The beginning of standardised weights and measures began In Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received sets of standard weights and measures, which had been tested in Britain against the then British Imperial standards. These included the primary standard yard and pound for the Colony of Victoria. Other standards of weights and measure held by shires and the administrative body's within the colony could then be compared to these primary standards. A Weights and Measures Act was passed in Victoria in 1862, establishing local inspectors throughout the colony. By the 1870s each local council and shire in Victoria held a set of standards that were used to test scales, weights and dry measures used by wholesalers, factories and shops. Every ten years the councils’ standards would themselves need to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. The checking was done by the Victorian Customs Department in the 19th century, but with the transfer of responsibility for customs to the Federal Government in 1901, weights and measures function was retained by the Victorian Government and was shifted to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, a new building was erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House, where the standard weights and measures and testing equipment was installed. This room had a large whirling apparatus for testing air meters and became known as the Whirling Room. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue and this branch remained at the Observatory site unit until 1995. J & M Ewan History: J&M Ewan was a Melbourne firm that began by selling retail furniture and wholesale ironmongery. They had substantial warehouses situated at the intersection of 81-83 Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets, the business was established by James M Ewan in 1852. Shortly afterwards he went into partnership with William Kerr Thomson and Samuel Renwick. When Ewan died in 1868 his partners carried on and expanded the business under his name J & M Ewan. The business was expanded to provide a retail shop, counting-house and private offices. Wholesale warehouses adjoined these premises at 4, 6 and 10 Little Collins Street, West. This company provided and sold a large and varied amount of imported goods into the colony that consisted of agriculture equipment, building materials, mining items as well as steam engines, tools of all types and marble fireplaces. They also supplied the Bronze measuring containers in the Flagstaff Hill collection and the probability is that these containers were obtained by the local Melbourne authority that monitored weights and measures in the mid to late 19th century. The company grew to employ over 150 people in Melbourne and opened offices at 27 Lombard St London as well as in New Zealand and Fiji. The company also serviced the Mauritius islands and the pacific area with their steamship the Suva and a brig the Shannon, the company ceased trading in 1993. Robert Bate History: Robert Brettell Bate (1782-1847) was born in Stourbridge, England, one of four sons of Overs Bate, a mercer (a dealer in textile fabrics, especially silks, velvet's, and other fine materials)and banker. Bate moved to London, and in 1813 was noticed for his scientific instrument making ability through the authority of the “Clockmakers Company”. Sometime in the year 1813 it was discovered that one Robert Brettell Bate, regarded as a foreigner in London had opened a premises in the Poultry selling area of London. He was a Mathematical Instrument maker selling sundials and other various instruments of the clock making. In 1824, Bate, in preparation for his work on standards and weights, leased larger premises at 20 and 21 Poultry, London, at a rental of four hundred pounds per annum. It was there that Bate produced quality metrological instruments, which afforded him the recognition as one of one of the finest and principal English metrological instrument-makers of the nineteenth century. English standards at this time were generally in a muddle, with local standards varying from shire to shire. On 17 June 1824, an Act of Parliament was passed making a universal range of weights, measures, and lengths for the United Kingdom, and Bate was given the job of crafting many of the metrological artifacts. He was under instruction from the renown physicist Henry Kater F.R.S. (1777-1835) to make standards and to have them deposited in the principal cities throughout the United Kingdom and colonies. Bate experimented with tin-copper alloys to find the best combination for these items and by October 1824, he had provided Kater with prototypes to test troy and avoirdupois pounds, and samples with which to divide the troy into grams. Bate also cast the standard for the bushel, and by February 1825, had provided all the standards required of him by the Exchequer, Guildhalls of Edinburgh, and Dublin. In 1824, he also made a troy pound standard weight for the United States, which was certified for its accuracy by Kater and deposited with the US Mint in 1827. Kater, in his address to the Royal Society of London, acknowledged Bate's outstanding experimentation and craftsmanship in producing standards of weights, measures, and lengths. An example of a dry Bronze measuring container made specifically for J & M Ewan by possibly the most important makers of measurement artefacts that gives us today a snapshot of how imperial weights and measures were used and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in the Australian colonies based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item retailed by J & M Ewan and used in Victoria by the authorities who were given legal responsibility to ensure that wholesalers and retailers of dry goods sold in Victoria were correct. The container was a legal standard measure so was also used to test merchants containers to ensure that their distribution of dry goods to a customer was correct.Maker Possibly Robert Brettell Blake or De Grave, Short & Co Ltd both of LondonContainer bronze round shape for measuring dry quantities has brass handles & is a 'half-bushel' measurement"IMPERIAL STANDARD HALF BUSHEL" engraved around the top of the container. VICTORIA engraved under "J & M Ewan & Co London and Melbourne" engraved around the bottom of the container.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, standard measure, bronze, peck measurement, j & m ewan, victorian standard dry measurement, bronze container, victorian standards, melbourne observatory, robert brettell bate

Frame - Royal StandardGrove

This photograph depicts the interior of the Coles Variety Store within Bentleigh's Centre Road shopping precinct in 1956. Signage represents the pre decimal currency era. The Record Bar advertises the availability of standard and microgroove vinyl records.In this era, the Centre Road Bentleigh shopping strip provided consumers with access to many of the major retail outlets and provided for a wide range of shopping needs. By the 1960s, Chadstone Shopping Centres (opened 1960) and Southland (opened 1968) had been established which created changes to the way in which people shopped.Black and white photograph of interior of Coles Store in Centre Road, Bentleigh displaying prominent signage predating decimal currency. Other signage includes the Coles Record Bar indicating the sale of standard and microgroove vinyl records.Handwritten in blue ink: Coles Bentleigh Sep 1956 B Black printed text on white round adhesive sticker: 202 Handwritten in red ink: 80%shopping strip, strip shopping, bentleigh, city of moorabbin, coles stores

After the 1939 bushfires, the Forests Commission Victoria invested heavily in a radically new communications network. After suffering some inevitable delays due to the war, radio VL3AA switched into full operation in October 1945 proudly beaming out 200 watts across the State. But by today’s standards, the technology was primitive and the reception poor unless the user was on a high point somewhere. The radio signal was "line-of-sight" and bounced between fire towers and relay transmitters across the mountains back to the District offices. The advent of solid-state electronics in the 1960s replaced the more delicate valve sets which enabled greater use of vehicle mounted radios. The Commission continued to research, develop and build new radios at its many workshops around Victoria. The network was supported by a large team of skilled radio technicians. The more secure and versatile State Mobile Radio (SMR) digital trunk system came into operation in about 1995. Upgraded Tait Radios were purchased in 2014 after recommendations of the 2009 Bushfires Royal Commission. But it was the convergence of separate technologies such as 5G mobile phones, high-capacity and light-weight lithium batteries, Wi-Fi, the ever-expanding internet, cloud data storage, digital cameras, GPS, personal organisers and hundreds of supporting Apps into powerful smartphones and tablets which revolutionised bushfire communications from the mid-2000s. Radio without handsetSTC - Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd 3AL - Neerim Southbushfire, radios, forests commission victoria (fcv)

French 1831 Pattern Artillery Short Sword A French 1831 pattern brass handle dismounted artillery mans short sword, marked Talabotts Paris with black leather brass mounted scabbard. Blade, length 49cm, total length 64cm The French 1816-1831 sword was based on ancient sculptural depictions of the Roman gladius, the standard sword of the Roman legionaries. Both sword and scabbard are in very good condition.Short Sword Brass Handle with 26 cm Blade French 1831 Pattern Artillery. Based on ancient sculptural depictions of the Roman gladius, the standard sword of the Roman legionaries.Stamped number on center of the guard of the hilt is 770. There is some marks also on center of the guard on the opposite side but not readable.french short sword 1831, brass handle, metal blade

Standard format receipts (3). 30027a: Receipt dated 29/9/1931 for Membership subscription of £2-2-0 from Mr McCaskill to Ringwood Bowling Club for year ending 31/7/1032. . 30027b: Receipt dated 6/1/1934 for donation of £2 from Mr McCaskill to Ringwood Bowling Club for electric lawn mower. . 30027c: Receipt dated 22/8/1945 for (a)- Membership subscription of £3-3-0 from Mr McCaskill to Ringwood Bowling Club for 1945/46 year. (b)- Payment of £3-3-0 by Mr McCaskill to Ringwood Bowling Club for 'Whole of Roller Levy'.Total receipt amount £6-6-0.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Standard Format Pupil's RegisterHand written entries of Student names, Date of Birth, Parents name and occupation, attendance record with entry and exit dates, and School next attended.

Original standard Clearance form.CLEARANCE No 1610 The Committee of the Croydon Ladies Bowling Club hereby grant Mrs Aird a clearance to the Ringwood Ladies Bowling Club. Dated 25th September, 1959. Signed- H Houghton, Hon Secretary, Croydon Ladies Bowling Club.

Original standard Clearance form.CLEARANCE No 1181 The Committee of the Bacchus Marsh Ladies Bowling Club hereby grant Mrs J. M. Robertson a clearance to the Ringwood Bowling Club. Dated 23rd September, 1959. Signed- Mrs J. H. Tudball, Hon Secretary, Bacchus Marsh Bowling Club.

Original standard Clearance form.CLEARANCE No 1608 The Committee of the Sunshine Ladies Bowling Club hereby grant Mrs D. Jones a clearance to the Ringwood Ladies Bowling Club. Dated 23rd September, 1959. Signed- A Mann, Hon Secretary, Sunshine Ladies Bowling Club.