Mr JH Quinton of Olinda, Victoria had the unusual hobby of carving coconut shell. Over a 50 year period he carved thousands of curios and household articles. Supplies of coconuts were sent to him by his brother in Singapore. Known in the Dandenong Ranges as "The Coconut King", he carved many series, including Australian animals, likenesses of hundreds of men prominent in public life, tableaux of sporting activities, including a series depicting cricket strokes, a coconut tea set, butterflies, buttons and boxes. Mr Quinton was an engraver and his considerable can be seen in the fine detail and sense of movement he was able to capture in his carvings. A collection of figurines carved from coconut shell, brown in colour including animals, sporting activities, tableaux of everyday life and prominent people. Each figure is attached to a thin, wooden base to enable it to stand.jh quinton, coconut shell, carving

Mr JH Quinton of Olinda, Victoria had the unusual hobby of carving coconut shell. Over a 50 year period he carved thousands of curios and household articles. Supplies of coconuts were sent to him by his brother in Singapore. Known in the Dandenong Ranges as "The Coconut King", he carved many series, including Australian animals, likenesses of hundreds of men prominent in public life, tableaux of sporting activities, including a series depicting cricket strokes, a coconut tea set, butterflies, buttons and boxes. Mr Quinton was an engraver and his considerable can be seen in the fine detail and sense of movement he was able to capture in his carvings.Decorative cube shaped box made from small tiles made from coconut shell. Brown in colour with a hinged lid. Additional carved decoration comprising acorns, flower and butterfly. Inside lid lined with red velvet.jh quinton, coconut shell, carving

Ornamental container made from a coconut shell, heavily carved sitting on top of 3 ebonised Elephants, topped with a removable lid with an Elephant handle.ornaments, wood, container

Comprises a collection of metal, wooden and plastic toys which would possibly date back to the 1920s to 1940sThis collection came from the Warton / Baker families from Tawonga and Redbank in the Kiewa Valley.Collection of metal toys: 1. x2 Train Locomotives 2. Red tractor - mechanical with key 3. Man using grinder - mechanical with key 4. Two birds with worm - mechanical with key 5. Green trailer - mechanical with key 6. Small tank - mechanical with key 7. Aeroplane 8. Metal top 9. Home-made push-along wheels 10. Home made top 11. Cap gun 12. Cookie Cutters 13. Small tin puncture Kit - empty 14. Metal fox whistle 15. Tin trumpet 16. Large metal pump top 17. Plastic & metal mechancal toy in cardboard box- Jolly Skipper Other: 1. Monkey puppet with paper legs 2. Small plastic bells 3. Plastic boy on bike 4. Plastic green car 5. Plastic small trains 6. Soldier dog 8. Two half coconut shells (hollow) 9. Cylinder of wooden mechano tinker toy 10. Plastic Mr & Mrs Funny Face in box 11. Trip to New York game in box 12. Wooden Modelcraft - Build-ees in box 13. Wooden ring 14. Jig-saw toys, puzzles, wooden mechano, mechanical toys, recreation, children

Before the introduction of electricity, irons were heated by combustion, either in a fire or with some internal arrangement. An "electric flatiron" was invented by American Henry Seely White and patented on June 6, 1882. It weighed almost 15 pounds (6.8 kg) and took a long time to heat. The UK Electricity Association is reported to have said that an electric iron with a carbon arc appeared in France in 1880, but this is considered doubtful. Two of the oldest sorts of iron were either containers filled with a burning substance, or solid lumps of metal which could be heated directly. Metal pans filled with hot coals were used for smoothing fabrics in China in the 1st century BC. A later design consisted of an iron box which could be filled with hot coals, which had to be periodically aerated by attaching a bellows. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were many irons in use that were heated by fuels such as kerosene, ethanol, whale oil, natural gas, carbide gas (acetylene, as with carbide lamps), or even gasoline. Some houses were equipped with a system of pipes for distributing natural gas or carbide gas to different rooms in order to operate appliances such as irons, in addition to lights. Despite the risk of fire, liquid-fuel irons were sold in U.S. rural areas up through World War II. In Kerala in India, burning coconut shells were used instead of charcoal, as they have a similar heating capacity. This method is still in use as a backup device, since power outages are frequent. Other box irons had heated metal inserts instead of hot coals. From the 17th century, sadirons or sad irons (from Middle English "sad", meaning "solid", used in English through the 1800s[4]) began to be used. They were thick slabs of cast iron, triangular and with a handle, heated in a fire or on a stove. These were also called flat irons. A laundry worker would employ a cluster of solid irons that were heated from a single source: As the iron currently in use cooled down, it could be quickly replaced by a hot one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothes_ironThis iron is typical of the clothes iron used before electric irons superseded it.Salter iron no. 6, painted black but with rust showing through. Salter iron no. 6.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, iron, clothes, laundry

A Coconut painted up as a parcel posted to Miss B. Kent, Jeparit Vic. From E. Guiducci C/- Shell Inst, DarwinTo Miss B. Kent, Jeparit Vic. From E. Guiducci C/- Shell Inst, Darwin