This door plate was found at 28 Spence Street, Warrnambool by the builder Ray Hollingsworth, when he was renovating the building for the Warrnambool Presbyterian Church in June 2019. He realized that the inscription had been placed there by Leslie O'Callaghan, probably when he left the premises in 1942 after boarding there for some years. Leslie O'Callaghan (1918-2014) was born in Balmoral and left there at the age of 13 with a scholarship to study at Warrnambool Technical School. He became an industrial chemist, working at the Kraft Walker Cheese Factory in Allansford (Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory). His experimental work in cheese cultures over a 45 year period was regarded as cutting edge work in the Victorian dairying industry. Known as 'Mr History', Leslie O'Callaghan was also an important Warrnambool historian, serving as president of the Warrnambool and District Historical Society for 35 years. In later life Les wrote about his time in 28 Spence Street, noting the lay-out of the early building and other boarders at the time. He never mentioned the interesting memento of his time there that he left on the back of a door plate. The Warrnambool and District Historical Society Archives Centre is called 'Les O'Callaghan History House'This door plate with its inscription was found 77 years after the inscription was written. It is of considerable interest because the writer of the inscription was well-known in Warrnambool as a bacteriologist and an historian. He left his own personal historical message and by sheer chance it was found years later. (All the old door plates at the time of the renovation were thrown out and it was fortunate that the builder happened to see the writing on one of them and to recognize who the writer was.)This is a cream-coloured ceramic door plate. It is rectangular-shaped with curved edges at the top and bottom. It has been painted white and has two holes at the top and bottom for the insertion of screws for a5taching the plate to the door. The inside of the plate has handwriting in black pencilLeslie Alexander O'Callaghan lived here for some years 1939-1942 AD. His occupation was as assistant bacteriologist for Kraft-Walker Cheese Coy. at Allansford. Born at Balmoral, 40 miles NORTH of Hamilton, Victorialeslie o'callaghan warrnambool, kraft walker cheese company allansford, 28 spence street warrnambool

This book was a text book used by Arthur Gregory, the test room technician at Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory in the 1930s. He tested the suppliers’ milk and cream for butterfat percentage in order to determine the payment to the suppliers. Arthur Gregory later became the manager of Jays Laundry in Fairy Street. In the 1930s Arthur Gregory boarded at 28 Spence Street in Warrnambool. This boarding house was run by May Taggart, the wife of Sam Taggart, a Warrnambool tailor. Les O’Callaghan was also a boarder there and it was through his contact with Arthur Gregory that he obtained the position of laboratory technician at the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory. Les O’Callaghan remained for over 40 years at this factory (leased at that time by the Kraft company) and was very important in the development of laboratory techniques used in the dairy industry. The Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory was established at Allansford in 1888 and is still in production today, operated by the Canadian firm of Saputo. This book is of interest because of its connection to Arthur Gregory, a test room technican at the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory in the 1930s and to Les O’Callaghan, the Laboratory Manager and Microbiologist at Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory for more than 40 years. This is a hard cover book of 822 pages. It has a blue cover with gold lettering on the spine. It has 29 chapters, an appendix, a bibliography and an index. It has many black and white illustrations and drawings. The spine is slightly scuffed. The inscription is handwritten in pencil. ‘A.S.Gregory 28 Spence Street W’bool’ warrnambool cheese and butter factory, arthur gregory, warrnambool, les o’callaghan, warrnambool, history of warrnambool