This bookcase was from Fintona private school Camberwell Melbourne. Fintona was a Presbyterian school for girls founded by Annie Hughston in 1896 and was originally in Camberwell and now Balwyn, Melbourne. The daughters of Pompey Elliot attended the school and the bookcase contains one of their several awards. Colonial Australian cedar secretaire bookcase c.1880 with a piano lid action to the desk lid instead of the more common drop down type.Two door cabinet base with two deep shelves, desk slope inset with gilt tooled leather. desk has rear drawers and one secret compartment and lid. Top section is simple two door glazed cabinet with three moveable cedar shelves topped with a simple pediment.secretaire, fintona, bookcase, violet elliot, pompey elliot

Always kept in front bedroom and used on bedside table and dining table, also for accompanying priest from front door to sick bed. 2 x glass candlestick holders, with a broad square base and a square column leading to the top square area which holds the candles. There are diamond and star-shaped patterns in the base and the column.glass, candlesticks, light

non-fiction

10 page programme and synopsis of the musical Carboni.eureka, carboni

non-fictionThe book of Thomas Kennedy’s March from Creswick’s Creek by Harry.H. Pearce was published in a limited edition of 300 for the centenary of Eureka in 1954. creswick, eureka stockade, ballarat, kennedy, rams skull press

non-fictionballarat, eureka stockade, eureka centenary, peter lalor, 1954

Newspaper style journal of twenty pages given over to articles, opinion pieces and coverage of the events at the Eureka Stockade in 1854.non-fictioneureka stockade, ballarat, labour history, bi-centenary

eureka 150, ballarat, courier

non-fictioneureka stockade, ballarat, monty miller

non-fictionmosaics, world war i, aif, ballarat, arthur pickford

Arguably the only nineteenth century working man's exhibition garden in its original form and with original elements extant in Australia and still maintained by the descendants of the 19th century owners. Horticultural awards from three centuries remain in situ in the cottage.Ballarat was renowned as a garden city and this title was used as a popular tourism drawcard from very early in the city's development. Public and private gardens were often open to the public and in the case of Hymettus the garden is recorded as being open to the public as early as 1917.A late Victorian silver and gilt plated trophy dedicated as a horticultural or prize garden award.Presented by Cr The Honorable F. Brawn M.L.C. Won by Mr M. Taffe. Years 1915 - 1918. 31/10/18.ballarat, horticulture, garden competition, exhibition, horticultural awards, flower shows

Flower shows or Horticultural exhibitions were a popular form of entertainment and scientific pastime in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and were widely reported on and followed. Ballarat was a major centre for nurseries and prided itself as a garden city promoting many shows at all levels including grand national exhibitions. Exhibitors ranged from professional hybridists, nurserymen and florists to amateur growers. This award represents the cottage or amateur class in flower shows and was awarded circa 1907. This item has well documented provenance and remains at Hymettus with the family to whom it was awarded. It forms part of a significant and representative horticultural collection which reflects the involvement of generations of the family with horticulture in a centre known as The Garden City. It contributes to our understanding of social and family life in twentieth century Ballarat, as well as providing interpretative capacity for themes of garden history, local history and social history.Written onto card, 'Three Varieties of Roses'. Miss J. Taffe.ballarat horticultural society, j taffe, roses, bentley, fraser print ballarat

Swapped in April 2025 for Australian bookmarks with Jakob, IFOB member from Poland.Contemporary 21st century Polish bookmarks swapped for Australian Bookmarks and adding to the large international collection at Hymettus Cottage that encompasses bookmarks from the mid-nineteenth century including Australian colonial examples to the present time. armorial, poland, ephemera, bookmarks

In 1920 Michael Taffe was awarded Junior Cornet Solo Champion at Ballarat's South St competitions, The Grand National Eisteddfod of Australasia. This competition was the premier band contest in Australia with musicians from every state and New Zealand taking part. The large framed studio portrait of Michael together with his cornet and medals was on display in the window of Allan's Music store Melbourne when the building was severely damaged by fire but these items were saved. Part of a large family collection of local & family history items at Hymettus Cottage, home to the same Ballarat family for the past 125. This portrait has a well documented provenance and a known owner and has hung in this historic house for the past 102 years. It forms part of a significant and representative historical collection that reflects Ballarat's local history from a family perspective. It contributes to our understanding of social and family life in Ballarat from the 19th to the 21st century and provides interpretative capacity for family, local, and social history themes.cornet, music, michael taffe, south street competitions, ballarat

Michael Taffe at Hymettus, Cardigan St Ballarat was awarded the Mayoral trophy for the Champion Cottage Garden, City of Ballaarat 1915 - 1918. The garden was one of 25 working-men's gardens competing across the city, a city acclaimed as a garden city that attracted visitors to enjoy its public and private gardens of which the community was very proud. Part of the large collection of photos about places and family members from the generations at Hymettus Cottage in the City of Ballarat, contributes to an understanding of social history in the city and surrounding shires. In this instance the social importance of horticulture and gardens, in the city.gardens, horticulture, garden city, ballarat, tourism,

Belleek pottery in Co Fermanagh, Ireland produced functional pottery such as this from it's earliest period, this piece bears the first period mark, 1863-1890 before producing its more famous fine eggshell porcelain.An early Irish earthenware plate from c. 1870s made at the Belleek factory. A large proportion of Ballarat's goldfields population including the families at Hymettus cottage were Irish immigrants.Indistinct registration lozenge and transfer printed logo of Irish wolfhound with word Belleek to underside.belleek, ireland

A collection of Victorian Railways Newsletters.non-fictionFrom 1930 until 1973, Victorian Railways News Letter was the inhouse journal for what is now Vicrail. Being a railway family with three stationmasters many copies remain in the family home, Hymettus Cottage.railways, railway family, journal, community

The celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday on May 24 was renamed Empire Day in 1903 after her death in 1901. It was celebrated throughout the British Empire, including in Australia. Ballarat schools marched in procession with a salute at the Town Hall before attending church services at their respective churches. By the late 1950s the celebration became Commonwealth Empire Day the reference to Empire being dropped by the 1960s.These form part of a large family collection of bookmarks and local & family history items at Hymettus Cottage, home to the same family for the past 127 years in 2024. They have a well documented provenance and a known owner forming part of a significant and representative historical collection that reflects Ballarat's local history from a family perspective. They contribute to our understanding of social and family life in twentieth century Ballarat and providing interpretative capacity for family, local, and social history themes. These four bookmarks are from 1951-1954.Three Empire Day cardboard bookmarks each featuring an illustrated crown, with crossed Australian and British flags, each bookmark trimmed in gold. The first is simply for Empire Day and two commemorate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the 1953 Royal Visit respectively.nil,empire day, royal visit, bookmarks, empire day movement, melbourne, coronation year 1953