Purchased, 1987Acrylic, Boardgippsland, artwork, permanent collection

The AFB were aware that accommodation options for blind people were limited and sought to open a hostel to assist with this.The first hostel opened in Lara Street, South Yarra but could not meet demand. In 1926, a suitable property 'Egremont' at 54 The Avenue, Windsor, came on the market. The price was £2650. Lack of funds to purchase seemed an insurmountable barrier. With assistance from the Trustees of the Edward Wilson Estate and the Felton Bequest a deposit of £650 was raised. In a huge step of faith the Committee took out a mortgage of £2000. The interest on the mortgage and its repayments weighed heavily on the Committee. The Avenue, as 'Egremont' was commonly termed, was also a seven roomed house. Mr Paterson and the Architect, Mr Parkes of Oakley and Parkes, immediately began planning an extension, fourteen single bedrooms were added. They were filled from the Waiting List. A Windsor Auxiliary was formed and worked to reduce the mortgage of £2000. An active programme of dances, card evenings, theatre nights and the like took place under the leadership of Mrs. Robertson. The Auxiliary also took an interest in the boarders, arranging entertainment and social activity. £1500. was still owed in 1930. Living side by side is no easy task for a group of people, and the Hostel meeting minute books are filled with stories of disputes over wireless sets, telephones, hot water bottles and wardrobes. In 1958, with rising costs and the growth of aged care centres, the Hostel was closed and the house sold to a succession of private buyers. In 2016 it still stands and has been refurbished as a guest house.B/W copy of newspaper photographThe hostel for blind women at 54 The Avenue, Windsor was established in 1926 to provide a place where sightless women may live together to their mutual advantage under proper and sympathetic supervision. The Windsor Hostel was sold in 1958. This building still stands today and has been refurbished.egremont, blind womens hostel, tilly aston

Unknown year

Ken Peeler (at head of horse), Ken's father, Ern Peeler and brother Don Peeler (sitting on load) with dray-load of 'five-foot wood'. Peeler's Road, Barkers Creek. Photographed by Alice 'Girlie' Adams, approx. 1942. Families living at Barkers Creek and Woodbrook obtained contracts to supply 'five foot wood' to Thompson's Foundry and Castlemaine Woollen Co. Rows of wood, neatly stacked, 10’ high X 5’ wide covered many acres at each factory, ready for use in firing the boilers. Much bushland was thus cleared for orchard or pasture. The horse depicted is fully harnessed with bridle, eye-winkers and reins, dray collar, hames, shaft saddle with girth & pole straps and breeching straps. Neatly stowed under the dray shafts can be seen the props, used to keep the dray horizontal when the horse was to be taken out of the shafts. The dray was almost entirely constructed of wood, with steel tyres on the wheelsA reminder of the significance of local sources of fuel to some of Victoria’s biggest manufacturing concerns as well as depicting a major source of employment involving minimal capital. A B&W photograph depicting 2 men and a boy with a horse-drawn dray filled with wood. Photograph taken by Alice 'Girlie' Adams in 1942. Ken Peeler, Ern Peeler and Don Peeler appear in the picture along with a horse with no known name.

Kevin Pratt was one of Ringwood's best known residents when he died at the age of 77 in 1987. An amputee from the age of three he overcame his own physical handicaps and went on to encourage and help the youth of the district. He was President of the Ringwood Football Club for 25 years. His memory is perpetuated by a pavillion in Mullum Reserve which bears his name. Mr Pratt's Funeral service in Our Ladies Church in Bedford Road was well attended. See also photographs in PersonalitiesNewspaper article about Mr Kevin Pratt who died in 1987

Framed oil painting on canvas by B. Polletti. Features a landscape. Decorative wood frame. Engraved brass plaque on lower edge of frame. Signed and dated by the artist lower left corner.

Colour slide of men cutting logs using a sawmill at a timber yard in Eildon. It was during Operation Firewood. Legatees would organise collection of wood from the country and distribute it to widows in metropolitan Melbourne. Other slides show the cutting and loading of wood and delivery to widows in metropolitan Melbourne. Was with many other slides taken in the 1950s and 1960s. The slides have been photographed to make digital images and moved to archive quality sleeves. In many cases the original images were not well focussed and the digital image the best available.A record of Legacy helping widows by sourcing, supplying and delivering firewood. When open fires were the main source of heating, a load of firewood and help moving it, would have been very important to the widows.Colour slide of men cutting logs in a timber yard in Eildon during Operation Firewood in brown Anscochrome cardboard mount.Printed on front in red ink 'Anscochrome / View from this side / Made in Australia'. Hand written on front 'Cutting Firewood / Eildon' and '22' in blue pen. Printed on reverse in red ink 'Processed by Verycolor photo labs. Melbourne, Victoria'.operation firewood, sawmill, wood