Brown grosgrain straw boater hatband with Gold stitched embroidery badge of BHC surrounded by bunch of grapes, the whole surrounded by wreath of leaves in gold colour. Attached to modern straw boater hat for display purposes.B.H.C.hatband, student boater hat, boater, cloth, burnley hat, uniform, artifact

Found in former bookshop when it closed in 2009.9 polyester hats with, "Burnley Student Association" and logo embroidered (green and blue) . Various shades of black and textures. 1 acrylic knitted hat, black. 1 acrylic knitted hat, blue. Burnley Student Association with a leaf logo.burnley students, uniform, student association, artifact

Photographer notations on slide: Steel Manuf’rs at McPherson’s Ltd 1933 Published: The Age, 30 August 1933 BUREAU OF STEEL MANUFACTURERS OF AUSTRALIA. (1933, August 30). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204372874 Published title: Bureau of Steel Manufacturers of Australia Published caption: A group of Inter-State Visitors, from the Bureau of Steel Manufacturers of Australia, on a tour of inspection at the Bolt Works of McPhersons Pty. Ltd., Burnley-Richmond, yesterday. Research by Project Volunteer, Louise McKenzie: The photo shows a line up of 36 men, in three rows, in front of a building. They are mostly dressed in dark 3-piece suits, or camel coats. But one gentleman stands out in his full length leather coat! Striped ties are popular, and they are all holding hats. One man, at the rear towards the right, looks a bit younger with his thick, black, brylcreamed hair.. These interstate gentlemen are described in the newspaper caption as representatives of the Bureau of Steel Manufacturers "...on a tour of inspection at the Bolt Works of McPhersons Pty Ltd, Burnley, Richmond." Interestingly, the Bureau of Steel Manufacturers of Australia (BOSMA) still exists, and is the industry body for major Australian steel producers like BlueScope, Liberty, and InfraBuild, representing their interests, engaging with government, and participating in standards setting for the domestic steel market, with a history dating back to 1923. While BOSMA focuses on primary manufacturing, the Australian Steel Institute (ASI) serves as the broader peak body for the entire steel supply chain, from mills to end-users, promoting and supporting the industry. But at the time of this photo, the Australian steel industry was just starting to make headway. As the AST website explains, "Steelmaking in Australia began just a decade prior to the start of the 1851 Gold Rush whilst Australia was still divided into colonies. Iron ore deposits were discovered in 1840 at Iron Knob, South Australia but a lack of equipment meant that the process of producing steel was impossible. Even attempts at smelting the iron ore in a blast furnace to create pig iron were unsuccessful due to the poor quality of iron ore and coke available to the budding industry. In the other colonies at the time, such as Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales, there were minor discoveries of iron ore but poor technical expertise and limited quantity meant that the quality of steel was poor. Compared to the far superior steel being imported from Britain at the time, the steel manufacturing industry simply couldn’t compete and was unviable. By the 1870s, almost all steel production in Australia had been abandoned. The situation began to change at the turn of the century. Rapid growth sparked higher demand for industrial machinery made from steel and infrastructure such as rail. It became apparent that there was a need for locally manufactured steel and soon there would be an answer. In 1901, the year Australia united into a federation, the nation’s first blast furnace went into production at Eskbank near Lithgow in New South Wales. The development was spearheaded by William Stafford and his son Esk, and Stafford is known as the father of Australian steel production. In 1915, production expanded with another steel mill in Newcastle that was opened by BHP. It sourced coke from local mines and iron ore from South Australia, creating a domestic loop for steel manufacturing. In the following years, more steelworks opened in Whyalla, South Australia and Port Kembla in NSW. Steel manufacturing in Australia was now underway." The company mentioned in the photo’s notation and in the newspaper caption, was McPhersons, "...an Australian hardware firm, for many years a leading merchant of woodworking and metal-working machinery... [and founded by] Thomas McPherson (c.1823–1888) who had a home "Dudley House" at 142 Dudley Street, West Melbourne. [The] ironmongery business [was located] in 1860 at 149 Spencer Street, Melbourne. Merchandise carried included bells, lathes, horseshoes and steam engines." (Wikipedia - McPherson's Pty Ltd) Anyone who has read Robyn Annear’s excellent award-winning 2014 book Bearbrass – the name for early Melbourne - will remember only too well her description of West Melbourne, from where the city of Melbourne as we know it, emerged. Her book resurrects the village that was early Melbourne – from the arrival of white settlers in 1835 until the first gold rushes shook the town – and brings it to life in vivid colour. The McPherson family, whose arrival in Bearbrass coincides with this period (Thomas arrived in 1852), became intimately involved in the growth and development of Melbourne. Thomas was Mayor of Melbourne (1870-1871); his eldest son Hunter became a successful Sydney businessman; second son Edward and third son William inherited the company, and ran it together until 1896 when Edward killed himself. William had a notable career in politics as treasurer of Victoria 1917-1923, in which year he was knighted. 1928-1929 he was Premier of Victoria, and a noted philanthropist. The family were significant property owners in the city of Melbourne: 149 Spencer Street, 582-588 Collins Street, 554-566 Collins Street, together with a property on Jeffcott Street, West Melbourne, and factories in Sunshine, Tottenham, Kensington and Richmond – all by the mid 1940s. By that time they also had controlling interests in several Australasian industries, including Ajax Bolt and Rivet Pty Ltd of NZ, F W Hercus Manufacturing Co Ltd, manufacturers in South Australia of lathes, guillotines and other heavy machinery, also of Patience and Nicholson (P & N), manufacturers in Maryborough, Victoria, of twist drills and thread-forming tools; also Wiltshire Files on Sunshine Road, Tottenham, manufacturing files and rasps. The Acme Machine Tool Company became a branch of McPhersons, and the company claimed to have supplied, from their own manufacture, all five million rivets (some 3,600 tonnes) used in the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge – described as a steel through arch bridge, which opened in 1932; the tallest of its kind in the world (Wikipedia – Sydney Harbour Bridge) McPherson’s was also innovative in other ways. It published a comprehensive catalogue, extensively detailed with prices, available free of charge to farmers and other businesses. In 1908 it had 148 pages. By 1937 it had grown to 372 pages. The University of Melbourne’s Archives entry on McPherson’s Limited notes: "After the outbreak of the Second World War, McPherson’s factories worked at full capacity and were crucial to Australia’s war efforts. On 5 December 1944 McPherson's converted to a public company named McPherson's Ltd, with William Edward as Chairman of Directors. By the start of the 1950s the company had a very different Board of Directors; in 1947 the Managing Director Oliver Addison died, and his replacement Marshall Eady died only six months later. Both had been Directors since McPherson’s became a proprietary company in 1913. Another Director, Philip Bevan, died in 1948 and this was followed by the death of William Edward in 1950. S.B Holder, F.G. Thorpe, H.L. Hastie, F. Grassick and D.G. Syme all joined the Board before 1950. The company continued to prosper for many years after the death of William Edward. His son, William David, was invited to join the McPherson’s Ltd Board in 1951. He married Angela Cumming in 1955 and soon after was sent to Brisbane as Director in Charge to oversee the building of a new warehouse. The opening of this warehouse in Queensland meant that the company now had major outlets in five states. As time went on, manufacturing in Australia began to decline and imports of everyday tools began arriving from Asia. These tools were being produced with much lower labour costs and could be sold at cheaper prices. William David retired in 1984 and eventually parts of the company were divested, such as the Richmond Bolt Works which closed in the early 1990s. Since the 1980s, McPherson's has diversified into housewares, printing, and health and beauty care products." This article also contains photos, one of which is a photograph of 'Bolt works picnic' 1920, showing workers in their shirt sleeves participating in a tug of war in a rural "picnic" setting. McPherson’s premises at 554-566 Collins Street more than lasted the test of time and is listed as historically significant. The magnificent art deco building from the 1930s in the heart of Melbourne was first commissioned in 1934 and completed in 1937. It is an imposing building fronting almost a quarter of the city block between Spencer Street and King Street, and was designed to be a warehouse, office and showroom for the hardware empire. International architects Stuart P Calder, and Reid and Pearson designed the four-storey building with a basement level and a stair tower at the centre that provides access to what was a tennis court on the roof. It is considered an example of the streamlined modern style in Melbourne and shows how the McPherson company, protected from taxes after World War I, was able to manufacture goods without being affected by the competition. The building has survived, and its current iteration is as the home to il Mercato Centrale – an Italian style artisan market concept. The University of Melbourne Archives hold a particularly good image of the building from its heyday, complete with Collins Street lamps on the pavement outside the store. And to return to our image, sited at "Bolt Works of McPhersons". Today this segment of McPhersons is still very well known - Ajax. A good summary of the company’s history, and the development of the name and business, can be found on the Mine Suppliers Online website: "AJAX Fasteners can trace its heritage back to 1900, when the Acme Bolt Company was established in West Melbourne, Victoria. In 1909, William McPherson used the company as the basis for establishing McPherson’s Bolt Works – adopting the brand ‘Ajax’ – and moved it to Richmond. Over the years, the company changed many times in response to industry needs to ensure that it remained the premier manufacturer of high quality fasteners in Australia. Many other names in the industry, such as Firth Cleveland, Spurway Cooke and Nettlefolds were merged or acquired into the company. McPhersons ended their 80-year ownership of Ajax in the early 90s when they sold their shares to National Consolidated, which was also a major shareholder at the time. In 1997, Ajax Fasteners moved to new purpose-built premises in Braeside, Victoria. Soon after, National Consolidated was taken over by the diversified manufacturer Austrim. The group soon acquired the iconic Nylex, and adopted the name Nylex Corporation. In January 2007, ACME Operations Pty Ltd acquired Ajax Fasteners and continues to operate the business today from the Braeside plant. The name ACME provides a nostalgic return by the new owners to the company’s heritage, when the Acme Bolt Company was founded in July 1900." REFERENCES: BUREAU OF STEEL MANUFACTURERS OF AUSTRALIA. (1933, August 30). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204372874 Wikipedia, McPherson’s Pty Ltd, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McPherson%27s_Pty_Ltd Wikipedia, Richmond, Victoria, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_Victoria Industry: From the mid-19th century, Richmond was a centre of manufacturing industry, including many large complexes such as the Bryant & May match factory, Jaques Limited engineering works, the Wertheim Piano factory and Pelaco. Wikipedia, Sydney Harbour Bridge, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge eMelbourne, Manufacturing, https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00896b.htm 'New life for Melbourne's McPherson Building', The Urban Developer, https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/mcphersons-building-melbourne-il-mercato-centrale-food-retail-destination Bureau Of Steel Manufacturers Of Australia Limited, http://www.bosma.org.au/ 'A Brief History of Steel Manufacturing in Australia', AST, https://astraders.com.au/a-brief-history-of-steel-manufacturing-in-australia/ 'Steel manufacturing in Australia: a brief history', Hard Bakka Steel Fabrication, https://www.hardbakka.com.au/component/virtuemart/steel-manufacturing-in-australia-a-brief-history?Itemid=494 McPherson's Limited, University of Melbourne Archives, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/nodes/view/58364 Source of Description: 'Nuts and Bolts: A story of a family and a firm', Barbara Hamer (2006), McPherson’s Printing Group 'Photograph of 'Bolt works picnic' 1920', University of Melbourne Archives, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/assets/display/1287217-max?u=dea2e4d2fd07ac822e624f1e7d39adb3 'Photograph of the exterior of the McPhersons Department store at 546 Collins Street, Melbourne.', University of Melbourne Archives, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/assets/display/1287215-max?u=12430d30453a77059b7d10d49006a521 Robyn Annear, Bearbrass: imagining early Melbourne, Black Inc., 2014 (originally published 1995 by Mandarin) 'Company details', Ajax Fasteners, http://www.minesuppliersonline.com.au/australia/braeside/hardware/ajax-fasteners 'Former McPherson's Building', Victorian Heritage Database, https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/741Photographer notations on slide: "Steel manuf'rs at McPherson's Ltd 1933 B5".1930-1939, industrial workers, clothing and dress, 1930, iron and steel industry, businesses, bridges, industry, melbourne, gold rush, moderne style architecture

Note by T.H. Kneen 4 December 1991, Initials REB on envelope may refer to Ralph Boardman who was a secretary for several organisations.Black and white photograph. Group of men in suits standing and seated, some holding hats, including: E.E. Pescott, J. Cronin, Joseph Harris, G. Generall? e.e. pescott, j. cronin, joseph harris, g. generall, ralph boardman, royal horticultural society of victoria, reb, rhsv, jubilee show

Note by T.H. Kneen 4 December 1991, J.M. Ward became the first Superintendent of Horticulture in the Victorian Department of Agriculture in the early 1920's. 2 copies black and white photograph. Group fo men wearing suits, some holding hats, seated and standing . Probably in the Burnley Gardens.On reverse," Top Row: W.J. Allen Fruit Expert N.S.W., G. Quinn " " SA, J.M. Ward " " Tas, E.E. Pescott Principal School of Horticulture Burnley Vic, Bottom Row: Dr. Benjafield Tas, L.M. Shoobridge Esq Tas, Jas Lang " Vic, H. Weeks " S.A., C.C. Tucker "w.j. allen, g. quinn, j.m. ward, e.e. pescott, principal, school of horticulture, burnley, dr. benjafield, l.m. shoobridge esq, jas lang, c.c. tucker, superintendent of horticulture, fruit expert, h. wicks, pomological society

Black and white photograph. Group of 17 students standing and seated in the Gardens. One girl is holding a chain measure. Edna Walling seated on the ground wearing a floppy hat.chain measure, student group, 1917, edna walling

Note by T.H. Kneen 11 December 1991, "Staff member (with hat) is Alex Jessep, Principal (1926-41). Photo probably mid 1920's. Note fibre cement structure at left-extension of Principal's Residence for Mr. McLennan's large family. Note also Cordyline outside main bedroom window of residence." This photograph was used for a postcard in Centenary Year, 1991.3 copies different sizes of black and white photograph. A group of students and Staff member near the Principal's Residence. Inscribed, "Title: A demonstration at Burnley Neg:177."students, principal's residence, demonstration, a.w jessep, principal, cordyline, postcard, centenary year, 1991, principal's house

Black and white photograph. Woman wearing a splendid hat and full length fur coat standing on lawn in front of the Pavilion at Burnley.women, hat, fur coat, lawn, burnley gardens, j.l. provan, pavilion

Note by E.B. Littlejohn 6 May 1992, "Left background E.E. Pescott with cane and bowler hat."Black and white photograph. Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society seated around a table. Mr. Slater standing. Members behind. Pavilion in the background. Vase of Dahlias on the table.On reverse handwritten, "22/3/30. Mr. Slater opening the R.H.S. Meeting at the Burnley Gardens," and printed.mr. slater, burnley gardens, e.e. pescott, royal horticultural society of victoria meeting, royal horticultural society of victoria, rhsv

Original - cardboard certificate designed by R.V.Waldheim, Artistische Anstalt, Wien awarded in Vienna on 18.08.1873. (Framed copy B92.0538). Also black & white photocopy B92.0537. Weltausstellung 1873 in Wien Die Internationale Jury Hat Der Gartenbau - Gesellschaft in Victoria (Britische Colonien) Die Verdienst - Medaille zuerkannt der prasident der kaiserlichen auststellungs-commission Translated as "World Exhibition 1873 in Vienna The International Jury awarded the Horticultural Society in Victoria (British Colonies) the Merit Medal awarded by the President of the Imperial Exhibition Commission"certificate, r.v.waldheim, vienna, austria, world exhibition 1873, merit medal, horticultural society of victoria, british colony

Framed and glazed award certificate - the same as B92.537 - copy.Weltausstellung 1873 in Wien Die Internationale Jury Hat Der Gartenbau - Gesellschaft in Victoria (Britische Colonien) Die Verdienst - Medaille zuerkannt der prasident der kaiserlichen auststellungs-commission Translated as "World Exhibition 1873 in Vienna The International Jury awarded the Horticultural Society in Victoria (British Colonies) the Merit Medal awarded by the President of the Imperial Exhibition Commission"certificate, r.v.waldheim, vienna, austria, horticultural society in victoria, world exhibition 1873, merit medal

Note by T.H. Kneen 3 June 1992, "I think the gentleman with the hat is a member of HRS Tatura Staff (? Kidman). Activity possibly soil sampling. Possibly c.1960 when students spent some time at the Station."Black and white photograph. Man kneeling on the ground writing on paper while a student watches holding an implement?.staff, soil sampling, tatura, horticultural research station tatura, student sojourn, mr kidman, soil testing

Large coloured photograph mounted on heavy cardboard showing Orchard and pruned leafless fruit trees being sprayed by 2 men one on left in hat, coat and apron, another younger man on right no hat; both spraying from hoses coming from horse drawn tank with large iron wheels (2) and motor driven pump mounted behind tank. Behind fruit trees, planted in rows, is a low, white, wooden post and rail fence on right and there is a background of eucalypts, some white trunked. Some colouring on the photograph.men, spraying, horse drawn cart, spraying equipment, students working outside, orchard, fruit trees

(1) Sepia photograph by Foster Martin, Melbourne, Curator, members of the Horticultural board of Advice, staff? and students pasted on to heavy cardboard. (2) As (1) but fewer people by JALMA Melbourne. Detailed description in handwritten catalogue. Note attached about donor's Great Grandfather, Joseph Harris seated front left. Further notes date it as 9 February 1894. (3) Framed version. (1) Handwritten description on reverse, "George Neilson born 1822 died 1897 Senior Officer in charge of the School of Horticulture at its inception 1891 (Back centre, no hat, white beard) Curator of Gardens 1872-about 1894 or 1895." "Stewart Neilson far left/soft hat & beard) (brother of George)" "Boyce Nurseryman next to S. Neilson" Charles Draper, seated second from left. (2) Handwritten on reverse "Geo Neilson 2ns from right white beard (illegible writing)" Charles Draper seated second from left. Alfred Bennett 1st left back rowfoster martin, horticultural board of advice, staff, students, joseph harris, charles draper, george neilson, curator, stewart neilson, boyce nurseryman, alfred bennett