Steel screw steamer launched 1889 at Newcastle on Tyne by Palmers & Co., built for Archibald Currie and Partners - the Currie Line of Melbourne. Gross tonnage: 2,792, Length: 99.06m (325'). Width: 12.3m (40.3'). Triple expansion steam engines producing 363 nhp. Avge speed 11 knots. Coal consumption 26 ½ tons per 24 hours. Steel hull, one funnel, two masts, barque rig. • 1889: Argus launched. Worked in the Australia to India trade, passengers, goods and horses. • 1891 July: While taking coal from Newcastle to Singapore, ran onto sunken rock in Gaspar Strait (in Indonesia). Watertight bulkheads held, got to Singapore, was repaired for two months, 60,000 Straits dollars (about £12,000). • 1895 July: While taking 400 horses to Colombo, ran onto reef near Somerset, North Queensland. holed, water in two compartments. 400 tons coal jettisoned, finally got off in spring tides. • 1901 Feb: During Boer War took Victorian contingent, 5th Mounted Rifles, fromMelbourne to Durban and Cape Town, with 500 horses. • 1901 Dec: Took horses for Boer War from Brisbane to Durban. • 1903 31 July: Leaving Sydney for Calcutta with 86 horses, 20 passengers including the Sultan of Johore, was rammed by the incoming steamer Mildura (on the wrong side of the channel). Argus's side plating was cut from deck to below waterline, had to be beached on Goat Island to prevent sinking. Refloated 2 August and repaired. • 1905: Argus sold to the Japanese shipping company, Osaka Shosen Kaisha. Renamed Giran Maru. • 1907 11 Sept: Wrecked in Soya Strait, between Hokkaido & Sakhalin Island.Built for Archibald Currie & Partners, Melbourne. Carried passengers between Australia and India and between western and eastern Australia.Large ship builder's model in glass case

ARCHIBALD RUSSELL (1905-1949) Until 1922 completed numerous cargo voyages to Sydney, Newcastle, Fremantle, Geelong, and especially Melbourne. In 1923 she was bought by Gustaf Erikson, the famous Finnish ship-owner, and carried timber to Melbourne in 1926, 1927 and 1928, and carried grain from Geelong in 1927 and Williamstown in 1929 - and that was the year she won the Grain Race (93 days). She then carried grain from South Australia until the war and was then was taken over by the British and used as a food storehouse through the war. She was broken up in 1949 on Tyneside. An example of end-era sailing ship trade with Australia. Reference: http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Fourmast_ships/Archibald_Russell%281905%29.html She was launched at Greenock in 1905 for John Hardie & Sons.Has significant links with Australian and Victorian commerce. An example of end of era sailing ship trade with Australia. A detailed static model with carved and laminated hull painted in white and maroon, the varnished deck with detailed fittings and rigging, raised on wooden base with simulated waves. Model of 4-masted barque launched at Greenock in 1905 for John Hardie & Sons. Steel barque built by Scott Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Greenock, at a cost of £20.750. Her dimensions were: 291'3 × 42'9 × 24'0 (88.77 x 13.03 x 7.32m) and tonnage: 2354 GRT, 2048 NRT and 3950 DWT. Equipped with two 120' long bilgekeels. Rigged with royal sails over double top-gallant sails. "Archibald Russell" painted on ship

Owned by William Albert HARRISON (Service Number VX41478; above Link ["WW2 Record"] indicates that Rank on Discharge was Cpl, but other AIF documents, from National Archives Australia [including Proceedings on Discharge - see pdf Media File above], indicate that he was Sergeant). Soldier's name known. Items donated (date unknown) by brother-in-law who was living in Montmorency and was a committee member of MERSL when item donated.Khaki Pattern 1937 Webbing belt minus its two rear brass buckles. hand-written name ("W. A. HARRISON") and service number (VX41478) Carrier PLN 2/5 Bn S^ ME Co 1940