Showing 2492 items
matching potato-race
-
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Domestic object - Wood Stove, circa 1880-1920
Stoves of this design are used for heating domestic places and were available in many designs and shapes. They commonly used wood as fuel and were not only used for heating but cooking as well. This stove was part of the original furnishings of the 1922 vessel 'Reginald M a South Australian costal trader it was made from material and fittings obtained from salvage yards. The vessel “Reginald M” was a two-masted coastal ketch, owned and built by Mr. Jack (John) Murch of Birkenhead, Port of Adelaide, South Australia. Its construction took approximately 6 months and it was launched at Largs Bay in 1922. Reginald M had a very shallow draft and a flat bottom that enabled it to come close to shore and to sit high and dry at low tide or to be beached on sand. The flat bottom was also to make the ship able to skim over reefs. Wagons could load and unload direct from her side. Her cargo included Guano, Barley, Wool, Horses, Cattle, Timber, Explosives, Potatoes, Shell Grit and Gypsum. On April 9th 1931Reginald M weathered a large storm in St Vincent Gulf, SA. The vessel suffered much damage; mast snapped and the crew labored for four hours to free her by chopping off the past and rigging. The crew patched her up and slowly returned to Port Adelaide with only a portion of the insured cargo being damaged. Her crew members at the time were owner Mr John H Murch of Wells Street Largs Bay, Skipper Mr R Murch John’s brother, Murray – son of Captain Murch and Seaman John Smith. Reg Webb purchased Carribie Station, at Marion in the Warooka District, south of Adelaide, in 1921. He cleared the land and farmed sheep and grain. In 1923 he shipped his own wool and grain from Marion Bay, having first carted 300 bags of the barley grain, 12 bags at a time, along the unmade track to the jetty. A photograph donated to Flagstaff Hill, dating about 1929 - 1942, shows two men on the Reginald M, holding between them their fishing catch of a large hammer shark. The photograph is stamped “GRENFELL STUDIO PORT LINCOLN PRINT” and titled “hammer shark caught on Reginald M”. The donor’s family lived on the Your Peninsular and dispatched their grain from a chute at Gleeson’s Landing to the awaiting transport vessel. Reg knew the Murch Brothers from Port Adelaide. The brothers had been using their ketch REGINALD M to ship Guano from the Islands, led by Captain Richard Murch. Reg approached them in 1934 about shipping grain from Marion Bay. The brothers visited the bay and thought it was an ideal place. They showed Reg where to stack his grain and they measured up the cliffs. When Reg was ready, they brought down and installed a ninety foot wooden chute. The bags of grain were then individually sent down the chute, landing in a waiting small boat then rowed to REGINALD M, 14 bags at a time. After 10 hours REGINALD M would be fully loaded with 1300 bags of grain and shipped to waiting ports. At one time a wild storm destroyed the chute but it was rebuilt and strengthened. REGINALD M was involved in shipping the grain from there until 1938. In 1940 Able Seaman Allan H Lucas served on Reginald M between September and December, being engaged and discharged from Port of Adelaide. His Certificate of Discharge was signed by ship’s Master W S Murch. It seems that at some stage Reginald M was used as a Customs vessel, as one photograph in Flagstaff Hill’s collection shows “H.M.C. No. 3, Pt Adelaide” on the bow. In 1969 the last freight left Marion Bay on the ketch REGINALD M carrying grain, wool and explosives. In late 1970 she was sold to the Mt. Lyell Mining and Railway Company and was used by them as a barge to carry explosives. In 1972 the Navy League of Strahan, Tasmania, purchased her for use by the Strahan Sea Cadet Unit to use at Macquarie Harbour and renamed her T.S. Macquarie. However this plan for use of Reginald M did not come to pass. In 1974 Mr. Andrew Rennie, of East Brighton, Melbourne, bought her for a similar purpose. , paying $5,000 and donating a ‘Cadet of the Year” trophy to the Sea Cadets. He sailed her from Strahan to Melbourne, planning to use her for pleasure sailing. In 1975 Reginald M was sold to Melbourne Ferry Company at auction. Later in 1975 the Reginald M was bought by Flagstaff Maritime Museum for $20,000 . She has been restored and is now one of the exhibits in the Village lagoon or lake. It was restored in 2006 using funds from a $4,000 government grant. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village’s Collection holds several other artefacts associated with Reginald M. They include photographs of the Reginald M, including one photograph of her in Outer Harbour, S.A. dated 1947, with Skipper- R.F. Dale and Owner- John Murch. Another shows her docked at Port Adelaide, with the lettering H.M.C. No. 3 Pt ADEL (standing for His or Her Majesty’s Customs). The stove is significant as it represents the heating and cooking appliances used in late 19th and early 20th century, both on board vessels as well as for domestic purposes. The stove has additional significant for its association with the vessel "REGINALD M" a coastal trading ketch from South Australia built in 1922 at Largs Bay. It is one of very few sailing coastal trading vessels built in Australia with its flat bottom, single chine shape designed for navigating shallow water. See additional comments in the Production section this documents under Comments for further information regards the stove. Stove a cast-iron, rectangular, four-legged stove with a hinged front door. This stove was part of the original furnishings of the vessel 'Reginald M', built in Adelaide 1922. Image of a log cabin with an illegible inscription below it.flagstaff hil, warrnambool, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, coastal trader, trading vessel, vessel reginald m, ketch, john murch ship builder, reg webb, carribie station, mt lyell copper company, queenstown navy league, andrew rennie, melbourne ferry company, r.f. dale, port adelaide vessel reginald m, macquarie training vessel, grenfell studio port lincoln, stove, domestic heating, domestic cooking, heater, cooking unit, wood fired stove, wood stove, wood-burning stove -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Equipment - Ship's Wheel, 1922
This ship's wheel was hand made from wood and metal using a recycled cart wheel. It originally belonged to the "Reginald M", a 2 masted, flat bottomed, coastal trading ketch with single chine. The REGINALD M The vessel “Reginald M” was a two-masted coastal ketch, owned and built by Mr. Jack (John) Murch of Birkenhead, Port of Adelaide, South Australia. Its construction took approximately 6 months and it was launched at Largs Bay in 1922. The Reginald M’s purpose was to serve the coastal trade of South Australia, to carry cargo cheaply and efficiently. It is believed that the keel was in fact hewn from two telegraph poles! Its builder frequented all the salvage yards for materials and fittings. Reginald M had a very shallow draft and a flat bottom that enabled it to come close to shore and to sit high and dry at low tide or to be beached on sand. The flat bottom was also to make the ship able to skim over reefs. Wagons could load and unload direct from her side. Her cargo included Guano, Barley, Wool, Horses, Cattle, Timber, Explosives, Potatoes, Shell Grit and Gypsum. On April 9th 1931Reginald M weathered a large storm in St Vincent Gulf, SA. The vessel suffered much damage; mast snapped and the crew laboured for four hours to free her by chopping off the past and rigging. The crew patched her up and slowly returned to Port Adelaide with only a portion of the insured cargo being damaged. Her crew members at the time were owner Mr John H Murch of Wells Street Largs Bay, Skipper Mr R Murch – John’s brother, Murray – son of Captain Murch and Seaman John Smith. Reg Webb purchased Carribie Station, at Marion in the Warooka District, south of Adelaide, in 1921. He cleared the land and farmed sheep and grain. In 1923 he shipped his own wool and grain from Marion Bay, having first carted 300 bags of the barley grain, 12 bags at a time, along the unmade track to the jetty. A photograph donated to Flagstaff Hill, dating about 1929 - 1942, shows two men on the Reginald M, holding between them their fishing catch of a large hammer shark. The photograph is stamped “GRENFELL STUDIO PORT LINCOLN PRINT” and titled “hammer shark caught on Reginald Emm”. The donor’s family lived on the Your Peninsular and despatched their grain from a chute at Gleeson’s Landing to the awaiting transport vessel. Reg knew the Murch Brothers from Port Adelaide. The brothers had been using their ketch REGINALD M to ship Guano from the Islands, led by Captain Richard Murch. Reg approached them in 1934 about shipping grain from Marion Bay. The brothers visited the bay and thought it was an ideal place. They showed Reg where to stack his grain and they measured up the cliffs. When Reg was ready, they brought down and installed a ninety foot wooden chute. The bags of grain were then individually sent down the chute, landing in a waiting small boat then rowed to REGINALD M, 14 bags at a time. After 10 hours REGINALD M would be fully loaded with 1300 bags of grain and shipped to waiting ports. At one time a wild storm destroyed the chute but it was rebuilt and strengthened. REGINALD M was involved in shipping the grain from there until 1938. In 1940 Able Seaman Allan H Lucas served on Reginald M between September and December, being engaged and discharged from Port of Adelaide. His Certificate of Discharge was signed by ship’s Master W S Murch. It seems that at some stage Reginald M was used as a Customs vessel, as one photograph in Flagstaff Hill’s collection shows “H.M.C. No. 3, Pt Adelaide” on the bow. In 1969 the last freight left Marion Bay on the ketch REGINALD M carrying grain, wool and explosives. In late 1970 she was sold to the Mt. Lyell Mining and Railway Company and was used by them as a barge to carry explosives. In 1972 the Navy League of Strahan, Tasmania, purchased her for use by the Strahan Sea Cadet Unit to use at Macquarie Harbour and renamed her T.S. Macquarie. However this plan for use of Reginald M did not come to pass. In 1974 Mr. Andrew Rennie, of East Brighton, Melbourne, bought her for a similar purpose. , paying $5,000 and donating a ‘Cadet of the Year” trophy to the Sea Cadets. He sailed her from Strahan to Melbourne, planning to use her for pleasure sailing. Also in 1975 Reginald M was sold to Melbourne Ferry Company at auction. Later in 1975 the Reginald M was bought by Flagstaff Maritime Museum for $20,000 . She has been restored and is now one of the exhibits in the Village lagoon or lake. It was restored in 2006 using funds from a $4,000 government grant. This ship's wheel is significant because of its association with the REGINALD M. REGNIALD M was a coastal trading ketch from South Australia built in 1922. It is one of very few sailing coastal trading vessels still extant, and its flat bottom, single chine shape illustrates a very simple but robust method of construction, compared to other round bilged examples of trading vessels. She is now listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels (ARHV Number: HV000562.)Ship’s wheel, also called a Helm, eight spoke design. Centre of wheel is handmade of wood and has iron rings around each side. The spokes are fitted into this wooden hub. The outer wheel has an iron ring on one side and sections of a wooden ring on the other. There are both original and modern bolt and screw fastenings. The wheel has remnants of black paint. This ship’s wheel was originally fitted to the ketch REGINALD M and removed during its restoration. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, ship's wheel, hand made ship's wheel, coastal trader, reginald m, ketch, john murch, ch murch, reg webb, carribie station, mt lyell copper company, queenstown navy league, andrew rennie, melbourne ferry company, r.f. dale -
Ballarat and District Irish Association
Image, Daniel O'Connell, the Great Irish Agitator, c1864, c1864
Daniel O’Connell was born near Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry, on 6 August 1775. His wealthy childless uncle adopted him at an early age and brought him up at Derrynane. He spoke Irish and was interested in the traditional culture of song and story still strong in Kerry at the time. He also understood how the rural mind worked which served him well in later years. In 1791 he was sent to school at St. Omer and Douai and what he saw there of the French Revolution left him with a life-long hatred of violence. He read law at Lincoln’s Inn (1794 -96) and continued his studies in Dublin where he was called to bar in 1798. He had soon built up an enormous practice. The 1798 rising and the terrible butchery that followed it confirmed his horror of violence. While he approved of the principles of the United Irishmen, their call for reform and for Catholic Emancipation, he disagreed with their methods. In 1815 O’Connell criticised harshly the Dublin corporation. O’Connell was challenged to a duel by one member D’Esterre. In the exchange of shots D’Esterre was killed and O’Connell vowed never to fight again. O’Connell was soon drawn into political action. Hopes of Catholic emancipation had been raised by promises given while the act of union was being passed. In 1823, O’Connell founded the Catholic Association. The aim of the organisation was to use all the legal means available to secure emancipation. It turned into a mass crusade with the support of the Catholic clergy. All members of the association paid a membership of a penny a month (the Catholic rent). This helped to raise a large fund. The Clare election in 1828 was a turning point. O’Connell, with the support of the forty-shilling freeholders, managed a huge victory against the government candidate. He was well supported by the clergy whose influence on the poor uneducated peasant class was enormous. The polling took place in Ennis at the old courthouse where the O’Connell monument now stands. At the final count, O’Connell was elected by a majority of about eleven hundred votes. The ascendancy party had suffered its first big knock since 1798. The whole country was aflame. The British Government feared a rising and granted Catholic emancipation in April 1829. The franchise was, however, raised to 10 pounds which excluded the forty-shilling freeholders. O’Connell was now the undisputed leader in Ireland and he gave up his practice at the bar to devote his time entirely to politics. At the King’s insistence, O’Connell was not allowed to take his seat until he had been re-elected for Clare. In February 1830, O’Connell became the first Catholic in modern history to sit in the House of Commons. For the rest of his life, he was supported by “The O’Connell Tribute”, a public collection out of which O’Connell paid all his expenses. O’Connell now decided to concentrate on winning repeal of the act of union and getting an Irish parliament for the Irish people. British political leaders feared repeal as they did not fear emancipation. They saw repeal of the Act of Union as the first step in the break-up of the act of union, as the spirit of the repeal movement was revived when the young Ireland writers wrote about it in the Nation. In 1841, O’Connell was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin and in 1843 the subscriptions to his Repeal Association, the Repeal “Rent” came to 48,400 pounds. He now began to organise monster meetings throughout the country. It is thought that three-quarters of a million people gathered on the hill of Tara to hear the man they called the “Liberator”. The government became alarmed at the strength of the Repeal Movement and a meeting which O’Connell had planned for 8 October 1843 in Clontarf, Dublin was banned. Huge crowds were already on their way when O’Connell called off the meeting to avoid the risk of violence and bloodshed. He was charged with conspiracy, arrested and sentenced to a year in jail and a fine of 2,000 pounds. The sentence was set aside after O’Connell had been three months in prison. When he was released he continued with his campaign for repeal. However, a turning point had been reached. The tactics that had won emancipation had failed. O’Connell was now almost seventy, his health failing and he had no clear plan for future action. There was discontent within the Repeal Association and the Young Irelanders withdrew. There was also some failure in the potato crop in the 1840’s, a sign of things to come in the Great Famine of 1845-1847. Aware of the fact that he had failed with his great goal, (the Repeal Movement), O’Connell left Ireland for the last time in January 1847. He made a touching speech in the House of Commons in which he appealed for aid for his country. In March, acting on the advice of his doctor, he set out to Italy. Following his death in Genoa on 15 May 1847, his body was returned to Ireland and buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. [http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/daniel.htm, accessed 13/12/2013]Portrait of a man known as Daniel O'Connell.ballarat irish, daniel o'connell, o'connell -
Kew Historical Society Inc
Photograph, James Venn Morgan's 100th Birthday, 1923
1823-1923.MR. JAMES VENN MORGAN. "FATHER OF" KEW."In a Village in Somersetshire in England on February 21, 1823, a son was born to George and Sarah Morgan. The child was so delicate that his parents feared that he would not live. How little ground the parents parents had for their fears may be judged from the fact that the boy, christened James Venn Morgan is still alive and hale. He is able to exhibit with pride the paper with its faded ink on which a clergyman wrote the certificate of his baptism almost 100 years ago. But for some slight infirmities of sight and hearing, Mr. Morgan, who is within six weeks of completing the 100th year of his life, is in good health, and is well able to attend to his business affairs. His immediate cause for regret is that he is not now able to do a day's work in his garden, as he was 12 months ago. After spending his early life in England, where he learned his trade as shoemaker, Mr Morgan came to Australia in April, 1851. He carried letters of introduction to Mr. Tripp, a solicitor, of Melbourne, who strongly recommended him to begin business as a shoemaker, and accordingly he opened a shop at the corner of Swanston and Bourke streets, where the Leviathan Stores now stand, and was not long in working up a good connection. Among his customers at that time Mr. Morgan recalls Mr. Justice A'Beckett and many leading men in law and medicine of the day. Then the news was flashed through Melbourne of the discovery of gold at Ballarat. Nothing can give a clearer idea of the excitement this news caused in Melbourne than that Mr. Morgan, who was a member of one of the first parties to leave for the diggings, left uncompleted in his workshop one of a pair of riding boots he was making for Mr. J. B. Weir. As the purchase of suitable clothing would have taken time, he set out to make his fortune wearing a top hat. At Ballarat he stayed for five or six weeks, and returned to Melbourne with 10oz. of gold. He remained in the city long enough to finish the second of the two riding boots, and then, with three companions, set out for Chewton, near Castlemaine. Here fortune smiled. The party tried their luck in an abandoned shaft, and in two weeks returned to Melbourne again after having won 35lb. weight of gold. How Kew Was Born. Mr Morgan was content with his success, and induced his partners to invest their money with him in land. After obtaining the advice of a friend, the party negotiated with Mr Samuel Watts, of Collngwood, who had recently purchased land from the Crown, and from him they took over at £15 an acre about 32 acres of land in the district that is now known as Kew. This land extended from where the Kew Post-office now stands to the locality of the Boroondara Cemetery. At that time there was not a house in the district, and there was a fairly large population of aborigines, but no white men. Here it was that Mr Morgan decided to settle, and, after having had the land surveyed, the partners apportioned it by drawing straws for the four sections into which it had been divided. One of them sold his holding later in the year for £100 an acre, and was sorry for it afterwards. In 1853 Mr. Morgan built the first house in Kew, and this house is the one in which he still resides. Here with his wife, he settled down to market gardening and dairying. He tells with a laugh how he was paid 1/ a lb for the first potatoes he grew, and 1/ a quart for milk. So successful was the new venture that he induced his father and other members of the family to come out to Australia to assist him. How different Kew of those days was from the Kew of to-day will be understood from Mr. Morgan's statement that for weeks at a time they never saw a a white face other than those of the family. The blacks, he says, although very noisy, were entirely friendly. Gradually the district became settled, Mr. Morgan parted with a portion of his holding, and subdivided and built on the remainder which he still retains. In 1884 he found himself in a position to retire from active business. Youth in Old Age. In Mr Morgan's garden, which is a large, one trees which he and his father planted more than 60 years ago are still bearing heavy crops of apples. Mr. Morgan has been a widower since 1915. He has three daughters all of whom are married, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. One of the great-grand children reccntly informed Mr. Morgan that he was about to be married. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Mr. Morgan to-day is his activity. Not only does he move about with surprising alacrity, but is able to go into the streets and attend to his business affairs with but little fatigue The Argus, 17 January 1923, p.12.This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand. The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical Society.A group portrait on the occasion of the 100th birthday of James Venn Morgan in 1923. Dorothy Rogers used this photograph in 'A History of Kew' (1973). It faces page 17. In the book, the caption reads "JAMES VENN MORGAN'S 100TH BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY. The party was held at 'Morganville'. Mr Morgan is shown with a group of descendants."James Morgans 100th Birthday Party. james venn morgan, kew, model dairy, dorothy rogers -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph, Peter Pidgeon, Graves of Mary Josephine Swallow, John Swallow (unmarked) and Patricia Catherine Hill, Eltham Cemetery, Victoria, 5 April 2021
On the 29th of May 1954, a local Eltham carpenter by the name of John Swallow, committed a double murder at his home on New Street. This happened on the same day as the federal election of that year. John 48, his wife Mary 47, and stepdaughter Patricia 25, all went to the Eltham Courthouse on Main Road to cast their vote in the election that Saturday. After voting they returned home to their New Street house around midday. Patricia would later recall to ambulance officers, that she was feeling unwell, and so went to lay down when she heard an argument erupt over voting between her mother Mary and stepfather John. A concerned neighbour heard loud thudding noises and yelling coming from John and Mary’s house, he went to investigate. When he arrived at the house he was met by John at the front door. He would later describe John as “having a frantic look upon his face, and manic eyes”. John must have been a sight, bleeding and clutching a cut throat razor by his side. He then announced to the neighbour, “they voted commie!” before turning and going back inside. The distressed neighbour immediately raced home to call the Police. When the police arrived, they found Mary dead on the kitchen floor from catastrophic head injuries; her daughter, Patricia, clinging to life, slumped on her bed. Both women had been attacked by the same weapon, a large hammer, or sledge hammer as reported by the newspapers. John was also discovered in the house, bleeding from self-inflicted wounds from the razor, and had attempted to ingest caustic soda. Patricia was taken to St Vincent’s hospital, but died the following day, the 30th of May. John was also taken to St Vincent’s, where he remained under constant police guard for several months while he recovered from his injuries, at least the physical. He was eventually well enough to be taken to the City Watch House and then Pentridge Prison before his trial in October of the same year. When it came time for John to face the courts, the Judge called a mistrial, the Crown would not prosecute on the grounds of insanity. John was led away from the dock of The Magistrates Court and taken directly to Willsmere, the Kew Mental Asylum. On the 9th of August 1962, John Mervyn Swallow died of heart failure, he was 57. He had been a resident of Kew for four years. John’s body was returned to Eltham Cemetery and buried in the same grave as Mary. There is no mention of his name on the head stone. Patricia’s grave is next to Mary and John. A sad irony has an angel upon her grave, “its head missing”, possibly vandals or just an accident of time and events. What became of the home where all of this took place on New Street shall remain a mystery but within six months of this horrific event, the street had been re-named to Lavender Park Road after the original property near the end of the road, Lavender Park. In Memory Of Mary Josephine Swallow Died 29th May 1954 aged 47 Also Patricia Cathryn Hill Dearly beloved wife of Kel Called home 30th May 1954 Aged 25 yearsBorn Digitaleltham cemetery, gravestones, mary josephine swallow, patricia catherine hill, john swallow -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Negative - Photograph, Albert Jones, 'Golden Glen' at Wattle Glen and the Wattle Glen General Store, c.1910
Top photo: The property 'Golden Glen', home of photographer, Albert Jones. At the right of the photo is an apple orchard over the other side of Watery Gully creek. The middle building in the photo is still standing, located on Wattle Glen - Kangaroo Ground Road between Pretty Hill Lane and Millers Road (Melway 271 A6) but on the opposite side of the road. Bottom photo: The Wattle Glen General Store in this photo was located at the same intersection as the present Wattle Glen General Store (cnr of Reynolds Road and Kangaroo Ground Road) but on the diagonally opposite corner. [Comment from Valda via Victorian Collections June 11, 2018] "The addition to the store on the left, and the building at the back, were not part of the store/post office owned by the Keenan's. They were added by Mr and Mrs Alan (Janet) Frencham's in the ?mid-1950s." See also EDHS_03112: See Ref: EDHS_03112 A WINDOW ON THE PAST by Roger Sanders, The Sun, Wednesday, Auguist 11, 1976, pp 38-39 A fascinating window has been opened on the early life of the Eltham district. It is a rare collection of 3,000 perfectly preserved glass plate photograph negatives. The collection is the work of the late Albert Jones, a Diamond Creek orchardist and amateur photographer. About 500 of the negatives have been printed and 100 are on display at Gallery 4, Eltham, as part of the Eltham Festival," which started on Friday. They capture in fine detail rural and village life around Eltham, Hurstbridge, Kangaroo Ground, Yarra Glen and Diamond Valley from 1900 to 1930. While the natural beauty of the district was painted in this period by Arthur Streeton (later Sir Arthur), Tom Roberts and Charles Conder, among others, photography was relatively new. Yet Albert Jones used the new medium to compile a weighty album of pioneers at work, at home, at sport and on holidays. He was at the first Yarra Glen race meeting, early Diamond Valley football matches and photographed soldiers from the district leaving for war. He photographed early gold mines, men with horses laying the Diamond Creek-Hurstbridge rail track and the arrival of the first steam train at Hurstbridge. He took his cameras on holiday around Victoria and the collection includes scenes from St. Kilda and Portsea and many country towns. The Jones collection of negatives was found by Mr A. J. "Ned" Spark, of Balwyn, under a house he bought from Mr Jones' widow. The plates almost went to the tip with a pile of rubbish before Mr Spark realised their potential value. Mr Spark, who is retired, will continue the identification and recording of the photographs when he returns from holidays. The exhibition of the Jones' photographs is open each afternoon until August 21 at Gallery 4, 1016 Main Rd., Eltham. Photographs included in article: • The priceless collection of glass plate negatives were found under this house in Eltham [actually Wattle Glen], home of Albert Jones and his wife. • A quiet country pub - Panton Hills Hotel. • Teams of draught horses were used in the building of the Diamond Creek-Hursbridge railway in 1910. • Chinaman Jimmy using a gold cradle in Wattle Glen Gully. • The photographer and orchardist Albert Jones. His work is on show as part of the Eltham Festival • St Kilda Pier – several of the houses are still standing, but the waterfront has changed dramatically since this was taken before 1920. • A picnic was a dressy affair at the start of the century – the women in this family group are decked in lace and pearls.Roll of 35mm colour negative film, 4 stripsKodak Safety 5035albert jones, golden glen, shops, wattle glen -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Container - Pill bottle, Circa 1878
This small pill bottle has been handmade by a glass blower. The battles and seamless concave sides and base show that the glass was blown into a shaped mould. The rough lip shows that the glass was snapped off at the mouth and roughly ground. This was an inexpensive way to produce a bottle. The bottle was recovered from the Loch Ard, wrecked in 1878. A brief history of the Loch Ard (1873-1878): - The sailing ship Loch Ard was one of the famous Loch Line ships that sailed from England to Australia. Barclay, Curdle and Co. built the three-masted iron vessel in Glasgow in 1873. It had sailed three trips to Australia and one trip to Calcutta before its fateful voyage. Loch Ard left England on March 2, 1878, under the command of recently married, 29-year-old Captain Gibbs. It was bound for Melbourne with a crew of 37, plus 17 passengers. The general cargo reflected the affluence of Melbourne at the time. Onboard were straw hats, umbrellas, perfumes, clay pipes, pianos, clocks, confectionery, linen and candles, and a heavier load of railway irons, cement, lead and copper. Other cargo included items intended for display in the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880. The Loch Ard had been sailing for three months and was close to its destination on June 1, 1878. Captain Gibbs had expected to see land at about 3 am but the Loch Ard ran into a fog that greatly reduced visibility and there was no sign of land or the Cape Otway lighthouse. The fog lifted at 4 am and the sheer cliffs of Victoria's west coast were much closer to them than Captain Gibbs expected. He tried to manage the vessel but failed and the ship struck a reef at the base of Mutton Bird Island, near Port Campbell. The top deck loosened from the hull, and the masts and rigging crashed down, knocking passengers and crew overboard. The lifeboat was launched by Tom Pearce but crashed into the side of Loch Ard and capsized. He clung onto its overturned hull and sheltered under it. He drifted out to sea and the tide brought him back to what is now called Loch Ard Gorge. He swam to shore and found a cave for shelter. A passenger, Eva Carmichael, had raced onto the deck to find out what was happening and was confronted by towering cliffs above the ship. She was soon swept off the ship by a huge wave. Eva saw Tom Pearce on a small rocky beach and yelled to attract his attention. He swam out and dragged her to the shelter of the cave. He revived her with a bottle of brandy from a case that had washed up on the beach. Tom scaled a cliff in search of help and followed some horse hoof prints. He came from two men from Glenample Station, three and a half miles away. He told the men of the tragedy and then returned to the gorge while the two men rode back to the station to get help. They reached Loch Ard Gorge and took the two shipwreck survivors to Glenample Station to recover. Eva stayed at the station for six weeks before returning to Ireland by steamship. In Melbourne, Tom Pearce received a hero's welcome and was presented with a medal and some money. Of the 54 crew members and passengers on board, only two survived: the apprentice, Tom Pearce and the young woman passenger, Eva Carmichael, who lost her family in the tragedy. The glass pill bottle is associated with the shipwreck of the Loch Ard and of significance for Victoria as the wreck is registered on the Victorian Heritage Register ( S 417). Flagstaff Hill has a varied collection of artefacts from Loch Ard of which the pill bottle is one. Its collection is significant for being one of the largest accumulation of artefacts from this notable Victorian shipwreck of which the subject item is a small part. The collections objects give us a snapshot of how we can interpret the story of this tragic event. The collection is also archaeologically significant as it represents aspects of Victoria's shipping history that allows us to interpret Victoria's social and historical themes of the time. Through is associated with the worst and best-known shipwreck in Victoria's history.Small clear green-hue glass pill bottle, rectangular in shape and chipped lip. Sides and base are seamless and concave and varying thickness. Glass has bubbles and imperfections. A sticker is attached. Recovered from the wreck of the Loch Ard, flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, maritime museum, maritime village, great ocean road, shipwreck coast, loch ard, 1878 shipwreck, handblown bottle, pill bottle, small bottle, medicine bottle -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Domestic object - Bottle, Singer Sewing Machine Company, ca 1878
This Singer Sewing Machine oil bottle was made by hand, with the glass blown into a mould. Isaac M. Singer established his sewing machine company, I.M. Singer & Co. in America in 1851. A brief history of the Loch Ard (1873-1878): - The sailing ship Loch Ard was one of the famous Loch Line ships that sailed from England to Australia. Barclay, Curdle and Co. built the three-masted iron vessel in Glasgow in 1873. It had sailed three trips to Australia and one trip to Calcutta before its fateful voyage. Loch Ard left England on March 2, 1878, under the command of recently married, 29-year-old Captain Gibbs. It was bound for Melbourne with a crew of 37, plus 17 passengers. The general cargo reflected the affluence of Melbourne at the time. Onboard were straw hats, umbrellas, perfumes, clay pipes, pianos, clocks, confectionery, linen and candles, and a heavier load of railway irons, cement, lead and copper. Other cargo included items intended for display in the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880. The Loch Ard had been sailing for three months and was close to its destination on June 1, 1878. Captain Gibbs had expected to see land at about 3 am but the Loch Ard ran into a fog that greatly reduced visibility and there was no sign of land or the Cape Otway lighthouse. The fog lifted at 4 am and the sheer cliffs of Victoria's west coast were much closer to them than Captain Gibbs expected. He tried to manage the vessel but failed and the ship struck a reef at the base of Mutton Bird Island, near Port Campbell. The top deck loosened from the hull, and the masts and rigging crashed down, knocking passengers and crew overboard. The lifeboat was launched by Tom Pearce but crashed into the side of Loch Ard and capsized. He clung onto its overturned hull and sheltered under it. He drifted out to sea and the tide brought him back to what is now called Loch Ard Gorge. He swam to shore and found a cave for shelter. A passenger, Eva Carmichael, had raced onto the deck to find out what was happening and was confronted by towering cliffs above the ship. She was soon swept off the ship by a huge wave. Eva saw Tom Pearce on a small rocky beach and yelled to attract his attention. He swam out and dragged her to the shelter of the cave. He revived her with a bottle of brandy from a case that had washed up on the beach. Tom scaled a cliff in search of help and followed some horse hoof prints. He came from two men from Glenample Station, three and a half miles away. He told the men of the tragedy and then returned to the gorge while the two men rode back to the station to get help. They reached Loch Ard Gorge and took the two shipwreck survivors to Glenample Station to recover. Eva stayed at the station for six weeks before returning to Ireland by steamship. In Melbourne, Tom Pearce received a hero's welcome and was presented with a medal and some money. Of the 54 crew members and passengers on board, only two survived: the apprentice, Tom Pearce and the young woman passenger, Eva Carmichael, who lost her family in the tragedy.The bottle is significant for representing an early innovation in domestic sewing, the treadle sewing machine. It is also significant for its connection with the Loch Ard shipwreck. The shipwreck of the Loch Ard is of significance for Victoria and is registered on the Victorian Heritage Register ( S 417). Flagstaff Hill has a varied collection of artefacts from Loch Ard and its collection is significant for being one of the largest accumulation of artefacts from this notable Victorian shipwreck. The collections object is to also give us a snapshot into history so we are able to interpret the story of this tragic event. The collection is also archaeologically significant as it represents aspects of Victoria's shipping history that allows us to interpret Victoria's social and historical themes of the time. The collection's historical significance is that it is associated unfortunately with the worst and best-known shipwreck in Victoria's history. Clear glass bottle, straight neck, broad shoulders tapering to slightly narrower indented base. Bottle once contained Singer Sewing Machine oil. Inscription embossed in the glass. Bottle was recovered from the wreck of the Loch Ard.Embossed in the glass "The Singer Manufacturing Company" on one side on the reverse "Extra Quality Machine Oil." flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, maritime museum, maritime village, great ocean road, shipwreck coast, singer sewing machine, sewing machine oil, singer sewing machine oil, oil bottle, isaac m. singer, loch ard artifacts, loch ard -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book, The Sealskin Cloak
Rolf Boldrewood (1826-1915) ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ is the pen-name used by Thomas Alexander Browne as a writer. Browne was the eldest child of Captain Sylvester John Brown and Elizabeth Angell nee Alexander. He was born in London on 6th August 1826 and arrived in Australia with his parents and siblings when he was 5 years old and grew up in Sydney. In the 1860’s Browne added the ‘e’ to his surname. As a 17-year-old Browne took up land in the Western District of Victoria between Portland and Port Fairy on a property named “Squattlesea Mere”. He remained there until 1858, enjoying the squatters’ life on his 32,000-acre property, growing potatoes and running cattle and horses. He sold in 1858 and purchased a sheep station on the Murray River near Swan Hill. He later sold this and bought another sheep station near Narrandera until bad seasons and severe droughts eventually caused him to change his career after 25 years as a squatter. Over the next 25 years, Browne held the position of Police Magistrate and as a gold commissioner in various locations. His third career as an author lasted approximately 40 years. In 1865 he wrote two articles on pastoral life while he was recovering from a riding accident. In the 1870s his writing was bringing in the income to support his family, changing his focus to the writing of novels. A series of these were written for the Australian market and published in The Sydney Mail and the Centennial Magazine. His later novels were aimed at the overseas markets. His best-known novel “Robbery Under Arms” was written from 1882 to 1883 and has been serialised on the radio in Australia and Britain. The novel was filmed in 1907, 1920 and 1957, and in 1985 it was made into a television series. It is now an Australian Classic. He also wrote short stories, several nonfiction graziers’ guides, and an autobiography named “Old Melbourne Memories” in 1884. [This information has been taken from Wikipedia; Australian Authors-Perry Meddlemiss; Australian Dictionary of Biography, Browne, Thomas Alexander (1826-1915)] WARRNAMBOOL PUBLIC LIBRARY The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute (WMI) was formed by a voluntary community group in 1863, within six years of Warrnambool’s beginnings, and its Reading Room opened in 1854. The WMI operated until 1963, at which time it was one of the oldest Mechanics’ Institutes in Victoria. Mechanics’ Institutes offered important services to the public including libraries, reading rooms and places to display and store collections of all sorts such as curiosities and local historical relics. In 1886 a Museum and Fine Arts Gallery were added to the WMI and by the beginning of the 20th century, there was also a billiards room and a School of Art. By this time all Mechanics’ Institutes in country Victoria had museums attached. Over the years the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Library was also known as the Warrnambool Public Library the Warrnambool Library and the Free Library. Early funding from the government was for the “Free Library”. The inscription in a book “Science of Man” was for the “Warrnambool Public Library”, donated by Joseph Archibald in 1899. Another inscription in the book “Catalogue of Plants Under Cultivation in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens 1 & 2, 1883” was presented to the “Warrnambool Library” and signed by the author W.R. Guilfoyle. In 1903 the Warrnambool Public Library decided to add a Juvenile Department to library and stock it with hundreds of books suitable for youth. In 1905 the Public Library committee decided to update the collection of books and added 100 new novels plus arrangements for the latest novels to be included as soon as they were available in Victoria. In July 1911 the Warrnambool Council took over the management of the Public Library, Art Gallery, Museum and Mechanics’ Institute and planned to double the size of the then-current building. In 1953, when Mr R. Pattison was Public Librarian, the Warrnambool Public Library’s senior section 10,000 of the 13,000 books were fiction. The children’s section offered an additional 3,400 books. The library had the equivalent of one book per head of population and served around 33 per cent of the reading population. The collection of books was made up of around 60 per cent reference and 40 per cent fiction. The library was lending 400 books per day. In 1963 the Warrnambool City Council allocated the site of the Mechanics’ Institute building, which included the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery, for the new Municipal Offices and the Collections were dispersed until 1971. The Warrnambool Library took over the Mechanics’ Institute Library’s holdings on behalf of the Warrnambool City Council. Since the closure of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute the exact location and composition of the original WMI books and items have become unclear. Other materials have been added to the collection, including items from Terang MI, Warrnambool Court House and Customs House. Many of the books have been identified as the Pattison Collection, named after the Librarian who catalogued and numbered the books during his time as Warrnambool Public Librarian in the time before the Mechanics’ Institute closed. It seems that when Warrnambool became part of the Corangamite Regional Library some of the books and materials went to its head office in Colac and then back to Warrnambool where they were stored at the Art Gallery for quite some time. Some then went to the Warrnambool Historical Society, some stayed at the Art Gallery and some were moved to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village. The various stamps and labels on the books held at Flagstaff Hill show the variety of the collection’s distribution and origin. The books in the collection at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village date from the 1850s to the late 1950s and include rare and valuable volumes. Many of the books are part of the “Pattison Collection” after the Warrnambool’s Public Librarian, Mr R. Pattison. Warrnambool Public Library The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, and to reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. As with many Mechanics' Institutes in Australia, the one which operated in Warrnambool was established and overseen for many years by key individuals associated with the development of the city itself. The WMI publication collection is historically significant because of its association with local people, places and the key historical themes in the development of Warrnambool of rural development, industry, farming, education, and community. The collection documents and illustrates the changing interests, focus and tastes of Victorians, especially those in regional cities. Generally, the individual items in the collection are not particularly rare, as examples of all probably exist in other public collections in Victoria. It is primarily because there are so very few surviving Mechanics' Institute collections in Victoria, which lends this overall collection its significance. Many items in the WMI Collection have the potential to support further research, both as individual objects and through the collection in its entirety. This material is significant for its ability to assist in the interpretation of the history of the area and adds to the general understanding of the development of the township. Many components of the WMI publication collection complement and reinforce the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum Collection, the Warrnambool Art Gallery Collection, and that in the Warrnambool Historical Society, and also contribute to a clearer understanding of the original Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute collections. This will greatly enhance the appreciation of the few surviving Mechanics' Institute collections across Victoria, and also in New South Wales. The similarities and differences between the small number of collections that have survived can provide further insights into how the people of Victoria in general, and Warrnambool in particular, constructed a civic culture of adult learning to foster an informed citizenry. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute publication collection is of both local and state significance. The Sealskin Cloak Author: Rolf Boldrewood Publisher: MacMillan & Co Date: 1896 The label on the spine with typed text R.A. 823-8 BOL Pastedown front endpaper has a sticker from Warrnambool Public Librarywarrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, great ocean road, book, warrnambool library, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, warrnambool public library, the sealskin cloak, rolf boldrewood -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book, My Run Home
Rolf Boldrewood (1826-1915) ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ is the pen-name used by Thomas Alexander Browne as a writer. Browne was the eldest child of Captain Sylvester John Brown and Elizabeth Angell nee Alexander. He was born in London on 6th August 1826 and arrived in Australia with his parents and siblings when he was 5 years old and grew up in Sydney. In the 1860’s Browne added the ‘e’ to his surname. As a 17-year-old Browne took up land in the Western District of Victoria between Portland and Port Fairy on a property named “Squattlesea Mere”. He remained there until 1858, enjoying the squatters’ life on his 32,000-acre property, growing potatoes and running cattle and horses. He sold in 1858 and purchased a sheep station on the Murray River near Swan Hill. He later sold this and bought another sheep station near Narrandera until bad seasons and severe droughts eventually caused him to change his career after 25 years as a squatter. Over the next 25 years, Browne held the position of Police Magistrate and as a gold commissioner in various locations. His third career as an author lasted approximately 40 years. In 1865 he wrote two articles on pastoral life while he was recovering from a riding accident. In the 1870s his writing was bringing in the income to support his family, changing his focus to the writing of novels. A series of these were written for the Australian market and published in The Sydney Mail and the Centennial Magazine. His later novels were aimed at the overseas markets. His best-known novel “Robbery Under Arms” was written from 1882 to 1883 and has been serialised on the radio in Australia and Britain. The novel was filmed in 1907, 1920 and 1957, and in 1985 it was made into a television series. It is now an Australian Classic. He also wrote short stories, several nonfiction graziers’ guides, and an autobiography named “Old Melbourne Memories” in 1884. [This information has been taken from Wikipedia; Australian Authors-Perry Meddlemiss; Australian Dictionary of Biography, Browne, Thomas Alexander (1826-1915)] WARRNAMBOOL PUBLIC LIBRARY The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute (WMI) was formed by a voluntary community group in 1863, within six years of Warrnambool’s beginnings, and its Reading Room opened in 1854. The WMI operated until 1963, at which time it was one of the oldest Mechanics’ Institutes in Victoria. Mechanics’ Institutes offered important services to the public including libraries, reading rooms and places to display and store collections of all sorts such as curiosities and local historical relics. In 1886 a Museum and Fine Arts Gallery were added to the WMI and by the beginning of the 20th century, there was also a billiards room and a School of Art. By this time all Mechanics’ Institutes in country Victoria had museums attached. Over the years the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Library was also known as the Warrnambool Public Library the Warrnambool Library and the Free Library. Early funding from the government was for the “Free Library”. The inscription in a book “Science of Man” was for the “Warrnambool Public Library”, donated by Joseph Archibald in 1899. Another inscription in the book “Catalogue of Plants Under Cultivation in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens 1 & 2, 1883” was presented to the “Warrnambool Library” and signed by the author W.R. Guilfoyle. In 1903 the Warrnambool Public Library decided to add a Juvenile Department to library and stock it with hundreds of books suitable for youth. In 1905 the Public Library committee decided to update the collection of books and added 100 new novels plus arrangements for the latest novels to be included as soon as they were available in Victoria. In July 1911 the Warrnambool Council took over the management of the Public Library, Art Gallery, Museum and Mechanics’ Institute and planned to double the size of the then-current building. In 1953, when Mr R. Pattison was Public Librarian, the Warrnambool Public Library’s senior section 10,000 of the 13,000 books were fiction. The children’s section offered an additional 3,400 books. The library had the equivalent of one book per head of population and served around 33 per cent of the reading population. The collection of books was made up of around 60 per cent reference and 40 per cent fiction. The library was lending 400 books per day. In 1963 the Warrnambool City Council allocated the site of the Mechanics’ Institute building, which included the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery, for the new Municipal Offices and the Collections were dispersed until 1971. The Warrnambool Library took over the Mechanics’ Institute Library’s holdings on behalf of the Warrnambool City Council. Since the closure of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute the exact location and composition of the original WMI books and items have become unclear. Other materials have been added to the collection, including items from Terang MI, Warrnambool Court House and Customs House. Many of the books have been identified as the Pattison Collection, named after the Librarian who catalogued and numbered the books during his time as Warrnambool Public Librarian in the time before the Mechanics’ Institute closed. It seems that when Warrnambool became part of the Corangamite Regional Library some of the books and materials went to its head office in Colac and then back to Warrnambool where they were stored at the Art Gallery for quite some time. Some then went to the Warrnambool Historical Society, some stayed at the Art Gallery and some were moved to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village. The various stamps and labels on the books held at Flagstaff Hill show the variety of the collection’s distribution and origin. The books in the collection at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village date from the 1850s to the late 1950s and include rare and valuable volumes. Many of the books are part of the “Pattison Collection” after the Warrnambool’s Public Librarian, Mr R. Pattison. Warrnambool Public Library The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, and to reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. As with many Mechanics' Institutes in Australia, the one which operated in Warrnambool was established and overseen for many years by key individuals associated with the development of the city itself. The WMI publication collection is historically significant because of its association with local people, places and the key historical themes in the development of Warrnambool of rural development, industry, farming, education, and community. The collection documents and illustrates the changing interests, focus and tastes of Victorians, especially those in regional cities. Generally, the individual items in the collection are not particularly rare, as examples of all probably exist in other public collections in Victoria. It is primarily because there are so very few surviving Mechanics' Institute collections in Victoria, which lends this overall collection its significance. Many items in the WMI Collection have the potential to support further research, both as individual objects and through the collection in its entirety. This material is significant for its ability to assist in the interpretation of the history of the area and adds to the general understanding of the development of the township. Many components of the WMI publication collection complement and reinforce the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum Collection, the Warrnambool Art Gallery Collection, and that in the Warrnambool Historical Society, and also contribute to a clearer understanding of the original Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute collections. This will greatly enhance the appreciation of the few surviving Mechanics' Institute collections across Victoria, and also in New South Wales. The similarities and differences between the small number of collections that have survived can provide further insights into how the people of Victoria in general, and Warrnambool in particular, constructed a civic culture of adult learning to foster an informed citizenry. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute publication collection is of both local and state significance. My Run Home Author: Rolf Boldrewood 1st Published in 1874 This book does not have a flypaper The label on the spine with typed text RA 823.8 BOL Pastedown front endpaper has a sticker from Warrnambool Public Librarywarrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, great ocean road, book, warrnambool library, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, warrnambool public library, my run home, rolf boldrewood -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Souvenir - Wood sample, Mr John Flett, c1885
This small piece of wood was cut from a rib of the wreck of the Enterprise in c1885 by Mr John Flett (1869 – 1944), whilst it was lying on the beach in Lady Bay, Warrnambool. Mr Flett was about 16 years old at the time and used the wood (with other pieces from the wreck) to make a picture frame. A newspaper report published in the Gippsland Gazette on Tuesday 16th July 1912 titled "An Interesting Relic" describes a picture frame being displayed in Mr. Flett's shop in Warragul which was of interest as it had been made from wood taken from the wreck of the Enterprise when it was lying on the beach at Lady Bay, Warrnambool. This was still in his possession in the 1930’s when Mr. Flett presented the small sample of wood to Mr. Henri Worland of the Warrnambool Museum and Art Gallery - along with a signed letter of ownership. A transcription of the letter is as follows - “Kalos” 12 Yendon Road Glen Huntly S.E.9 Dear Mr Warland, I am enclosing herewith a small piece of timber which, about 50 years ago, I cut from a rib of the old wreck which at that time was well known as the old “Enterprise”. I am prepared to sign a sworn statement that this is a piece of that wreck and has never been out of my possession since I cut it from the wreck. Since returning to the city I visited the museum and inspected the walking stick and small model of a boat, presented I think, by Mr Richie. I notice the different grain of the timber and would suggest that they are not Blue Gum, and the piece I am enclosing is definitely of that Tasmanian timber. Of course there may have been other imported timbers used and only the frame of the vessel made of the Blue Gum; I am not suggesting an error on the part of Mr Richie, who evidently knew the old wreck [in an?] earlier date than I did. The piece I am enclosing was incorporated in an old picture frame which I made 50 years ago, and although not used for many years has always been in my possession. With kind regards Yours faithfully J Flett (signature) P.S. I have other small pieces in a small photo frame which I may let you see some day, but not just now. Mr R. Christian will recognise the other frame when he sees it, as we were working together when it was made. J.F. There were several branches of Fletts living in Warrnambool in the mid to late 1800’s. They were all related and had emigrated from Stromness in the Orkney islands – arriving mostly in the 1850’s on different ships. John Flett’s mother was Jessie Isbister who arrived in Australia in 1852 with her family on board the Ticonderoga. Over 168 passengers died on the voyage including two of Jessie’s sisters and one of her brothers. Mrs Jessie Flett's obituary (titled "An Old Colonist") which appeared in the West Gippsland Gazette on Tuesday 8th September 1914 describes her early connections to Warnambool and the Ticonderoga. John Flett moved from Warrnambool to Birchip, Warragul and later went to Melbourne where he worked for the YMCA. During WW1, he worked at the Caulfield Military Hospital and volunteered for active service with the YMCA in France -caring for the welfare of the soldiers. After the war, he continued to work with the YMCA in a secretarial capacity. THE ENTERPRISE 1847-1850 The wooden, two-masted schooner Enterprise was built in New Zealand in 1847 and registered in Melbourne, Australia. The Enterprise carried a cargo of agricultural produce and other commodities for trade between the ports of the Colony. On September 14, 1850, the Enterprise was at anchor in Lady Bay under its Master, James Gardiner Caughtt, loaded with a cargo of wheat and potatoes. A strong south-easterly wind caused the vessel to drag on its only anchor and the rudder was lost. The gale force wind blew it sideways and it became grounded. A local aboriginal, Buckawall, braved the rough sea to take a line from the shore to the Enterprise. All five members of the crew were able to make it safely to land. The Enterprise was totally wrecked. The Enterprise wreck was in an area called Tramway Jetty in Lady Bay. Since then the area became the location of the Lady Bay Hotel and now, in 2019, it is in the grounds of the Deep Blue Apartments. In fact, with the constantly changing coastline through built-up sand, the wreck site is now apparently under the No 2 Caravan Park in Pertobe Road, perhaps 150 metres from the high tide. Its location was found by Ian McKiggan (leader of the various searches in the 1980s for the legendary Mahogany Ship). DIFFERENTIATING the New Zealand Schooner “Enterprise” from John Fawkner’s “Enterprize“ Dr. Murray Johns, Melbourne, says in his article The Mahogany Ship Story “… In fact, as I documented in 1985, the Warrnambool wreck was of an entirely different ship, also called Enterprize [with the spelling ‘Enterprise’], but built in New Zealand in 1847. Fawkner’s ship had already been sold to a Captain Sullivan in 1845 and was wrecked on the Richmond Pier in northern New South Wales early in 1847. “ - (further details are in NOTES: and FHMV documents) Mr Flett had assumed the timber was Tasmanian Gum as he thought it had come from the Enterprise which had been owned by Mr Fawkner and built in Tasmania but we now know the ship was built in New Zealand and the timber was most probably New Zealand Rimu.This piece of wood is significant for its association with the wreck of the schooner Enterprise, now on the Victorian Heritage List VHR S238, being a New Zealand built but Australian owned coastal trader. The wreck is also significant, by connection with the Enterprise, for its association with indigenous hero Buckawall who saved the lives of the five crew on board. The original owner of the wood (Mr John Flett) is significant as a member of one of Warrnambool’s pioneering families, which has contributed to the growth of the community in several ways over the years, living and working in the area.Small square piece of brown wood with a handwritten inscription on the back. The front is polished with a prominent grain and a shallow indentation along two sides. The back has the words "FLETT" and "ENTERPRISE" written in ink with a line separating them. The back is rough and has two indentations - possibly from a nail or tack. The wood sample is accompanied by a letter. Handwritten letter (two pages) of authenticity by Mr. John Flett to Mr. Worland (Manager of the Warrnambool Museum and Art Gallery). Transcribed below"FLETT" and "ENTERPRISE"flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, carpentry, enterprise, lady bay warrnambool, schooner enterprise, wreck of the enterprise 1850, buckawall, shipwreck relic, john flett, warrnambool museum and art gallery, flett relic, letter, flett letter, ticonderoga, henri worland -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Photograph
This coloured photograph of the ketch Reginald M was taken when she was docked at Port Adelaide. The side of the vessel shows the letters "REGINALD M / H.M.C. No. 2 Pt ADEL" - (abbreviation H.M.C. meaning His/Her Majesty's Customs. HISTORY The Reginald M, a two-masted coastal ketch, was owned and built by Mr. Jack (John) Murch of Birkenhead, Port of Adelaide, South Australia to serve the coastal ports of South Australia. Its construction took approximately 6 months and it was launched at Largs Bay in 1922. Its purpose was to carry cargo cheaply and efficiently, and tradition has it that the keel was in fact hewn from two telegraph poles! Its builder frequented all the salvage yards for materials and fittings. The Reginald M had a very shallow draft and a flat bottom that enabled it to sit high and dry at low tide. The flat bottom was also to make the ship able to skim over reefs. Wagons were able to load and unload direct from her side. Her cargo included Guano, Barley, Wool, Horses, Cattle, Timber, Explosives, Potatoes, Shell Grit and Gypsum. In 1931 she weathered a large storm in St Vincents Gulf, SA. Her crew at the time were Owner Mr John H Murch, Wells St, Largs Bay, Skipper, John’s brother Mr R Murch, Murray, son of Mr R Murch and Seaman John Smith Reg Webb purchased Carribie Station, at Marion in the Warooka District, south of Adelaide, in 1921. He cleared the land and farmed sheep and grain. In 1923 he shipped his own wool and grain from Marion Bay, having first carted 300 bags of the barley grain, 12 bags at a time, along the unmade track to the jetty. A photograph dating about 1929 -1942 shows 2 men on the Reginald M, having just landed their fishing catch of a hammer shark. The photograph is stamped “GRENFELL STUDIO PORT LINCLON PRINT” and titled “hammer shark caught on Reginall Emm”. Reg Webb knew the Murch Brothers from Port Adelaide. The brothers had been using their ketch REGINALD M to ship Guano from the Islands, led by Captain Richard Murch. Reg approached them in 1934 about shipping grain from Marion Bay. The brothers visited the bay and thought it was an ideal place. They showed Reg where to stack his grain and they measured up the cliffs. When Reg was ready, they brought down and installed a ninety foot wooden chute. The bags of grain were then individually sent down the chute, landing in a waiting small boat then rowed to REGINALD M, 14 bags at a time. After 10 hours REGINALD M would be fully loaded with 1300 bags of grain and shipped to waiting ports. At one time a wild storm destroyed the chute but it was rebuilt and strengthened. REGINALD M was involved in shipping the grain from there until 1938. In 1940 Able Seaman Allan H Lucas served on Reginald M between September and December, being engaged and discharged from Port of Adelaide. His Certificate of Discharge was signed by ship’s Master W S Murch. It seems that at some stage Reginald M was used as a Customs vessel because a photograph in Flagstaff Hill’s collection shows the text “H.M.C. No. 3, Pt Adelaide” on the bow, the abbreviations standing for “His/Her Majesty’s Customs”. In 1969 the last freight left Marion Bay on the ketch REGINALD M carrying grain, wool and explosives. In late 1970 she was sold to the Mt. Lyell Copper Company, based in Queenstown, Tasmania, to carry explosives. In 1972 the Navy League of Strahan, Tasmania, purchased her for use by the Strahan Sea Cadet Unit and renamed her T.S. Macquarie. In 1974 Mr. Andrew Rennie, of East Brighton, Melbourne, bought her, paying $5,000 and donating a ‘Cadet of the Year” trophy to the Sea Cadets. He sailed her from Strahan to Melbourne, planning to use her for pleasure sailing. In 1975 Reginald M was sold to Melbourne Ferry Company at auction. In 1975 the Reginald M was bought by Flagstaff Maritime Museum for $20,000. She has been restored and is now one of the exhibits, tied up at the dock. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village’s Collection holds several other artefacts associated with Reginald M. They include - Photographs of the Reginald M, including one photograph of her in Outer Harbour, S.A. dated 1947, with Skipper- R.F. Dale and Owner- John Murch. Another shows her docked at Port Adelaide, with the lettering H.M.C. No. 3 Pt ADEL (standing for His/Her Majesty’s Customs). There is a black and white photo of her at a wharf and another showing a person on board. - a lifebuoy, with Pt Adelaide on it. - a bullet found in pieces of timber when Reginald M was restored in 1979 (References: Flagstaff Hill Fact Sheet “Reginald M”, the book “The Reg Webb Story” compiled by the Warooka & District Museum. Reg Webb’s daughter Lily Ramsay (nee Webb) and her husband Howard, Lizzie Rennie (daughter of owner Andrew Rennie), brochure “Discover the Yorke Peninsula South Australia”, Ketch in Peril; Adelaide Chronicle 9 April 1931, K Gordon & Mary Filmer of Warooka; South Australian Maritime Museum) Thiis photograph is significant because of its connection to the history of the vessel REGINALD M is a coastal trading ketch from South Australia built in 1922. It is one of very few sailing coastal trading vessels still extant, and its flat bottom, single chine shape illustrates a very simple but robust method of construction, compared to other round bilged examples of trading vessels. She is now listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels (ARHV Number: HV000562.)Photograph of Reginald M at Port Adelaide. The side of the vessel shows the letters "REGINALD M / H.M.C. No. 2 Pt ADEL" - (abbreviation H.M.C. meaning His/Her Majesty's Customs. Painted on the side of the vessel "REGINALD M / H.M.C. No. 2 Pt ADEL" - flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, reginald m, coastal trading ketch, trading vessel, john murch ship builder, port adelaide vessel reginald m, andrew rennie, macquarie training vessel, mt lyell copper company, queenstown navy league, ch murch, reg webb, carribie station, melbourne ferry company, grenfell studio port lincoln, vessel reginald m -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Barometer, 1858-1869
The barometer was either made or sold by T. Gaunt & Co. of Melbourne, a manufacturer, importer and retailer of a wide variety of goods including jewellery, clocks and watches, navigational and measuring instruments, dinnerware, glassware and ornaments. Thomas Gaunt photograph was included in an album of security identity portraits of members of the Victorian Court, Centennial International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1888. (See below for further details.) Admiral Fitzroy Pattern Barometer History: The stick mercury barometer was named after Admiral Robert Fitzroy of the Royal Navy (1805-1865) for his detailed instructions on how to interpret the weather, which were included with the instrument. Fitzroy was the captain of the HMS Beagle, also a weather forecaster to Charles Darwin and the second Governor of New Zealand. He developed many different types of barometers and was the first person to introduce the science of weather forecasting to the British Isles. A local manufacturer of scientific instruments, Thomas Gaunt, produced the barometer that was adapted for the southern hemisphere by Robert Ellery, the State Astronomer based at the Melbourne Observatory. In the original sale catalogue for Gaunt's, the item is described as "Gaunt's Fitzroy Barometers" and it was priced from 25/- to ₤9.9s. History of Thomas Gaunt: Thomas Gaunt established Melbourne's leading watchmaking, optical and jewellery business during the second half of the 19th century. Gaunt arrived in Melbourne in 1852, and by 1858 had established his own business at 14 Little Bourke Street. Around 1869 he moved to new premises in Bourke Street on the corner of Royal Arcade. Gaunt's shop quickly became a Melbourne institution. Gaunt proudly advertised that he was 'The only watch manufacturer in the Australian colonies'. While many watches and clocks may have had Gaunt's name on the dial, few would have been made locally. Gaunt did make some watches for exhibitions, and perhaps a few expensive watches for wealthy individuals. Gaunt's received a telegraph signal from Melbourne Observatory each day to correct his main clock and used this signal to rate and repair ship's chronometers and good quality watches. His main horological manufacturing was directed at turret clocks for town halls, churches and post offices. These tended to be specific commissions requiring individualised design and construction. He made the clock for the Melbourne Post Office lobby, to a design by Government Astronomer Robert Ellery, and won an award at the 1880-81 Melbourne International Exhibition for his turret clock for the Emerald Hill Town Hall. He became well known for his installation of a chronograph at Flemington Racecourse in 1876, which showed the time for the race, accurate to a quarter of a second. The firm also installed the clockwork and figures for Gog and Magog in the Royal Arcade. Thomas Gaunt also developed a department that focused on scientific instrumentation, making thermometers and barometers (from imported glass tubes), telescopes, surveying instruments and microscopes. Another department specialised in electroplating for trophies, awards and silverware, and the firm manufactured large amounts of ecclesiastical gold ware and silverware, for the church including St Patrick's Cathedral. There are no records that disclose the number of employees in the firm, but it was large enough for Gaunt to hold an annual picnic for the watchmakers and apprentices at Mordialloc from 1876; two years previously they had successfully lobbied Gaunt to win the eight hour day. Gaunt's workforce was reportedly very stable, with many workers remaining in the business for 15 to 30 years. Gaunt's wife Jane died on September 1894, aged 64. They had one son and six daughters, but only three daughters survived to adulthood. Two became nuns at the Abbotsford Convent and one daughter, Cecelia Mary Gaunt (died 28 July 1941), married William Stanislaus Spillane on 22 September 1886 and had a large family. Gaunt died at his home in Coburg, Victoria, leaving an estate valued at ₤41,453. The business continued as T. Gaunt & Co. after his death. The barometer is historically significant as an example of the work of Melbourne’s leading scientific instrument maker, Thomas Gaunt. The barometer has social significance as an example of the type of scientific equipment that Thomas Gaunt expanded his horology business into producing. Further social significance lies in the fact that Robert Ellery, the Government Astronomer who designed the local version of the barometer, had a direct connection with the Melbourne Athenaeum founded in 1839 as the Melbourne Mechanics' Institution. Its purpose was "the diffusion of literary, scientific and other useful information". There are also records of a T Gaunt as a subscription and committee member of this the Athenaeum organisation during the 1870s and 1880s which may be Thomas Gaunt, unfortunately still unverified.Stick mercury barometer known as the Admiral Fitzroy Barometer. It comprises an oblong wooden case with glass front panel, ornate pediment, barometer with bulb cistern (empty of fluid), cleaning brush with printed instructions for interpreting information given by the gauge affixed to left and right face of instrument. Includes a thermometer. The barometer appears to be intact. Adapted to the Southern Hemisphere. Special remarks by Admiral Fitzroy. Made by Thomas Gaunt, Melbourne. Manufacturer's details are on back of wooden casing. Rear has upper and lower brass screw plates for securing to vertical surface."Manufactured by Thomas Gaunt, 14 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne. "flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, barometer, admiral fitzroy, thomas gaunt, thomas gaunt of melbourne, clockmaker, admiral fitzroy barometer, barometer instructions, gaunt’s fitzroy barometer, gaunt’s of melbourne, gog and magog designer, horological manufacturer, meteorological instrument, melbourne athenaeum, melbourne mechanics' institution, melbourne observatory time signal, robert ellery government astronomer, scientific instrument, stick mercury barometer, thermometer, weather forecast, t gaunt & co -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Negative - Photograph, Sketch; Sweeney's Cottage, Culla Hill, Eltham (n.d.), c.1970
The original sketch was photographed in 1970 for reproduction in the Shire history publication Pioneers & Painters (1971). The very fragile original was kept in the Council stoungroom and suffered significant damage to its edges over the years, no doubt it has also yellowed. A comparison of the original as digitised (2022) with the negative taken 50 years earlier also reveals that the left 20% of the sketch has been cut off, probably due to damage. In June 1842 Thomas Sweeney applied to the Superintendent, C.J. La Trobe, asking permission to purchase a portion of the recently surveyed ‘Parish of Nillumbik'. His request was allowed and handed to the sub-treasurer and Land Board. He paid £110 for 110 acres and called the land 'Culla Hill'. He first built a temporary house, a slab hut 12 feet by 10 feet, in which he lived with his wife, an Irish girl whom he had married in 1838. (His first wife had been drowned at Port Jackson.) Some time later he built a permanent residence on the model of a Tipperary farmhouse. It was a rectangular building of hand-made bricks and stone quarried from the Western Hill with a recessed verandah in front, and bore a slate roof. The out-buildings consisted of a detached kitchen, stable and a barn. It was in this house that succeeding generations of Sweeneys were reared. The original slab hut became a washhouse and survived till recent years. 'Culla Hill' became a social centre for the district, church services being held there on various occasions. The first wheat crop in the district was planted by Sweeney who also supplied the first grain for a mill that later was built at Eltham. He took an active interest in the development of the district. At this time travelling people--many of them runaway sailors or convicts--often passed the settlement, and some of them stayed and worked with Sweeney. A tribe of aborigines living on the river below 'Culla Hill' were apparently on good terms with Sweeney, for it is said that they helped him with the building of his house. Very little is known about the aborigines who originally lived in the Eltham district. There must have been many of them; their stone axes, grinding stones, and anvil stones have been found in the gullies around Research and canoe trees and artifacts were found on the Kangaroo Ground hills. Early settlers remembered a tribe that camped on the site of the present railway bridge at Eltham. They held corroborees there and visited settlers for hand-outs of 'flour and bacca’. There was an aboriginal reserve on the Yarra, upstream from Eltham, but most of those who had collected there later went to live on the Pound Reserve at Warrandyte, where the last aborigines in the area finally ended their days. The Pound Reserve, of 1,103 acres, was established at Pound Bend in 1841. The chief protector, George Robinson, and his four assistants, were given instructions to care for the aged and sick, to provide blankets and rations for all who lived there, to train the able-bodied men in agriculture and other trades and to find them jobs. The Yarra blacks, who later came under the protection of William Thomas, have been described as a 'fine race, well made and above the average height'. Thomas Sweeney died on 6 September 1867 and was buried in the Eltham Cemetery. To his wife Margaret and his son John, he left the entire property of 'Culla Hill'. To his other son Patrick, he left 150 acres, including a small two-roomed wooden cottage. He had five daughters: Kate and Margaret (twins) who were born in 1842, Ellen 1846, Annie 1848 and Johanna 1851. John Sweeney farmed 'Culla Hill' until his death in 1909. He had ten children; one of them, Mary, became Mrs M. Carrucan whose son, Mr John Carrucan, still lives at Eltham. 'Culla Hill' passed out of the Sweeneys possession in 1939 and was renamed by its new owners, 'Sweeneys', in memory of its pioneers. - Pioneers & Painters: One Hundred Years of Eltham and its Shire, Alan Marshall 1971, pp10-12 4 x 5 inch black and white negative of original colour sketchculla hill, sweeey's cottage -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Photograph, Vessels in the bay, 1890's
The photograph, taken in the 1890s, shows sailing ships and a wreck in Lady Bay, Warrnambool. Lady Bay was once a very busy port of trade in Warrnambool and was also called the Port of Warrnambool or Warrnambool Harbour. ENTERPRISE (1847-1850) NOTE: The “Enterprise” wrecked in 1850 in Warrnambool should not be confused with John Pascoe Faulkner’s ‘Enterprise’, which was wrecked in NSW in 1847. The 58-ton schooner Enterprise was built by David Hay in Waiheke, New Zealand in 1847 and registered by owners John Watson and Edward Byam in Melbourne, Australia. She was a single-deck sailing ship with two masts, used for carrying cargo such as local agricultural produce and general commodities between Melbourne and other colonial ports. On September 14th, 1850 the Enterprise had sailed from Melbourne under the control of the ship’s Master, James Gardiner Caught, and was moored in at the Tramway Jetty in Lady Bay, laden with wheat and potatoes. The vessel rode out a south-easterly gale but eventually dragged anchor and was beached, bow first and then broadside. Buckwall, a local indigenous man, braved the heavy surf and reached the stricken vessel with a rescue line, saving all five crew on board. There were no passengers on board. The Enterprise wreck was in an area called Tramway Jetty in Lady Bay. Since then the area has become the location of Lady Bay Hotel and now, in 2019, it is in the grounds of the Deep Blue Apartments. In fact, with the constantly changing coastline through built-up sand, the wreck site is now apparently under the No 2 Caravan Park on Pertobe Road, perhaps 150 metres from the high tide. Its location was found by Ian McKiggan (leader of the various searches in the 1980s for the legendary Mahogany Ship). The Warrnambool Wreck Enterprise is listed on the Victorian Heritage Database VHR S238. DIFFERENTIATING the New Zealand Schooner “Enterprise” from John Fawkner’s “Enterprize“ Dr Murray Johns, Melbourne, says in his article The Mahogany Ship Story, “…the Enterprise, wrecked in Lady Bay, Warrnambool in 1850 ... was soon covered by sand but was exposed again after several storms in 1887. “Samples of timber were then cut from the wreck, which would then have been buried for 37 years. In November 1887 the Warrnambool Standard reported that “the timber looks sound and hard, a penknife scarcely making any impression.” “For many years there was confusion about the identity of that ship in Lady Bay. Most people believed it was the wreck of John Pascoe Fawkner’s Enterprize, which had sailed from Tasmania to Victoria bringing the pioneer settlers to Melbourne in 1835. “In fact, as I documented in 1985, the Warrnambool wreck was of an entirely different ship, also called Enterprize [Enterprise], but built in New Zealand in 1847. Fawkner’s ship had already been sold to Captain Sullivan in 1845 and was wrecked on the Richmond Pier in northern New South Wales early in 1847. “In 1985 a piece of timber from the local Enterprise, which had been kept at the Warrnambool Museum since 1892, was identified histologically as a New Zealand timber, not Tasmanian timber such as blue gum, from which Fawkner’s Enterprize would have been built in 1830. This confirmed the identity of the Warrnambool Enterprize.”[Dr. M.W. Johns later wrote an article called “The Schooner Enterprise: A Final Word on a Historic Wreck.”] ABOUT THE S S EDINA The three-masted iron screw steamer SS Edina was built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1854 by Barclay and Curle. She was adorned with the figurehead of the ‘fair maid of Judea’. The many years of service made SS Edina famous worldwide as the longest-serving screw steamer. (The term screw steamer comes from being driven by a single propeller, sometimes called a screw, driven by a steam engine.) SS Edina’s interesting history includes English Chanel runs, serving in the Crimean Ware carrying ammunition, horses and stores to the Black Sea, and further service in the American Civil War and later, serving in the western district of Victoria as well as in Queensland and carried gold, currency and gold prospectors Australia to New Zealand. SS Edina had the privilege of being an escort vessel to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh during his visit to Australia in 1867. In March 1863 SS Edina arrived in Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne and was bought by Stephen Henty, of Portland fame, to work the cargo and passenger run from Melbourne – Warrnambool – Port Fairy - Portland. After a short time of working the run from Australia to New Zealand, with passengers and cargo that included gold and currency, she returned to her Melbourne - Warrnambool – Port Fairy run, with cargo including bales of wool produced in the western district of Victoria. The Warrnambool Steam Packet Company purchased SS Edina in 1867; she was now commanded by Captain John Thompson and Chief Engineer John Davies. She survived several mishaps at sea, had a complete service and overhaul and several changes of commanders. In 1870 SS Edina was in Lady Bay, Warrnambool, when a gale sprung up and caused a collision with the iron screw steamer SS Dandenong. SS Edina’s figurehead was broken into pieces and it was not ever replaced. SS Edina was re-fitted in 1870 and was then used as a coastal trader in Queensland for a period. She was then brought to Melbourne to carry cargo and passengers between Melbourne and Geelong and performed this service from 1880-1938. During this time (1917) she was again refitted with a new mast, funnel, bridge and promenade deck, altering her appearance. In 1938, after more collisions, SS Edina was taken out of service. However, she was later renamed Dinah and used as a ‘lighter’ (a vessel without an engine or superstructure) to be towed and carry wool and general cargo between Melbourne and Geelong. In 1957, after 104 years, the SS Edina was broken up at Footscray, Melbourne. Remains of SS Edina’s hull can be found in the Maribyrnong River, Port Phillip Bay. This photograph is significant for its association with the screw steamer SS Edina, heritage listed on the Victorian Heritage Database VHR S199. She had endeared herself to the people of Port Phillip Bay as a passenger ferry, part of their history and culture. She played a significant role in the Crimean War, the American Civil War and the gold rush in New Zealand. She also served western Victoria for many years in her cargo and passenger runs. The SS Edina is famous for being the longest-serving screw steamer in the world. After spending her first nine years overseas she arrived in Melbourne and her work included running the essential service of transporting cargo and passengers between Melbourne and the western Victoria ports of Warrnambool, Port Fairy and Portland. The SS Edina was purchased in the late 1860s by the local Warrnambool business, the Warrnambool Steam Packet Co. and continued trading from there as part of the local business community. Her original ‘fair maid of Judea’ figurehead was broken to pieces in a collision with another vessel (the SS Dandenong) in a gale off Warrnambool, Victoria, in 1870. The photograph is significant for its association wreck of the Victorian Heritage Listed schooner Enterprise, VHR S238, being a New Zealand-built but Australian-owned coastal trader. The wreck was also significant for its association with the local indigenous hero, Buckawall, who saved the lives of the five crew on board. Photograph "Vessels in the Bay". Black and white photograph of several vessels in Lady Bay, Warrnambool, including some small vessels and "S.S. Edina", the "Peveril" and "Tommy", plus the remains of the wrecked vessel "Enterprise" in the foreground. Photograph is mounted on beige card with label describing the vessels, plus pencilled vessel names. There are several pin holes in each corner of the photograph. Typed label under the photograph “VESSELS IN THE BAY – “EDINA” “PEREVIL” AND “TOMMY”. / REMAINS OF “THE ENTERPRISE” IN FOREGROUND. (Also crossed out on the label “FIRST VESSEL TO SAIL UP YARRA RIVER). In pencil script above the vessels on the photograph “S.S. Edina”, “Peveril” “Tommy”. On the reverse is a printed sticker with “F-Ph 59/2 74”, red felt-tip pen “88”, green pen script repeating the text that is under the photograph on the front.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, enterprize, port of warrnambool, warrnambool harbour, peveril, tommy, ss edina, lighter dinah, warrnambool steam packet company, lady bay, pleasure steamer, edina, trade, travel, screw ship, coastal trader, cargo, victoria, buckawall, indigenous rescue, indigenous hero -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book, A Sydney-Side Saxon
Pattison Collection This item is from the ‘Pattison Collection’, a collection of books and records that was originally owned by the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute, which was founded in Warrnambool in 1853. By 1886 the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute (WMI) had grown to have a Library, Museum and Fine Arts Gallery, with a collection of “… choice productions of art and valuable specimens in almost every branch and many wonderful national curiosities are now to be seen there, including historic relics of the town and district.” It later included a School of Design. Although it was very well patronised, the lack of financial support led the WMI in 1911 to ask the City Council to take it over. In 1935 Ralph Pattison was appointed as City Librarian to establish and organise the Warrnambool Library as it was then called. When the WMI building was pulled down in 1963 a new civic building was erected on the site and the new Warrnambool Library, on behalf of the City Council, took over all the holdings of the WMI. At this time some of the items were separated and identified as the ‘Pattison Collection’, named after Ralph Pattison. Eventually, the components of the WMI were distributed from the Warrnambool Library to various places, including the Art Gallery, Historical Society and Flagstaff Hill. Later some were even distributed to other regional branches of Corangamite Regional Library and passed to and fro. It is difficult now to trace just where all of the items have ended up. The books at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village generally display stamps and markings from Pattison as well as a variety of other institutions including the Mechanics’ Institute itself. RALPH ERIC PATTISON Ralph Eric Pattison was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1891. He married Maude Swan from Warrnambool in 1920 and they set up home in Warrnambool. In 1935 Pattison accepted a position as City Librarian for the Warrnambool City Council. His huge challenge was to make a functional library within two rooms of the Mechanics’ Institute. He tirelessly cleaned, cleared and sorted a disarrayed collection of old books, jars of preserved specimens and other items reserved for exhibition in the city’s museum. He developed and updated the library with a wide variety of books for all tastes, including reference books for students; a difficult task to fulfil during the years following the Depression. He converted all of the lower areas of the building into a library, reference room and reading room for members and the public. The books were sorted and stored using a cataloguing and card index system that he had developed himself. He also prepared the upper floor of the building and established the Art Gallery and later the Museum, a place to exhibit the many old relics that had been stored for years for this purpose. One of the treasures he found was a beautiful ancient clock, which he repaired, restored and enjoyed using in his office during the years of his service there. Ralph Pattison was described as “a meticulous gentleman whose punctuality, floorless courtesy and distinctive neat dress were hallmarks of his character, and ‘his’ clock controlled his daily routine and his opening and closing of the library’s large heavy doors to the minute.” Pattison took leave from 1942 to 1945 to serve in the Royal Australian Navy, Volunteer Reserve as Lieutenant. A few years later he converted one of the Museum’s rooms into a Children’s Library, stocking it with suitable books for the younger generation. This was an instant success. In the 1950’s he had the honour of being appointed to the Victorian Library Board and received more inspiration from the monthly conferences in Melbourne. He was sadly retired in 1959 after over 23 years of service, due to the fact that he had gone over the working age of council officers. However, he continued to take a very keen interest in the continual development of the Library until his death in 1969. Rolf Boldrewood (1826-1915) ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ is the pen-name used by Thomas Alexander Browne as a writer. Browne was the eldest child of Captain Sylvester John Brown and Elizabeth Angell nee Alexander. He was born in London on 6th August 1826 and arrived in Australia with his parents and siblings when he was 5 years old and grew up in Sydney. In the 1860’s Browne added the ‘e’ to his surname. As a 17-year-old Browne took up land in the Western District of Victoria between Portland and Port Fairy on a property named “Squattlesea Mere”. He remained there until 1858, enjoying the squatters’ life on his 32,000-acre property, growing potatoes and running cattle and horses. He sold in 1858 and purchased a sheep station on the Murray River near Swan Hill. He later sold this and bought another sheep station near Narrandera until bad seasons and severe droughts eventually caused him to change his career after 25 years as a squatter. Over the next 25 years, Browne held the position of Police Magistrate and as a gold commissioner in various locations. His third career as an author lasted approximately 40 years. In 1865 he wrote two articles on pastoral life while he was recovering from a riding accident. In the 1870s his writing was bringing in the income to support his family, changing his focus to the writing of novels. A series of these were written for the Australian market and published in The Sydney Mail and the Centennial Magazine. His later novels were aimed at the overseas markets. His best-known novel “Robbery Under Arms” was written from 1882 to 1883 and has been serialised on the radio in Australia and Britain. The novel was filmed in 1907, 1920 and 1957, and in 1985 it was made into a television series. It is now an Australian Classic. He also wrote short stories, several nonfiction graziers’ guides, and an autobiography named “Old Melbourne Memories” in 1884. [This information has been taken from Wikipedia; Australian Authors-Perry Meddlemiss; Australian Dictionary of Biography, Browne, Thomas Alexander (1826-1915)] The Pattison Collection, along with other items at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, was originally part of the Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s collection. The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. The Warrnambool Mechanics Institute book collection has historical and social significance for its strong association with the Mechanics Institute movement and the important role it played in the intellectual, cultural and social development of people throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The collection of books is a rare example of an early lending library and its significance is enhanced by the survival of an original collection of many volumes. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s publication collection is of both local and state significance. A Sydney-Side Saxon Auhor: Rolf Boldrewood Publisher: MacMillan & Co Date: 1891The label on the spine with typed text 899.3 BOL Pastedown front endpaper has a sticker from Warrnambool Public Librarybook, a sydney-side saxon, rolf boldrewood, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, warrnambool, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, pattison collection, warrnambool library, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, great ocean road -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Machine - Steering Gear, Carron Ironworks foundry, before 1922
The ship's steering gear was used for steering and navigation of a vessel - it was a very important part of the ship's equipment. This steering gear was part of the original vessel 'Reginald M', which became part of the exhibitions at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village. The steering gear was manufactured by the Carron Company. ABOUT THE CARRON COMPANY The Carron Company established its ironworks on the banks of the River Carron in Stirlingshire, Scotland, in 1759, and became an incorporated company in 1773. One of the notable items produced by the company was the Carronade, a short-barrelled naval cannon, being produced until the 1850s. The company was the largest ironworks in Europe during the 19th century. It supplied ammunition and armaments, steamboat engines, pig iron, cast iron goods such as balustrades fire grates and bath tugs, pillar boxes and telephone boxes, and even cast iron rings for underground tunnels. In 1982 it became insolvent and was taken over by the Franke Corporation, using the brand Carron Phoenix. ABOUT THE 'REGINALD M' The Reginald M’s purpose was to serve the coastal trade of South Australia, to carry cargo cheaply and efficiently. It is believed that the keel was in fact hewn from two telegraph poles! Its builder frequented all the salvage yards for materials and fittings. The vessel “Reginald M” was a two-masted coastal ketch, owned and built by Mr. Jack (John) Murch of Birkenhead, Port of Adelaide, South Australia. Its construction took approximately 6 months and it was launched at Largs Bay in 1922. Reginald M had a very shallow draft and a flat bottom that enabled it to come close to shore and to sit high and dry at low tide or to be beached on sand. The flat bottom was also to make the ship able to skim over reefs. Wagons could load and unload direct from her side. Her cargo included Guano, Barley, Wool, Horses, Cattle, Timber, Explosives, Potatoes, Shell Grit and Gypsum. On April 9th 1931Reginald M weathered a large storm in St Vincent Gulf, SA. The vessel suffered much damage; mast snapped and the crew laboured for four hours to free her by chopping off the past and rigging. The crew patched her up and slowly returned to Port Adelaide with only a portion of the insured cargo being damaged. Her crew members at the time were owner Mr John H Murch of Wells Street Largs Bay, Skipper Mr R Murch – John’s brother, Murray – son of Captain Murch and Seaman John Smith. Reg Webb purchased Carribie Station, at Marion in the Warooka District, south of Adelaide, in 1921. He cleared the land and farmed sheep and grain. In 1923 he shipped his own wool and grain from Marion Bay, having first carted 300 bags of the barley grain, 12 bags at a time, along the unmade track to the jetty. A photograph donated to Flagstaff Hill, dating about 1929 - 1942, shows two men on the Reginald M, holding between them their fishing catch of a large hammer shark. The photograph is stamped “GRENFELL STUDIO PORT LINCOLN PRINT” and titled “hammer shark caught on Reginald Emm”. The donor’s family lived on the Your Peninsular and despatched their grain from a chute at Gleeson’s Landing to the awaiting transport vessel. Reg knew the Murch Brothers from Port Adelaide. The brothers had been using their ketch REGINALD M to ship Guano from the Islands, led by Captain Richard Murch. Reg approached them in 1934 about shipping grain from Marion Bay. The brothers visited the bay and thought it was an ideal place. They showed Reg where to stack his grain and they measured up the cliffs. When Reg was ready, they brought down and installed a ninety foot wooden chute. The bags of grain were then individually sent down the chute, landing in a waiting small boat then rowed to REGINALD M, 14 bags at a time. After 10 hours REGINALD M would be fully loaded with 1300 bags of grain and shipped to waiting ports. At one time a wild storm destroyed the chute but it was rebuilt and strengthened. REGINALD M was involved in shipping the grain from there until 1938. In 1940 Able Seaman Allan H Lucas served on Reginald M between September and December, being engaged and discharged from Port of Adelaide. His Certificate of Discharge was signed by ship’s Master W S Murch. It seems that at some stage Reginald M was used as a Customs vessel, as one photograph in Flagstaff Hill’s collection shows “H.M.C. No. 3, Pt Adelaide” on the bow. In 1969 the last freight left Marion Bay on the ketch REGINALD M carrying grain, wool and explosives. In late 1970 she was sold to the Mt. Lyell Mining and Railway Company and was used by them as a barge to carry explosives. In 1972 the Navy League of Strahan, Tasmania, purchased her for use by the Strahan Sea Cadet Unit to use at Macquarie Harbour and renamed her T.S. Macquarie. However this plan for use of Reginald M did not come to pass. In 1974 Mr. Andrew Rennie, of East Brighton, Melbourne, bought her for a similar purpose. , paying $5,000 and donating a ‘Cadet of the Year” trophy to the Sea Cadets. He sailed her from Strahan to Melbourne, planning to use her for pleasure sailing. Also in 1975 Reginald M was sold to Melbourne Ferry Company at auction. Later in 1975 the Reginald M was bought by Flagstaff Maritime Museum for $20,000 . She has been restored and is now one of the exhibits in the Village lagoon or lake. It was restored in 2006 using funds from a $4,000 government grant. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village’s Collection holds several other artefacts associated with Reginald M. They include photographs of the Reginald M, including one photograph of her in Outer Harbour, S.A. dated 1947, with Skipper- R.F. Dale and Owner- John Murch. Another shows her docked at Port Adelaide, with the lettering H.M.C. No. 3 Pt ADEL (standing for His/Her Majesty’s Customs). There is a black and white photo of her at a wharf and another showing a person on board.The steering gear is significant through its association with the Carron Company, the largest ironworks in Europe in the 19th century, and the manufacture of the short barrel, lightweight naval gun - the Carronade. The steering gear is significant for its association with the vessel REGINALD M is a coastal trading ketch from South Australia built in 1922. It is one of very few sailing coastal trading vessels still extant, and its flat bottom, single chine shape illustrates a very simple but robust method of construction, compared to other round bilged examples of trading vessels. She is now listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels (ARHV Number: HV000562.) Ship's steering gear that was part of the original vessel 'Reginald M', which was constructed in 1922. Inscription on both sides. Made by the Carron Company, UK."CARRON COMPANY"flagstaff hil, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, coastal trader, trading vessel, vessel reginald m, ketch, john murch ship builder, reg webb, carribie station, mt lyell copper company, queenstown navy league, andrew rennie, melbourne ferry company, r.f. dale, port adelaide vessel reginald m, macquarie training vessel, grenfell studio port lincoln, ship steering gear, metal steering gear, ship's gear, ship's navigation, carron company -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Photograph - Vessels - Sail and Steam, c. 1972-1975
Andy Clapham owned and operated a boat yard on the Maribyrnong River in Footscray, Victoria. The river runs into Port Phillip Bay (sometimes known as Hobson’s bay) at Williamstown, an area with a history of trades associated with the shipping and construction industry. Andy Clapham’s photographs include those of the Reginald M and one of Polly Woodside, another vessel restored and used as a maritime exhibition. Andy Clapham’s letter of 1972 was posted in a and envelope with an early Australian decimal currency stamp showing the profile portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, and valued at 7 cent. Andy offered invaluable advice to the Flagstaff Hill Historic Park Planning Board regarding the purchase a vessel suitable for use as an exhibit once Flagstaff Hill was opened. The Planning Board was set up by the Warrnambool Chamber of Commerce and approved by the City Council and State Government. Flagstaff Hill was investigating vessels in Adelaide and Tasmania as well as Melbourne. Andy looked at several vessels in 1972-1973. He also serviced the Reginald M among other vessels belonging to Captain Julian Dyson of Yarra Ferries, who had casually offered the vessel to Flagstaff Hill as a price that was unattainable at the time. Flagstaff Hill later requested photographs of the hull to discern the dimensions and also the condition of the timbers as well as wanting advice on its seafaring capability. In 1972 the Flagstaff Hill Historic Park Planning Board – Chairman J. (John) S. Lindsay (1972-1980), Secretary J. (James) Mark – wrote a letter of appreciation to Mr A. (Andy) Clapham of 3 Charles Street Footscray ... “Dear Mr. Clapham, The Board has asked me to write to you to express our appreciation for the assistance you have offered us through our Chairman John Lindsay. The information you have already given us has been invaluable, in that is shows us that we have not been setting out to do something that is impossible. We look forward to receiving further information from you as it becomes available and we appreciate that you must be busy enough without our problems. Members of our Board hope to call and see you on a trip to Melbourne in the near future. The Board is optimistic about the future of Flagstaff Hill as a Maritime Museum and look forward to you visiting Warrnambool to examine what we believe will be an ideal site. Yours faithfully, James Mark.” ABOUT the vessel “Reginald M” The vessel “Reginald M” was a two-masted, timber coastal vessel built by John Henry Murch in Birkenhead, Port of Adelaide, South Australia. It was named after Reginald Murch. (It was occasionally referred to as the Reginald “Emm”). Its construction took approximately 6 months using many materials and fittings from salvage yards. It is believed that the keep was hewn from two telegraph poles! Reginald M was launched at Largs Bay in 1922. Reginald M was approximately 30 metres long and was fore-to-aft ketch rigged with an ‘auxiliary’ motor to support any loss of sail power. The Reginald M was built to service the coastal ports of South Australia to Port Victoria on the York Peninsular, Spencer Gulf. It freighted cargo from port to port cheaply and efficiently. It had a very shallow draft and a flat bottom, enabling it to come close to shore and sit high and dry at low tide, or to be beached on the sand. It could easily skim over reefs due to its flat bottom. Wagons could be loaded and unloaded directly from the side of the vessel. Over the years her cargo included guano, barley, wool, horses, cattle, timber, explosives, potatoes, shell grit and gypsum. The Murch brothers from Port Adelaide were owners of the Reginald M and Richard Murch as the Captain. On April 9, 1931, Reginald M weathered a large storm in St. Vincents Gulf, SA, suffering much damage; the mast snapped and the crew laboured for four hours to free it up by severing the mast and rigging. The crew patched it up and slowly returned to Port Adelaide with only a portion of the insured cargo being damaged. The crew members at that time were owner Mr John Henry Murch of Wells Street Largs Bay, Skipper Mr R Murch – John’s brother, Murray – son of Captain Murch and Seaman John Smith. At some stage it seems that the Reginald M was used as a Customs vessel “H.M.C. No. 3, Pt Adelaide” as shown in a photograph in Flagstaff Hill’s collection. In 1969 Reginald M’s last freight trip left Marion Bay, carrying grain, wool and explosives. In late 1970 it was sold to the Mount Lyall Mining and Railway Clompany and used as a barge to carry explosives. In 1972 The Navy League of Strahan, Tasmania, purchased the vessel for use by the Strahan Sea Cadet Unit at Macquarie Harbour; it was renamed “T.S. Macquarie”. (This plan did not come to pass.) In 1974 Mr Andrew Rennie of East Brighton, Melbourne, brought Reginald M for shipping purposes, He sailed it from Strahan to Melbourne, planning to use it for pleasure sailing. The Reginald M was later sold at auction to Captain Julian Dyson, owner of Yarra Passenger Ferries in Melbourne. Later in 1975 funds became available to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village to purchase the Reginald M. It was then restored and used as an exhibit here for many hears. Flagstaff Hill’s collection also includes various objects related to the Reginald M: - Photographs of Reginald M over the years in various aspects of its use - a life buoy with the inscription of “Pt. Adelaide” - helm section that was removed and replaced during restoration - a bullet found in pieces of timber during the 1979 restoration ABOUT THE POLLY WOODSIDE On the bow in the Polly Woodside's photograph is the word "RONA". the Polly Woodside was built at Belfast in 1885. In 1904 the vessel was sold to A.H. Turnbull of New Zealand and renamed "RONA". The letter and photographs are significant for their association with the Reginald M, an Australian built coastal trader now on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels (number HV000562). The letter and photographs are also significant as part of both the history of Flagstaff Hill and the history of the vessel “Reginald M” that has been on display in the lake for many years. Objects retained from this boat are included in Flagstaff Hill’s collection of maritime history.Packet with photographs and negatives in a KODAK envelope. The photographs are of two sail and steam vessels; twelve (12) black and white photographs of the 'Reginald M', and one (1) colour photograph of the Polly Woodside, plus six (6) negative strips. Included int he packet is a letter in stamped and postmarked envelope addressed to Mr A Clapham of Footscray. The envelope postmarked 9 Dec 1972, with the Warrnambool postcode 3280, A 7c Australian postage stamp in attached to the envelope. They are associated with Flagstaff Hill’s acquisition of the vessel “Reginald M”. Envelope "9 DEC 1972 / 3280" Postage stamp "7c" "Australia" Inscriptions on one Reginald M;; "REGINALD M" and "Pt ADELAIDE H.M.C. No. 3" Inscriptions of the Polly Woodside; "RONA / MSC" "MHI / NO. 1" Ball point ink, reverse of photograph "POLLY WOODSIDE"flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, vessel reginald m, reginald emm, t. s. macquarie, h.m.c. no. 3, pt adelaide, australian register of historic vessels (number hv000562), boat building trade, jack murch, john henry murch, birkenhead, port adelaide sa, largs bay sa, coastal trader south australia, 1920 ketch reginald m, marion bay produce, mount lyall mining and railway company, navy league of strahan, tasmania, melbourne ferry company, flagstaff hill historic park planning board, john lindsay, james mark, andy clapham of footscray, andy clapham boat builder, kodak photograph packet envelope, kodak super-size prints, kodak australia pty ltd, australian postage stamp 1972 - 7c -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book, The Crooked Stick Or Pollie's Probation
This book was part of a large group of books referred to as the Pattison Collection, which belonged to the Warrnambool Public Library, part of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute. About RALPH ERIC PATTISON and the ‘PATTISON COLLECTION’ The ‘Pattison Collection’ is a collection of books and records that was originally owned by the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute, founded in Warrnambool in 1853. By 1886 the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute (WMI) had grown to have a Library, Museum and Fine Arts Gallery, with a collection of “… choice productions of art and valuable specimens in almost every branch and many wonderful national curiosities, are now to be seen there, including historic relics of the town and district.” It later included a School of Design. Although it was very well patronised, the WMI was led to ask the City Council to take it over in 1911 due to lack of financial support. In 1935 Ralph Pattison was appointed as City Librarian to establish and organise the Warrnambool Public Library as it was then called. Ralph Eric Pattison was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1891. He married Maude Swan from Warrnambool in 1920 and they set up home in Warrnambool. In 1935 when Pattison accepted the position as City Librarian for the Warrnambool City Council his huge challenge was to make a functional library within two rooms of the Mechanics’ Institute. He tirelessly cleaned, cleared and sorted a disarrayed collection of old books, jars of preserved specimens and other items reserved for exhibition in the city’s museum. He developed and updated the library with a wide variety of books for all tastes, including reference books for students; a difficult task to fulfil during the years following the Depression. He converted all of the lower areas of the building into a library, reference room and reading room for members and the public. The books were sorted and stored using a cataloguing and card index system that he had developed himself. He also prepared the upper floor of the building and established the Art Gallery and later the Museum, a place to exhibit the many old relics that had been stored for years for this purpose. One of the treasures he found was a beautiful ancient clock, which he repaired, restored and enjoyed using in his office during the years of his service there. Ralph Pattison was described as “a meticulous gentleman whose punctuality, floorless courtesy and distinctive neat dress were hallmarks of his character, and ‘his’ clock controlled his daily routine and his opening and closing of the library’s large heavy doors to the minute.” Pattison took leave from 1942 to 1945 to serve in the Royal Australian Navy, Volunteer Reserve as Lieutenant. A few years later he converted one of the Museum’s rooms into a Children’s Library, stocking it with suitable books for the younger generation. This was an instant success. In the 1950’s he had the honour of being appointed to the Victorian Library Board and received more inspiration from the monthly conferences in Melbourne. He was sadly retired in 1959 after over 23 years of service, due to the fact that he had gone over the working age of council officers. However, he continued to take a very keen interest in the continual development of the Library until his death in 1969. THE NEW WARRNAMBOOL LIBRARY When the WMI building was pulled down in 1963 a new civic building was erected on the site and the new Warrnambool Library, on behalf of the City Council, took over all the holdings of the WMI. At this time some of the items were separated and identified as the ‘Pattison Collection’, named after Pattison. Eventually, the components of the WMI were distributed from the Warrnambool Library to various places, including the Art Gallery, Historical Society and Flagstaff Hill. Later some were even distributed to other regional branches of Corangamite Regional Library and passed to and fro. It is difficult now to trace just where all of the items have ended up. The books at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village generally display stamps and markings from Pattison as well as a variety of other institutions including the Mechanics’ Institute itself. Rolf Boldrewood (1826-1915) ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ is the pen-name used by Thomas Alexander Browne as a writer. Browne was the eldest child of Captain Sylvester John Brown and Elizabeth Angell nee Alexander. He was born in London on 6th August 1826 and arrived in Australia with his parents and siblings when he was 5 years old and grew up in Sydney. In the 1860’s Browne added the ‘e’ to his surname. As a 17 year old Browne took up land in the Western District of Victoria between Portland and Port Fairy on a property named “Squattlesea Mere”. He remained there until 1858, enjoying the squatters’ life on his 32,000 acre property, growing potatoes and running cattle and horses. He sold in 1858 and purchased a sheep station on the Murray River near Swan Hill. He later sold this and bought another sheep station near Narrandera until bad seasons and severe droughts eventually caused him to change his career after 25 years as a squatter. Over the next 25 years Browne held the position of Police Magistrate and as a gold commissioner in various locations. His third career as an author lasted approximately 40 years. In 1865 he wrote two articles on pastoral life while he was recovering from a riding accident. In the 1870’s his writing was bringing in the income to support his family, changing his focus to the writing of novels. A series of these was written for the Australian market and published in The Sydney Mail and the Centennial Magazine. His later novels were aimed at the overseas markets. His best known novel “Robbery Under Arms” was written from 1882 to 1883 and has been serialised on radio in Australia and Britain. The novel was filmed in 1907, 1920 and 1957, and in 1985 it was made into a television series. It is now an Australian Classic. He also wrote short stories, several nonfiction graziers’ guides, and an autobiography named “Old Melbourne Memories” in 1884. [This information has been taken from Wikipedia; Australian Authors-Perry Meddlemiss; Australian Dictionary of Biography, Browne, Thomas Alexander (1826-1915)] The Pattison Collection, along with other items at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, was originally part of the Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s collection. The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. The Warrnambool Mechanics Institute book collection has historical and social significance for its strong association with the Mechanics Institute movement and the important role it played in the intellectual, cultural and social development of people throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The collection of books is a rare example of an early lending library and its significance is enhanced by the survival of an original collection of many volumes. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s publication collection is of both local and state significance. The Crooked Stick Or Pollie's Probation Author: Rolf Bolderwood Publisher: MacMillan & Co Date: 1895 The label on the spine cover with typed text RA 823.91 BOL Flypaper has a person's signature flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, book, pattison collection, warrnambool library, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, the crooked stick or pollie's probation, rolf bolderwood -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book, War to The Knife
This book was part of a large group of books referred to as the Pattison Collection, which belonged to the Warrnambool Public Library, part of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute. About RALPH ERIC PATTISON and the ‘PATTISON COLLECTION’ The ‘Pattison Collection’ is a collection of books and records that was originally owned by the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute, founded in Warrnambool in 1853. By 1886 the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute (WMI) had grown to have a Library, Museum and Fine Arts Gallery, with a collection of “… choice productions of art and valuable specimens in almost every branch and many wonderful national curiosities are now to be seen there, including historic relics of the town and district.” It later included a School of Design. Although it was very well patronised, the WMI was led to ask the City Council to take it over in 1911 due to lack of financial support. In 1935 Ralph Pattison was appointed as City Librarian to establish and organise the Warrnambool Public Library as it was then called. Ralph Eric Pattison was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1891. He married Maude Swan from Warrnambool in 1920 and they set up home in Warrnambool. In 1935 when Pattison accepted the position as City Librarian for the Warrnambool City Council his huge challenge was to make a functional library within two rooms of the Mechanics’ Institute. He tirelessly cleaned, cleared and sorted a disarrayed collection of old books, jars of preserved specimens and other items reserved for exhibition in the city’s museum. He developed and updated the library with a wide variety of books for all tastes, including reference books for students; a difficult task to fulfil during the years following the Depression. He converted all of the lower areas of the building into a library, reference room and reading room for members and the public. The books were sorted and stored using a cataloguing and card index system that he had developed himself. He also prepared the upper floor of the building and established the Art Gallery and later the Museum, a place to exhibit the many old relics that had been stored for years for this purpose. One of the treasures he found was a beautiful ancient clock, which he repaired, restored and enjoyed using in his office during the years of his service there. Ralph Pattison was described as “a meticulous gentleman whose punctuality, floorless courtesy and distinctive neat dress were hallmarks of his character, and ‘his’ clock controlled his daily routine and his opening and closing of the library’s large heavy doors to the minute.” Pattison took leave from 1942 to 1945 to serve in the Royal Australian Navy, Volunteer Reserve as Lieutenant. A few years later he converted one of the Museum’s rooms into a Children’s Library, stocking it with suitable books for the younger generation. This was an instant success. In the 1950’s he had the honour of being appointed to the Victorian Library Board and received more inspiration from the monthly conferences in Melbourne. He was sadly retired in 1959 after over 23 years of service, due to the fact that he had gone over the working age of council officers. However, he continued to take a very keen interest in the continual development of the Library until his death in 1969. THE NEW WARRNAMBOOL LIBRARY When the WMI building was pulled down in 1963 a new civic building was erected on the site and the new Warrnambool Library, on behalf of the City Council, took over all the holdings of the WMI. At this time some of the items were separated and identified as the ‘Pattison Collection’, named after Pattison. Eventually, the components of the WMI were distributed from the Warrnambool Library to various places, including the Art Gallery, Historical Society and Flagstaff Hill. Later some were even distributed to other regional branches of Corangamite Regional Library and passed to and fro. It is difficult now to trace just where all of the items have ended up. The books at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village generally display stamps and markings from Pattison as well as a variety of other institutions including the Mechanics’ Institute itself. Rolf Boldrewood (1826-1915) ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ is the pen-name used by Thomas Alexander Browne as a writer. Browne was the eldest child of Captain Sylvester John Brown and Elizabeth Angell nee Alexander. He was born in London on 6th August 1826 and arrived in Australia with his parents and siblings when he was 5 years old and grew up in Sydney. In the 1860’s Browne added the ‘e’ to his surname. As a 17 year old Browne took up land in the Western District of Victoria between Portland and Port Fairy on a property named “Squattlesea Mere”. He remained there until 1858, enjoying the squatters’ life on his 32,000 acre property, growing potatoes and running cattle and horses. He sold in 1858 and purchased a sheep station on the Murray River near Swan Hill. He later sold this and bought another sheep station near Narrandera until bad seasons and severe droughts eventually caused him to change his career after 25 years as a squatter. Over the next 25 years Browne held the position of Police Magistrate and as a gold commissioner in various locations. His third career as an author lasted approximately 40 years. In 1865 he wrote two articles on pastoral life while he was recovering from a riding accident. In the 1870’s his writing was bringing in the income to support his family, changing his focus to the writing of novels. A series of these was written for the Australian market and published in The Sydney Mail and the Centennial Magazine. His later novels were aimed at the overseas markets. His best known novel “Robbery Under Arms” was written from 1882 to 1883 and has been serialised on radio in Australia and Britain. The novel was filmed in 1907, 1920 and 1957, and in 1985 it was made into a television series. It is now an Australian Classic. He also wrote short stories, several nonfiction graziers’ guides, and an autobiography named “Old Melbourne Memories” in 1884. [This information has been taken from Wikipedia; Australian Authors-Perry Meddlemiss; Australian Dictionary of Biography, Browne, Thomas Alexander (1826-1915)] The Pattison Collection, along with other items at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, was originally part of the Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s collection. The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. The Warrnambool Mechanics Institute book collection has historical and social significance for its strong association with the Mechanics Institute movement and the important role it played in the intellectual, cultural and social development of people throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The collection of books is a rare example of an early lending library and its significance is enhanced by the survival of an original collection of many volumes. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s publication collection is of both local and state significance. War to The Knife Author: Rolf Bolderwood Publisher: MacMillan & Co Date: First published 1899 The label on the spine cover with typed text R.A. 823.912 BOL Inside the front loose paper has pencil handwriting that is unreadable flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, book, pattison collection, warrnambool library, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, war to the knife, rolf bolderwood -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Memorial to Peter Brock, Ferguson's Paddock, Hurstbridge, 23 January 2008
Ferguson’s Paddock, Hurstbridge. A plaque on a boulder commemorates Peter Brock. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p167 On a rock in Ferguson’s Paddock, Hurstbridge, a plaque commemorates Peter Brock. It includes the words: ‘Boy from Hurstbridge without special privileges, grew to become champion of racetracks around the world but he never forgot his beginnings’. Brock came from a well-established local family. Born in Hurstbridge in 1945, he lived in Anzac Avenue as a child, attended the Hurstbridge Primary and Eltham High Schools and lived in the district most of his life. His father Geoff owned the Diamond Valley Speed Shop in Greensborough. Brock’s forbears were amongst the area’s earliest settlers. From Scotland, the Brocks arrived in Tasmania in 1830, to graze sheep. Family members moved to Sunbury, then Preston, grazing sheep in the Bundoora area. John Brock owned Janefield, possibly named after his wife. In 1855 he granted around two acres (0.8ha) of his estate for a school.1 In 1866 Lewis Brock bought 264 acres (107ha) in Nutfield, the first non-Aboriginal person to own that land. They planted an orchard, then from around 1935, Brock’s uncle Sandy and his grandfather Lewis, ran a dairy on the property. In the 1980s Brock and his then partner Bev, bought most of the property, which they sold after their separation in 2006.2 Brock’s father was a Hurstbridge Football Club President, but Brock’s uncle Sandy, of Brocks Road, Doreen, has been particularly active in local affairs. He was President of the Mernda Football Club (then Plenty Rovers), President of the Panton Hill Football League and he founded the Arthurs Creek and District Landcare Group. He also gave more than 50 years of service to the Whittlesea Agricultural Society, the Volunteers for Australian Football and the Doreen Rural Fire Brigade. Community service was important to Brock too. Brock, with his then partner Bev, established the Peter Brock Foundation in 1997, the year he retired from full-time V8 Supercar racing. The Foundation’s grants have included $100,000 towards the upgrade of a walking track in the Hurstbridge Parklands and other projects include a holiday house for the families of child cancer victims.3 Brother Lewis saw Brock as a spiritual person, who had a great affinity with people. He saw Brock as a role model of someone who could achieve their dreams. ‘The family didn’t have much money, yet that didn’t stop Peter realising his dreams. He was strong and didn’t let difficult times crush him.’4 Despite his later successes, Brock’s most treasured trophy was for running 100 yards (91.4m)at his primary school in 1955, and he appreciated his head master Ted Griffiths’ encouragement of his sporting endeavours. At high school Brock became captain of Everard House. In his first year he bought a 1928 Austin 7 for £5. He cut the car into a box shape with an axe and enjoyed driving it – despite it having no brakes - at his grandparents’ farm at Nutfield. The turning point in Brock’s life came at age 23, when he built an Austin A30 in an old henhouse in Wattle Glen, using a Holden engine. He was laughed at until it won the Australian Sports Sedan Championship in 1968. Brock’s career then took off and he became a professional driver. Brock won Australian motor sport’s best-known event, the Bathurst 1000, nine times. Brock endured a bitter split from Holden in 1986 over control of his Holden-backed vehicle modification business and a car performance-enhancing device he called the ‘energy polariser’– despite it having no scientific evidence to support its claims. But Brock returned to Holden in 1994.5 Then in 1997, aged 52, Brock retired from fulltime V8 Supercar racing. However he continued to race at motor sport events. Brock won several awards, including an Order of Australia Medal in 1980, the Australian Sports Medal in 2000, and the Centenary Medal.6 On September 8, 2006, Brock died; after his car hit a tree during the Targa West Rally in Western Australia.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, ferguson's paddock, hurstbridge, peter brock memorial, peter brock -
Melbourne Tram Museum
Magazine, Yarra Trams, "Tramlines", 2004 - 2009
Set of 15 issues of Yarra Trams Magazine "Tramlines" All folded A3 unless noted otherwise. 1 - Issue 1 - August 2004 - staff event, message from CEO Hubert Guyot, new control centre, route 96, Olympic torch relay, tram 431, new livery, meet Johnpaul tram attendant. .1A - Issue 2 - December 2004 - customer satisfaction, tram attendants, remembrance day, CEO message, new routes, Camberwell depot, staff profile and tramways band. .2 - issue 3 - May 2005 - Fleet operations control centre opens, (photo), Balaclava Junction upgrade, grand union, Melbourne Uni superstop, fund raising. .3 - issue 4 - August 2005 - Congratulations to Lenny Bates 50, departure of Hubert, route 75 extended to Vermont South, fare evasion, trackwork and Superstops in Flinders St and Bourke St, East Preston Depot and think tram project. .4 - Issue 5 - December 2005 - folded A3 sheet, plain paper, colour photos - with articles on congestion, advertising campaign success re fare evaders, new platform stops in Flinders St, Network improvements and getting ready for the 2006 Commonwealth games featuring a cartoon poster of a tram in a race (see Reg item 1235 for the actual poster). Has a message from Dennis Cliche - new CEO. .5 - Issue 6 - May 2006 - folded A2 sheet, gloss paper, items re Commonwealth games, Karachi W-11 tram, Remembrance day, network improvements, Grand Prix, good Friday appeal, and the forthcoming centenary celebrations. Centre page spread has a large number of photos of staff during the Commonwealth Games. .6 - Issue 7 - October 2006 - folded A2 sheet, gloss paper, colour photos of the Centenary Art Tram (5006), Myki, network improvements, memories of 1906, Luna Party Tram (1011) with centre page spread of a photo of 5006 outside Luna Park, and the various tram images featured on the tramcar. See also Reg Item 864 for details of the making of the art work. .7 - Issue 8 - December 2006 - folded A3 sheet, gloss paper, colour photos of the "Tram It 2006" event, light rail, TramTracker being launched, Essendon, Centenary celebrations and "for the love of trams". .8 - Issue 9 - May 2007 - six pages - traffic condition, green depots, Joyce Barry, plaque at Brunswick Depot, fund raising, platform stops, trackwork, TramTracker, Police tram. .9 - Issue 10 - September 2007 - MSO tram, students travels, Transport Challenge 2007, website, TramTracker by SMS. .10 - Issue 11 - Melbourne trams a heritage icon, fund raising, TramTracker, cable tram tracks in Abbotsford St, route 86 to the Waterfront City Docklands, hailing trams. 11 - Issue 12 - Mulhouse tram, Bumblebee, on the docks, fundraising, St Kilda Road upgrades, TramTracker. .12 - Issue 13 - Bumblebee C2 class trams, traffic congestion, wind power tram, Flinders St trackwork. .13 - Issue 14 - Silver Paralympians on tram, green wind powered trams. .14 - Issue 15 - TramTracker Jake, film festival, Public Transport Ombudsman - Simon Cohen, Operations Centre, .15 - Issue 16 - 6 pages - tram performance, TramTracker at tram stops and iPhones, Mike Talks, Myki. All have the Yarra Trams logo on the front cover.trams, tramways, yarra trams, tickets, commonwealth games, flinders st, grand prix, karachi w-11 tram, construction, luna park, essendon depot, centenary, tramtracker, olympic games, control centre, balaclava junction, trackwork, grand union, melbourne university, superstops, vermont south, route 75, flinders st, bourke st, brunswick depot, cable trams, docklands, mulhouse, c2 class, flinders st, environment, ombudsman, myki, tramways band -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photograph, Alan King, Graves of Thomas Sweeney and family, Eltham Cemetery, Victoria, 27 January 2008
The grave of Thomas Sweeney, former convict turned respectable citizen. The Murray and Sweeney families were both early settlers of the Eltham district and connected by marriage. Their family plots are located side by side in the Catholic section of the Eltham Cemetery. Irish-born Thomas Sweeney is regarded as the first settler in Eltham. He was transported to Sydney in 1823 after being convicted of arson. He was granted his freedom in 1838 and married Margaret Meehan in the same year. They moved to Melbourne and in 1842 Thomas purchased 110 acres beside the Yarra River in the vicinity of present-day Sweeneys Lane. He called the property ‘Culla Hill’ and built a small slab hut (reputedly with Wurundjeri help; Margaret is said to have run an informal hospital for them in return). This was followed in 1846 by more substantial buildings consisting of a three-roomed Irish-style ‘longhouse’ and a barn made of stone and handmade bricks, with doors large enough to accommodate a fully loaded wagon. When the gold rush came, Thomas prospered by selling meat and potatoes to the prospectors, enabling him to purchase a further 308 acres in 1856. He promoted the construction of a bridge over the Plenty River and the establishment of a school at Eltham. Roman Catholic Church services were held at Culla Hill in the early years. When he died in 1867, he was regarded as a respected member of the community. Thomas and Margaret are buried in Eltham Cemetery with many of their descendants. Their first son John continued to farm Culla Hill until his death in 1909. Culla Hill passed out of the Sweeneys' possession in 1939. The house and barn remain today, though lesser outbuildings have gone. The facade of the house is much the same as it was in the 1840s. Sacred To the memory of Thomas Sweeney Who died Sep 6th 1867 Aged 65 years May his soul res in peace Also his wife Margaret Died Oct 3rd 1884 aged 73 years And their daughters Annie Died Aug 22nd 1860 aged 21 years Johanna Died Aug 19th 1872 aged 22 years Margaret Died 7th Sep 1913 aged 72 years R.I.P. Also In Memory Of John Sweeney Died 24th May 1909 Aged 65 years Also of his wife Ellen Died 8th March 1910 Aged 64 years R.I.P Also In Memory Of Caroline Infant daughter of John & Ellen Sweeney Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p55 From the piety and poverty of 19th century Eltham, 20th century artists and environmentalists, to today’s comfortable middle class, Eltham Cemetery records it all — and more. A visit to Eltham Cemetery reveals an important social record since its beginnings in 1858. The cemetery was situated on about six acres (2.4ha) (now around 4.8ha) at the corner of Mount Pleasant and Metery Roads.1* It is thought that Metery Road was originally called Cemetery Road, but in the early 1940s, a resident, possibly a councillor, objected to the name resulting in the change.2 Much can be gleaned about the developing Eltham community from burial styles and the names of former local residents. Originally the cemetery was divided into Christian denominations, like others of that time, following the United Kingdom burial system. In 1861 the cemetery included Church of England, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and Wesleyans (later Methodist) sites. Graves also indicated social class. Some had grand tombstones, perhaps fenced with ornamental cast iron railing, but most in the 1860s and 1870s were constructed of modest stone slabs.3 This indicated the poverty of the district, which was largely inhabited by farmers on small landholdings. A poignant reminder of the high rates of infant mortality of those times, are the many infants and young children recorded on the headstones. Major changes occurred in the cemetery in the late 20th century as Christian adherence weakened and society became more egalitarian and informal. In the early 1970s a non-denominational lawn section for burials was established. Since then all new areas have been non-denominational to accommodate the more diverse local community. Now, instead of large ornamental headstones, some mourners have chosen boulders, reflecting the natural Eltham style, while others choose graves in the lawn areas or niches in walls. In the late 1970s, the University Donor Section was established north-west of Candlebark Lawn for those who donated their bodies for The University of Melbourne medical research. In the early 1980s the natural Australian garden style, popular in Eltham, was mirrored in a new section called Ashes Walk. Local landscape architect Gordon Ford, who had popularised this style, designed the Walk using boulders shaded by native plants beside curved pathways. Landscape architect Robert Boyle later redesigned Ashes Walk and developed other parts of the cemetery in keeping with this style.4 Appropriately Ford, who died in 1999, was interred in the Native Garden Section in a cluster of sites shaded by a large eucalyptus tree.5 By 2007, about 6400 interments were recorded in the Eltham Cemetery. Close inspection reveals notable names in the district’s history. The grave of Thomas Sweeney, a former convict who became a respected citizen, can be found in the Roman Catholic section near the path. Eltham Primary School’s first headmaster, David Clark, is buried in a modest grave in the Church of England section to the east of the path from the main entrance. Sir William Irvine, Victorian Premier from 1900 to 1902, whose grave is in the north-east Presbyterian section was at various times Victoria’s Chief Justice, Deputy Governor and Treasurer.6 Further south is the grave of social reformer Bertram Wainer, born in Scotland in 1928 and died in 1987. He campaigned to legalise abortion and exposed police corruption in allowing illegal ‘backyard’ abortions. Other prominent local residents interred in the cemetery include: Justus Jörgensen, who founded Montsalvat; Alistair Knox, the mud-brick housing pioneer and Eltham Shire Councillor from 1971 to 1975 and President in 1975; Clem and Nina Christensen, who had a major influence on the literary development of post World War Two Australia. Others were: composer Dorian Le Gallienne; artist Peter Glass; Stephen Dattner, a prominent Melbourne furrier; ALP parliamentarian for Greensborough, Pauline Toner and political scientist and commentator, Professor William Macmahon Ball.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, annie sweeney, caroline sweeney, ellen sweeney, eltham cemetery, graves, gravestones, johanna sweeney, john murray, john sweeney, margaret sweeney, mary ellen drain, mary murray, thomas murray, thomas sweeney -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Instrument - Clock, c. 1860s
The clock was either made or sold by T. Gaunt & Co. of Melbourne, a manufacturer, importer and retailer of a wide variety of goods including jewellery, clocks and watches, navigational and measuring instruments, dinnerware, glassware and ornaments. Thomas Gaunt photograph was included in an album of security identity portraits of members of the Victorian Court, Centennial International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1888. Thomas Gaunt History: Thomas Gaunt established Melbourne's leading watchmaking, optical and jewellery business during the second half of the 19th century. Gaunt arrived in Melbourne in 1852, and by 1858 had established his own business at 14 Little Bourke Street. Around 1869 he moved to new premises in Bourke Street on the corner of Royal Arcade, Gaunt's shop quickly became a Melbourne institution. Gaunt proudly advertised that he was 'The only watch manufacturer in the Australian colonies'. While many watches and clocks may have had Gaunt's name on the dial, few would have been made locally. Gaunt did make some watches for exhibitions, and perhaps a few expensive watches for wealthy individuals. Gaunt's received a telegraph signal from Melbourne Observatory each day to correct his main clock and used this signal to rate and repair ship's chronometers and good quality watches. His main horological manufacturing was directed at turret clocks for town halls, churches and post offices. These tended to be specific commissions requiring individualised design and construction. He made the clock for the Melbourne Post Office lobby, to a design by Government Astronomer Robert Ellery, and won an award at the 1880-81 Melbourne International Exhibition for his turret clock for the Emerald Hill Town Hall. He became well known for his installation of a chronograph at Flemington Racecourse in 1876, which showed the time for the race, accurate to a quarter of a second. The firm also installed the clockwork and figures for Gog and Magog in the Royal Arcade. Thomas Gaunt also developed a department that focused on scientific instrumentation, making thermometers and barometers (from imported glass tubes), telescopes, surveying instruments and microscopes. Another department specialised in electroplating for trophies, awards and silverware, and the firm manufactured large amounts of ecclesiastical gold ware and silverware, for the church including St Patrick's Cathedral. There are no records that disclose the number of employees in the firm, but it was large enough for Gaunt to hold an annual picnic for the watchmakers and apprentices at Mordialloc from 1876; two years previously they had successfully lobbied Gaunt to win the eight hour day. Gaunt's workforce was reportedly very stable, with many workers remaining in the business for 15 to 30 years. Gaunt's wife Jane died on September 1894, aged 64. They had one son and six daughters, but only three daughters survived to adulthood. Two became nuns at the Abbotsford Convent and one daughter, Cecelia Mary Gaunt (died 28 July 1941), married William Stanislaus Spillane on 22 September 1886 and had a large family. Gaunt died at his home in Coburg, Victoria, leaving an estate valued at ₤41,453. The business continued as T. Gaunt & Co. after his death. Post Office and Clock History: Warrnambool’s Post Office has been in existence since 1857, when it was originally situated on the corner of Timor and Gilles Street. In March 1864 the Warrnambool Borough Council purchased this clock from Henry Walsh Jnr. for the sum of £25, “to be put up in front of the Post Office”. Henry Walsh Jnr was the eldest son of Melbourne’s Henry Walsh, maker and retailer of clocks, watches, thermometers and jewellery. In 1854 Henry Walsh Jnr. began business in Warrnambool as a watchmaker and jeweller later becoming a Councillor with now a local street named after him. The Post Office was extensively remodelled in 1875-76. Early photographs of this building show that the clock was installed on the northern outside wall, Timor Street, under the arches and between the 2 centre windows, where it could be seen by passers-by. Although spring loaded clocks date back to the 15th century, and fob and pocket watches evolving from these date to the 17th century, personal pocket watches were only affordable to the very fortunate. Public clocks such as this Post Office clock provided opportunity for all to know the time, and for those in possession of a personal watch to check and set their own timepieces to the correct time. During post office reservations during the 1970s the clock was removed and was eventually donated to the Flagstaff Collection. The Clock’s maker Thomas Gaunt, is historically significant and was an established and well renowned scientific instrument and clock maker in Melbourne during the 1860s. He was at that time the only watchmaker in the Australian colonies. In the 1870’s and 1880’s he won many awards for his clocks and was responsible for sending time signals to other clocks in the city and rural areas, enabling many businesses and organisations to accurate set their clocks each day. Warrnambool Borough Council purchased this clock from Henry Walsh Jnr. for the sum of £25 and the clock used to stand in front of the Warrnambool post office to allow ordinary citizens to set their time pieces as they walked by. The item is not only important because it was made by a significant early colonial clock maker and retailed by a locally known clock maker and jeweler but also that it was installed in the Warrnambool Post Office a significantly historical building in it's own right. Built in 1857 and regarded as one of the oldest postal facilities in Australia, with a listing on the National Heritage Database, (ID 15656). This 1864 hall clock originates from the Warrnambool Post Office. The clock glass is hinged to the top of the clock face and has a catch at the bottom. The metal rim of the glass is painted black. The clock face is metal, painted white, with black Roman numerals and markings for minutes and five minutes. The tip of the small hour hand is shaped like a leaf. "T. GAUNT / MELBOURNE" is printed in black on the clock face. The winding key hole is just below the centre of the clock face. The key winds a fusee chain mechanism, attached to the brass mainspring barrel that powers the pendulum with an 8-day movement. The speed of the clock can be adjusted by changing the position of the weight on the pendulum, lengthening or shortening the swing; raising the pendulum shortens its swing and speeds up the clock. The metal fusee mechanism has an inscription on it. The rectangular wooden casing is with a convex curve at the bottom that has a hinged door with a swivel latch. The original stained surface has been painted over with a matte black. There are two other doors that also allow access to the clock’s workings. The case fits over the pendulum and workings at the rear and attaches to the clock by inserting four wooden pegs into holes in the sides of the case then into the back of the clock. A flat metal plate has been secured by five screws onto the top of the case and a hole has been cut into it for the purpose of hanging up the clock. There is a nail inside the case, possibly used for a place to the key."T. GAUNT MELBOURNE" is printed on the clock face. “6 1 3” embossed on the back of the fusee mechanism behind the clock. warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, shipwrecked artefact, clock, warrnambool post office, fusee, henry walsh jnr, thomas gaunt, t gaunt & co, post office clock -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Ceramic - Teacup, 1920s
This teacup is part of a four-piece place setting, comprising a teacup, saucer and plates, from a tea set. The tea set was given by Eva Carmichael, a survivor of the ship Loch Ard which was wrecked near Port Campbell in 1878, to Jane Shields, the young woman who supported Eva during her recovery from the ordeal. Ms Shields was Eva’s close companion while she was convalescing at Glenample Homestead. The friendship between the two women continued after Eva Carmichael returned to her home in Britain, became Mrs Townsend, and had three sons. Jane Shields also married, becoming Mrs John Osborne and bearing four daughters and two sons. In 1926-27, almost forty-eight years after the shipwreck, one of Jane’s daughters (Ella Marie Schulby nee Osborne) visited Eva in England. Eva gave her the tea set to take back home to her mother. Jane died in 1932 and her tea set was inherited by her daughters, who divided it between themselves, a four-piece place setting for each of them. A brief history of the Loch Ard: - The Loch Ard was named after a Scottish lake. It was one of the famous Loch Line of ships that sailed the long voyage from England to Australia. Barclay, Curdle and Co. built the three-masted iron ship in Glasgow in 1873. It had sailed three trips to Australia and one trip to Calcutta before its fateful voyage. Loch Ard left England on March 2, 1878, under the command of recently married, 29-year-old Captain Gibbs, bound for Melbourne with a crew of 37, plus 17 passengers. The general cargo reflected the affluence of Melbourne at the time. Onboard were straw hats, umbrellas, perfumes, clay pipes, pianos, clocks, confectionery, linen and candles, and a heavier load of railway irons, cement, lead and copper. Other cargo included items intended for display in the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880. The Loch Ard had been sailing for three months and was close to its destination. At 3 am on June 1, 1878, Captain Gibbs expected to see land, but the Loch Ard ran into a fog that greatly reduced visibility. Captain Gibbs became anxious as there was no sign of land or the Cape Otway lighthouse. The fog lifted at 4 am. A lookout announced that he could see breakers. The sheer cliffs of Victoria's west coast came into view; the ship was much closer to them than Captain Gibbs expected. It was not long before the Loch Ard's bow swung towards land. Although the Captain tried to manage the vessel, his attempts didn’t work and the ship struck a reef at the base of Mutton Bird Island, near Port Campbell. The top deck became loosened from the hull, and the masts and rigging crashed down, knocking passengers and crew overboard. The lifeboat was launched by Tom Pearce but crashed into the side of Loch Ard and capsized. Tom Pearce managed to cling to the lifeboat’s overturned hull and shelter beneath it. He drifted out to sea and the tide brought him back to what is now called Loch Ard Gorge. He swam to shore and found a cave for shelter. A passenger, Eva Carmichael, had raced onto the deck to find out what was happening and was confronted by towering cliffs above the ship. She was soon swept off the ship by a huge wave. Eva saw Tom Pearce on a small rocky beach and yelled to attract his attention. He swam to the exhausted woman and dragged her to shore and to the shelter of the cave. He revived Eva with a bottle of brandy from a case that had washed up on the beach. Tom scaled a cliff in search of help and followed some horse hoof prints. He came from two men from Glenample Station, three and a half miles away. He told the men of the tragedy and then returned to the gorge while the two men rode back to the station to get help. They reached Loch Ard Gorge and took the two shipwreck survivors to Glenample Station to recover. Eva stayed at the station for six weeks before returning to Ireland by steamship. In Melbourne, Tom Pearce received a hero's welcome and was presented with a medal and some money. Of the 54 crew members and passengers on board, only two survived: the apprentice, Tom Pearce and the young woman passenger, Eva Carmichael, who lost her family in the tragedy.This blue china tea set, comprising a teacup, saucer and two plates, is of high significance as it is closely connected to the wreck of the Loch Ard, and to one of only two survivors, Eva Carmichael. Memorabilia connected to Eva Carmichael are precious and rare. The Loch Ard shipwreck is significant for Victoria and is registered on the Victorian Heritage Register (S 417). Flagstaff Hill has a varied collection of artefacts from Loch Ard and its collection is significant for being one of the largest accumulations of artefacts from this notable Victorian shipwreck. The group gives a snapshot of history, enabling us to interpret the story of this tragic event and the lives of the people involved. The collection is also archaeologically significant as it represents aspects of Victoria's shipping history that allow us to interpret Victoria's social and historical themes of the time. The collection's historical significance is that it is associated unfortunately with the worst and best-known shipwreck in Victoria's history.The teacup is part of a china tea set place setting, which comprises the teacup, a saucer and two plates of slightly different sizes. The cup is a royal blue outer, white inside with gold lip, a gold ring around the base and a gold handle. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, shipwreck coast, great ocean road, china tea set, tea set, royal blue china, tom pearce, eva carmichael, jane shields, glenample, loch ard, place setting, teacup -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book - Reference, The Birds of Australia Vol 1
The Birds of Australia is a 12 volume work, in a total of 14 books. The books were used as an ornithological handbook. They contain scientific text as well as over 600 hand-coloured lithographed plates by J.G. Keulemans, H. Grönvold, Roland Green, H. Goodchild and G.E. Lodge. The work was written, sponsored and organised by Gregory M. Matthews, F.R.S.C. Erc. who were a wealthy Australian and an amateur ornithologist? His titles included – -Fellow of the Linnean and Zoological Societies of London -Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union -Corresponding Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union The volumes in our collection were originally donated to the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library by William Lindsay. THE LINDSAYS (quoted from the book Of Many Things – A History of Warrnambool Shire by C.E. Sayers) The Lindsays were amongst the most prominent families in the Shire of Warrnambool, as pastoralists, sportsmen, municipal councillors, community leaders. The first of the family William arrived in Melbourne in 1841 and started a business as a livestock agent. The gold rushes sent him to the central Victoria diggings dealing in cattle. This was a business that boomed in the early 1850s, and he prospered. In 1859 he took over the Quamby run near Woolsthrope from Paul de Castella, the Yarra Valley Swiss vigneron who had brought the leasehold and improvements in 1853 from George You, who had pioneered the run. Quamby was originally 25,000 acres. It was heavily timbered, rough country, much of it swampy, a characteristic of the district. Lindsay used it to fatten cattle which gave large returns with the booming gold diggings towns paying high prices for beef. In 1862 purchases at auction made Quamby a freehold. In the next six years, a further 20,000 acres of Crown land were brought at auction to make the run one of the largest in the south-west district. The great profits from his cattle trading enabled Lindsay to make improvements to the holding, and to Union which was added in 1864. Much of the thick timber was cleared and the worst of the swamps drained. Union was 15,000 acres of freehold land when Kennedy sold it to Lindsay. It was heavily timbered, mostly blackwood, with large belts of wattle and honeysuckle. Much of the heavy native was ringbarked and cleared; much more was swept away by bushfire. It was expensive work, but Lindsay’s bank passbook was heavy with credit, and he did not spare money to make both Quamby and Union heavily developed stock runs. He was as lavish in social living; the bluestone Quamby homestead was one of the most hospitable in the district when William Lindsay was host there; its paddocks carried high-quality thoroughbreds: its stables housed steeplechasers and flat racers which won many races on Warrnambool and other courses; its coach houses were filled with carriages which took his guests to the great racing carnivals of the district. After William Lindsay died in 1897, in his eighty-fifth year, his two sons, William and James, managed Union and Quamby as a joint venture. This partnership ended in 1906 when William took over Union and James kept Quamby. The following year 10,000 acres of Union was subdivided and sold in lots of 100 acres to 700 acres for dairying and general farming. It was well-improved country, much of it alluvial flats. By then many of the paddocks were sheltered with blue gum belts, and they carried good pastures. The three Lindsays, father and two sons, gave many years of service to the Shire, and to many charitable, sporting, social and community organisations in the Warrnambool district. William Lindsay senior, was a Shire councillor for 15 years, and President several times. James Lindsay followed his father as a north riding councillor. He served nineteen years, from 1887 until his death in March 1908. He was President four times. Jimmy Lindsay was one of the most popular men in the south-west of Victoria. He was a fine sportsman: horse breeder, owner and a dashing amateur rider. He lived lavishly and played hard. For many years he guarded a herd of kangaroos, as many as 100 head, at Quamby. Descendants of the Lindsay kangaroos are still in the district. James Lindsay’s wife, Margaret Esther was a daughter of Samuel Shaw Parker, the first engineer of the Shire. Nell Lindsay, a daughter, lives in the Bluestone Quamby homestead. Only a little more than 60 acres of the original run still belongs to the property. William Lindsay junior succeeded his brother as a Shire councillor. He served for 25 years from 1908 until his death in 1934. So, the Lindsays, father and two sons, served as Shite councillors for an unbroken period of sixth-five years. William Lindsay junior had a life-long interest in horse racing, as breeder, owner and enthusiastic amateur steeplechase rider. He was elected a member of the Warrnambool racing club in 1901 and was president of the club for thirty-two years. He raced and rode horses for the love of the sport. He won the Villiers and Heytesbury Hunt Cup in the 1870s on his own horse, Ventura. In the year he died his horse Flavedo won the Warrnambool Grand Annual steeplechase. It was a sensational race. All of the contestants fell or lost their riders. When Flavedo baulked at a jump, its jockey R. Sweetman, remounted and completed the course to win the race. All of the Lindsays were passionately fond of the thoroughbred horse. Nell Lindsay talking to the author in the drawing-room of Quamby homestead - with many memories for her of its lavish years – said of a brother that he was put on a horse when he was two years old and never got off. William Lindsay junior made Union into a fine, high-producing property, breeding cattle and horses. He added to the bluestone house that David Kennedy started, established plantations of pines and gums, and made an attractive garden. WARRNAMBOOL MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE Warrnambool's Mechanics' Institute (or Institution as it was sometimes called) was one of the earliest in Victoria. On 17th October 1853, a meeting was held where it was resolved to request the Lieutenant Governor of the Colony to grant land for the erection of a Mechanics' Institutes building. A committee was formed at the meeting and Richard Osburne chaired the first meeting of this committee. The land on the North West corner of Banyan and Merri Streets was granted but there were no funds to erect the building. The Formal Rights of the Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute's encompassed its aims and these were officially adopted in1859; "This Institution has for its object the diffusion of literary, scientific, and other useful knowledge amongst its members, excluding all controversial subjects, religious or political. These objects are sought to be obtained by means of a circulating library, a reading room, the establishment of classes, debates, and the occasional delivery of lectures on natural and experimental philosophy, mechanics, astronomy, chemistry, natural history, literature, and the useful and ornamental arts, particularly those which have a more immediate reference to the colony." The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute opened its first meeting room in November 1854 in the National School building at the corner of Banyan and Timor Streets. The Institute was funded by member subscription, payable on a quarterly, half-yearly or yearly basis. Samuel Hannaford, the Manager of the Warrnambool Bank of Australasia, was the first Honorary Secretary of the Mechanics' Institutes, and an early President and Vice-President. He also gave several of the early lectures in the Reading Room. Another early Secretary, Librarian and lecturer was Marmaduke Fisher, the teacher at the National School. Lecture topics included The Poets and Poetry of Ireland', 'The Birth and Development of the Earth', 'The Vertebrae - with Remarks on the pleasures resulting from the study of Natural History' and 'Architecture'. In 1856 the Reading Room was moved to James Hider's shop in Timor Street, and by 1864 it was located in the bookshop of Davies and Read. In the 1860's the Mechanics' Institute struggled as membership waned but in 1866, after a series of fund raising efforts, the committee was able to purchase land in Liebig Street, on a site then called Market Square, between the weighbridge and the fire station. A Mechanics' Institute building was opened at this site in August 1871. The following year four more rooms were added to the main Reading Room and in 1873 the Artisan School of Design was incorporated into the Institute. The same year Joseph Archibald established a Museum; however, it deteriorated when he was transferred to Bendigo in 1877. In 1880, with Archibald's return to Warrnambool, the Museum was re-established, and in 1885 a new building was built at the back of the Institute to accommodate the re-created School of Design, the Art Gallery and the Museum. In 1887 the Museum section was moved to the former court house in Timor Street (for some time the walls of the building formed part of the TAFE cafeteria but all is now demolished)). In 1911 the Museum was transferred back to the original building and the management of the Mechanics' Institute was handed over to the Warrnambool City Council. The Museum and Art Gallery became one and housed many fine works of art, and the Library continued to grow. The building was well patronised, with records showing that at the beginning of the 20th century there were between 500 and 800 visitors. During World War One the monthly figures were in the thousands, with 3,400 people visiting in January 1915. The Museum was a much-loved Institution in Warrnambool until the contents of the Museum and Art Gallery were removed to make room for the Warrnambool City Council Engineers' Department. The contents were stored but many of the items were scattered or lost. When the original building was demolished the site became occupied by the Civic Centre, which included the new City Library. (The library was temporarily located in the old Palais building in Koroit Street.) In the process of reorganisation the Collection was distributed amongst the community groups: -The new City Library took some of the historic books and some important documents, historic photographs and newspapers. -The Art Gallery kept the 19th Century art collection and some of the artefacts from the museum. -The Historic Society has some items -The State Museum has some items -Some items were destroyed -Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village has old newspapers, Government Gazettes, most of the Mechanics' Institute Library, ledgers and documents connected to the Mechanics' Institute Library, some framed and unframed artworks and some photographs. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute Library book collection is deemed to be of great importance because it is one of the few collections in an almost intact state, and many of the books are now very rare and of great value. THE PATTISON COLLECTION This book is also part of the ‘Pattison Collection’, a collection of books and records that was originally owned by the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute, which was founded in Warrnambool in 1853. In 1935 Ralph Pattison was appointed as City Librarian to establish and organise the Warrnambool Library, as the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute was then called. When the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute building was pulled down in 1963 a new civic building was erected on the site and the new Warrnambool Library, on behalf of the City Council, took over all the holdings of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute. At this time some of the items were separated and identified as the ‘Pattison Collection’, named after Ralph Pattison. Eventually, the components of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute were distributed from the Warrnambool Library to various places, including the Art Gallery, Historical Society and Flagstaff Hill. Later some were even distributed to other regional branches of Corangamite Regional Library and passed to and fro. It is difficult now to trace just where all of the items have ended up. The books at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village generally display stamps and markings from Pattison as well as a variety of other institutions including the Mechanics’ Institute itself. RALPH ERIC PATTISON Ralph Eric Pattison was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1891. He married Maude Swan from Warrnambool in 1920 and they set up home in Warrnambool. In 1935 Pattison accepted a position as City Librarian for the Warrnambool City Council. His huge challenge was to make a functional library within two rooms of the Mechanics’ Institute. He tirelessly cleaned, cleared and sorted a disarrayed collection of old books, jars of preserved specimens and other items reserved for exhibition in the city’s museum. He developed and updated the library with a wide variety of books for all tastes, including reference books for students; a difficult task to fulfil during the years following the Depression. He converted all of the lower areas of the building into a library, reference room and reading room for members and the public. The books were sorted and stored using a cataloguing and card index system that he had developed himself. He also prepared the upper floor of the building and established the Art Gallery and later the Museum, a place to exhibit the many old relics that had been stored for years for this purpose. One of the treasures he found was a beautiful ancient clock, which he repaired, restored and enjoyed using in his office during the years of his service there. Ralph Pattison was described as “a meticulous gentleman whose punctuality, floorless courtesy and distinctive neat dress were hallmarks of his character, and ‘his’ clock controlled his daily routine and his opening and closing of the library’s large heavy doors to the minute.” Pattison took leave from 1942 to 1945 to serve in the Royal Australian Navy, Volunteer Reserve as Lieutenant. A few years later he converted one of the Museum’s rooms into a Children’s Library, stocking it with suitable books for the younger generation. This was an instant success. In the 1950’s he had the honour of being appointed to the Victorian Library Board and received more inspiration from the monthly conferences in Melbourne. He was sadly retired in 1959 after over 23 years of service, due to the fact that he had gone over the working age of council officers. However, he continued to take a very keen interest in the continual development of the Library until his death in 1969. The Birds of Australia by Gregory M. Matthews is now considered a rare and valuable scientific and historic work on its own. These 12 volumes were donated in 1934 to The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and were included as part of the Pattison Collection. The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. The Warrnambool Mechanics Institute book collection has historical and social significance for its strong association with the Mechanics Institute movement and the important role it played in the intellectual, cultural and social development of people throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The collection of books is a rare example of an early lending library and its significance is enhanced by the survival of an original collection of many volumes. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s publication collection is of both local and state significance. The Birds of Australia Vol 1 Author: Gregory M Mathews Publisher: Witherby & Co, 326 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON Date: 1910-1911 Tan, leather bound illustrated workLabel on spine cover with typed text RA 598.2994 MAT Pastedown front endpaper has sticker from Warrnambool Mechanics Institute that reads Presented by W Lindsay Esq, “Union”, Woolsthorpe. Accession Number 15232 Date Received: 3-34 “W. Lindsay” embossed in gold on front cover, bottom right of bookflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, the birds of australia, gregory m. matthews, witherby & co., h.f. & g. witherby, w lindsay, william lindsay, pattison collection, the birds of australia vol 1, union station, woolsthrope, quamby station, warrnambool mechanics’ institute and free library -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book - Reference, The Birds of Australia Vol 2
The Birds of Australia is a 12 volume work, in a total of 14 books. The books were used as an ornithological handbook. They contain scientific text as well as over 600 hand-coloured lithographed plates by J.G. Keulemans, H. Grönvold, Roland Green, H. Goodchild and G.E. Lodge. The work was written, sponsored and organised by Gregory M. Matthews, F.R.S.C. Erc. who was a wealthy Australian and an amateur ornithologist. His titles included – -Fellow of the Linnean and Zoological Societies of London -Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union -Corresponding Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union The volumes in our collection were originally donated to the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library by William Lindsay. THE LINDSAYS (quoted from the book Of Many Things – A History of Warrnambool Shire by C.E. Sayers) The Lindsays were amongst the most prominent families in the Shire of Warrnambool, as pastoralists, sportsmen, municipal councillors, community leaders. The first of the family William arrived in Melbourne in 1841 and started business as a livestock agent. The gold rushes sent him to the central Victoria diggings dealing in cattle. This was a business that boomed in the early 1850s, and he prospered. In 1859 he took over the Quamby run near Woolsthrope from Paul de Castella, the Yarra Valley Swiss vigneron who had brought the leasehold and improvements in 1853 from George Youl, who had pioneered the run. Quamby was originally 25,000 acres. It was heavily timbered, rough country, much of it swampy, a characteristic of the district. Lindsay used it to fatten cattle which gave large returns with the booming gold diggings towns paying high prices for beef. In 1862 purchases at auction made Quamby a freehold. In the next six years a further 20,000 acres of Crown land were brought at auction to make the run one of the largest in the south-west district. The great profits from his cattle trading enabled Lindsay to make improvements to the holding, and to Union which was added in 1864. Much of the thick timber was cleared and the worst of the swamps drained. Union was 15,000 acres of freehold when Kennedy sold it to Lindsay. It was heavily timbered, mostly blackwood, with large belts of wattle and honeysuckle. Much of the heavy native was ringbarked and cleared; much more was swept away by bushfire. It was expensive work, but Lindsay’s bank passbook was heavy with credit, and he did not spare money to make both Quamby and Union heavily developed stock runs. He was as lavish in social living; the bluestone Quamby homestead was one of the most hospitable in the district when William Lindsay was host there; its paddocks carried high quality thoroughbreds: its stables housed steeplechasers and flat racers which won many races on Warrnambool and other courses; its coach houses were filled with carriages which took his guests to the great racing carnivals of the district. After William Lindsay died in 1897, in his eighty-fifth year, his two sons, William and James, managed Union and Quamby as a joint venture. This partnership ended in 1906 when William took over Union and James kept Quamby. The following year 10,000 acres of Union were subdivided and sold in lots of 100 acres to 700 acres for dairying and general farming. It was well improved country, much of it alluvial flats. By then many of the paddocks were sheltered with blue gum belts, and they carried good pastures. The three Lindsays, father and two sons, gave many years of service to the Shire, and to many charitable, sporting, social and community organisations in the Warrnambool district. William Lindsay senior, was a Shire councillor for 15 years, and President several times. James Lindsay followed his father as a north riding councillor. He served nineteen years, from 1887 until his death in March 1908. He was President four times. Jimmy Lindsay was one of the most popular men in the south-west of Victoria. He was a fine sportsman: horse breeder, owner and a dashing amateur rider. He lived lavishly and played hard. For many years he guarded a herd of kangaroos, as many as 100 head, at Quamby. Descendants of the Lindsay kangaroos are still in the district. James Lindsay’s wife, Margaret Esther was a daughter of Samuel Shaw Parker, the first engineer of the Shire. Nell Lindsay, a daughter, lives in the Bluestone Quamby homestead. Only a little more than 60 acres of the original run still belongs to the property. William Lindsay junior succeeded his brother as a Shire councillor. He served for 25 years from 1908 until his death in 1934. So, the Lindsays, father and two sons, served as Shite councillors for an unbroken period of sixth-five years. William Lindsay junior had a life-long interest in horse racing, as breeder, owner and enthusiastic amateur steeplechase rider. He was elected a member of the Warrnambool racing club in 1901 and was president of the club for thirty-two years. He raced and rode horses for the love of the sport. He won the Villiers and Heytesbury Hunt Cup in the 1870s on his own horse, Ventura. In the year he died his horse Flavedo won the Warrnambool Grand Annual steeplechase. It was a sensational race. All of the contestants fell, or lost their riders. When Flavedo baulked at a jump, its jockey R. Sweetman, remounted and completed the course to win the race. All of the Lindsays were passionately fond of the thoroughbred horse. Nell Lindsay talking to the author in the drawing room of Quamby homestead - with many memories for her of its lavish years – said of a brother that he was put on a horse when he was two years old and never got off. William Lindsay junior made Union into a fine, high-producing property, breeding cattle and horses. He added to the bluestone house that David Kennedy started, established plantations of pines and gums, and made an attractive garden. WARRNAMBOOL MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE Warrnambool's Mechanics' Institute (or Institution as it was sometimes called) was one of the earliest in Victoria. On 17th October 1853 a meeting was held where it was resolved to request the Lieutenant Governor of the Colony to grant land for the erection of a Mechanics' Institutes building. A committee was formed at the meeting and Richard Osburne chaired the first meeting of this committee. The land on the North West corner of Banyan and Merri Streets was granted but there were no funds to erect the building. The Formal Rights of the Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute's encompassed its aims and these were officially adopted in1859; "This Institution has for its object the diffusion of literary, scientific, and other useful knowledge amongst its members, excluding all controversial subjects, religious or political. These objects are sought to be obtained by means of a circulating library, a reading room, the establishment of classes, debates, and the occasional delivery of lectures on natural and experimental philosophy, mechanics, astronomy, chemistry, natural history, literature, and the useful and ornamental arts, particularly those which have a more immediate reference to the colony." The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute opened its first meeting room in November1854 in the National School building at the corner of Banyan and Timor Streets. The Institute was funded by member subscription, payable on a quarterly, half yearly or yearly basis. Samuel Hannaford, the Manager of the Warrnambool Bank of Australasia, was the first Honorary Secretary of the Mechanics' Institutes, and an early President and Vice-President. He also gave several of the early lectures in the Reading Room. Another early Secretary, Librarian and lecturer was Marmaduke Fisher, the teacher at the National School. Lecture topics included The Poets and Poetry of Ireland', 'The Birth and Development of the Earth', 'The Vertebrae - with Remarks on the pleasures resulting from the study of Natural History' and 'Architecture'. In 1856 the Reading Room was moved to James Hider's shop in Timor Street, and by 1864 it was located in the bookshop of Davies and Read. In the 1860's the Mechanics' Institute struggled as membership waned but in 1866, after a series of fund raising efforts, the committee was able to purchase land in Liebig Street, on a site then called Market Square, between the weighbridge and the fire station. A Mechanics' Institute building was opened at this site in August 1871. The following year four more rooms were added to the main Reading Room and in 1873 the Artisan School of Design was incorporated into the Institute. The same year Joseph Archibald established a Museum; however it deteriorated when he was transferred to Bendigo in 1877. In 1880, with Archibald's return to Warrnambool, the Museum was re-established, and in 1885 a new building was built at the back of the Institute to accommodate the re-created School of Design, the Art Gallery and the Museum. In 1887 the Museum section was moved to the former court house in Timor Street (for some time the walls of the building formed part of the TAFE cafeteria but all is now demolished)). In 1911 the Museum was transferred back to the original building and the management of the Mechanics' Institute was handed over to the Warrnambool City Council. The Museum and Art Gallery became one and housed many fine works of art, and the Library continued to grow. The building was well patronised, with records showing that at the beginning of the 20th century there were between 500 and 800 visitors. During World War One the monthly figures were in the thousands, with 3,400 people visiting in January 1915. The Museum was a much loved Institution in Warrnambool until the contents of the Museum and Art Gallery were removed to make room for the Warrnambool City Council Engineers' Department. The contents were stored but many of the items were scattered or lost. When the original building was demolished the site became occupied by the Civic Centre, which included the new City Library. (The library was temporarily located in the old Palais building in Koroit Street.) In the process of reorganisation the Collection was distributed amongst the community groups: -The new City Library took some of the historic books and some important documents, historic photographs and newspapers. -The Art Gallery kept the 19th Century art collection and some of the artefacts from the museum. -The Historic Society has some items -The State Museum has some items -Some items were destroyed -Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village has old newspapers, Government Gazettes, most of the Mechanics' Institute Library, ledgers and documents connected to the Mechanics' Institute Library, some framed and unframed art works and some photographs. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute Library book collection is deemed to be of great importance because it is one of the few collections in an almost intact state, and many of the books are now very rare and of great value. THE PATTISON COLLECTION This book is also part of the ‘Pattison Collection’, a collection of books and records that was originally owned by the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute, which was founded in Warrnambool in 1853. In 1935 Ralph Pattison was appointed as City Librarian to establish and organise the Warrnambool Library, as the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute was then called. When the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute building was pulled down in 1963 a new civic building was erected on the site and the new Warrnambool Library, on behalf of the City Council, took over all the holdings of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute. At this time some of the items were separated and identified as the ‘Pattison Collection’, named after Ralph Pattison. Eventually the components of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute were distributed from the Warrnambool Library to various places, including the Art Gallery, Historical Society and Flagstaff Hill. Later some were even distributed to other regional branches of Corangamite Regional Library and passed to and fro. It is difficult now to trace just where all of the items have ended up. The books at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village generally display stamps and markings from Pattison as well as a variety of other institutions including the Mechanics’ Institute itself. RALPH ERIC PATTISON Ralph Eric Pattison was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1891. He married Maude Swan from Warrnambool in 1920 and they set up home in Warrnambool. In 1935 Pattison accepted a position as City Librarian for the Warrnambool City Council. His huge challenge was to make a functional library within two rooms of the Mechanics’ Institute. He tirelessly cleaned, cleared and sorted a disarrayed collection of old books, jars of preserved specimens and other items reserved for exhibition in the city’s museum. He developed and updated the library with a wide variety of books for all tastes, including reference books for students; a difficult task to fulfil during the years following the Depression. He converted all of the lower area of the building into a library, reference room and reading room for members and the public. The books were sorted and stored using a cataloguing and card index system that he had developed himself. He also prepared the upper floor of the building and established the Art Gallery and later the Museum, a place to exhibit the many old relics that had been stored for years for this purpose. One of the treasures he found was a beautiful ancient clock, which he repaired, restored and enjoyed using in his office during the years of his service there. Ralph Pattison was described as “a meticulous gentleman whose punctuality, floorless courtesy and distinctive neat dress were hallmarks of his character, and ‘his’ clock controlled his daily routine, and his opening and closing of the library’s large heavy doors to the minute.” Pattison took leave during 1942 to 1945 to serve in the Royal Australian Navy, Volunteer Reserve as Lieutenant. A few years later he converted one of the Museum’s rooms into a Children’s Library, stocking it with suitable books for the younger generation. This was an instant success. In the 1950’s he had the honour of being appointed to the Victorian Library Board and received more inspiration from the monthly conferences in Melbourne. He was sadly retired in 1959 after over 23 years of service, due to the fact that he had gone over the working age of council officers. However he continued to take a very keen interest in the continual development of the Library until his death in 1969.The Birds of Australia by Gregory M. Matthews is now considered a rare and valuable scientific and historic work on its own. These 12 volumes were donated in 1934 to The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and were included as part of the Pattison Collection. The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. The Warrnambool Mechanics Institute book collection has historical and social significance for its strong association with the Mechanics Institute movement and the important role it played in the intellectual, cultural and social development of people throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The collection of books is a rare example of an early lending library and its significance is enhanced by the survival of an original collection of many volumes. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s publication collection is of both local and state significance. The Birds of Australia Vol 2 Author: Gregory M Mathews Publisher: Witherby & Co 326 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON Date: 1912-1913 Tan leather bound illustrated work. Label on spine cover with typed text RA 598.2994 MAT Pastedown front endpaper has sticker from Warrnambool Mechanics Institute and Free Library that reads “Presented by W. Lindsay Esq. ‘Union’ Woolsthrope” Accession Number: 15233 Date Received: 3-34 “W. Lindsay” embossed in gold on front cover, bottom right of book flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, the birds of australia, gregory m. matthews, witherby & co., h.f. & g. witherby, w lindsay, william lindsay, quamby woolsthorpe, union woolsthorpe, pattison collection, warrnambool library, warrnambool art gallery, joseph archibald, warrnambool mechanics’ institute and free library, ralph eric pattison, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, the birds of australia vol 2, quamby station, union station, woolsthrope -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book - Reference, The Birds of Australia Vol 3
The Birds of Australia is a 12 volume work, in a total of 14 books. The books were used as an ornithological handbook. They contain scientific text as well as over 600 hand-coloured lithographed plates by J.G. Keulemans, H. Grönvold, Roland Green, H. Goodchild and G.E. Lodge. The work was written, sponsored and organised by Gregory M. Matthews, F.R.S.C. Erc. who was a wealthy Australian and an amateur ornithologist. His titles included – -Fellow of the Linnean and Zoological Societies of London -Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union -Corresponding Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union The volumes in our collection were originally donated to the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library by William Lindsay. THE LINDSAYS (quoted from the book Of Many Things – A History of Warrnambool Shire by C.E. Sayers) The Lindsays were amongst the most prominent families in the Shire of Warrnambool, as pastoralists, sportsmen, municipal councillors, community leaders. The first of the family William arrived in Melbourne in 1841 and started business as a livestock agent. The gold rushes sent him to the central Victoria diggings dealing in cattle. This was a business that boomed in the early 1850s, and he prospered. In 1859 he took over the Quamby run near Woolsthrope from Paul de Castella, the Yarra Valley Swiss vigneron who had brought the leasehold and improvements in 1853 from George Youl, who had pioneered the run. Quamby was originally 25,000 acres. It was heavily timbered, rough country, much of it swampy, a characteristic of the district. Lindsay used it to fatten cattle which gave large returns with the booming gold diggings towns paying high prices for beef. In 1862 purchases at auction made Quamby a freehold. In the next six years a further 20,000 acres of Crown land were brought at auction to make the run one of the largest in the south-west district. The great profits from his cattle trading enabled Lindsay to make improvements to the holding, and to Union which was added in 1864. Much of the thick timber was cleared and the worst of the swamps drained. Union was 15,000 acres of freehold when Kennedy sold it to Lindsay. It was heavily timbered, mostly blackwood, with large belts of wattle and honeysuckle. Much of the heavy native was ringbarked and cleared; much more was swept away by bushfire. It was expensive work, but Lindsay’s bank passbook was heavy with credit, and he did not spare money to make both Quamby and Union heavily developed stock runs. He was as lavish in social living; the bluestone Quamby homestead was one of the most hospitable in the district when William Lindsay was host there; its paddocks carried high quality thoroughbreds: its stables housed steeplechasers and flat racers which won many races on Warrnambool and other courses; its coach houses were filled with carriages which took his guests to the great racing carnivals of the district. After William Lindsay died in 1897, in his eighty-fifth year, his two sons, William and James, managed Union and Quamby as a joint venture. This partnership ended in 1906 when William took over Union and James kept Quamby. The following year 10,000 acres of Union were subdivided and sold in lots of 100 acres to 700 acres for dairying and general farming. It was well improved country, much of it alluvial flats. By then many of the paddocks were sheltered with blue gum belts, and they carried good pastures. The three Lindsays, father and two sons, gave many years of service to the Shire, and to many charitable, sporting, social and community organisations in the Warrnambool district. William Lindsay senior, was a Shire councillor for 15 years, and President several times. James Lindsay followed his father as a north riding councillor. He served nineteen years, from 1887 until his death in March 1908. He was President four times. Jimmy Lindsay was one of the most popular men in the south-west of Victoria. He was a fine sportsman: horse breeder, owner and a dashing amateur rider. He lived lavishly and played hard. For many years he guarded a herd of kangaroos, as many as 100 head, at Quamby. Descendants of the Lindsay kangaroos are still in the district. James Lindsay’s wife, Margaret Esther was a daughter of Samuel Shaw Parker, the first engineer of the Shire. Nell Lindsay, a daughter, lives in the Bluestone Quamby homestead. Only a little more than 60 acres of the original run still belongs to the property. William Lindsay junior succeeded his brother as a Shire councillor. He served for 25 years from 1908 until his death in 1934. So, the Lindsays, father and two sons, served as Shite councillors for an unbroken period of sixth-five years. William Lindsay junior had a life-long interest in horse racing, as breeder, owner and enthusiastic amateur steeplechase rider. He was elected a member of the Warrnambool racing club in 1901 and was president of the club for thirty-two years. He raced and rode horses for the love of the sport. He won the Villiers and Heytesbury Hunt Cup in the 1870s on his own horse, Ventura. In the year he died his horse Flavedo won the Warrnambool Grand Annual steeplechase. It was a sensational race. All of the contestants fell, or lost their riders. When Flavedo baulked at a jump, its jockey R. Sweetman, remounted and completed the course to win the race. All of the Lindsays were passionately fond of the thoroughbred horse. Nell Lindsay talking to the author in the drawing room of Quamby homestead - with many memories for her of its lavish years – said of a brother that he was put on a horse when he was two years old and never got off. William Lindsay junior made Union into a fine, high-producing property, breeding cattle and horses. He added to the bluestone house that David Kennedy started, established plantations of pines and gums, and made an attractive garden. WARRNAMBOOL MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE Warrnambool's Mechanics' Institute (or Institution as it was sometimes called) was one of the earliest in Victoria. On 17th October 1853 a meeting was held where it was resolved to request the Lieutenant Governor of the Colony to grant land for the erection of a Mechanics' Institutes building. A committee was formed at the meeting and Richard Osburne chaired the first meeting of this committee. The land on the North West corner of Banyan and Merri Streets was granted but there were no funds to erect the building. The Formal Rights of the Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute's encompassed its aims and these were officially adopted in1859; "This Institution has for its object the diffusion of literary, scientific, and other useful knowledge amongst its members, excluding all controversial subjects, religious or political. These objects are sought to be obtained by means of a circulating library, a reading room, the establishment of classes, debates, and the occasional delivery of lectures on natural and experimental philosophy, mechanics, astronomy, chemistry, natural history, literature, and the useful and ornamental arts, particularly those which have a more immediate reference to the colony." The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute opened its first meeting room in November1854 in the National School building at the corner of Banyan and Timor Streets. The Institute was funded by member subscription, payable on a quarterly, half yearly or yearly basis. Samuel Hannaford, the Manager of the Warrnambool Bank of Australasia, was the first Honorary Secretary of the Mechanics' Institutes, and an early President and Vice-President. He also gave several of the early lectures in the Reading Room. Another early Secretary, Librarian and lecturer was Marmaduke Fisher, the teacher at the National School. Lecture topics included The Poets and Poetry of Ireland', 'The Birth and Development of the Earth', 'The Vertebrae - with Remarks on the pleasures resulting from the study of Natural History' and 'Architecture'. In 1856 the Reading Room was moved to James Hider's shop in Timor Street, and by 1864 it was located in the bookshop of Davies and Read. In the 1860's the Mechanics' Institute struggled as membership waned but in 1866, after a series of fund raising efforts, the committee was able to purchase land in Liebig Street, on a site then called Market Square, between the weighbridge and the fire station. A Mechanics' Institute building was opened at this site in August 1871. The following year four more rooms were added to the main Reading Room and in 1873 the Artisan School of Design was incorporated into the Institute. The same year Joseph Archibald established a Museum; however it deteriorated when he was transferred to Bendigo in 1877. In 1880, with Archibald's return to Warrnambool, the Museum was re-established, and in 1885 a new building was built at the back of the Institute to accommodate the re-created School of Design, the Art Gallery and the Museum. In 1887 the Museum section was moved to the former court house in Timor Street (for some time the walls of the building formed part of the TAFE cafeteria but all is now demolished)). In 1911 the Museum was transferred back to the original building and the management of the Mechanics' Institute was handed over to the Warrnambool City Council. The Museum and Art Gallery became one and housed many fine works of art, and the Library continued to grow. The building was well patronised, with records showing that at the beginning of the 20th century there were between 500 and 800 visitors. During World War One the monthly figures were in the thousands, with 3,400 people visiting in January 1915. The Museum was a much loved Institution in Warrnambool until the contents of the Museum and Art Gallery were removed to make room for the Warrnambool City Council Engineers' Department. The contents were stored but many of the items were scattered or lost. When the original building was demolished the site became occupied by the Civic Centre, which included the new City Library. (The library was temporarily located in the old Palais building in Koroit Street.) In the process of reorganisation the Collection was distributed amongst the community groups: -The new City Library took some of the historic books and some important documents, historic photographs and newspapers. -The Art Gallery kept the 19th Century art collection and some of the artefacts from the museum. -The Historic Society has some items -The State Museum has some items -Some items were destroyed -Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village has old newspapers, Government Gazettes, most of the Mechanics' Institute Library, ledgers and documents connected to the Mechanics' Institute Library, some framed and unframed art works and some photographs. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute Library book collection is deemed to be of great importance because it is one of the few collections in an almost intact state, and many of the books are now very rare and of great value. THE PATTISON COLLECTION This book is also part of the ‘Pattison Collection’, a collection of books and records that was originally owned by the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute, which was founded in Warrnambool in 1853. In 1935 Ralph Pattison was appointed as City Librarian to establish and organise the Warrnambool Library, as the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute was then called. When the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute building was pulled down in 1963 a new civic building was erected on the site and the new Warrnambool Library, on behalf of the City Council, took over all the holdings of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute. At this time some of the items were separated and identified as the ‘Pattison Collection’, named after Ralph Pattison. Eventually the components of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute were distributed from the Warrnambool Library to various places, including the Art Gallery, Historical Society and Flagstaff Hill. Later some were even distributed to other regional branches of Corangamite Regional Library and passed to and fro. It is difficult now to trace just where all of the items have ended up. The books at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village generally display stamps and markings from Pattison as well as a variety of other institutions including the Mechanics’ Institute itself. RALPH ERIC PATTISON Ralph Eric Pattison was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1891. He married Maude Swan from Warrnambool in 1920 and they set up home in Warrnambool. In 1935 Pattison accepted a position as City Librarian for the Warrnambool City Council. His huge challenge was to make a functional library within two rooms of the Mechanics’ Institute. He tirelessly cleaned, cleared and sorted a disarrayed collection of old books, jars of preserved specimens and other items reserved for exhibition in the city’s museum. He developed and updated the library with a wide variety of books for all tastes, including reference books for students; a difficult task to fulfil during the years following the Depression. He converted all of the lower area of the building into a library, reference room and reading room for members and the public. The books were sorted and stored using a cataloguing and card index system that he had developed himself. He also prepared the upper floor of the building and established the Art Gallery and later the Museum, a place to exhibit the many old relics that had been stored for years for this purpose. One of the treasures he found was a beautiful ancient clock, which he repaired, restored and enjoyed using in his office during the years of his service there. Ralph Pattison was described as “a meticulous gentleman whose punctuality, floorless courtesy and distinctive neat dress were hallmarks of his character, and ‘his’ clock controlled his daily routine, and his opening and closing of the library’s large heavy doors to the minute.” Pattison took leave during 1942 to 1945 to serve in the Royal Australian Navy, Volunteer Reserve as Lieutenant. A few years later he converted one of the Museum’s rooms into a Children’s Library, stocking it with suitable books for the younger generation. This was an instant success. In the 1950’s he had the honour of being appointed to the Victorian Library Board and received more inspiration from the monthly conferences in Melbourne. He was sadly retired in 1959 after over 23 years of service, due to the fact that he had gone over the working age of council officers. However he continued to take a very keen interest in the continual development of the Library until his death in 1969. The Birds of Australia by Gregory M. Matthews is now considered a rare and valuable scientific and historic work on its own. These 12 volumes were donated in 1934 to The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and were included as part of the Pattison Collection. The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. The Warrnambool Mechanics Institute book collection has historical and social significance for its strong association with the Mechanics Institute movement and the important role it played in the intellectual, cultural and social development of people throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The collection of books is a rare example of an early lending library and its significance is enhanced by the survival of an original collection of many volumes. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s publication collection is of both local and state significance. The Birds of Australia Vol 3 Author: Gregory M Mathews Publisher: Witherby & Co 326 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON Date: 1913-1914 Label on spine cover with typed text RA 598.2994 MAT Pastedown front endpaper has sticker from Warrnambool Mechanics Institute and Free Library that reads “Presented by W. Lindsay Esq. ‘Union’ Woolsthrope” Accession Number: 15234 Date Received: 3-34 “W. Lindsay” embossed in gold on front cover, bottom right of book flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, the birds of australia, gregory m. matthews, witherby & co., h.f. & g. witherby, w lindsay, william lindsay, quamby woolsthorpe, union woolsthorpe, pattison collection, warrnambool library, warrnambool art gallery, joseph archibald, warrnambool mechanics’ institute and free library, ralph eric pattison, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, the birds of australia vol 3, quamby station, union station, woolsthrope -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book - Reference, The Birds of Australia Vol 4
The Birds of Australia is a 12 volume work, in a total of 14 books. The books were used as an ornithological handbook. They contain scientific text as well as over 600 hand-coloured lithographed plates by J.G. Keulemans, H. Grönvold, Roland Green, H. Goodchild and G.E. Lodge. The work was written, sponsored and organised by Gregory M. Matthews, F.R.S.C. Erc. who was a wealthy Australian and an amateur ornithologist. His titles included – -Fellow of the Linnean and Zoological Societies of London -Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union -Corresponding Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union The volumes in our collection were originally donated to the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library by William Lindsay. THE LINDSAYS (quoted from the book Of Many Things – A History of Warrnambool Shire by C.E. Sayers) The Lindsays were amongst the most prominent families in the Shire of Warrnambool, as pastoralists, sportsmen, municipal councillors, community leaders. The first of the family William arrived in Melbourne in 1841 and started business as a livestock agent. The gold rushes sent him to the central Victoria diggings dealing in cattle. This was a business that boomed in the early 1850s, and he prospered. In 1859 he took over the Quamby run near Woolsthrope from Paul de Castella, the Yarra Valley Swiss vigneron who had brought the leasehold and improvements in 1853 from George Youl, who had pioneered the run. Quamby was originally 25,000 acres. It was heavily timbered, rough country, much of it swampy, a characteristic of the district. Lindsay used it to fatten cattle which gave large returns with the booming gold diggings towns paying high prices for beef. In 1862 purchases at auction made Quamby a freehold. In the next six years a further 20,000 acres of Crown land were brought at auction to make the run one of the largest in the south-west district. The great profits from his cattle trading enabled Lindsay to make improvements to the holding, and to Union which was added in 1864. Much of the thick timber was cleared and the worst of the swamps drained. Union was 15,000 acres of freehold when Kennedy sold it to Lindsay. It was heavily timbered, mostly blackwood, with large belts of wattle and honeysuckle. Much of the heavy native was ringbarked and cleared; much more was swept away by bushfire. It was expensive work, but Lindsay’s bank passbook was heavy with credit, and he did not spare money to make both Quamby and Union heavily developed stock runs. He was as lavish in social living; the bluestone Quamby homestead was one of the most hospitable in the district when William Lindsay was host there; its paddocks carried high quality thoroughbreds: its stables housed steeplechasers and flat racers which won many races on Warrnambool and other courses; its coach houses were filled with carriages which took his guests to the great racing carnivals of the district. After William Lindsay died in 1897, in his eighty-fifth year, his two sons, William and James, managed Union and Quamby as a joint venture. This partnership ended in 1906 when William took over Union and James kept Quamby. The following year 10,000 acres of Union were subdivided and sold in lots of 100 acres to 700 acres for dairying and general farming. It was well improved country, much of it alluvial flats. By then many of the paddocks were sheltered with blue gum belts, and they carried good pastures. The three Lindsays, father and two sons, gave many years of service to the Shire, and to many charitable, sporting, social and community organisations in the Warrnambool district. William Lindsay senior, was a Shire councillor for 15 years, and President several times. James Lindsay followed his father as a north riding councillor. He served nineteen years, from 1887 until his death in March 1908. He was President four times. Jimmy Lindsay was one of the most popular men in the south-west of Victoria. He was a fine sportsman: horse breeder, owner and a dashing amateur rider. He lived lavishly and played hard. For many years he guarded a herd of kangaroos, as many as 100 head, at Quamby. Descendants of the Lindsay kangaroos are still in the district. James Lindsay’s wife, Margaret Esther was a daughter of Samuel Shaw Parker, the first engineer of the Shire. Nell Lindsay, a daughter, lives in the Bluestone Quamby homestead. Only a little more than 60 acres of the original run still belongs to the property. William Lindsay junior succeeded his brother as a Shire councillor. He served for 25 years from 1908 until his death in 1934. So, the Lindsays, father and two sons, served as Shite councillors for an unbroken period of sixth-five years. William Lindsay junior had a life-long interest in horse racing, as breeder, owner and enthusiastic amateur steeplechase rider. He was elected a member of the Warrnambool racing club in 1901 and was president of the club for thirty-two years. He raced and rode horses for the love of the sport. He won the Villiers and Heytesbury Hunt Cup in the 1870s on his own horse, Ventura. In the year he died his horse Flavedo won the Warrnambool Grand Annual steeplechase. It was a sensational race. All of the contestants fell, or lost their riders. When Flavedo baulked at a jump, its jockey R. Sweetman, remounted and completed the course to win the race. All of the Lindsays were passionately fond of the thoroughbred horse. Nell Lindsay talking to the author in the drawing room of Quamby homestead - with many memories for her of its lavish years – said of a brother that he was put on a horse when he was two years old and never got off. William Lindsay junior made Union into a fine, high-producing property, breeding cattle and horses. He added to the bluestone house that David Kennedy started, established plantations of pines and gums, and made an attractive garden. WARRNAMBOOL MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE Warrnambool's Mechanics' Institute (or Institution as it was sometimes called) was one of the earliest in Victoria. On 17th October 1853 a meeting was held where it was resolved to request the Lieutenant Governor of the Colony to grant land for the erection of a Mechanics' Institutes building. A committee was formed at the meeting and Richard Osburne chaired the first meeting of this committee. The land on the North West corner of Banyan and Merri Streets was granted but there were no funds to erect the building. The Formal Rights of the Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute's encompassed its aims and these were officially adopted in1859; "This Institution has for its object the diffusion of literary, scientific, and other useful knowledge amongst its members, excluding all controversial subjects, religious or political. These objects are sought to be obtained by means of a circulating library, a reading room, the establishment of classes, debates, and the occasional delivery of lectures on natural and experimental philosophy, mechanics, astronomy, chemistry, natural history, literature, and the useful and ornamental arts, particularly those which have a more immediate reference to the colony." The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute opened its first meeting room in November1854 in the National School building at the corner of Banyan and Timor Streets. The Institute was funded by member subscription, payable on a quarterly, half yearly or yearly basis. Samuel Hannaford, the Manager of the Warrnambool Bank of Australasia, was the first Honorary Secretary of the Mechanics' Institutes, and an early President and Vice-President. He also gave several of the early lectures in the Reading Room. Another early Secretary, Librarian and lecturer was Marmaduke Fisher, the teacher at the National School. Lecture topics included The Poets and Poetry of Ireland', 'The Birth and Development of the Earth', 'The Vertebrae - with Remarks on the pleasures resulting from the study of Natural History' and 'Architecture'. In 1856 the Reading Room was moved to James Hider's shop in Timor Street, and by 1864 it was located in the bookshop of Davies and Read. In the 1860's the Mechanics' Institute struggled as membership waned but in 1866, after a series of fund raising efforts, the committee was able to purchase land in Liebig Street, on a site then called Market Square, between the weighbridge and the fire station. A Mechanics' Institute building was opened at this site in August 1871. The following year four more rooms were added to the main Reading Room and in 1873 the Artisan School of Design was incorporated into the Institute. The same year Joseph Archibald established a Museum; however it deteriorated when he was transferred to Bendigo in 1877. In 1880, with Archibald's return to Warrnambool, the Museum was re-established, and in 1885 a new building was built at the back of the Institute to accommodate the re-created School of Design, the Art Gallery and the Museum. In 1887 the Museum section was moved to the former court house in Timor Street (for some time the walls of the building formed part of the TAFE cafeteria but all is now demolished)). In 1911 the Museum was transferred back to the original building and the management of the Mechanics' Institute was handed over to the Warrnambool City Council. The Museum and Art Gallery became one and housed many fine works of art, and the Library continued to grow. The building was well patronised, with records showing that at the beginning of the 20th century there were between 500 and 800 visitors. During World War One the monthly figures were in the thousands, with 3,400 people visiting in January 1915. The Museum was a much loved Institution in Warrnambool until the contents of the Museum and Art Gallery were removed to make room for the Warrnambool City Council Engineers' Department. The contents were stored but many of the items were scattered or lost. When the original building was demolished the site became occupied by the Civic Centre, which included the new City Library. (The library was temporarily located in the old Palais building in Koroit Street.) In the process of reorganisation the Collection was distributed amongst the community groups: -The new City Library took some of the historic books and some important documents, historic photographs and newspapers. -The Art Gallery kept the 19th Century art collection and some of the artefacts from the museum. -The Historic Society has some items -The State Museum has some items -Some items were destroyed -Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village has old newspapers, Government Gazettes, most of the Mechanics' Institute Library, ledgers and documents connected to the Mechanics' Institute Library, some framed and unframed art works and some photographs. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute Library book collection is deemed to be of great importance because it is one of the few collections in an almost intact state, and many of the books are now very rare and of great value. THE PATTISON COLLECTION This book is also part of the ‘Pattison Collection’, a collection of books and records that was originally owned by the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute, which was founded in Warrnambool in 1853. In 1935 Ralph Pattison was appointed as City Librarian to establish and organise the Warrnambool Library, as the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute was then called. When the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute building was pulled down in 1963 a new civic building was erected on the site and the new Warrnambool Library, on behalf of the City Council, took over all the holdings of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute. At this time some of the items were separated and identified as the ‘Pattison Collection’, named after Ralph Pattison. Eventually the components of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute were distributed from the Warrnambool Library to various places, including the Art Gallery, Historical Society and Flagstaff Hill. Later some were even distributed to other regional branches of Corangamite Regional Library and passed to and fro. It is difficult now to trace just where all of the items have ended up. The books at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village generally display stamps and markings from Pattison as well as a variety of other institutions including the Mechanics’ Institute itself. RALPH ERIC PATTISON Ralph Eric Pattison was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1891. He married Maude Swan from Warrnambool in 1920 and they set up home in Warrnambool. In 1935 Pattison accepted a position as City Librarian for the Warrnambool City Council. His huge challenge was to make a functional library within two rooms of the Mechanics’ Institute. He tirelessly cleaned, cleared and sorted a disarrayed collection of old books, jars of preserved specimens and other items reserved for exhibition in the city’s museum. He developed and updated the library with a wide variety of books for all tastes, including reference books for students; a difficult task to fulfil during the years following the Depression. He converted all of the lower area of the building into a library, reference room and reading room for members and the public. The books were sorted and stored using a cataloguing and card index system that he had developed himself. He also prepared the upper floor of the building and established the Art Gallery and later the Museum, a place to exhibit the many old relics that had been stored for years for this purpose. One of the treasures he found was a beautiful ancient clock, which he repaired, restored and enjoyed using in his office during the years of his service there. Ralph Pattison was described as “a meticulous gentleman whose punctuality, floorless courtesy and distinctive neat dress were hallmarks of his character, and ‘his’ clock controlled his daily routine, and his opening and closing of the library’s large heavy doors to the minute.” Pattison took leave during 1942 to 1945 to serve in the Royal Australian Navy, Volunteer Reserve as Lieutenant. A few years later he converted one of the Museum’s rooms into a Children’s Library, stocking it with suitable books for the younger generation. This was an instant success. In the 1950’s he had the honour of being appointed to the Victorian Library Board and received more inspiration from the monthly conferences in Melbourne. He was sadly retired in 1959 after over 23 years of service, due to the fact that he had gone over the working age of council officers. However he continued to take a very keen interest in the continual development of the Library until his death in 1969. The Birds of Australia by Gregory M. Matthews is now considered a rare and valuable scientific and historic work on its own. These 12 volumes were donated in 1934 to The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and were included as part of the Pattison Collection. The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. The Warrnambool Mechanics Institute book collection has historical and social significance for its strong association with the Mechanics Institute movement and the important role it played in the intellectual, cultural and social development of people throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The collection of books is a rare example of an early lending library and its significance is enhanced by the survival of an original collection of many volumes. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s publication collection is of both local and state significance. The Birds of Australia Vol 4 Author: Gregory M Mathews Publisher: Witherby & Co 326 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON Date: 1914-1915 Tan leather bound illustrated work.Label on spine cover with typed text RA 598.2994 MAT Pastedown front endpaper has sticker from Warrnambool Mechanics Institute and Free Library that reads “Presented by W. Lindsay Esq. ‘Union’ Woolsthrope” Accession Number: 15235 Date Received: 3-34 “W. Lindsay” embossed in gold on front cover, bottom right of book flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, the birds of australia, gregory m. matthews, witherby & co., h.f. & g. witherby, w lindsay, william lindsay, quamby woolsthorpe, union woolsthorpe, pattison collection, warrnambool library, warrnambool art gallery, joseph archibald, warrnambool mechanics’ institute and free library, ralph eric pattison, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, the birds of australia vol 4, quamby station, union station, woolsthrope -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Book - Reference, The Birds of Australia Vol 5
The Birds of Australia is a 12 volume work, in a total of 14 books. The books were used as an ornithological handbook. They contain scientific text as well as over 600 hand-coloured lithographed plates by J.G. Keulemans, H. Grönvold, Roland Green, H. Goodchild and G.E. Lodge. The work was written, sponsored and organised by Gregory M. Matthews, F.R.S.C. Erc. who was a wealthy Australian and an amateur ornithologist. His titles included – -Fellow of the Linnean and Zoological Societies of London -Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union -Corresponding Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union The volumes in our collection were originally donated to the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library by William Lindsay. THE LINDSAYS (quoted from the book Of Many Things – A History of Warrnambool Shire by C.E. Sayers) The Lindsays were amongst the most prominent families in the Shire of Warrnambool, as pastoralists, sportsmen, municipal councillors, community leaders. The first of the family William arrived in Melbourne in 1841 and started business as a livestock agent. The gold rushes sent him to the central Victoria diggings dealing in cattle. This was a business that boomed in the early 1850s, and he prospered. In 1859 he took over the Quamby run near Woolsthrope from Paul de Castella, the Yarra Valley Swiss vigneron who had brought the leasehold and improvements in 1853 from George Youl, who had pioneered the run. Quamby was originally 25,000 acres. It was heavily timbered, rough country, much of it swampy, a characteristic of the district. Lindsay used it to fatten cattle which gave large returns with the booming gold diggings towns paying high prices for beef. In 1862 purchases at auction made Quamby a freehold. In the next six years a further 20,000 acres of Crown land were brought at auction to make the run one of the largest in the south-west district. The great profits from his cattle trading enabled Lindsay to make improvements to the holding, and to Union which was added in 1864. Much of the thick timber was cleared and the worst of the swamps drained. Union was 15,000 acres of freehold when Kennedy sold it to Lindsay. It was heavily timbered, mostly blackwood, with large belts of wattle and honeysuckle. Much of the heavy native was ringbarked and cleared; much more was swept away by bushfire. It was expensive work, but Lindsay’s bank passbook was heavy with credit, and he did not spare money to make both Quamby and Union heavily developed stock runs. He was as lavish in social living; the bluestone Quamby homestead was one of the most hospitable in the district when William Lindsay was host there; its paddocks carried high quality thoroughbreds: its stables housed steeplechasers and flat racers which won many races on Warrnambool and other courses; its coach houses were filled with carriages which took his guests to the great racing carnivals of the district. After William Lindsay died in 1897, in his eighty-fifth year, his two sons, William and James, managed Union and Quamby as a joint venture. This partnership ended in 1906 when William took over Union and James kept Quamby. The following year 10,000 acres of Union were subdivided and sold in lots of 100 acres to 700 acres for dairying and general farming. It was well improved country, much of it alluvial flats. By then many of the paddocks were sheltered with blue gum belts, and they carried good pastures. The three Lindsays, father and two sons, gave many years of service to the Shire, and to many charitable, sporting, social and community organisations in the Warrnambool district. William Lindsay senior, was a Shire councillor for 15 years, and President several times. James Lindsay followed his father as a north riding councillor. He served nineteen years, from 1887 until his death in March 1908. He was President four times. Jimmy Lindsay was one of the most popular men in the south-west of Victoria. He was a fine sportsman: horse breeder, owner and a dashing amateur rider. He lived lavishly and played hard. For many years he guarded a herd of kangaroos, as many as 100 head, at Quamby. Descendants of the Lindsay kangaroos are still in the district. James Lindsay’s wife, Margaret Esther was a daughter of Samuel Shaw Parker, the first engineer of the Shire. Nell Lindsay, a daughter, lives in the Bluestone Quamby homestead. Only a little more than 60 acres of the original run still belongs to the property. William Lindsay junior succeeded his brother as a Shire councillor. He served for 25 years from 1908 until his death in 1934. So, the Lindsays, father and two sons, served as Shite councillors for an unbroken period of sixth-five years. William Lindsay junior had a life-long interest in horse racing, as breeder, owner and enthusiastic amateur steeplechase rider. He was elected a member of the Warrnambool racing club in 1901 and was president of the club for thirty-two years. He raced and rode horses for the love of the sport. He won the Villiers and Heytesbury Hunt Cup in the 1870s on his own horse, Ventura. In the year he died his horse Flavedo won the Warrnambool Grand Annual steeplechase. It was a sensational race. All of the contestants fell, or lost their riders. When Flavedo baulked at a jump, its jockey R. Sweetman, remounted and completed the course to win the race. All of the Lindsays were passionately fond of the thoroughbred horse. Nell Lindsay talking to the author in the drawing room of Quamby homestead - with many memories for her of its lavish years – said of a brother that he was put on a horse when he was two years old and never got off. William Lindsay junior made Union into a fine, high-producing property, breeding cattle and horses. He added to the bluestone house that David Kennedy started, established plantations of pines and gums, and made an attractive garden. WARRNAMBOOL MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE Warrnambool's Mechanics' Institute (or Institution as it was sometimes called) was one of the earliest in Victoria. On 17th October 1853 a meeting was held where it was resolved to request the Lieutenant Governor of the Colony to grant land for the erection of a Mechanics' Institutes building. A committee was formed at the meeting and Richard Osburne chaired the first meeting of this committee. The land on the North West corner of Banyan and Merri Streets was granted but there were no funds to erect the building. The Formal Rights of the Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute's encompassed its aims and these were officially adopted in1859; "This Institution has for its object the diffusion of literary, scientific, and other useful knowledge amongst its members, excluding all controversial subjects, religious or political. These objects are sought to be obtained by means of a circulating library, a reading room, the establishment of classes, debates, and the occasional delivery of lectures on natural and experimental philosophy, mechanics, astronomy, chemistry, natural history, literature, and the useful and ornamental arts, particularly those which have a more immediate reference to the colony." The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute opened its first meeting room in November1854 in the National School building at the corner of Banyan and Timor Streets. The Institute was funded by member subscription, payable on a quarterly, half yearly or yearly basis. Samuel Hannaford, the Manager of the Warrnambool Bank of Australasia, was the first Honorary Secretary of the Mechanics' Institutes, and an early President and Vice-President. He also gave several of the early lectures in the Reading Room. Another early Secretary, Librarian and lecturer was Marmaduke Fisher, the teacher at the National School. Lecture topics included The Poets and Poetry of Ireland', 'The Birth and Development of the Earth', 'The Vertebrae - with Remarks on the pleasures resulting from the study of Natural History' and 'Architecture'. In 1856 the Reading Room was moved to James Hider's shop in Timor Street, and by 1864 it was located in the bookshop of Davies and Read. In the 1860's the Mechanics' Institute struggled as membership waned but in 1866, after a series of fund raising efforts, the committee was able to purchase land in Liebig Street, on a site then called Market Square, between the weighbridge and the fire station. A Mechanics' Institute building was opened at this site in August 1871. The following year four more rooms were added to the main Reading Room and in 1873 the Artisan School of Design was incorporated into the Institute. The same year Joseph Archibald established a Museum; however it deteriorated when he was transferred to Bendigo in 1877. In 1880, with Archibald's return to Warrnambool, the Museum was re-established, and in 1885 a new building was built at the back of the Institute to accommodate the re-created School of Design, the Art Gallery and the Museum. In 1887 the Museum section was moved to the former court house in Timor Street (for some time the walls of the building formed part of the TAFE cafeteria but all is now demolished)). In 1911 the Museum was transferred back to the original building and the management of the Mechanics' Institute was handed over to the Warrnambool City Council. The Museum and Art Gallery became one and housed many fine works of art, and the Library continued to grow. The building was well patronised, with records showing that at the beginning of the 20th century there were between 500 and 800 visitors. During World War One the monthly figures were in the thousands, with 3,400 people visiting in January 1915. The Museum was a much loved Institution in Warrnambool until the contents of the Museum and Art Gallery were removed to make room for the Warrnambool City Council Engineers' Department. The contents were stored but many of the items were scattered or lost. When the original building was demolished the site became occupied by the Civic Centre, which included the new City Library. (The library was temporarily located in the old Palais building in Koroit Street.) In the process of reorganisation the Collection was distributed amongst the community groups: -The new City Library took some of the historic books and some important documents, historic photographs and newspapers. -The Art Gallery kept the 19th Century art collection and some of the artefacts from the museum. -The Historic Society has some items -The State Museum has some items -Some items were destroyed -Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village has old newspapers, Government Gazettes, most of the Mechanics' Institute Library, ledgers and documents connected to the Mechanics' Institute Library, some framed and unframed art works and some photographs. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute Library book collection is deemed to be of great importance because it is one of the few collections in an almost intact state, and many of the books are now very rare and of great value. THE PATTISON COLLECTION This book is also part of the ‘Pattison Collection’, a collection of books and records that was originally owned by the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute, which was founded in Warrnambool in 1853. In 1935 Ralph Pattison was appointed as City Librarian to establish and organise the Warrnambool Library, as the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute was then called. When the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute building was pulled down in 1963 a new civic building was erected on the site and the new Warrnambool Library, on behalf of the City Council, took over all the holdings of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute. At this time some of the items were separated and identified as the ‘Pattison Collection’, named after Ralph Pattison. Eventually the components of the Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute were distributed from the Warrnambool Library to various places, including the Art Gallery, Historical Society and Flagstaff Hill. Later some were even distributed to other regional branches of Corangamite Regional Library and passed to and fro. It is difficult now to trace just where all of the items have ended up. The books at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village generally display stamps and markings from Pattison as well as a variety of other institutions including the Mechanics’ Institute itself. RALPH ERIC PATTISON Ralph Eric Pattison was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1891. He married Maude Swan from Warrnambool in 1920 and they set up home in Warrnambool. In 1935 Pattison accepted a position as City Librarian for the Warrnambool City Council. His huge challenge was to make a functional library within two rooms of the Mechanics’ Institute. He tirelessly cleaned, cleared and sorted a disarrayed collection of old books, jars of preserved specimens and other items reserved for exhibition in the city’s museum. He developed and updated the library with a wide variety of books for all tastes, including reference books for students; a difficult task to fulfil during the years following the Depression. He converted all of the lower area of the building into a library, reference room and reading room for members and the public. The books were sorted and stored using a cataloguing and card index system that he had developed himself. He also prepared the upper floor of the building and established the Art Gallery and later the Museum, a place to exhibit the many old relics that had been stored for years for this purpose. One of the treasures he found was a beautiful ancient clock, which he repaired, restored and enjoyed using in his office during the years of his service there. Ralph Pattison was described as “a meticulous gentleman whose punctuality, floorless courtesy and distinctive neat dress were hallmarks of his character, and ‘his’ clock controlled his daily routine, and his opening and closing of the library’s large heavy doors to the minute.” Pattison took leave during 1942 to 1945 to serve in the Royal Australian Navy, Volunteer Reserve as Lieutenant. A few years later he converted one of the Museum’s rooms into a Children’s Library, stocking it with suitable books for the younger generation. This was an instant success. In the 1950’s he had the honour of being appointed to the Victorian Library Board and received more inspiration from the monthly conferences in Melbourne. He was sadly retired in 1959 after over 23 years of service, due to the fact that he had gone over the working age of council officers. However he continued to take a very keen interest in the continual development of the Library until his death in 1969. The Birds of Australia by Gregory M. Matthews is now considered a rare and valuable scientific and historic work on its own. These 12 volumes were donated in 1934 to The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute and were included as part of the Pattison Collection. The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute Collection is primarily significant in its totality, rather than for the individual objects it contains. Its contents are highly representative of the development of Mechanics' Institute libraries across Australia, particularly Victoria. A diversity of publications and themes has been amassed, and these provide clues to our understanding of the nature of and changes in the reading habits of Victorians from the 1850s to the middle of the 20th century. The collection also highlights the Warrnambool community’s commitment to the Mechanics’ Institute, reading, literacy and learning in the regions, and proves that access to knowledge was not impeded by distance. These items help to provide a more complete picture of our community’s ideals and aspirations. The Warrnambool Mechanics Institute book collection has historical and social significance for its strong association with the Mechanics Institute movement and the important role it played in the intellectual, cultural and social development of people throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The collection of books is a rare example of an early lending library and its significance is enhanced by the survival of an original collection of many volumes. The Warrnambool Mechanics' Institute’s publication collection is of both local and state significance. The Birds of Australia Vol 5 Author: Gregory M Mathews Publisher: Witherby & Co 326 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON Date: 1915-1916 Tan leather bound illustrated workLabel on spine cover with typed text RA 598.2994 MAT Pastedown front endpaper has sticker from Warrnambool Mechanics Institute and Free Library that reads “Presented by W. Lindsay Esq. ‘Union’ Woolsthrope” Accession Number: 15236 Date Received: 3-34 “W. Lindsay” embossed in gold on front cover, bottom right of book flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, the birds of australia, gregory m. matthews, witherby & co., h.f. & g. witherby, w lindsay, william lindsay, quamby woolsthorpe, union woolsthorpe, pattison collection, warrnambool library, warrnambool art gallery, joseph archibald, warrnambool mechanics’ institute and free library, ralph eric pattison, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, the birds of australia vol 5, quamby station, union station, woolsthrope