Joseph Chamberlain was was an important businessman and a politician. He worked to improve education, and cities. He was a Member of Parliament from 1876 to 1914, and Colonial Secretary (controlling British colonies) from 1895 to 1903. His son Austen won the Nobel Peace Prize and another son Neville was Prime Minister from 1937 to 1940. (Wikipedia) Chamberlain was a Unitarian, a Christian who believes Christ was an example of the way to live life, but was not divine (not a part of God). Unitarians try to work to help society. There were many problems in Birmingham after the industrial revolution, and many men were not allowed to vote. In 1868 Chamberlain helped a liberal man to become the Member of Parliament for Birmingham. In 1869, he started a group working for free primary education for all children. In November 1869, he became a member of Birmingham City Council. There he worked for cheaper land prices for rural (countryside) workers, and became very popular. In 1873 he became the Mayor of Birmingham. He bought the gas companies and water companies for the city, so people were able to have clean and safe water. He made parks, roads, schools museums and built new houses for poor people. In June 1876 he became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham. In parliament he worked to unite radical M.P.s (MPs that wanted change) against the Whig party who were in power. His work helped William Ewart Gladstone to become Prime Minister in 1880. Chamberlain often spoke about education in parliament. (Wikipedia)Image of a man called Joseph Chamberlain.ballarat irish, chamberlain, joseph chamberlain

Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill was a British statesman. He was the third son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, and his wife, Lady Frances Vane. He was the father of Winston Churchill, the future wartime Prime Minister, who wrote his father's first major biography. (wikipedia) Having served as unofficial private secretary to his father, lord lieutenant (viceroy) of Ireland from 1876 to 1880, Churchill was especially interested in the Irish problem. Though opposed to national Home Rule for Ireland, he favoured self-government on the local level and blamed shortsighted British officials for the Irish crisis of the 1880s. The majority of the Conservative Party agreed with the Liberal government’s coercion policy toward Ireland, but Lord Randolph allowed the Irish nationalists, led by Charles Stewart Parnell, to understand that the Conservatives would oppose coercion in return for Irish votes in the general election of 1885. It was said that the Liberals underwent a forced conversion to Home Rule to counteract that promise.(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/117261/Lord-Randolph-Churchill, accessed 21 January 2014)Image of a moustached man known as Lord R. Churchill, M.P.ballarat irish, churchill, randolf churchill

Parnell was an Irish nationalist and statesman who led the fight for Irish Home Rule in the 1880s. Charles Stewart Parnell was born on 27 June 1846 in County Wicklow into a family of Anglo-Irish Protestant landowners. He studied at Cambridge University and was elected to parliament in 1875 as a member of the Home Rule League (later re-named by Parnell the Irish Parliamentary Party). His abilities soon became evident. In 1878, Parnell became an active opponent of the Irish land laws, believing their reform should be the first step on the road to Home Rule. In 1879, Parnell was elected president of the newly founded National Land League and the following year he visited the United States to gain both funds and support for land reform. In the 1880 election, he supported the Liberal leader William Gladstone, but when Gladstone's Land Act of 1881 fell short of expectations, he joined the opposition. By now he had become the accepted leader of the Irish nationalist movement. Parnell now encouraged boycott as a means of influencing landlords and land agents, and as a result he was sent to jail and the Land League was suppressed. From Kilmainham prison he called on Irish peasants to stop paying rent. In March 1882, he negotiated an agreement with Gladstone - the Kilmainham Treaty - in which he urged his followers to avoid violence. But this peaceful policy was severely challenged by the murder in May 1882 of two senior British officials in Phoenix Park in Dublin by members of an Irish terrorist group. Parnell condemned the murders. In 1886, Parnell joined with the Liberals to defeat Lord Salisbury's Conservative government. Gladstone became prime minister and introduced the first Irish Home Rule Bill. Parnell believed it was flawed but said he was prepared to vote for it. The Bill split the Liberal Party and was defeated in the House of Commons. Gladstone's government fell soon afterwards.(http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/parnell_charles.shtml, accessed 21 January 2014) The Irish National Land League (Irish: Conradh na Talún) was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on. The period of the Land League's agitation is known as the Land War. Within decades of the league's foundation, through the efforts of William O'Brien and George Wyndham (a descendant of Lord Edward FitzGerald), the 1902 Land Conference produced the Land (Purchase) Act 1903 which allowed Irish tenant farmers buy out their freeholds with UK government loans over 68 years through the Land Commission (an arrangement that has never been possible in Britain itself). For agricultural labourers, D.D. Sheehan and the Irish Land and Labour Association secured their demands from the Liberal government elected in 1905 to pass the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1906, and the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1911, which paid County Councils to build over 40,000 new rural cottages, each on an acre of land. By 1914, 75% of occupiers were buying out their landlords, mostly under the two Acts. In all, under the pre-UK Land Acts over 316,000 tenants purchased their holdings amounting to 15 million acres (61,000 km2) out of a total of 20 million acres (81,000 km2) in the country. Sometimes the holdings were described as "uneconomic", but the overall sense of social justice was undeniable. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_National_Land_League, accessed 21 January 2014) The Irish National Land League was founded at the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar, the County town of Mayo, on 21 October 1879. At that meeting Charles Stewart Parnell was elected president of the league. Andrew Kettle, Michael Davitt, and Thomas Brennan were appointed as honorary secretaries. This united practically all the different strands of land agitation and tenant rights movements under a single organisation. The two aims of the Land League, as stated in the resolutions adopted in the meeting, were: ...first, to bring out a reduction of rack-rents; second, to facilitate the obtaining of the ownership of the soil by the occupiers. That the object of the League can be best attained by promoting organisation among the tenant-farmers; by defending those who may be threatened with eviction for refusing to pay unjust rents; by facilitating the working of the Bright clauses of the Irish Land Act during the winter; and by obtaining such reforms in the laws relating to land as will enable every tenant to become owner of his holding by paying a fair rent for a limited number of years. Charles Stewart Parnell, John Dillon, Michael Davitt, and others including Cal Lynn then went to America to raise funds for the League with spectacular results. Branches were also set up in Scotland, where the Crofters Party imitated the League and secured a reforming Act in 1886. The government had introduced the first ineffective Land Act in 1870, then the equally inadequate Acts of 1880 and 1881 followed. These established a Land Commission that started to reduce some rents. Parnell together with all of his party lieutenants, including Father Eugene Sheehy known as "the Land League priest", went into a bitter verbal offensive and were imprisoned in October 1881 under the Irish Coercion Act in Kilmainham Jail for "sabotaging the Land Act", from where the No-Rent Manifesto was issued, calling for a national tenant farmer rent strike which was partially followed. Although the League discouraged violence, agrarian crimes increased widely. Typically a rent strike would be followed by evictions by the police, or those tenants paying rent would be subject to a local boycott by League members. Where cases went to court, witnesses would change their stories, resulting in an unworkable legal system. This in turn led on to stronger criminal laws being passed that were described by the League as "Coercion Acts". The bitterness that developed helped Parnell later in his Home Rule campaign. Davitt's views were much more extreme, seeking to nationalise all land, as seen in his famous slogan: "The land of Ireland for the people of Ireland". Parnell aimed to harness the emotive element, but he and his party preferred for tenant farmers to become freeholders on the land they rented, instead of land being vested in "the people".(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_National_Land_League, accessed 21 January 2014)Image of bearded man known as Charles Stewart Parnellballarat irish, parnell, charles parnell, home rule

Large format book published for the 150th Anniversary of the birth of British settlement in Australia. Introduction by His Majesty King George VI. Foreword by J.A. Lyons, Prime Minister of Australia. Produced by Oswald L. Ziegler under the authority of Australia's 150th Anniversary Celebrations Council. Published by Simmons Ltd Sydney, 1938. Contributors Frank Hurley 1885-1962.; Oswald L Ziegler (Oswald Leopold), 1900-1984.; Australia's 150th Anniversary Celebrations Council. non-fictioncommemorative publications (1788-1938), frank hurley (photographer)

Index, ill, p.320.non-fictionA biography of Winston Churchillprime ministers - great britain, great britain - politics and government - 20th century

This album pays tribute to the First World War service men who were born and / or lived in the Shire of Marong and were killed in action. Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, and both Prime Minister Joseph Cook and Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher, who were in the midst of an election campaign, pledged full support for Britain. The outbreak of war was greeted in Australia, as in many other places, with great enthusiasm. For Australia, the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. Large volume with screw post binding. Corduroy and leather front and back cover. Leather gold embossed title central front cover. Marbled pasted down end papers. Seventy four individual cream and maroon printed pages with decorative scrolls, illustrations and text. Alphabetised. Each page is dedicated to a service man who died in action, recording his name, address, service record and date of death. Oval central space for photographic portrait with image of an emu on the left, kangaroo on the right and boomerang above. (Not all pages contain photographs). Shire of Marong / The President, Councillors & Ratepayers / of the Shire of Marong / hereby place on record their thanks and appreciation / for the conduct of (soldiers name) / Who served his King and Country / in the Great War / 1914 / 1919shire of marong, world war 1

This album pays tribute to the First World War service men who were born and / or lived in the Shire of Marong. This volume covers surnames from A to G. Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, and both Prime Minister Joseph Cook and Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher, who were in the midst of an election campaign, pledged full support for Britain. The outbreak of war was greeted in Australia, as in many other places, with great enthusiasm. For Australia, the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.Large volume with screw post binding. Corduroy and leather front and back cover. Leather gold embossed title central front cover. Marbled pasted down end papers with extra red end page. This volume covers surnames from A to G. of the men who returned from the war. Seventy six individual cream and maroon and silver printed pages with decorative scrolls, illustrations and text. Each page is dedicated to a service man recording his name, address, service record in alphabetical order. Oval central space for photographic portrait with image of an emu on the left, kangaroo on the right and boomerang above. Not all pages contain photographs. Shire of Marong / The President, Councillors & Ratepayers / of the Shire of Marong / hereby place on record their thanks and appreciation / for the conduct of (soldiers name) / Who served his King and Country / in the Great War / 1914 / 1919shire of marong, world war 1

This album pays tribute to the First World War service men who were born and / or lived in the Shire of Marong. This volume covers surnames from H - M. Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, and both Prime Minister Joseph Cook and Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher, who were in the midst of an election campaign, pledged full support for Britain. The outbreak of war was greeted in Australia, as in many other places, with great enthusiasm. For Australia, the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.Large volume with screw post binding. Corduroy and leather front and back cover. Leather gold embossed title central front cover. Marbled pasted down end papers with extra red end page. This volume covers surnames from H - M. Fifty seven individual cream and maroon and silver printed pages with decorative scrolls, illustrations and text. Each page is dedicated to a service man recording his name, address, service record in alphabetical order. Oval central space for photographic portrait with image of an emu on the left, kangaroo on the right and boomerang above. Not all pages contain photographs. Shire of Marong / The President, Councillors & Ratepayers / of the Shire of Marong / hereby place on record their thanks and appreciation / for the conduct of (soldiers name) / Who served his King and Country / in the Great War / 1914 / 1919shire of marong, world war 1

This album pays tribute to the First World War service men who were born and / or lived in the Shire of Marong. This volume covers surnames from N - Z. Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, and both Prime Minister Joseph Cook and Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher, who were in the midst of an election campaign, pledged full support for Britain. The outbreak of war was greeted in Australia, as in many other places, with great enthusiasm. For Australia, the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. Large volume with screw post binding. Corduroy and leather front and back cover. Leather gold embossed title central front cover. Marbled pasted down end papers with extra red end page. This volume covers surnames from N - Z. Seventy seven individual cream and maroon and silver printed pages with decorative scrolls, illustrations and text. Each page is dedicated to a service man recording his name, address, service record in alphabetical order. Oval central space for photographic portrait with image of an emu on the left, kangaroo on the right and boomerang above. Not all pages contain photographs. Shire of Marong / The President, Councillors & Ratepayers / of the Shire of Marong / hereby place on record their thanks and appreciation / for the conduct of (soldiers name) / Who served his King and Country / in the Great War / 1914 / 1919shire of marong, world war 1

Denis Gibbons (1937 – 2011) Trained with the Australian Army, before travelling to Vietnam in January 1966, Denis stayed with the 1st Australian Task Force in Nui Dat working as a photographer. For almost five years Gibbons toured with nine Australian infantry battalions, posting compelling war images from within many combat zones before being flown out in late November 1970 after sustaining injuries. The images held within the National Vietnam Veterans Museum make up the Gibbons Collection.A black and white photograph of Townsville, Queensland 18/08/1968 a portion of the guests at the Trooping of the 6 RAR Colour. Right to left Mrs Townsend, Lt Col C Townsend, Mrs Jackson, Brig O.D. Jackson, Lady Pollard, Lt Gen Sir Reginald Pollard KBE CB DSO, the Colonel Commandant, The Royal Australian Regiment, Mrs Crook, His Excellency Mr William H Crook, the Ambassador of the United States of America.photograph, d coy, 6 rar, battle of long tan, john gorton, lt col c townsend, brig o d jackson, lt gen sir reginald pollard, mr william h crook (ambassador of the us), gibbons collection catalogue, the royal australian regiment, townsville, trooping of the colour, mrs townsend, mrs jackson, lady pollard, knight commander of the most excellent order of the british empire, kbe, mrs crook, prime minister of australia j g gorton mp, denis gibbons

The letter to William Ferrier of South Warrnambool from the Prime Minister and the Parliament of the Commonwealth recognised the significance of William’s brave and courageous lifesaving act to the people of Australia; “They all feel that your conduct was worthy of the best deeds done by British sailors in the past and they are proud to know that Australia can produce such as you.” The story of that brave rescue follows on below … The ship from which the sailors were rescued was the three-masted, iron and steel barquentine the La Bella, built in Norway in 1893. She was one of two iron and steel ships by Johan Smith, The company was one of the leading shipping families in Tvedestrand, Norway. She was significant to Norwegian shipping, being one of only 27 iron and steel ships ever built in Norway. She was registered in New Zealand and engaged from 1902 in inter-colonial trading of timber in the Pacific, between New Zealand and Australia and was often in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. On 5th October 1905, the twelve-year-old La Bella left Lyttleton, New Zealand carrying a cargo of timber bound for Warrnambool, Australia. She was manned by a crew of twelve: the Master, (Captain Mylius, previously 1st Mate of La Bella, appointed Captain to La Bella on 6th February 1903) 2 Mates, Cook, six able seamen, one ordinary seaman and a boy. Bad weather en route caused her to shelter at Burnie on Tasmania's North West coast. On November 10th, the 37th day of her journey, La Bella approached Warrnambool. Captain Mylius steered her towards Lady Bay Channel in heavy south-west seas and evening mist. He ordered the helmsman to steer for the light. As the ship came round, a tremendous sea struck her on the port quarter, causing her to breach broadside in a north-westerly direction into breakers. The helm was brought round twice more, but each time heavy seas broke over her, the third time throwing the La Bella on to a submerged reef in Lady Bay now known as La Bella Reef (about 100 yards from the Warrnambool breakwater). The sea was so rough that it even wrenched a one-and-a-half ton anchor from its fastenings and into the sea. As Captain Mylius headed to the steel wheelhouse, intending to send up a rocket flare, a huge sea slammed the steel door into him (resulting in massive bruising front and back) Despite his injuries he still managed to set off a blue light, which he held up in his hands. La Bella’s lifeboats were filled with seawater and broke up on their chocks. The blue light was the first indication to people on the shore that there was a ship in distress. The Harbour Master, Captain Roe (who lived in the Harbour Master’s House opposite Flagstaff Hill), organised a group of volunteers to crew the lifeboat because the trained crew was unavailable; the crewmen were working on a steamer in Port Fairy at the time. He then poured oil onto the water to try and smooth the sea. At around 11 pm three of the crew took shelter in the steel forecastle but the sea crashed into it and broke it up. While the rest of the crew and onlookers watched helplessly in the moonlight the bodies were washed away into the sea, never to be seen again. Some of the crew lashed themselves to the weather rail to keep from being washed away. Watson, the ordinary seaman, became tangled in the rigging lines and was too weak to move, so the 2nd Mate, Robertson, put a line onto him so that he wouldn’t wash off. Around 11 pm three of the crew were unconscious from exhaustion. The situation on La Bella was becoming dangerous. The 2nd Mate moved to the ‘house’ and soon afterwards the ship slipped in the heavy sea. The lashings of the 1st Mate and the ‘boy’ Denham had kept them safe until about 2 am when they were washed overboard; no one was able to help. One by one, the exhausted crew were being washed overboard, too weak to hold on any longer. During the night the La Bella had broken into two and the deckhouse ran out towards the sea. Two more men drowned when trying to reach the lifeboat. By sunrise, the only survivors of the twelve were the Master, 2nd Mate and three seamen. Early in the morning, Captain Roe used the rocket apparatus on shore to try and shoot a line to the ship for a safer rescue but each attempt fell short of the target. Several attempts were made by the lifeboat to rescue the stricken sailors, but the rough conditions made this difficult for the boat to get close enough to the ship and the lifeboat had to return to shore. During a final attempt to reach the ship Captain Mylius ordered his men to jump into the sea. Leonard Robertson, 2nd mate, jumped and swam towards the lifeboat, taking hold of the boat hook offered to him. Oscar Rosenholme managed to reach the boat floating on a piece of timber from the ship’s load and a third survivor, Noake, also made the boat. Along with the lifeboat rescue crew, 25-year-old William Ferrier rowed his small dingy through the heavy seas and managed to rescue the Captain, whom he landed on the breakwater. Ferrier then returned to the ship to attempt a final rescue, losing his oars and rowlocks into the high sea. Using just a spare paddle he skulled towards the La Bella, reaching her stern in time to cut loose the lone surviving sailor, Payne, from the lashing that held him to the ship; the terrified sailor dropped from the ship and into the dingy. Shortly after the last man was rescued, the La Bella was lifted by a huge wave and crashed back down on the reef; she broke up and sank. The ordeal had lasted ten hours. The survivors were taken to the nearby Bay View Hotel and gratefully received warm food and clothing, medical attention and a place to sleep. In the following days, an unidentified body of a young person has washed ashore; it was either Watson or Denham. The body was buried in the Warrnambool cemetery with an appropriate gravestone and inscription. William Ferrier became a national hero as news of the daring rescue spread. In recognition of his bravery in the two daring rescues, he was awarded the Silver Medal for Bravery by the Royal Humane Society and was honoured in the letter from the Prime Minister and the Parliament of the Commonwealth, telegrams and a cheque for £20 from the Governor-General, over £150 subscribed by the public, including Warrnambool and district and readers of The Argus, and a gold medal from the Glenelg Dinghy Club of South Australia. Ferrier’s rescue efforts are one of the most heroic in Victoria’s shipwreck history. (William Ferrier’s son, Frank, received a similar award almost fifty years later when he helped rescue four members of the crew on the yacht Merlan after it ran on to a reef near the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse. ) The wreck of La Bella now lies on her port side in 13 metres of sheltered water inside the reef she struck. The bow section is relatively intact and part of the stern has drifted north-easterly towards the mouth of the Hopkins River. The reef the La Bella struck now bears its name. Those five rescued from the La Bella were Captain George Mylius, Leonard Robertson (2nd Mate, 21 years old), R. Payne, Oscar Rosenholme and Jack Noake. Those seven who lost their lives were Mr Coulson (1st mate), Charles Jackman (cook) Gustave Johnson, Pierre Johann and Robert Gent (all able seamen), Harry Watson (ordinary seaman) and Jack Denham (ship’s boy), Captain Mylius was found guilty of careless navigation; he had sailed into the bay without the services of a pilot. His Master Certificate was suspended for twelve months. Later he was also charged with the manslaughter of one of the crew who had died when the La Bella was wrecked but found not guilty. The event’s adverse publicity and damage to his career took a toll on his health and he died of a heart attack six months after the wreck; he was only thirty-seven. His body was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. The La Bella was “the best documented of all sailing ships owned in New Zealand”. Her record books, ship logs, correspondence and supporting papers are still available. At the time of the tragedy, she was owned by Messers David C.Turnbull and Co. of Timaru, New Zealand timber merchants and shipping agents, who had purchased her on 13th December 1901. A detailed account of the last journey of La Bella can be read in “Leonard Robertson, the Whangaroa & La Bella” written by Jack Churchouse, published in 1982 by Millwood Press Ltd, Wellington, NZ. As well as this letter, Flagstaff Hill’s La Bella Collection includes a photograph of the wrecked La Bella, a brass rail holder and a postcard of William Ferrier with four of the survivors. Some 15 – 17 ships are believed to have sunk in Lady Bay, but only two have been discovered on the seafloor; the “La Bella” and the “Edinburgh Castle”. Both wrecks are popular diving sites and are preserved as significant historical marine and marine archaeological sites. This original congratulatory letter sent to William Ferrier by the Prime Minister and Government of Australia demonstrates the importance attached to his efforts for Victoria and to Australia. The letter is part of the La Bella Collection and is significant at both a local and state level. Its connection to the La Bella shipwreck and the rescue of five survivors highlights the dangers of Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast. The letter to William Ferrier from the Australian Government acknowledges the bravery of ordinary Australians who risked their lives to save victims of shipwrecks along the coast. The letter is significant to the history of Warrnambool as it honours William Ferrier, a local fisherman whose descendants continue to live in the area. It highlights the way of life of people who lived in coastal towns in 19th century Victoria and the effects of shipwrecks upon them. The letter connects to the postcard of William Ferrier with four of the five rescued crew, the photograph of the wreck of the La Bella and the artefact from the wreck, the rail holder. This letter is significant because of its association with the sailing ship “La Bella”. The “La Bella” is of local and state and national significance. It is one of the only two shipwrecks discovered in Lady Bay, Warrnambool, out of the 15-17 shipwrecks in the bay. Letter to William Ferrier of South Warrnambool from the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament commending him on his bravery. The printed letterhead includes a coat of arms in the top centre and the official address. The letter is very neatly hand written in black pen and includes 4 signatures of Members of Parliament. The rectangular paper is cream coloured with some yellow/brown discolouring. It has the letterhead on the right hand side of it and the written letter begins below the letterhead. The paper has been folded so that the right side becomes the cover page of the letter. The writing is continued onto the inside right hand page of the folded paper and the writing ends here. There is more recent writing on the bottom right hand corner of the back page. The paper has been officially folded in half a total 3 times and there is heavy discolouration on the sections that form the front and back of the folded letter. There is a 4th fold line that is less pronounced that the other folds and would make the paper the size to fit into a pocket. At several fold creases the paper has worn through. The edges of the paper have minor tears. The printed coat of arms is that of the House of Representatives. Underneath is printed “The Parliament of the Commonwealth, / Parliament House / Melbourne”. The hand written, letter is dated “14th November, 1905” and addressed to “Mr. William Ferrier / South Warrnambool” The letter begins “The Speaker, the Prime Minister and Members of the Ministry and its supporters, the Leader and Members of the Opposition, the Leader and Members of the Labour Party, being all the Members of the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament of Australia” … It continues “desire to express to you their appreciation of your bravery in skulling out to the wreck of the “La Bella” at Warrnambool on Saturday, 11th November, 1905, and recovering therefrom two of the crew who were in imminent danger of their lives. They all feel that your conduct was worthy of the best deeds done by British sailors in the past and they are proud to know that Australia can produce such as you.” The letter is “Signed on behalf of the Members – Speaker (Frederick Holder ), Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Joseph Cook ), Prime Minister (Alfred Deakin), Leader of the Labour Party ( J.C. Watson)” On the back of the letter is blue ink handwriting “OWNER / G. FERRIER / TO. BE. PHOTOGRAPHED / 27-4-76”la bella, william ferrier, bill ferrier, lady bay, 1905, 10th november 1905, 11th november 1905, parliament of the commonwealth, prime minister, australian government, new zealand, flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village