spanned the gorge across Spring creek. The tannery itself was located alongside Gimlet Creek, about three kilometres from town, down what is now known as Malakoff and Old Tannery Road but which at the time was remote and accessed through bushland. The Ovens tannery was stablished in 1858 by Matthew Dodd and Hallahan and later Matthew and his brother Thomas Dodd in 1866 who developed it over the years. According to Doyle, 'we have little information about its early operations except the tannery itself comprised four small buildings' by 1870 ‘a small village with gardens of vines and fruit trees surrounded the tannery’ (Woods, 121), and by 1887 the Tannery employed fifteen men. The Ovens tannery was among several new businesses establishing themselves such as a foundry that brought industrial manufacturing alongside the developing township and which strengthened the economic stability of Beechworth after the receding mining surge. According to Woods (p. 121) in the 1860’s the government spent considerable sums to establish several public buildings such as the Benevolent Asylum, the Hospital and Insane Asylum to support those in need of care in the area directly after the Indigo gold rush which had left Beechworth, a fairly remote regional and newly formed township (Gold was first discovered in Beechworth in 1852) with a number of infirm and destitute people in its wake and which due to the support and establishment of these facilities ‘made Beechworth a significant social welfare centre in Victoria’ (Woods, p. 121). The tannery provided employment and connected the regional centre with other parts of Victoria and the wider colonial outposts and would have been a welcome opportunity for those seeking work after gold was no longer a source of income.A good example of the ingenuity of regional settlers to achieve what would have been a difficult and remote construction of a bridge as a means of access. This bridge is evidence of planning and forethought and shows dedication to establishing a life in a remote landscape.Black and white rectangular photograph printed on paperreverse: / 2983 / / BMM2983 /black and white photograph, bush, suspension bridge, rope bridge, tannery, spring creek, ovens tannery, bushland, gimlet creek, matthew dodd, beechworth

From Neurological Society of Australia. Wooden case with key. Contents (12 parts) include trephines, various sizes; perforator; key; ebony trephine handle; Hey skull saw; elevator; steel forceps; brush; lenticular; five pointed rugine. 18th or early 19th century.TREPHINE & SKULL SAW IN CASE OF SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS: EIGHTEENTH OR EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY. This set of surgical instruments contains, in a wooden case covered with shagreen: two trephines and a perforator , with a key to remove the trephine centring pins a detachable ebony handle a Hey skull saw with the name BLACKWELL an elevator a pair of steel forceps a bone or ivory brush to clean the trephines a lenticular a 5-pointed rugine. The trephines are conical, with slight tapering to prevent over- penetration; they are approximately 17 and 20 mm in diameter. Each has a sharp centring point, which 5 can be removed. Hand trephines are operated with one hand, being rotated like a gimlet, by alternating pronation and supination of the forearm, which also exe1ts downward pressure. The skull saw was used where trephining was difficult, as in some depressed fractures; it was popularised by William Hey (1736-1819) of Leeds, though described by earlier writers. Hey, a Yorkshireman, studied in St George's Hospital, London, but worked with great distinction in the Leeds General Infirmary. The lenticular, a curious instrument seen in many eighteenth century illustrations, was used to smooth the margins of bone defects. The rugine could be used to scrape granulations. The design of the trephines and of most of the other instruments strongly suggests an English origin, probably in the eighteenth century. A very similar trephine is figured by the London surgeon Percivall Pott2 in 1779. Bennion l [ists three instrument makers named Blackwell, none earlier than 1817. Most of the instruments have been plated, presumably with nickel, at a date that must be much later. The nickel plating shows little sign of wear.