The successful dropping of supplies to remote fire crews involved a great deal of experimentation. The result was a large heavy-duty cardboard container being developed in 1964 by Athol Hodgson from the FCV Fire Research Branch which employed fold-out wings and was called the “helibox”. It was suitable for supplies weighing less than 9 kg and best dropped from about 300 feet and became a standard technique. It was adopted Australia wide, but the wider availability of helicopters made the helibox eventually redundant. Unique to Victoria but adopted across Australia.Large cardboard box with "wings" to cause it to rotate when dropped from the air. Wings held in place by means of string office "Ty-Tite" fasteners.bushfire, forests commission victoria (fcv)

This style of mask was developed in Britain and began to appear from the 1930s, though original models may have been produced in the 1920s. Various patents for this style of mask were still being filed in the 1960s, so they were used for a considerable period of time. It is possible that the original filter pads for these masks contained asbestos, as they supposedly utilised 'fire proof' materials. Asbestos was already in use in other British respirator masks at this time. Original cataloguing information believed this item to be an eye shield, but further research has indicated that this is not the case.Mask consists of a metal plate designed to cover the lower half of the face. There is a recess along the top edge of the plate designed for the nose to sit in. There is a large oblong opening with rounded corners at the centre of the mask, which is a mouth opening to assist speech and is the main air intake. There are five round holes on either side of the mask, likely included to decrease the mask's breathing resistance for the wearer. Rounded slots at each edge of the mask are threaded through with an elastic strap, used for attaching the mask to the face. This mask would have been used with a filtering pad attached, but the pad is missing.

A letter written by 8RAR soldier in Vietnam to "Dear De" outlining events about an incident with the detonation of a mine, number killed and injured. The writer states he was not involved in the incident as he was serving at the fire support base, not the battle front.An envelope and a two paged letter written on Australian Forces Vietnam letterhead paper, dated Sunday 1st March. The envelope is addressed to Mis D Maschette and the letter starts off with "Dear De". It is written in blue ink. The envelope has a red and blue striped border with the "Air Mail" symbol in the top left hand corner. A map of Vietnam is located under the air mail symbol. Australian Force Vietnam Coat of arms header/ Blue ink/ 8RAR/ Air Mailletter, wayne maschette, aust. force vietnam, sig pl, suppt co, 8rar