Captain John Mason came from Stirling in Scotland, arriving at Port Fairy in 1844. One year after James Atkinson obtained his Special Survey of the area. Thus his life covers all the history of Port Fairy when it was known as Belfast. He married Jane Murray in Portland in 1846 and they had 5 children, Jane died in 1855 and ten years later he married Ann Brown widow of Abijah Brown. They had no children and she died in 1887. In due course he became known as Captain Mason, he was not a sea captain, but captain of the Belfast Volunteers, a Rifle Corps formed in 1859 as a consequence of the Crimean War, and later reconstituted as the Belfast Volunteer Corps. For 40 years he displayed a remarkable versatility in his various occupations. Starting as an Innkeeper - he took over the Stag Inn from Captain Saunders in 1852, for 3 years. He then became a carpenter, stonemason, architect, estate agent honorary technical advisor to the Borough and treasurer to the Shire, and Savings Bank Secretary. They thought so well of John mason in Belfast that they elected him to the first Roads Board in 1853 and to the first Municipal Council in 1856. He was Chairman four times and with Councillors David Talbot and Joseph Whitehead designed the Council's Common Seal and the Motto "Commune Bonum".He was the first Mayor of the Borough in 1863 for a period of 7 weeks. He was responsible for the design, supervision or construction of many of the buildings in the town; most still standing today. He built the Rosebrook Bridge in 1855 and the first official Post Office ( a timber structure in Bank Street) in 1857, replacing it with a stone office in 1865. he built the Court house in 1859 and completed the breakwater between Rabbit Island and Griffith Island started by James Atkinson and John Griffith in 1849, also the first bridge over the Moyne river which connected with Battery Lane and the Bay. Among the many buildings associated with John Mason are Gobles Mill, Tynemouth Villa, 10-12 Princes Street, the Mechanics Institute, the Commercial Hotel, Yambuk and Mickey Bourke's Pub in Koroit. However, he did not build "Riverdale" in Gipps Street as is thought. He had a store and workshop on this site but sold the property in 1872 before the house was built. After an almost uninterrupted term as Councillor starting with the Municipality in 1856, John resigned from the Council in 1873. He well deserved the illuminated address they gave to him and the toast that they drank in the Bank Hotel champagne. Within the year he was working for the Borough as its engineer., surveyor, general supervisor and advisor of public works, simply as the man to whom all difficult problems were referred and at very little expense. John Mason was a great worker for his town and devoted himself unsparingly to the community. That his work was appreciated was shown by the way in which people rallied to his aid when, in the end, he found himself in financial difficulties and his reputation was challenge; arrested for embezzling from the Savings Bank of which he was the actuary in 1882. The money was repaid and the charges found not proven at his trial. He was an early member of the Loyal Prince Albert Lodge, and a founding member of the smaller Loyal Belfast Lodge in 1863. He was also a member of the Horticultural Society. Captain John Mason Died on the 14th of October 1891 (see also 62-04-046 photo)Sepia photograph on heavy cardStevenson & McNicoll photo. 108 Elizabeth Street Melbourne copies can be obtained at anytimedefence, captain, mason, carpenter, councillor, mayor

Joly Meldometer The Joly meldometer was created to determine the melting point of minerals. W.E. Wilson, an astronomer and author, stated in 1900 that the Joly meldometer consisted of a ‘a strip of platinum on which minute fragments of any mineral can be placed, while any alteration in its length can be determined by means of a micrometer screw which touches a lever connected with one end of the strip. The strip can be heated by an electric current, and is calibrated by observing the micrometer readings corresponding to the temperatures at which some substances of known melting-points melt’i . One reason why the Joly meldometer was seen as a successful addition to science was the small amount of any substance that it required for testing. Only a minute sample was needed for the instrument to work and so a tiny part could be taken from a delicate item without destroying itii . The instrument was originally manufactured by the Irish company Yeates & Son of Dublin. The Yeates family business was established in the early 1790’s and is thought to have operated until approximately 1922iii . Their business slogan was recorded as ‘Instrument makers to the University’, a slogan which proudly exhibited their relationship with Trinity College, Dublin. The company was located directly opposite Trinity College, the place where the Joly meldometer was created. Working in such close proximity must have assisted this business relationship. The inventor of this meldometer was Irishman John Joly. Joly was born in 1857 at the Church of Ireland Rectory, Hollywood House. His education led him to Trinity College Dublin where, by 1891, he had obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree as well as a Doctorate of Science. The entirety of his working life appears to have taken place at Trinity College although he is known to have travelled in order to consult with other scientists such as the world renowned Sir Ernest Rutherford. The Joly meldometer was used for a variety of different purposes, with scientists often adapting the instrument to suit their own needs. For instance, the previously mentioned astronomer W.E. Wilson adapted the meldometer to assist him in measuring the radiation of the suniv . Joly used his device in an attempt to ascertain the age of the earth. In 1913, along with Sir Rutherford, Joly came to the conclusion that the earth was approximately 400 million years old. They did this by analysing the decay of radioactivity in minerals. According to our present knowledge of the earth this was a much more accurate date than the dates Joly had previously derived. He had first thought that the earth was 97 million years old due to the volume of sodium in the oceans. Joly’s second analysis of the topic had resulted in the age of 80 million years. This figure was based on the accumulation of sediment. Apart from designing his meldometer, Joly is also remembered for his work with colour photography. In 1894 Joly discovered a method for creating colour photographs from a single platev . He also studied the use of radiation as a treatment for cancer and persuaded the Royal Dublin Society to establish the Radium Institute to assist hospitals. In 1933 Joly passed away at the age of seventy-six. Jacqueline Eager Student Projects Placement, Cultural Collections 2005 iMollan, Charles, Irish National Inventory of Scientific Instruments, Samton Limited, 1995, p. 302. iiJoly, John, 'On the determination of the melting points of minerals, Part 1. Uses of the meldometer', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 2., 1891. iiiInstitute for Learning Technologies, "Stephan Mitchell Yeates' http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/bluetelephone/html/yeates.html, accessed on 04.10.2005 ivMollan, Charles, Irish National Inventory of Historic Scientific Instruments, op cit. vMollan, Charles, The Mind and the Hand: Instruments of Science 1685-1932, Samton Limited, Dublin, 1995, p. 34.The following from #2975 in UDE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN ENGINEERING list in the “Irish National Inventory of Historical Scientific Instruments” by Charles Mellon (P/C in file for Cat no 272. “....meldometer as an instrument ‘for the purpose of finding the melting-points of minerals, hence its name. As used by him (Joly), it consists of a strip of platinum,on which minute fragments of any mineral can be placed, while any alteration in its length can be determined by means of a micrometer screw which touches a lever connected with one end of the strip. The strip can be heated by an electric current, and is calibrated by observing the micrometer readings corresponding to the temperatures at which some substances of known melting-points melt’.” Ref. : J. Joly, Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. 3rd series vol 2 (1891),38-64.

Developed in 1950's for infantry use. Was replaced by PRC25 setA VHF manpack radio which can be connected to an amplifier (AM598-4) and be vehicle mountedNo 23260radio, prc10