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matching around the victoria hill
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Bendigo Historical Society Inc.
Document - VICTORIA HILL - AROUND THE VICTORIA HILL
... VICTORIA HILL - AROUND THE VICTORIA HILL... Around the Victoria Hill...Handwritten notes titled 'Around the Victoria Hill'. Wm... DOCUMENT Victoria Hill Around the Victoria Hill Wm Rae's Claim ...Handwritten notes titled 'Around the Victoria Hill'. Wm Rae's Claim and Garden Gully United mentioned. Garden Gully United - Reports M. D. Shaft 237. Extract Mine Managers Reports - 19/12/1919 'Decided to bring operations to an end as soon as possible'. 13/1/1920 'Gave notice to tributors to finish up. 20/1/1921 'The No 3 Shaft. The Sea west back has been seen at the 2180 feet and 2390 feet levels, and the relative positions of the gold in the Sea is about midway between these levels'.document, victoria hill, around the victoria hill, wm rae's claim, garden gully united -
City of Moorabbin Historical Society (Operating the Box Cottage Museum)
Photograph, B/W, WW1 Memorial Stonnington( Malvern ) Town Hall by P Montford, August Rietmann 1931, c1931
August Rietmann (1877-1951) of Lustdorf, Switzerland, married Maria Frieda Oesschlager (1878-1942) of Baden Baden, in Germany on 6/8/1910 8/8/1915 August and his wife Frieda migrated to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia sailing on the Steam Ship ‘Osterley’ from Marseilles to Melbourne They leased Box Cottage, Ormond in 1917 and raised two children, Stefanie (1918 -2006) and William (1920- 1997). 1935 August purchased the property and the family used the Cottage during the day and slept in the Front House. August was a monumental mason, potter and sculptor, and was employed at Corbens Ltd Clifton Hill, to carve war memorials in Victoria post WW1 c 1915-1922. During the 1920's August set up his own business in pressed cement making pot plants, columns,paving slabs and lamp-stands. He continued to carve headstones and figures and took contract work for Artists . Around the same time, prestigious sculptor, Paul Raphael Montford (1868–1938), who had won the competition to sculpt the Malvern War Memorial in 1928, asked August to ‘rough carve’ the marble figures destined for the foyer of Stonnington ( former Malvern) Town Hall — unveiled 1931. August built a workshop in the Barn and used the Cottage for plaster moulding. His son William joined the business and and the family continued to use the site after August died in 1951. Rietmann Landscaping Ltd moved to Bay Road Highett in 1953 and later to Carrum. The land, containing the Box Cottage, was sold to Lewis Timber Pty Ltd in 1970 and Mr Lewis proposed that Moorabbin City Council should preserve the heritage Cottage. In 1984 the Cottage was dismantled and reconstructed in the adjacent Joyce Park. The Rietman family is an example of the diverse nationalities that lived and worked productively in Moorabbin Shire 1871–1933 , the City of Moorabbin 1934-1994 and continues today in the Cities of Glen Eira, Kingston, Bayside, and Monash. August, a sculptor and stone mason, was employed by Corben Pty Ltd Clifton Hill to carve WW1 Memorials before establishing his own successful masonry business in the Box Cottage during the latter 1920s. After becoming interested in pressed cement casting, he took on apprentices (1930s Depression) and among his products were garden furniture, pots and also street lamp standards, some of which were installed in St Kilda Road. After August’s death in 1951, his family continued the business ‘Rietman’s Landscaping Ltd.’, at Highett and Carrum.Photograph, Black & White of the WW1 memorial in Stonnington (Malvern) Town Hall carved by August Rietmann c1931rietmann august, rietman august, rietmann frieda, rietman frieda, stonnington city town hall, war memorials, world war 1 1914-1918, rietman stefanie, rennick stefanie, francis stefanie, rietman william, rietman ray, mountford paul, malvern city town hall, box cottage museum ormond, box william, box elizabeth, joyce park ormond, rietman's landscaping pty ltd, bay road highett, macrobertson pty ltd, coleraine soldier memorial 1921, box cottage ormond -
The Beechworth Burke Museum
Geological specimen - Galena (with quartz), unknown
Galena is the natural compound of lead and classed as a sulphide, it crystallises in a cubic pattern and its chemical formula is PbS. Galena is a primary source of both lead and silver. This specimen of Galena comes from Broken Hill. Broken Hill has one of the world’s largest and most significant deposit of ore for the production of lead. Mining of Galena at Broken Hill began with the staking of land by Charles Rasp in 1883. By the following year, in 1884, Rasp and six others had formed Broken Hill Mining Company. Broken Hill Mining Company eventually evolved into BHP group limited and is currently the largest mining company in the world and the largest company in Australia. There is archaeological evidence from artefacts discovered in Turkey that humans have been extracting lead from galena by the process of smelting since at least 6500 BCE. This specimen also has quartz on the top surface which is frequently discovered alongside Galena. This mineral specimen is of historic significance as a sample of Galena extracted from Broken Hill during the 19th century. Mining for Galena in Broken Hill begin in 1883 by Charles Rasp and evolved into the world’s largest mining company – BHP Group Limited. Broken Hill is one of the world’s most significant deposits of ore for the production of lead. This specimen is part of a larger collection of geological and mineral specimens collected from around Australia (and some parts of the world) and donated to the Burke Museum between 1868-1880. A large percentage of these specimens were collected in Victoria as part of the Geological Survey of Victoria that begun in 1852 (in response to the Gold Rush) to study and map the geology of Victoria. Collecting geological specimens was an important part of mapping and understanding the scientific makeup of the earth. Many of these specimens were sent to research and collecting organisations across Australia, including the Burke Museum, to educate and encourage further study.A flat, hand-sized, grey sulphide specimen that is the natural compound of lead with a quartz formation on the top surface. Existing Label: GALENA / (with quartz) / Locality: Broken Hill / N.S.W 120 x 70 x 29geological specimen, geology, geology collection, burke museum, beechworth, galena, galena quartz, quartz, charles rasp, broken hill mining company, bhp group limited, bhp, lead, ore, lead sulphide, sulphide, silver, broken hill -
Federation University Historical Collection
Document, Colony of Victoria, Gold License, 1852
From 1851 the Victorian government required all men on Victorian Goldfields to carry a Gold License. The fee was one pound per month, and was payable in advance. There was agitation surrounding the gold license which was thought to be an excessive fee and did not give the bearer right to representation. On 03 December 1854 the gold diggers on the Eureka Lead fought a short battle against the army and police troopers. A few months later a new system of taxing gold diggers was introduced - the Miner's Right. The Gold License c allowed the bearer to 'dig, search for, and remove gold on and from any Crown Lands' within the district specified on the license. The license was not transferable, and had to be produced on demand. This has resulted in most surviving licenses showing evidence of having been folded and kept in a pocket.The Victorian Gold Licence was issued from 1851 until early 1855. Every man on a Victorian goldfield had to carry a valid gold license, so few survived the harsh treatment of being carried around a working goldfield. There was much dissatisfaction about what was thought to be an unfair mining tax (or gold license). On 29 November 1854 Ballarat miners burnt their licenses on Bakery Hill. On 3 December 1854 the Eureka Stockade Battle took place, resulting in the Goldfields Commission. The first Miner's Right was issued in late June 1855, and in July the first Local Courts were elected by miner's right holders. This gold license was issued around one year after the issue of the first Victorian gold license in August 1851, making it a rare early survivor. This fold lines on this Gold License are evidence of being carried around by the bearer. A original Victorian paper gold license glued onto on old card poster. The original colour of the paper was pale blue. The license has undergone conservation treatment and has been removed from the card.'231', '9 Nov 1852', [name illegible], 'Lod dist [Loddon District?], [Commissioner illegible - probably M. Cohn]gold license, gold licence, mining, cohn, eureka -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Functional object - Music stand, Early 19th Century before 1860
Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) appears to have been the first to record the written term “Canterbury” music or magazine stand. In his Cabinet Dictionary of 1803 he refers to “a small music stand” with divisions for holding loose sheet or bound volumes of music. The music stand designed to hold sheet music came into fashion in the late 18th Century in England and was often crafted from mahogany, rosewood or walnut. They were seen as status symbols since music was practiced exclusively by the upper classes of society. In a period when printed music was more widely available and disseminated due to more affordable printing techniques, modern sheet music was very popular and therefore storage for such favoured tunes became a luxury and an opportunity for innovative design by cabinet makers. The Classical period of music, from about 1750 to 1820 and the Romantic Period from around 1815-1910 was the golden age of classical music. And it was at this time that The Canterbury often accompanied the piano in the parlour with styles ranging from Georgian simplicity to Victorian exuberance. Social activities of colonial Victoria would have included evening gatherings of family and friends around the piano to enjoy performances or sing along together with from old and up-to-date music sheets. The Canterbury would also be an elegant and practical place to also store newspapers, magazines, posters and drawings from overseas. The news from ‘home’ would be enjoyed by all. THE INSCRIPTION “Jack Morse” Morse. In 2010 Mr Jack Morse was recognised as one of the “people who have contributed to the long term development of Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village”. He was a member of the Flagstaff hill Planning board and a Current Life Member and had been awarded a Certificate of Service and the provision of an Annual Family Membership for life by Flagstaff Hill. The Morse’s family business, Morse’s Engineering, closed in 2010. It was considered “One of Warrnambool’s longest operating businesses with roots dating to 1883 with the design and manufacture of coaches and buggies, progressing to automotive repairs and later specialising in under-vehicle work” The Canterbury appears to have been handmade prior to 1860 as the dovetails are handmade and there are no saw marks on the drawer sides or back as well the sides. Also the back has small nicks indicating a hand plane or drawer knife was used rather than a saw blade to size the material. Additional indications are that the spindles are slightly different in size meaning they were handmade individually not mass produced. From these indicators the writer believes that the item was made before 1860 as machinery was only used after this date to produce furniture. As yet no individual maker can be attributed to this item, however it is a significant piece historically and is quite valuable if a known maker can be associated with the Canterbury. The item highlights a time in our social history when music played an everyday part in people’s lives as the only entertainment families could enjoy together in their own homes. A Canterbury music stand, having three compartments consisting of twenty turned spindles supporting the slat dividers. A drawer, with two turned wooden handles, is fitted below. The music stand has turnip style turned feet. The drawer front and carcass of the stand are veneered rosewood over a mahogany carcass. The underlined words "Jack Morse" are handwritten underneath the drawer bottom.Hand written inscription on underneath the drawer bottom "Jack Morse".flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, canterbury, music rack, magazine rack, music stand, magazine stand, 19th century furniture, occasional furniture, frederick cornwallis, jack morse, morse’s undercar, music, thomas sheraton, regency furniture, music canterbury -
Ringwood and District Historical Society
Letter, Letter written by H.C.Howship to Ringwood Mail Ringwood 1963
To the Editor of the Ringwood Mail Dear Sir, would you please publish in your widely read paper the following letter for the information of the residents of the City of Ringwood- Re the passing of my brother Mr. J.P. Howship, who was an ANZAC one of the pioneer family of Howship of Ringwood which name is connected with the early history of Ringwood or more particularly Ringwood East as the late J.P. Howship and myself purchased the Nursery of Mr. John Hill around the year 1912 and after a couple of years my late brother Bert was taken into partnership and we bought the adjoining nursery of Mr. Will Hill and traded under name Howship Bros. Rosedale Nursery and the name of one street in the old property Howship Avenue is named after the old firm as well as Rosedale Crescent. The move for the establishment of the Ringwood East station started with myself and in a meeting up with a Mr .T. Birkitt who I felt was the man I needed as he was a sub Estate Agent .A meeting was called and held in our packing shed at the end of Federal Road which at that time ended at Mr. Charlie Burdens property and abbuted (sic) on our property. This meeting was attended by about sixty residents and the late Mr. C. Wedge was elected as the first President of the Ringwood East Railway League and Progress Assoc. with Mr. T. Birkitt as Secretary and myself as assist. Secretary. This League raised the sum of about 1,600 from residents and land owners for the erection of the Ringwood East Railway Station & after the station was erected and paid for the League part was canceled and the Progress Assoc. carried on. The present Ringwood East Cricket Club was formed at meeting and the Prog .......and my three brothers Bert, Mervyn and played cricket in the Ringwood district for many years and most of us were members of the Ringwood at first and then the Ringwood East Football clubs and followed the teams for years a few names of the old players came to mind in E. Thomas , C. Weil, T. Homewood, the Pratt family and others. I might mention for the benefit of the City of Ringwood residents my eldest brother Laurie late of New Street and now living at Blairgowrie was with what was then known as Coopers Mills and designed and helped to build some of the first buildings in that property now known as Ringwood Timber & Trading Co .Also that myself and others namely the Reidy Brothers, Mr. Taylor, & L .Cleary & voluntary labour formed the tennis courts at East Ringwood with the help of our young Ladies of the time, those courts I'm pleased to say are well established and two more are added and provide good activities for the young people of the district. Also with the aid of C .Thomas, Norm Blood and others we formed the Methodist courts. From the Ringwood East Progress Association came the move to have a Health Centre for Ringwood. This was established by a good deal of enthusiastic work by some mothers after spending nearly fifty years in Ringwood watching it grow from town surrounded by orchards to a City and I must congratulate the Civic Fathers and their staff in the growth of Ringwood and the fine roads, Parks, Elderly Citizens Club and have all done a good job but why oh why have you neglected mines Road Ringwood east. Why has this road not been made the drainage there is something to be seen to be believed in such a city .The only solution is making and curbing this road & I would ask those responsible why the curbing was put down Dublin Road where there are no residents this curbing could well have solved the problem in Mines Road if used there. I recently spent a weekend with my Daughter, Mrs. Munro at the corner of Maroondah highway and Mines Road and was disgusted at the condition of Mines Road and drainage and had to air my views and suggest a trip to Mines Road by the Civic Fathers led by the Health Inspector I am yours sincerely H.C. Howship Sheila Street, Rye. (copied here verbatim)3 pages of hand written letter detailing the early history of the East Ringwood Railway and Progress Association, football, cricket and tennis clubs.. Written as a draft in 1963. -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Post Office Receiving Pillar, 1885
This Post Office Receiving Pillar was restored in 1980 and is now a fully operational Australia Post mailbox. In early August 1980 Prime Minister Mr. Fraser posted Warrnambool’s first commemorative envelope into this restored Post Office Receiving Pillar at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village. The special limited edition envelopes are numbered 1 – 7000. When posted, the envelopes would have the Flagstaff Hill Logo and Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village’s own postmark of a ship’s steering wheel surrounding a lighthouse and a sailing ship, and were dated August 3 on the First Day Cover. Amongst Flagstaff Hill’s collection is that very first letter posted by Prime Minister Fraser. HISTORY OF POST OFFICE RECEIVING PILLARS In 1851 ‘pillar boxes’ were installed at roadside locations in the island of Jersey, England; they had already been successful in several European countries. The use of new prepaid, adhesive postage stamps as well as the roadside pillar boxes meant there was no need for the public to take a trip to the Post Office just to post a letter. By 1855 London had installed its first six Pillar Boxes. In 1856 the pillar boxes were first introduced in Sydney. These were circular with a crown on the dome, supported by leaves. Early Victoria Mail was originally collected by ‘letter carriers’, first appointed in Melbourne in 1841, equipped with leather bag and hand bell. He wore a red coat with brass buttons and a black top hat! In 1844 two wooden receiving boxes were erected in Melbourne. The first cast iron boxes were installed in South Melbourne (Emerald Hill) and were still in service until 1967. They were a fluted circular design and made in England. In the early 1860’s the ‘low door round’ design posting box was introduced, being circular and surrounded by a crown, with two broad embossed bands around its circumference. The clearance door was in front of the box and low down. These were made in Australia. In the early 1870’s square boxes with a tapering top were being used. These too were made in Australia by different manufacturers with slight variations on style such as the orientation and number of slots. Next came the circular boxes again, similar to the ‘low door round’ but with the clearance door extending to just below the posting slot, often referred to as ‘high door round’. These boxes did not have embossed bands. In 1887 small cast iron boxes were introduced, attached to posts and poles and called ‘lamp post receivers’. Around 1930 a ‘London’ model was used in Victoria. It was copied from the flat-domed type in London but made in Tasmania. [References: Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village records, The Warrnambool Standard, August 1st, 1980, “Stamps.Au” http://www.stampsau.com, 4th April 2011 (Extracted from “Australian Street Posting Boxes” by Ken Sparks – out of print)] Post Office Receiving Pillar, or letterbox.1885 “High Door Round” design. Tall cast iron cylinder with decorative dome cap with crown on top. Side has a slot and a hinged door with handle shaped as a fist. Painted red with gold trim. “POST OFFICE / RECEIVING PILLAR” lettering cast into cylinder. Restored in 1980 and once again operating as an Australia Post mailbox. Commemorative plague on pillar.“POST OFFICE / RECEIVING PILLAR” lettering cast into cylinder. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum – Port of Warrnambool. This letter receiver was officially commissioned on 3rd August 1980 by the Prime Minister of Australia, the Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser M.P. on completion of 25 years’ service as the Federal Minister for Wannon.”flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, post office receiving pillar, letterbox, mailbox, australia post -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Functional object - Post Office Receiving Pillar, 1885
Post Office Receiving Pillar was Collected from Warrnambool City Council’s Scott Street Depot and transported to Flagstaff Hill, stored in the Barracks area Friends of Flagstaff Hill began the project of restoring the Post Office Receiving Pillar in early 2011. The replacement dome required a pattern to be made from paper, then timber, then someone to manufacture it. The cast iron body required sand blasting and undercoating. The pillar was installed in Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in March 2014. A specialist visited the Village and painted the pillar with 7 coats of ‘post office red’ then completed the job with gold paint on the details. In 2015 an information plate of brass was fitted to the Pillar in the position that would have originally announced the clearing times. It was originally manufactured by G Couch, Engineer, Alliance Iron Works, Melbourne. Gordon Couch passed away in June 1896 and his Works were offered for auction in November 1897. HISTORY OF POST OFFICE RECEIVING PILLARS In 1851 ‘pillar boxes’ were installed at roadside locations in the island of Jersey, England; they had already been successful in several European countries. The use of new prepaid, adhesive postage stamps as well as the roadside pillar boxes meant there was no need for the public to take a trip to the Post Office just to post a letter. By 1855 London had installed its first six Pillar Boxes. In 1856 the pillar boxes were first introduced in Sydney. These were circular with a crown on the dome, supported by leaves. Early Victoria Mail was originally collected by ‘letter carriers’, first appointed in Melbourne in 1841, equipped with leather bag and hand bell. He wore a red coat with brass buttons and a black top hat! In 1844 two wooden receiving boxes were erected in Melbourne. The first cast iron boxes were installed in South Melbourne (Emerald Hill) and were still in service until 1967. They were a fluted circular design and made in England. In the early 1860’s the ‘low door round’ design posting box was introduced, being circular and surrounded by a crown, with two broad embossed bands around its circumference. The clearance door was in front of the box and low down. These were made in Australia. In the early 1870’s square boxes with a tapering top were being used. These too were made in Australia by different manufacturers with slight variations on style such as the orientation and number of slots. Next came the circular boxes again, similar to the ‘low door round’ but with the clearance door extending to just below the posting slot, often referred to as ‘high door round’. These boxes did not have embossed bands. In 1887 small cast iron boxes were introduced, attached to posts and poles and called ‘lamp post receivers’. Around 1930 a ‘London’ model was used in Victoria. It was copied from the flat-domed type in London but made in Tasmania. … [References: Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village records, The Argus, 11th April, 1890, The Argus, 2nd July, 1896, The Argus, 30th Nov. 1897, “Stamps.Au” http://www.stampsau.com, 4th April 2011 (Extracted from “Australian Street Posting Boxes” by Ken Sparks – out of print)] Post Office Receiving Pillar, or letterbox.1885 "High Door Round" design, restored 2014 Tall cast iron sylinder with decorative dome cap, slot in side, hinged door with handle shaped as a fist. Painted red with gold trip..Reconditioned barrel, reconstructed dome. Restored by Friends of Flagstaff Hill, 2014. Now a working letterbox. Made in Melbourne.Oval maker's plate “ - G. COUCH - / ENGINEER / ALLIANCE IRON / WORKS / MELBOURNE”flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, post office receiving pillar, letterbox, mailbox, australia post -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Equipment - Balance Scale, 1850s
A Large Rare mid 19th Century Balance Scale (also called a Beam Scale) Made in England by W&T Avery a British manufacturer of weighing machines. The company was founded in the early 18th century and took the name W & T Avery in 1818. The undocumented origin of the company goes back to 1730 when James Ford established the business in the town of Digbeth. On Joseph Balden the then company’s owner’s death in 1813 William and Thomas Avery took over his scale making business and in 1818 renamed it W & T Avery. The business rapidly expanded and in 1885 they owned three factories: the Atlas Works in West Bromwich, the Mill Lane Works in Birmingham and the Moat Lane Works in Digbeth. In 1891 the business became a limited company with a board of directors and in 1894 the shares were quoted on the London Stock Exchange. In 1895 the company bought the legendary Soho Foundry in Smethwick, a former steam engine factory owned by James Watt & Co. In 1897 the move was complete and the steam engine business was gradually converted to pure manufacture of weighing machines. The turn of the century was marked by managing director William Hipkins who was determined to broadening the renown of the Avery brand and transforming the business into a specialist manufacture of weighing machines. By 1914 the company occupied an area of 32,000m² and had some 3000 employees. In the inter-war period the growth continued with the addition of specialized shops for cast parts, enamel paints and weighbridge assembly and the product range diversified into counting machines, testing machines, automatic packing machines and petrol pumps. During the second world war the company also produced various types of heavy guns. At that time the site underwent severe damage from parachute mines and incendiary bombs.Then from 1931 to 1973 the company occupied the 18th-century Middlesex Sessions House in Clerkenwell as its headquarters. Changes in weighing machine technology after World War II led to the closure of the foundry, the introduction of electronic weighing with the simultaneous gradual disappearance of purely mechanical devices. The continued expansion was partly achieved through a series of acquisitions of other companies. After almost a century of national and international expansion the company was taken over by GEC in 1979. Keith Hodgkinson, managing director at the time, completed the turn-around from mechanical to electronic weighing with a complete overhaul of the product range of retail scales and industrial platform scales. In 1993 GEC took over the Dutch-based company Berkel and the Avery-Berkel name was introduced. In 2000 the business was in turn acquired by the US-American company Weigh-Tronix, who already owned Salter, and is today operating as Avery Weigh-Tronix. Item made and used possibly around the 1850s by Victorian colonial government to check weights of goods being sold by early shop keepers on the gold fields item is very rare.James McEwan & Co were the retailers of W & T Avery scales in Victoria from 1852. A very rare item used probably to check weights used by merchants during colonial times by government inspectors in Victoria. A similar example exist in a NSW museum, the item is believed to have been made before W & T Avery expansion to the Soho foundry in Birmingham in 1885 and after 1818.Beam balance scale suspended from a wooden tripod, with metal trays suspended by three chain lengths. embossed on the balance beam W T Avery, Birmingham,flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, scale, avery -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Craft - Ship Model, Falls of Halladale, 1886-1910
The Falls of Halladale was an iron-hulled, four-masted barque, used as a bulk carrier of general cargo. She left New York in August 1908 bound for Melbourne and Sydney. In her hold was general cargo consisting of roofing tiles, barb wire, stoves, oil, and benzene as well as many other manufactured items. After three months at sea and close to her destination, a navigational error caused the Falls of Halladale to be wrecked on a reef off the Peterborough headland on the 15th of November, 1908. The captain and 29 crew members survived, but her cargo was largely lost, despite two salvage attempts in 1908-09 and 1910. The Court of Marine Inquiry in Melbourne ruled that the foundering of the ship was entirely due to Captain David Wood Thomson's navigational error, not too technical failure of the Clyde-built ship. The Falls of Halladale was built in1886 by Russell & Co., at Greenock shipyards on the River Clyde, Scotland for Wright, Breakenridge & Co of Glasgow. She was one of several designs of Falls Line of ships named after waterfalls in Scotland. The company had been founded between 1870- 1873 as a partnership between Joseph Russell, Anderson Rodger, and William Todd Lithgow. During the period 1882-92 Russell & Co. standardised designs, which sped up their building process so much that they were able to build 271 ships during that time. The Falls of Halladale had a sturdy construction built to carry maximum cargo and able to maintain full sail in heavy gales, one of the last of the 'windjammers' that sailed the Trade Route. She and her sister ship, the Falls of Garry, were the first ships in the world to include fore and aft lifting bridges. Previous to this, heavily loaded vessels could have heavy seas break along the full length of the deck, causing serious injury or even death to those on deck. The new, raised catwalk-type decking allowed the crew to move above the deck in stormy conditions. The Falls of Halladale shipwreck is listed on the Victorian Heritage (No. S255). She was one of the last ships to sail the Trade Routes from Europe and the Americas. Also of significance is that the vessel was one of the first ships to have fore and aft lifting bridges as a significant safety feature still in use on modern vessels today. The subject model is an example of an International Cargo Ship used during the 19th and early 20th centuries to transport goods around the world and representing aspects of Victoria’s shipping industry. Ship mode,l Falls of Halladale, four masted ship diorama. Glass case with wood frame. Paper on back of case with inscription "Frank Davey etc" Case frame has title "Falls of Halladale" and date on base of wood frame is" 1908". It was a four-masted iron-hulled barque.On top of case frame "FALLS OF HALLADALE" and on base of case frame "1908". Paper on back of case has inscription "Frank Davey " (See note section this document for details on Frank Davey)flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, shipwreck peterborough vic, ship model, fall of halladale ship, trade winds, barque, trade vessel, wright, breakenridge & co, ricer clyde -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Equipment - Jug
The beginning of standardised weights and measures began In Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received sets of standard weights and measures, which had been tested in Britain against the then British Imperial standards. These included the primary standard yard and pound for the Colony of Victoria. Other standards of weights and measure held by shires and the administrative body's within the colony could then be compared to these primary standards. A Weights and Measures Act was passed in Victoria in 1862, establishing local inspectors throughout the colony. By the 1870s each local council and shire in Victoria held a set of standards that were used to test scales, weights and dry measures used by wholesalers, factories and shops. Every ten years the councils’ standards would themselves need to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. The checking was done by the Victorian Customs Department in the 19th century, but with the transfer of responsibility for customs to the Federal Government in 1901, weights and measures function was retained by the Victorian Government and was shifted to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, a new building was erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House, where the standard weights and measures and testing equipment was installed. This room had a large whirling apparatus for testing air meters and became known as the Whirling Room. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue and this branch remained at the Observatory site unit until 1995.An example of a galvanised measuring jug made specifically to maintain government standard liquid measurements that were sold to the public. The probability is that this artifact was made around the first quarter of the 20th century and gives us today a snapshot of how imperial weights and measures were used before decimalisation and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in Australian based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item used in Victoria as a legal standard measure to ensure that goods sold in Victoria were correct. Jug conical shaped with rounded top coming to a very slight point wide handle at back. VIB.L.66 1/2 Gall capacityflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Clothing - Baby Clothes, c. 1930
This baby dress was donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by the family of Doctor William Roy Angus, Surgeon and Oculist. It is part of the “W.R. Angus Collection” that includes historical medical equipment, surgical instruments and material once belonging to Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Thomas Francis Ryan, (both of Nhill, Victoria) as well as Dr Angus’ own belongings. The Collection’s history spans the medical practices of the two Doctors Ryan, from 1885-1926 plus that of Dr Angus, up until 1969. ABOUT THE “W.R.ANGUS COLLECTION” Doctor William Roy Angus M.B., B.S., Adel., 1923, F.R.C.S. Edin.,1928 (also known as Dr Roy Angus) was born in Murrumbeena, Victoria in 1901 and lived until 1970. He qualified as a doctor in 1923 at University of Adelaide, was Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1924 and for a period was house surgeon to Sir (then Mr.) Henry Simpson Newland. Dr Angus was briefly an Assistant to Dr Riddell of Kapunda, then commenced private practice at Curramulka, Yorke Peninsula, SA, where he was physician, surgeon and chemist. In 1926, he was appointed as new Medical Assistant to Dr Thomas Francis Ryan (T.F. Ryan, or Tom), in Nhill, Victoria, where his experiences included radiology and pharmacy. In 1927 he was Acting House Surgeon in Dr Tom Ryan’s absence. Dr Angus had become engaged to Gladys Forsyth and they decided he further his studies overseas in the UK in 1927. He studied at London University College Hospital and at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and in 1928, was awarded FRCS (Fellow from the Royal College of Surgeons), Edinburgh. He worked his passage back to Australia as a Ship’s Surgeon on the on the Australian Commonwealth Line’s T.S.S. Largs Bay. Dr Angus married Gladys in 1929, in Ballarat. (They went on to have one son (Graham 1932, born in SA) and two daughters (Helen (died 12/07/1996) and Berenice (Berry), both born at Mira, Nhill ) According to Berry, her mother Gladys made a lot of their clothes. She was very talented and did some lovely embroidery including lingerie for her trousseau and beautifully handmade baby clothes. Dr Angus was a ‘flying doctor’ for the A.I.M. (Australian Inland Ministry) Aerial Medical Service in 1928 . Its first station was in the remote town of Oodnadatta, where Dr Angus was stationed. He was locum tenens there on North-South Railway at 21 Mile Camp. He took up this ‘flying doctor’ position in response to a call from Dr John Flynn; the organisation was later known as the Flying Doctor Service, then the Royal Flying Doctor Service. A lot of his work during this time involved dental surgery also. Between 1928-1932 he was surgeon at the Curramulka Hospital, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. In 1933 Dr Angus returned to Nhill and purchased a share of the Nelson Street practice and Mira hospital (a 2 bed ward at the Nelson Street Practice) from Dr Les Middleton one of the Middleton Brothers, the current owners of what previously once Dr Tom Ryan’s practice. Dr Tom and his brother had worked as surgeons included eye surgery. Dr Tom Ryan performed many of his operations in the Mira private hospital on his premises. He had been House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1902-1926. Dr Tom Ryan had one of the only two pieces of radiology equipment in Victoria during his practicing years – The Royal Melbourne Hospital had the other one. Over the years Dr Tom Ryan had gradually set up what was effectively a training school for country general-practitioner-surgeons. Each patient was carefully examined, including using the X-ray machine, and any surgery was discussed and planned with Dr Ryan’s assistants several days in advance. Dr Angus gained experience in using the X-ray machine there during his time as assistant to Dr Ryan. When Dr Angus bought into the Nelson Street premises in Nhill he was also appointed as the Nhill Hospital’s Honorary House Surgeon 1933-1938. His practitioner’s plate from his Nhill surgery is now mounted on the doorway to the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, Warrnambool. When Dr Angus took up practice in the Dr Edward and Dr Tom Ryan’s old premises he obtained their extensive collection of historical medical equipment and materials spanning 1884-1926. A large part of this collection is now on display at the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool. In 1939 Dr Angus and his family moved to Warrnambool where he purchased “Birchwood,” the 1852 home and medical practice of Dr John Hunter Henderson, at 214 Koroit Street. (This property was sold in1965 to the State Government and is now the site of the Warrnambool Police Station. and an ALDI sore is on the land that was once their tennis court). The Angus family was able to afford gardeners, cooks and maids; their home was a popular place for visiting dignitaries to stay whilst visiting Warrnambool. Dr Angus had his own silk worm farm at home in a Mulberry tree. His young daughter used his centrifuge for spinning the silk. Dr Angus was appointed on a part-time basis as Port Medical Officer (Health Officer) in Warrnambool and held this position until the 1940’s when the government no longer required the service of a Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool; he was thus Warrnambool’s last serving Port Medical Officer. (Masters of immigrant ships arriving in port reported incidents of diseases, illness and death and the Port Medical Officer made a decision on whether the ship required Quarantine and for how long, in this way preventing contagious illness from spreading from new immigrants to the residents already in the colony.) Dr Angus was a member of the Australian Medical Association, for 35 years and surgeon at the Warrnambool Base Hospital 1939-1942, He served as a Surgeon Captain during WWII1942-45, in Ballarat, Victoria, and in Bonegilla, N.S.W., completing his service just before the end of the war due to suffering from a heart attack. During his convalescence he carved an intricate and ‘most artistic’ chess set from the material that dentures were made from. He then studied ophthalmology at the Royal Melbourne Eye and Ear Hospital and created cosmetically superior artificial eyes by pioneering using the intrascleral cartilage. Angus received accolades from the Ophthalmological Society of Australasia for this work. He returned to Warrnambool to commence practice as an ophthalmologist, pioneering in artificial eye improvements. He was Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist to Warrnambool Base Hospital for 31 years. He made monthly visits to Portland as a visiting surgeon, to perform eye surgery. He represented the Victorian South-West subdivision of the Australian Medical Association as its secretary between 1949 and 1956 and as chairman from 1956 to 1958. In 1968 Dr Angus was elected member of Spain’s Barraquer Institute of Barcelona after his research work in Intrasclearal cartilage grafting, becoming one of the few Australian ophthalmologists to receive this honour, and in the following year presented his final paper on Living Intrasclearal Cartilage Implants at the Inaugural Meeting of the Australian College of Ophthalmologists in Melbourne In his personal life Dr Angus was a Presbyterian and treated Sunday as a Sabbath, a day of rest. He would visit 3 or 4 country patients on a Sunday, taking his children along ‘for the ride’ and to visit with him. Sunday evenings he would play the pianola and sing Scottish songs to his family. One of Dr Angus’ patients was Margaret MacKenzie, author of a book on local shipwrecks that she’d seen as an eye witness from the late 1880’s in Peterborough, Victoria. In the early 1950’s Dr Angus, painted a picture of a shipwreck for the cover jacket of Margaret’s book, Shipwrecks and More Shipwrecks. She was blind in later life and her daughter wrote the actual book for her. Dr Angus and his wife Gladys were very involved in Warrnambool’s society with a strong interest in civic affairs. He had an interest in people and the community They were both involved in the creation of Flagstaff Hill, including the layout of the gardens. After his death (28th March 1970) his family requested his practitioner’s plate, medical instruments and some personal belongings be displayed in the Port Medical Office surgery at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, and be called the “W. R. Angus Collection”. This garment is an example of the beautiful handmade clothing produced in Australian homes in the early 20th century. The W.R. Angus Collection is significant for still being located at the site it is connected with, Doctor Angus being the last Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool. The collection of medical instruments and other equipment is culturally significant, being an historical example of medicine from late 19th to mid-20th century. Dr Angus assisted Dr Tom Ryan, a pioneer in the use of X-rays and in ocular surgery. Baby clothes, handmade baby dress. Silk, front opening, button and ribbon closure, crochet around edges. Made by Gladys Angus. part of the W.R. Angus Collection. Dress has been made only has one seam in itflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, dr w r angus, dr ryan, surgical instrument, t.s.s. largs bay, warrnambool base hospital, nhill base hospital, mira hospital, flying doctor, baby dress, baby clothes, handmade baby clothes, glenys angus -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Surgical wire, early 1900's
This spool of surgical wire was donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by the family of Doctor William Roy Angus, Surgeon and Oculist. It is part of the “W.R. Angus Collection” that includes historical medical equipment, surgical instruments and material once belonging to Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Thomas Francis Ryan, (both of Nhill, Victoria) as well as Dr Angus’ own belongings. The Collection’s history spans the medical practices of the two Doctors Ryan, from 1885-1926 plus that of Dr Angus, up until 1969. ABOUT THE “W.R.ANGUS COLLECTION” Doctor William Roy Angus M.B., B.S., Adel., 1923, F.R.C.S. Edin.,1928 (also known as Dr Roy Angus) was born in Murrumbeena, Victoria in 1901 and lived until 1970. He qualified as a doctor in 1923 at University of Adelaide, was Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1924 and for a period was house surgeon to Sir (then Mr.) Henry Simpson Newland. Dr Angus was briefly an Assistant to Dr Riddell of Kapunda, then commenced private practice at Curramulka, Yorke Peninsula, SA, where he was physician, surgeon and chemist. In 1926, he was appointed as new Medical Assistant to Dr Thomas Francis Ryan (T.F. Ryan, or Tom), in Nhill, Victoria, where his experiences included radiology and pharmacy. In 1927 he was Acting House Surgeon in Dr Tom Ryan’s absence. Dr Angus had become engaged to Gladys Forsyth and they decided he would take time to further his studies overseas in the UK in 1927. He studied at London University College Hospital and at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and in 1928, was awarded FRCS (Fellow from the Royal College of Surgeons), Edinburgh. He worked his passage back to Australia as a Ship’s Surgeon on the on the Australian Commonwealth Line’s T.S.S. Largs Bay. Dr Angus married Gladys in 1929, in Ballarat. (They went on to have one son (Graham 1932, born in SA) and two daughters (Helen (died 12/07/1996) and Berenice (Berry), both born at Mira, Nhill ) Dr Angus was a ‘flying doctor’ for the A.I.M. (Australian Inland Ministry) Aerial Medical Service in 1928 . The organisation began in South Australia through the Presbyterian Church in that year, with its first station being in the remote town of Oodnadatta, where Dr Angus was stationed. He was locum tenens there on North-South Railway at 21 Mile Camp. He took up this ‘flying doctor’ position in response to a call from Dr John Flynn; the organisation was later known as the Flying Doctor Service, then the Royal Flying Doctor Service. A lot of his work during this time involved dental surgery also. Between 1928-1932 he was surgeon at the Curramulka Hospital, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. In 1933 Dr Angus returned to Nhill where he’d previously worked as Medical Assistant and purchased a share of the Nelson Street practice and Mira hospital from Dr Les Middleton one of the Middleton Brothers, the current owners of what was once Dr Tom Ryan’s practice. Dr L Middleton was House Surgeon to the Nhill Hospital 1926-1933, when he resigned. [Dr Tom Ryan’s practice had originally belonged to his older brother Dr Edward Ryan, who came to Nhill in 1885. Dr Edward saw patients at his rooms, firstly in Victoria Street and in 1886 in Nelson Street, until 1901. The Nelson Street practice also had a 2 bed ward, called Mira Private Hospital ). Dr Edward Ryan was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1884-1902 . He also had occasions where he successfully performed veterinary surgery for the local farmers too. Dr Tom Ryan then purchased the practice from his brother in 1901. Both Dr Edward and Dr Tom Ryan work as surgeons included eye surgery. Dr Tom Ryan performed many of his operations in the Mira private hospital on his premises. He too was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1902-1926. Dr Tom Ryan had one of the only two pieces of radiology equipment in Victoria during his practicing years – The Royal Melbourne Hospital had the other one. Over the years Dr Tom Ryan gradually set up what was effectively a training school for country general-practitioner-surgeons. Each patient was carefully examined, including using the X-ray machine, and any surgery was discussed and planned with Dr Ryan’s assistants several days in advance. Dr Angus gained experience in using the X-ray machine there during his time as assistant to Dr Ryan. Dr Tom Ryan moved from Nhill in 1926. He became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1927, soon after its formation, a rare accolade for a doctor outside any of the major cities. He remained a bachelor and died suddenly on 7th Dec 1955, aged 91, at his home in Ararat. Scholarships and prizes are still awarded to medical students in the honour of Dr T.F. Ryan and his father, Dr Michael Ryan, and brother, John Patrick Ryan. ] When Dr Angus bought into the Nelson Street premises in Nhill he was also appointed as the Nhill Hospital’s Honorary House Surgeon 1933-1938. His practitioner’s plate from his Nhill surgery states “HOURS Daily, except Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturday afternoons, 9-10am, 2-4pm, 7-8pm. Sundays by appointment”. This plate is now mounted on the doorway to the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, Warrnambool. Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Tom Ryan had an extensive collection of historical medical equipment and materials spanning 1884-1926 and when Dr Angus took up practice in their old premises he obtained this collection, a large part of which is now on display at the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool. During his time in Nhill Dr Angus was involved in the merging of the Mira Hospital and Nhill Public Hospital into one public hospital and the property titles passed on to Nhill Hospital in 1939. In 1939 Dr Angus and his family moved to Warrnambool where he purchased “Birchwood,” the 1852 home and medical practice of Dr John Hunter Henderson, at 214 Koroit Street. (This property was sold in1965 to the State Government and is now the site of the Warrnambool Police Station. ). The Angus family was able to afford gardeners, cooks and maids; their home was a popular place for visiting dignitaries to stay whilst visiting Warrnambool. Dr Angus had his own silk worm farm at home in a Mulberry tree. His young daughter used his centrifuge for spinning the silk. Dr Angus was appointed on a part-time basis as Port Medical Officer (Health Officer) in Warrnambool and held this position until the 1940’s when the government no longer required the service of a Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool; he was thus Warrnambool’s last serving Port Medical Officer. (The duties of a Port Medical Officer were outlined by the Colonial Secretary on 21st June, 1839 under the terms of the Quarantine Act. Masters of immigrant ships arriving in port reported incidents of diseases, illness and death and the Port Medical Officer made a decision on whether the ship required Quarantine and for how long, in this way preventing contagious illness from spreading from new immigrants to the residents already in the colony.) Dr Angus was a member of the Australian Medical Association, for 35 years and surgeon at the Warrnambool Base Hospital 1939-1942, He served as a Surgeon Captain during WWII1942-45, in Ballarat, Victoria, and in Bonegilla, N.S.W., completing his service just before the end of the war due to suffering from a heart attack. During his convalescence he carved an intricate and ‘most artistic’ chess set from the material that dentures were made from. He then studied ophthalmology at the Royal Melbourne Eye and Ear Hospital and created cosmetically superior artificial eyes by pioneering using the intrascleral cartilage. Angus received accolades from the Ophthalmological Society of Australasia for this work. He returned to Warrnambool to commence practice as an ophthalmologist, pioneering in artificial eye improvements. He was Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist to Warrnambool Base Hospital for 31 years. He made monthly visits to Portland as a visiting surgeon, to perform eye surgery. He represented the Victorian South-West subdivision of the Australian Medical Association as its secretary between 1949 and 1956 and as chairman from 1956 to 1958. In 1968 Dr Angus was elected member of Spain’s Barraquer Institute of Barcelona after his research work in Intrasclearal cartilage grafting, becoming one of the few Australian ophthalmologists to receive this honour, and in the following year presented his final paper on Living Intrasclearal Cartilage Implants at the Inaugural Meeting of the Australian College of Ophthalmologists in Melbourne In his personal life Dr Angus was a Presbyterian and treated Sunday as a Sabbath, a day of rest. He would visit 3 or 4 country patients on a Sunday, taking his children along ‘for the ride’ and to visit with him. Sunday evenings he would play the pianola and sing Scottish songs to his family. One of Dr Angus’ patients was Margaret MacKenzie, author of a book on local shipwrecks that she’d seen as an eye witness from the late 1880’s in Peterborough, Victoria. In the early 1950’s Dr Angus, painted a picture of a shipwreck for the cover jacket of Margaret’s book, Shipwrecks and More Shipwrecks. She was blind in later life and her daughter wrote the actual book for her. Dr Angus and his wife Gladys were very involved in Warrnambool’s society with a strong interest in civic affairs. Their interests included organisations such as Red Cross, Rostrum, Warrnambool and District Historical Society (founding members), Wine and Food Society, Steering Committee for Tertiary Education in Warrnambool, Local National Trust, Good Neighbour Council, Housing Commission Advisory Board, United Services Institute, Legion of Ex-Servicemen, Olympic Pool Committee, Food for Britain Organisation, Warrnambool Hospital, Anti-Cancer Council, Boys’ Club, Charitable Council, National Fitness Council and Air Raid Precautions Group. He was also a member of the Steam Preservation Society and derived much pleasure from a steam traction engine on his farm. He had an interest in people and the community He and his wife Gladys were both involved in the creation of Flagstaff Hill, including the layout of the gardens. After his death (28th March 1970) his family requested his practitioner’s plate, medical instruments and some personal belongings be displayed in the Port Medical Office surgery at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, and be called the “W. R. Angus Collection”. The W.R. Angus Collection is significant for still being located at the site it is connected with, Doctor Angus being the last Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool. The collection of medical instruments and other equipment is culturally significant, being an historical example of medicine from late 19th to mid-20th century. Dr Angus assisted Dr Tom Ryan, a pioneer in the use of X-rays and in ocular surgery. Spool containing fine, flexible lengths of surgical wire from the W.R. Angus Collection. The wire has no sign of corrosion. There is more than one length of wire wound around this bobbin and the wires are of different thicknesses. The spool is clear plastic with four holes moulded into each end. Once part of Dr T.F. Ryan's medical practice. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, surgical wire, spool of surgical wire, dr angus, dr ryan, medical equipment, warrnambool base hospital, nhill base hospital, mira hospital, flying doctor, medical history, medical treatment -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Surgical thread, early 20th century
This surgical thread was donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by the family of Doctor William Roy Angus, Surgeon and Oculist. It is part of the “W.R. Angus Collection” that includes historical medical equipment, surgical instruments and material once belonging to Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Thomas Francis Ryan, (both of Nhill, Victoria) as well as Dr Angus’ own belongings. The Collection’s history spans the medical practices of the two Doctors Ryan, from 1885-1926 plus that of Dr Angus, up until 1969. ABOUT THE “W.R.ANGUS COLLECTION” Doctor William Roy Angus M.B., B.S., Adel., 1923, F.R.C.S. Edin.,1928 (also known as Dr Roy Angus) was born in Murrumbeena, Victoria in 1901 and lived until 1970. He qualified as a doctor in 1923 at University of Adelaide, was Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1924 and for a period was house surgeon to Sir (then Mr.) Henry Simpson Newland. Dr Angus was briefly an Assistant to Dr Riddell of Kapunda, then commenced private practice at Curramulka, Yorke Peninsula, SA, where he was physician, surgeon and chemist. In 1926, he was appointed as new Medical Assistant to Dr Thomas Francis Ryan (T.F. Ryan, or Tom), in Nhill, Victoria, where his experiences included radiology and pharmacy. In 1927 he was Acting House Surgeon in Dr Tom Ryan’s absence. Dr Angus had become engaged to Gladys Forsyth and they decided he would take time to further his studies overseas in the UK in 1927. He studied at London University College Hospital and at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and in 1928, was awarded FRCS (Fellow from the Royal College of Surgeons), Edinburgh. He worked his passage back to Australia as a Ship’s Surgeon on the on the Australian Commonwealth Line’s T.S.S. Largs Bay. Dr Angus married Gladys in 1929, in Ballarat. (They went on to have one son (Graham 1932, born in SA) and two daughters (Helen (died 12/07/1996) and Berenice (Berry), both born at Mira, Nhill ) Dr Angus was a ‘flying doctor’ for the A.I.M. (Australian Inland Ministry) Aerial Medical Service in 1928 . The organisation began in South Australia through the Presbyterian Church in that year, with its first station being in the remote town of Oodnadatta, where Dr Angus was stationed. He was locum tenens there on North-South Railway at 21 Mile Camp. He took up this ‘flying doctor’ position in response to a call from Dr John Flynn; the organisation was later known as the Flying Doctor Service, then the Royal Flying Doctor Service. A lot of his work during this time involved dental surgery also. Between 1928-1932 he was surgeon at the Curramulka Hospital, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. In 1933 Dr Angus returned to Nhill where he’d previously worked as Medical Assistant and purchased a share of the Nelson Street practice and Mira hospital from Dr Les Middleton one of the Middleton Brothers, the current owners of what was once Dr Tom Ryan’s practice. Dr L Middleton was House Surgeon to the Nhill Hospital 1926-1933, when he resigned. [Dr Tom Ryan’s practice had originally belonged to his older brother Dr Edward Ryan, who came to Nhill in 1885. Dr Edward saw patients at his rooms, firstly in Victoria Street and in 1886 in Nelson Street, until 1901. The Nelson Street practice also had a 2 bed ward, called Mira Private Hospital ). Dr Edward Ryan was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1884-1902 . He also had occasions where he successfully performed veterinary surgery for the local farmers too. Dr Tom Ryan then purchased the practice from his brother in 1901. Both Dr Edward and Dr Tom Ryan work as surgeons included eye surgery. Dr Tom Ryan performed many of his operations in the Mira private hospital on his premises. He too was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1902-1926. Dr Tom Ryan had one of the only two pieces of radiology equipment in Victoria during his practicing years – The Royal Melbourne Hospital had the other one. Over the years Dr Tom Ryan gradually set up what was effectively a training school for country general-practitioner-surgeons. Each patient was carefully examined, including using the X-ray machine, and any surgery was discussed and planned with Dr Ryan’s assistants several days in advance. Dr Angus gained experience in using the X-ray machine there during his time as assistant to Dr Ryan. Dr Tom Ryan moved from Nhill in 1926. He became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1927, soon after its formation, a rare accolade for a doctor outside any of the major cities. He remained a bachelor and died suddenly on 7th Dec 1955, aged 91, at his home in Ararat. Scholarships and prizes are still awarded to medical students in the honour of Dr T.F. Ryan and his father, Dr Michael Ryan, and brother, John Patrick Ryan. ] When Dr Angus bought into the Nelson Street premises in Nhill he was also appointed as the Nhill Hospital’s Honorary House Surgeon 1933-1938. His practitioner’s plate from his Nhill surgery states “HOURS Daily, except Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturday afternoons, 9-10am, 2-4pm, 7-8pm. Sundays by appointment”. This plate is now mounted on the doorway to the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, Warrnambool. Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Tom Ryan had an extensive collection of historical medical equipment and materials spanning 1884-1926 and when Dr Angus took up practice in their old premises he obtained this collection, a large part of which is now on display at the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool. During his time in Nhill Dr Angus was involved in the merging of the Mira Hospital and Nhill Public Hospital into one public hospital and the property titles passed on to Nhill Hospital in 1939. In 1939 Dr Angus and his family moved to Warrnambool where he purchased “Birchwood,” the 1852 home and medical practice of Dr John Hunter Henderson, at 214 Koroit Street. (This property was sold in1965 to the State Government and is now the site of the Warrnambool Police Station. ). The Angus family was able to afford gardeners, cooks and maids; their home was a popular place for visiting dignitaries to stay whilst visiting Warrnambool. Dr Angus had his own silk worm farm at home in a Mulberry tree. His young daughter used his centrifuge for spinning the silk. Dr Angus was appointed on a part-time basis as Port Medical Officer (Health Officer) in Warrnambool and held this position until the 1940’s when the government no longer required the service of a Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool; he was thus Warrnambool’s last serving Port Medical Officer. (The duties of a Port Medical Officer were outlined by the Colonial Secretary on 21st June, 1839 under the terms of the Quarantine Act. Masters of immigrant ships arriving in port reported incidents of diseases, illness and death and the Port Medical Officer made a decision on whether the ship required Quarantine and for how long, in this way preventing contagious illness from spreading from new immigrants to the residents already in the colony.) Dr Angus was a member of the Australian Medical Association, for 35 years and surgeon at the Warrnambool Base Hospital 1939-1942, He served as a Surgeon Captain during WWII1942-45, in Ballarat, Victoria, and in Bonegilla, N.S.W., completing his service just before the end of the war due to suffering from a heart attack. During his convalescence he carved an intricate and ‘most artistic’ chess set from the material that dentures were made from. He then studied ophthalmology at the Royal Melbourne Eye and Ear Hospital and created cosmetically superior artificial eyes by pioneering using the intrascleral cartilage. Angus received accolades from the Ophthalmological Society of Australasia for this work. He returned to Warrnambool to commence practice as an ophthalmologist, pioneering in artificial eye improvements. He was Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist to Warrnambool Base Hospital for 31 years. He made monthly visits to Portland as a visiting surgeon, to perform eye surgery. He represented the Victorian South-West subdivision of the Australian Medical Association as its secretary between 1949 and 1956 and as chairman from 1956 to 1958. In 1968 Dr Angus was elected member of Spain’s Barraquer Institute of Barcelona after his research work in Intrasclearal cartilage grafting, becoming one of the few Australian ophthalmologists to receive this honour, and in the following year presented his final paper on Living Intrasclearal Cartilage Implants at the Inaugural Meeting of the Australian College of Ophthalmologists in Melbourne In his personal life Dr Angus was a Presbyterian and treated Sunday as a Sabbath, a day of rest. He would visit 3 or 4 country patients on a Sunday, taking his children along ‘for the ride’ and to visit with him. Sunday evenings he would play the pianola and sing Scottish songs to his family. One of Dr Angus’ patients was Margaret MacKenzie, author of a book on local shipwrecks that she’d seen as an eye witness from the late 1880’s in Peterborough, Victoria. In the early 1950’s Dr Angus, painted a picture of a shipwreck for the cover jacket of Margaret’s book, Shipwrecks and More Shipwrecks. She was blind in later life and her daughter wrote the actual book for her. Dr Angus and his wife Gladys were very involved in Warrnambool’s society with a strong interest in civic affairs. Their interests included organisations such as Red Cross, Rostrum, Warrnambool and District Historical Society (founding members), Wine and Food Society, Steering Committee for Tertiary Education in Warrnambool, Local National Trust, Good Neighbour Council, Housing Commission Advisory Board, United Services Institute, Legion of Ex-Servicemen, Olympic Pool Committee, Food for Britain Organisation, Warrnambool Hospital, Anti-Cancer Council, Boys’ Club, Charitable Council, National Fitness Council and Air Raid Precautions Group. He was also a member of the Steam Preservation Society and derived much pleasure from a steam traction engine on his farm. He had an interest in people and the community He and his wife Gladys were both involved in the creation of Flagstaff Hill, including the layout of the gardens. After his death (28th March 1970) his family requested his practitioner’s plate, medical instruments and some personal belongings be displayed in the Port Medical Office surgery at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, and be called the “W. R. Angus Collection”. The W.R. Angus Collection is significant for still being located at the site it is connected with, Doctor Angus being the last Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool. The collection of medical instruments and other equipment is culturally significant, being an historical example of medicine from late 19th to mid-20th century. Dr Angus assisted Dr Tom Ryan, a pioneer in the use of X-rays and in ocular surgery. Surgical thread from the W.R. Angus Collection. Layers of at least two different varieties of thread have been wound around a wooden spatula (similar to a tongue depressor). The outer layer is brown and the next is beige in colour. Once part of Dr T.F. Ryan's medical practice. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, surgical thread, dr t f ryan, dr angus, medicine, flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, surgical thread, dr t f ryan, dr angus, medicine, medical equipment, warrnambool base hospital, nhill base hospital, flying doctor, mira hospital, flying doctormedical history, medical treatment -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Chair, late 19th century
This doctor's examination chair was donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by the family of Doctor William Roy Angus, Surgeon and Oculist. It is part of the “W.R. Angus Collection” that includes historical medical equipment, surgical instruments and material once belonging to Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Thomas Francis Ryan, (both of Nhill, Victoria) as well as Dr Angus’ own belongings. The Collection’s history spans the medical practices of the two Doctors Ryan, from 1885-1926 plus that of Dr Angus, up until 1969. ABOUT THE “W.R.ANGUS COLLECTION” Doctor William Roy Angus M.B., B.S., Adel., 1923, F.R.C.S. Edin.,1928 (also known as Dr Roy Angus) was born in Murrumbeena, Victoria in 1901 and lived until 1970. He qualified as a doctor in 1923 at University of Adelaide, was Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1924 and for a period was house surgeon to Sir (then Mr.) Henry Simpson Newland. Dr Angus was briefly an Assistant to Dr Riddell of Kapunda, then commenced private practice at Curramulka, Yorke Peninsula, SA, where he was physician, surgeon and chemist. In 1926, he was appointed as new Medical Assistant to Dr Thomas Francis Ryan (T.F. Ryan, or Tom), in Nhill, Victoria, where his experiences included radiology and pharmacy. In 1927 he was Acting House Surgeon in Dr Tom Ryan’s absence. Dr Angus had become engaged to Gladys Forsyth and they decided he would take time to further his studies overseas in the UK in 1927. He studied at London University College Hospital and at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and in 1928, was awarded FRCS (Fellow from the Royal College of Surgeons), Edinburgh. He worked his passage back to Australia as a Ship’s Surgeon on the on the Australian Commonwealth Line’s T.S.S. Largs Bay. Dr Angus married Gladys in 1929, in Ballarat. (They went on to have one son (Graham 1932, born in SA) and two daughters (Helen (died 12/07/1996) and Berenice (Berry), both born at Mira, Nhill ) Dr Angus was a ‘flying doctor’ for the A.I.M. (Australian Inland Ministry) Aerial Medical Service in 1928 . The organisation began in South Australia through the Presbyterian Church in that year, with its first station being in the remote town of Oodnadatta, where Dr Angus was stationed. He was locum tenens there on North-South Railway at 21 Mile Camp. He took up this ‘flying doctor’ position in response to a call from Dr John Flynn; the organisation was later known as the Flying Doctor Service, then the Royal Flying Doctor Service. A lot of his work during this time involved dental surgery also. Between 1928-1932 he was surgeon at the Curramulka Hospital, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. In 1933 Dr Angus returned to Nhill where he’d previously worked as Medical Assistant and purchased a share of the Nelson Street practice and Mira hospital from Dr Les Middleton one of the Middleton Brothers, the current owners of what was once Dr Tom Ryan’s practice. Dr L Middleton was House Surgeon to the Nhill Hospital 1926-1933, when he resigned. [Dr Tom Ryan’s practice had originally belonged to his older brother Dr Edward Ryan, who came to Nhill in 1885. Dr Edward saw patients at his rooms, firstly in Victoria Street and in 1886 in Nelson Street, until 1901. The Nelson Street practice also had a 2 bed ward, called Mira Private Hospital ). Dr Edward Ryan was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1884-1902 . He also had occasions where he successfully performed veterinary surgery for the local farmers too. Dr Tom Ryan then purchased the practice from his brother in 1901. Both Dr Edward and Dr Tom Ryan work as surgeons included eye surgery. Dr Tom Ryan performed many of his operations in the Mira private hospital on his premises. He too was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1902-1926. Dr Tom Ryan had one of the only two pieces of radiology equipment in Victoria during his practicing years – The Royal Melbourne Hospital had the other one. Over the years Dr Tom Ryan gradually set up what was effectively a training school for country general-practitioner-surgeons. Each patient was carefully examined, including using the X-ray machine, and any surgery was discussed and planned with Dr Ryan’s assistants several days in advance. Dr Angus gained experience in using the X-ray machine there during his time as assistant to Dr Ryan. Dr Tom Ryan moved from Nhill in 1926. He became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1927, soon after its formation, a rare accolade for a doctor outside any of the major cities. He remained a bachelor and died suddenly on 7th Dec 1955, aged 91, at his home in Ararat. Scholarships and prizes are still awarded to medical students in the honour of Dr T.F. Ryan and his father, Dr Michael Ryan, and brother, John Patrick Ryan. ] When Dr Angus bought into the Nelson Street premises in Nhill he was also appointed as the Nhill Hospital’s Honorary House Surgeon 1933-1938. His practitioner’s plate from his Nhill surgery states “HOURS Daily, except Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturday afternoons, 9-10am, 2-4pm, 7-8pm. Sundays by appointment”. This plate is now mounted on the doorway to the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, Warrnambool. Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Tom Ryan had an extensive collection of historical medical equipment and materials spanning 1884-1926 and when Dr Angus took up practice in their old premises he obtained this collection, a large part of which is now on display at the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool. During his time in Nhill Dr Angus was involved in the merging of the Mira Hospital and Nhill Public Hospital into one public hospital and the property titles passed on to Nhill Hospital in 1939. In 1939 Dr Angus and his family moved to Warrnambool where he purchased “Birchwood,” the 1852 home and medical practice of Dr John Hunter Henderson, at 214 Koroit Street. (This property was sold in1965 to the State Government and is now the site of the Warrnambool Police Station. ). The Angus family was able to afford gardeners, cooks and maids; their home was a popular place for visiting dignitaries to stay whilst visiting Warrnambool. Dr Angus had his own silk worm farm at home in a Mulberry tree. His young daughter used his centrifuge for spinning the silk. Dr Angus was appointed on a part-time basis as Port Medical Officer (Health Officer) in Warrnambool and held this position until the 1940’s when the government no longer required the service of a Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool; he was thus Warrnambool’s last serving Port Medical Officer. (The duties of a Port Medical Officer were outlined by the Colonial Secretary on 21st June, 1839 under the terms of the Quarantine Act. Masters of immigrant ships arriving in port reported incidents of diseases, illness and death and the Port Medical Officer made a decision on whether the ship required Quarantine and for how long, in this way preventing contagious illness from spreading from new immigrants to the residents already in the colony.) Dr Angus was a member of the Australian Medical Association, for 35 years and surgeon at the Warrnambool Base Hospital 1939-1942, He served as a Surgeon Captain during WWII1942-45, in Ballarat, Victoria, and in Bonegilla, N.S.W., completing his service just before the end of the war due to suffering from a heart attack. During his convalescence he carved an intricate and ‘most artistic’ chess set from the material that dentures were made from. He then studied ophthalmology at the Royal Melbourne Eye and Ear Hospital and created cosmetically superior artificial eyes by pioneering using the intrascleral cartilage. Angus received accolades from the Ophthalmological Society of Australasia for this work. He returned to Warrnambool to commence practice as an ophthalmologist, pioneering in artificial eye improvements. He was Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist to Warrnambool Base Hospital for 31 years. He made monthly visits to Portland as a visiting surgeon, to perform eye surgery. He represented the Victorian South-West subdivision of the Australian Medical Association as its secretary between 1949 and 1956 and as chairman from 1956 to 1958. In 1968 Dr Angus was elected member of Spain’s Barraquer Institute of Barcelona after his research work in Intrasclearal cartilage grafting, becoming one of the few Australian ophthalmologists to receive this honour, and in the following year presented his final paper on Living Intrasclearal Cartilage Implants at the Inaugural Meeting of the Australian College of Ophthalmologists in Melbourne In his personal life Dr Angus was a Presbyterian and treated Sunday as a Sabbath, a day of rest. He would visit 3 or 4 country patients on a Sunday, taking his children along ‘for the ride’ and to visit with him. Sunday evenings he would play the pianola and sing Scottish songs to his family. One of Dr Angus’ patients was Margaret MacKenzie, author of a book on local shipwrecks that she’d seen as an eye witness from the late 1880’s in Peterborough, Victoria. In the early 1950’s Dr Angus, painted a picture of a shipwreck for the cover jacket of Margaret’s book, Shipwrecks and More Shipwrecks. She was blind in later life and her daughter wrote the actual book for her. Dr Angus and his wife Gladys were very involved in Warrnambool’s society with a strong interest in civic affairs. Their interests included organisations such as Red Cross, Rostrum, Warrnambool and District Historical Society (founding members), Wine and Food Society, Steering Committee for Tertiary Education in Warrnambool, Local National Trust, Good Neighbour Council, Housing Commission Advisory Board, United Services Institute, Legion of Ex-Servicemen, Olympic Pool Committee, Food for Britain Organisation, Warrnambool Hospital, Anti-Cancer Council, Boys’ Club, Charitable Council, National Fitness Council and Air Raid Precautions Group. He was also a member of the Steam Preservation Society and derived much pleasure from a steam traction engine on his farm. He had an interest in people and the community He and his wife Gladys were both involved in the creation of Flagstaff Hill, including the layout of the gardens. After his death (28th March 1970) his family requested his practitioner’s plate, medical instruments and some personal belongings be displayed in the Port Medical Office surgery at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, and be called the “W. R. Angus Collection”. The W.R. Angus Collection is significant for still being located at the site it is connected with, Doctor Angus being the last Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool. The collection of medical instruments and other equipment is culturally significant, being an historical example of medicine from late 19th to mid-20th century. Dr Angus assisted Dr Tom Ryan, a pioneer in the use of X-rays and in ocular surgery. Doctor's examination chair, one of a pair of doctor/patient chairs, from the W.R. Angus Collection. Adjustable height chair was once used in Dr T.F. Ryan's medical practice. Chair is timber, cream paint, four decorative columns support the seat, with central column surrounding the swivel mechanism. Chair back is curved, with seven supports. Legs finish with metal, claw shaped ends decorated with leaf pattern, holding feet, which are balls, flattend on the bottom. Inscribed on square metal plate around adjustable height mechanism under seat. Inscribed "LYON & HEALY CHICARGO" on plate under seatflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, doctor's examination chair, examination chair, medical examination, surgery, 19th century medicine, lyon & healy, adjustable chair, nhill base hospital, mira hospital, medical history, dr. angus, w. r. angus -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Stool, late 19the century
This doctor's examination stool was donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by the family of Doctor William Roy Angus, Surgeon and Oculist. It is part of the “W.R. Angus Collection” that includes historical medical equipment, surgical instruments and material once belonging to Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Thomas Francis Ryan, (both of Nhill, Victoria) as well as Dr Angus’ own belongings. The Collection’s history spans the medical practices of the two Doctors Ryan, from 1885-1926 plus that of Dr Angus, up until 1969. ABOUT THE “W.R.ANGUS COLLECTION” Doctor William Roy Angus M.B., B.S., Adel., 1923, F.R.C.S. Edin.,1928 (also known as Dr Roy Angus) was born in Murrumbeena, Victoria in 1901 and lived until 1970. He qualified as a doctor in 1923 at University of Adelaide, was Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1924 and for a period was house surgeon to Sir (then Mr.) Henry Simpson Newland. Dr Angus was briefly an Assistant to Dr Riddell of Kapunda, then commenced private practice at Curramulka, Yorke Peninsula, SA, where he was physician, surgeon and chemist. In 1926, he was appointed as new Medical Assistant to Dr Thomas Francis Ryan (T.F. Ryan, or Tom), in Nhill, Victoria, where his experiences included radiology and pharmacy. In 1927 he was Acting House Surgeon in Dr Tom Ryan’s absence. Dr Angus had become engaged to Gladys Forsyth and they decided he would take time to further his studies overseas in the UK in 1927. He studied at London University College Hospital and at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and in 1928, was awarded FRCS (Fellow from the Royal College of Surgeons), Edinburgh. He worked his passage back to Australia as a Ship’s Surgeon on the on the Australian Commonwealth Line’s T.S.S. Largs Bay. Dr Angus married Gladys in 1929, in Ballarat. (They went on to have one son (Graham 1932, born in SA) and two daughters (Helen (died 12/07/1996) and Berenice (Berry), both born at Mira, Nhill ) Dr Angus was a ‘flying doctor’ for the A.I.M. (Australian Inland Ministry) Aerial Medical Service in 1928 . The organisation began in South Australia through the Presbyterian Church in that year, with its first station being in the remote town of Oodnadatta, where Dr Angus was stationed. He was locum tenens there on North-South Railway at 21 Mile Camp. He took up this ‘flying doctor’ position in response to a call from Dr John Flynn; the organisation was later known as the Flying Doctor Service, then the Royal Flying Doctor Service. A lot of his work during this time involved dental surgery also. Between 1928-1932 he was surgeon at the Curramulka Hospital, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. In 1933 Dr Angus returned to Nhill where he’d previously worked as Medical Assistant and purchased a share of the Nelson Street practice and Mira hospital from Dr Les Middleton one of the Middleton Brothers, the current owners of what was once Dr Tom Ryan’s practice. Dr L Middleton was House Surgeon to the Nhill Hospital 1926-1933, when he resigned. [Dr Tom Ryan’s practice had originally belonged to his older brother Dr Edward Ryan, who came to Nhill in 1885. Dr Edward saw patients at his rooms, firstly in Victoria Street and in 1886 in Nelson Street, until 1901. The Nelson Street practice also had a 2 bed ward, called Mira Private Hospital ). Dr Edward Ryan was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1884-1902 . He also had occasions where he successfully performed veterinary surgery for the local farmers too. Dr Tom Ryan then purchased the practice from his brother in 1901. Both Dr Edward and Dr Tom Ryan work as surgeons included eye surgery. Dr Tom Ryan performed many of his operations in the Mira private hospital on his premises. He too was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1902-1926. Dr Tom Ryan had one of the only two pieces of radiology equipment in Victoria during his practicing years – The Royal Melbourne Hospital had the other one. Over the years Dr Tom Ryan gradually set up what was effectively a training school for country general-practitioner-surgeons. Each patient was carefully examined, including using the X-ray machine, and any surgery was discussed and planned with Dr Ryan’s assistants several days in advance. Dr Angus gained experience in using the X-ray machine there during his time as assistant to Dr Ryan. Dr Tom Ryan moved from Nhill in 1926. He became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1927, soon after its formation, a rare accolade for a doctor outside any of the major cities. He remained a bachelor and died suddenly on 7th Dec 1955, aged 91, at his home in Ararat. Scholarships and prizes are still awarded to medical students in the honour of Dr T.F. Ryan and his father, Dr Michael Ryan, and brother, John Patrick Ryan. ] When Dr Angus bought into the Nelson Street premises in Nhill he was also appointed as the Nhill Hospital’s Honorary House Surgeon 1933-1938. His practitioner’s plate from his Nhill surgery states “HOURS Daily, except Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturday afternoons, 9-10am, 2-4pm, 7-8pm. Sundays by appointment”. This plate is now mounted on the doorway to the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, Warrnambool. Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Tom Ryan had an extensive collection of historical medical equipment and materials spanning 1884-1926 and when Dr Angus took up practice in their old premises he obtained this collection, a large part of which is now on display at the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool. During his time in Nhill Dr Angus was involved in the merging of the Mira Hospital and Nhill Public Hospital into one public hospital and the property titles passed on to Nhill Hospital in 1939. In 1939 Dr Angus and his family moved to Warrnambool where he purchased “Birchwood,” the 1852 home and medical practice of Dr John Hunter Henderson, at 214 Koroit Street. (This property was sold in1965 to the State Government and is now the site of the Warrnambool Police Station. ). The Angus family was able to afford gardeners, cooks and maids; their home was a popular place for visiting dignitaries to stay whilst visiting Warrnambool. Dr Angus had his own silk worm farm at home in a Mulberry tree. His young daughter used his centrifuge for spinning the silk. Dr Angus was appointed on a part-time basis as Port Medical Officer (Health Officer) in Warrnambool and held this position until the 1940’s when the government no longer required the service of a Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool; he was thus Warrnambool’s last serving Port Medical Officer. (The duties of a Port Medical Officer were outlined by the Colonial Secretary on 21st June, 1839 under the terms of the Quarantine Act. Masters of immigrant ships arriving in port reported incidents of diseases, illness and death and the Port Medical Officer made a decision on whether the ship required Quarantine and for how long, in this way preventing contagious illness from spreading from new immigrants to the residents already in the colony.) Dr Angus was a member of the Australian Medical Association, for 35 years and surgeon at the Warrnambool Base Hospital 1939-1942, He served as a Surgeon Captain during WWII1942-45, in Ballarat, Victoria, and in Bonegilla, N.S.W., completing his service just before the end of the war due to suffering from a heart attack. During his convalescence he carved an intricate and ‘most artistic’ chess set from the material that dentures were made from. He then studied ophthalmology at the Royal Melbourne Eye and Ear Hospital and created cosmetically superior artificial eyes by pioneering using the intrascleral cartilage. Angus received accolades from the Ophthalmological Society of Australasia for this work. He returned to Warrnambool to commence practice as an ophthalmologist, pioneering in artificial eye improvements. He was Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist to Warrnambool Base Hospital for 31 years. He made monthly visits to Portland as a visiting surgeon, to perform eye surgery. He represented the Victorian South-West subdivision of the Australian Medical Association as its secretary between 1949 and 1956 and as chairman from 1956 to 1958. In 1968 Dr Angus was elected member of Spain’s Barraquer Institute of Barcelona after his research work in Intrasclearal cartilage grafting, becoming one of the few Australian ophthalmologists to receive this honour, and in the following year presented his final paper on Living Intrasclearal Cartilage Implants at the Inaugural Meeting of the Australian College of Ophthalmologists in Melbourne In his personal life Dr Angus was a Presbyterian and treated Sunday as a Sabbath, a day of rest. He would visit 3 or 4 country patients on a Sunday, taking his children along ‘for the ride’ and to visit with him. Sunday evenings he would play the pianola and sing Scottish songs to his family. One of Dr Angus’ patients was Margaret MacKenzie, author of a book on local shipwrecks that she’d seen as an eye witness from the late 1880’s in Peterborough, Victoria. In the early 1950’s Dr Angus, painted a picture of a shipwreck for the cover jacket of Margaret’s book, Shipwrecks and More Shipwrecks. She was blind in later life and her daughter wrote the actual book for her. Dr Angus and his wife Gladys were very involved in Warrnambool’s society with a strong interest in civic affairs. Their interests included organisations such as Red Cross, Rostrum, Warrnambool and District Historical Society (founding members), Wine and Food Society, Steering Committee for Tertiary Education in Warrnambool, Local National Trust, Good Neighbour Council, Housing Commission Advisory Board, United Services Institute, Legion of Ex-Servicemen, Olympic Pool Committee, Food for Britain Organisation, Warrnambool Hospital, Anti-Cancer Council, Boys’ Club, Charitable Council, National Fitness Council and Air Raid Precautions Group. He was also a member of the Steam Preservation Society and derived much pleasure from a steam traction engine on his farm. He had an interest in people and the community He and his wife Gladys were both involved in the creation of Flagstaff Hill, including the layout of the gardens. After his death (28th March 1970) his family requested his practitioner’s plate, medical instruments and some personal belongings be displayed in the Port Medical Office surgery at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, and be called the “W. R. Angus Collection”. The W.R. Angus Collection is significant for still being located at the site it is connected with, Doctor Angus being the last Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool. The collection of medical instruments and other equipment is culturally significant, being an historical example of medicine from late 19th to mid-20th century. Dr Angus assisted Dr Tom Ryan, a pioneer in the use of X-rays and in ocular surgery. Doctor's examination stool, one of a pair of doctor/patient chairs in the W.R. Angus Collection. Adjustable height, Once used in Dr T.F. Ryan's medical practice.Stool is timber, cream paint, four decorative columns support the seat, with a central column surrounding the pedestal. Seat is slightly concave. Legs finish with metal, claw shaped ends decorated with scales, holding feet, which are balls, flattend on the bottom. Inscribed on square metal plate around adjustable height mechanism, under seat. Inscribed LYON & HEALY CHICARGO" on square metal plate around adjustable height mechanism, under seat.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, doctor's examination stool, medical examination, surgery, 19th century medicine, dr yan, dr angus, flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, doctor's examination stool, medical examination, surgery, 19th century medicine, dr yan, dr angus, lyon & healy, medical equipment, nhill base hospital, mira hospital, medical history, medical treatment -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Syringe set, early 20th century
This syringe set was donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by the family of Doctor William Roy Angus, Surgeon and Oculist. It is part of the “W.R. Angus Collection” that includes historical medical equipment, surgical instruments and material once belonging to Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Thomas Francis Ryan, (both of Nhill, Victoria) as well as Dr Angus’ own belongings. The Collection’s history spans the medical practices of the two Doctors Ryan, from 1885-1926 plus that of Dr Angus, up until 1969. ABOUT THE “W.R.ANGUS COLLECTION” Doctor William Roy Angus M.B., B.S., Adel., 1923, F.R.C.S. Edin.,1928 (also known as Dr Roy Angus) was born in Murrumbeena, Victoria in 1901 and lived until 1970. He qualified as a doctor in 1923 at University of Adelaide, was Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1924 and for a period was house surgeon to Sir (then Mr.) Henry Simpson Newland. Dr Angus was briefly an Assistant to Dr Riddell of Kapunda, then commenced private practice at Curramulka, Yorke Peninsula, SA, where he was physician, surgeon and chemist. In 1926, he was appointed as new Medical Assistant to Dr Thomas Francis Ryan (T.F. Ryan, or Tom), in Nhill, Victoria, where his experiences included radiology and pharmacy. In 1927 he was Acting House Surgeon in Dr Tom Ryan’s absence. Dr Angus had become engaged to Gladys Forsyth and they decided he would take time to further his studies overseas in the UK in 1927. He studied at London University College Hospital and at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and in 1928, was awarded FRCS (Fellow from the Royal College of Surgeons), Edinburgh. He worked his passage back to Australia as a Ship’s Surgeon on the on the Australian Commonwealth Line’s SS Largs Bay. Dr Angus married Gladys in 1929, in Ballarat. (They went on to have one son (Graham 1932, born in SA) and two daughters (Helen (died 12/07/1996) and Berenice (Berry), both born at Mira, Nhill ) Dr Angus was a ‘flying doctor’ for the A.I.M. (Australian Inland Ministry) Aerial Medical Service in 1928 . The organisation began in South Australia through the Presbyterian Church in that year, with its first station being in the remote town of Oodnadatta, where Dr Angus was stationed. He was locum tenens there on North-South Railway at 21 Mile Camp. He took up this ‘flying doctor’ position in response to a call from Dr John Flynn; the organisation was later known as the Flying Doctor Service, then the Royal Flying Doctor Service. A lot of his work during this time involved dental surgery also. Between 1928-1932 he was surgeon at the Curramulka Hospital, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. In 1933 Dr Angus returned to Nhill where he’d previously worked as Medical Assistant and purchased a share of the Nelson Street practice and Mira hospital from Dr Les Middleton one of the Middleton Brothers, the current owners of what was once Dr Tom Ryan’s practice. Dr L Middleton was House Surgeon to the Nhill Hospital 1926-1933, when he resigned. [Dr Tom Ryan’s practice had originally belonged to his older brother Dr Edward Ryan, who came to Nhill in 1885. Dr Edward saw patients at his rooms, firstly in Victoria Street and in 1886 in Nelson Street, until 1901. The Nelson Street practice also had a 2 bed ward, called Mira Private Hospital ). Dr Edward Ryan was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1884-1902 . He also had occasions where he successfully performed veterinary surgery for the local farmers too. Dr Tom Ryan then purchased the practice from his brother in 1901. Both Dr Edward and Dr Tom Ryan work as surgeons included eye surgery. Dr Tom Ryan performed many of his operations in the Mira private hospital on his premises. He too was House Surgeon at the Nhill Hospital 1902-1926. Dr Tom Ryan had one of the only two pieces of radiology equipment in Victoria during his practicing years – The Royal Melbourne Hospital had the other one. Over the years Dr Tom Ryan gradually set up what was effectively a training school for country general-practitioner-surgeons. Each patient was carefully examined, including using the X-ray machine, and any surgery was discussed and planned with Dr Ryan’s assistants several days in advance. Dr Angus gained experience in using the X-ray machine there during his time as assistant to Dr Ryan. Dr Tom Ryan moved from Nhill in 1926. He became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1927, soon after its formation, a rare accolade for a doctor outside any of the major cities. He remained a bachelor and died suddenly on 7th Dec 1955, aged 91, at his home in Ararat. Scholarships and prizes are still awarded to medical students in the honour of Dr T.F. Ryan and his father, Dr Michael Ryan, and brother, John Patrick Ryan. ] When Dr Angus bought into the Nelson Street premises in Nhill he was also appointed as the Nhill Hospital’s Honorary House Surgeon 1933-1938. His practitioner’s plate from his Nhill surgery states “HOURS Daily, except Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturday afternoons, 9-10am, 2-4pm, 7-8pm. Sundays by appointment”. This plate is now mounted on the doorway to the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, Warrnambool. Dr Edward Ryan and Dr Tom Ryan had an extensive collection of historical medical equipment and materials spanning 1884-1926 and when Dr Angus took up practice in their old premises he obtained this collection, a large part of which is now on display at the Port Medical Office at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool. During his time in Nhill Dr Angus was involved in the merging of the Mira Hospital and Nhill Public Hospital into one public hospital and the property titles passed on to Nhill Hospital in 1939. In 1939 Dr Angus and his family moved to Warrnambool where he purchased “Birchwood,” the 1852 home and medical practice of Dr John Hunter Henderson, at 214 Koroit Street. (This property was sold in1965 to the State Government and is now the site of the Warrnambool Police Station. ). The Angus family was able to afford gardeners, cooks and maids; their home was a popular place for visiting dignitaries to stay whilst visiting Warrnambool. Dr Angus had his own silk worm farm at home in a Mulberry tree. His young daughter used his centrifuge for spinning the silk. Dr Angus was appointed on a part-time basis as Port Medical Officer (Health Officer) in Warrnambool and held this position until the 1940’s when the government no longer required the service of a Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool; he was thus Warrnambool’s last serving Port Medical Officer. (The duties of a Port Medical Officer were outlined by the Colonial Secretary on 21st June, 1839 under the terms of the Quarantine Act. Masters of immigrant ships arriving in port reported incidents of diseases, illness and death and the Port Medical Officer made a decision on whether the ship required Quarantine and for how long, in this way preventing contagious illness from spreading from new immigrants to the residents already in the colony.) Dr Angus was a member of the Australian Medical Association, for 35 years and surgeon at the Warrnambool Base Hospital 1939-1942, He served as a Surgeon Captain during WWII1942-45, in Ballarat, Victoria, and in Bonegilla, N.S.W., completing his service just before the end of the war due to suffering from a heart attack. During his convalescence he carved an intricate and ‘most artistic’ chess set from the material that dentures were made from. He then studied ophthalmology at the Royal Melbourne Eye and Ear Hospital and created cosmetically superior artificial eyes by pioneering using the intrascleral cartilage. Angus received accolades from the Ophthalmological Society of Australasia for this work. He returned to Warrnambool to commence practice as an ophthalmologist, pioneering in artificial eye improvements. He was Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist to Warrnambool Base Hospital for 31 years. He made monthly visits to Portland as a visiting surgeon, to perform eye surgery. He represented the Victorian South-West subdivision of the Australian Medical Association as its secretary between 1949 and 1956 and as chairman from 1956 to 1958. In 1968 Dr Angus was elected member of Spain’s Barraquer Institute of Barcelona after his research work in Intrasclearal cartilage grafting, becoming one of the few Australian ophthalmologists to receive this honour, and in the following year presented his final paper on Living Intrasclearal Cartilage Implants at the Inaugural Meeting of the Australian College of Ophthalmologists in Melbourne In his personal life Dr Angus was a Presbyterian and treated Sunday as a Sabbath, a day of rest. He would visit 3 or 4 country patients on a Sunday, taking his children along ‘for the ride’ and to visit with him. Sunday evenings he would play the pianola and sing Scottish songs to his family. One of Dr Angus’ patients was Margaret MacKenzie, author of a book on local shipwrecks that she’d seen as an eye witness from the late 1880’s in Peterborough, Victoria. In the early 1950’s Dr Angus, painted a picture of a shipwreck for the cover jacket of Margaret’s book, Shipwrecks and More Shipwrecks. She was blind in later life and her daughter wrote the actual book for her. Dr Angus and his wife Gladys were very involved in Warrnambool’s society with a strong interest in civic affairs. Their interests included organisations such as Red Cross, Rostrum, Warrnambool and District Historical Society (founding members), Wine and Food Society, Steering Committee for Tertiary Education in Warrnambool, Local National Trust, Good Neighbour Council, Housing Commission Advisory Board, United Services Institute, Legion of Ex-Servicemen, Olympic Pool Committee, Food for Britain Organisation, Warrnambool Hospital, Anti-Cancer Council, Boys’ Club, Charitable Council, National Fitness Council and Air Raid Precautions Group. He was also a member of the Steam Preservation Society and derived much pleasure from a steam traction engine on his farm. He had an interest in people and the community He and his wife Gladys were both involved in the creation of Flagstaff Hill, including the layout of the gardens. After his death (28th March 1970) his family requested his practitioner’s plate, medical instruments and some personal belongings be displayed in the Port Medical Office surgery at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, and be called the “W. R. Angus Collection”. The W.R. Angus Collection is significant for still being located at the site it is connected with, Doctor Angus being the last Port Medical Officer in Warrnambool. The collection of medical instruments and other equipment is culturally significant, being an historical example of medicine from late 19th to mid-20th century. Dr Angus assisted Dr Tom Ryan, a pioneer in the use of X-rays and in ocular surgery. Syringe set, large. Wide metal cylinder with spring fittings inside and threaded lid. Holds 3 syringes (only 2 syringes are present) and holes around syringes for holding needles (4 needles are present). Suitable for including in a doctor’s bag. Inscription on metal. (W.R. Angus Collection) flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, syringe set, dr w r angus, medical equipment, surgical instrument, dr ryan, ophthalmology, s.s. largs bay, warrnambool base hospital, nhill base hospital, flying doctor, medical history, medical treatment, mira hospital, medical education, medical text book -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Equipment - Standard measure, Mid to late 19th Century
The beginning of standardised weights and measures began In Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received sets of standard weights and measures, which had been tested in Britain against the then British Imperial standards. These included the primary standard yard and pound for the Colony of Victoria. Other standards of weights and measure held by shires and the administrative body's within the colony could then be compared to these primary standards. A Weights and Measures Act was passed in Victoria in 1862, establishing local inspectors throughout the colony. By the 1870s each local council and shire in Victoria held a set of standards that were used to test scales, weights and dry measures used by wholesalers, factories and shops. Every ten years the councils’ standards would themselves need to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. The checking was done by the Victorian Customs Department in the 19th century, but with the transfer of responsibility for customs to the Federal Government in 1901, weights and measures function was retained by the Victorian Government and was shifted to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, a new building was erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House, where the standard weights and measures and testing equipment was installed. This room had a large whirling apparatus for testing air meters and became known as the Whirling Room. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue and this branch remained at the Observatory site unit until 1995. J & M Ewan History: J&M Ewan was a Melbourne firm that began by selling retail furniture and wholesale ironmongery. They had substantial warehouses situated at the intersection of 81-83 Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets, the business was established by James M Ewan in 1852. Shortly afterwards he went into partnership with William Kerr Thomson and Samuel Renwick. When Ewan died in 1868 his partners carried on and expanded the business under his name J & M Ewan. The business was expanded to provide a retail shop, counting-house and private offices. Wholesale warehouses adjoined these premises at 4, 6 and 10 Little Collins Street, West. This company provided and sold a large and varied amount of imported goods into the colony that consisted of agriculture equipment, building materials, mining items as well as steam engines, tools of all types and marble fireplaces. They also supplied the Bronze measuring containers in the Flagstaff Hill collection and the probability is that these containers were obtained by the local Melbourne authority that monitored weights and measures in the mid to late 19th century. The company grew to employ over 150 people in Melbourne and opened offices at 27 Lombard St London as well as in New Zealand and Fiji. The company also serviced the Mauritius islands and the pacific area with their steamship the Suva and a brig the Shannon. Robert Bate History: Robert Brettell Bate (1782-1847) was born in Stourbridge, England, one of four sons of Overs Bate, a mercer (a dealer in textile fabrics, especially silks, velvet's, and other fine materials)and banker. Bate moved to London, and in 1813 was noticed for his scientific instrument making ability through the authority of the “Clockmakers Company”. Sometime in the year 1813 it was discovered that one Robert Brettell Bate, regarded as a foreigner in London had opened a premises in the Poultry selling area of London. He was a Mathematical Instrument maker selling sundials and other various instruments of the clock making. In 1824, Bate, in preparation for his work on standards and weights, leased larger premises at 20 and 21 Poultry, London, at a rental of four hundred pounds per annum. It was there that Bate produced quality metrological instruments, which afforded him the recognition as one of one of the finest and principal English metrological instrument-makers of the nineteenth century. English standards at this time were generally in a muddle, with local standards varying from shire to shire. On 17 June 1824, an Act of Parliament was passed making a universal range of weights, measures, and lengths for the United Kingdom, and Bate was given the job of crafting many of the metrological artifacts. He was under instruction from the renown physicist Henry Kater F.R.S. (1777-1835) to make standards and to have them deposited in the principal cities throughout the United Kingdom and colonies. Bate experimented with tin-copper alloys to find the best combination for these items and by October 1824, he had provided Kater with prototypes to test troy and avoirdupois pounds, and samples with which to divide the troy into grams. Bate also cast the standard for the bushel, and by February 1825, had provided all the standards required of him by the Exchequer, Guildhalls of Edinburgh, and Dublin. In 1824, he also made a troy pound standard weight for the United States, which was certified for its accuracy by Kater and deposited with the US Mint in 1827. Kater, in his address to the Royal Society of London, acknowledged Bate's outstanding experimentation and craftsmanship in producing standards of weights, measures, and lengths. An example of a dry Bronze measuring container made specifically for J & M Ewan by possibly the most important makers of measurement artifacts that gives us today a snapshot of how imperial weights and measures were used and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in the Australian colonies based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item retailed by J & M Ewan and used in Victoria by the authorities who were given legal responsibility to ensure that wholesalers and retailers of dry goods sold in Victoria were correct. The container was a legal standard measure so was also used to test merchants containers to ensure that their distribution of dry goods to a customer was correct. Bronze round container with brass two handles used as a legal standard for measuring dry quantities & is a 'peck' measurement. "IMPERIAL STANDARD PECK" engraved around top of container with " VICTORIA" engraved under.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, standard measure, bronze, peck measurement, j & m ewan, victorian standard dry measurement, bronze container, victorian standards, melbourne observatory, robert bettell bate -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Equipment - Standard measure, Mid to Late 19th Century
The beginning of standardised weights and measures began In Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received sets of standard weights and measures, which had been tested in Britain against the then British Imperial standards. These included the primary standard yard and pound for the Colony of Victoria. Other standards of weights and measure held by shires and the administrative body's within the colony could then be compared to these primary standards. A Weights and Measures Act was passed in Victoria in 1862, establishing local inspectors throughout the colony. By the 1870s each local council and shire in Victoria held a set of standards that were used to test scales, weights and dry measures used by wholesalers, factories and shops. Every ten years the councils’ standards would themselves need to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. The checking was done by the Victorian Customs Department in the 19th century, but with the transfer of responsibility for customs to the Federal Government in 1901, weights and measures function was retained by the Victorian Government and was shifted to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, a new building was erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House, where the standard weights and measures and testing equipment was installed. This room had a large whirling apparatus for testing air meters and became known as the Whirling Room. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue and this branch remained at the Observatory site unit until 1995. J & M Ewan History: J&M Ewan was a Melbourne firm that began by selling retail furniture and wholesale ironmongery. They had substantial warehouses situated at the intersection of 81-83 Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets, the business was established by James M Ewan in 1852. Shortly afterwards he went into partnership with William Kerr Thomson and Samuel Renwick. When Ewan died in 1868 his partners carried on and expanded the business under his name J & M Ewan. The business was expanded to provide a retail shop, counting-house and private offices. Wholesale warehouses adjoined these premises at 4, 6 and 10 Little Collins Street, West. This company provided and sold a large and varied amount of imported goods into the colony that consisted of agriculture equipment, building materials, mining items as well as steam engines, tools of all types and marble fireplaces. They also supplied the Bronze measuring containers in the Flagstaff Hill collection and the probability is that these containers were obtained by the local Melbourne authority that monitored weights and measures in the mid to late 19th century. The company grew to employ over 150 people in Melbourne and opened offices at 27 Lombard St London as well as in New Zealand and Fiji. The company also serviced the Mauritius islands and the pacific area with their steamship the Suva and a brig the Shannon. Robert Bate History: Robert Brettell Bate (1782-1847) was born in Stourbridge, England, one of four sons of Overs Bate, a mercer (a dealer in textile fabrics, especially silks, velvet's, and other fine materials)and banker. Bate moved to London, and in 1813 was noticed for his scientific instrument making ability through the authority of the “Clockmakers Company”. Sometime in the year 1813 it was discovered that one Robert Brettell Bate, regarded as a foreigner in London had opened a premises in the Poultry selling area of London. He was a Mathematical Instrument maker selling sundials and other various instruments of the clock making. In 1824, Bate, in preparation for his work on standards and weights, leased larger premises at 20 and 21 Poultry, London, at a rental of four hundred pounds per annum. It was there that Bate produced quality metrological instruments, which afforded him the recognition as one of one of the finest and principal English metrological instrument-makers of the nineteenth century. English standards at this time were generally in a muddle, with local standards varying from shire to shire. On 17 June 1824, an Act of Parliament was passed making a universal range of weights, measures, and lengths for the United Kingdom, and Bate was given the job of crafting many of the metrological artifacts. He was under instruction from the renown physicist Henry Kater F.R.S. (1777-1835) to make standards and to have them deposited in the principal cities throughout the United Kingdom and colonies. Bate experimented with tin-copper alloys to find the best combination for these items and by October 1824, he had provided Kater with prototypes to test troy and avoirdupois pounds, and samples with which to divide the troy into grams. Bate also cast the standard for the bushel, and by February 1825, had provided all the standards required of him by the Exchequer, Guildhalls of Edinburgh, and Dublin. In 1824, he also made a troy pound standard weight for the United States, which was certified for its accuracy by Kater and deposited with the US Mint in 1827. Kater, in his address to the Royal Society of London, acknowledged Bate's outstanding experimentation and craftsmanship in producing standards of weights, measures, and lengths. An example of a dry Bronze measuring container made specifically for J & M Ewan by possibly the most important makers of measurement artefacts that gives us today a snapshot of how imperial weights and measures were used and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in the Australian colonies based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item retailed by J & M Ewan and used in Victoria by the authorities who were given legal responsibility to ensure that wholesalers and retailers of dry goods sold in Victoria were correct. The container was a legal standard measure so was also used to test merchants containers to ensure that their distribution of dry goods to a customer was correct.Maker Possibly Robert Brettell Blake or De Grave, Short & Co Ltd both of LondonContainer brass round for measuring quantities- Has brass handles & is a 'Bushel' measurement. 'Imperial Standard Bushel Victoria' engraved around container. Container bronze round shape for measuring dry quantities has brass handles & is a 'Bushel' measurement"IMPERIAL STANDARD BUSHEL" engraved around the top of the container. VICTORIA engraved under "J & M Ewan & Co London and Melbourne" engraved around the bottom of the container.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, standard measure, bushel, bushel measurement, j & m ewan, dry measurement, victorian measurement standard, bronze container, melbourne observatory, robert brettell bate -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Functional object - Cap Liner, ca 1908
A cap liner helps to seal the contents in a container to avoid spoiling and leakage. This cap liner was recovered from the Falls of Halladale shipwreck. The Falls of Halladale was an iron-hulled, four-masted barque, used as a bulk carrier of general cargo. She left New York in August 1908 bound for Melbourne and Sydney. In her hold was general cargo consisting of roofing tiles, barbed wire, stoves, oil, and benzene as well as many other manufactured items. After three months at sea and close to her destination, a navigational error caused the Falls of Halladale to be wrecked on a reef off the Peterborough headland on the 15th of November, 1908. The captain and 29 crew members survived, but her cargo was largely lost, despite two salvage attempts in 1908-09 and 1910. The Court of Marine Inquiry in Melbourne ruled that the foundering of the ship was entirely due to Captain David Wood Thomson's navigational error, not too technical failure of the Clyde-built ship. The Falls of Halladale was built in1886 by Russell & Co., at Greenock shipyards on the River Clyde, Scotland for Wright, Breakenridge & Co of Glasgow. She was one of several designs of the Falls Line of ships named after waterfalls in Scotland. The company had been founded between 1870- 1873 as a partnership between Joseph Russell, Anderson Rodger, and William Todd Lithgow. During the period 1882-92 Russell & Co. standardised designs, which sped up their building process so much that they were able to build 271 ships during that time. The Falls of Halladale had a sturdy construction built to carry maximum cargo and was able to maintain full sail in heavy gales, one of the last of the 'windjammers' that sailed the Trade Route. She and her sister ship, the Falls of Garry, were the first ships in the world to include fore and aft lifting bridges. Previous to this, heavily loaded vessels could have heavy seas break along the full length of the deck, causing serious injury or even death to those on deck. The new raised catwalk-type decking allowed the crew to move above the deck in stormy conditions. The Falls of Halladale shipwreck is listed on the Victorian Heritage (No. S255). She was one of the last ships to sail the Trade Routes from Europe and the Americas. Also of significance is that the vessel was one of the first ships to have fore and aft lifting bridges as a significant safety feature still in use on modern vessels today. The subject model is an example of an International Cargo Ship used during the 19th and early 20th centuries to transport goods around the world and representing aspects of Victoria’s shipping industry. Glass cap liner, moulded disc with indented ring on the underside and a grip on top. Encrustation on surface. Glass has imperfection's and surface has a small amount of encrustations. Recovered from Falls of Halladale wreck. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, cap liner, russell & co., falls of halladale, ship wreck, glass liner, glass seal -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Footwear - Rubber Boot, 1900-1908
The Falls of Halladale was an iron-hulled, four-masted barque, used as a bulk carrier of general cargo. She left New York in August 1908 bound for Melbourne and Sydney. In her hold was general cargo consisting of roof tiles, barbed wire, stoves, oil, and benzene as well as many other manufactured items. After three months at sea and close to her destination, a navigational error caused the Falls of Halladale to be wrecked on a reef off the Peterborough headland on the 15th of November, 1908. The captain and 29 crew members survived, but her cargo was largely lost, despite two salvage attempts in 1908-09 and 1910. The Court of Marine Inquiry in Melbourne ruled that the foundering of the ship was entirely due to Captain David Wood Thomson's navigational error, not too technical failure of the Clyde-built ship. The Falls of Halladale was built in1886 by Russell & Co., at Greenock shipyards on the River Clyde, Scotland for Wright, Breakenridge & Co of Glasgow. She was one of several designs of the Falls Line of ships named after waterfalls in Scotland. The company had been founded between 1870- 1873 as a partnership between Joseph Russell, Anderson Rodger, and William Todd Lithgow. During the period 1882-92 Russell & Co. standardised designs, which sped up their building process so much that they were able to build 271 ships during that time. The Falls of Halladale had a sturdy construction built to carry maximum cargo and was able to maintain full sail in heavy gales, one of the last of the 'windjammers' that sailed the Trade Route. She and her sister ship, the Falls of Garry, were the first ships in the world to include fore and aft lifting bridges. Previous to this, heavily loaded vessels could have heavy seas break along the full length of the deck, causing serious injury or even death to those on deck. The new raised catwalk-type decking allowed the crew to move above the deck in stormy conditions. This rubber boot is significant for being the only rubber boot in our collection. It is remarkable that it has survived almost seventy years underwater. The Falls of Halladale shipwreck is listed on the Victorian Heritage (No. S255). She was one of the last ships to sail the Trade Routes from Europe and the Americas. Also of significance is that the vessel was one of the first ships to have fore and aft lifting bridges as a significant safety feature still in use on modern vessels today. The subject model is an example of an International Cargo Ship used during the 19th and early 20th centuries to transport goods around the world and represents aspects of Victoria’s shipping industry. Rubber boot, left foot, Boot is ankle height and adult size. The heel appears to be solid rubber and the inner sole resembles leather. The rubber has come away from the outer boot in places, revealing a fabric base. Recovered from the Falls of Halladale. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, shipwreck coast, great ocean road, russell & co., rubber boot, protective footwear, shipwreck artefact -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Domestic object - Glass, drinking, 1886-1908
The Falls of Halladale was an iron-hulled, four-masted barque, used as a bulk carrier of general cargo. She left New York in August 1908 bound for Melbourne and Sydney. In her hold was general cargo consisting of roofing tiles, barb wire, stoves, oil, and benzene as well as many other manufactured items. After three months at sea and close to her destination, a navigational error caused the Falls of Halladale to be wrecked on a reef off the Peterborough headland on the 15th of November, 1908. The captain and 29 crew members survived, but her cargo was largely lost, despite two salvage attempts in 1908-09 and 1910. The Court of Marine Inquiry in Melbourne ruled that the foundering of the ship was entirely due to Captain David Wood Thomson's navigational error, not too technical failure of the Clyde-built ship. The Falls of Halladale was built in1886 by Russell & Co., at Greenock shipyards on the River Clyde, Scotland for Wright, Breckenridge & Co of Glasgow. She was one of several designs of Falls Line of ships named after waterfalls in Scotland. The company had been founded between 1870- 1873 as a partnership between Joseph Russell, Anderson Rodger, and William Todd Lithgow. During the period 1882-92 Russell & Co. standardised designs, which sped up their building process so much that they were able to build 271 ships during that time. The Falls of Halladale had a sturdy construction built to carry maximum cargo and able to maintain full sail in heavy gales, one of the last of the 'windjammers' that sailed the Trade Route. She and her sister ship, the Falls of Garry, were the first ships in the world to include fore and aft lifting bridges. Previous to this, heavily loaded vessels could have heavy seas break along the full length of the deck, causing serious injury or even death to those on deck. The new, raised catwalk-type decking allowed the crew to move above the deck in stormy conditions. The Falls of Halladale shipwreck is listed on the Victorian Heritage (No. S255). She was one of the last ships to sail the Trade Routes from Europe and the Americas. Also of significance is that the vessel was one of the first ships to have fore and aft lifting bridges as a significant safety feature still in use on modern vessels today. The subject model is an example of an International Cargo Ship used during the 19th and early 20th centuries to transport goods around the world and representing aspects of Victoria’s shipping industry. Small drinking glass, rebated around lip with encrustation and a small chip out of the lip. Inscriptions on attached sticker. The handmade glass has been blown into a mould.""F/15" "SS 3/2-74"flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, falls of halladale, glass, russell & co., wreck, artifact, shot glass, handmade, blown glass, shipwreck artefact -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Functional object - Wheel Hub, 1886-1908
The Falls of Halladale was an iron-hulled, four-masted barque, used as a bulk carrier of general cargo. She left New York in August 1908 bound for Melbourne and Sydney. In her hold was general cargo consisting of roofing tiles, barb wire, stoves, oil, and benzene as well as many other manufactured items. After three months at sea and close to her destination, a navigational error caused the Falls of Halladale to be wrecked on a reef off the Peterborough headland on the 15th of November, 1908. The captain and 29 crew members survived, but her cargo was largely lost, despite two salvage attempts in 1908-09 and 1910. The Court of Marine Inquiry in Melbourne ruled that the foundering of the ship was entirely due to Captain David Wood Thomson's navigational error, not too technical failure of the Clyde-built ship. The Falls of Halladale was built in1886 by Russell & Co., at Greenock shipyards on the River Clyde, Scotland for Wright, Breakenridge & Co of Glasgow. She was one of several designs of Falls Line of ships named after waterfalls in Scotland. The company had been founded between 1870- 1873 as a partnership between Joseph Russell, Anderson Rodger, and William Todd Lithgow. During the period 1882-92 Russell & Co. standardised designs, which sped up their building process so much that they were able to build 271 ships during that time. The Falls of Halladale had a sturdy construction built to carry maximum cargo and able to maintain full sail in heavy gales, one of the last of the 'windjammers' that sailed the Trade Route. She and her sister ship, the Falls of Garry, were the first ships in the world to include fore and aft lifting bridges. Previous to this, heavily loaded vessels could have heavy seas break along the full length of the deck, causing serious injury or even death to those on deck. The new, raised catwalk-type decking allowed the crew to move above the deck in stormy conditions. The Falls of Halladale shipwreck is listed on the Victorian Heritage (No. S255). She was one of the last ships to sail the Trade Routes from Europe and the Americas. Also of significance is that the vessel was one of the first ships to have fore and aft lifting bridges as a significant safety feature still in use on modern vessels today. The subject model is an example of an International Cargo Ship used during the 19th and early 20th centuries to transport goods around the world and representing aspects of Victoria’s shipping industry. Wagon wheel hub with spoke butts. Holes for hardware fittings are visible. Recovered from the wreck of the Falls of Halladale. Noneflagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, wheel hub, falls of halladale, russell & co., wreck artifact, cart wheel -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Functional object - Wagon Wheel Spoke, ca. 1908
This wagon wheel spoke was recovered from the wreck of the Falls of Halladale. Buggy wheels and spokes here amongst the varied cargo carried on the ship. The Falls of Halladale was an iron-hulled, four-masted barque, used as a bulk carrier of general cargo. She left New York in August 1908 bound for Melbourne and Sydney. In her hold was general cargo consisting of roofing tiles, barb wire, stoves, oil, and benzene as well as many other manufactured items. After three months at sea and close to her destination, a navigational error caused the Falls of Halladale to be wrecked on a reef off the Peterborough headland on the 15th of November, 1908. The captain and 29 crew members survived, but her cargo was largely lost, despite two salvage attempts in 1908-09 and 1910. The Court of Marine Inquiry in Melbourne ruled that the foundering of the ship was entirely due to Captain David Wood Thomson's navigational error, not too technical failure of the Clyde-built ship. The Falls of Halladale was built in1886 by Russell & Co., at Greenock shipyards on the River Clyde, Scotland for Wright, Breakenridge & Co of Glasgow. She was one of several designs of Falls Line of ships named after waterfalls in Scotland. The company had been founded between 1870- 1873 as a partnership between Joseph Russell, Anderson Rodger, and William Todd Lithgow. During the period 1882-92 Russell & Co. standardised designs, which sped up their building process so much that they were able to build 271 ships during that time. The Falls of Halladale had a sturdy construction built to carry maximum cargo and was able to maintain full sail in heavy gales, one of the last of the 'windjammers' that sailed the Trade Route. She and her sister ship, the Falls of Garry, were the first ships in the world to include fore and aft lifting bridges. Previous to this, heavily loaded vessels could have heavy seas break along the full length of the deck, causing serious injury or even death to those on deck. The new raised catwalk-type decking allowed the crew to move above the deck in stormy conditions. The wheel spoke was part of the cargo on the ship, Falls of Halladale, along with buggy wheels. These are examples of parts of vehicles used at the beginning of the 20th century and could have been built components for buggies or wagons if delivered to their destinations of Melbourne or Sydney. The Falls of Halladale shipwreck is listed on the Victorian Heritage (No. S255). She was one of the last ships to sail the Trade Routes from Europe and the Americas. Also of significance is that the vessel was one of the first ships to have fore and aft lifting bridges as a significant safety feature still in use on modern vessels today. The subject model is an example of an International Cargo Ship used during the 19th and early 20th centuries to transport goods around the world and represents aspects of Victoria’s shipping industry. Wagon wheel spoke, light coloured wood, flat length, tongue shaped at the end. It was recovered from the wreck of the Falls of Halladale. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, russell & co., spoke, wagon wheel spoke, wreck artifact, falls of halladale, buggy wheel spoke, wheel spoke, cargo -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Functional object - Clock Frame, ca. 1908
This clock face was recovered from the wreck of the Falls of Halladale. There were twenty boxes of clocks carried on the ship as cargo, destined for the ports of Melbourne and Sydney. The Falls of Halladale was an iron-hulled, four-masted barque, used as a bulk carrier of general cargo. She left New York in August 1908 bound for Melbourne and Sydney. In her hold was general cargo consisting of roofing tiles, barbed wire, stoves, oil, and benzene as well as many other manufactured items. After three months at sea and close to her destination, a navigational error caused the Falls of Halladale to be wrecked on a reef off the Peterborough headland on the 15th of November, 1908. The captain and 29 crew members survived, but her cargo was largely lost, despite two salvage attempts in 1908-09 and 1910. The Court of Marine Inquiry in Melbourne ruled that the foundering of the ship was entirely due to Captain David Wood Thomson's navigational error, not too technical failure of the Clyde-built ship. The Falls of Halladale was built in1886 by Russell & Co., at Greenock shipyards on the River Clyde, Scotland for Wright, Breakenridge & Co of Glasgow. She was one of several designs of Falls Line of ships named after waterfalls in Scotland. The company had been founded between 1870- 1873 as a partnership between Joseph Russell, Anderson Rodger, and William Todd Lithgow. During the period 1882-92 Russell & Co. standardised designs, which sped up their building process so much that they were able to build 271 ships during that time. The Falls of Halladale had a sturdy construction built to carry maximum cargo and was able to maintain full sail in heavy gales, one of the last of the 'windjammers' that sailed the Trade Route. She and her sister ship, the Falls of Garry, were the first ships in the world to include fore and aft lifting bridges. Previous to this, heavily loaded vessels could have heavy seas break along the full length of the deck, causing serious injury or even death to those on deck. The new raised catwalk-type decking allowed the crew to move above the deck in stormy conditions. Twenty cases of clocks were carried amongst the cargo of the Falls of Halladale, an example of the need for people in the early 20th century to have easy access to the current time. The Falls of Halladale shipwreck is listed on the Victorian Heritage (No. S255). She was one of the last ships to sail the Trade Routes from Europe and the Americas. Also of significance is that the vessel was one of the first ships to have fore and aft lifting bridges as a significant safety feature still in use on modern vessels today. The subject model is an example of an International Cargo Ship used during the 19th and early 20th centuries to transport goods around the world and represents aspects of Victoria’s shipping industry. Section of a clock frame, brass, with drilled holes and cutout shapes and an arched base. It was recovered from the wreck of the Falls of Halladale. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, clock frame, russell & co., falls of halladale wreck, artifact, clock part, time keeper -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Weapon - Cannon, 1861
The artillery piece of the cannon was cast at the Low Moor foundry in England in 1861. It is a 68 pound muzzle loading cannon, capable of firing a 68 pound weight projectile. The arrow on the top of the barrel is the symbol of government ownership. It is probably one of the artillery pieces purchased by the Victorian government in response to the 1863 report by Captain Scratchley, which recommended 19 such artillery pieces be bought for the defence of Hobsons Bay, (Williamstown, Melbourne) (Billets p.12). It was possibly brought to Warrnambool in the late 1860s or the 1870s, to be used for training purposes by volunteers and local militia. The wrought iron runners were probably added to the slides at a later date. This model of carriage had been manufactured since 1855, and the traversing slide since 1860. The traversing slide of the wooden carriage absorbs the recoil when the gun is then returns to the gun to its original position for loading and re-firing. The properties of the timber (regarded as being Burmese teak) have helped to preserve these carriages in Australia. This particular carriage and traversing slide would have been manufactured about the same time as the gun (in 1861) in the Royal Carriage Department of the Royal Gun Factory in Woolwich, England. The gun would then have been assembled on the traversing slide of the carriage, then despatched as a unit. The wooden slide compressor mechanism that belongs to the cannon was used to limit the recoil when the cannon was fired. It is now stored separately for purposes of preservation. It is extremely rare, as it is the only one surviving in this group of South Western Victorian cannons.This 68 pdr cannon, mounted with its original wooden carriage, is part of the South Western Victoria collection of surviving 19th Century artillery pieces, item number W/F/02. It is rated as EXTREMELY RARE on a State, National and World level. The 68 pound smooth bore cannon of this period are not particularly rare either in Australia or overseas; its significance lies in its Victorian provenance and as an element in a major collection of 19th century cannon. The number of surviving carriages with traversing slides in this group in South Western Victoria is unique in Australia and probably in the World. Out of 10 such platforms surviving in Australia, the South Western Victorian group has half. Several survive around the world but probably not in such a large group. The wooden sliding compressor mechanism belonging to this cannon is extremely rare, and the only one in this South Western Victorian group of Guns and Cannons. As a whole, this cannon has undergone very little restoration or modification, giving it a high level of integrity.Warrnambool Garrison Cannon. 68pdr smoothbore, muzzle-loading, cast-iron cannon. Manufactured in Low Moor, 1861, No. 10310. Mounted on the wooden carriage with wrought iron traversing slide and wrought iron runners and fittings. The cannon's Cascabel is cast with a loop. The wooden slide Compressor Mechanism, or Recoil Mechanism, is extremely rare. This mechanism comprises two equal-sized sections of wood, one on each side of the centre, joined by metal rods. In the centre of this wooden platform, with openings, top and bottom is a 15cm diameter metal cylinder with two cusps on the edge of the top (this wood has split over time). Two parallel sides each have two 1cm thick metal "L' plates attached 15cm long and 8.5cm wide. With the unit is ‘ L’ bracket, curved bracket and bolt head.Cannon trunnion "LOW MOOR / 10310 / 1861" Top of the barrel "7045, (symbol of an arrow pointing up), 95 – 3 – 14, 1861, 209" Cascabel "CV / N / C" The rear of left-hand slide " "OD” “JW” “No 33” Side chock – “JW” twice. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, muzzle loading cannon, 68 pound cannon, low moor foundry, royal gun factory, warrnambool militia, warrnambool garrison volunteers, warrnambool fortifications, wooden sliding compression mechanism, carriage and traversing slide, 19th century cannon, traversing platform, garrison sliding carriage, 68 pounder -
Frankston RSL Sub Branch
Medallion
A medallion presented to Private A. C. Hill by the citizens of Frankston, Victoria. These medallions were presented to local men who enlisted for service as they departed to World War 1 by the "Citizens and Patriotic Committee". The medallion has a gold finish and has an olive wreath around the circumference. A small loop is provided to attach the medallion to a chain or similar. In this case the medallion is attached to a fob watch chain commonly worn by men when dressed in a jacket. (refer item 00325).One side of the medallion is inscribed: "A. Hill" "From the citizens of Frankston" and the other is inscribed "A. I. F." -
The Beechworth Burke Museum
Photograph, Bayless C. - Manager, 1875
In this photo, taken in around 1875, is depicted the exterior of the Beechworth Mental Asylum buildings, with the administration buildings far right of the photo. A sunken boundary wall in the foreground and some people in view, sitting at the pavillion in the centre of the image. The two-storey buildings, designed in Italianate style, and the three-storey towers at the front, influenced by the asylum at Colney Hatch in England. The architecture of the buildings shares key features with other contemporary institutions, like Aradale at Ararat, and its design is attributed to the Public Works Department architect, J.J. Clark, whose name is connected with the construction of many other important public buildings, such as the Asylums at Kew and Ararat, the front block of the Royal Mint, Melbourne and the Melbourne Customs House. The Mayday Hills Hospital was constructed between 1864 and 1867, with buildings created in a number of periods. It formally opened on 24 October 1867 and, along with the Ovens Hospital and the Benevolent Asylum, made Beechworth a prominent social welfare centre in Victoria. Large masses of granite were excavated for its foundation and around 250 workmen were employed for its construction. The building, divided into six sections, was comprised of dormitories, doctors` rooms and plenty ancillary rooms and facilities, such as laundries, reading rooms, a concert hall and cooking areas. The site was chosen for its panoramic view of the countryside, the hilltop atmosphere and the native fauna, all contributing to the cure of patients. The Hospital was originally named the “Ovens Lunatic Asylum” but during the centenary celebrations in 1967 the name was officially changed to “Mayday Hills Hospital”, showing the gradual shift in the perception and understanding of mental health conditions over the last decades. The Hospital lies on the traditional land of the Kulin Nation.This photograph is historically significant as it provides an insight into the location, surroundings and the exterior of the Mayday Hills Hospital at the end of the 19th century. It also contributes to the understanding of the district`s development and its importance to the course of Victoria`s history and is acknowledged as a unique construction, being one of three identified as the largest of their kind.Black and white rectangular photograph printed on matte photographic paper mounted on board.Reverse: 37/ 3443/ Beechworth Asylum about 1875/ American & Australasian/Photographic Company/Victoria Branch./C.Bayless, Manager./ No./beechworth mental asylum, aradale, public works department, j.j. clark, melbourne customs house, colney hatch, italianate style, mayday hills hospital, royal mint, granite, benevolent asylum, dormitories, ovens lunatic asylum, ancillary rooms, centenary celebrations, three-storey towers, countryside, mental health conditions, kulin nation, concert hall -
The Beechworth Burke Museum
Photograph - Photograph Reproduction, 1890
The photo is taken in 1890 and a man is depicted, entering the main gates of the Mental Hospital at Beechworth, with the lodge on his right side. The man is dressed according to the australian fashion of that time, wearing a dark suit and a top hat. The countryside surrounding the Hospital is in the background. The Mayday Hills Hospital was constructed between 1864 and 1867, with buildings created in a number of periods. It formally opened on 24 October 1867 and, along with the Ovens Hospital and the Benevolent Asylum, made Beechworth a prominent social welfare centre in Victoria. The need for an institution of this kind was arisen due to the increased number of people with mental disturbances (induced by the harsh living conditions on the goldfields) and the remoteness of the district from Melbourne. The site was chosen for its panoramic view of the countryside, the hilltop atmosphere and the native fauna, all contributing to the cure of patients. It was designed in Italianate style and around 250 workmen were employed for its construction. The Hospital was originally named the “Ovens Lunatic Asylum” but, during the centenary celebrations in 1967, the name was officially changed to “Mayday Hills Hospital”, showing the gradual shift in the perception and understanding of mental health conditions over the last decades. The Hospital lies on the traditional land of the Kulin Nation.This photograph is historically significant as it provides an insight into the location, surroundings and the exterior of the Mayday Hills Hospital at the end of the 19th century. It also contributes to the understanding of the district`s development and its importance to the course of Victoria`s history. Moreover, it adds information to the scientific research and the way mental health conditions were treated at that time.Black and white rectangular photograph printed on paper unframed.Obverse: Asylum Gates & Lodge/ Reverse: 3451-1/mental hospital, beechworth, australian fashion, dark suit, top hat, countryside, mayday hills hospital, ovens hospital, benevolent asylum, institution, mental disturbances, social welfare, living conditions, goldfields, workmen, italianate style, kulin nation, mental health, ovens lunatic asylum, patients -
The Beechworth Burke Museum
Photograph, 27/01/2010
Taken on the 1st of April 1928 and copied from a private collection on the 27th of January 2010 the photograph depicts three well-dressed men and a small child standing around a fountain at the back of the administration building of Beechworth's 'lunatic' Asylum The asylum was constructed between 1864 and 1867 to the designs by the Public Works Department (PWD) and was later renamed Mayday Hills Mental Asylum. The decommissioned asylum was one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in Victoria and consisted of sixty-seven buildings, one thousand two hundred patients and five hundred staff members. The asylum was one of the first asylums to focus on treatment and rehabilitation instead of institutional confinement. At the asylum, active work was considered imperative and workshops were located near the male accommodations and laundries and drying yards near the female accommodation. The asylum closed in 1995 and was sold to La Trobe University before being closed and sold again in 2011 to a private owner.This photograph is historically significant as it demonstrates the freedom and safety of those who visited the asylum while also highlighting this instutions mission to treat and rehabiliate patients instead on institutionalising them.Black and white rectangular photograph printed on photographic paperReverse: 7606-1/ Copied 27 Jan 2010/ Copied from private collection/ Inscribed on the back of original/ J.Pinfold 1-4-1929/ May Mental Hospital for the Insane. beechworth, beechworth mental asylum, beechworth lunatic asylum, beechworth mental hosptial, mayday, mayday hills, mayday hills mental asylum, administration building, fountain