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Bendigo Historical Society Inc.
Document - MINING REPORTS - CONFIDENCE EXT'D MINE MANAGER REPORT
... Mr Foot... Manager Report J Ennor Mr Foot Roberts and Sons Handwritten ...Handwritten extracts from the Mine Manager, J. Ennor's Reports. The reports are dated 1897 and 1898. Reports mention new Slide Valves and eccentrics to the air-compressor, replacement of boiler and boilers at the South Shaft.document, gold, mining reports, mining reports, confidence ext'd mine manager report, j ennor, mr foot, roberts and sons -
The Beechworth Burke Museum
Photograph - Photograph - Reproduction, Unknown
This image is a reproduction of an 1899 original depicting the 'Williams Good Luck Mine' on the Mopoke Reef (also called 'Morepork Gully') in the Dingle Ranges, approximately three miles from Beechworth. The foreground of the image is littered with piles of smashed rock and detritus, known as ‘mullock’, beside a reinforced mine shaft, a vertical access passageway allowing miners to enter the mine and haul ore out using lifting technology such as a poppet heads, whims or windlasses. A group of miners and a dog appear close to an open-sided miner’s hut. Following the discovery of gold at Beechworth in 1852, rushes quickly followed at surrounding creeks and gullies in the district. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, small syndicates of miners continued to work old or abandoned quartz reefs, often persisting without the assistance of heavy machinery to remove the large amounts of rock, in order to obtain yields at ever greater depths. The group of miners in this photograph are Mr. Roger Williams and Sons, who revived operations at the ‘Old Good Luck’ mine on the Mopoke Reef in the Dingle Range near Beechworth around 1892, working the site for more than two decades. An emigrant from Cornwall with experience in the tin mining industry, 19 year old Roger Williams senior sailed to New Zealand in 1840, then to Australia where he spent time in the Bendigo Gold Fields before settling in Beechworth in the early 1860s. Mr Williams senior worked on various mining activities in the district, including the Rocky Mountain Tunnel project. Conversant with the character of gold-bearing reefs in the area, the syndicate dug an eight hundred foot tunnel, digging down as far down as two hundred feet with little capital save their labour, to connect and provide better working access to the mass of reefs and veins in the vicinity. Progress was hampered by poor air quality charged with fumes from dynamite and large quantities of rock had to be crushed to obtain payable yields. The Victorian Goldfields are filled with ruins and remnants of the area's rich mining history, ranging from small alluvial diggings to the remains of huge mining companies. Site names often changed several times throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some sites were abandoned and forgotten, others were worked continuously over many decades. The names of mines were often repeated at different locations throughout the Victorian Goldfields. For example, there is a Mopoke Gully heritage mine near Fryers Creek, Victoria. 'Mopoke' is a common onomatopoeic name for Morepork and Australian Boobook owls. This image has historical, social and research significance for patterns of emigration during of the Victorian Gold Rush, and the historical, social and environmental impacts of mining at Beechworth at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As gold became scarce and government support and large company investment waned, poor hard-working miners laboured intensively to make a living through periods of high unemployment. This image can be compared and studied alongside other historical mining photographs and objects in the Burke Museum Collection. It has potential to improve our understanding of miners working conditions and the shifting character of mining in the Beechworth district. Black and white rectangular reproduction photograph printed on matte photographic paper.Obverse: Williams Good Luck Mine Beechworth / Roger! / Reverse: 6858 / burke museum, beechworth museum, beechworth, gold fields, gold rush, victorian gold rush, gold ming history, colonial australia, australian gold rushes, mining technology, beechworth historic district, indigo gold trail, migration, indigo shire, good luck gold mine, victorian goldfields, mining syndicates, gold fever, quartz-mining, small-scale mining, old good luck mine, mopoke gully, quartz reefs beechworth -
The Beechworth Burke Museum
Audio - Oral History, Jennifer Williams, Mr Herbert McFeeters, 4 May 2000
Herbert McFeeters as born in Wooragee Creek in 11th July 1905. Mr McFeeters would walk to school in Beechworth by foot, about 3.5 miles through the hills. It would take him and his siblings one hour to get to school. Mr McFeeters worked at the local tannery from the age of 14 for 11 years. After which he worked for himself, farming cattle and selling milk around the region. Mr McFeeters bought land from the Crown, who were selling lands after many miners had left the region. Mr McFeeters recalls the Chinese community that remained the Beechworth area and the social activities in the town, including the pictures, football games and Harvest Festivals. This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke. Mr McFeeters oral history provides detail of life in rural Victoria during the early 20th Century. Mr McFeeters describes his early childhood and working life, including details of the social activities This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke. This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.Mr Herbert McFeeters /listen to what they say, beechworth, oral history, burke museum, herbert mcfeeters, wooragee creek, reid's creek -
Phillip Island and District Historical Society Inc.
Chicory Kiln, 1970
... - scale model by Robert Titcher, Dandenong. 1/4" to 1 Foot. Made ...Made by Mr Titcher for his personal collection. Displayed in Mrs Audrey McFee's miniature Chicory Kiln. After it was closed donated to Historical Society.Model Chicory Kiln made of painted match wood in Glass Case.Chicory Kiln early 1900's - scale model by Robert Titcher, Dandenong. 1/4" to 1 Foot.local history, rural industry, horticulture, chicory industry, model chicory kiln, mr titcher -
Federation University Historical Collection
Photograph - Original x-rays, X-rays from pioneering Ballarat Demonstrations, 1896
X-Rays were first discovered on 08 November 1895. By 18 July 1896 staff members of the Ballarat School of Mines (SMB), were experimenting with the exciting new discovery. The history of x-rays began on 08 November 1895 at the University of Wurzburg in Bavaria. The discovery was officially announced on 25 December 1895. The first radiographs in Ballarat were taken at the School of Mines in July 1896 according to the Ballarat School of Mines (SMB) Annual Report. Frederick J. Martell, the Registrar of SMB arranged for the importation of tubes, while John M. Sutherland, an electrician, conducted most of the experiments giving 6 inch, 12 inch and 16 inch sparks respectively. In a short time brilliantly successful results were obtained, with some SMB Roentgen negatives taken at this time still in existence today. Samuel Ernest Figgis, H. R. W. Murphy, D. McDougall, and Frederick J. Martell carried out experiments at the SMB on Saturday evening 18 July 1896, producing 'perfect' negatives of a hand and wrist. A Roentgen Tube and an induction coil giving a two inch spark, the coil being sparked by the SMB's dynamo, were used to obtain these results. The Courier reported that 'the exposure of five minutes was ample' but concluded that 'the length of the exposure will be shortened as experiments proceed.' The Ballarat Courier reported on 20 July 1896 that: "Thanks to the energy of the staff of The School of Mines, Ballarat, and particularly to Messers F.J. Martell and D. McDougall, the assistance of Rontgen X-rays will soon be available, for the relief of suffering humanity, at this institution." Martell was an ardent amateur photographer, and Duncan McDougall's experience as an electrician has enabled the two gentlemen to carry their experiments on to a perfectly successful issue. At first these gentlemen, together with Professor Purdie and Mr W. Huey Steele, conducted a series of experiments by the aid of a Bonetti glass-plate induction machine which had been constructed by Mr McDougall. The results were very good, the various bones of the hand being distinctly visible. The following people were among those who witnessed the first X-ray experiments to be carried out in Ballarat. Andrew Anderson, President of the School of Mines, a large number of ladies and gentlemen, the medical profession Dr Edward Champion (1867-1929) Dr Gerald Eugene Cussen (1888-1943) Dr William Edward Davies (1868-1928) Dr Charles William Henry hardy (1861-1941) Dr Edward Kenneth Herring(1864-1922) Dr Joseph Lalor (1859-1907) Dr James Thomas Mitchell (1856-1945) Dr Edward Graham Ochiltree (1857-1896) Dr Robert Denham Pinnock (1849-1902) Dr Joseph Francis Usher (c1832-1909) Dr Grace Vale (nk-1933). The staff of SMB Professor Alfred Mica Smith Professor D. J. Dawbarn Mr. F. J. Martell. (http://guerin.ballarat.edu.au/aasp/is/library/collections/art_history/honour-roll/honourroll_X-Ray_pioneers.shtml) "Seven patients of the doctors who were present were treated. In each case the patient was suffering from the effects of an old wound or some other injury to other a hand or foot. One patient, a boy had a finger broken some years earlier and when xray plate of the injury was developed it indicated plainly the fracture on one of the joints of the third finger. In another case a woman had a foot had a foot X-rayed and the photograph revealed the seat of an earlier imjury to it. Likewise an injury to the bones of a hand of an elderly man was revealed by an x-ray photograph. Every X-ray photograph that evening showed the importance of this new development in electrical science and the doctors present agreed the "the results of the experiments on their patients, by showing the exact seat of the injury and its present condittion, would materially assist them iin supporting cures." (Warren Perry, The Ballarat School of Mines and Industries Ballarat, p 146.)A number of photographic xrays as taken by the Ballarat School of Mines in 1896. The xrays include bones, hands, feet, shoes and more. ballarat school of mines, scientific equipment, x-ray, xray, photography, foto, roentgen tube -
Federation University Historical Collection
Newspaper - Newsclippings, Tantanoola Tiger Newsclippings
In the early 1880s a small circus travelled between Millicent and Mt Gambier, South Australia. After camping overnight they discovered their Bengal Tiger at escaped and disappeared into dense scrub. After searching for hours they continued to Mt Gambier and reported the loss of the tiger to police. Police and local volunteers continued the search for the escaped tiger, but no sighting were made. In the early 1890s sheep in the Tantanoola area started to disappear with the still unsighted tiger being blamed. In 1893 reports of an unusual animal in the Tantanoola area started, with many describing the animal as the missing tiger, or a large dog. One eye witness claimed to have seen the animal carrying a full grown sheep in its mouth. The reports grew in number and exaggeration with sightings from Robe to Bendigo. In the Tantanoola district children were escorted with shotgun guards to and from school, with many homes keeping guns at the ready in case the tiger suddenly appeared. In August 1895 Tom Donovan shot the "Tantanoola Tiger" on Mt Salt Station, around 20 kms south of Tantanoola. The corpse was taken to Marks, a Mount Gambier taxidermist, at which time the animal was identified as an Assyrian or Northern Russian Wolf. Donovan displayed the animal far and wide. Despite the animal's death sheep continued to disappear from properties in the district over many years. It was of particular concern between 1909 and 1910. At that time Herbert Allchurch, an Adelaide detective, was sent to solve the mystery. A few days after his arrival Allchruch went to the front bar of the Tiger Hotel and arrested local rabbit shooter and trapper, Charlie Edmunson, with sheep stealing. After his 1911 trial Edmunson admitted to stealing over 4,000 sheep during the previous 20 years. He was gaoled for six years with hard-labour in January 1911. Edmunson had been selling the skins of the stolen sheep, leaving the carcusses to rot. He earned around five pounds per week during the 1990s and early 1900s, a time when the economy was depressed. It is not known had the animal known as the Tantanoola Tiger came to Australia, but it is believed it survived one of three ships wrecked of the coast between 1890 and 1893, making it to shore along with some of the shipwrecked passengers. (From a card produced by the Tantanoola Tiger Hotel, where the 'tiger' is on display.)A collection of Newsclippings from 1892 - 1895 photocopied onto A4 white paper. The clippings relate to the Tantanoola Tiger. Clippings include: * Border Watch 1892 - Tantanoola Tiger Reward * Sydney Morning Herald, 04/07/1857 - Animals in Zoological Gardens, including a number of large cats. * Claims the Tantanoola Tiger was an escaped circus animal (ie The Advertiser [Adelaide], 31 October 1893) * Search parties for the Tantanoola Tiger (ie Barrier Miner 19/05/1893; Barrier Miner 03/1081893) * Thylacine claim (ie Morning Bulletin [Rockhampton] 11/03/1895 * Afghan and Indian Hunters (ie Barrier Miner 07/02/1895) * Sighting by John Bird of Scarsdale - Wanganui Herald 15/12/1900. " ... Mr Bird was travelling on foot along a lonely track through very dense scrub, when he was stricken with amazement to see a full-grown tiger standing in a small dam about 30ft away, and holding in its jaws the carcass of a newly-killed lamb. He remained long enough to thoroughly take in the animals appearance, and then beat a hasty retreat unmolested. His description of the animal is as follows: A tawny-coloured creature, with a dirty mottled skin; in general appearance like an immense cat; body 4ft long, and of a uniform thickness from shoulder to hindquarters; in bulk equal to a very large pig. The legs were hidden in the water. A similar animal is reported to gave been seen near Canico, some miles away. ..." * Victorian country sightings # Bullarto - Argus 06/05/1905 # Dean - Launceston Examiner 28/01/1895 # Bendigo - Hobart Mercury 15/03/1895 # Ballan - Launceston Examiner 03/08/1895 * South Australian register 17/06/1885 " There is a tiger or panther wandering at large in Victoria, according to a rumour. It has taken the place of the Bunyip, whom hundreds have seen but none captured. This tiger is supposed to have broken loose from a travelling menagerie in the North-eastern district. At the beginning we should like it roved that such an escape ever took place. Perhaps the showmen were afraid to report the fact to the police; at any rate they did not do so. The first story about the tiger being seen came from the neighborhood of Wangaratta, 60 miles from the place where it is said to have commenced business on its own account. He was followed, but vanished among trees. Next we hear of a strange animal, bigger than a St Bernard's dog, but shorter legged, having appeared at least 150 miles from Wangaratta. Between Lilydale and Wangaratta there is a dividing range 2,000 feet high in the lowest past, besides several large rivers. An finally, the tiger - changed from a panther - is reported as having been seen within the suburban circle, about 8 miles from the general Post Office. They show you footprints, and point to the carcasses of mangled cows and calves. Casts have been taken of the footprints for examination by scientific men, who pronounce them doglike, and yet not doglike, but panther-like, which gives a nervous turn, for the panther may take up killing children and grown-up people. One tiger will not account for so many apparitions. There must have been a general strike among the menageries, and a breaking-up companies. ... * Research article by Philip A. Clarke "Indigenous Spirit and Ghost Folklore of 'Settled' Australia. australian animal folklore collection, tantanoola tiger, tom donovan, herbert allchurch, charles edmunson, sheep, charlie edmunson, mythical, myth, folklore -
Supreme Court of Victoria Library
Portrait, John Schutt, Supreme Court Librarian, 1916/1917
This portrait was presented by the Victorian Bar to the Library in 1917 to commemorate Schutt’s fifty years as the Supreme Court Librarian. The portrait was presented at a ceremony presided over by Mr Mitchell KC who noted the “unanimity with which the members of the profession had adopted the suggestion that the eminent services of Mr Schutt should be recognised in this way.” Chief Justice Madden also spoke on this occasion and there were a number of judges and members of the legal profession present. John Schutt had been born in England in 1831 and migrated to Victoria as a young man, initially working as a school teacher he was appointed librarian, during Redmond Barry’s time in 1866. He started work in the Old Court in Russell street and would have supervised the move of the library to its new and greatly expanded premises in William Street in 1884. As well as secretary to the Library committee, he also acted as the Secretary of the Board of Examiners on occasion. After his death in 1919 in its obituary, the Williamstown Chronicle noted that Schutt was regarded as a Solon, an ancient greek law giver who gave wise advice. Away from the Court he was a councillor of many years standing in Williamstown, representing the Victoria Ward, what is now the suburb of Newport, it would appear Schutt street in Newport was named after him. His eldest son William Schutt was appointed a Supreme Court judge in 1919. The portrait of Schutt is a companion piece to the Sir Thomas a’Beckett picture painted shortly before the Schutt portrait and for the same client, they share the same frame design with gum leaf motif. This portrait was undertaken early in Meldrum’s career and before he had fully developed his theory of painting. Duncan Max Meldrum (1875-1955) was a controversial figure in his later years as he strongly opposed modernism and non-figurative art. His works are found in most of the state galleries, including a wide selection at the National Gallery of Victoria. This portrait is of interest for whom it portrays and as the work of a well known artistFull length portrait in oils of John Schutt. Schutt is standing up looking out the to the viewer. His hand rests on a small pile of books. He is dressed soberly in a three piece black suit. His white beard and hair all meticulously trimmed and realised. The props used in this painting provide the main colour as the background has become dark over the years. The books sit atop of a red and gold draped table. Behind Schutt is what appears to be a crimson velvet chair and he gives every appearence of having just arisen from the chair to engage with the viewer. The painting has an unusual light source at the foot of the painting with Schutt's legs providing shadows. Signed Meldrum lower right hand corner. Plaque inscription is John Schutt, Esq. Supreme Court Librarian -
Ringwood and District Historical Society
Letter, Property for sale - Ringwood Shop and Dwelling Estate, Ringwood, Victoria - circa 1925
ID 5225 note: Further information relating to allotments marked on the hand-drawn plan are included in ID 5224 - Ringwood Station Estate.Typewritten letter from A.V. Greenwood with hand drawn plan of Ringwood Shop and Dwelling Estate, detailed description of property for sale, and top and side elevation views of house. (7 pages)(Transcript of first page - to unknown recipient) Phone 988 Central, 331 Canty Greenwood Pty. Ltd. 5 Flinders Street Melbourne. Dear Sir, 1. Attached please find drawings of my house at Ringwood. 2. It is for sale at £4,865 or to let at £5 per week to an approved tenant. 3. I sold it to Mr. De Garis and vacated it, but it is now back on my hands. 4. I leased another place instead of living in my own. I may be able to cancel same; in the meantime, however, I propose to sell or let my own. The painters are now going through the place; re-varnishing, re-oiling and re-polishing so that in about five days it will look "spick and span". 5. The house was specially built under my own supervision. 6. It is very suitable for a high class Guest House, Doctor's residence, Hospital or Convalescent Home. If you know of anyone whom it might suit, please communicate with them. DESCRIPTION 7. It stands on 305 feet of land facing Greenwood Avenue. It is cement, roughcast and hardwood, well oiled, and is now being redone so that the house is as good as new; red tile roof; verandahs three sides; two sleep-outs; five bedrooms; large dining room; very large music room with nooks, upstairs lounge, study; sewing room; built-in wardrobes and cupboards throughout; handsome kitchen with handsome pantry cupboard with drawers and glass front; one bath room; one shower room; wash house with patent copper and laundry. Every modern convenience, hot water system (through copper pipes with large copper cylinder) electric lights everywhere, outside and in, Yan Yean water laid on everwhere throughout house and gardens. Floors throughout are the very best, close set, stained and polished; dainty lead light windows etc. 8. There is a big garage, with tiled roof and two rooms with all conveniences for a married couple. Property is well drained with a system of its own. The house stands upon the top of a hill close to Railway Station, say 500 feet from the Footbridge. 9. The garden has expansive shrubs; sheds; fernery; tennis court. 10. A handsome piece of furniture goes with the house; a combination pantry and storeroom for groceries, milk, bread etc., consisting of drawers, glass and wire doors, as mentioned above. 11. It is within easy distance of Melbourne as it is only two minutes from Ringwood Station, which is a frequent electric train service bringing it within 39 minutes of the City. It is thought better by some to go further out into the country atmosphere and walk a short distance at the end than to go by train 20 minutes then walk 15 to 20 minutes. 12. The price quoted of £4,865 is made up as follows - 305 feet of land @ £5 ... £1,515 Garage and dwelling ... £300 House hot water system, American cupboard ... £2,600 Water, fencing, sheds & drain ... £250 For the lot ... £4,865 Should you require copies of the enclosed drawings I shall be pleased to supply same. 13. Mr. J.B. McAlpin is the local agent, Phone Ring. 7 (after hours Ring. 44) or you may phone me Central 988. 14. The house is south of the line, facing Greenwood Avenue and immediately at the back of Ringwood House, which is also my property. Yours sincerely, A.V. Greenwood (illegible) ..... (Transcript of second page) RINGWOOD SHOP AND DWELLING ESTATE See these letters on plan attached (H.) Ringwood House and Shops on 100 by 150 feet of land fronting Bedford Road 100 feet @ £10 per foot - £1,000 House and shops - £2,400 ... £3,400 Ringwood House consists of Boarding House, (Phone 101) and two shops, mainly brick; 9 inch walls. Will carry another story. Has music room, dining room, entrance halls, 10 bedrooms, large verandahs, all conveniences, hot and cold water, and stands on what will become a most valuable business corner. (F.)(G.) Mr. Greenwood's house, garage and sheds, stands on 307 feet of land fronting Greenwood Avenue. See detailed description attached ... £4,865 (J.) Cottage on Block 81 in William Street ... £750 (K.) Cottage in Pitt Street ... £650 (Total) £9,665 ..... (Description of third page - Subdivision Plan) Drawn by Edyth Greenwood, phone 988 Central. Subdivision includes Station Street, Pitt Street, Bedford Road, Wantirna Road, James Street, William Street (later Kendall Street), Greenwood Avenue, Ellison Street, and Haig Street. Circles denote blocks for sale. Squares denote house properties for sale. Other features marked include location of businesses along Main Street (Maroondah Highway), cool store, railway station, shop and police station on Bedford Road, church on Station Street, site of schoolmaster's residence and State School, and location of proposed public baths -
Ringwood and District Historical Society
Plan, Paradise Estate Subdivision, Ringwood, Victoria - circa 1925
Paradise Estate layout also included in Land Sale Brochure Titled Eureka Plan Book - Seven Delightful & Valuable Ringwood Estates - circa 1925, Reg. No. 5100.Subdivision plan of Paradise Estate, Ringwood, showing allotments for sale, with typed page attached showing block sizes and prices.Locality plan showing land for sale south of Canterbury Road, 1 Mile south of Ringwood Railway Station. Subdivison includes Canterbury Road and Dandenong Road (later Wantirna Road). Surveyors - McKenzie Aisbett & Webber, surveyors & engineers, 440 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, Telephone Central 11540. Subdivision for Mr Grenwood at Ringwood. Additional typewritten price list showing footage, price per foot, and price per block for Lots No. 1 to 60. Paradise Estate layout also included in Land Sale Brochure Titled Eureka Plan Book - Seven Delightful & Valuable Ringwood Estates - circa 1925, Reg. No. 5100. -
Ringwood and District Historical Society
Photograph, Ringwood State School - Grade 6A, 1962
Black and white photograph - Grade 6A, 1962"Attached to photograph" Back Row- L to R: Keith Foot, ?, Jeff (?), Colin Doake, ?, ?, ?, Ray Reid, ?, ?, David Church, Alistair Wardle. 2nd Row- L to R: Marion Mitchell, Judy Wigley, Leonie Haygarth, Rae Moller, Margaret Proudley, Wendy Long, Lynette Patullock, Elizabeth Carter, Belinda Clarke, Jeanne Myles. Front Row- L to R: Colin Jones, ?, (?) Lawrence, ?, ?, Caroline Buchan, ?, ?, ?, ?, Robert Bradley. On Ground: Greg Howarth, Michael Anderson, David Buchan, Richard Carter, David Webb. Teacher: Mr Mulgrew -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Furniture - Door, 1871 or earlier
The wooden door was salvaged from the wreck of the sailing ship Eric the Red, which was a wooden, three masted clipper ship. Eric the Red was the largest full-rigged ship built at Bath, Maine, USA in 1871, having had a 1,580 tons register. She was built and registered by Arthur Sewall, later to become the partnership E. & A. Sewall, the 51st ship built by this company. The annually-published List of Merchant Vessels of the U.S. shows Bath was still the home port of Eric the Red in 1880. The vessel was named after the Viking discoverer, Eric the Red, who was the first European to reach the shores of North America (in 980AD). The ship Eric the Red at first traded in coal between America and Britain, and later traded in guano nitrates from South America. In 1879 she was re-metalled and was in first class condition. On 10th June 1880 (some records say 12th June) Eric the Red departed New York for Melbourne and then Sydney. She had been commissioned by American trade representatives to carry a special cargo of 500 exhibits (1400 tons) – about a quarter to a third of America’s total exhibits - from America for the U.S.A. pavilion at Melbourne’s first International Exhibition. The exhibits included furniture, ironmongery, wines, chemicals, dental and surgical instruments, paper, cages, bronze lamp trimmings, axles, stamped ware, astronomical and time globes, samples of corn and the choicest of leaf tobacco. Other general cargo included merchandise such as cases of kerosene and turpentine, brooms, Bristol's Sarsaparilla, Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, Wheeler’s thresher machine, axe handles and tools, cases of silver plate, toys, pianos and organs, carriages and Yankee notions. The Eric the Red left New York under the command of Captain Z. Allen (or some records say Captain Jacques Allen) and 24 other crew including the owner’s son third mate Ned Sewall. There were 2 saloon passengers also. The ship had been sailing for an uneventful 85 days and the voyage was almost at its end. On 4th September 1880 the Eric the Red approached Cape Otway with a moderate north-west wind and hazy and overcast atmosphere. Around 1:30am Captain Allen sighted the Cape Otway light and was keeping the ship 5-6 miles offshore to stay clear of the hazardous Otway Reef. However he had badly misjudged his position. The ship hit the Otway Reef about 2 miles out to sea, south west of the Cape Otway light station. He ordered the wheel to be put ‘hard up’ thinking that she might float off the reef. A heavy sea knocked the man away from the wheel, broke the wheel ropes and carried away the rudder. The sea swamped the lifeboats. The mizzenmast fell, with all of its rigging, then the mainmast also fell and the ship broke in two. Some said that the passenger Vaughan, who was travelling for his health and not very strong, was washed overboard and never seen again. The ship started breaking up. The forward house came adrift with three of the crew on it as well as a longboat, which the men succeeded in launching and keeping afloat by continually bailing with their sea boots. The captain, the third mate (the owner’s son) and others clung to the mizzenmast in the sea. Then the owner’s son was washed away off the mast. Within 10 minutes the rest of the ship was in pieces, completely wrecked, with cargo and wreckage floating in the sea. The captain encouraged the second mate to swim with him to the deckhouse where there were other crew but the second mate wouldn’t go with him. Eventually the Captain made it to the deckhouse and the men pulled him up. At about 4:30am the group of men on the deckhouse saw the lights of a steamer and called for help. At the same time they noticed the second mate and the other man had drifted nearby, still on the spur, and pulled them both onto the wreck. The coastal steamer Dawn was returning to Warrnambool from Melbourne, its sailing time different to its usual schedule. Captain Jones sent out two life boats, and fired off rockets and blue lights to illuminate the area. They picked up the three survivors who were in the long boat from Eric the Red. Two men were picked up out of the water, one being the owner’s son who was clinging to floating kerosene boxes. At daylight the Dawn then rescued the 18 men from the floating portion of the deckhouse, which had drifted about 4 miles from where they’d struck the reef. Shortly after the rescue the deckhouse drifted onto breakers and was thrown onto rocks at Point Franklin, about 2 miles east of Cape Otway. Captain Jones had signalled to Cape Otway lighthouse the number of the Eric the Red and later signalled that there was a wreck at Otway Reef but there was no response from the lighthouse. The captain and crew of the Dawn spent several more hours searching unsuccessfully for more survivors, even going back as far as Apollo Bay. On board the Dawn the exhausted men received care and attention to their needs and wants, including much needed clothing. Captain Allen was amongst the 23 battered and injured men who were rescued and later taken to Warrnambool for care. Warrnambool’s mayor and town clerk offered them all hospitality, the three badly injured men going to the hospital for care and others to the Olive Branch Hotel, then on to Melbourne. Captain Allen’s leg injury prevented him from going ashore so he and three other men travelled on the Dawn to Portland. They were met by the mayor who also treated them all with great kindness. Captain Allen took the train back to Melbourne then returned to America. Those saved were Captain Z. Allen (or Jacques Allen), J. Darcy chief mate, James F. Lawrence second mate, Ned Sewall third mate and owner’s son, John French the cook, C. Nelson sail maker, Clarence W. New passenger, and the able seamen Dickenson, J. Black, Denis White, C. Herbert, C. Thompson, A. Brooks, D. Wilson, J. Ellis, Q. Thompson, C. Newman, W. Paul, J. Davis, M. Horenleng, J. Ogduff, T. W. Drew, R. Richardson. Four men had lost their lives; three of them were crew (Gus Dahlgreen ship’s carpenter, H. Ackman steward, who drowned in his cabin, and George Silver seaman) and one a passenger (J. B. Vaughan). The body of one of them had been found washed up at Cape Otway and was later buried in the lighthouse cemetery; another body was seen on an inaccessible ledge. Twelve months later the second mate James F. Lawrence, from Nova Scotia, passed away in the Warrnambool district; an obituary was displayed in the local paper. The captain and crew of the Dawn were recognised by the United States Government in July 1881 for their humane efforts, being thanked and presented with substantial monetary rewards, medals and gifts. Neither the ship, nor its cargo, was insured. The ship was worth about £15,000 and the cargo was reportedly worth £40,000; only about £2,000 worth had been recovered. Cargo and wreckage washed up at Apollo Bay, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Western Port and according to some reports, even as far away as the beaches of New Zealand. The day after the wreck the government steam ship Pharos was sent from Queenscliff to clear the shipping lanes of debris that could be a danger to ships. The large midship deckhouse of the ship was found floating in a calm sea near Henty Reef. Items such as an American chair, a ladder and a nest of boxes were all on top of the deckhouse. As it was so large and could cause danger to passing ships, Captain Payne had the deckhouse towed towards the shore just beyond Apollo Bay. Between Apollo Bay and Blanket Bay the captain and crew of Pharos collected Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, nests of boxes, bottles of Bristol’s sarsaparilla, pieces of common American chairs, axe handles, a Wheelers’ Patent thresher and a sailor’s trunk with the words “A. James” on the front. A ship’s flag-board bearing the words “Eric the Red” was found on the deckhouse; finally those on board the Pharos had the name of the wrecked vessel. During this operation Pharos came across the government steamer Victoria and also a steamer S.S. Otway, both of which were picking up flotsam and wreckage. A whole side of the hull and three large pieces of the other side of the hull, with some of the copper sheathing stripped off, had floated on to Point Franklin. Some of the vessels yards and portions of her masts were on shore. The pieces of canvas attached to the yards and masts confirmed that the vessel had been under sail. The beach there was piled with debris several feet high. There were many cases of Diamond Oil kerosene, labelled R. W. Cameron and Company, New York. There were also many large planks of red pine, portions of a small white boat and a large, well-used oar. Other items found ashore included sewing machines (some consigned to ‘Long and Co.”) and notions, axe and scythe handles, hay forks, wooden pegs, rolls of wire (some branded “T.S” and Co, Melbourne”), kegs of nails branded “A.T. and Co.” from the factory of A. Field and Son, Taunton, Massachusetts, croquet balls and mallets, buggy fittings, rat traps, perfumery, cutlery and Douay Bibles, clocks, bicycles, chairs, a fly wheel, a cooking stove, timber, boxes, pianos, organs and a ladder. (Wooden clothes pegs drifted in for many years). There seemed to be no personal luggage or clothing. The Pharos encountered a long line, about one and a half miles, of floating wreckage about 10 miles off land, south east of Cape Otway, and in some places about 40 feet wide. It seemed that more than half of it was from Eric the Red. The ship’s crew rescued 3 cases that were for the Melbourne Exhibition and other items from amongst the debris. There were also chairs, doors, musical instruments, washing boards, nests of trunks and fly catchers floating in the sea. Most of the goods were saturated and smelt of kerosene. A section of the hull lies buried in the sand at Parker River Beach. An anchor with chain is embedded in the rocks east of Point Franklin and a second anchor, thought to be from Eric the Red, is on display at the Cape Otway light station. (There is a photograph of a life belt on the verandah of Rivernook Guest House in Princetown with the words “ERIC THE RED / BOSTON”. This is rather a mystery as the ship was registered in Bath, Maine, USA.) Parts of the ship are on display at Bimbi Park Caravan Park and at Apollo Bay Museum. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village also has part of the helm (steering wheel), a carved wooden sword (said to be the only remaining portion of the ship’s figurehead; further research is currently being carried out), a door, a metal rod and samples of wood. Much of the wreckage was recovered by the local residents before police and other authorities arrived at the scene. Looters went to great effort to salvage goods, being lowered down the high cliff faces to areas with little or no beach to collect items from the wreckage, their mates above watching out for dangerous waves. A Tasmanian newspaper reports on a court case in Stawell, Victoria, noting a man who was caught 2 months later selling tobacco from the wreckage of Eric the Red. Some of the silverware is still treasured by descendants of Mr Mackenzie who was given these items by officials for his help in securing the cargo. The gifts included silver coffee and tea pots, half a dozen silver serviette rings and two sewing machines. The wreck and cargo were sold to a Melbourne man who salvaged a quantity of high quality tobacco and dental and surgical instruments. Timbers from the ship were salvaged and used in the construction of houses and sheds around Apollo Bay, including a guest house, Milford House (since burnt down in bushfires), which had furniture, fittings and timber on the dining room floor from the ship. A 39.7 foot long trading ketch, the Apollo, was also built from its timbers by Mr Burgess in 1883 and subsequently used in Tasmanian waters. It was the first attempt at ship building in Apollo bay. In 1881 a red light was installed about 300 feet above sea level at the base of the Cape Otway lighthouse to warn ships when they were too close to shore; It would not be visible unless a ship came within 3 miles from it. This has proved to be an effective warning. The State Library of Victoria has a lithograph in its collection depicting the steamer Dawn and the shipwrecked men, titled. "Wreck of the ship Eric the Red, Cape Otway: rescue of the crew by the Dawn". “The Eric the Red is historically significant as one of Victoria's major 19th century shipwrecks. (Heritage Victoria Eric the Red; HV ID 239) The wreck led to the provision of an additional warning light placed below the Cape Otway lighthouse to alert mariners to the location of Otway Reef. The site is archaeologically significant for its remains of a large and varied cargo and ship's fittings being scattered over a wide area. The site is recreationally and aesthetically significant as it is one of the few sites along this coast where tourists can visit identifiable remains of a large wooden shipwreck, and for its location set against the background of Cape Otway, Bass Strait, and the Cape Otway lighthouse.“ (Victorian Heritage Database Registration Number S239, Official Number 8745 USA) Door from the wreck of the ship Eric the Red. The wooden singular rectangular door includes three insert panel sections. The top section is square shaped and is missing its panel or glass. The centre timber panel is about a third of the height of the top panel and the bottom timber panel is approximately equal in height to the total height of the two upper panels. The door fastenings include both a metal door latch and traditional door bolt. They are both attached to the front right hand side of the door. The bolt is just below the top panel, and the door latch is in approximately the centre of that side. The door latch has a round mark where a handle could have been attached. The wood of the door has scraping marks in a semi-circle around the door latch where the latch has swung around on its one remaining fastening and grazed the surface. There is a metal hinge at the top section of the door on the opposite side to the latch. The painted surface has been scraped back to expose the wood. The door is shorter than the average height of a person. On the reverse of the door there are lines on the panels, just inside their edges, is what appears to be pencil. The door is not aligned straight but is skew to centre.warrnambool, flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime village, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, great ocean road, shipwreck artefact, eric the red, jaques allen, sewall, 1880, melbourne exhibition 1880, cape otway, otway reef, victorian shipwreck, bass strait, eric-the-red, door -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Wood Sample, about 1871
This piece of timber from the ship Eric the Red has been eaten through by the marine animals called Teredo Worms, sometimes called sea worms or ‘termites of the sea’. The worms bore holes into wood that is immersed in sea water and bacteria inside the worms digest the wood. Shipbuilders tried to prevent this problem by using coatings of tar, wax, lead or pitch. In the 18th and 19th centuries the outside of their ships were sheathed in copper or a combination of copper and zinc (called Muntz metal) and would be re-metalled periodically to ensure the sheathing would remain effective. In more recent times the ships are protected with a toxic coating. The American ship Eric the Red was a wooden, three masted clipper ship. She had 1,580 tons register and was the largest full-rigged ship built at Bath, Maine, USA in 1871. She was built and registered by Arthur Sewall, later to become the partnership E. & A. Sewall, the 51st ship built by this company. The annually-published List of Merchant Vessels of the U.S. shows Bath was still the home port of Eric the Red in 1880. The vessel was named after the Viking discoverer, Eric ‘the Red-haired’ Thorvaldsson , who was the first European to reach the shores of North America (in 980AD). The ship Eric the Red at first traded in coal between America and Britain, and later traded in guano nitrates from South America. In 1879 she was re-metalled and was in first class condition. On 10th June 1880 (some records say 12th June) Eric the Red departed New York for Melbourne and then Sydney. She had been commissioned by American trade representatives to carry a special cargo of 500 exhibits (1400 tons) – about a quarter to a third of America’s total exhibits - for the U.S.A. pavilion at Melbourne’s first International Exhibition. The exhibits included furniture, ironmongery, wines, chemicals, dental and surgical instruments, paper, cages, bronze lamp trimmings, axles, stamped ware, astronomical and time globes, samples of corn and the choicest of leaf tobacco. Other general cargo included merchandise such as cases of kerosene and turpentine, brooms, Bristol's Sarsaparilla, Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, Wheeler’s thresher machine, axe handles and tools, cases of silver plate, toys, pianos and organs, carriages and Yankee notions. The Eric the Red left New York under the command of Captain Zaccheus Allen (or some records say Captain Jacques Allen) and 24 other crew including the owner’s son third mate Ned Sewall. There were also 2 saloon passengers on board. The ship had been sailing for an uneventful 85 days and the voyage was almost at its end. As Eric the Red approached Cape Otway there was a moderate north-west wind and hazy and overcast atmosphere. On 4th September 1880 at about 1:30am Captain Allen sighted the Cape Otway light and was keeping the ship 5-6 miles offshore to stay clear of the hazardous Otway Reef. However he had badly misjudged his position. The ship hit the Otway Reef about 2 miles out to sea, south west of the Cape Otway light station. Captain Allen ordered the wheel to be put ‘hard up’ thinking that she might float off the reef. The sea knocked the helmsman away from the wheel, broke the wheel ropes and carried away the rudder. The lifeboats were swamped, the mizzenmast fell, with all of its rigging, then the mainmast also fell and the ship broke in two. Some said that the passenger Vaughan, who was travelling for his health and not very strong, was washed overboard and never seen again. The ship started breaking up. The forward house came adrift with three of the crew on it as well as a longboat, which the men succeeded in launching and keeping afloat by continually bailing with their sea boots. The captain, the third mate (the owner’s son) and others clung to the mizzenmast in the sea. Then the owner’s son was washed away off the mast. Within 10 minutes the rest of the ship was in pieces, completely wrecked, with cargo and wreckage floating in the sea. The captain encouraged the second mate to swim with him to the deckhouse where there were other crew but the second mate wouldn’t go with him. Eventually the Captain made it to the deckhouse and the men pulled him up. At about 4:30am the group of men on the deckhouse saw the lights of a steamer and called for help. At the same time they noticed the second mate and the other man had drifted nearby, still on the spur, and pulled them both onto the wreck. The coastal steamer SS Dawn was returning to Warrnambool from Melbourne, its sailing time different to its usual schedule. She was built in 1876 and bought by the Portland and Belfast Steam Navigation Co. in 1877. At the time of this journey she was commanded by Captain Jones, and was sailing between Melbourne and Portland via Warrnambool. The provedore of the Dawn, Benjamin Lear, heard cries of distress coming through the portholes of the saloon. He gave the alarm and the engines were stopped. Cries could be heard clearly, coming from the land. Captain Jones sent out crew in two boats, and fired off rockets and blue lights to illuminate the area. They picked up the three survivors who were in the long boat from Eric the Red. Two men were picked up out of the water, one being the owner’s son who was clinging to floating kerosene boxes. At daylight the Dawn then rescued the 18 men from the floating portion of the deckhouse, which had drifted about 4 miles from where they’d struck the reef. Shortly after the rescue the deckhouse drifted onto breakers and was thrown onto rocks at Point Franklin, about 2 miles east of Cape Otway. Captain Jones had signalled to Cape Otway lighthouse the number of the Eric the Red and later signalled that there was a wreck at Otway Reef but there was no response from the lighthouse. The captain and crew of the Dawn spent several more hours searching unsuccessfully for more survivors, even going back as far as Apollo Bay. On board the Dawn the exhausted men received care and attention to their needs and wants, including much needed clothing. Captain Allen was amongst the 23 battered and injured men who were rescued and later taken to Warrnambool for care. Warrnambool’s mayor and town clerk offered them all hospitality, the three badly injured men going to the hospital for care and others to the Olive Branch Hotel, then on to Melbourne. Captain Allen’s leg injury prevented him from going ashore so he and three other men travelled on the Dawn to Portland. They were met by the mayor who also treated them all with great kindness. Captain Allen took the train back to Melbourne then returned to America. Those saved were Captain Zaccheus Allen (or Jacques Allen), J. Darcy chief mate, James F. Lawrence second mate, Ned Sewall third mate and owner’s son, John French the cook, C. Nelson sail maker, Clarence W. New passenger, and the able seamen Dickenson, J. Black, Denis White, C. Herbert, C. Thompson, A. Brooks, D. Wilson, J. Ellis, Q. Thompson, C. Newman, W. Paul, J. Davis, M. Horenleng, J. Ogduff, T. W. Drew, R. Richardson. Four men had lost their lives; three of them were crew (Gus Dahlgreen ship’s carpenter, H. Ackman steward, who drowned in his cabin, and George Silver seaman) and one a passenger (J. B. Vaughan). The body of one of them had been found washed up at Cape Otway and was later buried in the lighthouse cemetery; another body was seen on an inaccessible ledge. Twelve months later the second mate James F. Lawrence, from Nova Scotia, passed away in the Warrnambool district; an obituary was displayed in the local paper. Neither the ship, nor its cargo, was insured. The ship was worth about £15,000 and the cargo was reportedly worth £40,000; only about £2,000 worth had been recovered. Cargo and wreckage washed up at Apollo Bay, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Western Port and according to some reports, even as far away as the beaches of New Zealand. The day after the wreck the government steam ship Pharos was sent from Queenscliff to clear the shipping lanes of debris that could be a danger to ships. The large midship deckhouse of the ship was found floating in a calm sea near Henty Reef. Items such as an American chair, a ladder and a nest of boxes were all on top of the deckhouse. As it was so large and could cause danger to passing ships, Captain Payne had the deckhouse towed towards the shore just beyond Apollo Bay. Between Apollo Bay and Blanket Bay the captain and crew of Pharos collected Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, nests of boxes, bottles of Bristol’s sarsaparilla, pieces of common American chairs, axe handles, a Wheelers’ Patent thresher and a sailor’s trunk with the words “A. James” on the front. A ship’s flag-board bearing the words “Eric the Red” was found on the deckhouse; finally those on board the Pharos had the name of the wrecked vessel. During this operation Pharos came across the government steamer Victoria and also a steamer S.S. Otway, both of which were picking up flotsam and wreckage. A whole side of the hull and three large pieces of the other side of the hull, with some of the copper sheathing stripped off, had floated on to Point Franklin. Some of the vessels yards and portions of her masts were on shore. The pieces of canvas attached to the yards and masts confirmed that the vessel had been under sail. The beach there was piled with debris several feet high. There were many cases of Diamond Oil kerosene, labelled R. W. Cameron and Company, New York. There were also many large planks of red pine, portions of a small white boat and a large, well-used oar. Other items found ashore included sewing machines (some consigned to ‘Long and Co.”) and notions, axe and scythe handles, hay forks, wooden pegs, rolls of wire (some branded “T.S” and Co, Melbourne”), kegs of nails branded “A.T. and Co.” from the factory of A. Field and Son, Taunton, Massachusetts, croquet balls and mallets, buggy fittings, rat traps, perfumery, cutlery and Douay Bibles, clocks, bicycles, chairs, a fly wheel, a cooking stove, timber, boxes, pianos, organs and a ladder. (Wooden clothes pegs drifted in for many years). There seemed to be no personal luggage or clothing. The Pharos encountered a long line, about one and a half miles, of floating wreckage about 10 miles off land, south east of Cape Otway, and in some places about 40 feet wide. It seemed that more than half of it was from Eric the Red. The ship’s crew rescued 3 cases that were for the Melbourne Exhibition and other items from amongst the debris. There were also chairs, doors, musical instruments, washing boards, nests of trunks and fly catchers floating in the sea. Most of the goods were saturated and smelt of kerosene. A section of the hull lies buried in the sand at Parker River Beach. An anchor with chain is embedded in the rocks east of Point Franklin and a second anchor, thought to be from Eric the Red, is on display at the Cape Otway light station. (There is a photograph of a life belt on the verandah of Rivernook Guest House in Princetown with the words “ERIC THE RED / BOSTON”. This is rather a mystery as the ship was registered in Bath, Maine, USA.) Parts of the ship are on display at Bimbi Park Caravan Park and at Apollo Bay Museum. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village also has part of the helm (steering wheel), a carved wooden sword (said to be the only remaining portion of the ship’s figurehead; further research is currently being carried out), a door, a metal rod, several samples of wood and a medal for bravery, awarded to Nelson Johnson, a crew member of the S.S. Dawn by the U.S. President, for the rescue of the crew. Much of the wreckage was recovered by the local residents before police and other authorities arrived at the scene. Looters went to great effort to salvage goods, being lowered down the high cliff faces to areas with little or no beach to collect items from the wreckage, their mates above watching out for dangerous waves. A Tasmanian newspaper reports on a court case in Stawell, Victoria, noting a man who was caught 2 months later selling tobacco from the wreckage of Eric the Red. Some of the silverware is still treasured by descendants of Mr Mackenzie who was given these items by officials for his help in securing the cargo. The gifts included silver coffee and tea pots, half a dozen silver serviette rings and two sewing machines. A Mr G.W. Black has in his possession a medal and a purse that were awarded to his father, another Dawn crew member who was part of the rescue team. The medal is inscribed and named “To John Black ….” (from “Shipwrecks” by Margaret E. Mackenzie, 3rd edition, published 1964). The wreck and cargo were sold to a Melbourne man who salvaged a quantity of high quality tobacco and dental and surgical instruments. Timbers from the ship were salvaged and used in the construction of houses and sheds around Apollo Bay, including a guest house, Milford House (since burnt down in bushfires), which had furniture, fittings and timber on the dining room floor from the ship. A 39.7 foot long trading ketch, the Apollo, was also built from its timbers by Mr Burgess in 1883 and subsequently used in Tasmanian waters. It was the first attempt at ship building in Apollo bay. In 1881 a red light was installed about 300 feet above sea level at the base of the Cape Otway lighthouse to warn ships when they were too close to shore; It would not be visible unless a ship came within 3 miles from it. This has proved to be an effective warning. Nelson Johnson, recipient of the medal for bravery, married Elizabeth Howard in 1881 and they had 10 children. They lived in South Melbourne, Victoria. Nelson died in 1922 in Fitzroy Victoria, age 66. In 1895 the owners of the S.S. Dawn, the Portland and Belfast Steam Navigation Co., wound up and sold out to the Belfast Company who took over the Dawn for one year before selling her to Howard Smith. She was condemned and sunk in Suva in 1928. The State Library of Victoria has a lithograph in its collection depicting the steamer Dawn and the shipwrecked men, titled. "Wreck of the ship Eric the Red, Cape Otway: rescue of the crew by the Dawn".The wood (timber) sample is listed on the Collections Australia Database, Heritage Victoria, number 239 00010 A “The Eric the Red is historically significant as one of Victoria's major 19th century shipwrecks. (Heritage Victoria Eric the Red; HV ID 239) The wreck led to the provision of an additional warning light placed below the Cape Otway lighthouse to alert mariners to the location of Otway Reef. The site is archaeologically significant for its remains of a large and varied cargo and ship's fittings being scattered over a wide area. The site is recreationally and aesthetically significant as it is one of the few sites along this coast where tourists can visit identifiable remains of a large wooden shipwreck, and for its location set against the background of Cape Otway, Bass Strait, and the Cape Otway lighthouse.“ (Victorian Heritage Database Registration Number S239, Official Number 8745 USA) Wood sample from the wreck of the ship Eric the Red. Triangular shaped, full of sea worm (Teredo worm) holes. The wood is dark in colour and is very light in weight.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwreck-artefact, eric-the-red, zaccheus-allen, sewall, 1880, melbourne-exhibition, cape-otway, otway-reef, wood-sample, s.s.-dawn -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Wood Sample, About 1871
This piece of timber from the ship Eric the Red has been eaten through by the marine animals called Teredo Worms, sometimes called sea worms or ‘termites of the sea’. The worms bore holes into wood that is immersed in sea water and bacteria inside the worms digest the wood. Shipbuilders tried to prevent this problem by using coatings of tar, wax, lead or pitch. In the 18th and 19th centuries the outside of their ships were sheathed in copper or a combination of copper and zinc (called Muntz metal) and would be re-metalled periodically to ensure the sheathing would remain effective. In more recent times the ships are protected with a toxic coating. The American ship Eric the Red was a wooden, three masted clipper ship. She had 1,580 tons register and was the largest full-rigged ship built at Bath, Maine, USA in 1871. She was built and registered by Arthur Sewall, later to become the partnership E. & A. Sewall, the 51st ship built by this company. The annually-published List of Merchant Vessels of the U.S. shows Bath was still the home port of Eric the Red in 1880. The vessel was named after the Viking discoverer, Eric ‘the Red-haired’ Thorvaldsson , who was the first European to reach the shores of North America (in 980AD). The ship Eric the Red at first traded in coal between America and Britain, and later traded in guano nitrates from South America. In 1879 she was re-metalled and was in first class condition. On 10th June 1880 (some records say 12th June) Eric the Red departed New York for Melbourne and then Sydney. She had been commissioned by American trade representatives to carry a special cargo of 500 exhibits (1400 tons) – about a quarter to a third of America’s total exhibits - for the U.S.A. pavilion at Melbourne’s first International Exhibition. The exhibits included furniture, ironmongery, wines, chemicals, dental and surgical instruments, paper, cages, bronze lamp trimmings, axles, stamped ware, astronomical and time globes, samples of corn and the choicest of leaf tobacco. Other general cargo included merchandise such as cases of kerosene and turpentine, brooms, Bristol's Sarsaparilla, Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, Wheeler’s thresher machine, axe handles and tools, cases of silver plate, toys, pianos and organs, carriages and Yankee notions. The Eric the Red left New York under the command of Captain Zaccheus Allen (or some records say Captain Jacques Allen) and 24 other crew including the owner’s son third mate Ned Sewall. There were also 2 saloon passengers on board. The ship had been sailing for an uneventful 85 days and the voyage was almost at its end. As Eric the Red approached Cape Otway there was a moderate north-west wind and hazy and overcast atmosphere. On 4th September 1880 at about 1:30am Captain Allen sighted the Cape Otway light and was keeping the ship 5-6 miles offshore to stay clear of the hazardous Otway Reef. However he had badly misjudged his position. The ship hit the Otway Reef about 2 miles out to sea, south west of the Cape Otway light station. Captain Allen ordered the wheel to be put ‘hard up’ thinking that she might float off the reef. The sea knocked the helmsman away from the wheel, broke the wheel ropes and carried away the rudder. The lifeboats were swamped, the mizzenmast fell, with all of its rigging, then the mainmast also fell and the ship broke in two. Some said that the passenger Vaughan, who was travelling for his health and not very strong, was washed overboard and never seen again. The ship started breaking up. The forward house came adrift with three of the crew on it as well as a longboat, which the men succeeded in launching and keeping afloat by continually bailing with their sea boots. The captain, the third mate (the owner’s son) and others clung to the mizzenmast in the sea. Then the owner’s son was washed away off the mast. Within 10 minutes the rest of the ship was in pieces, completely wrecked, with cargo and wreckage floating in the sea. The captain encouraged the second mate to swim with him to the deckhouse where there were other crew but the second mate wouldn’t go with him. Eventually the Captain made it to the deckhouse and the men pulled him up. At about 4:30am the group of men on the deckhouse saw the lights of a steamer and called for help. At the same time they noticed the second mate and the other man had drifted nearby, still on the spur, and pulled them both onto the wreck. The coastal steamer SS Dawn was returning to Warrnambool from Melbourne, its sailing time different to its usual schedule. She was built in 1876 and bought by the Portland and Belfast Steam Navigation Co. in 1877. At the time of this journey she was commanded by Captain Jones, and was sailing between Melbourne and Portland via Warrnambool. The provedore of the Dawn, Benjamin Lear, heard cries of distress coming through the portholes of the saloon. He gave the alarm and the engines were stopped. Cries could be heard clearly, coming from the land. Captain Jones sent out crew in two boats, and fired off rockets and blue lights to illuminate the area. They picked up the three survivors who were in the long boat from Eric the Red. Two men were picked up out of the water, one being the owner’s son who was clinging to floating kerosene boxes. At daylight the Dawn then rescued the 18 men from the floating portion of the deckhouse, which had drifted about 4 miles from where they’d struck the reef. Shortly after the rescue the deckhouse drifted onto breakers and was thrown onto rocks at Point Franklin, about 2 miles east of Cape Otway. Captain Jones had signalled to Cape Otway lighthouse the number of the Eric the Red and later signalled that there was a wreck at Otway Reef but there was no response from the lighthouse. The captain and crew of the Dawn spent several more hours searching unsuccessfully for more survivors, even going back as far as Apollo Bay. On board the Dawn the exhausted men received care and attention to their needs and wants, including much needed clothing. Captain Allen was amongst the 23 battered and injured men who were rescued and later taken to Warrnambool for care. Warrnambool’s mayor and town clerk offered them all hospitality, the three badly injured men going to the hospital for care and others to the Olive Branch Hotel, then on to Melbourne. Captain Allen’s leg injury prevented him from going ashore so he and three other men travelled on the Dawn to Portland. They were met by the mayor who also treated them all with great kindness. Captain Allen took the train back to Melbourne then returned to America. Those saved were Captain Zaccheus Allen (or Jacques Allen), J. Darcy chief mate, James F. Lawrence second mate, Ned Sewall third mate and owner’s son, John French the cook, C. Nelson sail maker, Clarence W. New passenger, and the able seamen Dickenson, J. Black, Denis White, C. Herbert, C. Thompson, A. Brooks, D. Wilson, J. Ellis, Q. Thompson, C. Newman, W. Paul, J. Davis, M. Horenleng, J. Ogduff, T. W. Drew, R. Richardson. Four men had lost their lives; three of them were crew (Gus Dahlgreen ship’s carpenter, H. Ackman steward, who drowned in his cabin, and George Silver seaman) and one a passenger (J. B. Vaughan). The body of one of them had been found washed up at Cape Otway and was later buried in the lighthouse cemetery; another body was seen on an inaccessible ledge. Twelve months later the second mate James F. Lawrence, from Nova Scotia, passed away in the Warrnambool district; an obituary was displayed in the local paper. Neither the ship, nor its cargo, was insured. The ship was worth about £15,000 and the cargo was reportedly worth £40,000; only about £2,000 worth had been recovered. Cargo and wreckage washed up at Apollo Bay, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Western Port and according to some reports, even as far away as the beaches of New Zealand. The day after the wreck the government steam ship Pharos was sent from Queenscliff to clear the shipping lanes of debris that could be a danger to ships. The large midship deckhouse of the ship was found floating in a calm sea near Henty Reef. Items such as an American chair, a ladder and a nest of boxes were all on top of the deckhouse. As it was so large and could cause danger to passing ships, Captain Payne had the deckhouse towed towards the shore just beyond Apollo Bay. Between Apollo Bay and Blanket Bay the captain and crew of Pharos collected Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, nests of boxes, bottles of Bristol’s sarsaparilla, pieces of common American chairs, axe handles, a Wheelers’ Patent thresher and a sailor’s trunk with the words “A. James” on the front. A ship’s flag-board bearing the words “Eric the Red” was found on the deckhouse; finally those on board the Pharos had the name of the wrecked vessel. During this operation Pharos came across the government steamer Victoria and also a steamer S.S. Otway, both of which were picking up flotsam and wreckage. A whole side of the hull and three large pieces of the other side of the hull, with some of the copper sheathing stripped off, had floated on to Point Franklin. Some of the vessels yards and portions of her masts were on shore. The pieces of canvas attached to the yards and masts confirmed that the vessel had been under sail. The beach there was piled with debris several feet high. There were many cases of Diamond Oil kerosene, labelled R. W. Cameron and Company, New York. There were also many large planks of red pine, portions of a small white boat and a large, well-used oar. Other items found ashore included sewing machines (some consigned to ‘Long and Co.”) and notions, axe and scythe handles, hay forks, wooden pegs, rolls of wire (some branded “T.S” and Co, Melbourne”), kegs of nails branded “A.T. and Co.” from the factory of A. Field and Son, Taunton, Massachusetts, croquet balls and mallets, buggy fittings, rat traps, perfumery, cutlery and Douay Bibles, clocks, bicycles, chairs, a fly wheel, a cooking stove, timber, boxes, pianos, organs and a ladder. (Wooden clothes pegs drifted in for many years). There seemed to be no personal luggage or clothing. The Pharos encountered a long line, about one and a half miles, of floating wreckage about 10 miles off land, south east of Cape Otway, and in some places about 40 feet wide. It seemed that more than half of it was from Eric the Red. The ship’s crew rescued 3 cases that were for the Melbourne Exhibition and other items from amongst the debris. There were also chairs, doors, musical instruments, washing boards, nests of trunks and fly catchers floating in the sea. Most of the goods were saturated and smelt of kerosene. A section of the hull lies buried in the sand at Parker River Beach. An anchor with chain is embedded in the rocks east of Point Franklin and a second anchor, thought to be from Eric the Red, is on display at the Cape Otway light station. (There is a photograph of a life belt on the verandah of Rivernook Guest House in Princetown with the words “ERIC THE RED / BOSTON”. This is rather a mystery as the ship was registered in Bath, Maine, USA.) Parts of the ship are on display at Bimbi Park Caravan Park and at Apollo Bay Museum. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village also has part of the helm (steering wheel), a carved wooden sword (said to be the only remaining portion of the ship’s figurehead; further research is currently being carried out), a door, a metal rod, several samples of wood and a medal for bravery, awarded to Nelson Johnson, a crew member of the S.S. Dawn by the U.S. President, for the rescue of the crew. Much of the wreckage was recovered by the local residents before police and other authorities arrived at the scene. Looters went to great effort to salvage goods, being lowered down the high cliff faces to areas with little or no beach to collect items from the wreckage, their mates above watching out for dangerous waves. A Tasmanian newspaper reports on a court case in Stawell, Victoria, noting a man who was caught 2 months later selling tobacco from the wreckage of Eric the Red. Some of the silverware is still treasured by descendants of Mr Mackenzie who was given these items by officials for his help in securing the cargo. The gifts included silver coffee and tea pots, half a dozen silver serviette rings and two sewing machines. A Mr G.W. Black has in his possession a medal and a purse that were awarded to his father, another Dawn crew member who was part of the rescue team. The medal is inscribed and named “To John Black ….” (from “Shipwrecks” by Margaret E. Mackenzie, 3rd edition, published 1964). The wreck and cargo were sold to a Melbourne man who salvaged a quantity of high quality tobacco and dental and surgical instruments. Timbers from the ship were salvaged and used in the construction of houses and sheds around Apollo Bay, including a guest house, Milford House (since burnt down in bushfires), which had furniture, fittings and timber on the dining room floor from the ship. A 39.7 foot long trading ketch, the Apollo, was also built from its timbers by Mr Burgess in 1883 and subsequently used in Tasmanian waters. It was the first attempt at ship building in Apollo bay. In 1881 a red light was installed about 300 feet above sea level at the base of the Cape Otway lighthouse to warn ships when they were too close to shore; It would not be visible unless a ship came within 3 miles from it. This has proved to be an effective warning. Nelson Johnson, recipient of the medal for bravery, married Elizabeth Howard in 1881 and they had 10 children. They lived in South Melbourne, Victoria. Nelson died in 1922 in Fitzroy Victoria, age 66. In 1895 the owners of the S.S. Dawn, the Portland and Belfast Steam Navigation Co., wound up and sold out to the Belfast Company who took over the Dawn for one year before selling her to Howard Smith. She was condemned and sunk in Suva in 1928. The State Library of Victoria has a lithograph in its collection depicting the steamer Dawn and the shipwrecked men, titled. "Wreck of the ship Eric the Red, Cape Otway: rescue of the crew by the Dawn".The wood (timber) sample is listed on the Collections Australia Database, Heritage Victoria, number 239 00010 A “The Eric the Red is historically significant as one of Victoria's major 19th century shipwrecks. (Heritage Victoria Eric the Red; HV ID 239) The wreck led to the provision of an additional warning light placed below the Cape Otway lighthouse to alert mariners to the location of Otway Reef. The site is archaeologically significant for its remains of a large and varied cargo and ship's fittings being scattered over a wide area. The site is recreationally and aesthetically significant as it is one of the few sites along this coast where tourists can visit identifiable remains of a large wooden shipwreck, and for its location set against the background of Cape Otway, Bass Strait, and the Cape Otway lighthouse.“ (Victorian Heritage Database Registration Number S239, Official Number 8745 USA) Wood sample from the wreck of the ship Eric the Red. Oblong shaped, full of sea worm (Teredo worm) holes. The wood is dark in colour and is very light in weight. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwreck-artefact, eric-the-red, zaccheus-allen, sewall, 1880, melbourne-exhibition, cape-otway, otway-reef, wood-sample, s.s.-dawn -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Functional object - Ship's Wheel, 1871 or earlier
The ship building company E. & A. Sewall, from Bath, Maine, USA, built many ships that had wheels with the same decorative, starburst pattern on them as this particular wheel segment, including the Eric the Red. The wheel was manufactured by their local Bath foundry, Geo. Moulton & Co. and sold to the Sewall yard for $100, according to the construction accounts of the vessel. Eric the Red was a wooden, three masted clipper ship. She had 1,580 tons register and was the largest full-rigged ship built at Bath, Maine, USA in 1871. She was built and registered by Arthur Sewall, later to become the partnership E. & A. Sewall, and was the 51st ship built by this company. The annually-published List of Merchant Vessels of the U.S. shows that Bath was still the home port of Eric the Red in 1880. The vessel was named after the Viking discoverer, Eric the Red, who was the first European to reach the shores of North America (in 980AD). The ship Eric the Red at first traded in coal between America and Britain, and later traded in guano nitrates from South America. In 1879 she was re-metalled and was in first class condition. On 10th June 1880 (some records say 12th June) Eric the Red departed New York for Melbourne and then Sydney. She had been commissioned by American trade representatives to carry a special cargo of 500 exhibits (1400 tons) - about a quarter to a third of America’s total exhibits - from America for the U.S.A. pavilion at Melbourne’s first International Exhibition. The exhibits included furniture, ironmongery, wines, chemicals, dental and surgical instruments, paper, cages, bronze lamp trimmings, axles, stamped ware, astronomical and time globes, samples of corn and the choicest of leaf tobacco. Other general cargo included merchandise such as cases of kerosene and turpentine, brooms, Bristol's Sarsaparilla, Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, Wheeler’s thresher machine, axe handles and tools, cases of silver plate, toys, pianos and organs, carriages and Yankee notions. The Eric the Red left New York under the command of Captain Z. Allen (or some records say Captain Jacques Allen) and 24 other crew including the owner’s son third mate Ned Sewall. There were 2 saloon passengers also. On 4th September 1880 the ship had been sailing for an uneventful 85 days and the voyage was almost at its end. Eric the Red approached Cape Otway in a moderate north-west wind and hazy and overcast atmosphere. Around 1:30am Captain Allen sighted the Cape Otway light and was keeping the ship 5-6 miles offshore to stay clear of the hazardous Otway Reef. However he had badly misjudged his position. The ship hit the Otway Reef about 2 miles out to sea, south west of the Cape Otway light station. Captain Allen ordered the wheel to be put ‘hard up’ thinking that she might float off the reef. A heavy sea knocked the man away from the wheel, broke the wheel ropes and carried away the rudder. The sea swamped the lifeboats, the mizzenmast fell, with all of its rigging, then the mainmast fell and the ship broke in two. Some said that the passenger Vaughan, who was travelling for his health and not very strong, was washed overboard and never seen again. The ship started breaking up. The forward house came adrift with three of the crew on it as well as a longboat, which the men succeeded in launching and keeping afloat by continually bailing with their sea boots. The captain, the third mate (the owner’s son) and others clung to the mizzenmast in the sea. Then the owner’s son was washed away off the mast. Within 10 minutes the rest of the ship was in pieces, completely wrecked, with cargo and wreckage floating in the sea. The captain encouraged the second mate to swim with him to the deckhouse where there were other crew but the second mate wouldn’t go with him. Eventually the Captain made it to the deckhouse and the men pulled him up. At about 4:30am the group of men on the deckhouse saw the lights of a steamer and called for help. At the same time they noticed the second mate and the other man had drifted nearby, still on the spur, and pulled them both onto the wreck. The coastal steamer Dawn was returning to Warrnambool from Melbourne, its sailing time different to its usual schedule. Cries were heard coming from out of the darkness. Captain Jones sent out two life boats, and fired off rockets and blue lights to illuminate the area. They picked up the three survivors who were in the long boat from Eric the Red. Two men were picked up out of the water, one being the owner’s son who was clinging to floating kerosene boxes. At daylight the Dawn then rescued the 18 men from the floating portion of the deckhouse, which had drifted about 4 miles from where they’d struck the reef. Shortly after the rescue the deckhouse drifted onto breakers and was thrown onto rocks at Point Franklin, about 2 miles east of Cape Otway. Captain Jones had signalled to Cape Otway lighthouse the number of the Eric the Red and later signalled that there was a wreck at Otway Reef but there was no response from the lighthouse. The captain and crew of the Dawn spent several more hours searching unsuccessfully for more survivors, even going back as far as Apollo Bay. On board the Dawn the exhausted men received care and attention to their needs and wants, including much needed clothing. Captain Allen was amongst the 23 battered and injured men who were rescued and later taken to Warrnambool for care. Warrnambool’s mayor and town clerk offered them all hospitality, the three badly injured men going to the hospital and others to the Olive Branch Hotel, then on to Melbourne. Captain Allen’s leg injury prevented him from going ashore so he and three other men travelled on the Dawn to Portland. They were met by the mayor who also treated them all with great kindness. Captain Allen took the train back to Melbourne then returned to America. Those saved were Captain Z. Allen (or Jacques Allen), J. Darcy chief mate, James F. Lawrence second mate, Ned Sewall third mate and owner’s son, John French the cook, C. Nelson sail maker, Clarence W. New passenger, and the able seamen Dickenson, J. Black, Denis White, C. Herbert, C. Thompson, A. Brooks, D. Wilson, J. Ellis, Q. Thompson, C. Newman, W. Paul, J. Davis, M. Horenleng, J. Ogduff, T. W. Drew, R. Richardson. Four men had lost their lives; three of them were crew (Gus Dahlgreen ship’s carpenter, H. Ackman steward, who drowned in his cabin, and George Silver seaman) and one a passenger (J. B. Vaughan). The body of one of them had been found washed up at Cape Otway and was later buried in the lighthouse cemetery; another body was seen on an inaccessible ledge. Twelve months later the second mate James F. Lawrence, from Nova Scotia, passed away in the Warrnambool district; an obituary was displayed in the local paper. The captain and crew of the Dawn were recognised by the United States Government in July 1881 for their humane efforts and bravery, being thanked and presented with substantial monetary rewards, medals and gifts. Neither the ship, nor its cargo, was insured. The ship was worth about £15,000 and the cargo was reportedly worth £40,000; only about £2,000 worth had been recovered. Cargo and wreckage washed up at Apollo Bay, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Western Port and according to some reports, even as far away as the beaches of New Zealand. The day after the wreck the government steam ship Pharos was sent from Queenscliff to clear the shipping lanes of debris that could be a danger to ships. The large midship deckhouse of the ship was found floating in a calm sea near Henty Reef. Items such as an American chair, a ladder and a nest of boxes were all on top of the deckhouse. As it was so large and could cause danger to passing ships, Captain Payne had the deckhouse towed towards the shore just beyond Apollo Bay. Between Apollo Bay and Blanket Bay the captain and crew of Pharos collected Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, nests of boxes, bottles of Bristol’s sarsaparilla, pieces of common American chairs, axe handles, a Wheelers’ Patent thresher and a sailor’s trunk with the words “A. James” on the front. A ship’s flag-board bearing the words “Eric the Red” was found on the deckhouse; finally those on board the Pharos had the name of the wrecked vessel. During this operation Pharos came across the government steamer Victoria and also a steamer S.S. Otway, both of which were picking up flotsam and wreckage. A whole side of the hull and three large pieces of the other side of the hull, with some of the copper sheathing stripped off, had floated on to Point Franklin. Some of the vessels yards and portions of her masts were on shore. The pieces of canvas attached to the yards and masts confirmed that the vessel had been under sail. The beach there was piled with debris several feet high. There were many cases of Diamond Oil kerosene, labelled R. W. Cameron and Company, New York. There were also many large planks of red pine, portions of a small white boat and a large, well-used oar. Other items found ashore included sewing machines (some consigned to ‘Long and Co.”) and notions, axe and scythe handles, hay forks, wooden pegs, rolls of wire (some branded “T.S” and Co, Melbourne”), kegs of nails branded “A.T. and Co.” from the factory of A. Field and Son, Taunton, Massachusetts, croquet balls and mallets, buggy fittings, rat traps, perfumery, cutlery and Douay Bibles, clocks, bicycles, chairs, a fly wheel, a cooking stove, timber, boxes, pianos, organs and a ladder. (Wooden clothes pegs drifted in for many years). There seemed to be no personal luggage or clothing. The Pharos encountered a long line, about one and a half miles, of floating wreckage about 10 miles off land, south east of Cape Otway, and in some places about 40 feet wide. It seemed that more than half of it was from Eric the Red. The ship’s crew rescued 3 cases that were for the Melbourne Exhibition and other items from amongst the debris. There were also chairs, doors, musical instruments, washing boards, nests of trunks and fly catchers floating in the sea. Most of the goods were saturated and smelt of kerosene. A section of the hull lies buried in the sand at Parker River Beach. An anchor with chain is embedded in the rocks east of Point Franklin and a second anchor, thought to be from Eric the Red, is on display at the Cape Otway light station. (There is a photograph of a life belt on the verandah of Rivernook Guest House in Princetown with the words “ERIC THE RED / BOSTON”. This is rather a mystery as the ship was registered in Bath, Maine, USA.) Parts of the ship are on display at Bimbi Park Caravan Park and at Apollo Bay Museum. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village also has part of the helm (steering wheel), a carved wooden sword (said to be the only remaining portion of the ship’s figurehead; further research is currently being carried out), a door, a metal rod, samples of wood and a medal for bravery. Much of the wreckage was recovered by the local residents before police and other authorities arrived at the scene. Looters went to great effort to salvage goods, being lowered down the high cliff faces to areas with little or no beach to collect items from the wreckage, their mates above watching out for dangerous waves. A Tasmanian newspaper reports on a court case in Stawell, Victoria, noting a man who was caught 2 months later selling tobacco from the wreckage of Eric the Red. Some of the silverware is still treasured by descendants of Mr Mackenzie who was given these items by officials for his help in securing the cargo. The gifts included silver coffee and tea pots, half a dozen silver serviette rings and two sewing machines. The wreck and cargo were sold to a Melbourne man who salvaged a quantity of high quality tobacco and dental and surgical instruments. Timbers from the ship were salvaged and used in the construction of houses and sheds around Apollo Bay, including a guest house, Milford House (since burnt down in bushfires), which had furniture, fittings and timber on the dining room floor from the ship. A 39.7 foot long trading ketch, the Apollo, was also built from its timbers by Mr Burgess in 1883 and subsequently used in Tasmanian waters. It was the first attempt at ship building in Apollo bay. In 1881 a red light was installed about 300 feet above sea level at the base of the Cape Otway lighthouse to warn ships when they were too close to shore; It would not be visible unless a ship came within 3 miles from it. This has proved to be an effective warning. The State Library of Victoria has a lithograph in its collection depicting the steamer Dawn and the shipwrecked men, titled. "Wreck of the ship Eric the Red, Cape Otway: rescue of the crew by the Dawn". “The Eric the Red is historically significant as one of Victoria's major 19th century shipwrecks. (Heritage Victoria Eric the Red; HV ID 239) The wreck led to the provision of an additional warning light placed below the Cape Otway lighthouse to alert mariners to the location of Otway Reef. The site is archaeologically significant for its remains of a large and varied cargo and ship's fittings being scattered over a wide area. The site is recreationally and aesthetically significant as it is one of the few sites along this coast where tourists can visit identifiable remains of a large wooden shipwreck, and for its location set against the background of Cape Otway, Bass Strait, and the Cape Otway lighthouse.“ (Victorian Heritage Database Registration Number S239, Official Number 8745 USA) Segment of a ship's wheel, or helm, from the wreck of the sailing ship Eric the Red. The wheel part is an arc shape from the outer rim of the wheel and is made up of three layers of timber. The centre layer is a dark, dense timber and is wider than the two outer layers, which are less dense and lighter in colour. The wheel segment has a vertically symmetrical, decorative copper plate inlaid on the front. The plate has a starburst pattern; six stars decorate it, each at a point where there is a metal fitting going through the three layers of timber to the rear side of the wheel. On the rear each of the six fittings has an individual copper star around it. The edges of the helm are rounded and bevelled, polished to a shine in a dark stain. Around each of the stars, front and back, the wood is a lighter colour, as though the metal in that area being polished frequently. The length of the segment suggests that it has probably come from a wheel or helm that had ten spokes. (Ref: F.H.M.M. 16th March 1994, 239.6.610.3.7. Artefact Reg No ER/1.)flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, ship's-wheel, eric-the-red, helm, shei's wheel, ship's steering wheel -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Decorative object - Sword, 1871 or earlier
This wooden sword is said to “possibly be the only remaining part of the figurehead from the sailing ship Eric the Red.” It was previously part of the collection of the old Warrnambool Museum and the entry in its inventory says “Wooden sword, portion of the figurehead, held by “Eric the Red” at the bow.” A large part of the ship’s hull was found on the rocks and a figurehead may have been attached or washed up on the shore. The shipping records for E. & A. Sewall, the builders, owners and managers of Eric the Red, are now preserved in the Maine Maritime Museum. There is no photograph on record of Eric the Red but photographs of other ships built around that time by the same company show that these did not have figureheads, and there is no record found of a figurehead for Eric the Red being ordered or paid for. Further research is being carried out. The ship building company E. & A. Sewall, from Bath, Maine, USA, built Eric the Red, a wooden, three masted clipper ship. She had 1,580 tons register and was the largest full-rigged ship built at Bath, Maine, USA in 1871. She was built and registered by Arthur Sewall, later to become the partnership E. & A. Sewall, and was the 51st ship built by this company. The annually-published List of Merchant Vessels of the U.S. shows that Bath was still the home port of Eric the Red in 1880. The vessel was named after the Viking discoverer, Eric the Red, who was the first European to reach the shores of North America (in 980AD). The ship Eric the Red at first traded in coal between America and Britain, and later traded in guano nitrates from South America. In 1879 she was re-metalled and was in first class condition. On 10th June 1880 (some records say 12th June) Eric the Red departed New York for Melbourne and then Sydney. She had been commissioned by American trade representatives to carry a special cargo of 500 exhibits (1400 tons) - about a quarter to a third of America’s total exhibits - from America for the U.S.A. pavilion at Melbourne’s first International Exhibition. The exhibits included furniture, ironmongery, wines, chemicals, dental and surgical instruments, paper, cages, bronze lamp trimmings, axles, stamped ware, astronomical and time globes, samples of corn and the choicest of leaf tobacco. Other general cargo included merchandise such as cases of kerosene and turpentine, brooms, Bristol's Sarsaparilla, Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, Wheeler’s thresher machine, axe handles and tools, cases of silver plate, toys, pianos and organs, carriages and Yankee notions. The Eric the Red left New York under the command of Captain Z. Allen (or some records say Captain Jacques Allen) and 24 other crew including the owner’s son third mate Ned Sewall. There were 2 saloon passengers also. On 4th September 1880 the ship had been sailing for an uneventful 85 days and the voyage was almost at its end. Eric the Red approached Cape Otway in a moderate north-west wind and hazy and overcast atmosphere. Around 1:30am Captain Allen sighted the Cape Otway light and was keeping the ship 5-6 miles offshore to stay clear of the hazardous Otway Reef. However he had badly misjudged his position. The ship hit the Otway Reef about 2 miles out to sea, south west of the Cape Otway light station. Captain Allen ordered the wheel to be put ‘hard up’ thinking that she might float off the reef. A heavy sea knocked the man away from the wheel, broke the wheel ropes and carried away the rudder. The sea swamped the lifeboats, the mizzenmast fell, with all of its rigging, then the mainmast fell and the ship broke in two. Some said that the passenger Vaughan, who was travelling for his health and not very strong, was washed overboard and never seen again. The ship started breaking up. The forward house came adrift with three of the crew on it as well as a longboat, which the men succeeded in launching and keeping afloat by continually bailing with their sea boots. The captain, the third mate (the owner’s son) and others clung to the mizzenmast in the sea. Then the owner’s son was washed away off the mast. Within 10 minutes the rest of the ship was in pieces, completely wrecked, with cargo and wreckage floating in the sea. The captain encouraged the second mate to swim with him to the deckhouse where there were other crew but the second mate wouldn’t go with him. Eventually the Captain made it to the deckhouse and the men pulled him up. At about 4:30am the group of men on the deckhouse saw the lights of a steamer and called for help. At the same time they noticed the second mate and the other man had drifted nearby, still on the spur, and pulled them both onto the wreck. The coastal steamer Dawn was returning to Warrnambool from Melbourne, its sailing time different to its usual schedule. Cries were heard coming from out of the darkness. Captain Jones sent out two life boats, and fired off rockets and blue lights to illuminate the area. They picked up the three survivors who were in the long boat from Eric the Red. Two men were picked up out of the water, one being the owner’s son who was clinging to floating kerosene boxes. At daylight the Dawn then rescued the 18 men from the floating portion of the deckhouse, which had drifted about 4 miles from where they’d struck the reef. Shortly after the rescue the deckhouse drifted onto breakers and was thrown onto rocks at Point Franklin, about 2 miles east of Cape Otway. Captain Jones had signalled to Cape Otway lighthouse the number of the Eric the Red and later signalled that there was a wreck at Otway Reef but there was no response from the lighthouse. The captain and crew of the Dawn spent several more hours searching unsuccessfully for more survivors, even going back as far as Apollo Bay. On board the Dawn the exhausted men received care and attention to their needs and wants, including much needed clothing. Captain Allen was amongst the 23 battered and injured men who were rescued and later taken to Warrnambool for care. Warrnambool’s mayor and town clerk offered them all hospitality, the three badly injured men going to the hospital and others to the Olive Branch Hotel, then on to Melbourne. Captain Allen’s leg injury prevented him from going ashore so he and three other men travelled on the Dawn to Portland. They were met by the mayor who also treated them all with great kindness. Captain Allen took the train back to Melbourne then returned to America. Those saved were Captain Z. Allen (or Jacques Allen), J. Darcy chief mate, James F. Lawrence second mate, Ned Sewall third mate and owner’s son, John French the cook, C. Nelson sail maker, Clarence W. New passenger, and the able seamen Dickenson, J. Black, Denis White, C. Herbert, C. Thompson, A. Brooks, D. Wilson, J. Ellis, Q. Thompson, C. Newman, W. Paul, J. Davis, M. Horenleng, J. Ogduff, T. W. Drew, R. Richardson. Four men had lost their lives; three of them were crew (Gus Dahlgreen ship’s carpenter, H. Ackman steward, who drowned in his cabin, and George Silver seaman) and one a passenger (J. B. Vaughan). The body of one of them had been found washed up at Cape Otway and was later buried in the lighthouse cemetery; another body was seen on an inaccessible ledge. Twelve months later the second mate James F. Lawrence, from Nova Scotia, passed away in the Warrnambool district; an obituary was displayed in the local paper. The captain and crew of the Dawn were recognised by the United States Government in July 1881 for their humane efforts and bravery, being thanked and presented with substantial monetary rewards, medals and gifts. Neither the ship, nor its cargo, was insured. The ship was worth about £15,000 and the cargo was reportedly worth £40,000; only about £2,000 worth had been recovered. Cargo and wreckage washed up at Apollo Bay, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Western Port and according to some reports, even as far away as the beaches of New Zealand. The day after the wreck the government steam ship Pharos was sent from Queenscliff to clear the shipping lanes of debris that could be a danger to ships. The large midship deckhouse of the ship was found floating in a calm sea near Henty Reef. Items such as an American chair, a ladder and a nest of boxes were all on top of the deckhouse. As it was so large and could cause danger to passing ships, Captain Payne had the deckhouse towed towards the shore just beyond Apollo Bay. Between Apollo Bay and Blanket Bay the captain and crew of Pharos collected Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines, nests of boxes, bottles of Bristol’s sarsaparilla, pieces of common American chairs, axe handles, a Wheelers’ Patent thresher and a sailor’s trunk with the words “A. James” on the front. A ship’s flag-board bearing the words “Eric the Red” was found on the deckhouse; finally those on board the Pharos had the name of the wrecked vessel. During this operation Pharos came across the government steamer Victoria and also a steamer S.S. Otway, both of which were picking up flotsam and wreckage. A whole side of the hull and three large pieces of the other side of the hull, with some of the copper sheathing stripped off, had floated on to Point Franklin. Some of the vessels yards and portions of her masts were on shore. The pieces of canvas attached to the yards and masts confirmed that the vessel had been under sail. The beach there was piled with debris several feet high. There were many cases of Diamond Oil kerosene, labelled R. W. Cameron and Company, New York. There were also many large planks of red pine, portions of a small white boat and a large, well-used oar. Other items found ashore included sewing machines (some consigned to ‘Long and Co.”) and notions, axe and scythe handles, hay forks, wooden pegs, rolls of wire (some branded “T.S” and Co, Melbourne”), kegs of nails branded “A.T. and Co.” from the factory of A. Field and Son, Taunton, Massachusetts, croquet balls and mallets, buggy fittings, rat traps, perfumery, cutlery and Douay Bibles, clocks, bicycles, chairs, a fly wheel, a cooking stove, timber, boxes, pianos, organs and a ladder. (Wooden clothes pegs drifted in for many years). There seemed to be no personal luggage or clothing. The Pharos encountered a long line, about one and a half miles, of floating wreckage about 10 miles off land, south east of Cape Otway, and in some places about 40 feet wide. It seemed that more than half of it was from Eric the Red. The ship’s crew rescued 3 cases that were for the Melbourne Exhibition and other items from amongst the debris. There were also chairs, doors, musical instruments, washing boards, nests of trunks and fly catchers floating in the sea. Most of the goods were saturated and smelt of kerosene. A section of the hull lies buried in the sand at Parker River Beach. An anchor with chain is embedded in the rocks east of Point Franklin and a second anchor, thought to be from Eric the Red, is on display at the Cape Otway light station. (There is a photograph of a life belt on the verandah of Rivernook Guest House in Princetown with the words “ERIC THE RED / BOSTON”. This is rather a mystery as the ship was registered in Bath, Maine, USA.) Parts of the ship are on display at Bimbi Park Caravan Park and at Apollo Bay Museum. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village also has part of the helm (steering wheel), a carved wooden sword (said to be the only remaining portion of the ship’s figurehead; further research is currently being carried out), a door, a metal rod, samples of wood and a medal for bravery. Much of the wreckage was recovered by the local residents before police and other authorities arrived at the scene. Looters went to great effort to salvage goods, being lowered down the high cliff faces to areas with little or no beach to collect items from the wreckage, their mates above watching out for dangerous waves. A Tasmanian newspaper reports on a court case in Stawell, Victoria, noting a man who was caught 2 months later selling tobacco from the wreckage of Eric the Red. Some of the silverware is still treasured by descendants of Mr Mackenzie who was given these items by officials for his help in securing the cargo. The gifts included silver coffee and tea pots, half a dozen silver serviette rings and two sewing machines. The wreck and cargo were sold to a Melbourne man who salvaged a quantity of high quality tobacco and dental and surgical instruments. Timbers from the ship were salvaged and used in the construction of houses and sheds around Apollo Bay, including a guest house, Milford House (since burnt down in bushfires), which had furniture, fittings and timber on the dining room floor from the ship. A 39.7 foot long trading ketch, the Apollo, was also built from its timbers by Mr Burgess in 1883 and subsequently used in Tasmanian waters. It was the first attempt at ship building in Apollo bay. In 1881 a red light was installed about 300 feet above sea level at the base of the Cape Otway lighthouse to warn ships when they were too close to shore; It would not be visible unless a ship came within 3 miles from it. This has proved to be an effective warning. The State Library of Victoria has a lithograph in its collection depicting the steamer Dawn and the shipwrecked men, titled. "Wreck of the ship Eric the Red, Cape Otway: rescue of the crew by the Dawn".The Eric the Red is historically significant as one of Victoria's major 19th century shipwrecks. (Heritage Victoria Eric the Red; HV ID 239) The wreck led to the provision of an additional warning light placed below the Cape Otway lighthouse to alert mariners to the location of Otway Reef. The site is archaeologically significant for its remains of a large and varied cargo and ship's fittings being scattered over a wide area. The site is recreationally and aesthetically significant as it is one of the few sites along this coast where tourists can visit identifiable remains of a large wooden shipwreck, and for its location set against the background of Cape Otway, Bass Strait, and the Cape Otway lighthouse. (Victorian Heritage Database Registration Number S239, Official Number 8745 USA)This carved wooden sword, recovered from the Eric the Red, is possibly the only portion of the figurehead recovered after the wreck. There are spirals carved from the base of the handle to the top of the sword. The hilt of the sword is a lion’s head holding its tail in its mouth, the tail forming the handle. The blade of the sword has engraved patterns on it. Tiny particles of gold leaf and dark blue paint fragments can be seen between the carving marks. There are remnants of yellowish-orange and crimson paint on the handle. At some time after the sword was salvaged the name of the ship was hand painted on the blade in black paint. The tip of the sword has broken or split and the remaining part is charcoal in appearance. On both the tip and the base of the handle are parts made where the sword could have been joined onto the figurehead There is a white coating over some areas of the sword, similar to white lead putty used in traditional shipbuilding. The words “ERIC the RED” have been hand painted on the blade of the sword in black paint sometime after it was salvaged.flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, maritime museum, maritime village, great ocean road, shipwreck coast, sword, wooden sword, eric the red, carved sword, figurehead, snake head on sword -
Kiewa Valley Historical Society
Shoes - Slippers
sourced from local resident of Kiewa Valley Mr David Barton. As theses shoes are from Turkey and from the period of the early 1900s they may have been bought back from that country as a souvenir after WWI. Members of the Barton family went to WWI . Manufacture of slippers circa 1920s and represents early Turkish style .These slippers are considered rare due to the intricate workmanship in leather. They have historical and good Provence significance due to being donated by a local man who possibly bought them back from WWI . Two brown slippers, left and right foot. Leather soles and gold patterned (circle and fish like) embroidered uppers. A long, 13cm leather strip upward curled, extension fastened at tip of sole. Back of heel extended to a pointPatterned front toe,side arch and heel. Markings may represent water ,four fish and fish traps -
Ringwood and District Historical Society
Photograph, Anzac Commemoration Service, Ringwood, 1956
Catalogue card reads, 'Anzac commemoration service 1956. The President Mr. D. Ahern laying wreath at foot of memorial'. -
Ringwood and District Historical Society
Photograph, Ringwood Anzac commemoration service 1956
Catalogue card reads, 'Anzac commemoration service 1956. The President Mr. D. Ahern laying wreath at foot of memorial'. -
Surrey Hills Historical Society Collection
Photograph, Mr and Mrs Albert George Harbert
Albert, the son of William Devereux Harbert and Anna Maria Gooch) was born in 1890. He died 15 June 1971 in Malvern. Phoebe Rebecca Georgina Colton (b 1889, Williamstown; d 31 August 1968), the daughter of Henry Culter Colton and Elizabeth Georgina Lucas. Albert and Phoebe were married in 1912 and moved into the house Albert had built at 237 Union Road. He bought the 60 foot frontage block for £60 in 1912 and built the home for £240. Albert built a number of homes in the locality and the shelter sheds at Chatham School. Phoebe had worked as a seamstress prior to marriage, earning 2/6d a week. They had 2 daughters Unice and Norma. Unice remained single. Norma married Henry Jamieson. They both lived to a good age and continued to live locally until frailty in old age caused them to move to nursing homes. Albert and Phoebe are buried in Boroondara Cemetery Spec E, Grave 66. A black and white screened photograph of a man and a woman. The man is holding a piece of paper in his right hand.mr albert george harbert, mrs phoebe harbert, builders, union road, surrey hills, chatham school, miss phoebe colton -
National Wool Museum
Sugar Bowl
Footed, electroplated nickel silver sugar bowl, presented to Mr R W Pettitt.Footed, electroplated nickel silver sugar bowl, presented to Mr R W Pettitt.PEERLE[S][S] PLATE/ EPNSpettitt, mr r. w. -
National Wool Museum
Wrench
Maintenance tool for Wolseley and Lister handpieces. Size is standard.Foot print wrench, steel.AHREM TOOLCO. GERMANY PATENTshearing machinery, de josselin, mr john -
Federation University Art Collection
Painting, Neville Bunning, 'Whiskey Distillery at Warrenheip via Dunnstown' by Neville Bunning
Neville BUNNING The whisky distillert was at te foot of Mt Warrenheip. Situated at tje site of a water spring, it later bacame Cottonwood Springs. The Warrenheip breweries near the spring were well established when Mr Henry Brind, opened Brind’s Distillery in 1864. At that tome they claimed to be the first of its kind in Australia, and “the only place where pot stilled whisky was manufactured in the colony.” This item is part of the Federation University Art Collection. The Art Collection features over 2000 works and was listed as a 'Ballarat Treasure' in 2007.Oil painting of an old distillery at Dunnstown.art, artwork, dunnstown, distillery, brinds, available, mt warrenheip, neville bunning -
Public Record Office Victoria
Letter (item) - Mr Cleal’s Letter to the Chief Commissioner of Police
In October 1901, Mr B. Cleal wrote to the Chief Commissioner of Police complaining about the large number of effeminate young men using ‘various conveniences’ for ‘an evil of the most terrible description’. Mr Cleal’s letter is part of a remarkable collection of documents held by Public Record Office Victoria that are valuable to LGBTIQ+ history and heritage in providing unparalleled insight into where and how beats operated in and around the city at that time. By ‘conveniences’ Cleal meant public toilets, and he listed the busiest of them: the corner of Rathdowne and Victoria streets; Lansdowne Street, East Melbourne; under the viaduct opposite the Customs House in Flinders Street; at the rear of the old City Court in Little Collins Street; and under the viaduct at the foot of King Street. Cleal described in detail how these beats worked: ‘One cannot enter but two or three of the above fellows rush in and on pretence of using same will pass some disgusting remark concerning one’s person etc’. The Chief Commissioner despatched one of his officers, Sergeant Canty, to investigate. Canty’s report provides further detail and description of who he encountered at the public toilets. He reported that men ‘known by the term “Pufters” [sic], are generally well dressed, sober, quiet in their manner and some of them very well connected’. Canty further noted about these men: 'it is often very difficult for the police to catch them offending, and if they do at any time make filthy or indecent overtures to any man, they believe him to be similarly inclined, but should they make a mistake the man insulted never thinks of giving any of them in charge [complaining to the police], but sometimes gives the offender a well-deserved blow or kick instead, of which the recipient never complains.' Sergeant Canty admitted that the problem had existed for some time. But, he added, ‘I don’t think the evil complained of is as great as said in attached [Cleal’s letter]’. In reviewing the file, Canty’s supervisor noted that Cleal, ‘appears to have given these resorts considerable attention’. Much of the evidence for same-sex activity in Melbourne in the early twentieth century comes from court cases and sensationalist news reports. With their eyewitness accounts of the use of local beats, these documents in the collection of Public Record Office Victoria provide a more detailed, understated account, making them some of the more unusual and historically significant records in Melbourne’s queer history. Quoted from "A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects" by Graham Willett, Angela Bailey, Timothy W. Jones and Sarah Rood. -
Surrey Hills Historical Society Collection
Photograph, Parade in celebration of King Edward VII's birthday, 1902
The parade was held in celebration of King Edward VII's birthday on 4 July 1902. This was the first public appearance of the German Band formed on 30 May 1902. The leading horseman is Mr Rowland Coe. He is followed by Mr George Robinson, a butcher of Canterbury Road. The man in the white hat is Mr Sam Kellett, businessman of Erasmus Street. Behind him on foot and partly obscured is Mr Alexander McNeill of the Surrey Family Hotel. Band master is Harry Pollard, painter and paper-hanger, and next to him is Constable Hill. The small boy in the sailor suit is Perc Venman of Essex Road and in the buggy near the footpath is Mr and Mrs William Maling. Information came from David Staig senior. Further research: William Saunders Maling, a son of John Butler Maling, was a builder who lived at 17 Balwyn Road, Canterbury. Rowland Coe, a butcher and son of James and Elizabeth Coe of Sunbury Crescent enlisted in AIF in WW1. He later lived at 233 Elgar Road, Box Hill. William Percival Reginald (Perc) Venman was born in Surrey Hills in 1894; he died in Surrey Hills in 1951 and lived at 27 Essex Street for much of his life. He and his wife are buried in Box Hill Cemetery. The identity of Sam Kellett of Erasmus Street is questioned. Edward Kellett built 'Yielma' in Erasmus Street but was deceased by 1902. He had 3 sons: Edward Allan (1854-1932); George Henry (1858-1921) and William John (1865-1945).Black and white photo of a number of men on horses leading a parade down Station Street (Windsor Crescent) to Union Road. Street trees on the RHS are mature whilst the ones on the LHS look to be newly planted. They have wooden guards around them. The area to the left is blurry but would be the railway line and station surrounds. Roads are well formed with bluestone channels.parades and processions, bands, german band, windsor crescent, william saunders maling, mrs hannah maling, miss hannah miller, constable hill, perc venman, george robinson, sam kellett, alexander mcneill, rowland coe, harry pollard, william percival reginald venman -
Kew Historical Society Inc
Document - Invitation to a Royal Review at Flemington, 1901
The correspondent of The Argus recorded that: "The Parliament of the Commonwealth was opened yesterday by the Duke, of Cornwall and York, under a Commission signed by Queen Victoria and subsequently endorsed by King Edward VII. The ceremony was marked by the splendour and solemn impressiveness which befitted its historic importance. ... To-day the Heir to the Throne will review some 15,000 Australian troops at Flemington. ... It is a function which, on a lesser scale, might have been arranged at any time for many years past; but it could never previously have conveyed the meaning it does now. Soldiering was popularly regarded as a pastime here until South Africa tried the mettle of our men. It is serious business from henceforth. Those who followed the nascent aspirations of the volunteer soldiery in Australia must be impressed at the rapidity of their fulfillment. ... The document design has artistic and aesthetic merit. While it is not rare, it is representative of the kinds of formal designs used for the Australian Commonwealth celebrations at the time of Federation, and is in excellent condition. Such items as this invitation have local, state and national historic significance as mementoes of a key moment in Australia's history. Locally, the invitation is part of a group of Federation-related items issued to James Maitland Campbell (and his wife). Campbell was three times mayor of Kew in the second half of the 19th Century and the owner of Ramornie in Pakington Street, one of the significant extant mansions in Kew. An invitation, mounted on card to the Royal Review held at Flemington racecourse on Friday 10 May 1901, as part of the Government of Victoria's Australian Commonwealth Celebrations. The border is vividly decorated with flags, shields and a large coat of arms. The photographic images depict various scenes of Flemington in Melbourne, in addition to two separate portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York. Illustrations of military servicemen on foot and horseback flank the central block of text. The invitation was addressed to Mr & Mrs J. M. Campbell. James Maitland Campbell had been Mayor of Kew in the years 1889-90, 1890-91 and 1892-93.Printed: AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH CELEBRATIONS/ The Government of Victoria/ requests the honour of the presence of/ .../ AT THE/ ROYAL REVIEW/ at Flemington on Friday/ the 10th of May 1901. Handwritten on the dotted line: Mr. & Mrs. J. M. Campbellfederation events, royal review - 1901, james maitland campbell, federation -- invitations -
Orbost & District Historical Society
black and white photograph, early 20th century - 1910?
From L-R : Nathan Spielvogel, Hector Young, Percy Watt and George Holden. . Taken on the front porch at Illfracombe in 1908 after the four men had enjoyed a weekend fishing There appears to be a photo hanging on the wall in the background which looks like it could be of a young Marion Watt and the family's dog, a golden retriever In "The Gum Sucker at Home: Bound for Croajingolong 1908" by Nathan Spielvogel, published in Mary Gilbert's Personalities and Stories of the Early Orbost District, 3rd edition, p. 107-116, Spielvogel talks of his trip to Orbost, and fishing with Watt, Bruce and Young aboard Percy Watt's boat, the Maris Stella. Spielvogel's story says Young was the secretary at James & Birds auctioneers and "was one of the builders of the first foot bridge over the Backwater". It says George Holden was a Bank Manager at the Bank of Victoria. (info. from Campbell Watt) This photograph shows Mr Nathan Spielvogel on the left. He was a school teacher at the Orbost State School following Mr Rowe. Nathan Frederick Spielvogel (1874-1956), teacher, writer and historian, was born on 10 May 1874 at Ballarat, Victoria, son of Newman Frederick Spielvogel, pawnbroker, and his wife Hannah, née Cohen. As well as his stories he published a number of books about the history of Ballarat. Spielvogel taught at Orbost for at least a year Nathan Frederick Spielvogel (1874–1956) was a teacher, writer and historian. As a country schoolteacher, he traveled widely in the eastern Australian outback and also made a journey to London. Spielvogel gained distinction as one of the only Australian Jewish writers of his time. Many of his early books were best-sellers. He has an association with the history of Orbost having spent a year as a teacher at Orbost. The Watt family were early Marlo settlers.A black / white photograph / postcard of four men sitting around a small table playing cards. Two of the men have pillows behind their heads. Three are smoking pipes.on back - "On R - N. Spielvogel"spielvogel-nathan-orbost -
Otway Districts Historical Society
Memorabilia - Presentation key, empty
A presentation key given to Mr Cliff Young following his victory in the Sydney to Melbourne foot race in April, 1983.A ash presentation box from the City of Melbourne to Mr Cliff Young containing on a blue background a gold-plated 14cm key and a gold-plated badge of the City of Melbourne.On paper attached to the inside lid a logo of the City of Melbourne with the words: "With the Compliments of the Lord Mayor and the Councillors of the City of Melbourne."cliff young, sydney, city of melbourne, lord mayor, key, running -
Otway Districts Historical Society
Railway Pass
Following his foot race from Sydney to Melbourne in April 1983 Victorian Railways issued this railway pass to My Cliff Young for his success in his run.A Victorian Railways railway pass number 137 issued to Mr Cliff Young for travel station to station from 5 May 1983 till 4 May 1984. cliff young; sydney; melbourne; 1983; 1984; victorian railways; railway pass; -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Document - Newspaper article, Eltham's growth has been rapid in recent years, c.1960
ELTHAM’S GROWTH HAS BEEN RAPID IN RECENT YEARS Unknown local paper c.1960s Recent years have seen a rapid change in the appearance of Eltham’s business centre - so rapid, in fact, that the growth of premises has been almost 300%. For more than thirty-five years Eltham had little more than a dozen traders - the town's business area spreading from Pryor Street in the north, to Pitt Street in the south. The greatest density of businesses - no more than a handful of shops - were situated in the present shopping centre but other essential services such as the Post Office, were located half a mile away. As the town's population grew and the need for more shops became apparent, the growth was centralised around the railway station and Shire hall. Few of the old premises are used for their original form of business today, though many are still in existence. One of the oldest (seen clearly in the illustration) still in use is now Ferrari's Greengrocery. This shop was Eltham's butchery in early days, conducted by Jim Ryan. Up to twenty years ago, Mr. Ryan ran his business from the shop. whilst his son toured Eltham in his horse and cart, cutting his customers' orders as he went from door to door. Another business - one of the few still trading in the same goods-was Burgoyne's Hardware. This is now owned by Mr. R. Clinton, a new shop has recently been added and shortly the old premises will disappear completely. The Burgoyne family were well known to Eltham's population. The Post Office and Store (then in Main Road, near Bridge Street) was run by Mr. and Mrs. Burgoyne. The Post Office was later moved, and attached to the hardware store. OLD HOTEL In this same area was the old Eltham Hotel, almost opposite the present hotel. The building still stands, but has been converted into a house. The hitching rail can still be seen by the roadside. Back in the township was Barber's Blue Gum store, later conducted by Mrs. Burges (mother of Garnet Burges) and claimed to be Eltham's oldest shop. Further down the road, just past the hardware store, was the barber shop and billiard saloon. Next door was E. J. Andrew's news agency, library and State Savings Bank. Eltham's original chemist's shop, or dispensary as it was called, is now an electrical repair shop. On this side of the street too, was Mrs. Monteith - Draper. Mr Monteith was the owner of Eltham' s bus service. This bus service had no regular route, but deposited passengers at the point nearest their homes - a. door to door taxi service. Next to Mrs. Monteith stood another grocery - and general store, and next again, the local blacksmith. Another of Butcher Ryan's sons was Eltham's blacksmith and obviously an enterprising man he conducted a timber business next door to his smithy's shop. These two premises are still run by one man - Garnet Burges. BOOM STARTS Twenty years ago, when Thompson's took over Eltham's pharmacy they occupied the old shop adjoining the Shire hall. The building of Thompson's new premises, from which· they operate today, was the beginning of Eltham's recent growth and development. With another grocery store and a bakery at the corner of York Street, a butcher near Franklin Street, a cobbler's shop opposite the State School (did you ever wonder what that-little building attached to one of Eltham's oldest houses had been?), and an estate agency conducted by Mr. Clark, now Eltham Real Estate - only one trader remained - and today, still carries on, the only original owner of one of Eltham's .oldest established businesses - Mr. Dave Lyon, of Lyon Bros. Garage, which was formerly located in what was later used as Chenowyth's Foundry in Main Road. From the early twenties until little more than six or seven years ago that was the picture of Eltham. Some businesses had changed hands - many years before Mr. C. Rains had acquired Andrew's news agency, Mrs. Monteith's drapery had become Mrs. R. Smith's home-made cake shop, to change again and again to many other types of business. But generally, Eltham was unchanged, for nearly thirty years. Then suddenly new shops mushroomed. The new news agency and drapery, the chemist and adjoining shops, a new butcher, a green grocer and several more. POPULATION DOUBLED In the space of a few years, fifteen new shops, two banks, a restaurant and a post office were built at Eltham. New types of businesses found a ready market in an area which was quickly almost doubling its population. A little over twelve months ago, another wave of progress hit Eltham. Since then eight more shops have been built - a cake shop and fish shop in Dalton [sic – Dudley] Street - for building areas are unprocurable in the Main Street shopping centre now – have been built by Mr. D. Kimball; a new ladies’ and children’s wear shop has been opened by Rains; Eltham Dry Cleaners have another of these new shops, and Mr. R. Clinton has built elaborate new premises. Further down the road, Mr. C. Campbell has built a new butcher's shop, and next door, at present under construction, are a self service store and a shop which Mr. J. Hodges will open on completion. In addition to these new shops, Mr. J. Millett has extended his grocery to almost twice its original size. FLOURISHING Outside the central area, other businesses are flourishing. Latimer's felt factory is being developed in a picturesque rustic setting; P. J. Timber and Trading Company have recently completed a large showroom and timber yard, and in the town itself Nicholson and Merritt are now completing the extension of their foot wear factory to double its former area. This is Eltham today. Progress is moving rapidly in this rural area on the fringe of the metropolis. Less than a decade has seen vast development. The years to complete that span of time will see even greater changes and greater prosperity in this heart: of the Diamond Valley. OLD LANDMARK GOES Perhaps the most famous landmark in Eltham's' business section disappeared last Wednesday when the towering blue gum in Pryor Street at the rear of Main Road shops was felled. The tree, stated to be more than 80 feet high, was the one for which the adjoining café was named, when that business was Eltham’s only provision store, long before the turn of the century. Mr. J. Millett, who now owns the property on which the tree stood, deeply regretted its removal, but was mindful of the need for expansion in the business area. The "Old Blue Gum" was removed by Mr. A. Wilson, expert tree feller, from Heidelberg. Its proportions might be assessed by these facts – it took a gang of experienced men two days to completely fell and clear the tree, and, falling sections being brought down by cable tipped electricity wires on the opposite side of Pryor Street.andrew's news agency, bakery, barber shop, barber's blue gum store, billiard saloon, blacksmith, blue gum, burgoyne's hardware, butcher, cake shop, chemist's shop, chenowyth's foundry, cobbler's shop, dave lyon, dispensary, draper shop. mr monteith, dudley street, e. j. andrew's news agency, electrical repair shop, eltham bus service, eltham butchery, eltham dry cleaners, eltham hotel, eltham railway station, eltham real estate, eltham shire hall, eltham shopping centre, eltham shops, eltham town centre, estate agency, expert tree feller, ferrari's greengrocery, fish shop, foot wear factory, franklin street, garnet burges, general store, grocery, heidelberg, horace clark, jim ryan, ladies’ and children’s wear shop, latimer's felt factory, library, lyon bros. garage, main road, mr. a. wilson, mr. c. campbell, mr. c. rains, mr. d. kimball, mr. j. hodges, mr. j. millett, mr. r. clinton, mrs. burges, mrs. monteith, mrs. monteith's drapery, mrs. r. smith's home-made cake shop, nicholson and merritt, p. j. timber and trading company, pitt street, post office, pryor street, self service store, shopping centre, state savings bank, taxi service, thompson's pharmacy, york street -
Victorian Interpretive Projects Inc.
Photograph - colour, Clare Gervasoni, St Peter's Catholic Church, Daylesford, 2015, 14/06/2015
"The fine structure of St. Peter's, with its prettily-decorated interior, which holds crowded congregations at Holy Mass on Sundays, is alone an eloquent testimony of the piety and devotion which permeates the whole parish. Attached to the church is a circulating library, and Catholic papers and other literature are distributed at the church door. Branches of the H.A.C.B. Society and Catholic Federation are doing much good work. (Melbourne Advocate, 17 January 1914) "OPENING AND CONSECRATION OF THE NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST. PETER’S, DAYLESFORD Cross on St. Peter'sNotwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, the opening of the new Catholic Church of St. Peter’s, yesterday (Sunday), attracted a crowded congregation. Although the rain, which has poured almost incessantly for some days past, had left our roads and streets in the condition for which Daylesford is celebrated in winter weather, and although he storm and rain seemed to increase as the hour announced for the ceremonies approached, the church was filled by a large congregation, comprising all sects and denominations of Christians in and around the district. The beautiful edifice, erected mainly through the zeal, liberality and energy of the respected pastor, presented a most imposing appearance, and reflects infinite credit upon the Rev. Mr. Slattery, and the flock committed to his charge. The church was commenced in November 1863 and has been in the hands of the workmen up to the present time, work being uninterruptedly carried on. On commencing the foundations, it was necessary to excavate until solid clay was reached, which in consequence of the deep rich chocolate soil on the site of the building, had to be carried down to an average depth of 6 feet 6 inches. The foundations were laid with massive stones in courses of 12-inch, and four feet thick, reducing to 3 feet below the floor line. The style of the building is decorated Gothic, and consists of a nave, 80 feet by 30 feet in the clear, and a chancel 18 feet high; from floor line to apex of roof, 47 feet, which is elegantly constructed, consisting of six spans or frames with puncheons resting on carved corbels, low down between the windows. The north side consists of a handsome entrance, near the north-west angle, approached by nine steps of cut stone, and four bays of windows on nave, and a small door on side of chancel, intended as an entry from the sacristy. The south side presents a very handsome view to Victoria street, a beautiful porch entrance giving access to the building on the south-east end of nave; and on the south-west angle a handsome octagonal spire, terminating in an iron cross, with gilt floriations; the height of top of cross, from floor line, is 88 feet. A stone stairs gives access to the organ gallery and the belfry. The whole of the windows are of a handsome geometrical design, and carved in stone, with mullions and tracery, and glazed with amber-tinted glass, the chancel window being 15 feet high, and 8 feet wide. The chancel arch is unusually large, 27 feet St. Peter's interiorhigh and 18 feet wide, and handsomely moulded, and presents a fine appearance from the body of the church. The roof is stained a rich oak, with heavy cornice, and all the walls are smoothly plastered, and colored peach color, giving the amber-tinted glass a beautiful soft cathedral appearance to the interior. The altar is of a very chaste design, the panels being moulded with Gothic heads, and finished in white and gold; the altar rail was not completed, but is intended to be of polished cedar, with carved pillars. The interior fittings will be proceeded with immediately, and to complete the design, an organ gallery, with sittings for about 100 persons besides the choir, will be constructed on the west end. It is intended also to place pillar gaslights on each side of the main entrance, for lighting during vespers in winter. The style of architecture has been strictly carried out, and in the best and most substantial manner. The building has been erected under the superintendence of the architect Mr. John Townsend Brophy, a member of the congregation, and who has discharged his duty with great ability and care. The hour of half-past eleven has scarcely passed when from the sacristy entered His Lordship the Right Rev. Dr. Gould, Bishop of Melbourne, preceded by the Very Rev. Dean Hayes (Sandhurst), the Rev. P. J. Slattery, and a number of boys dressed in white surplices. The Right Reverend Prelate proceeded to the foot of the altar, the Very Rev. the Dean on his right, and the Rev. P. J. Slattery on the left. The prayers usual upon the occasion were read by the Bishop. A procession was then formed, and went around the church in the following order. Several youths bearing wax candles first, next the Very Rev. the Dean, then the Bishop and his train bearers, and following were the Rev. Mr. Slattery and acolytes. Having returned to the altar in the same order, the Deacon (Dean Hayes) and Sub-Deacon (Rev. P. J. Slattery) proceeded to robe his Lordship, who had taken his seat at the epistle side of the altar, for the solemn High Mass, at appropriate times wearing his mitre and bearing his crozier. The mass, which was chanted by the Bishop with touching simplicity and earnestness, was then commenced. The choir, under the direction of Mr. Meunsch, organist, was full and most effective. Mrs. Testar, of Melbourne, having generously offered her valuable services, took the leading soprano solos, and it is scarcely necessary to add, rendered them with exquisite taste and feeling – her beautiful voice being heard with great effect throughout the entire building. The choir consisted of the following ladies and gentlemen who volunteered to aid in the ceremonies upon this most interesting occasion. Ladies: Mrs. Tresar, soprano; Mrs. J.J. McCormick, alto; Miss Julia Conry, soprano; Mrs. Vincent, soprano; Mrs. Aitken, soprano. Gentlemen: H. Guthiel, tenor; Master John Murphy, tenor; James Knox, bass; J. M. Murphy, bass; Mr. Staunton, baritone; Mr. Sourby, alto; Mr. Short, bass. The chant, “Let us adore,” during the procession, was given by Mrs. Vincent with considerable power. The selection of the “Imperial Mass” (Haydn’s No. 3) was felicitous, and the highly artistic and finished manner in which the different parts were sustained, demonstrated that great and persevering care must have been bestowed on the preparation for “the opening day.” The “Kyrie” was given with the full strength and power of the choir. The swelling of the voices in complete harmony, and the pealing of the organ in the midst of incense and prayer, produced a most marked effect upon the congregation. In the “Gloria,” the solos of Mrs. Testar were really beautiful and Mrs. McCormick rendered the alto solos with considerable merit. Mr. Knox sang the part commencing with the words “Qui tolles” with much taste and power. The “Credo” than which we believe there is not a more magnificent piece of sacred music extant, was most successful in its rendering, nor do we ever remember to have heard anything more touching than the manner in which the line “Vetam Venturi in Seculi,” was given by Mrs. Testar. The offertory hymn “Come unto Me all ye that labor,” was given by Mrs. Testar with the most thrilling effect. The “Sanctus” having been sung, in which Mr. Sourby ably rendered an alto solo, the “Agnus Dei” was commenced with a solo by Mrs. McCormick and was given with great taste and feeling, Mrs. Testar, at the conclusion of the “Agnus,” taking up the soprano part. Mass being concluded, the Very Reverend Dean Hayes ascended the altar and proceeded to preach the opening sermon, taking as his text Second Paralipomenon [Chronicles II], 7th chapter and 16th verse – “For I have chosen and have sanctified this place that My hand may be there for ever, and My eyes and My heart may remain there perpetually.” St Peter's manseAt the close of the sermon a collection was made by the very reverend preacher, assisted by John Egan, Esq., Corinella, on behalf of the church, and about fifty pounds were contributed. When it is remembered that 500 tickets had been issues at 10s each, and the inclemency of the weather taken into consideration, the collection may be regarded as a large one. Benediction was sung by the Rev. P. J. Slattery, assisted by Dean Hayes, the choir singing the “O! Salutaris Hostia” and “Laudate.” Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus was sung at the termination of the ceremonies. The vestments issued at Benediction, as well as at the Mass, were of the most gorgeous and beautiful character. When the Benediction was over, the Rev. P. J. Slattery, standing at the front of the altar said– “I wish to say one or two words before the congregation leave. I feel most deeply indebted to all of you who have attended here today for the honor and glory of God, not withstanding the difficulties you had to encounter from this most inclement season. I am truly delighted at such a manifestation of feeling, and will not easily forget it.” The rev. gentleman having disrobed, thanked the members of the choir for their kindness in assisting at the ceremonies, and more especially Mrs. Testar, who had braved all the storm and rain to be present at, and give the advantage of her great musical abilities on, the “opening day.” (Daylesford Mercury, 15 May 1865.)A number of photographs of St Peter's Catholic Church, Daylesford, taken at the 150th anniversary celebration. st peter's catholic church daylesford, decoration, altar decoration, anniversary, daylesford, religion, painting, interior, slattery, gough, d'alton, mcmahon