One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a two cold pressing machines with fabric.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W32 / W32. Cold Pressing.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing machinery with spools of wool.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W16 / W16. Open Drawing.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a machine dyeing cloth.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W29 / W29. Dyeing Clothwool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a man in a coat and hat classing wool at a table, with two other workers in background.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W64 / W64. Wool-classer with table of / classed wool and boy delivering / to bin in background.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing sheep in stockyards. A saddled horse stands in the background.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W51 / W51. Sheep in yards prior to / Shearing.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a stud merino ram at Boonoke Station.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W71 / W71. Stud merino ram, taken at / Boonooke Station.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a man on horseback with rams at Boonoke Station.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W44 / W44. ? rams at / Boonoke Stationwool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing lambs in stock yards.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W59 / W59. Lambs in yards at shearing shed.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing shearers at work at Boonoke Station.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W56 / W56. Shearers at work, / Boonooke Station.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a woman working at a warping machine.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W25 / W25. Close-up of Warp.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a man using a machine to fold woollen textiles.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W33 / W33. Folding.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a man rolling and packing woollen textiles.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W35 / W35. Packing.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a man standing at a machine during the tentering process.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W12 / W12. Tentering (Drying).wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a French combing machine.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W23 / W23. French Combing.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a woman working at a warping machine.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W24 / W24. Warping.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a man working at vats dyeing wool.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W28 / W28. Dyeing Wool.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a wool moving through machinery.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W11 / W11. From Scourer to Dryer.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing close up of a hand mending wool textiles.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W39 / Mendingwool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool

The extensive formal landscaped gardens of Rockingham had been created in the 1860s, and by the 1950s remained bordered to the south by the Barkers Road cutting, and to the north by Blytheswood, the neighbouring Syme family property, By 1940, the Syme family were no longer the occupiers of Rockingham. John Herbert Syme had died in October 1939, and by August the following year, his wife had made the house and garden available, rent free to the Red Cross as a convalescent home for Australian soldiers injured in the Second World War. At the time, the house was described as containing twenty rooms, including a ballroom and a billiards room, with a garden of eight acres overlooking the Yarra. The task of renovating the house to conform to its new function as a convalescent home took a year, finally opening in August 1941. Community support for Rockingham was widespread and included the decision by the National Gallery of Victoria to loan pictures from its collection to decorate the walls. Calls were made for women around Victoria to donate fruit and vegetables from their gardens, which the railways agreed to freight for free. Other local support included the work by a team of boys to establish a three-acre vegetable garden within the formal terraced gardens. From the beginning, occupational therapy formed a key component of the rehabilitation of psychologically injured soldiers. This is confirmed by contemporary newspaper accounts of weaving, ironwork, leatherwork, basketry and gardening by patients. Numerous photographs, held by the Australian War Memorial (AWM) and the State Library of Victoria (SLV), record the importance of these rehabilitation activities. The painting of the view across the river to Abbotsford may have been painted in one of these occupational therapy sessions. For many decades it hung in the occupational therapy room. It must have been on view following the sale of Rockingham by the Syme family to the Red Cross in 1955, and subsequently, until the house was demolished and its grounds finally subdivided in 1977.View of Abbotsford from the garden of Rockingham (1952) was created by V Maloney. The vantage point of the artist was the garden of Rockingham, one of two mansions overlooking the Yarra owned by the Syme family. The artwork depicts a number of sites - especially factories - that have since been demolished.Signed by the artist, lower right "V Maloney"rockingham red cross convalescent home, hospitals - kew (vic), rosemary lade, art therapy

Exercise or Mapping book - Australian Mapping book, decorative cover with mathematical tables on the rear, plain paper, 48 pages holding tickets collected by Keith Stodden. Titled "Tickets 2". Tickets have been positioned using stamp hinges. Pages 1 - Sydney 2 - 5 - mixed VR Bus, MMTB, railway tours, National Trust, and other admission tickets 6 - 8 - Brisbane 9 - BTMS, TAA 10 - TMSV, Sydney 11 - MMTB 12 - Sandhurst Town, National Trust, mixed admission 13 - Sydney 14 - MMTB Bus 15 - Adelaide 16 - 19 - Brisbane 20 - 21- Melbourne Rail, 22 - Melbourne Pageant 23 - 24 - Melbourne Rail and Tram - Travel cards 25 - 26 - Auckland, MOTAT 27 - 28 - Travelcards, Ballarat, Bendigo, Perth, MMTB Swimming ticket 29 - Melbourne rail 30 - Ansett bus, rail and MTT Perth 31 - 32 - Rail travel cards 33 - CRB Westgate bridge toll, Neighbourhood tickets 34 - ARHS ACT, Westgate bridge toll vouchers, 35 - 37 - MMTB, Rail travel cards, ACT bus 38 - Muni, and Travelcard 39 - 40 - Rail, 41 - 42 - travel cards, ARHS ACT 43 - 44 - Travelcards, Santa tram Bendigo 45 - blank 46 - VicRail country ticket, Ansett boarding pass 47 - Levers coachlines.trams, tramways, tickets, the met, mmtb, adelaide, sec, tmsv, sydney, buses

Folded map of Victoria, showing in colour relief Victorian area, national parks, highways, towns, railways, airport, wine growing areas, towns with information centres, historic parks, ski fields. NSW and SA show major towns and highways. Front cover includes an image of a Z class tram and two penguins. Has town index. Folded 7 folds horizontally by 3 folds deep. On rear is a listing of locations with major tourist destinations provided. Provides location of VicTour offices. Prepared by the Surveyor General for the Victorian Tourism Commission, printed by the Government Printer, 4th edition 1985.trams, tramways, victoria, map, victour, tourism

Printed bifold menu of Trans Australian Railways Dining Car Service with signatures of the Ballarat bandsmen travelling to Western Australia to compete in the national band titles 1929 at Perth.Early record of Trans Australian Rail travel and Australian brass band history and activities.bifold card printed menuFront of menu printed Trans Australian Railways Dining Car Service with signatures of the Ballarat bandsmen travelling to Perth for the national band titles in 1929. ballarat, trans continental, railway, menu, bandsmen, national band competitions, perth

Edendale Farm is Nillumbik Shire Council's environment centre situated in Gastons Road, Eltham between the railway and the Diamond Creek. The homestead on the property was built in 1896 and is of historical significance, being the subject of a Heritage Overlay under the Nillumbik Planning Scheme. The Edendale property was originally part of an extensive land purchase in 1852 from the Crown by pioneer Eltham farmer Henry Stooke. He initially purchased 51 acres and later expanded his holdings by purchasing another three adjacent Crown allotments extending northerly from Josiah Holloway's Little Eltham subdivision. Despite clearing the land, Stooke did not build on this property, choosing to live on his property "Rosehill" at Lower Plenty. In 1896 Thomas Cool, Club Manager of the Victoria Coffee Palace in Melbourne purchased 7 acres of the original Stooke land and built the house now known as Edendale. Cool did not farm the land, instead using it as a gentleman’s residence, retiring to Eltham at weekends. In 1918 he purchased an additional 7 acres but in 1919 he sold the property. Later owners included J.W. Cox, the Gaston family and D. Mummery. In the 1980s the Eltham Shire Council purchased the site for use as a Council depot, but this use did not proceed. Subsequently, it was used as the Council pound. The Edendale Farm Pet Education and Retention Centre was established in the summer of 1988/1989 and was set up to replace the existing dog kennels with a high standard pet retention centre. The design style of the building was established to compliment the features of the existing house. It was equipped with 10 retention pens, a veterinary room and a pet education area where school children and other interested parties learnt about pet care procedures. It was later developed into a community farm and was run by an advisory committee and in 2000 it became an Environment Centre. In early 2006 an advisory committee was established for the development of a master plan for future development at Edendale Farm. The committee included Russell Yeoman, a former long-time shire planner and founding member of the Eltham District Historical Society. At the time of filming the Master Plan and future for Edendale was about continuing to develop Edendale as a centre of environment learning and looking at expanding displays and school program, running a lot more of life-long learning and workshops around sustainable living. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p101 A sharp turn from busy Wattletree Road by the railway line, brings a surprise. Only 1.4 km from Eltham’s centre, sheep feed, blissfully unaware of the hectic suburban activity so close by. At the entrance to the 5.6ha Edendale Farm is another surprise. A work of art that looks like huge tree trunks transformed into bowler and top-hatted men. The Fences Act 1968 by Tony Trembath with Mark Cain and John Doyle, 1996, is classified by the National Trust of Australia as having Regional Significance. The title refers to a government act on disputes between neighbors over the placement of fences and boundaries. This takes a ‘wry swipe’ at a community divided by trivial squabbles. It also celebrates making do with limited resources.1 Further along on the left, the office wall is decorated with a massive Eltham Copper Butterfly, designed by Robert Tickner and made by school children with used plastic bottles and other waste material. Nillumbik Council runs Edendale as an Environmental Education Centre, to help preserve and enhance the local environment. As early as 1988 the former Eltham Shire Council realised Edendale’s importance in meeting people’s needs, particularly of children, to enjoy farmland. The centre, with the Eltham North Reserve to the north - including remnant bushland and open parkland - makes up the major part of the public open space for this area. The council considers this area will become increasingly important to the local community for recreational use.2 Educational programs aim to encourage community involvement to ensure the long-term rehabilitation and protection of natural bushland areas. Edendale is used by people of all ages - from school children to adults - for environmental programs and workshops, as well as for recreation, to enjoy the domestic animals and to picnic. Edendale is also home to the Environmental Works staff who manage reserves and roadsides and support Nillumbik Friends environmental groups. The Friends propagate plants at the nursery, which grows indigenous plants and sells these to the public.3 The centre demonstrates the sustainable living the farm teaches, with features like solar hot water and drive lighting and for the fireplace, logs of recycled cardboard. Edendale has had a varied history as a dog pound and even as a retreat for Thomas Cool, Club Manager of the Victoria Coffee Palace in Melbourne. His single-storey weatherboard house built in 1896, which still stands, was grander than most homes in Eltham. Although such buildings were common in many other parts of Melbourne, Eltham’s poverty and remoteness did not encourage such construction. The Victorian rectangular-shaped house, with a corrugated iron roof and veranda, has elegant large rooms, leadlight windows, ceiling roses, two bay windows and ornately carved wooden fireplace surrounds. Cool bought seven acres (2.8ha) from pioneer Eltham farmer Henry Stooke’s 200 acre (81ha) farm, which he had bought from the Crown in 1852. In 1918 Cool bought an extra seven acres (2.8ha) but in 1919 sold the estate to farmer John Cox. In 1933 Cox sold Edendale to Mrs Elizabeth Gaston, after whom the road leading to the centre was named. The property was owned by several Gaston family members, who called it Edendale, then by a police constable, Douglas Mummery, until the Shire of Eltham bought it in 1970. Oddly Edendale was known as Mummery’s for almost 20 years, although Mummery owned it only for a short time.4 The shire used Edendale as a dog pound until amalgamation with other municipalities in 1996. The pound then moved to the Yan Yean Road, Plenty site, which had been used by the former Diamond Valley Shire Council. To the west and north the centre is bounded by Diamond Creek and on the east by the Melbourne-Hurstbridge railway line. Part of the Research creek forms the centre’s southern boundary.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, edendale farm

Covered under National Trust of Australia (Victoria) State Significance and Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p103 The Eltham railway trestle bridge is the only one of its kind still regularly used in Melbourne’s metropolitan railway network. Opened in 1902, it is also one of Victoria’s very few timber rail bridges that still carries trains.1 The bridge is part of the railway line extension from Heidelberg - extended to Hurstbridge in 1912. This extension resulted in one of the greatest social changes experienced in Eltham Shire, as it considerably lessened its isolation attracting tourists, artists and suburban commuters particularly after World War Two.2 The bridge has been classified by the National Trust as historically, scientifically, aesthetically and socially significant at state level. But this has not always been recognised, and in 1977, locals fought to save it from destruction. The Victorian Railways proposed to replace the bridge with an earth embankment and large culverts to avoid maintenance problems and fire. This was rejected by the Eltham Council who protested that the bridge helped maintain the area’s rural character, historic link and beauty, as well as avoiding possible serious flooding on the flood plain if a culvert was blocked. The bridge stands as part of a National Trust classified landscape which includes the Alistair Knox Park, named after the local conservationist and architect who helped to make Eltham famous for its mud-brick houses. The landscape includes tall and spreading manna gums and candlebarks, and the historic Shillinglaw Cottage. Artist Walter Withers, one of the Heidelberg School of painters, painted the bridge early in the 20th century. The 38 span single-track railway bridge over creek and road has 34 timber-beam spans and four steel-joist spans, supported by four-pile timber piers and timber abutments. It has almost 200m of timber deck. All of the timbers have been replaced over the years, but the only change to the bridge’s character was the addition of pylons and wiring for electric trains in 1923. A petition for a railway to the shire was first made in 1883. A large deputation of local citizens to the Commissioner of Railways proposed a route passing through Alphington to midway between Greensborough and Eltham up the Diamond Creek valley towards Queenstown and Kinglake. As a result the Princes Bridge-Heidelberg Railway was opened in 1888. From 1888 locals demanded a railway extension. Kangaroo Ground farmers in particular, led by Shire Councillor and Member for Evelyn, Ewen Cameron, said it would assist local farmers and orchardists send their produce to the Melbourne market. In 1890, before the severe economic Depression, an extension of the line to Hurst’s Bridge (now Hurstbridge) was included in a new Railways Bill. The parliamentary delegations were regaled with a banquet at Hurst’s barn and entertained by the Diamond Creek Brass Band, but the extension was abandoned when the Depression struck in 1892-1893. The extension of the railway to Eltham, completed in 1902, was one of the few built in those hard times. That is why the Eltham timber-trestle railway bridge is a rare example of a broad-gauge rail bridge constructed between 1893 and 1910. At the opening, despite persistent drizzle, 300 children waving flags and banners were among the large crowd welcoming the first train, carrying official dignitaries, to Eltham. It had taken 24 years to bring the railway to Eltham. From then Eltham became a popular destination for outings. Mr Orford of Eltham recalled that after the railway came to Eltham ‘the craze for picnics on weekends and holidays began…. During the wattle season, wattle trains came to Eltham frequently. The visitors roamed the creek pulling great armfuls of wattle blossom to take back with them to Melbourne’.3 In 1926 the railway line was electrified as part of the metropolitan rail network. But the Victorian Railways decided not to complete the formerly planned Diamond Valley Railway to Queenstown (now St Andrews) and Kinglake.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, eltham railway trestle bridge, eltham trestle bridge