Gold was discovered on One Tree Hill in 1854. The site has been worked intermittently until fairly recent times. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p53 Though still a working mine, One Tree Hill Mine at Smiths Gully, now stands in a tranquil reserve surrounded by bush and native animals - in contrast to its heyday. In the mid 19th century, when the mine was part of the Caledonia Goldfields, hundreds of men in search of their fortune worked the alluvial gold in the Yarra River, its tributaries and the reefs that made up the goldfields. Miner Stan Bone, assisted by Wilfred Haywood, is the last of the independent gold miners in the area and still uses the quartz crushing battery as miners did when gold was first discovered in the area in 1851.1 Stan, who is the last of six generations of miners in his family, was aged 17 when he began mining on his father Alex’ mine, The Golden Crown in Yarrambat. These days, after blasting the gold-bearing rock in Mystery Reef, one of the four reefs at One Tree Hill, Stan transports it around five kilometres by tip truck to the Black Cameron Mine for crushing. There he uses water from the waterlogged mine, (which still contains gold), as the Happy Valley Creek at One Tree Hill is usually dry.2 The One Tree Hill Mine has been worked for close to a century since it opened around the late 1850s.3 The Swedish Reef was its most productive reef and one of the largest in the area. Around 1859, extractions included 204 ounces (5.8kg) of gold, won from 57 pounds (26kg) of stone.4 Then during World War Two, Stan’s uncle, Bill Wallace, and Alex Bone, closed the mine. In 1973, Stan, with his Uncle Bill, reopened the Black Cameron Mine and worked there until 1988. Stan resumed mining One Tree Hill in 1998. As late as the 1920s gold was picked up by chance! When crossing a gully on his way to vote at the St Andrews Primary School, Bill Joyce picked up some quartz containing gold. This site was to become the Black Cameron Mine. The Caledonia Diggings, named after Scotland’s ancient name by local Scots, began around Market Square (now Smiths Gully) and included Queenstown (St Andrews), Kingstown (Panton Hill) and Diamond Creek. There were also poorer bearing fields in Kangaroo Ground and Swipers Gully (now Research). * None of these compared in riches to the Ballarat and Bendigo fields5, but the Caledonia Diggings continued intermittently for close to 100 years. Gold was discovered in Victoria following a bid to stem the disappearance of much needed workmen to the New South Wales diggings. Several businessmen offered a reward of £200, for the discovery of gold within 200 miles (322 km) of Melbourne. Late in June 1851, gold was first discovered at Andersons Creek, Warrandyte. Then in 1854, George Boston and two other men discovered gold at Smiths Gully. Gold transformed the quiet districts, with a constant flow of families and vehicles on the dirt tracks en route to the Caledonia Diggings. Three thousand people worked the gullies in Market Square, including about 1000 Chinese miners. The square established its own police, mining warden, gold battery, school, shops and cemetery and grog flowed. Market Square flourished until the middle 1860s. Bullocks transported quartz from the Caledonia Goldfields to the crushing machinery at the Queenstown/St Andrews Battery, near Smiths Gully Cemetery. It was destroyed by bushfire in 1962. By the late 1850s, most early alluvial fields were in decline, but minor rushes continued until around 1900 and some until the early 1940s. Some miners did well, although most earned little from their hard labour in the harsh and primitive conditions.6 But according to historian, Mick Woiwod, the gold fields helped to democratise society, as individuals from all walks of life were forced to share experiences, and the ability to succeed, depended less on inherited wealth or social rank.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, gold mining, one tree hill mine, smiths gully

Considered the best of the early mud-brick houses built by Alistair Knox. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p143 The Busst house hidden by trees at the corner of Silver Street and Kerrie Crescent is considered the best of the early mud-brick houses built by Eltham architect, Alistair Knox. Knox himself said, that the Busst house was the most mature mud-brick house designed at that period. ‘It related with true understanding to its steep site and expressed the flexibility of earth building ………to develop a new sense of flowing form and shape’.1 Built in 1948 for artist Phyl Busst, a former art student at Montsalvat, the house helped usher in Eltham Shire’s distinctive mud-brick residential character. Knox was the pivotal figure of the style developed from the 1950s to the 1970s.2 Scarcity of building materials after World War Two encouraged mud-brick building because earth was a cheap and plentiful building medium. But when Knox began building in mud-brick in 1947, no council in Victoria knew anything of this ancient art and he needed a permit. Fortunately the Commonwealth Experimental Building Station at Ryde in NSW, had been experimenting with earth construction to help overcome the shortages of that time. They published a pamphlet that became available in Melbourne on the same day the Eltham Council was to consider whether the earth building should be allowed. Knox caught one of the three morning trains to the city in those days and bought several copies of the pamphlet to give to each councillor. On his return he found the councillors standing on the steps of the shire offices after lunch at the local hotel. He heard that earth building had been discussed before lunch and that they were not in favor of it. Knox gave each councillor a pamphlet. They passed that plan and by doing so, opened the door for all future earth building in Victoria and by default, in Australia.3 Mud-brick houses attracted artists to Eltham, for their aesthetic appeal and because they were cheap. Those who built their own houses, included film maker Tim Burstall, artists Peter Glass, Clifton Pugh, Matcham Skipper, Sonia Skipper and husband Jo Hannan. For Knox, mud-brick building was more than just a cheap building medium. He saw it as harmonising with the surrounding bush and as a way of counteracting the growing materialism of the age. He wrote of its impact on ‘ 20th century man. It should counteract the confusion that the perpetual flow of high technology products have upon him ..’.4 Building the Busst house on a steep site was difficult because most earth-moving equipment was then in its infancy. For instance drilling for explosives was done by hand, which was a slow and painful process. Knox, assisted by his foreman Horrie Judd and Gordon Ford (who was to become a famous landscape designer), built two large main rooms - a living room/ kitchen downstairs - and upstairs, a studio/bedroom. The studio/bedroom opens onto the balcony, which covers the living area. The bath made of solid concrete by stonemason Jack Fabro, is particularly deep. Sunshine pours through the three French windows of the north-east facing kitchen/living area, which is lined with timber. The large hearth can fit a family around the fire while the timber floors and solomite (compressed straw) ceilings add to the cosy atmosphere. The garden is thick with trees, and in the late 1990s, Ford put in a pool near the original dry wall he had built as a young man.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, alistair knox, alistair knox design, busst house, kerrie crescent, mudbrick construction, mudbrick houses, silver street

Originally the Olympic Skating Rink (1908), it was converted to an auditorium for live theatre in 1909. In 1911 it was leased by the propietors of His Majesty's West's Pictures. After alterations it opened as Lyric Photo Plays 12th April 1911.Bendigo Advertiser from 2004. Grand old dame: a photograph of the Lyric Theatre, then known as Lyric Photo Plays Co. Ltd, taken by Vincent Kelly on February 1913, and published in the Bendigo Advertiser the following day, several days before the official opening. Under this photo there is a letter from James Lerk titled 'Save the Lyric façade'newspaper, bendigo advertiser, the way we were

The photograph was taken in The Nook. Terence O'Brien rented the land from Goonawarra from the 1890s to 1905 where he grew cereal crops. The terraces on the hillside were built to grow vines when the property was one of the first vineyards in the area. The men in the image are from L-R: Mr. Heath in the white cutter owned the chaff cutter, John Leyden with hand on fence, Michael Dillon, Terence O'Brien and Phil Ratile are on top of the haystack, Andy Burke standing with hand on hip.The growing and harvesting of cereal crops was an important agricultural industry in the early days of Sunbury's settlement by both the Indigenous People and Europeans.A non-digital photograph black and white photograph of eleven men gathering hay with the aid of a steam traction engine in a wide open valley. A hillside in the distance has been terraced and there is a house on the hill in the distance.the nook, terence o'brien, andy burke, mr. heath, michael dillon, philratile, goonawarra, vineyards

The building in the photograph is the Boiler House which was part of the former Sunbury Asylum. It was built in the 1920s to replace an older boiler. Coal and/or briquettes were burned to produce hot water and steam which was used to heat and supply hot water for the Asylum buildings. Steam attendants monitored and maintained the furnace and boiler seven days a week. It ceased production in October 1992 and since then has served as an Arts and Cultural complex for the local community. A non-digital black and white photograph of a large brick building with a tall chimney overlooking open rural countryside with two women sitting on the grass in the foreground. The image has been photographed from an earlier photograph. sunbury asylum, boiler house, arts and cultural complex, performing arts

"Surburban tickets of the Victorian Railways - H K Atkinson" published 1991 notes on page 123 "Edmondson tickets issued from trams were held in small pouches in the conductor's bag and were punched with a special date punch (ie. 1 to 31) to denote the day of issue." It is thought that the month would have been used as well, otherwise people could recycle tickets for each day of the month. No punch for these yet seen by the Museum. Three envelopes of months held, two of them have not been opened and checked.Yields information VR Ticket systems.Two sets of steel punches with days and months of the year expressed in two letters. Months contained within three paper envelopes each marked "VR Elwood conductors ticket punches and Months of the Year"trams, vr trams, railways, tickets, elwood tram depot