Made of canvas and bamboo slats with hemp ropes, adjustable canvas straps and metal buckles and rings, the rescue stretcher was used for carrying an injured person. According to the Powerhouse Museum, the stretcher and was ‘designed to support and carry an injured person in circumstances where the person has to be lifted vertically’. Known as the ‘Neil Robertson stretcher’, it was developed in the early 1900s by John Neil Robertson as a lightweight rescue device and was modelled on Japanese bamboo litters. An identical stretcher is held in Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum and is thought to date between c.1967 and 1999. The museum’s statement of significance for the unique stretcher elaborates on its cultural values: The canvas is wrapped around the patient and secured with strong canvas straps. A lifting rope is attached to a ring above the patient's head, while a guideline is tied near the ankles and used to stop the stretcher swaying as it is hoisted up. This style of stretcher was specifically designed for use on ships, where casualties might have to be lifted from engine-room spaces, holds and other compartments with access hatches too small for ordinary stretchers. The original name of the Neil Robertson stretcher was 'Hammock for hoisting wounded men from stokeholds and for use in ships whose ash hoists are 2 ft. 6 in. diameter'. Since those times the Neil Robertson stretcher has also been used in factories and mines and for other emergency rescue situations. It is still possible to buy this type of stretcher although the slats are now more likely to be made of wood. The example in the Powerhouse collection was amongst several items of obsolete first aid and rescue equipment donated by the electricity generation company Delta Electricity. It would have been used - or at least been on stand-by - at the company's Munmorah Power Station or the associated coal mine on the Central Coast of New South Wales. Industrial sites and mines are extremely dangerous work places. Throughout the 20th century to the present there has been a drive, especially in developed countries like Australia, to improve workplace safety. Measures taken to reduce injuries and deaths have included safer industrial equipment, safer work practices, staff training, and the ready availability of accident and emergency equipment.It was also used throughout WWI and WWII. There are two other examples of the stretcher are known in Parks Victoria heritage collections. Canvas and bamboo stretcher with straps and buckles. Hemp ropes are attached to the stretcher.

This photograph was taken at Samaria Farm on Sunday the 5th of September when Wooragee Landcare Group took a bus trip to the Tatong area (near Benalla) to look at land use on small farms. The day trip was organised to observe land use on small farms as well as a social event for the Group. Samaria Farm at the time was a nine-hectare property located in northeast Victoria, near Mount Samaria, 130 km Northeast of Melbourne. The photograph features several pigs believed to be the breed called Large Black. The Large Black Pig breed is a traditional, heritage breed that was first imported to Australia from the UK in the early 1900's. It is believed to have originated from the Old English Hog of the 16th and 17th Centuries. The first reference to them in the Australian Pure Bred Pig Herd Book was in 1912. They are a black pig with lop ears and were prized for their superior milking and mothering abilities and soon became popular with early Dairy Farmers who fed them whey from separated milk as part of their butter making process. They proved economical to keep and, being excellent grazing pigs, were also used to pick up windfall fruit in orchards. Their black colouring also enabled them to withstand the hot Australian summers and avoid sunburn which combined with their hardiness and docile temperament made them highly suitable for free-range pork production, however Large Black pigs tend to get very fat and were not suitable for intensive farming so were often crossed with other breeds for pork production. They are now quite rare as a pure breed having been on the edge of extinction for some time. They were rescued in the early 1990s by a rare breeds farmer in the Yarra Ranges. These days they are also the focus of a small conversation effort with six registered breeders currently in Australia. For biosecurity reasons there are no imports of live pigs or pig semen permitted into Australia. This photograph shows a group of people attending one of the events that Wooragee Landcare Group has organized within the educational framework of promoting best land management practices for all types of land uses and ensuring sustainability, in addition to encouraging community interaction via social events. The Large Black pig breed is significant because of their role in early Victorian farming. They are now quite rare as a pure breed having been on the edge of extinction for some time. These days they are the focus of a small conversation effort with six registered breeders currently in Australia. For biosecurity reasons there are no imports of live pigs or pig semen permitted into Australia. Wooragee Landcare Group is important to local community landcare and environmental management practices.Colour rectangular photograph printed on paperObverse: WAN NA EONA2N2. ANN+ 3 4240/ (No. 17) 370samaria farm, wooragee landcare, wooragee landcare group, tatong, benalla, black pigs, large black, traditional breed, heritage breed, pigs, lop ears, free range pork production, early victorian farming