"At the age of 20, I brought my first film camera, a solid, heavy and much loved Minolta XGM. Photographing mostly in black and white, I’ve been taking portraits, capturing landscapes and documenting people’s lives and rituals ever since. And now, more than 35 years later, I’m still excited to be on this journey with photography – alas, no longer with that Minolta. What attracts me to photography is the medium’s ability to show us the ordinary in an extraordinary way. My work has been acquired by the City of Darebin and the State Library of Victoria. I have been long and short listed for several major prizes, including the Moran Photography Award, the Head on Award and the National Photographic Portrait Prize."

Alun LEACH-JONES (1937- 24 December 2017) Born Maghull, Lancashire, United Kingdom Arrived Australia 1960 Alun Leach-Jones is recognised as one of Australia's leading abstract colour painters. He spent his childhood in the Welsh village of Glasfryn, Denbighshire. At the age of 14 he started a three year apprenticeship with the Solicitors Law Society, Liverpool illuminating manuscripts and hand copying legal documents. While working with the law society Leach-Jones studied painting and drawing in the evenings at the Liverpool College of Art between the years 1955-57. He immigrated to Australia in 1960, settling in Adelaide and attending the South Australian School of Art, after which he travelled and exhibited throughout Australia and abroad. In 1966 Leach-Jones celebrated Noumenon series was shown with Australian Galleries in Melbourne and he was immediately recognised as being part of what was then labelled as ‘the New Abstraction’ in Australian art. Later in 1968 his work was included in the influential exhibition "The Field" held at the National Gallery of Victoria. This item is part of the Federation University Art Collection. The Art Collection features over 2000 works and was listed as a 'Ballarat Treasure' in 2007. Purchased by the Council of State College of Victoria, Ballarat, 1974art, artwork, leach-jones, alun leach-jones, abstract

THE WEEK REVIEWED (Article; Bush Fires: A pictorial survey of Victoria's most tragic week, January 8-15, 1939. Published in aid of the Bush Fire Relief Fund by the Sun News-Pictorial in co-operation with its newsagents, pp2-3) THE fiercest bush fires Australia has known since its discovery are quiescent at the moment, and Victoria, in the comparative coolness of the change which came with rain on Sunday night, has begun·to count its losses. In the fiery eight days, from Sunday to Sunday, at least sixty-six men, women and children have lost their lives in forest fires, or have succumbed to burns and shock; many others have died from heat; and several serious cases of burns are being treated in hospitals. Two babies in Narrandera district have died, and ten others are in hospital, because of milk soured by the record temperatures of those eight days. Forest damage totals at least a million pounds, and incalculable damage has been done to the seedlings which were to have been the forests of the future. Water conservation will be seriously affected by the silting-up of reservoirs and streams from which protective timber has been taken by the all-engulfing flames. More than a thousand houses have been destroyed, and these, with 40 mills, and schools, post-offices, churches, and other buildings, represent a loss of at least half a million. At least 1500 are homeless. For their aid, money raised in appeals has now passed the £50,000 mark, and the biggest relief organisation ever set up in peace time has swung into operation. The First Hint Victoria's first hint of what was to come appeared on Sunday, January 8, when most parts of the State awoke to find a blistering day awaiting. At 12.20 p.m., when the thermometer reached its highest for the day, 109.6 degrees, the first fire victims were at that moment going to their death on a bush track five feet wide off the main road to Narbethong. They were the forestry officers Charles Isaac Demby and John Hartley Barling, who went to warn Demby of his danger when he parted from his companions, and was himself surrounded by the treacherous fire. It was not until 8 o'clock next morning that the tragic news was flashed throughout the State. Searchers found the two charred bodies close together, one seeking protection in the nook of two logs. Barling's watch had stopped at 1.20. In the meantime, tragedy was spreading its cloak. By Monday, big fires were raging at Toolangi, Erica, Yallourn, Monbulk, Frankston, Dromana, Drouin South, Glenburn, and Blackwood, with smaller outbreaks at many other centres. In the ensuing week, while women and children were evacuated as fast as the flames would permit, Erica-scene of the 1926 fire disaster-thrice escaped doom by a change of wind. Indeed, those who have been in the fire country these past days say that the numbers of times a change of wind has saved towns from destruction is amazing. In the towns they speak of miracles. Monday's Miracles The escapes from Monett's Mill at Erica and from the Hardwood Company's Mill at Murrindindi, near where Demby and Barling went to their death, were Monday's miracles. Twenty came out alive from each mill. At the first a 60ft. dugout provided an oven-like refuge; at the second, 12 women and children survived in the smoke-filled gloom of a three-roomed cottage while their eight men, their clothes sometimes afire, poured water on the wooden walls. Three houses out of ten remained when the fire had passed. Record Temperatures Sunday had been the hottest Melbourne day for 33 years; Monday dropped to a 76.1 degree maximum; but Tuesday dawned hotter than ever, the mercury reaching 112.5. By now rumor was racing ahead of fact; whole towns were being reported lost; the alarm was raised for scores of missing persons. But fact soon overtook rumor, and within a few days the staggering toll began to mount to a figure beyond the wildest imaginings of the panic-stricken. Six died from heat on this torrid Tuesday, and the fires spread in a wide swathe from south-west to north-east across the State. Fish died in shallow streams. A curtain of smoke hid the sky from all Victoria, and hung far out to sea. It alarmed passengers on ships. On the Ormonde, on the voyage to Sydney from Burnie, women ran on deck, believing fire had broken out in the hold. Days later the smoke reached New Zealand. In Melbourne thousands of fire-volunteers were leaving in cars: vans, motor-buses-anything reliable on wheels-to aid the country in its grim fight. In the fires at Rubicon and. Narbethong, seventeen were facing death this day. But not till Wednesday, when Melbourne breathed again in a cool change, while the country still sweltered in temperatures up to 117 degrees, did the news come through the tree blocked roads. A woman and her little daughter, trapped on the road, were among those who died. Their bodies, and those of menfolk with them, were found strewn out at intervals along the road, where the furnace of the surrounding fire had dropped them in their tracks as they ran. Twelve died at a Rubicon mill, five on the road at Narbethong. At Alexandra, not far distant, a baby was born while the fires raged, and stretcher-bearers brought in the injured. On Thursday the State Government voted £5000 for the relief of fire victims. The Governor (Lord Huntingfield) and the Lord Mayor (Cr. Coles) visited some of the stricken areas, and dipped into their pockets personally. Later, the City Council, too, voted £5000. Friday, The 13th Friday, the Thirteenth, justified its evil name. A blistering northerly came early in the morning, presaging destruction, and forcing the mercury to a new record of 114 degrees. Racing fires killed at least ten in those terrible 12 hours. Four children were engulfed in the furnace at Colac. Panic drove them, uncontrollable, into the smoke-filled road when the fire raced down behind their home. They choked to death. In other parts fires were joining to make fronts of scores of miles. Kinglake was being menaced on two fronts, £60,000 worth of timber was going up in smoke in Ballarat district. Warburton was surrounded. Residents at Lorne, favoured resort, were being driven to the sea-front by a fire which destroyed at least 20 homes. Healewille. with flames visible from the town at one stage, was in a trough between two fires which burned four guest-houses, seven homes and left its surrounding beauty-spots wastes of bowed-over, blackened tree-fern fronds; with its famous Sanctuary, however, intact. Most of Omeo was destroyed this black day: Noojee. while 200 residents crouched in the river, was being reduced to a waste of buckled iron and smoking timber; Erica was once again saved by a change of wind. Beneath a pall of smoke, the Rubicon victims were buried at Alexandra. Friday night and the early hours of Saturday saw the streets of beleagured towns strewn with exhausted fire-fighters. Their flails beside them, ready for the next call, they lay where exhaustion overtook them-on footpaths, beside lamp-posts, in gutters, in cars, under trucks. Saturday's dawn brought clear skies and lower temperatures in many parts, and from the burnt-out areas came a great rush of tragic reports. The death-roll rushed past the fifty mark with incredible speed. Some had been trapped on roads, others at mills; some, after burying their treasures, had clung too long to the places they had made their homes for many years. Four men lost their lives because one went back for his dog. By Sunday, when the first of the saving rain came, nearly another score of names had been added to the list.Newspaper magazine, 48 pages (incl. covers). Fully digitised and searchable PDFPublished in aid of the Bush Fire Relief Fund by the Sun News-Pictorial in co-operation with its newsagents.bushfires, 1939 bushfires, black friday, warrandyte

THIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN AT EASTER CENTENARY CELEBRATION 1939ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH, STATION FLAT CLUNES, INCLUDING PORT PHILIP MINE WITH SAND HEAPS.STATION FLAT CLUNES 1939local history, photography, photographs, clunes township

David Thomas Andrew No 400247 enlisted in the RAAF on 21.7.40. During a bombing run by No 11 Sqd on Meiktila in central Burma on 5.4.43 two of the Sqd's Blenheim Bombers collided and subsequently crashed. Warrant Officer Andrew was killed. Out of the two crews totaling six personnel four were killed and two were taken POW. Refer 2084, 2088.Medal set, court mounted, set of (5) re D Andrew. 1. 1939-45 Star. 2. Africa Star. 3. Burma Star. 4. War Medal 1939-45. 5. Australian Service Medal."400247 D.T.Andrew"medals, military, history

Frecker carried out 7 sorties before joining the unit and 21 successful sorties with his squadron making a total of 179.4 hours operational flying. He was attacked and badly damaged by a night fighter on 12 April 1942, after attacking Essen. He brought his aircraft home and successfully crash-landed away from base without causing injury to his crew. Throughout his tour of operations he maintained a high degree of courage and skill.The Distinguished Flying Medal Register WWII. Flight Lt Frecker, Mason Day. Campaign Stars 1939-45 Star. Aircrew Europe Star. Pacific Star. War Medals - Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45.a22.02

Pte E.A. Middleborough was killed in action in Egypt 31st October 1942 while serving with 2/32 Australian Infantry Battalion. Buried at El Alamein War Cemetery.Framed display containing 5 WW2 Australian medals and memorial scroll. Medals are; 1939-45 Star, Africa Star complete with 8th Army clasp, Defence Medal. War Medal 1939-45 and Australian Service Medal.Details on medals; VX35798 E.A. Middleborough

Photocopy of a Newspaper Clipping - from The Sun, most likely 17/4/1939 about the closure of the Collingwood line on Saturday 15/4/1939. Bus services replaced the trams during the afternoon or earlier that the scheduled last tram in order to prevent damage by revellers. Titled "Tram Chairman beats revellers". Has a photo of the last tram with Mr. J. Peden as Gripman and E. McLeod as the conductor with two male passengers."1939" written in on the left hand side in ink.trams, tramways, collingwood, closure, cable trams, crews

Navy blue and white stretch cotton swimsuit with halter neck. The size 45 swimsuit has an all-over pattern of white yachts. The brand is Strick-Meister. Label: "Strick-Meister 45"swimwear, costumes, strick meister

Yields information about tram services and how timetables were printed using a clock face for use in Ballarat. Demonstrates timetable making.Twenty Eight page, white paper, saddle stapled booklet, titled "Electricity Supply Department - Ballarat Tramways - Official Time Table January 1939", numbered TYE 1-48-5918. Gives notes on the through routing of the tram service, how the clock style format works and that it operates from the Tramway Centre. Also details when extra services are run and times as specific points along the route. Pages 24 and 25 detail the fares and charges, page 26 - luggage, page 27 - section destinations for the various routes and page 28, notes recent reductions in electricity charges. Two copies held. In the worksheet file is the basis of an article that appeared in Feb. 2006 Fares Please! See Reg Item 5637 for the August 1937 version.In blue pencil, the deletion of the 8.47am extra tram from Haddon St in both copies.timetables, ballarat, fares