The Kew Civic Centre, as opposed to the adjacent Kew Civic Hall (see also Kew City Hall), was built to house a new Council Chamber and Council Offices in 1972. The Kew Library was to be located on the ground floor and accessed from the current carpark. This building replaced the former Town Hall in Walpole Street, Kew which had served as a town hall from 1865-1972. After the sale of the old Town Hall, the new Civic Centre was built to a design of the architects A K Lines, MacFarlane & Marshall. A fit-out of the building was still occurring when councillors and council officers moved into the building. In 1987, the Kew Library (and the Kew Historical Society) moved across the road to the reconfigured Civic Hall. The Civic Centre, pictured here, was ultimately sold to Trinity Grammar School following the amalgamation of Kew into the City of Boroondara.These four black and white photographs were taken by a photographer in the City Engineer's Department during the final construction phase. Each is dated and inscribed with a description.Tiling the steps leading from the forecourt to the new Kew Civic Centre in 1972.Annotated verso: "Civic Centre - Forecourt / 16.7.72"kew civic centre, kew civic offices, city of kew -- council chamber

The Kew Civic Centre, as opposed to the adjacent Kew Civic Hall (see also Kew City Hall), was built to house a new Council Chamber and Council Offices in 1972. The Kew Library was to be located on the ground floor and accessed from the current carpark. This building replaced the former Town Hall in Walpole Street, Kew which had served as a town hall from 1865-1972. After the sale of the old Town Hall, the new Civic Centre was built to a design of the architects A K Lines, MacFarlane & Marshall. A fit-out of the building was still occurring when councillors and council officers moved into the building. In 1987, the Kew Library (and the Kew Historical Society) moved across the road to the reconfigured Civic Hall. The Civic Centre, pictured here, was ultimately sold to Trinity Grammar School following the amalgamation of Kew into the City of Boroondara.These four black and white photographs were taken by a photographer in the City Engineer's Department during the final construction phase. Each is dated and inscribed with a description.Creating the forecourt to the new Kew Civic Centre in 1972.Annotated verso: "Civic Centre - Forecourt / 16.7.72"kew civic centre, kew civic offices, city of kew -- council chamber

This is an artist's impression in reproduction of the Mechanics Institute building as it was in the 1880's. It has since changed quite significantly, especially what can be seen of the surrounds. The insert picture is an impression of the Industrial Pavilion which, as is stated, was used between 1856-1864 as temporary premises for the Institute. The print was first published in 'The Australian Sketcher' under the title "Sandhurst Mechanics Institute and free library: the new and old." [Go to the State Library of Victoria and the following link for more details.] http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/miscpics/gid/slv-pic-aab22020This is a significant print in an historical context, portraying the Bendigo School of Mines and Industries as it was in the 1880's, as well as the Industrial Pavilion. It indicates the significance of it to the community that an artist's impression was sought. Significance assessed in-house.A3 print on heavy paper. A reproduction of an artist's impression of the Mechanics Institute Building in the 1880's. The picture is of the building with an insert impression of the Industrial Pavilion used as temporary premises for the Institute from 1856-1864. It is a black and white print of the front of the building with rough depictions of people, horses, a carriage and trees in front of it."A reproduction of an artist's impression of the Mechanics Institute Building in the 1880's. / Insert. An impression of the Industrial Pavilion used as temporary premises for the Institute from 1856-1864"bendigo school of mines and industries, industrial pavilion, mechanics institute, bendigo, 1880, 1856-1864

A booklist on home restoration held in Camberwell City Libraries, covering the history of Australian houses, house restoration and conservation, the history and details of interior decoration, furniture and contents, the history of Australian gardens, and garden restoration and design.An A5 sized bookletbuildings, structures and establishments, restoration, conservation, garden restoration, garden design, interior decoration

ENIMATIC LAND OF BIRDS THAT SING FLOWERS FROMS SEEDS THAT SPRING OF REPTILES AND FISHES CREATURES FROM THE BEGINNING SUN AND MAN AND SCIENCE THE SYMBOLS THAT SILENTLY BUILD AND CHANGE IN COOL AND WARM YOU ARE THERE AND HERE OF YESTERDAY NOW THE SPLITTING EARTH MURAL BY JOHN GILBERT 1973John GILBERT (1935- ) Born Albury, New South Wales John Gilbert worked as a teacher while completing a Certificate of Art at the Technical College in Marlborough, before moving to Ballarat in 1958. He studied at the Ballarat Technical Art School, a division of the Ballarat School of Mines (1960-1961) receiving a Diploma of Art; and Croydon College of Art, London. Gilbert was a Senior Lecturer at the Ballarat Institute of Advanced Education (now Federation University) Art Department until his retirement in the late 1970s. In John Gilbert's Mount Helen studio he produced work marked with an incised 'Gilbert'. He had acquired a concern for form and an interest in sculpture from his teacher Neville Bunning, and from the British potter Hans Coper, whom he visited in 1968. He established two potteries in Ballarat , the Edinburgh Pottery (1972-2005) located within the Sovereign Hill precinct, and the Old Ballarat Pottery (1973-1994) located in the Old Ballarat Village opposite Sovereign Hill. This item is part of the Federation University Art Collection. The Art Collection features over 2000 works and was listed as a 'Ballarat Treasure' in 2007.A large ceramic mural by John Gilbert commissioned for the wall of the E.J. Barker Library. The mural features brown and green glaze with features of indigo. The work has no particular pictorial representation. It is an arrangement of colour and form, designed for enjoyment rather than to analyse. The theme relates to the development of the Universe through basic symbols such as plant forms, fish, birds and to mans development through symbols of science and engineering. The outer edge is symbolic of earths crust being peeled away to reveal science and nature. The mural depicts the changing of seasons from Winter to Summer (left to right). The mural was completed at John Gilbert's Slate Gallery studio, Mount Helen, and took eight months to make.gilbert, artwork, john gilbert, art, ballarat school of mines, mural, ballarat institute of advanced education, ballarat pottery, ceramics, old ballarat pottery, edinburgh pottery

This tape is from the first telegram ever sent in Western Australia. This important event occurred on 21 June 1869. At this time the transmitted message was received on paper tape and later transcribed onto a telegram form for delivery. The original tape was presented to the Honourable Frederick Palgrave Barlee, Colonial Secretary of Western Australia, as a souvenir. "FPB" appears on an engraved shield on the lid. James Coats Fleming, the first telegraphist and later Superintendent of Telegraphs, sent the telegram. During 1875, Colonial Secretary Barlee transferred from Perth to Belize and then to Trinidad where he died in 1884. The fate of the case and spool, souvenir of that first telegram, was unknown. In July 1940, the WA Agent-General in London advised the Premier's Department in Western Australia that a Mrs EW Hillyer of Hertfordshire had the spool and case and was willing to sell it for ten guineas ($21). The Postmaster General's Department agree to the purchase and it duly arrived by registered mail. As a communications museum was planned in Melbourne, it was sent there to be included in the collection. Nothing more was heard until early 1980s when the relic arrived at the Post and Telecommunication museum in Perth. The case had been found in an old Melbourne strongroom where it had apparently been placed for safe-keeping and then forgotten. Initial attempts to decode the message on the tape were unsuccessful. Eventually, it was discovered that the Western Australian Telegraph Company, responsible for that first transmission, had devised its own code. A copy was obtained from the Battye Library and the message deciphered.This Morse tape is of historic significance as the first telegram ever sent in Western Australia. The occasion was momentous as the transition point between isolation and ease of connection for business and personal communications. The case is of aesthetic interest for the craftsmanship involved in the engraved text. Further, the tape has research potential owing to the unique information contained within this tape; that is, the code of the Western Australian Telegraph Company. This tape, may in turn be used to decode further messages sent by the Western Australian Telegraph Company. As the first telegraph message sent in Western Australia, this tape is rare. Despite a tumultuous journey from 1869 to the early 1980s, the tape's ceremonial wooden case provides provenance information which supports the tape's historic importance.Small wooden case (.1) holding a length of morse tape (.2) which was the first telegram ever sent in Western Australia . Wound onto a mother of pearl reel (.3). Accompanying signs and decoded message (.4,.5)..1 engraved on a metal shield shaped plaque on the lid: "WESTERN AUSTRALIAN / TELEGRAPHS / FPB" Inside: 'TRANSLATION OF REGISTER / TO THE CHAIRMAN OF FREMANTLE TOWN TRUST / His Excellency Colonel Bruce heartily congratulates the / inhabitants of Fremantle on this annihilation of distance / between the Port and the Capital, and he requests that this, / the first message, may be made publicly known. / GOVERNMENT HOUSE, / PERTH, June 21, 1869 / Transmitted 11 am / J.C.F."|.2: "Instrument Register / of the First / Telegraphic Message / in / Western Australia"|.3: "The first Telegraph Pole / in / WESTERN AUSTRALIA / was erected by / The Hon. Frederick P. Barlee / Colonial Secretary / on 19th Febr. 1869"telegram, commemorative item, morse inker, morse tape, morse code, code, postmaster-general's department

Note by T.H. Kneen 20.02.1991, Early stages of landscaping for the new building. Note young Magnolia grandiflora planted to soften stark wall. The building comprised right to left Principal's office, office for school teaching staff, offices for Fruit Preserving Branch, Agrostology Branch and future Plant Breeding Branch (branches of the Department of Agriculture), four class rooms, Assembly Hall, Library and student change rooms. The old Pavilion was demolished earlier.3 copies black and white photographs. Very similar views of the newly constructed Administration Building. Planting around the building. Flag flying.principal's office, fruit preserving branch, agrostology branch, plant breeding branch, assembly hall, library, pavilion, planting, landscaping, magnolia grandiflora, staff room, class rooms, student change rooms

Articles relating to the Centenary Appeal held by the Association for the Blind. These include: Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett asking Victorians to support the appeal at the 100th birthday celebrations the AFB held at Melbourne Town Hall, a government grant of 1M to the appeal, current appeal total of 5M but still requiring 2.5M to fund new facilities to meet needs, the unveiling of the Tilly Aston Memorial Bell, support from the William Buckland Foundation and Ford Australia, interview with 100 year old client Ernie Stewart, launch of appeal to raise money for new facilities on the Mornington Peninsula was held at Cruden Farm, Bib Stillwell donated a car to help raise $100,000 to fund the movement of the Braille and Talking Book Library from South Yarra to Kooyong, Robert Clark Trust has donated to the redevelopment of Kelaston, and community volunteers raised $30K towards the rebuilding of Elanora.4 pages of printed materialnon-fictionassociation for the blind, fundraising, tilly aston, ernie stewart, neil maxwell, elizabeth maxwell

Collection of 34 photographs in a photograph album. Most stamped 20 Aug 1985 on reverse, Quad construction 1981.(1) Administration Building front entrance. (2) Administration Building front view. (3) Administration Building front centre. (4) Administration Building, back entrance, Hall end. (5) Administration Building, back centre. (6, 7) Student Amenities Building. (8) Quad 5. (9, 10) Library, front completed 1982. (10A) Library, back. (11) Nursery. (12) Nursery (13,14) Quads 2,3,4. (15) Quad 6 back. (16) Engineering (17) Library front from the Bull Paddock. (18) Dairy. (19) Principal's Garage, now Herb Garden. (20) Soil Bins old Nursery. (21) Old Nursery. (22) Greenhouse old Nursery. (23-25) Landscape Shed. (26) Orchard Shed. (27) Orchard Shed and Kiwi Fruit vine. (28,29) Plant Science Laboratory. (30) Energy Efficient Glasshouse old Nursery. (31) Glasshouse old Nursery and Potting Shed. (32) Energy Efficient Greenhouse old Nursery. (33) Potting Shed old Nursery.quad construction, administration building, student amenities, library, nursery, bull paddock, dairy, principal's garage, herb garden, soil bins, greenhouse, landscape shed, orchard shed, kiwi fruit vine, plant science laboratory, energy efficient glasshouse, potting shed

Index, ill, p.226.non-fictionA history of trials at the Old bailey in Londontrials - england, capital punishment - england

p.765.fictionThe classic tale of one young woman's quest for fulfillment in 1820s England, and the price she would pay for true freedom. Maggie Tulliver's entire life has been spent in the shadow of Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss with her beloved older brother, Tom. But when their father meets an untimely death, the siblings' singular bond is strained as Tom is forced to leave his studies and Maggie struggles to find a sense of belonging. Maggie's sharp intelligence and spirited nature have made her an oddity in the rural hamlet of St. Ogg's, where such unique qualities are perceived as unbecoming for a woman. Her need for recognition and love eventually drives her to defy her brother, who casts her out of his house to survive on her own. Forced to grieve the losses of both their father and each other, the siblings will have to find it in their hearts to forgive in order to reconcile before tragedy strikes again. Inspired by events in the life of the author, The Mill on the Floss is George Eliot's most heartfelt novel and one of her most compelling and moving worksengland - fiction, romantic fiction

Ill, maps, p.128.non-fictionAn account of the beginning of the battles of the Sommeworld war 1914-1918 - campaigns - france, world war 1914-1918 - battle of the somme

p.190.non-fictionA collection of world war one poetryaustralian poetry, world war 1914-1918 - poetry

Ill, p.63.fictionRupert Brooke had planned to put together a second collection of poetry for the spring of 1915. However he died of blood-poisoning while serving in World War I and this collection was published posthumously in 1915. It includes the celebrated poem "The Old Vicarage, Granchesteworld war 1914-1918 - poetry, english poetry

Ill, p.197.non-fictionAn account of the older ships(The Scrap Iron Flotilla) of the Australian Navy in the Second World Warworld war 1939-1945 - naval operations - australia, royal australian navy - history

p.188.non-fictionAn analytical study of the Hitlerite and the British orders of civilizationworld war 1939-1945 - political aspects, world war 1939-1945 - history

Index, ill, p.613.fictionA summary of biblical storiesbible stories - old testament, bible stories- new testament

Ill, p.432.non-fictionA fictional history of Belgiumbelgium - fiction, belgium - history

Mary Tolhurst M&DHS - March 29th Dunvegan Willows Park Melton 1992 Ladies Oral History Day Graham Minns President Ray Radford MC Sound recording transfer to CD 2011 by Tom Wood Edited typescript by Wendy Barrie 2013 I was born in Rockbank, and when I was five years old moved to Toolern Vale and started and finished school there. Toolern Vale only consisted of the Store, Post Office and shop, where you could buy your fodder, and pollard supplies, the Hall, the little Church and the bluestone School. The School changed shape three times from the 1800s[1869] til the time I went there. There was four generations of my family that went there and it was destroyed by fire in 1965. Marjorie nee Myers Butler. Yes, I remember along with it your lovely Ronisch piano. Mary, quite true! Marj what you say about the Ronisch piano. When I came the age to learn music my mum and dad couldn’t really afford it, but still what parents do for their children. They had Marj go along with them and pick this lovely Ronisch piano. It was known round the district. Everyone commented about the loss that lovely piano. After leaving school it was war time, 1939, then it was work, When I was 7 year old I was put out into the cow yard. In 1940 when the soldiers were going away our milk was confiscated it had to go to Bacchus Marsh. It used to go the Sunbury to be brine cooled and then go to Melbourne. Then they took it then to the Lifeguard Milk Factory at Bacchus Marsh. It had to go as condensed milk to the soldiers. This year is 50 years of the Land Army. I was an unofficial Land Army but they still kept check on me. I went onto married life and I followed the cows right through [howls of laughter] and we went on until the 1965 fire. That’s when we got out of the cows. Marjorie asks, was Granny Watts your grandmother or great grandmother? Mary: She was my great grandmother, the midwife of Melton. The 1965 fire started ¾ of a mile above our place, Frank Ryan’s sheds were burnt and his house was saved, then it wiped the School out, the Hall, the Church the Post Office and Store and little house that was Charlie Charlton’s in the early days. Mrs Wilson’s place was saved by the Fire Brigade by pulling boards off the side, and from there it went over the hill and it was stopped at the Rockbank Railway Station. If it had of got over the railway they said it would have gone into Werribee. A lot was burnt out in that strip. Mary nee Nixon Collins: 18 houses burnt that day. Audience question, did Melton get burnt that day? Ray: No. It came down through the Toolern Vale road and cut across about a mile and a half from the cross roads at Toolern Vale from north westerly to the south east and cut through over the Keilor road. Mary: It came in across the creek at Funstons in Toolern, then through Jim Minns. Dorothy was it your place then [nee Knox Beaty] to Ken Beatty’s and from there it went through to Doug McIntosh’s and to Cockbills and the wind changed and it came across to the railway line, and that is where they stopped it. [the cause of the fire was controversial, they had been burning off the night before and there was some talk of someone starting it. It was very hot and very strong wind, it was a terrible day] Ray: When the fire went through McIntosh’s they had a haystack on the north side of their house and the haystack got caught and the fire burnt a hole through the side of the house and the boys pyjamas on the bed. The house was saved. It came through like and express train roaring at you, I was at McIntosh’s when it went roaring past. You couldn’t see, dust and ash and tremendous heat. The fire started about 12 o’clock Jack [husband] said to me, fire, I said where, where? Just up the road, what have I got to do? and he went out and he had gone to the fire and left me. I tried to get the animals and I put out buckets of water, putting the buckets of water out saved my life. Chas Jones and another friend of his came in and they picked up the buckets of water, I thought I had better get out because the fire was on the haystack up the paddock and when I went to go out through the north side of the house and couldn’t get out, I’ll go through the front gate so I went around the other side of the house. I got caught there and Chassy Jones and his friend came round carrying the bucket of water and I panicked. He threw the bucket of water over me. Well that is what saved my life because I was damp, whenever we tried to leave the ball of fire came over me and over my shoulder and my hair was scorched. Chassy Jones lost his truck and Keith Watt his big truck because he had the water tank on it and they couldn’t get out of the yard. Granny Watt’s house, the first private hospital had condemned and Jack and I pulled it down and had it moved up to Toolern and had it in the yard a fortnight and it was all burnt and we didn’t get the shed we wanted. Every 13 years right up until Ash Wednesday fires, there has always been fire close at hand. The 1952 fire went down the back of the house, the 1965 fire took the house, and the house that I live in now, it is the third house that has been on that spot. When the Hunters owned it, Mrs Hunter was nearly burnt in her bed. They had a 13 roomed house. In 1924 the house burnt down, and there was another house was built there and that was the one that burnt down. Edna: So Mary built a brick veneer house. Marjorie: like the three little pigs [laughter] Collins - Mary M &DHS - March 29th 1992 Ladies oral history day at Dunvegan, Willows Park Melton. Graham Minns President Ray Radford MC Sound recording transferred to CD 2011 Edited typescript by Wendy Barrie 2013 Mary Collins nee Nixon born in Terang 1907 down in the Western District and we shifted to Melton when I was 5 and a half then I started school here in Melton, and spent all my school life at Melton State School, next to the Church of England, it’s called the Primary School now. I got my Qualifying and Merit Certificate then I left School because there wasn’t a High School. When I was 16 I got and job in the Melton Post Office and I worked there, I was the first girl in Melton to deliver the mail, and worked on the telephone and the Bank business. Mrs Ross and myself behind the counter, there were about 500 – 600 people in the Shire at that time and now when I go into the new Post Office there is 36,000 here there’s still 2 people behind the counter [laughter from the audience] and wait in a queue right out to the door. Times haven’t changed much have they! There was a manual telephone and you had to ring the handle, and there were eight subscribers when I went there and when I left there were 46 I had coaxed that number to join the telephone, even the police station didn’t have the phone on. The two Hotels and the two Chaff mills and Mr Ernie Barrie, Parkers the butcher, the Shire Office was No 8, and the Police house was next to the Courthouse on the corner. They were number 9. I can remember a lot of the numbers still. The Post Office was the Agency for the Commonwealth Bank [comment from audience member] I used to do the Bank business too, I left after four years there, mother wasn’t very well. The Inspector who used to come up to the Post Office asked me if I would take up casual Post Mistress and to go around the different districts but I refused and when Mrs Ross’s holidays were due I was the replacement. I wasn’t 21. I loved my work meeting everybody and most people had horse and jinkers and when the elderly would come in there would be Mr Tom Morrow, he only had one arm and Mrs Dunn came from Bulman’s road in their horse and jinker. They were elderly I would see them pull up out the front and quickly get their mail and run out to them because they didn’t have to get out of the jinker to tie up their horse. If someone had a baby in arms I would tear out and hold the baby while they got down. Mrs Ross was very very strict. I had to sweep the Post Office, she had a couple of mats and there would be a threepence or a sixpence under the mats show she knew whether I lifted the mat, I was whether I was honest or not. Graham: How much were your wages? I got 27/7 pence a week for a 52 hour week. I had to work every holiday except Good Friday and Christmas Day and even when it was Monday holiday I always had to go to work from 9am - !0 am, the Post Office was always open. In the winter I had to wait until twenty past six in case there were any telegrams to deliver. I delivered them on a push bike. One time Tom Barrie told me this years afterwards. I used to go home for lunch. We lived on the Keilor road and I used to ride my bike home. On the hot days the boys used to go and swim in the swimming pool down near a turn in the creek there was a hole where the boys would swim in the nude, they didn’t have any bathers and they didn’t have any watches in those days. Tom Barrie said they always used to watched for me as I was always about 3 minutes past 1, my lunch hour was from 1-2. One particular day they missed seeing me and swam on, and of course they were all late for school when they got back and were all kept in a night. I did get a fortnight holiday. I loved my work and I knew everyone in the district right from Toolern Vale to the Marsh and everybody at Melton South. Did you listen into conversations on the Switchboard? Oh no. [laughter] Melton did not have electricity then. I had to fill the lamps everyday with kerosene. The Staughton Memorial was outside the Post Office. It had four posts with the chain looped around it, and that’s where the people used to tie up their horses. Marjorie nee Myers Butler comments about sitting and swinging on the chains. Mr Fred Coburn lit the acetylene gas light in the Memorial. It was the only streetlight in Melton. There was no electricity until 1939. Ray Radford comments about another gas street light which was on the corner of Station road. [later] Mary passes around her school photos. Mary mentions the names of those who have passed away, Maisie McDonald, ,Marian Wraith, Hilda McCreey, and Valda McDonald. I have written the names on the back. Marjorie comments about Marie Jongebloed and Greta are the only two girls left out of big family of ten I think there were [hesitates] 4 or 5 girls and the rest were boys. Mary. Flora Woodley, Dorrie Flynn and Margaret McDonald are still alive. They are my age we were all born about 1907. Marjorie points out herself in a later photo [1921 and 1922 School ] Mary mentions the name Walsh and identyfies following names, the Parker boys, Ken Beaty, Malc and Linda Cameron, Maisie Mc Donald, Ted Radford, George Nixon, Norman Minns, he was later the Shire Secretary of Werribee. One of the Woodley girls. [Maisie Arthur] Marjorie: Rosie Shearwood, June Whiting Mary. Lily Mc Donald, she has passed away. Isabel Harrison nee Tinkler, she lives at Werribee, Doreen Rogers, Marjorie Walker, Jess McIntosh, Mary Gillespie. Mr Malone was the Junior teacher Mr Roe and Miss Cooke. Fred Myers, my sister [Elizabeth] and the year was 1921. Myers (Barrie) School Photo Collection. Many of the names were identified at the 1970 Centenary of Melton State School No. 430. Edna Barrie organised, compiled and typed the lists to accompany these photos for the year 1921. The 1922 photo shows the higher grades. Ladies Oral History Day event held by Melton and District Historical Society, article featured in the Telegraphlocal identities, local special interest groups

"A court was established in Melton by 1864, when the first recorded case was heard before Mr BA Porter JP, with Mr A Carroll as the Clerk of Courts. John James was convicted of being drunk, for which he was fined five shillings or 24 hours imprisonment. The court was held in the ‘long room’ of the old Melton Hotel, before moving to rented accommodation at the Raglan Hotel, and finally to the Roads Board office. Tenders for construction of the present building were called for by the Public Works Department on 13th February 1892. The architect Samuel Edward Brindley was born in Birmingham, England, in 1842. He was articled to the local architect, J.R. Botham, FRIBA, before emigrating to Victoria where he was employed as an architect in the Education Department from 18 August 1873. With the amalgamation of the architectural branch of the Education Department with the Public Works Department in 1884, Bindley was placed in charge of Victorian government building design for the North-Western District. In 1975, the Melton and District Historical Society became concerned at hearsay that the court house was to be demolished to make way for carparking space. Melton had been declared a ‘satellite city’ and was developing rapidly. A new shopping centre had recently been built at a setback of 60 feet (c.18 metre) from 323-329 High Street, and the court house, together with the adjacent weatherboard police station, had been left standing alone. A new police station was planned, and the weatherboard police station was subsequently demolished. In its nomination of the building for National Trust classification the Society argued that the Court House was ‘the best of two early buildings left in the main street’ (the other being a bluestone hotel) and that its loss would be ‘tragic’. However the nomination was unsuccessful, the National Trust at the time judging that it was of no particular ‘distinction’ or ‘antiquity’. The building continued to be used as a court house at least until 1991 when the Department of Housing and Construction (formerly the PWD) conducted a heritage study of court houses. By this time Federation-era architecture had achieved acceptance within the heritage movement. The building was recognised as being ‘the only surviving example in brick of the Federation Queen Anne style which was used for court houses only twice.’ Twenty years later when it was proposed to modify the eastern façade of the building to accommodate a café, the M&DHS was again concerned. This time the National Trust objected that the proposed extension would be an over-development of the site, and questioned the changes to the interior court room furnishings and fittings. The site never appears to have been nominated to the Victorian Heritage Register. It has since been converted into the Shire of Melton Tourist Information Centre". Opening of the Visitor Centre in Meltoncouncil, local architecture

Mary Tolhurst M&DHS - March 29th Dunvegan Willows Park Melton 1992 Ladies Oral History Day Graham Minns President Ray Radford MC Sound recording transfer to CD 2011 by Tom Wood Edited typescript by Wendy Barrie 2013 I was born in Rockbank, and when I was five years old moved to Toolern Vale and started and finished school there. Toolern Vale only consisted of the Store, Post Office and shop, where you could buy your fodder, and pollard supplies, the Hall, the little Church and the bluestone School. The School changed shape three times from the 1800s[1869] til the time I went there. There was four generations of my family that went there and it was destroyed by fire in 1965. Marjorie nee Myers Butler. Yes, I remember along with it your lovely Ronisch piano. Mary, quite true! Marj what you say about the Ronisch piano. When I came the age to learn music my mum and dad couldn’t really afford it, but still what parents do for their children. They had Marj go along with them and pick this lovely Ronisch piano. It was known round the district. Everyone commented about the loss that lovely piano. After leaving school it was war time, 1939, then it was work, When I was 7 year old I was put out into the cow yard. In 1940 when the soldiers were going away our milk was confiscated it had to go to Bacchus Marsh. It used to go the Sunbury to be brine cooled and then go to Melbourne. Then they took it then to the Lifeguard Milk Factory at Bacchus Marsh. It had to go as condensed milk to the soldiers. This year is 50 years of the Land Army. I was an unofficial Land Army but they still kept check on me. I went onto married life and I followed the cows right through [howls of laughter] and we went on until the 1965 fire. That’s when we got out of the cows. Marjorie asks, was Granny Watts your grandmother or great grandmother? Mary: She was my great grandmother, the midwife of Melton. The 1965 fire started ¾ of a mile above our place, Frank Ryan’s sheds were burnt and his house was saved, then it wiped the School out, the Hall, the Church the Post Office and Store and little house that was Charlie Charlton’s in the early days. Mrs Wilson’s place was saved by the Fire Brigade by pulling boards off the side, and from there it went over the hill and it was stopped at the Rockbank Railway Station. If it had of got over the railway they said it would have gone into Werribee. A lot was burnt out in that strip. Mary nee Nixon Collins: 18 houses burnt that day. Audience question, did Melton get burnt that day? Ray: No. It came down through the Toolern Vale road and cut across about a mile and a half from the cross roads at Toolern Vale from north westerly to the south east and cut through over the Keilor road. Mary: It came in across the creek at Funstons in Toolern, then through Jim Minns. Dorothy was it your place then [nee Knox Beaty] to Ken Beatty’s and from there it went through to Doug McIntosh’s and to Cockbills and the wind changed and it came across to the railway line, and that is where they stopped it. [the cause of the fire was controversial, they had been burning off the night before and there was some talk of someone starting it. It was very hot and very strong wind, it was a terrible day] Ray: When the fire went through McIntosh’s they had a haystack on the north side of their house and the haystack got caught and the fire burnt a hole through the side of the house and the boys pyjamas on the bed. The house was saved. It came through like and express train roaring at you, I was at McIntosh’s when it went roaring past. You couldn’t see, dust and ash and tremendous heat. The fire started about 12 o’clock Jack [husband] said to me, fire, I said where, where? Just up the road, what have I got to do? and he went out and he had gone to the fire and left me. I tried to get the animals and I put out buckets of water, putting the buckets of water out saved my life. Chas Jones and another friend of his came in and they picked up the buckets of water, I thought I had better get out because the fire was on the haystack up the paddock and when I went to go out through the north side of the house and couldn’t get out, I’ll go through the front gate so I went around the other side of the house. I got caught there and Chassy Jones and his friend came round carrying the bucket of water and I panicked. He threw the bucket of water over me. Well that is what saved my life because I was damp, whenever we tried to leave the ball of fire came over me and over my shoulder and my hair was scorched. Chassy Jones lost his truck and Keith Watt his big truck because he had the water tank on it and they couldn’t get out of the yard. Granny Watt’s house, the first private hospital had condemned and Jack and I pulled it down and had it moved up to Toolern and had it in the yard a fortnight and it was all burnt and we didn’t get the shed we wanted. Every 13 years right up until Ash Wednesday fires, there has always been fire close at hand. The 1952 fire went down the back of the house, the 1965 fire took the house, and the house that I live in now, it is the third house that has been on that spot. When the Hunters owned it, Mrs Hunter was nearly burnt in her bed. They had a 13 roomed house. In 1924 the house burnt down, and there was another house was built there and that was the one that burnt down. Edna: So Mary built a brick veneer house. Marjorie: like the three little pigs [laughter] Mary Tolhurst member of the Melton & District Historical Society in the Melton and Moorabool Leader local identities, local special interest groups

"James Pinkerton, described by fellow settler Isaac Batey as ‘a fine old Scotish [sic] gentleman’, and his wife Margaret established ‘Chamois Ponds’ on Kororoit Creek in the Keilor district in 1840.44 After a fire in 1848, the Pinkerton family moved further west to a holding called Yaloke, on the Werribee River in the Melton district.45 Today, the Surbiton Park water treatment plant operates on part of the Yaloke run. The Pinkerton family is remembered in Melton in part due to the historic graves of the original settler, Margaret Pinkerton, and four of her grandchildren, which were marked by a memorial cairn in 1931. Changes to sewage flood zoning in the area in the 1990s necessitated that these burials be relocated. Members of the Melton & District Historical Society oversaw a project to relocate the Pinkerton graves and cairn 200 metres from their original site to their current resting place at Mount Cottrell. This relocation ceremony took place on 8 November 1992, with the participation of local school students and with Pinkerton descendants playing a central role. This occasion also marked the opening of the Pinkerton Forest Project, which saw 50 hectares of degraded woodland in Surbiton Park protected for regeneration".Photograph of Jame Pinkerton featured in the the Telegraphlocal identities, pioneer families

Two novels.The Miser's Daughter first published in 1842, serialised in Ainsworths Magazine. Old St. Pauls first published in 1841, serialised in the Sunday Times.Leather spine & corner binding with brown marble book board cover. Gold writing on spine 'Old Saint Paul's Miser's Daughter' 'Ainsworth' 'Mechanics Institute Kilmore' viii ; 691 pages ; 17 cm Handwritten inscription on page i '177' Stamp on multiple pages 'Kilmore Mechanics Institute'romance, kilmore mechanics institute library.

Blue hardcover book, The Old Helmet by Catherine Shaw, with floral design on front cover and spine. Gold lettering with Coles Favourite Library stamped on front cover.fictionA religious story written by Elizabeth Wetherell aka Susan Warner, set in the English countryside in the late 1800'sfiction books, religion fiction

A navy blue hardcover novel, The Old Helmet by Elizabeth Wetherell. The gold title is printed in a recessed rectangle on the front cover with Cole's Favourite Library embossed at the bottom. The title and publisher are in gold on the spine.fictionA story of Eleanor a lost soul seeking her creator. She finds love and her faith.fiction, books, religious stories

A Control Joy Stick presented to Pilot Officer Eric V. Read in 1937 after it was recovered from an aircraft he was flying had crashed in the Brisbane Ranges in December 1936. Eric Read was a 21 year old RAAF pilot who was on a flight over the Bacchus Marsh region to make meteorological observations. Read's plane came down in bad weather and crashed into a heavily wooded area of the Brisbane Ranges between Staughton Vale and Mount Wallace. An extensive air and ground search was conducted and after 32 hours Read was located, alive, but badly injured and unable to get out of the cockpit of the plane. He was first located from the air and then a rescue party was able to reach him through rough country and bring him to safety. Read recovered from his injuries and many years later gifted the control stick of the aircraft he had been flying as an item for the collection of the Bacchus Marsh and District Historical Society.This item is of local historical significance as an object related to a notable aircraft accident and subsequent rescue of the pilot. It is also significant for its rarity as a surviving piece of aviation equipment from this era.Control or Joy stick mounted on a wooden base.aircraft, aircraft accidents, eric v. read

Printed booklet. 20 unnumbered pages. Mainly pictorial. Black and white and colour images. non-fictionPublication details: The Plough: Her Tenants & Other Distractions by Ruth Mills. [The Plough, Myrniong, Vic, 2023?]. The Plough is a Restaurant at Myrniong close to Bacchus Marsh situated in the the restored building of the old Plough Inn. The Plough Inn was a historic bluestone hotel built in the 1900s which replaced an earlier hotel which had existed on the site since 1861. The booklet consists of 20 unnumbered pages containing images of people associated with the Plough Inn over several generations. hotels - myrniong, restaurants - mryniong, plough inn myrniong

The Main Street of Bacchus Marsh underwent significant change from the early 1960s. Many older buildings began to be demolished after the early 1960s and into the 1980s. This view shows a central section of Main Street before this transformation took place. Produced as part of a series by the Murray Views Postcards and Souvenirs Company.Black and White postcard image of Main Street, Bacchus Marsh dated around 1950. View is looking towards the West.Murray Views No.7, Main Street, Bacchus Marsh, Vic.roads and streets bacchus marsh vic., main street bacchus marsh vic.

A slim white square hardcover book with text by Harold J. Pollock and a record of Menura the Lyrebird. The cover has the title written at the top - Menura the Lyrebird with a round photograph of a Lyrebird in the bush with its tail fanned. Jacaranda Nature Series is printed in blue at the top right hand corner of the front cover. At the bottom is printed in black lettering - EP RECORD INSIDE FRONT COVER. Inside the left front cover is a pocket with an EP record recorded by Harold J. Pollock. The book has explanations of the sounds recorded as well as coloured photographs of the lyrebirds in their natural habitat. At the back of the book is a list of recordings on each side of the record. The back cover has a black and white photograph of Harold feeding a lyrebird by hand on his knee. A paper card illustrated with a coloured lyrebird on the front with an inscription inside is inserted at the front of the book. 20 pp.non-fictionA book and recording of Menura the Lyrebird. It was recorded in the lyrebirds' natural habitat in the Dandenong Ranges Victoria. The book describes the life of two birds, Theresa and Wanderer with coloured photographs depicting them in the bush.australian birds, australian animals, records