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Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Wood Sample, 1840
This shipwreck artefact is a section of wood from the vessel “Success, a former immigrant ship, and later a convict hulk at Melbourne. The sailing ship “Success” was a teakwood vessel built in Natmoo (Natmaw), Tenasserim, Burma (now Myanmar) in 1840 for Cockerell & Co., Calcutta. Over its lifetime of 106 years, it was used to trade in the Indian subcontinent, to transport free emigrants to Australia, as a prison hulk in the Port of Melbourne for both hardened criminals, and later for women and boys, as a storage vessel for ammunition, a reformatory, and as a floating museum sent around the world to tell the tale of the convict era. During the time “Success” was used as a museum, pamphlets were distributed to paying customers advertising erroneously, that the “Success” was the oldest ship in the world. The “Success” sank and was re-floated twice: the first in Sydney in 1885, the second in the USA in 1918, before it was finally burned and sank July 4, 1946 in Lake Erie, near Sandusky, Ohio in 1946. Although the “Success” was home to prisoners while berthed in the Port of Melbourne, it was not used as convict transport. There has been speculation that Ned Kelly’s infamous armour was displayed on the “Success”, but this cannot be verified. Another link to Ned Kelly is Henry Johnson, an Irish prisoner on the Success, who was implicated in the murder of the ship’s warder, and later Johnson was supposedly a bushranger with Ned Kelly. It is also rumoured that Ned Kelly’s father John was a passenger on the Success, but this is also unverified. There are over 16 other ships named “Success”, although one in particular causes some confusion when researching “Success” in Australia. This other ship – the “HMS Success” was a 28 gun frigate built in1823, which was broken up in 1849. It also sailed to Australia. Statement of Significance: This piece of wood from the “Success” is connected to the ship Success, built in Burma in 1840. The “Success” is connected to the history of Australia because she was used as a merchant ship to transport immigrants to Australia, as a prison ship in Melbourne, a storage vessel, and as a floating “convict” museum, which travelled the world. Section of wood from ship “Success”. Wood appears to have been partially burnt, saw marks faintly visible on wood, remnant of a label with handwriting in black inklabel marked in script handwriting “Convict ship / “Success””flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, sailing vessel success, wood sample of sailing ship success, cockerell & co. calcutta -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph, Samuel Thomas Gill et al, Capture of Burke, the Bushranger, 1866
Published: "The Melbourne Post" page 369, 22 November 1866. Reproduced Page 76 "Pioneers and Painters" One wet and miserable October night in 1866 a well-spoken young Irish braggart, who was wearing a poncho or riding cloak, knocked on the door of the home of Mrs. James Russell (nee Haughton) in Russell Road, Warrandyte. Realising that he was weary and hungry, Mrs. Russell gave the young visitor food and a bed in a hut up the back yard. The next morning she found he had gone as Harry Houghton had obligingly rowed him across the river in a mining punt. The man was Robert Burke (aka Bourke but real name Clusky), a known bushranger, who was being hunted by the police. Burke went to Kangaroo Ground where he stayed at Wellers Hotel before moving onto Hurstbridge. At Hurstbridge some hours later, he was eating breakfast given him by Miss Ellen Hurst, whose suspicions were aroused when she noticed a pistol in his pocket. Hastily she informed her brother, who loaded a shot gun and confronted Burke, an argument broke out and Burke produced a pistol. Hurst fired his shotgun, but missed. The two scuffled and during the scuffle, the pistol fired, wounding both Hurst and Burke. Burke was over-powered by some station hands and placed under arrest. Hurst, unfortunately, died later that day. Poor young boastful Burke - he was found guilty of murder and hanged, despite a strong recommendation for mercy and a large petition signed by Melbourne citizens claiming that he reacted in self defence. Edited extract from ‘Warrandyte a Brief History’ by Bruce Bence 1991. (Posted to Warrandyte Historical Society Facebook page 27/01/2021)This photo forms part of a collection of photographs gathered by the Shire of Eltham for their centenary project book,"Pioneers and Painters: 100 years of the Shire of Eltham" by Alan Marshall (1971). The collection of over 500 images is held in partnership between Eltham District Historical Society and Yarra Plenty Regional Library (Eltham Library) and is now formally known as 'The Shire of Eltham Pioneers Photograph Collection.' It is significant in being the first community sourced collection representing the places and people of the Shire's first one hundred years.Digital image Print 16.5 x 22 cmhurstbridge, illustration, robert burke, fight, bushranger burke, other areas, pioneers and painters, sepp, shire of eltham pioneers photograph collection, bushranger -
Supreme Court of Victoria Library
Portrait, Sir Edmund Herring, 1964
The portrait of Chief Justice Sir Edmund Herring is significant because of whom it portrays and who painted it. Sir Edmund Herring (1892-1982), had a military career before becoming the Chief Justice of Victoria in 1944. Sir Edmund served as an artillery officer with the British Army in World War One and was awarded the Military Cross. While he returned to the Law between the wars, becoming Kings Counsel in 1936, he continued his military associations through the Australian Militia forces rising to colonel by the start of the Second World War. At the outset of World War Two Herring was appointed as Commander of the Royal Artillery for the Australian Sixth Division. Herring saw service in North Africa and Greece and was in charge of Australian Northern forces in 1942, afterwards working with General Blamey in Papua New Guinea. It was at this time that Herring confirmed the death sentences of 22 Papuans who had been found guilty of murder and treason. Sir Edmund was appointed Chief Justice, straight from his army command in 1944. As Chief Justice he quickly established the Law Reform Committee and after the war oversaw the extension of the Supreme Court buildings, with the creation of new Courts. He was considered an able administrator, but his refusal to appoint Joan Rosanove a Queen’s Counsel throughout the 1950s, did not sit well with many legal practitioners. After his retirement from the Bench, he continued in his many public activities, including trustee of the Shrine of Remembrance and the Australian War Memorial and a member of the Melbourne Grammar School Council, as well as Lieutenant Governor of the State of Victoria a position he held from 1945 to 1972. Herring was also an outspoken social critic, between the wars he had been a member of the White Guard, who were a far right group acting against communism. During the Cold War period of the 1950s, Herring spoke out in favour of the British Empire and the American alliance. The portrait of Chief Justice Sir Edmund Herring is significant because of whom it portrays and who painted it. The portrait of Sir Edmund Herring is the second one that Sir William Dargie (1912-2003), completed of Sir Edmund, his first effort in 1944/45 won the Archibald prize. Dargie won the Archibald prize a record eight times.Portrait in oils of Sir Edmund Herring, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria (1944-1964). Sir Edmund is seated, this is a half portrait, dressed in his red judicial robes. The sitter takes up most of the frame and there is very little extra information in the picture. signed lower left "Dargie'. Plaque with the following details : Sir Edmund Francis Herring, KCMG, KBE, DSO, MC, ED. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 1944-1964.judges, herring -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph, Peter Pidgeon, Grave of Myles Archibald Lyons and children, Eltham Cemetery, Victoria, 5 April 2021
In 1872 Senior Constable Myles Lyons replaced Peter Lawlor at Eltham Police Station. Earlier in his career, he had taken part in a search (one of many) for missing explorers Burke and Wills. At Eltham, his arrests ranged from minor instances of theft, vandalism and larrikinism to serious cases of manslaughter, murder and attempted suicide. He even tracked down and arrested two Norwegian seamen charged with desertion from their vessel. While conveying a prisoner from Eltham to Melbourne in 1886, he was attacked by the prisoner en route. It seems that much of the local news in the Evelyn Observer was provided by Eltham Shire Secretary C.S. Wingrove. In 1878, Eltham residents held an “Indignation Meeting” at the Evelyn Hotel, complaining that the reporting had denigrated Lyons’ conduct and had stigmatised the character of Eltham’s inhabitants. They passed a resolution castigating Wingrove and supporting Lyons. Wingrove claimed to have been misconstrued. But in 1887 the Evelyn Observer carried a long ranting vitriolic editorial. It complained about inadequate policing generally, then attacked Lyons personally, saying that (although efficient in the past) he had now become incompetent and needed to be replaced by a younger more energetic man. Myles Lyons retired due to ill health in 1889 but remained in Eltham until his death in 1899. He is buried in Eltham Cemetery with his wife Flora and five of their children. Four sons moved to Western Australia where two were killed in unconnected railway accidents. In Loving Memory of Myles Archibald Beloved Husband of Flora Lyons Who Departed This Life 19th August 1899 Also their beloved Children Archibald Myles Who died 28th June 1865, aged 18 months Edith May Died 9th November, 1884, aged 1 year Hester May Died 17th July, 1887, Aged 14 months Flora Louisa Died 19th August, 1889, aged 14 years Joseph William Died 1st August, 1904, aged 27 yearsBorn Digitaleltham cemetery, gravestones, archibald myles lyons, edith may lyons, flora louisa lyons, flora lyons, hester may lyons, joseph william lyons, myles archibald lyons -
The Beechworth Burke Museum
Photograph - Lantern Slide, c1900
This glass slide presents an image of the Old Beechworth Post Office and was taken in the year 1900. The building displayed within the image is not that of the post office in its original form; the post office originally consisted of only a simple wooden building. With the establishment and growth of new towns across Victoria, as well as an increased need for more consistent communications with the City of Melbourne, this modest building was soon deemed inadequate. In 1858 it was brought into the style of the changing times, with the tall clock tower added in 1865. This transition aligned with a pattern of refurbishment and conversion of many Beechworth buildings (which could be seen during the 1860s-70s), aiding in the growth and prosperity of the town. Early makeshift homes were turned into more substantial dwellings, featuring elements such as weatherboard, brick, and granites materials, and gabled or hipped roofs with iron lacework fringing the verandah. These refurbishments were temporarily halted in March of 1867 when a fire swept through the town, damaging many buildings including the post office. This led to further reconstructions on the building, including heightening of the clock tower, and in 1870 the two-storey Italianate style building was completed. The Old Beechworth Post Office itself also holds significance due to its connection with one of Australia's most infamous families. It reportedly played an important role in communicating the news of the 1880 murders of police at Stringybark Creek by the Kelly Gang. Lantern slides, sometimes called 'magic lantern' slides, are glass plates on which an image has been secured for the purpose of projection. Glass slides were etched or hand-painted for this purpose from the Eighteenth Century but the process became more popular and accessible to the public with the development of photographic-emulsion slides used with a 'Magic Lantern' device in the mid-Nineteenth Century. Photographic lantern slides comprise a double-negative emulsion layer (forming a positive image) between thin glass plates that are bound together. A number of processes existed to form and bind the emulsion layer to the base plate, including the albumen, wet plate collodion, gelatine dry plate and woodburytype techniques. Lantern slides and magic lantern technologies are seen as foundational precursors to the development of modern photography and film-making techniques. This glass slide captures social and historical significance as it displays the Old Beechworth Post Office in 1900, a building that demonstrates the prosperity and growth of Beechworth as a town during this time period. This slide also holds a level of aesthetic significance due to the Italianate style building that is featured in its image; a style that became very popular during the nineteenth-century. Thin translucent sheet of glass with a square image printed on the front and framed in a black backing. It is held together by metal strips to secure the edges of the slide.Obverse: x / burke museum, beechworth, lantern slide, slide, glass slide, plate, burke museum collection, photograph, monochrome, beechworth post office, beechworth post office kelly gang, 1900, 1900 beechworth, growth of beechworth, 1867 beechworth fire, old beechworth post office, beechworth post office reconstructions, italianate style, italianate style buildings, italianate style beechworth post office -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Negative - Photograph, Harry Gilham, Grave of Myles Archibald Lyons and children, Eltham Cemetery, Victoria, Sep 2009
In 1872 Senior Constable Myles Lyons replaced Peter Lawlor at Eltham Police Station. Earlier in his career, he had taken part in a search (one of many) for missing explorers Burke and Wills. At Eltham, his arrests ranged from minor instances of theft, vandalism and larrikinism to serious cases of manslaughter, murder and attempted suicide. He even tracked down and arrested two Norwegian seamen charged with desertion from their vessel. While conveying a prisoner from Eltham to Melbourne in 1886, he was attacked by the prisoner en route. It seems that much of the local news in the Evelyn Observer was provided by Eltham Shire Secretary C.S. Wingrove. In 1878, Eltham residents held an “Indignation Meeting” at the Evelyn Hotel, complaining that the reporting had denigrated Lyons’ conduct and had stigmatised the character of Eltham’s inhabitants. They passed a resolution castigating Wingrove and supporting Lyons. Wingrove claimed to have been misconstrued. But in 1887 the Evelyn Observer carried a long ranting vitriolic editorial. It complained about inadequate policing generally, then attacked Lyons personally, saying that (although efficient in the past) he had now become incompetent and needed to be replaced by a younger more energetic man. Myles Lyons retired due to ill health in 1889 but remained in Eltham until his death in 1899. He is buried in Eltham Cemetery with his wife Flora and five of their children. Four sons moved to Western Australia where two were killed in unconnected railway accidents. In Loving Memory of Myles Archibald Beloved Husband of Flora Lyons Who Departed This Life 19th August 1899 Also their beloved Children Archibald Myles Myles died at age 75 on the same day as his 14 year old daughter, Flora Louise. Who died 28th June 1865, aged 18 months Edith May Died 9th November, 1884, aged 1 year Hester May Died 17th July, 1887, Aged 14 months Flora Louisa Died 19th August, 1889, aged 14 years Joseph William Died 1st August, 1904, aged 27 yearsRoll of 35mm colour negative film, 6 stripsKodak GC 400-9eltham cemetery, gravestones, edith may lyons, flora louisa lyons, flora lyons, hester may lyons, joseph william lyons, myles archibald lyons, police, archibald myles lyons -
Melbourne Tram Museum
Newsletter, Tramways rank and file group, "Trammie Link", 1978 - 1982 and 1991 and 1992
Set of 14 duplicated newsletters printed on coloured quarto or foolscap duplicated paper, "Trammie Link" .1 - November 1978 - 1 quarto sheet - complaining about the lack of union leadership - published by a "tramways rank and file group" .2 - March 1979 - 4 sheets - training, shift work, Burke Road tram, route 72 tram, Gardiner, lifeguards, uniforms. .3 - April 1979 - 4 sheets - disciplinary panel, rosters, Camberwell depot, route 72, buses, North Fitzroy, Doncaster, Clifton Hill, Z class cars. .4 - May 1979 - 4 sheets - discipline, lifeguards, bus safety, union issues. .5 - June 1979 - 3 sheets - politics and unions, Preston depot, Camberwell depot, wage indexation, union matters, finance for public transport, Tramway Record. .6 - August 1979 - 10 pages- Preston Depot, item written by Jim Harper, public transport and government, hook turns, union meetings, women, ACTU, wages, shift work, rosters, depots, wage indexation, shift lengths. .7 - June 1980? - two pages - undated - Service cuts at North Fitzroy, depot committees, news from depots, and note re a meeting on Monday 7 July. .8 - July 1979? - 4 pages - strikes, union campaigns, depot management, industrial issues, discipline, depot facilities. .9 - Sep. 1980 - 3 pages - Lonie report, buses, closure, public transport, union, 35 hour week, unions. .10 - Oct. 1980 - 4 pages - union elections, industrial campaigns, 35 hour week, Lonie repot, public transport. .11 - Oct. 1982 - 3 pages - Preston workshops and new trams, new trams, W class trams, accidents. .12 - Undated - 2 pages about Paul Krutulis - a scab or an Agent Provocateur - see https://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/interventions/years/11revival.htm - accessed 30-8-2016. - Extracted are the 4th and 5th paragraph below which give a bit of a background. .13 - July 1991 - 4 pages - open letter to Jim Harper re union Amalgamation, rank file view, what it would mean to workers - a negative view. Amalgamation was a major push of the Hawke - Keating Government. .14 - March 1992 - supportive of Jim Harper, dismissive of Lou DiGregorio, Union executive, union amalgamation, cross linking of tram routes, racial discrimination within the PTC, Kew Depot, ACTU. Lists the rank and file committee - see key associations. Latham’s frustrations were shared by several would-be heroes in Victoria. In 1977 Paul Krutulis gained an exemption from union membership from the Arbitration Commission as a conscientious objector, only to find that tramway workers at Kew planned to stop work as soon as he appeared. Commissioner Cohen then recommended his dismissal, saying she “had to deal with the reality of the situation.” Krutulis later became president of a group called People Against Communism, before being murdered in September. Thus Krutulis departed the scene to be followed in early 1978 by motor mechanic Jack Kane, who had crossed a picket line at a Melbourne City Council depot. The AMWU forced the Council to sack him before it would end the strike. In September of the same year, Barbara Biggs succeeded in provoking a confrontation in the tramways where Krutulis had failed, by refusing to join the union and prompting 100 unionists at Brunswick depot to go on strike. The union executive had arranged token action confined to this depot, but the members wanted more. The strike spread to Preston, then 2,000 trammies at a mass meeting voted for an indefinite strike amidst “rowdy outbursts”. When Biggs complained at being excluded from the meeting a conductress told her, “We should have let you in, love. You would have been torn to pieces.” Paul was murdered by his brother George in Sydney - see the Age 29/11/1977, but there seems to be some conspiracy theories abounding as well.Handwritten note / letter from Chris Jacobson.trams, tramways, unions, training, shifts, uniforms, route 75, gardiner, light rail, camberwell, z class, buses, discipline, tramway record, preston, north fitzroy, services, strike, depots, discipline, lonie report, public transport, preston workshops, rtbu, actu, ptc -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Print - Lithograph Picture, Madagascar Indiaman, Unknown
Madagascar was a large British merchant ship built for the trade to India and China in 1837 that disappeared on a voyage from Melbourne to London in 1853. The disappearance of Madagascar was one of the great maritime mysteries of the 19th century and has probably been the subject of more speculation than any other 19th-century maritime puzzle, except for the Mary Celeste. Madagascar, the second Blackwall Frigate, was built for George and Henry Green at the Blackwall Yard, London, a shipyard that they co-owned with the Wigram family. A one-eighth share in the vessel was held throughout her 16-year career by her first master Captain William Harrison Walker Walker. Madagascar carried freight, passengers, and troops between England and India until the end of 1852. In addition to her normal crew, she also carried many boys being trained as officers for the merchant marine. Known as midshipmen from naval practice, their parents or guardians paid for their training, and they only received a nominal wage of usually a shilling a month. Due to the Victorian Gold Rush, Madagascar, under the command of Captain Fortescue William Harris, was sent to Melbourne with emigrants. She left Plymouth on 11 March 1853 and, after an uneventful passage of 87 days, reached Melbourne on 10 June. Fourteen of her 60 crew jumped ship for the diggings, and it is believed only about three replacements were signed on. She then loaded a cargo that included wool, rice, and about two tonnes of gold valued at £240,000, and took on board about 110 passengers for London. On Wednesday 10 August, just as she was preparing to sail, police went on board and arrested a bushranger John Francis, who was later found to have been one of those responsible for robbing on 20th July the Melbourne Private Escort between the McIvor goldfield at Heathcote, Victoria and Kyneton. On the following day, the police arrested two others, one on board the ship and the other as he was preparing to board. As a result of these arrests, Madagascar did not leave Melbourne until Friday 12 August 1853. After she left Port Phillip Heads Madagascar was never seen again. When the ship became overdue many theories were floated, including spontaneous combustion of the wool cargo, hitting an iceberg and, most controversially, being seized by criminal elements of the passengers and/or crew and scuttled, with the gold being stolen and the remaining passengers and crew murdered. There have been many rumors as to what happened to Madagascar over the years but what really happened is still a mystery. The lithograph was made around 1950 from an original painting of Madagascar a Vessel with a notorious past and is interesting and a significant item for the ships part in early Victorian history. The picture is it’s self not valuable or can be associated with a significant person in history. The interest lies in the events that are linked to the ship in the mid 19th century.Lithograph of the ship Madagascar, in a wooden frameThe Madagascar East Indiaman 1000 tonsflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, lithograph, the madagascar, east indiaman -
Federation University Historical Collection
Drawing - Image - black and white, Angus McMillan, c1835
Angus McMillan named the Avon River after the river of the same name in his native Scotland. In 1840 he established a pastoral run at Bushy Park, north-west of the township. William Odell Raymond established a run in the area in 1842, and built his house, Strathfieldsaye, during 1848–54. European settlement did not take place without resistance, and in return, massacres were inflicted by Angus McMillan and others on Gunai people, especially between the years of 1840 and 1850. (wikipedia) The first application for the 'Bushy Park' run appears in the “Port Phillip Gazette” on 13 August 1843. It was taken up by Angus McMillan, who also took up the 'Boisdale' run for his employer Lachlan Macalister at the same time. In March 1844 a Licence to occupy the 16,000 acre 'Bushy Park' was granted to McMillan. In the late 1840s Andrew Martin and Matt McCraw built Angus McMillan's Bushy Park homestead. Aboriginal killings in Gippsland area most often were never formally recorded, but lived on in folklore, mainly in place names pinpointing what some historians now refer to as "massacres", and others as "conflicts". There is Boney Point, on Lake Wellington, Butchers Creek, near Metung, Slaughterhouse Gully, at Buchan, Skull Creek, at Lindenow, and, notoriously, Warrigal Creek, at Woodside. "Here, according to a couple of contemporary - though not eyewitness - reports, between 50 and 150 blacks were killed in an orgy of revenge after the murder and mutilation of a leading Scots settler, Ronald Macalister. If anybody had any doubts about the fitness of commemorating McMillan's name, no one voiced them then. Gippsland was, and still is, dotted with stone cairns tracing his route from Omeo, down the Tambo Valley to the fertile plains where he was to make (and lose) his fortune. And where, according to a growing body of opinion, he was to lead the "Highland Brigade", a band of armed settlers, against the Kurnai. History is fiction agreed on, and it is written by the winners. For most of the past 150 years, McMillan has been hailed as a trail-blazing pioneer. The legend began to crumble 20 years ago with publication of new histories, which at first outraged Gippsland historical societies and old residents, but which have gradually changed the way McMillan is viewed. ... Still, not all McMillan's contemporaries agreed with the "Highland Brigade" and its methods. Henry Meyrick, an English-born squatter, wrote to relatives in disgust about his neighbours. He estimated that 450 had been killed, and wrote: "Men, women and children are shot down whenever they can be met with. Some excuse might be found for shooting the men by those who are daily getting their cattle speared, but what they can urge in their excuse who shoot the women and children I cannot conceive." (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/04/26/1019441303552.html, accessed 20 September 2016.) The Gippsland electorate is called 'McMillan' in his honour. Black and white image of a man wearing a coat and beret. He is Scottish born Victorian Squatter Angus McMillan of Bushy Park, Gippsland.angus mcmillan, squatter, aboriginal massacre, bushy park, gunai, avon river, pioneer -
University of Melbourne, School of Chemistry
Combustion Demonstration
John Macadam was a Scottish born analytical chemist, medical practitioner and politician. As a student he soon showed a flair for analytical chemistry, and later also studied medicine. He arrived in Melbourne in 1855 to take up an appointment as lecturer in chemistry and natural science at Scotch College, a position he held until 1865. In 1857 Ferdinand von Mueller named the Macadamia nut after him. He officiated as one of two umpires at one of the earliest recorded games of Australian rules football, between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar in 1858. Macadam was appointed government analytical chemist in 1858 and health officer to the City of Melbourne in 1860. He represented Castlemaine in the Legislative Assembly between 1859 and 1864. Appointed secretary of the Royal Society of Victoria in 1860 and vice-president in 1863, he was also the secretary of the exploration committee of the Burke and Wills expedition. When the Medical School of the University of Melbourne opened in 1862 Macadam was appointed lecturer in chemistry. He was a skilled, popular and eloquent lecturer, learned and generous with his knowledge. Sadly, just three years later, and aged only 38, he died at sea on the way to give evidence at a murder trial in New Zealand, leaving his widow Elizabeth (n�e Clark), and a son. He was accompanied on that voyage by his assistant, the medical student John Drummond Kirkland, who later became the University?s first Professor of Chemistry. Born in Ireland, John Drummond Kirkland trained as a chemical analyst through apprenticeship in a medical laboratory in Dublin, before migrating to Australia in 1852 and moving to Melbourne in 1855. While still an undergraduate medical student at the University of Melbourne, he was appointed lecturer in chemistry following the sudden death of John Macadam in 1865. Due to the enthusiastic support of his fellow students this temporary role became a permanent appointment the following year. Kirkland continued his studies, graduating in medicine in 1873 and surgery in 1880. His son, John Booth Kirkland, was appointed as his assistant in 1878, later leading to accusations of nepotism. In 1882 John Drummond Kirkland became the University?s first professor of chemistry and metallurgy, continuing until his death in 1885. Today?s researchers use a high performance computing facility named ?Kirkland? after the first Professor of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne. Chemistry was still controlled by the medical school during Kirkland?s career, but became part of the science degree from 1886, along with the appointment of David Orme Masson as professor. Kirkland struggled for University funding to buy new apparatus. To compensate, he bought much from his own personal funds, including analytical chemistry equipment. Chemistry was first taught at Melbourne in the medical school, located in the area now occupied by Physics and the Ian Potter Museum of Art.Demonstration of combustion Mid 19th century, used by McCoy, MacAdam,and Kirkland -
Melbourne Tram Museum
Book, Agatha Christie, "Destination unknown", 1954
Book, hard cover, 12 sections, sewn with end papers, 210 pages, titled "Destination unknown", written by Agatha Christie, published by The Crime Club, 1954. Has the stamp of the Footscray Tramway Library, asking it to be returned within 14 days inside the front cover and in many places throughout the book, along with Number "606" on the inside front cover and on the spine of the book. The book was part of a library run by the depot staff to provide materials during broken shifts and to take home. From Wikipedia - accessed 26/12/2019: Plot summary Hilary Craven, a deserted wife and bereaved mother, is planning suicide in a Moroccan hotel, when she is asked by British secret agent Jessop to undertake a dangerous mission as an alternative to taking an overdose of sleeping pills. The task, which she accepts, is to impersonate the wife of Thomas Betterton, a nuclear scientist who has disappeared and may have defected to the Soviet Union. Soon she finds herself in a group of oddly-assorted travellers being transported to the unknown destination of the title. The destination turns out to be a secret scientific research facility disguised as a modern leper colony and medical research center at a remote location in the Atlas Mountains. The scientists are well-treated, but they are not allowed to leave the facility, and they are locked in secret areas deep inside the mountain whenever government officials and other outsiders visit. Hilary Craven successfully passes herself as Betterton's wife Olive, because he is miserable and wants desperately to escape. Hilary discovers that the facility was built by the fabulously wealthy and somewhat villainous Mr Aristides, for financial rather than political ends. He has lured the world's best young scientists to it with various deceptions so that he can later sell their services back to the world's governments and corporations for a huge profit. She falls in love with Andrew Peters, a handsome young American who was in the group with her on their journey to the facility. With the help of clues she has left along the way, Jessop eventually locates and rescues her and the others held there. Peters turns out also to be on a mission, intent on bringing Betterton to justice for the murder of his first wife. Betterton, revealed to also be a scientific fraud who plagiarized his work, is arrested. Hilary no longer wants to die, and she and Peters are free to begin their life together.On the top of the first page "13/3" indicating the price, "m/arz"? on the bottom left hand corner and inside the front cover the label of "Robertson & Mullens Ltd" booksellers.trams, tramways, footscray depot, libraries, novels, personnel, crews, shifts -
Ballarat and District Irish Association
Image, Charles Parnell, c1864, 1864
Parnell was an Irish nationalist and statesman who led the fight for Irish Home Rule in the 1880s. Charles Stewart Parnell was born on 27 June 1846 in County Wicklow into a family of Anglo-Irish Protestant landowners. He studied at Cambridge University and was elected to parliament in 1875 as a member of the Home Rule League (later re-named by Parnell the Irish Parliamentary Party). His abilities soon became evident. In 1878, Parnell became an active opponent of the Irish land laws, believing their reform should be the first step on the road to Home Rule. In 1879, Parnell was elected president of the newly founded National Land League and the following year he visited the United States to gain both funds and support for land reform. In the 1880 election, he supported the Liberal leader William Gladstone, but when Gladstone's Land Act of 1881 fell short of expectations, he joined the opposition. By now he had become the accepted leader of the Irish nationalist movement. Parnell now encouraged boycott as a means of influencing landlords and land agents, and as a result he was sent to jail and the Land League was suppressed. From Kilmainham prison he called on Irish peasants to stop paying rent. In March 1882, he negotiated an agreement with Gladstone - the Kilmainham Treaty - in which he urged his followers to avoid violence. But this peaceful policy was severely challenged by the murder in May 1882 of two senior British officials in Phoenix Park in Dublin by members of an Irish terrorist group. Parnell condemned the murders. In 1886, Parnell joined with the Liberals to defeat Lord Salisbury's Conservative government. Gladstone became prime minister and introduced the first Irish Home Rule Bill. Parnell believed it was flawed but said he was prepared to vote for it. The Bill split the Liberal Party and was defeated in the House of Commons. Gladstone's government fell soon afterwards.(http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/parnell_charles.shtml, accessed 21 January 2014) The Irish National Land League (Irish: Conradh na Talún) was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on. The period of the Land League's agitation is known as the Land War. Within decades of the league's foundation, through the efforts of William O'Brien and George Wyndham (a descendant of Lord Edward FitzGerald), the 1902 Land Conference produced the Land (Purchase) Act 1903 which allowed Irish tenant farmers buy out their freeholds with UK government loans over 68 years through the Land Commission (an arrangement that has never been possible in Britain itself). For agricultural labourers, D.D. Sheehan and the Irish Land and Labour Association secured their demands from the Liberal government elected in 1905 to pass the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1906, and the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1911, which paid County Councils to build over 40,000 new rural cottages, each on an acre of land. By 1914, 75% of occupiers were buying out their landlords, mostly under the two Acts. In all, under the pre-UK Land Acts over 316,000 tenants purchased their holdings amounting to 15 million acres (61,000 km2) out of a total of 20 million acres (81,000 km2) in the country. Sometimes the holdings were described as "uneconomic", but the overall sense of social justice was undeniable. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_National_Land_League, accessed 21 January 2014) The Irish National Land League was founded at the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar, the County town of Mayo, on 21 October 1879. At that meeting Charles Stewart Parnell was elected president of the league. Andrew Kettle, Michael Davitt, and Thomas Brennan were appointed as honorary secretaries. This united practically all the different strands of land agitation and tenant rights movements under a single organisation. The two aims of the Land League, as stated in the resolutions adopted in the meeting, were: ...first, to bring out a reduction of rack-rents; second, to facilitate the obtaining of the ownership of the soil by the occupiers. That the object of the League can be best attained by promoting organisation among the tenant-farmers; by defending those who may be threatened with eviction for refusing to pay unjust rents; by facilitating the working of the Bright clauses of the Irish Land Act during the winter; and by obtaining such reforms in the laws relating to land as will enable every tenant to become owner of his holding by paying a fair rent for a limited number of years. Charles Stewart Parnell, John Dillon, Michael Davitt, and others including Cal Lynn then went to America to raise funds for the League with spectacular results. Branches were also set up in Scotland, where the Crofters Party imitated the League and secured a reforming Act in 1886. The government had introduced the first ineffective Land Act in 1870, then the equally inadequate Acts of 1880 and 1881 followed. These established a Land Commission that started to reduce some rents. Parnell together with all of his party lieutenants, including Father Eugene Sheehy known as "the Land League priest", went into a bitter verbal offensive and were imprisoned in October 1881 under the Irish Coercion Act in Kilmainham Jail for "sabotaging the Land Act", from where the No-Rent Manifesto was issued, calling for a national tenant farmer rent strike which was partially followed. Although the League discouraged violence, agrarian crimes increased widely. Typically a rent strike would be followed by evictions by the police, or those tenants paying rent would be subject to a local boycott by League members. Where cases went to court, witnesses would change their stories, resulting in an unworkable legal system. This in turn led on to stronger criminal laws being passed that were described by the League as "Coercion Acts". The bitterness that developed helped Parnell later in his Home Rule campaign. Davitt's views were much more extreme, seeking to nationalise all land, as seen in his famous slogan: "The land of Ireland for the people of Ireland". Parnell aimed to harness the emotive element, but he and his party preferred for tenant farmers to become freeholders on the land they rented, instead of land being vested in "the people".(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_National_Land_League, accessed 21 January 2014)Image of bearded man known as Charles Stewart Parnellballarat irish, parnell, charles parnell, home rule -
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 -
Conservation Volunteers
Award: Honour Roll, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) - 1 June 2000 - The UNEP announced that the Australian Trust of Conservation Volunteers of Australia (ATCV), has been elected to the prestigious ranks of its Global 500 Roll of Honour for outstanding contributions to the protection of the environment, Award:United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) - 1 June 2000 - UNEP announced today that the ATCV has been elected to the prestigious ranks of its Global 500 Roll of Honour for outstanding contributions to the protection of the environment
THE AUSTRALIAN TRUST OF CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERS, ONE OF 14 INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS, TO RECEIVE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT AWARD NAIROBI, 1 June 2000 - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today that the Australian Trust of Conservation Volunteers of Australia (ATCV), has been elected to the prestigious ranks of its Global 500 Roll of Honour for outstanding contributions to the protection of the environment. ATCV is one of 14 individuals and organizations to receive this honour in 2000. Founded in 1982, ATCV is a national, not-for-profit community organization, whose mission is to attract and manage a force of volunteers in practical conservation projects for the betterment of the Australian environment. ATCV completes more than 4000 week-long conservation projects in urban, regional and remote areas of Australia each year. Activities range from bush regeneration, tree planting, seed collection, endangered species protection, weed control, flora and fauna surveys, walking trail construction, fencing, environmental monitoring and the protection of world heritage areas. ATCV community participation has resulted in more than 1.8 million trees being planted in 1999, and in more than 7.3 million trees planted over the past 10 years. Community involvement totalled 200,000 project days in 1999 and more than 700,000 days since 1989. To encourage the involvement of young people, ATCV developed and manages the federal government-funded programme Green Corps. Green Corps is a six-month traineeship for 17 to 20 year-olds, which incorporates conservation projects and accredited training. Since 1997, more than 4,000 trainees have completed the Green Corps programme. ATCV is a founding member of the International Conservation Alliance, which brings together organizations working in conservation volunteering, and is a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). " The award will be presented in Adelaide, Australia, at the World Environment Day ceremonies on 4 June 2000. World Environment Day, which is celebrated in some 120 countries around the world on 5 June, was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to focus global attention and action on environmental issues. Some 701 individuals and organizations, in both the adult and youth categories, have been honoured since UNEP launched the Global 500 award in 1987. Among prominent past winners are: French Marine explorer Jacques Cousteau; Sir David Attenborough, producer of environmental television programmes; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway; Anil Aggarwal, the prominent environmentalist from India; Ken Saro-Wiwa, the environmental and human rights activist from Nigeria who was executed for leading the resistance of the Ogoni People against the pollution of their Delta homeland; the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States; Jane Goodall of the United Kingdom whose research on wild chimpanzees and olive baboons provided insight into the lives of non-human primates; and the late Chico Mendes, the Brazilian rubber tapper who was murdered during his fight to save the Amazon forest. To forge global links and to implement ideas, which can contribute to a more sustainable future, a network of all Global 500 laureates has been formed. Information about this unique network can be obtained at http://www.global500.org. The winners of UNEP's Global 500 Roll of Honour are members of a broad and growing environmental movement that is flourishing around the world. They have taken the path that most of us hesitate to take for want of time or caring," says UNEP's Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer. "In honouring the Global 500 laureates, UNEP hopes that others will be inspired by their extraordinary deeds."Certificatecva, conservation volunteers, conservation volunteers australia, conservation volunteers new zealand, colin jackson, better earth, environmental conservation, volunteers, volunteering, corporate volunteering, education – environmental, carbon footprint, climate change, ballarat, safety, training, partnerships, victoria, vic, nsw, queensland, act, australian capital territory, nt, northern territory, western australia, wa, south australia, sa, tasmania, new zealand, california conservation corps, atcv, unep, unep honour roll, united nations environment program -
Ballarat Heritage Services
Photograph - Photograph - Colour, Lisa Gervasoni, Remains of Angus McMillan's Bushy Park Home, 2014, 07/06/2014
Angus McMillan was born in 1810 at Glenbrittle in the Isle of Skye. He was one of fourteens sons of Ewan McMillan. Angus McMillan arried i New South Wales in January 1839, and became an overseer for Captai nLachlan Macalister. I n 1839 Angus McMillan travelled south. He settled for a time on Jame MacFarlane's statin at Currawong. IOn 28 May 1839 Angus MacMillan stated travelling southward toward the coast. Angus Macmillan named the Avon River after the river of the same name in his native Scotland. In 1840 he established a pastoral run at Bushy Park, near Maffra. William Odell Raymond established a run in the area in 1842, and built his house, Strathfieldsaye, during 1848–54. European settlement did not take place without resistance, and in return, massacres were inflicted by Angus McMillan and others on Gunai people, especially between the years of 1840 and 1850. (wikipedia) The first application for the 'Bushy Park' run appears in the “Port Phillip Gazette” on 13 August 1843. It was taken up by Angus McMillan, who also took up the 'Boisdale' run for his employer Lachlan Macalister at the same time. In March 1844 a Licence to occupy the 16,000 acre 'Bushy Park' was granted to McMillan. In the late 1840s Andrew Martin and Matt McCraw built Angus McMillan's Bushy Park homestead. Aboriginal killings in Gippsland area most often were never formally recorded, but lived on in folklore, mainly in place names pinpointing what some historians now refer to as "massacres", and others as "conflicts". There is Boney Point, on Lake Wellington, Butchers Creek, near Metung, Slaughterhouse Gully, at Buchan, Skull Creek, at Lindenow, and, notoriously, Warrigal Creek, at Woodside. "Here, according to a couple of contemporary - though not eyewitness - reports, between 50 and 150 blacks were killed in an orgy of revenge after the murder and mutilation of a leading Scots settler, Ronald Macalister. If anybody had any doubts about the fitness of commemorating McMillan's name, no one voiced them then. Gippsland was, and still is, dotted with stone cairns tracing his route from Omeo, down the Tambo Valley to the fertile plains where he was to make (and lose) his fortune. And where, according to a growing body of opinion, he was to lead the "Highland Brigade", a band of armed settlers, against the Kurnai. History is fiction agreed on, and it is written by the winners. For most of the past 150 years, McMillan has been hailed as a trail-blazing pioneer. The legend began to crumble 20 years ago with publication of new histories, which at first outraged Gippsland historical societies and old residents, but which have gradually changed the way McMillan is viewed. ... Still, not all McMillan's contemporaries agreed with the "Highland Brigade" and its methods. Henry Meyrick, an English-born squatter, wrote to relatives in disgust about his neighbours. He estimated that 450 had been killed, and wrote: "Men, women and children are shot down whenever they can be met with. Some excuse might be found for shooting the men by those who are daily getting their cattle speared, but what they can urge in their excuse who shoot the women and children I cannot conceive." (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/04/26/1019441303552.html, accessed 20 September 2016.) The Gippsland electorate is called 'McMillan' in his honour. Photographs of the remains of a timber home used by squatter Angus McMillan at his "Bushy Park" property on the Avon River. angus mcmillan, bushy park, avon river, squater -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Document - Property Binder, 836 Main Road, Eltham
Newspaper article: Was woman found in well put in it? Diamond Valley Local, 16 February 1954, story of wife of baker found in well before Burgoyne family purchased bakery. Newspaper article: Bakery goes ... locals protest, The Valley Voice, 18 July 1979, Joh Ebeli protests about planned destruction, history of building memories of Alistair Knox. Note on demolition of Eltham Bakery building, 1979, by Joh Ebeli who tried to save front of house with friend names Elwers. Photocopy newspaper article: Murder mystery at bakery, History comes to life for old building, 4 November 1979, Harry Burgoyne remembers his grandfather John James Thomas Neville Burgoyne bought bakery in 1896 at time of body found in well, bakery build 1860-1864, sold in 1921. Photocopy newspaper article: Public meeting called over Eltham restaurant proposal, Diamond Valley News, 4 October 1988, protests re proposal for motel and restaurant. Photocopy newspaper article: Fresh tales at an old mine, Diamond Valley News, 4 October 1988, Ausminde Pty Ltd applied for renewal of exploration licence at Old Tree Hill Mine, last mined by Stan Bone and Bill Wallace, photograph of Russell Yeoman at site. Photocopy of line drawing, The Bakery, by Joh Ebeli, 1978. Photocopy of photograph, Old Bakery, next to house built 1880. Photocopy of photograph with Old Bakery in background. On August 12, 1902, appearing before T. Smallman, Esq,. Police Magistrate, and Messrs. W. Duncan and W.J. Taylor, Justices of the Peace is Luther Haley, baker. Wilfred Henry Johnston, by his agent Stanley Ernest Elder had applied for a warrant of ejectment under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1890 against Luther Haley from the bakery premises at the corner of Main Road and York Street. From the evidence presented it is made known that Mrs Burgoyne of Eltham had purchased the property some months earlier from Mr Johnston, which consisted of a store and bakery establishment at Eltham occupied by Mr. Luther Haley, and whose lease expired some little time back, and up to the present time, Mr. Haley was not prepared to leave. He informed the court that he was unable to secure at Eltham a suitable house in which to carry on his business, but he was building a place near the railway station which he expected to be done in about three weeks time, at which time he would give up possession of the bakery. Mr Smallman informed the defendant, Luther Haley, that he would have to quit the premises in three weeks from the present date, and that a warrant of ejectment would be issued. However he also informed Mr Haley that he would order the warrant to lie in the office for three weeks from that date. The premises under construction refered to by Luther Haley in court were situated on the western side of Main Road, near the railway station slightly opposite present day Arthur Street. It was opened around September 1902 as a General Store, Bakery and Tea Rooms. In June 2024 Annie Hackrath shared a memory of living in the old bakery: "My husband and I lived in the old bakery for 18 months in 1978-9 , husband Geoff used the old bakery out the back as a wood workshop, making turnery and handcrafted furniture. The front shop was operated as a “sometimes” art gallery which we called “Gouge and Grain”. There were old sheds against the back fence which we thought were probably stables from the bakery days. Lovely memories of the old place which had so much character and seemed to attract a multitude of interesting creative people! Sad that it was pulled down; a friend salvaged some of the lead light glass in the old doors and included it in a new door panel for us."main road, eltham, property, shops, businesses, eltham bakery, burgoyne family, joh ebeli, alistair knox, harry burgoyne, john james thomas neville burgoyne, one tree hill mine, stan bone miner, bill wallace miner, russell yeoman, henry rech, ausminde pty ltd, john street, bridge street, judy paynter, art gallery, gouge and grain, annie hackrath, geoff hackrath -
The Beechworth Burke Museum
Photograph - Two Photographs, Saunders, 1864-1972
Taken some time after 1864, these photographs depict the Star Hotel both directly (8674.1) and from the Hotel north west down Ford Street (8674.2). The images depict the building with its modern exterior, having settled for this brick form after several other building designs. The Star Hotel was the first hotel opened in Beechworth, and would go through a series of dramatic changes under its first three owners. The original timber structure was built by W.H. Neuber, though at the time it was only known as ‘The Beechworth Hotel’. The site was later purchased in 1855 by mining entrepreneur, and prolific business owner, John Alston “Six Stars” Wallace. He would go on to extend the established hotel, rebuilding much of it with weatherboard and a shingled roof, adding a two storey structure with a verandah and a theatre capable of supporting 400-500 people, which was often used for international performances. Renamed as the Star Hotel, it was the second in a chain franchise, eventually leading to the “Six Stars” moniker Wallace went by, with hotels at Rutherglen, Chiltern, Yackandandah, Bright, Snake Valley, and of course, Beechworth. Under his ownership, it developed into a popular location for merchants, wayfarers, and locals alike, with the help of his brother Peter as manager. Situated on a road once synonymous with Melbourne to Sydney roadtrips, and the allure of the gold mines, the popularity of the Star drew all manner of clientele from across the country. As such a central hub, the ‘Star Assembly Rooms’ were used as a meeting place for debates, discussions, festivities, and problem solving among the various working sects of the area. These meetings included shareholder discussions for prospecting companies, railway planning, council meetings, and discussions surrounding the interactions between European and Chinese miners, both good and bad. By late 1856, John had the Beechworth at auction through J.H. Grey & Co. It was most likely due to the high profile murder of the manager, Robert Murdoch, during an altercation in relation to a dine and dash event by a Swedish miner, Charles Jansen, who had been ‘excited by drink’ on November 17th. He had refused to pay for his meal and waiter James Mitchell failed to persuade him otherwise. Mitchell, or possibly Murdoch himself, forced him out as tempers and threats escalated. As the photos tell, there are a number of doors which may be entered through, and Jansen used an alternate entrance to access the building. Murdoch was investigating the noise when he encountered the furious man. He was subsequently stabbed with no warning by a small clasp knife, as he tried to stop the intrusion. His exclamations, "I’m stabbed, I’m stabbed!” alerting other occupants, and Jansen was restrained and arrested. Murdoch died the next day from his injuries, with the inquest carried out on the theatre stage. Some 3000 members of the town attended the funeral, and the Star hung black cloth in memory of Robert and his death. Afterwards, an auction caw the property pass to Messrs Robertson and Quirk, though would return shortly thereafter to Six Stars’ portfolio. Six Stars would later sell off his properties from 1862, with the Beechworth Star purchased by 1864 by John Sitch Clark. This allowed Clark to redevelop a significant portion of the Hotel, stripping a central section and constructing the brick structure that survives today, reopening the Star in July that year. It was after this time that our photographs were taken. Clark would later sell the property to Frank Mitchell, shortly before his own death. The next owner, Frederick Allen, lived on the property before the deed was sold to him in the 1880s. He would later sell the property to William Carroll in 1890, with proprietorship eventually moving to Mr. W.H. Porter, and transferring to a Mr. Marendaz by 1913 and Mr. Holly in 1915. Licensing disputes would arise 1917 between Margaret Carroll and a Mrs. McDonald, before it became delicenced some years prior to 1935. It was around this year that the property was bought by Mr. W.J. Pemberton at the meagre price of £500, down from the £13,000 Six Stars originally auctioned it for. It served as a Youth Hostel for a period of time around 1972, and currently the building serves as a private accommodation on the second floor, with shops taking up the ground floor level.These photographs of the Beechworth Star Hotel as they depict a form of Beechworth's first hotel, and also the site of a high profile murder. Two black and white rectangular photographs printed on matte photographic paper.8674.1 (reverse) Beechworth/ 734/ Tanswell’s Hotel [crossed out]/? Old Star/ Hotel,/[small pencil scratching]/ Saunders/ BMM 8674.1 8674.2 (reverse) Beechworth/ 60%[circled]/ Old Star Hotel/Building etc.,/ 12 ½ cm/ 3"[circled, arrows extending horizontally to edges]/[arrows extending top to bottom mid-right of reverse]/ Saunders/ 734[circled]/ BMM 867.2,/ [thin scribbled bordering around top, right, and bottom edges]star hotel, beechworth hotel, john alston wallace, ja wallace, john sitch clark, frederick allen, robert murdoch, meeting place, tragedy, theatre, mining town -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Negative - Photograph, Mary Jane Smart (nee Bailey) ouside the Smart family home in Bridge Street, Eltham, c.1915
Located on the north side of Bridge Street at the intersection with Bolton Street, facing Bolton Street (now part of present day Brisbane Street and occupied by the Kitchen Design Centre). Show's an original early settler's cottage in Bridge Street. The cottage was built by Mrs Mary Jane Smart's parents, Edwin Bailey and Jane (nee Matthews). Mary Jane Smart was born in the cottage. She married an Englishman, Alexander Wilson Smart who disappeared to Western Australia in the early 1900s in search of gold. He ultimately married again in W.A., committing bigamy and then committed murder and was hung in 1911. This photo was taken c.1903 not long before both Mrs Bailey and her grand daughter both passed away. Jane Bailey died 2 Dec. 1904 and Mary Jane Smart and Ruby Jane Bertha Smart died July 1903 are all buried in Eltham Cemetery. SMART'S HOME AT ELTHAM. HIS WIFE AND SONS. In a little bush cottage surrounded by tall gum trees, through which appear glimpses of a willow fringed creek, of road ways hedged by masses of snowy flowering hawthorn, of growing crops and vividly green grazing paddocks, lives Mrs. Smart, the lawful wife of the man who is now in the hands of the police of Western Australia on suspicion of having committed a dreadful crime. Here, about half a mile out of the picturesque village of Eltham, she was born, and has lived her whole life — about 50 years. Smart himself lived here till the time when many years ago, the "lure of gold" got into his blood and he cleared out to Western Australia, to follow the digging rushes, gradually becom ing more and more estranged, till at length all communication ceased and be became lost to his wife and children. "I did not want him to go away," said Mrs. Smart, "because I had heard of so many men who had forgotten their homes in the excite ment of gold seeking, and of many others who died unknown and uncared for. But he would go, and when I saw his mind was set on it I placed no obstacles in his way. My parents built and lived in this cottage, where I was born, and they died in it. When I grew up I met my husband, a young Englishman, and married him. His name is Alexander, not Alfred, and his age is 52. We were very happy here, and although we were not well off we were comfortable, for he was a steady, sober, industrious man and had constant employment. He was just a manual worker, but could turn his hand to anything. We had five children, but one died. Four sons grew up in this little cottage. Thus three generations lived in it, somewhat unusual in an Australian bush home, I think. My eldest son is married and has a family; one is in Western Australia— not with his father— another is away working for him self, and one (indicating a young man by her side) has always stuck to his mother. He is my sole support, and he is as good to me now as his father once was. Yes, his father was a good, home-loving man in our younger days. He was fond of his children and was highly respected in these parts.' "It is fifteen years since my husband went away first. He had then been work ing for the Metropolitan Board of Works, and was engaged in the tunnel under the Yarra near Queen's-bridge when it col-lapsed. After he went to the West he sent me money regularly and wrote constantly. He came home three times — twice for a week or two at a time, the third time, eight years ago, when the Eitham railway was nearing completion. I induced him to stay till the railway opened, and he re-mained with me several months. I tried to get him to leave the West and settle down in his home, but he would not; he seemed restless and anxious to be off. One day when we were in Collingwood together he left me, saying he wanted to see what boats were going West. I implored him not to go away, and he said he would see. However, he returned to me soon after wards and said he had taken his ticket and would go by the next boat, and he went. For a year he wrote at irregular intervals, and then his letters ceased and I heard no more of him. For seven years I have not known whether he was alive or dead. Before that time my two sons in Western Australian used to see him some times, though they did not live with him; they used to tell me in their letters that he was well. It was a hard blow to be forgotten by him, but as my sons grew up I became more reconciled, and now I seem to look back at my life with him as some thing that happened a long time ago and is only a memory. Of his life and doings in Western Australia I know nothing. The last time I heard of him he was working in a foundry at Midland Junction. He was at Cue working on the railway when it opened there, and he caught the fever, but all that time he sent me money. When he returned the first time he took our eldest son with him, and the other boy followed later. They did not stay with him, how ever, and as far as I know they did not know how he lived." 'Mrs. Smart is a quiet, toil worn woman who has the respect of everyone who knows her.Roll of 35mm colour negative film, 3 strips Associated print from negative (Copy of original print)Fuji 100bridge street, cottage, smart home, houses, mary jane smart (nee bailey), smart family home, alexander wilson smart, bigamy, bush cottage, early settlers, eltham, jane bailey (nee matthews), murder, ruby jane bertha smart -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Negative - Photograph, Smart family home in Bridge Street, Eltham, c.1903
Believed to be Mrs Jane Bailey (nee Matthews) (d. 1904) and her grand-daughter Ruby Jane Bertha Smart (1890-1903) in front of the Smart family cottage in Bridge Street, Eltham, c.1903 Located on the north side of Bridge Street at the intersection with Bolton Street, facing Bolton Street (now part of present day Brisbane Street and occupied by the Kitchen Design Centre). Ruby Jane Bertha Smart born abt 1890 died in 1903 in Eltham. Her brother Alfred Francis Smart was born abt 1887 and died 1966 in Mont Albert, Vic. (Accessed via Ancestry.com) Show's an original early settler's cottage in Bridge Street. The cottage was built by Mrs Mary Jane Smart's parents, Edwin Bailey and Jane (nee Matthews). Mary Jane Smart was born in the cottage. She married an Englishman, Alexander Wilson Smart who disappeared to Western Australia in the early 1900s in search of gold. He ultimately married again in W.A., committing bigamy and then committed murder and was hung in 1911. This photo was taken c.1903 not long before both Mrs Bailey and her grand daughter both passed away. Jane Bailey died 2 Dec. 1904 and Mary Jane Smart and Ruby Jane Bertha Smart died July 1903 are all buried in Eltham Cemetery. SMART'S HOME AT ELTHAM. HIS WIFE AND SONS. In a little bush cottage surrounded by tall gum trees, through which appear glimpses of a willow fringed creek, of road ways hedged by masses of snowy flowering hawthorn, of growing crops and vividly green grazing paddocks, lives Mrs. Smart, the lawful wife of the man who is now in the hands of the police of Western Australia on suspicion of having committed a dreadful crime. Here, about half a mile out of the picturesque village of Eltham, she was born, and has lived her whole life — about 50 years. Smart himself lived here till the time when many years ago, the "lure of gold" got into his blood and he cleared out to Western Australia, to follow the digging rushes, gradually becom ing more and more estranged, till at length all communication ceased and be became lost to his wife and children. "I did not want him to go away," said Mrs. Smart, "because I had heard of so many men who had forgotten their homes in the excite ment of gold seeking, and of many others who died unknown and uncared for. But he would go, and when I saw his mind was set on it I placed no obstacles in his way. My parents built and lived in this cottage, where I was born, and they died in it. When I grew up I met my husband, a young Englishman, and married him. His name is Alexander, not Alfred, and his age is 52. We were very happy here, and although we were not well off we were comfortable, for he was a steady, sober, industrious man and had constant employment. He was just a manual worker, but could turn his hand to anything. We had five children, but one died. Four sons grew up in this little cottage. Thus three generations lived in it, somewhat unusual in an Australian bush home, I think. My eldest son is married and has a family; one is in Western Australia— not with his father— another is away working for him self, and one (indicating a young man by her side) has always stuck to his mother. He is my sole support, and he is as good to me now as his father once was. Yes, his father was a good, home-loving man in our younger days. He was fond of his children and was highly respected in these parts.' "It is fifteen years since my husband went away first. He had then been work ing for the Metropolitan Board of Works, and was engaged in the tunnel under the Yarra near Queen's-bridge when it col-lapsed. After he went to the West he sent me money regularly and wrote constantly. He came home three times — twice for a week or two at a time, the third time, eight years ago, when the Eitham railway was nearing completion. I induced him to stay till the railway opened, and he re-mained with me several months. I tried to get him to leave the West and settle down in his home, but he would not; he seemed restless and anxious to be off. One day when we were in Collingwood together he left me, saying he wanted to see what boats were going West. I implored him not to go away, and he said he would see. However, he returned to me soon after wards and said he had taken his ticket and would go by the next boat, and he went. For a year he wrote at irregular intervals, and then his letters ceased and I heard no more of him. For seven years I have not known whether he was alive or dead. Before that time my two sons in Western Australian used to see him some times, though they did not live with him; they used to tell me in their letters that he was well. It was a hard blow to be forgotten by him, but as my sons grew up I became more reconciled, and now I seem to look back at my life with him as some thing that happened a long time ago and is only a memory. Of his life and doings in Western Australia I know nothing. The last time I heard of him he was working in a foundry at Midland Junction. He was at Cue working on the railway when it opened there, and he caught the fever, but all that time he sent me money. When he returned the first time he took our eldest son with him, and the other boy followed later. They did not stay with him, how ever, and as far as I know they did not know how he lived." 'Mrs. Smart is a quiet, toil worn woman who has the respect of everyone who knows her.This photo forms part of a collection of photographs gathered by the Shire of Eltham for their centenary project book,"Pioneers and Painters: 100 years of the Shire of Eltham" by Alan Marshall (1971). The collection of over 500 images is held in partnership between Eltham District Historical Society and Yarra Plenty Regional Library (Eltham Library) and is now formally known as the 'The Shire of Eltham Pioneers Photograph Collection.' It is significant in being the first community sourced collection representing the places and people of the Shire's first one hundred years.Digital image 4 x 5 inch B&W Neg Original print 10.5 x 16.5 cmFor postcard print: Inscribed on envelope: "Return to Mrs H. Butherway, 22 Bridge St, Eltham." Also "Photo Mrs Clark Hampton (nee Smart), original Smart's house - Bridge Street, 95 years ago." Also "Right - Mrs Clark's grandmother Mrs J Smart Left - Her daughter Ruby dies soon after photo taken. Brother Alf Smart died about 6 years ago." Inscribed on back of photo "247 Vincent St, Leederville" It is believed that this inscription may be somewhat mixed up.sepp, shire of eltham pioneers photograph collection, eltham, bridge street, alexander wilson smart, bigamy, bush cottage, early settlers, houses, jane bailey (nee matthews), mary jane smart (nee bailey), murder, ruby jane bertha smart, smart family home, smart home -
Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages
Book, Aldo Massola, Journey to Aboriginal Victoria, 1969
Looks at the Aboriginal community from the time of white contact, across many parts of Victoria. Chap.1; Melbourne - early missions, camp of Native Police, corroboree trees, canoe trees, grave &? headstone of Derrimut; quarries at Keilor, excavation sites at Green Gully &? Keilor; quarry at Mt. William, notes on inheritance of quarries Coranderrk settlement - Barraks grave, notes on his life; Chap.2; Geelong - Yawangi group of the Wothowurong tribe, camping grounds in area quarries; Notes on William Buckley, Gellibrand (a notable Aboriginal), graves in the Western Cemetery; Chap.3; Colac - war between Colac &? Geelong tribes; Mission at Birregurra, reason for failure of Buntingdale Mission; brass plate to Coc-coc-coine; reserve at Elliminyt, native ovens, camp sites, initiation site &? ritual; quarry sites, axegrinding factory, rock pecking &? engraving; dried hand &? 3 Aboriginal skulls found; Chap.4; The south-west coast - middens, camp sites notes on Framlingham Stn., fish traps at Tyrendarra; Chap.5; The far west - massacres of Aborigines near Casterton; camp sites, oven mounds; the first cricket team formed; Aboriginal cemetery; Chap.6; Hamilton - camps; Mount Rouse Station, axegrinding grooves at Nareeb Nareeb, shelters described, fish traps, massacre at Lake Condah; mission; canoes; Chap.7; Camperdown - legend about Lake Bullen Merri; obelisk erected in memory of Aborigines of district especially chief Wombeetch Puyuun; Jarcoort tribe; fish weirs, camps, intertribal fights between Booluc-burrers, Jarcoorts &? Ellengermote groups; bartering place at Mount Noorat; articles traded, legend of Flat-Top Hill; Chap.8; Ballarat - camp at Lake Wendouree; White Stone Lagoon; legends concerning Mt. Buninyong &? waterfalls at Lal-lal; camp sites; pygmy-type implements near Meredith, quarry at Glue Pot Rocks near Durdidwarrah; brass plate of King Billy; Chap.9; Ararat - Tjapwurong territory; camp sites, quarries, shield &? canoe trees; Bunyip belief at Lake Buninjon of Muk-jarawaint &? Pirtkopen-noot tribes, gives legend; stone implements; mill stones; fish weirs; stone arrangement near Lake Wongan; ground drawing of a bunyip, paintings in rock shelter near Mt. Langi Ghiran; Chap.10; Maryborough - camps, oven mounds, rock wells, stone arrangement at Carisbrook; camp sites at Mt. Franklin; Chap.11; Charlton - belief in Mindye (snake); canoe trees, ovens, camp sites, water holes, rock wells, stone implements; method of rainmaking; Chap.12; Horsham-Stawell, The Wimmera - Wotjobaluk land; camps, fish traps at Toolondo; Black Range cave paintings, Flat Rock shelters (detailed account of these paintings); Bunjils Cave; Chap.13; Horsham-Stawell, The Mallee - camp sites, implements; Ebenezer Mission, Willie Wimmera taken to England by Rev. Chase to become a missionary, died in England; Chap.14; The Murray River, Mildura Swan Hill - Battle of the Rufus; ceremonial ground, Lake Gol Gol, canoe &? shield trees; stone implements; camp sites, fire place arrangements; fish traps; oven mounds; Chap.15; The Murray River, Swan Hill-Echuca - legend about Lake Boga; camps, oven mounds, the Cohuna skull, Kow Swamp, method of burial; Chap.16; Shepparton ovens; brass plates of King Paddy of Kotupna &? King Tattambo of Mulka Stn., native well, camps; Chap.17; Wangaratta -camps, quarry, rock holes, the Faithful massacre; grinding rocks at Earlston; Chap.18; The High Plains - Ya-itma-thang; camps, Bogong moth feasts, native paths for trade &? intertribal fights, articles traded; painted shelters; Koetong Ck. Valley, near Mt. Pilot &? near Barwidgee Ck.; Chap.19; Dandenong - water holes, list of 8 holes in Beaumaris - Black Rock area; camps, middens, stone implements (microliths), legend of Angels Cave, stone axes, Native Police Force, Narre Narre Warren Station, legend about rocks on Bald Hill, kangaroo totemic site; Chap.20; Wonthaggi- Yarram - natives visit Phillip Is., murder of William Cook and Yankee by five Tasmanians (listed as Bon Small Boy, Jack Napoleon Timninaparewa, Fanny Waterpoordeyer, Matilda Nattopolenimma and Truganini) near Cape Patterson, men; camp sites, middens, legend of White Rock; Chap.21; Sale - Bairnsdale, The Lakes Country middens, camps; legend at Wulrunjeri; story of a white woman supposedly living with with the Tutangolung tribe, efforts made to prove story; canoe trees; Chap.22; Sale-Bairnsdale, The Inland Braiakolung tribe, camps, implements, canoe &? shield trees; Ramahyuck Mission, grinding rocks, fights with Omeo tribe; native tracks, death through enemy magic - procedure, belief in ghosts; Chap.23; Lakes Entrance and the Country to the east - Kroatungolung people, legend of Kalimna Valley; camps, stones of Nargun, bunyip, devils at Lake Tyers, excavation at Buchan, carbon dates; middens, ochre at Cape Conrad, stone fish-hook file at Thurra River; note on Bidwel tribe; Each chapter gives historical details, early contacts, relationships with settlers; Aboriginal place names and detailed description of sites and geographical features.b&w photographs, b&w illustrations, colour illustrationsgeelong, colac, hamilton, camperdown, ballarat, ararat, maryborough, charlton, horsham, stawell, murray river, shepparton, wangaratta, dandenong, wonthaggi, yarram, sale, bairnsdale, lakes entrance -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Animal specimen - Whale bone, Undetermined
Prior to carrying out a detailed condition report of the cetacean skeletons, it is useful to have an understanding of the materials we are likely to encounter, in terms of structure and chemistry. This entry invites you to join in learning about the composition of whale bone and oil. Whale bone (Cetacean) bone is comprised of a composite structure of both an inorganic matrix of mainly hydroxylapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral), providing strength and rigidity, as well as an organic protein ‘scaffolding’ of mainly collagen, facilitating growth and repair (O’Connor 2008, CCI 2010). Collagen is also the structural protein component in cartilage between the whale vertebrae and attached to the fins of both the Killer Whale and the Dolphin. Relative proportions in the bone composition (affecting density), are linked with the feeding habits and mechanical stresses typically endured by bones of particular whale types. A Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) skeleton (toothed) thus has a higher mineral value (~67%) than a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) (baleen) (~60%) (Turner Walker 2012). The internal structure of bone can be divided into compact and cancellous bone. In whales, load-bearing structures such as mandibles and upper limb bones (e.g. humerus, sternum) are largely composed of compact bone (Turner Walker 2012). This consists of lamella concentrically deposited around the longitudinal axis and is permeated by fluid carrying channels (O’Connor 2008). Cancellous (spongy) bone, with a highly porous angular network of trabeculae, is less stiff and thus found in whale ribs and vertebrae (Turner Walker 2012). Whale oil Whales not only carry a thick layer of fat (blubber) in the soft tissue of their body for heat insulation and as a food store while they are alive, but also hold large oil (lipid) reserves in their porous bones. Following maceration of the whale skeleton after death to remove the soft tissue, the bones retain a high lipid content (Higgs et. al 2010). Particularly bones with a spongy (porous) structure have a high capacity to hold oil-rich marrow. Comparative data of various whale species suggests the skull, particularly the cranium and mandible bones are particularly oil rich. Along the vertebral column, the lipid content is reduced, particularly in the thoracic vertebrae (~10-25%), yet greatly increases from the lumbar to the caudal vertebrae (~40-55%). The chest area (scapula, sternum and ribs) show a mid-range lipid content (~15-30%), with vertically orientated ribs being more heavily soaked lower down (Turner Walker 2012, Higgs et. al 2010). Whale oil is largely composed of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). In Arctic whales a higher proportion of unsaturated, versus saturated fatty acids make up the lipid. Unsaturated fatty acids (with double or triple carbon bonds causing chain kinks, preventing close packing (solidifying) of molecules), are more likely to be liquid (oil), versus solid (fat) at room temperature (Smith and March 2007). Objects Made From the Whaling Industry We all know that men set forth in sailing ships and risked their lives to harpoon whales on the open seas throughout the 1800s. And while Moby Dick and other tales have made whaling stories immortal, people today generally don't appreciate that the whalers were part of a well-organized industry. The ships that set out from ports in New England roamed as far as the Pacific in hunt of specific species of whales. Adventure may have been the draw for some whalers, but for the captains who owned whaling ships, and the investors which financed voyages, there was a considerable monetary payoff. The gigantic carcasses of whales were chopped and boiled down and turned into products such as the fine oil needed to lubricate increasing advanced machine tools. And beyond the oil derived from whales, even their bones, in an era before the invention of plastic, was used to make a wide variety of consumer goods. In short, whales were a valuable natural resource the same as wood, minerals, or petroleum we now pump from the ground. Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.” The blubber was minced into chunks and boiled in large vats on board the whaling ship, producing oil. The oil taken from whale blubber was packaged in casks and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port (such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s). From the ports it would be sold and transported across the country and would find its way into a huge variety of products. Whale oil, in addition to be used for lubrication and illumination, was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish. Whale oil was also utilized in some processes used to manufacture textiles and rope. Spermaceti, a Highly Regarded Oil A peculiar oil found in the head of the sperm whale, spermaceti, was highly prized. The oil was waxy, and was commonly used in making candles. In fact, candles made of spermaceti were considered the best in the world, producing a bright clear flame without an excess of smoke. Spermaceti was also used, distilled in liquid form, as an oil to fuel lamps. The main American whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was thus known as "The City That Lit the World." When John Adams was the ambassador to Great Britain before serving as president he recorded in his diary a conversation about spermaceti he had with the British Prime Minister William Pitt. Adams, keen to promote the New England whaling industry, was trying to convince the British to import spermaceti sold by American whalers, which the British could use to fuel street lamps. The British were not interested. In his diary, Adams wrote that he told Pitt, “the fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature, and we are surprised you prefer darkness, and consequent robberies, burglaries, and murders in your streets to receiving as a remittance our spermaceti oil.” Despite the failed sales pitch John Adams made in the late 1700s, the American whaling industry boomed in the early to mid-1800s. And spermaceti was a major component of that success. Spermaceti could be refined into a lubricant that was ideal for precision machinery. The machine tools that made the growth of industry possible in the United States were lubricated, and essentially made possible, by oil derived from spermaceti. Baleen, or "Whalebone" The bones and teeth of various species of whales were used in a number of products, many of them common implements in a 19th century household. Whales are said to have produced “the plastic of the 1800s.” The "bone" of the whale which was most commonly used wasn’t technically a bone, it was baleen, a hard material arrayed in large plates, like gigantic combs, in the mouths of some species of whales. The purpose of the baleen is to act as a sieve, catching tiny organisms in sea water, which the whale consumes as food. As baleen was tough yet flexible, it could be used in a number of practical applications. And it became commonly known as "whalebone." Perhaps the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets, which fashionable ladies in the 1800s wore to compress their waistlines. One typical corset advertisement from the 1800s proudly proclaims, “Real Whalebone Only Used.” Whalebone was also used for collar stays, buggy whips, and toys. Its remarkable flexibility even caused it to be used as the springs in early typewriters. The comparison to plastic is apt. Think of common items which today might be made of plastic, and it's likely that similar items in the 1800s would have been made of whalebone. Baleen whales do not have teeth. But the teeth of other whales, such as the sperm whale, would be used as ivory in such products as chess pieces, piano keys, or the handles of walking sticks. Pieces of scrimshaw, or carved whale's teeth, would probably be the best remembered use of whale's teeth. However, the carved teeth were created to pass the time on whaling voyages and were never a mass production item. Their relative rarity, of course, is why genuine pieces of 19th century scrimshaw are considered to be valuable collectibles today. Reference: McNamara, Robert. "Objects Made From the Whaling Industry." ThoughtCo, Jul. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/products-produced-from-whales-1774070.Whale bone was an important commodity, used in corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, and toys.Whale bone in two pieces. Advanced stage of calcification as indicated by deep pitting. Off white to grey.None.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, whale bones, whale skeleton, whales, whale bone, corsets, toys, whips -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Animal specimen - Whale bone, Undetermined
Prior to carrying out a detailed condition report of the cetacean skeletons, it is useful to have an understanding of the materials we are likely to encounter, in terms of structure and chemistry. This entry invites you to join in learning about the composition of whale bone and oil. Whale bone (Cetacean) bone is comprised of a composite structure of both an inorganic matrix of mainly hydroxylapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral), providing strength and rigidity, as well as an organic protein ‘scaffolding’ of mainly collagen, facilitating growth and repair (O’Connor 2008, CCI 2010). Collagen is also the structural protein component in cartilage between the whale vertebrae and attached to the fins of both the Killer Whale and the Dolphin. Relative proportions in the bone composition (affecting density), are linked with the feeding habits and mechanical stresses typically endured by bones of particular whale types. A Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) skeleton (toothed) thus has a higher mineral value (~67%) than a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) (baleen) (~60%) (Turner Walker 2012). The internal structure of bone can be divided into compact and cancellous bone. In whales, load-bearing structures such as mandibles and upper limb bones (e.g. humerus, sternum) are largely composed of compact bone (Turner Walker 2012). This consists of lamella concentrically deposited around the longitudinal axis and is permeated by fluid carrying channels (O’Connor 2008). Cancellous (spongy) bone, with a highly porous angular network of trabeculae, is less stiff and thus found in whale ribs and vertebrae (Turner Walker 2012). Whale oil Whales not only carry a thick layer of fat (blubber) in the soft tissue of their body for heat insulation and as a food store while they are alive, but also hold large oil (lipid) reserves in their porous bones. Following maceration of the whale skeleton after death to remove the soft tissue, the bones retain a high lipid content (Higgs et. al 2010). Particularly bones with a spongy (porous) structure have a high capacity to hold oil-rich marrow. Comparative data of various whale species suggests the skull, particularly the cranium and mandible bones are particularly oil rich. Along the vertebral column, the lipid content is reduced, particularly in the thoracic vertebrae (~10-25%), yet greatly increases from the lumbar to the caudal vertebrae (~40-55%). The chest area (scapula, sternum and ribs) show a mid-range lipid content (~15-30%), with vertically orientated ribs being more heavily soaked lower down (Turner Walker 2012, Higgs et. al 2010). Whale oil is largely composed of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). In Arctic whales a higher proportion of unsaturated, versus saturated fatty acids make up the lipid. Unsaturated fatty acids (with double or triple carbon bonds causing chain kinks, preventing close packing (solidifying) of molecules), are more likely to be liquid (oil), versus solid (fat) at room temperature (Smith and March 2007). Objects Made From the Whaling Industry We all know that men set forth in sailing ships and risked their lives to harpoon whales on the open seas throughout the 1800s. And while Moby Dick and other tales have made whaling stories immortal, people today generally don't appreciate that the whalers were part of a well-organized industry. The ships that set out from ports in New England roamed as far as the Pacific in hunt of specific species of whales. Adventure may have been the draw for some whalers, but for the captains who owned whaling ships, and the investors which financed voyages, there was a considerable monetary payoff. The gigantic carcasses of whales were chopped and boiled down and turned into products such as the fine oil needed to lubricate increasing advanced machine tools. And beyond the oil derived from whales, even their bones, in an era before the invention of plastic, was used to make a wide variety of consumer goods. In short, whales were a valuable natural resource the same as wood, minerals, or petroleum we now pump from the ground. Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.” The blubber was minced into chunks and boiled in large vats on board the whaling ship, producing oil. The oil taken from whale blubber was packaged in casks and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port (such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s). From the ports it would be sold and transported across the country and would find its way into a huge variety of products. Whale oil, in addition to be used for lubrication and illumination, was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish. Whale oil was also utilized in some processes used to manufacture textiles and rope. Spermaceti, a Highly Regarded Oil A peculiar oil found in the head of the sperm whale, spermaceti, was highly prized. The oil was waxy, and was commonly used in making candles. In fact, candles made of spermaceti were considered the best in the world, producing a bright clear flame without an excess of smoke. Spermaceti was also used, distilled in liquid form, as an oil to fuel lamps. The main American whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was thus known as "The City That Lit the World." When John Adams was the ambassador to Great Britain before serving as president he recorded in his diary a conversation about spermaceti he had with the British Prime Minister William Pitt. Adams, keen to promote the New England whaling industry, was trying to convince the British to import spermaceti sold by American whalers, which the British could use to fuel street lamps. The British were not interested. In his diary, Adams wrote that he told Pitt, “the fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature, and we are surprised you prefer darkness, and consequent robberies, burglaries, and murders in your streets to receiving as a remittance our spermaceti oil.” Despite the failed sales pitch John Adams made in the late 1700s, the American whaling industry boomed in the early to mid-1800s. And spermaceti was a major component of that success. Spermaceti could be refined into a lubricant that was ideal for precision machinery. The machine tools that made the growth of industry possible in the United States were lubricated, and essentially made possible, by oil derived from spermaceti. Baleen, or "Whalebone" The bones and teeth of various species of whales were used in a number of products, many of them common implements in a 19th century household. Whales are said to have produced “the plastic of the 1800s.” The "bone" of the whale which was most commonly used wasn’t technically a bone, it was baleen, a hard material arrayed in large plates, like gigantic combs, in the mouths of some species of whales. The purpose of the baleen is to act as a sieve, catching tiny organisms in sea water, which the whale consumes as food. As baleen was tough yet flexible, it could be used in a number of practical applications. And it became commonly known as "whalebone." Perhaps the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets, which fashionable ladies in the 1800s wore to compress their waistlines. One typical corset advertisement from the 1800s proudly proclaims, “Real Whalebone Only Used.” Whalebone was also used for collar stays, buggy whips, and toys. Its remarkable flexibility even caused it to be used as the springs in early typewriters. The comparison to plastic is apt. Think of common items which today might be made of plastic, and it's likely that similar items in the 1800s would have been made of whalebone. Baleen whales do not have teeth. But the teeth of other whales, such as the sperm whale, would be used as ivory in such products as chess pieces, piano keys, or the handles of walking sticks. Pieces of scrimshaw, or carved whale's teeth, would probably be the best remembered use of whale's teeth. However, the carved teeth were created to pass the time on whaling voyages and were never a mass production item. Their relative rarity, of course, is why genuine pieces of 19th century scrimshaw are considered to be valuable collectibles today. Reference: McNamara, Robert. "Objects Made From the Whaling Industry." ThoughtCo, Jul. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/products-produced-from-whales-1774070.Whale bone was an important commodity, used in corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, and toys.Whale bone piece. Advanced stage of calcification as indicated by deep pitting. Off white to grey.None.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, whales, whale bone, corsets, toys, whips -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Animal specimen - Whale bone, Undetermined
Prior to carrying out a detailed condition report of the cetacean skeletons, it is useful to have an understanding of the materials we are likely to encounter, in terms of structure and chemistry. This entry invites you to join in learning about the composition of whale bone and oil. Whale bone (Cetacean) bone is comprised of a composite structure of both an inorganic matrix of mainly hydroxylapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral), providing strength and rigidity, as well as an organic protein ‘scaffolding’ of mainly collagen, facilitating growth and repair (O’Connor 2008, CCI 2010). Collagen is also the structural protein component in cartilage between the whale vertebrae and attached to the fins of both the Killer Whale and the Dolphin. Relative proportions in the bone composition (affecting density), are linked with the feeding habits and mechanical stresses typically endured by bones of particular whale types. A Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) skeleton (toothed) thus has a higher mineral value (~67%) than a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) (baleen) (~60%) (Turner Walker 2012). The internal structure of bone can be divided into compact and cancellous bone. In whales, load-bearing structures such as mandibles and upper limb bones (e.g. humerus, sternum) are largely composed of compact bone (Turner Walker 2012). This consists of lamella concentrically deposited around the longitudinal axis and is permeated by fluid carrying channels (O’Connor 2008). Cancellous (spongy) bone, with a highly porous angular network of trabeculae, is less stiff and thus found in whale ribs and vertebrae (Turner Walker 2012). Whale oil Whales not only carry a thick layer of fat (blubber) in the soft tissue of their body for heat insulation and as a food store while they are alive, but also hold large oil (lipid) reserves in their porous bones. Following maceration of the whale skeleton after death to remove the soft tissue, the bones retain a high lipid content (Higgs et. al 2010). Particularly bones with a spongy (porous) structure have a high capacity to hold oil-rich marrow. Comparative data of various whale species suggests the skull, particularly the cranium and mandible bones are particularly oil rich. Along the vertebral column, the lipid content is reduced, particularly in the thoracic vertebrae (~10-25%), yet greatly increases from the lumbar to the caudal vertebrae (~40-55%). The chest area (scapula, sternum and ribs) show a mid-range lipid content (~15-30%), with vertically orientated ribs being more heavily soaked lower down (Turner Walker 2012, Higgs et. al 2010). Whale oil is largely composed of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). In Arctic whales a higher proportion of unsaturated, versus saturated fatty acids make up the lipid. Unsaturated fatty acids (with double or triple carbon bonds causing chain kinks, preventing close packing (solidifying) of molecules), are more likely to be liquid (oil), versus solid (fat) at room temperature (Smith and March 2007). Objects Made From the Whaling Industry We all know that men set forth in sailing ships and risked their lives to harpoon whales on the open seas throughout the 1800s. And while Moby Dick and other tales have made whaling stories immortal, people today generally don't appreciate that the whalers were part of a well-organized industry. The ships that set out from ports in New England roamed as far as the Pacific in hunt of specific species of whales. Adventure may have been the draw for some whalers, but for the captains who owned whaling ships, and the investors which financed voyages, there was a considerable monetary payoff. The gigantic carcasses of whales were chopped and boiled down and turned into products such as the fine oil needed to lubricate increasing advanced machine tools. And beyond the oil derived from whales, even their bones, in an era before the invention of plastic, was used to make a wide variety of consumer goods. In short, whales were a valuable natural resource the same as wood, minerals, or petroleum we now pump from the ground. Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.” The blubber was minced into chunks and boiled in large vats on board the whaling ship, producing oil. The oil taken from whale blubber was packaged in casks and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port (such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s). From the ports it would be sold and transported across the country and would find its way into a huge variety of products. Whale oil, in addition to be used for lubrication and illumination, was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish. Whale oil was also utilized in some processes used to manufacture textiles and rope. Spermaceti, a Highly Regarded Oil A peculiar oil found in the head of the sperm whale, spermaceti, was highly prized. The oil was waxy, and was commonly used in making candles. In fact, candles made of spermaceti were considered the best in the world, producing a bright clear flame without an excess of smoke. Spermaceti was also used, distilled in liquid form, as an oil to fuel lamps. The main American whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was thus known as "The City That Lit the World." When John Adams was the ambassador to Great Britain before serving as president he recorded in his diary a conversation about spermaceti he had with the British Prime Minister William Pitt. Adams, keen to promote the New England whaling industry, was trying to convince the British to import spermaceti sold by American whalers, which the British could use to fuel street lamps. The British were not interested. In his diary, Adams wrote that he told Pitt, “the fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature, and we are surprised you prefer darkness, and consequent robberies, burglaries, and murders in your streets to receiving as a remittance our spermaceti oil.” Despite the failed sales pitch John Adams made in the late 1700s, the American whaling industry boomed in the early to mid-1800s. And spermaceti was a major component of that success. Spermaceti could be refined into a lubricant that was ideal for precision machinery. The machine tools that made the growth of industry possible in the United States were lubricated, and essentially made possible, by oil derived from spermaceti. Baleen, or "Whalebone" The bones and teeth of various species of whales were used in a number of products, many of them common implements in a 19th century household. Whales are said to have produced “the plastic of the 1800s.” The "bone" of the whale which was most commonly used wasn’t technically a bone, it was baleen, a hard material arrayed in large plates, like gigantic combs, in the mouths of some species of whales. The purpose of the baleen is to act as a sieve, catching tiny organisms in sea water, which the whale consumes as food. As baleen was tough yet flexible, it could be used in a number of practical applications. And it became commonly known as "whalebone." Perhaps the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets, which fashionable ladies in the 1800s wore to compress their waistlines. One typical corset advertisement from the 1800s proudly proclaims, “Real Whalebone Only Used.” Whalebone was also used for collar stays, buggy whips, and toys. Its remarkable flexibility even caused it to be used as the springs in early typewriters. The comparison to plastic is apt. Think of common items which today might be made of plastic, and it's likely that similar items in the 1800s would have been made of whalebone. Baleen whales do not have teeth. But the teeth of other whales, such as the sperm whale, would be used as ivory in such products as chess pieces, piano keys, or the handles of walking sticks. Pieces of scrimshaw, or carved whale's teeth, would probably be the best remembered use of whale's teeth. However, the carved teeth were created to pass the time on whaling voyages and were never a mass production item. Their relative rarity, of course, is why genuine pieces of 19th century scrimshaw are considered to be valuable collectibles today. Reference: McNamara, Robert. "Objects Made From the Whaling Industry." ThoughtCo, Jul. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/products-produced-from-whales-1774070. Whale bone was an important commodity, used in corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, and toys.Whale bone vertebrae. Advanced stage of calcification as indicated by deep pitting. Off white to grey.None.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, whales, whale bone, corsets, toys, whips -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Animal specimen - Whale bone, Undetermined
Prior to carrying out a detailed condition report of the cetacean skeletons, it is useful to have an understanding of the materials we are likely to encounter, in terms of structure and chemistry. This entry invites you to join in learning about the composition of whale bone and oil. Whale bone (Cetacean) bone is comprised of a composite structure of both an inorganic matrix of mainly hydroxylapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral), providing strength and rigidity, as well as an organic protein ‘scaffolding’ of mainly collagen, facilitating growth and repair (O’Connor 2008, CCI 2010). Collagen is also the structural protein component in cartilage between the whale vertebrae and attached to the fins of both the Killer Whale and the Dolphin. Relative proportions in the bone composition (affecting density), are linked with the feeding habits and mechanical stresses typically endured by bones of particular whale types. A Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) skeleton (toothed) thus has a higher mineral value (~67%) than a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) (baleen) (~60%) (Turner Walker 2012). The internal structure of bone can be divided into compact and cancellous bone. In whales, load-bearing structures such as mandibles and upper limb bones (e.g. humerus, sternum) are largely composed of compact bone (Turner Walker 2012). This consists of lamella concentrically deposited around the longitudinal axis and is permeated by fluid carrying channels (O’Connor 2008). Cancellous (spongy) bone, with a highly porous angular network of trabeculae, is less stiff and thus found in whale ribs and vertebrae (Turner Walker 2012). Whale oil Whales not only carry a thick layer of fat (blubber) in the soft tissue of their body for heat insulation and as a food store while they are alive, but also hold large oil (lipid) reserves in their porous bones. Following maceration of the whale skeleton after death to remove the soft tissue, the bones retain a high lipid content (Higgs et. al 2010). Particularly bones with a spongy (porous) structure have a high capacity to hold oil-rich marrow. Comparative data of various whale species suggests the skull, particularly the cranium and mandible bones are particularly oil rich. Along the vertebral column, the lipid content is reduced, particularly in the thoracic vertebrae (~10-25%), yet greatly increases from the lumbar to the caudal vertebrae (~40-55%). The chest area (scapula, sternum and ribs) show a mid-range lipid content (~15-30%), with vertically orientated ribs being more heavily soaked lower down (Turner Walker 2012, Higgs et. al 2010). Whale oil is largely composed of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). In Arctic whales a higher proportion of unsaturated, versus saturated fatty acids make up the lipid. Unsaturated fatty acids (with double or triple carbon bonds causing chain kinks, preventing close packing (solidifying) of molecules), are more likely to be liquid (oil), versus solid (fat) at room temperature (Smith and March 2007). Objects Made From the Whaling Industry We all know that men set forth in sailing ships and risked their lives to harpoon whales on the open seas throughout the 1800s. And while Moby Dick and other tales have made whaling stories immortal, people today generally don't appreciate that the whalers were part of a well-organized industry. The ships that set out from ports in New England roamed as far as the Pacific in hunt of specific species of whales. Adventure may have been the draw for some whalers, but for the captains who owned whaling ships, and the investors which financed voyages, there was a considerable monetary payoff. The gigantic carcasses of whales were chopped and boiled down and turned into products such as the fine oil needed to lubricate increasing advanced machine tools. And beyond the oil derived from whales, even their bones, in an era before the invention of plastic, was used to make a wide variety of consumer goods. In short, whales were a valuable natural resource the same as wood, minerals, or petroleum we now pump from the ground. Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.” The blubber was minced into chunks and boiled in large vats on board the whaling ship, producing oil. The oil taken from whale blubber was packaged in casks and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port (such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s). From the ports it would be sold and transported across the country and would find its way into a huge variety of products. Whale oil, in addition to be used for lubrication and illumination, was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish. Whale oil was also utilized in some processes used to manufacture textiles and rope. Spermaceti, a Highly Regarded Oil A peculiar oil found in the head of the sperm whale, spermaceti, was highly prized. The oil was waxy, and was commonly used in making candles. In fact, candles made of spermaceti were considered the best in the world, producing a bright clear flame without an excess of smoke. Spermaceti was also used, distilled in liquid form, as an oil to fuel lamps. The main American whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was thus known as "The City That Lit the World." When John Adams was the ambassador to Great Britain before serving as president he recorded in his diary a conversation about spermaceti he had with the British Prime Minister William Pitt. Adams, keen to promote the New England whaling industry, was trying to convince the British to import spermaceti sold by American whalers, which the British could use to fuel street lamps. The British were not interested. In his diary, Adams wrote that he told Pitt, “the fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature, and we are surprised you prefer darkness, and consequent robberies, burglaries, and murders in your streets to receiving as a remittance our spermaceti oil.” Despite the failed sales pitch John Adams made in the late 1700s, the American whaling industry boomed in the early to mid-1800s. And spermaceti was a major component of that success. Spermaceti could be refined into a lubricant that was ideal for precision machinery. The machine tools that made the growth of industry possible in the United States were lubricated, and essentially made possible, by oil derived from spermaceti. Baleen, or "Whalebone" The bones and teeth of various species of whales were used in a number of products, many of them common implements in a 19th century household. Whales are said to have produced “the plastic of the 1800s.” The "bone" of the whale which was most commonly used wasn’t technically a bone, it was baleen, a hard material arrayed in large plates, like gigantic combs, in the mouths of some species of whales. The purpose of the baleen is to act as a sieve, catching tiny organisms in sea water, which the whale consumes as food. As baleen was tough yet flexible, it could be used in a number of practical applications. And it became commonly known as "whalebone." Perhaps the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets, which fashionable ladies in the 1800s wore to compress their waistlines. One typical corset advertisement from the 1800s proudly proclaims, “Real Whalebone Only Used.” Whalebone was also used for collar stays, buggy whips, and toys. Its remarkable flexibility even caused it to be used as the springs in early typewriters. The comparison to plastic is apt. Think of common items which today might be made of plastic, and it's likely that similar items in the 1800s would have been made of whalebone. Baleen whales do not have teeth. But the teeth of other whales, such as the sperm whale, would be used as ivory in such products as chess pieces, piano keys, or the handles of walking sticks. Pieces of scrimshaw, or carved whale's teeth, would probably be the best remembered use of whale's teeth. However, the carved teeth were created to pass the time on whaling voyages and were never a mass production item. Their relative rarity, of course, is why genuine pieces of 19th century scrimshaw are considered to be valuable collectibles today. Reference: McNamara, Robert. "Objects Made From the Whaling Industry." ThoughtCo, Jul. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/products-produced-from-whales-1774070.Whale bone was an important commodity, used in corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, and toys.Whale bone piece. Advanced stage of calcification as indicated by deep pitting. Off white to grey.None.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, whales, whale bone, corsets, toys, whips -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Animal specimen - Whale bone, Undetermined
Prior to carrying out a detailed condition report of the cetacean skeletons, it is useful to have an understanding of the materials we are likely to encounter, in terms of structure and chemistry. This entry invites you to join in learning about the composition of whale bone and oil. Whale bone (Cetacean) bone is comprised of a composite structure of both an inorganic matrix of mainly hydroxylapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral), providing strength and rigidity, as well as an organic protein ‘scaffolding’ of mainly collagen, facilitating growth and repair (O’Connor 2008, CCI 2010). Collagen is also the structural protein component in cartilage between the whale vertebrae and attached to the fins of both the Killer Whale and the Dolphin. Relative proportions in the bone composition (affecting density), are linked with the feeding habits and mechanical stresses typically endured by bones of particular whale types. A Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) skeleton (toothed) thus has a higher mineral value (~67%) than a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) (baleen) (~60%) (Turner Walker 2012). The internal structure of bone can be divided into compact and cancellous bone. In whales, load-bearing structures such as mandibles and upper limb bones (e.g. humerus, sternum) are largely composed of compact bone (Turner Walker 2012). This consists of lamella concentrically deposited around the longitudinal axis and is permeated by fluid carrying channels (O’Connor 2008). Cancellous (spongy) bone, with a highly porous angular network of trabeculae, is less stiff and thus found in whale ribs and vertebrae (Turner Walker 2012). Whale oil Whales not only carry a thick layer of fat (blubber) in the soft tissue of their body for heat insulation and as a food store while they are alive, but also hold large oil (lipid) reserves in their porous bones. Following maceration of the whale skeleton after death to remove the soft tissue, the bones retain a high lipid content (Higgs et. al 2010). Particularly bones with a spongy (porous) structure have a high capacity to hold oil-rich marrow. Comparative data of various whale species suggests the skull, particularly the cranium and mandible bones are particularly oil rich. Along the vertebral column, the lipid content is reduced, particularly in the thoracic vertebrae (~10-25%), yet greatly increases from the lumbar to the caudal vertebrae (~40-55%). The chest area (scapula, sternum and ribs) show a mid-range lipid content (~15-30%), with vertically orientated ribs being more heavily soaked lower down (Turner Walker 2012, Higgs et. al 2010). Whale oil is largely composed of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). In Arctic whales a higher proportion of unsaturated, versus saturated fatty acids make up the lipid. Unsaturated fatty acids (with double or triple carbon bonds causing chain kinks, preventing close packing (solidifying) of molecules), are more likely to be liquid (oil), versus solid (fat) at room temperature (Smith and March 2007). Objects Made From the Whaling Industry We all know that men set forth in sailing ships and risked their lives to harpoon whales on the open seas throughout the 1800s. And while Moby Dick and other tales have made whaling stories immortal, people today generally don't appreciate that the whalers were part of a well-organized industry. The ships that set out from ports in New England roamed as far as the Pacific in hunt of specific species of whales. Adventure may have been the draw for some whalers, but for the captains who owned whaling ships, and the investors which financed voyages, there was a considerable monetary payoff. The gigantic carcasses of whales were chopped and boiled down and turned into products such as the fine oil needed to lubricate increasing advanced machine tools. And beyond the oil derived from whales, even their bones, in an era before the invention of plastic, was used to make a wide variety of consumer goods. In short, whales were a valuable natural resource the same as wood, minerals, or petroleum we now pump from the ground. Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.” The blubber was minced into chunks and boiled in large vats on board the whaling ship, producing oil. The oil taken from whale blubber was packaged in casks and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port (such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s). From the ports it would be sold and transported across the country and would find its way into a huge variety of products. Whale oil, in addition to be used for lubrication and illumination, was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish. Whale oil was also utilized in some processes used to manufacture textiles and rope. Spermaceti, a Highly Regarded Oil A peculiar oil found in the head of the sperm whale, spermaceti, was highly prized. The oil was waxy, and was commonly used in making candles. In fact, candles made of spermaceti were considered the best in the world, producing a bright clear flame without an excess of smoke. Spermaceti was also used, distilled in liquid form, as an oil to fuel lamps. The main American whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was thus known as "The City That Lit the World." When John Adams was the ambassador to Great Britain before serving as president he recorded in his diary a conversation about spermaceti he had with the British Prime Minister William Pitt. Adams, keen to promote the New England whaling industry, was trying to convince the British to import spermaceti sold by American whalers, which the British could use to fuel street lamps. The British were not interested. In his diary, Adams wrote that he told Pitt, “the fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature, and we are surprised you prefer darkness, and consequent robberies, burglaries, and murders in your streets to receiving as a remittance our spermaceti oil.” Despite the failed sales pitch John Adams made in the late 1700s, the American whaling industry boomed in the early to mid-1800s. And spermaceti was a major component of that success. Spermaceti could be refined into a lubricant that was ideal for precision machinery. The machine tools that made the growth of industry possible in the United States were lubricated, and essentially made possible, by oil derived from spermaceti. Baleen, or "Whalebone" The bones and teeth of various species of whales were used in a number of products, many of them common implements in a 19th century household. Whales are said to have produced “the plastic of the 1800s.” The "bone" of the whale which was most commonly used wasn’t technically a bone, it was baleen, a hard material arrayed in large plates, like gigantic combs, in the mouths of some species of whales. The purpose of the baleen is to act as a sieve, catching tiny organisms in sea water, which the whale consumes as food. As baleen was tough yet flexible, it could be used in a number of practical applications. And it became commonly known as "whalebone." Perhaps the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets, which fashionable ladies in the 1800s wore to compress their waistlines. One typical corset advertisement from the 1800s proudly proclaims, “Real Whalebone Only Used.” Whalebone was also used for collar stays, buggy whips, and toys. Its remarkable flexibility even caused it to be used as the springs in early typewriters. The comparison to plastic is apt. Think of common items which today might be made of plastic, and it's likely that similar items in the 1800s would have been made of whalebone. Baleen whales do not have teeth. But the teeth of other whales, such as the sperm whale, would be used as ivory in such products as chess pieces, piano keys, or the handles of walking sticks. Pieces of scrimshaw, or carved whale's teeth, would probably be the best remembered use of whale's teeth. However, the carved teeth were created to pass the time on whaling voyages and were never a mass production item. Their relative rarity, of course, is why genuine pieces of 19th century scrimshaw are considered to be valuable collectibles today. Reference: McNamara, Robert. "Objects Made From the Whaling Industry." ThoughtCo, Jul. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/products-produced-from-whales-1774070.Whale bone was an important commodity, used in corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, and toys.Whale bone piece. Advanced stage of calcification as indicated by deep pitting. Off white to grey.None.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, whales, whale bone, corsets, toys, whips -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Animal specimen - Whale bone, Undetermined
Prior to carrying out a detailed condition report of the cetacean skeletons, it is useful to have an understanding of the materials we are likely to encounter, in terms of structure and chemistry. This entry invites you to join in learning about the composition of whale bone and oil. Whale bone (Cetacean) bone is comprised of a composite structure of both an inorganic matrix of mainly hydroxylapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral), providing strength and rigidity, as well as an organic protein ‘scaffolding’ of mainly collagen, facilitating growth and repair (O’Connor 2008, CCI 2010). Collagen is also the structural protein component in cartilage between the whale vertebrae and attached to the fins of both the Killer Whale and the Dolphin. Relative proportions in the bone composition (affecting density), are linked with the feeding habits and mechanical stresses typically endured by bones of particular whale types. A Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) skeleton (toothed) thus has a higher mineral value (~67%) than a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) (baleen) (~60%) (Turner Walker 2012). The internal structure of bone can be divided into compact and cancellous bone. In whales, load-bearing structures such as mandibles and upper limb bones (e.g. humerus, sternum) are largely composed of compact bone (Turner Walker 2012). This consists of lamella concentrically deposited around the longitudinal axis and is permeated by fluid carrying channels (O’Connor 2008). Cancellous (spongy) bone, with a highly porous angular network of trabeculae, is less stiff and thus found in whale ribs and vertebrae (Turner Walker 2012). Whale oil Whales not only carry a thick layer of fat (blubber) in the soft tissue of their body for heat insulation and as a food store while they are alive, but also hold large oil (lipid) reserves in their porous bones. Following maceration of the whale skeleton after death to remove the soft tissue, the bones retain a high lipid content (Higgs et. al 2010). Particularly bones with a spongy (porous) structure have a high capacity to hold oil-rich marrow. Comparative data of various whale species suggests the skull, particularly the cranium and mandible bones are particularly oil rich. Along the vertebral column, the lipid content is reduced, particularly in the thoracic vertebrae (~10-25%), yet greatly increases from the lumbar to the caudal vertebrae (~40-55%). The chest area (scapula, sternum and ribs) show a mid-range lipid content (~15-30%), with vertically orientated ribs being more heavily soaked lower down (Turner Walker 2012, Higgs et. al 2010). Whale oil is largely composed of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). In Arctic whales a higher proportion of unsaturated, versus saturated fatty acids make up the lipid. Unsaturated fatty acids (with double or triple carbon bonds causing chain kinks, preventing close packing (solidifying) of molecules), are more likely to be liquid (oil), versus solid (fat) at room temperature (Smith and March 2007). Objects Made From the Whaling Industry We all know that men set forth in sailing ships and risked their lives to harpoon whales on the open seas throughout the 1800s. And while Moby Dick and other tales have made whaling stories immortal, people today generally don't appreciate that the whalers were part of a well-organized industry. The ships that set out from ports in New England roamed as far as the Pacific in hunt of specific species of whales. Adventure may have been the draw for some whalers, but for the captains who owned whaling ships, and the investors which financed voyages, there was a considerable monetary payoff. The gigantic carcasses of whales were chopped and boiled down and turned into products such as the fine oil needed to lubricate increasing advanced machine tools. And beyond the oil derived from whales, even their bones, in an era before the invention of plastic, was used to make a wide variety of consumer goods. In short, whales were a valuable natural resource the same as wood, minerals, or petroleum we now pump from the ground. Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.” The blubber was minced into chunks and boiled in large vats on board the whaling ship, producing oil. The oil taken from whale blubber was packaged in casks and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port (such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s). From the ports it would be sold and transported across the country and would find its way into a huge variety of products. Whale oil, in addition to be used for lubrication and illumination, was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish. Whale oil was also utilized in some processes used to manufacture textiles and rope. Spermaceti, a Highly Regarded Oil A peculiar oil found in the head of the sperm whale, spermaceti, was highly prized. The oil was waxy, and was commonly used in making candles. In fact, candles made of spermaceti were considered the best in the world, producing a bright clear flame without an excess of smoke. Spermaceti was also used, distilled in liquid form, as an oil to fuel lamps. The main American whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was thus known as "The City That Lit the World." When John Adams was the ambassador to Great Britain before serving as president he recorded in his diary a conversation about spermaceti he had with the British Prime Minister William Pitt. Adams, keen to promote the New England whaling industry, was trying to convince the British to import spermaceti sold by American whalers, which the British could use to fuel street lamps. The British were not interested. In his diary, Adams wrote that he told Pitt, “the fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature, and we are surprised you prefer darkness, and consequent robberies, burglaries, and murders in your streets to receiving as a remittance our spermaceti oil.” Despite the failed sales pitch John Adams made in the late 1700s, the American whaling industry boomed in the early to mid-1800s. And spermaceti was a major component of that success. Spermaceti could be refined into a lubricant that was ideal for precision machinery. The machine tools that made the growth of industry possible in the United States were lubricated, and essentially made possible, by oil derived from spermaceti. Baleen, or "Whalebone" The bones and teeth of various species of whales were used in a number of products, many of them common implements in a 19th century household. Whales are said to have produced “the plastic of the 1800s.” The "bone" of the whale which was most commonly used wasn’t technically a bone, it was baleen, a hard material arrayed in large plates, like gigantic combs, in the mouths of some species of whales. The purpose of the baleen is to act as a sieve, catching tiny organisms in sea water, which the whale consumes as food. As baleen was tough yet flexible, it could be used in a number of practical applications. And it became commonly known as "whalebone." Perhaps the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets, which fashionable ladies in the 1800s wore to compress their waistlines. One typical corset advertisement from the 1800s proudly proclaims, “Real Whalebone Only Used.” Whalebone was also used for collar stays, buggy whips, and toys. Its remarkable flexibility even caused it to be used as the springs in early typewriters. The comparison to plastic is apt. Think of common items which today might be made of plastic, and it's likely that similar items in the 1800s would have been made of whalebone. Baleen whales do not have teeth. But the teeth of other whales, such as the sperm whale, would be used as ivory in such products as chess pieces, piano keys, or the handles of walking sticks. Pieces of scrimshaw, or carved whale's teeth, would probably be the best remembered use of whale's teeth. However, the carved teeth were created to pass the time on whaling voyages and were never a mass production item. Their relative rarity, of course, is why genuine pieces of 19th century scrimshaw are considered to be valuable collectibles today. Reference: McNamara, Robert. "Objects Made From the Whaling Industry." ThoughtCo, Jul. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/products-produced-from-whales-1774070.Whale bone was an important commodity, used in corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, and toys.Whale bone vertebrae. Advanced stage of calcification as indicated by deep pitting. Off white to grey.Noneflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, whales, whale bone, corsets, toys, whips, whalebone -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Animal specimen - Whale Vertebrae, Undetermined
Prior to carrying out a detailed condition report of the cetacean skeletons, it is useful to have an understanding of the materials we are likely to encounter, in terms of structure and chemistry. This entry invites you to join in learning about the composition of whale bone and oil. Whale bone (Cetacean) bone is comprised of a composite structure of both an inorganic matrix of mainly hydroxylapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral), providing strength and rigidity, as well as an organic protein ‘scaffolding’ of mainly collagen, facilitating growth and repair (O’Connor 2008, CCI 2010). Collagen is also the structural protein component in cartilage between the whale vertebrae and attached to the fins of both the Killer Whale and the Dolphin. Relative proportions in the bone composition (affecting density), are linked with the feeding habits and mechanical stresses typically endured by bones of particular whale types. A Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) skeleton (toothed) thus has a higher mineral value (~67%) than a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) (baleen) (~60%) (Turner Walker 2012). The internal structure of bone can be divided into compact and cancellous bone. In whales, load-bearing structures such as mandibles and upper limb bones (e.g. humerus, sternum) are largely composed of compact bone (Turner Walker 2012). This consists of lamella concentrically deposited around the longitudinal axis and is permeated by fluid carrying channels (O’Connor 2008). Cancellous (spongy) bone, with a highly porous angular network of trabeculae, is less stiff and thus found in whale ribs and vertebrae (Turner Walker 2012). Whale oil Whales not only carry a thick layer of fat (blubber) in the soft tissue of their body for heat insulation and as a food store while they are alive, but also hold large oil (lipid) reserves in their porous bones. Following maceration of the whale skeleton after death to remove the soft tissue, the bones retain a high lipid content (Higgs et. al 2010). Particularly bones with a spongy (porous) structure have a high capacity to hold oil-rich marrow. Comparative data of various whale species suggests the skull, particularly the cranium and mandible bones are particularly oil rich. Along the vertebral column, the lipid content is reduced, particularly in the thoracic vertebrae (~10-25%), yet greatly increases from the lumbar to the caudal vertebrae (~40-55%). The chest area (scapula, sternum and ribs) show a mid-range lipid content (~15-30%), with vertically orientated ribs being more heavily soaked lower down (Turner Walker 2012, Higgs et. al 2010). Whale oil is largely composed of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). In Arctic whales a higher proportion of unsaturated, versus saturated fatty acids make up the lipid. Unsaturated fatty acids (with double or triple carbon bonds causing chain kinks, preventing close packing (solidifying) of molecules), are more likely to be liquid (oil), versus solid (fat) at room temperature (Smith and March 2007). Objects Made From the Whaling Industry We all know that men set forth in sailing ships and risked their lives to harpoon whales on the open seas throughout the 1800s. And while Moby Dick and other tales have made whaling stories immortal, people today generally don't appreciate that the whalers were part of a well-organized industry. The ships that set out from ports in New England roamed as far as the Pacific in hunt of specific species of whales. Adventure may have been the draw for some whalers, but for the captains who owned whaling ships, and the investors which financed voyages, there was a considerable monetary payoff. The gigantic carcasses of whales were chopped and boiled down and turned into products such as the fine oil needed to lubricate increasing advanced machine tools. And beyond the oil derived from whales, even their bones, in an era before the invention of plastic, was used to make a wide variety of consumer goods. In short, whales were a valuable natural resource the same as wood, minerals, or petroleum we now pump from the ground. Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.” The blubber was minced into chunks and boiled in large vats on board the whaling ship, producing oil. The oil taken from whale blubber was packaged in casks and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port (such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s). From the ports it would be sold and transported across the country and would find its way into a huge variety of products. Whale oil, in addition to be used for lubrication and illumination, was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish. Whale oil was also utilized in some processes used to manufacture textiles and rope. Spermaceti, a Highly Regarded Oil A peculiar oil found in the head of the sperm whale, spermaceti, was highly prized. The oil was waxy, and was commonly used in making candles. In fact, candles made of spermaceti were considered the best in the world, producing a bright clear flame without an excess of smoke. Spermaceti was also used, distilled in liquid form, as an oil to fuel lamps. The main American whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was thus known as "The City That Lit the World." When John Adams was the ambassador to Great Britain before serving as president he recorded in his diary a conversation about spermaceti he had with the British Prime Minister William Pitt. Adams, keen to promote the New England whaling industry, was trying to convince the British to import spermaceti sold by American whalers, which the British could use to fuel street lamps. The British were not interested. In his diary, Adams wrote that he told Pitt, “the fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature, and we are surprised you prefer darkness, and consequent robberies, burglaries, and murders in your streets to receiving as a remittance our spermaceti oil.” Despite the failed sales pitch John Adams made in the late 1700s, the American whaling industry boomed in the early to mid-1800s. And spermaceti was a major component of that success. Spermaceti could be refined into a lubricant that was ideal for precision machinery. The machine tools that made the growth of industry possible in the United States were lubricated, and essentially made possible, by oil derived from spermaceti. Whalebone The bones and teeth of various species of whales were used in a number of products, many of them common implements in a 19th century household. Whales are said to have produced “the plastic of the 1800s.” The bone of the whale which was most commonly used wasn’t technically a bone, it was baleen, a hard material arrayed in large plates, like gigantic combs, in the mouths of some species of whales. The purpose of the baleen is to act as a sieve, catching tiny organisms in sea water, which the whale consumes as food. As baleen was tough yet flexible, it could be used in a number of practical applications. And it became commonly known as whalebone. Perhaps the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets, which fashionable ladies in the 1800s wore to compress their waistlines. One typical corset advertisement from the 1800s proudly proclaims, “Real Whalebone Only Used.” Whalebone was also used for collar stays, buggy whips, and toys. Its remarkable flexibility even caused it to be used as the springs in early typewriters. The comparison to plastic is apt. Think of common items which today might be made of plastic, and it's likely that similar items in the 1800s would have been made of whalebone. Baleen whales do not have teeth. But the teeth of other whales, such as the sperm whale, would be used as ivory in such products as chess pieces, piano keys, or the handles of walking sticks. Pieces of scrimshaw, or carved whale's teeth, would probably be the best remembered use of whale's teeth. However, the carved teeth were created to pass the time on whaling voyages and were never a mass production item. Their relative rarity, of course, is why genuine pieces of 19th century scrimshaw are considered to be valuable collectibles today. Reference: McNamara, Robert. "Objects Made From the Whaling Industry." ThoughtCo, Jul. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/products-produced-from-whales-1774070.Whale bone during the 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries was an important industry providing an important commodity. Whales from these times provided everything from lighting & machine oils to using the animal's bones for use in corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, and many other everyday items then in use.Whale bone Vertebrae with advanced stage of calcification as indicated by deep pitting. Off white to grey.None.warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, whale bones, whale skeleton, whales, whale bone, corsets, toys, whips, whaleling industry, maritime fishing, whalebone -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Animal specimen - Whale Jaw Bone, Undetermined
Prior to carrying out a detailed condition report of the cetacean skeletons, it is useful to have an understanding of the materials we are likely to encounter, in terms of structure and chemistry. This entry invites you to join in learning about the composition of whale bone and oil. Whale bone (Cetacean) bone is comprised of a composite structure of both an inorganic matrix of mainly hydroxylapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral), providing strength and rigidity, as well as an organic protein ‘scaffolding’ of mainly collagen, facilitating growth and repair (O’Connor 2008, CCI 2010). Collagen is also the structural protein component in cartilage between the whale vertebrae and attached to the fins of both the Killer Whale and the Dolphin. Relative proportions in the bone composition (affecting density), are linked with the feeding habits and mechanical stresses typically endured by bones of particular whale types. A Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) skeleton (toothed) thus has a higher mineral value (~67%) than a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) (baleen) (~60%) (Turner Walker 2012). The internal structure of bone can be divided into compact and cancellous bone. In whales, load-bearing structures such as mandibles and upper limb bones (e.g. humerus, sternum) are largely composed of compact bone (Turner Walker 2012). This consists of lamella concentrically deposited around the longitudinal axis and is permeated by fluid carrying channels (O’Connor 2008). Cancellous (spongy) bone, with a highly porous angular network of trabeculae, is less stiff and thus found in whale ribs and vertebrae (Turner Walker 2012). Whale oil Whales not only carry a thick layer of fat (blubber) in the soft tissue of their body for heat insulation and as a food store while they are alive, but also hold large oil (lipid) reserves in their porous bones. Following maceration of the whale skeleton after death to remove the soft tissue, the bones retain a high lipid content (Higgs et. al 2010). Particularly bones with a spongy (porous) structure have a high capacity to hold oil-rich marrow. Comparative data of various whale species suggests the skull, particularly the cranium and mandible bones are particularly oil rich. Along the vertebral column, the lipid content is reduced, particularly in the thoracic vertebrae (~10-25%), yet greatly increases from the lumbar to the caudal vertebrae (~40-55%). The chest area (scapula, sternum and ribs) show a mid-range lipid content (~15-30%), with vertically orientated ribs being more heavily soaked lower down (Turner Walker 2012, Higgs et. al 2010). Whale oil is largely composed of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). In Arctic whales a higher proportion of unsaturated, versus saturated fatty acids make up the lipid. Unsaturated fatty acids (with double or triple carbon bonds causing chain kinks, preventing close packing (solidifying) of molecules), are more likely to be liquid (oil), versus solid (fat) at room temperature (Smith and March 2007). Objects Made From the Whaling Industry We all know that men set forth in sailing ships and risked their lives to harpoon whales on the open seas throughout the 1800s. And while Moby Dick and other tales have made whaling stories immortal, people today generally don't appreciate that the whalers were part of a well-organized industry. The ships that set out from ports in New England roamed as far as the Pacific in hunt of specific species of whales. Adventure may have been the draw for some whalers, but for the captains who owned whaling ships, and the investors which financed voyages, there was a considerable monetary payoff. The gigantic carcasses of whales were chopped and boiled down and turned into products such as the fine oil needed to lubricate increasing advanced machine tools. And beyond the oil derived from whales, even their bones, in an era before the invention of plastic, was used to make a wide variety of consumer goods. In short, whales were a valuable natural resource the same as wood, minerals, or petroleum we now pump from the ground. Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.” The blubber was minced into chunks and boiled in large vats on board the whaling ship, producing oil. The oil taken from whale blubber was packaged in casks and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port (such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s). From the ports it would be sold and transported across the country and would find its way into a huge variety of products. Whale oil, in addition to be used for lubrication and illumination, was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish. Whale oil was also utilized in some processes used to manufacture textiles and rope. Spermaceti, a Highly Regarded Oil A peculiar oil found in the head of the sperm whale, spermaceti, was highly prized. The oil was waxy, and was commonly used in making candles. In fact, candles made of spermaceti were considered the best in the world, producing a bright clear flame without an excess of smoke. Spermaceti was also used, distilled in liquid form, as an oil to fuel lamps. The main American whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was thus known as "The City That Lit the World." When John Adams was the ambassador to Great Britain before serving as president he recorded in his diary a conversation about spermaceti he had with the British Prime Minister William Pitt. Adams, keen to promote the New England whaling industry, was trying to convince the British to import spermaceti sold by American whalers, which the British could use to fuel street lamps. The British were not interested. In his diary, Adams wrote that he told Pitt, “the fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature, and we are surprised you prefer darkness, and consequent robberies, burglaries, and murders in your streets to receiving as a remittance our spermaceti oil.” Despite the failed sales pitch John Adams made in the late 1700s, the American whaling industry boomed in the early to mid-1800s. And spermaceti was a major component of that success. Spermaceti could be refined into a lubricant that was ideal for precision machinery. The machine tools that made the growth of industry possible in the United States were lubricated, and essentially made possible, by oil derived from spermaceti. Baleen, or "Whalebone" The bones and teeth of various species of whales were used in a number of products, many of them common implements in a 19th century household. Whales are said to have produced “the plastic of the 1800s.” The "bone" of the whale which was most commonly used wasn’t technically a bone, it was baleen, a hard material arrayed in large plates, like gigantic combs, in the mouths of some species of whales. The purpose of the baleen is to act as a sieve, catching tiny organisms in sea water, which the whale consumes as food. As baleen was tough yet flexible, it could be used in a number of practical applications. And it became commonly known as "whalebone." Perhaps the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets, which fashionable ladies in the 1800s wore to compress their waistlines. One typical corset advertisement from the 1800s proudly proclaims, “Real Whalebone Only Used.” Whalebone was also used for collar stays, buggy whips, and toys. Its remarkable flexibility even caused it to be used as the springs in early typewriters. The comparison to plastic is apt. Think of common items which today might be made of plastic, and it's likely that similar items in the 1800s would have been made of whalebone. Baleen whales do not have teeth. But the teeth of other whales, such as the sperm whale, would be used as ivory in such products as chess pieces, piano keys, or the handles of walking sticks. Pieces of scrimshaw, or carved whale's teeth, would probably be the best remembered use of whale's teeth. However, the carved teeth were created to pass the time on whaling voyages and were never a mass production item. Their relative rarity, of course, is why genuine pieces of 19th century scrimshaw are considered to be valuable collectibles today. Reference: McNamara, Robert. "Objects Made From the Whaling Industry." ThoughtCo, Jul. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/products-produced-from-whales-1774070.Whale bone during the 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries was an important industry providing an important commodity. Whales from these times provided everything from lighting & machine oils to using the animal's bones for use in corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, and many other everyday items then in use.Whale jaw bone one side, long & curved with advanced stage of calcification off white to grey.None.warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, whale bones, whale skeleton, whales, whale bone, corsets, toys, whips, whaleling industry, maritime fishing, whalebone -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Animal specimen - Whale Rib Bone, Undetermined
Prior to carrying out a detailed condition report of the cetacean skeletons, it is useful to have an understanding of the materials we are likely to encounter, in terms of structure and chemistry. This entry invites you to join in learning about the composition of whale bone and oil. Whale bone (Cetacean) bone is comprised of a composite structure of both an inorganic matrix of mainly hydroxylapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral), providing strength and rigidity, as well as an organic protein ‘scaffolding’ of mainly collagen, facilitating growth and repair (O’Connor 2008, CCI 2010). Collagen is also the structural protein component in cartilage between the whale vertebrae and attached to the fins of both the Killer Whale and the Dolphin. Relative proportions in the bone composition (affecting density), are linked with the feeding habits and mechanical stresses typically endured by bones of particular whale types. A Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) skeleton (toothed) thus has a higher mineral value (~67%) than a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) (baleen) (~60%) (Turner Walker 2012). The internal structure of bone can be divided into compact and cancellous bone. In whales, load-bearing structures such as mandibles and upper limb bones (e.g. humerus, sternum) are largely composed of compact bone (Turner Walker 2012). This consists of lamella concentrically deposited around the longitudinal axis and is permeated by fluid carrying channels (O’Connor 2008). Cancellous (spongy) bone, with a highly porous angular network of trabeculae, is less stiff and thus found in whale ribs and vertebrae (Turner Walker 2012). Whale oil Whales not only carry a thick layer of fat (blubber) in the soft tissue of their body for heat insulation and as a food store while they are alive, but also hold large oil (lipid) reserves in their porous bones. Following maceration of the whale skeleton after death to remove the soft tissue, the bones retain a high lipid content (Higgs et. al 2010). Particularly bones with a spongy (porous) structure have a high capacity to hold oil-rich marrow. Comparative data of various whale species suggests the skull, particularly the cranium and mandible bones are particularly oil rich. Along the vertebral column, the lipid content is reduced, particularly in the thoracic vertebrae (~10-25%), yet greatly increases from the lumbar to the caudal vertebrae (~40-55%). The chest area (scapula, sternum and ribs) show a mid-range lipid content (~15-30%), with vertically orientated ribs being more heavily soaked lower down (Turner Walker 2012, Higgs et. al 2010). Whale oil is largely composed of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). In Arctic whales a higher proportion of unsaturated, versus saturated fatty acids make up the lipid. Unsaturated fatty acids (with double or triple carbon bonds causing chain kinks, preventing close packing (solidifying) of molecules), are more likely to be liquid (oil), versus solid (fat) at room temperature (Smith and March 2007). Objects Made From the Whaling Industry We all know that men set forth in sailing ships and risked their lives to harpoon whales on the open seas throughout the 1800s. And while Moby Dick and other tales have made whaling stories immortal, people today generally don't appreciate that the whalers were part of a well-organized industry. The ships that set out from ports in New England roamed as far as the Pacific in hunt of specific species of whales. Adventure may have been the draw for some whalers, but for the captains who owned whaling ships, and the investors which financed voyages, there was a considerable monetary payoff. The gigantic carcasses of whales were chopped and boiled down and turned into products such as the fine oil needed to lubricate increasing advanced machine tools. And beyond the oil derived from whales, even their bones, in an era before the invention of plastic, was used to make a wide variety of consumer goods. In short, whales were a valuable natural resource the same as wood, minerals, or petroleum we now pump from the ground. Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.” The blubber was minced into chunks and boiled in large vats on board the whaling ship, producing oil. The oil taken from whale blubber was packaged in casks and transported back to the whaling ship’s home port (such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, the busiest American whaling port in the mid-1800s). From the ports it would be sold and transported across the country and would find its way into a huge variety of products. Whale oil, in addition to be used for lubrication and illumination, was also used to manufacture soaps, paint, and varnish. Whale oil was also utilized in some processes used to manufacture textiles and rope. Spermaceti, a Highly Regarded Oil A peculiar oil found in the head of the sperm whale, spermaceti, was highly prized. The oil was waxy, and was commonly used in making candles. In fact, candles made of spermaceti were considered the best in the world, producing a bright clear flame without an excess of smoke. Spermaceti was also used, distilled in liquid form, as an oil to fuel lamps. The main American whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was thus known as "The City That Lit the World." When John Adams was the ambassador to Great Britain before serving as president he recorded in his diary a conversation about spermaceti he had with the British Prime Minister William Pitt. Adams, keen to promote the New England whaling industry, was trying to convince the British to import spermaceti sold by American whalers, which the British could use to fuel street lamps. The British were not interested. In his diary, Adams wrote that he told Pitt, “the fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature, and we are surprised you prefer darkness, and consequent robberies, burglaries, and murders in your streets to receiving as a remittance our spermaceti oil.” Despite the failed sales pitch John Adams made in the late 1700s, the American whaling industry boomed in the early to mid-1800s. And spermaceti was a major component of that success. Spermaceti could be refined into a lubricant that was ideal for precision machinery. The machine tools that made the growth of industry possible in the United States were lubricated, and essentially made possible, by oil derived from spermaceti. Baleen, or "Whalebone" The bones and teeth of various species of whales were used in a number of products, many of them common implements in a 19th century household. Whales are said to have produced “the plastic of the 1800s.” The "bone" of the whale which was most commonly used wasn’t technically a bone, it was baleen, a hard material arrayed in large plates, like gigantic combs, in the mouths of some species of whales. The purpose of the baleen is to act as a sieve, catching tiny organisms in sea water, which the whale consumes as food. As baleen was tough yet flexible, it could be used in a number of practical applications. And it became commonly known as "whalebone." Perhaps the most common use of whalebone was in the manufacture of corsets, which fashionable ladies in the 1800s wore to compress their waistlines. One typical corset advertisement from the 1800s proudly proclaims, “Real Whalebone Only Used.” Whalebone was also used for collar stays, buggy whips, and toys. Its remarkable flexibility even caused it to be used as the springs in early typewriters. The comparison to plastic is apt. Think of common items which today might be made of plastic, and it's likely that similar items in the 1800s would have been made of whalebone. Baleen whales do not have teeth. But the teeth of other whales, such as the sperm whale, would be used as ivory in such products as chess pieces, piano keys, or the handles of walking sticks. Pieces of scrimshaw, or carved whale's teeth, would probably be the best remembered use of whale's teeth. However, the carved teeth were created to pass the time on whaling voyages and were never a mass production item. Their relative rarity, of course, is why genuine pieces of 19th century scrimshaw are considered to be valuable collectibles today. Reference: McNamara, Robert. "Objects Made From the Whaling Industry." ThoughtCo, Jul. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/products-produced-from-whales-1774070.Whale bone during the 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries was an important industry providing an important commodity. Whales from these times provided everything from lighting & machine oils to using the animal's bones for use in corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, and many other everyday items then in use.Whale rib bone with advanced stage of calcification as indicated by brittleness. None.warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, whale bones, whale skeleton, whales, whale bone, corsets, toys, whips, whaleling industry, maritime fishing, whalebone -
City of Ballarat
Artwork, other - Public Artwork, Aaron Robinson et al, Flow by Holly Grace and Aaron Robinson, 2014
Water is key to a thriving community and it is through the representation of water Flow enlivens the space at Bakery Hill. Historically ‘water races’ ran through the valleys of the Greater Ballarat area unearthing the minerals that forged prosperity and wealth. This water still flows today unearthing new possibilities for the community. Possibilities focusing on sustainability, ecology, health and prosperity. Flowing over the site a series of kinetic turbines flutter in the wind creating a contemporary water race. The interactive elements offer visual stimulation enticing people to connect with the artwork and in turn the surrounding spaces. Bakery Hill has great historical significance. It’s connection to the Eureka Stockade and the series of events that were to unfold during the 1850’s was to become the turning point in Australian political history. The placement of each turbine is to mirror a point of history in the timeline of events that occurred during the Eureka Stockade. The Water Race is a symbol of possibilities, the ones created by history and those of modern society. It is a visual timeline that can be read by traversing the site. The connecting turbines that flow and turn in sync are a representation of time passing and the interconnectedness of history with the community that surrounds it. The gateway to Bridge Mall is framed through the placement of each turbine allowing the sense of prosperity and wealth to flow through to the surrounding community. This gateway also references the significance of Bakery Hill reinvigorating the historical site by reconnecting it back to its town centre. The artwork is of aesthetic and historical significance to the people of BallaratTwelve steel turbines set on poles with dates attached and a large bronze 'timeline' plaqueFLOW/ Plotting the motion of Wind, Water, History and Time/ by Holly Grace and Aaron Robinson/ This site has great historical significance. It’s connection to the Eureka Stockade and the series of events that unfolded in the 1850’s was to become the turning point in Australian history. The placement of each turbine within this artwork mirrors a point of history in the events that led up to the Eureka Stockade. It is a visual timeline that can be read by traversing the site. The connecting turbines that flow and turn in sync are a representation of time passing. They are a symbol of the community’s connection to their history. 1851 June James Esmond makes the first discovery of gold in Victoria at Clunes./ 1st July The Port Phillip District separates from New South Wales and becomes the Colony of Victoria. It is still subject to British rule./ August Gold is discovered at Buninyong and at Golden Point, Ballarat. Lt-Governor La Trobe introduces the Gold Licence system in an attempt to reduce the colony’s debt./ 20th September First gold licences issued in Ballarat. / 1852 August/ Eureka Lead discovered on the Ballarat goldfields. December Charles La Trobe resigns as Lt-Governor but he is not relieved until 1854/ July – December/ Unrest builds on the various goldfields with protest meetings held in Bendigo and Castlemaine. Bendigo’s Red Ribbon Movement is active on the goldfields and the Bendigo Petition is presented to Lt-Governor./ December/ Charles Hotham is appointed Lt-Governor/ 1854 March/ A bill to extend the Elective Franchise is passed by the Legislative Council and sent to London for the assent of the British Parliament. 22nd June/ Lt-Governor Sir Charles Hotham arrives in Victoria. The colony faces mounting debt and Hotham orders weekly licence hunts in an attempt to increase income./ August/ Hotham is acclaimed during his visit to the Ballarat goldfield./ 13th September? Hotham orders twice-weekly licence hunts to further increase revenue./ September – October/ Miners are experiencing problems – no shafts bottomed on the Eureka Lead for five weeks./ 7th October/ James Scobie is murdered outside the Eureka Hotel. Many diggers believe that publican James Bentley is responsible./ 9th October/ At Scobie’s inquest, Bentley is acquitted, despite strong evidence of his guilt./ 10th October/ Father Smythe’s servant is beaten up by authorities and falsely arrested for not holding a licence./ 15th October/ Mass meeting of miners on Bakery Hill. Catholic miners meet after Mass. // 17th October/ A meeting of up to 10,000 Diggers is held near the Eureka Hotel to protest against Bentley’s acquittal. The meeting results in the burning of the hotel. Three diggers, Westerby, Fletcher and McIntyre, are arrested. Hotham dispatches 400 soldiers to Ballarat. 22nd October/ Another large meeting is held to address grievances. The Catholics send their leaders, Hayes, Kennedy and Manning to meet Rede. The Government Camp is under siege 11th November/ A public meeting on Bakery Hill results in the formal establishment of the Ballarat Reform League and adoption of the League’s proposals./ 21st November/ The enquiry into the Bentley affair is published. It recommends the dismissal of the judge and the establishment of a Royal Commission. 23rd November/ Westerby, Fletcher and McIntyre are convicted of burning the hotel. The Ballarat Reform League demands their release. 27th November/ A deputation from The Ballarat Reform League, including Humffray, Black and Kennedy, meet with Hotham to demand the release of the three prisoners. Hotham does not believe the diggers have the right to “demand anything”, Rede requests reinforcements in Ballarat. 28th November/ Miners attack the troop reinforcements and wagons passing near the Eureka diggings. A drummer boy is seriously wounded. 29th November/ A “Monster Meeting” attended by more than 10,000 diggers is held on Bakery Hill. The Southern Cross flag is flown for the first time. Peter Lalor addresses the miners and a number of diggers burn their licences. 30th November/ A licence hunt occurs in the morning at the order of Commissioner Rede. Another meeting of radical miners is held on Bakery Hill. Peter Lalor becomes leader of the diggers and calls for volunteers. Many diggers wear an oath to defend their rights and liberties under the Southern Cross flag. A number of diggers move to the Eureka Lead and start to erect a stockade. 3rd December In the early hours of Sunday morning 296 soldiers and police led by Captain Thomas proceed from the Government Camp to the Eureka Lead and attack the Stockade. 22 diggers and 7 military are officially listed as being killed. Many others are wounded. Approximately 120 diggers are arrested and marched to the Government Camp. 4th December/ Funeral of some of the fallen diggers and soldiers. Martial Law is proclaimed in Ballarat. Henry Seekamp, editor of the Ballarat Times is charged with seditious libel. 6th December/ Major General Sir Robert Nickle, commander-in-chief of the military forces in the Australian colonies, arrives in Ballarat. 9th December/ General Nickle repeals martial law. 14th December/ The Gold Fields Commission sits for the first time. 18th December/ The first Ballarat sitting of the Gold Fields Commission is held at Bath’s Hotel. 1855 23rd January/ Henry Seekamp is found guilt of sedition and sentenced to three months in prison. 22nd February/ The Eureka trials starts in Melbourne. February to March/ 13 prisoners are tried and acquitted amid great public rejoicing. 27th March Report of the Royal Commission recommends miners’ rights and significant reforms. 10th November/ Peter Lalor and John Basson Humffray are nominated for seats in the legislative Council. 31st December Sir Charles Hotham dies before his resignation takes effect. flow, aaron robinson, holly grace, public art, eureka stockade, bakery hill