The focus of this publication is on the range of records of most value to genealogists, those in which essential details of former lives are held. Exploring official records reveals the facts of these lives: of where and when and how men and women served their nation in wartime; or settled in a new country; or were employed on public projects; or were educated or assisted through Commonwealth government agencies.b&w photographs, copies of records, chartsgenealogy, local history, national archives of australia

Advisory Committee on Commonwealth Mapping (ACOCM) Meeting Notes. 15 Items of typed pages and diagrams. .1 Letter to the Hon WS Kent Hughes MVO, OBE, Mc, ED, MP, Minister for the Interior, ACT Signed Jos Francis. Cabinet Decision taken on 22 July 1954, effects on current military mapping agreements between AUS, UK and USA. Australian responsibility "Noted was the fact that RASvy was in preparation for War." .2 Letter by H Wells Lieutenant General, Chief of the General Staff, 17 Feb 1955. Refers to the invitation of Major General RL Brown UK Defence to visit Australia to help align the mapping programme. .3 Draft Cabinet Submission on National Mapping Survey and Mapping Co-ordination of the 22 July 1955. Attachment 1 Cabinet Minute, Vice-President's letter Canberra22 July 1954. Decision No2 (VP). Submission 8 National Mapping Survey and Mapping Co-ordination. .4 Air photography and Mapping Programme 1956/57. Signed by LF Fitzgerald OBE Director of Military Survey 26 Jan 56. .5 Letter Hon WS Kent Hughes MVO, OBE, MC, ED, MP. Minister for the Interior ACT. Confirming the Cabinet Decision No2 (VP) Signed by Joe Francis .6 National Mapping Programme 1956/57. States a view to Army's contribution to this programme .7 Clarifies Army participation in Cabinet Decision No2 (VP) .8 History of National Mapping Asst Secretary (General) 24 Apr 1958 .9 Report on Army Committee on National Mapping. 2 July 1958 .10 RASvy Brief Review of Activities Jan - Dec 1964 .11 Advisory Committee on Commonwealth Mapping Meeting Notes 12 Feb 1965 - Agenda item 8. This endorsed the principle of grouping Commonwealth Mapping Agencies in a Survey Mapping Group in Canberra which included AHQ Survey Regiment. This did not come to fruition. .12 Advisory Committee on Commonwealth Mapping Meeting Notes 12 Feb 1965 - Agenda item 8 para 5.1.3 - 11.2 .13 ACOCM Meeting Agenda 1968 .14 ACOCM Meeting Minutes 1970 .15 Letter to Mr B White CBE Secretary from LF BottAdvisory Committee on Commonwealth Mapping (ACOCM) Meeting Notes. 15 Items of typed pages and diagrams. .1 Letter 22 July 1954 .2 Letter 17 Feb 1955 .3 Letter 22 July 1955 .4 letter 26 Jan 1956 .5 Letter Hon WS Kent Hughes Minister for the Interior ACT .6 National Mapping Programme 1956/57 .7 Clarifies Army participation in Cabinet Decision No2 (VP) .8 History of National Mapping 24 Apr 1958 .9 Report on Army Committee on National Mapping 2 July 1958 .10 RASvy Brief Review of Activities Jan - Dec 1964 .11 Advisory Committee Meeting Notes 12 Feb 1965 - Agenda item 8 .12 Advisory Committee Meeting Notes 12 Feb 1965 - Agenda item 8 para 5.1.3 - 11.2 .13 ACOCM Meeting Agenda 1968 .14 ACOCM Meeting Minutes 1970 .15 Letter to Mr B White CBE Secretary from LF Bottroyal australian survey corps, rasvy, fortuna, army survey regiment, army svy regt, asr, national mapping

1. 2. 3. This is an English book designed for WW2. 4. This is an Australian book designed for WW2. 5. This is a British Commonwealth Book. GB, NZ, Aust.1. Home Guard Handbook - red buckram cover. Blue and black printing, it has 126 pages of text and weapon drawings. Author John Brophy. 2. Home Guard Fieldcraft Manual. Green buckram cover, black print, small book and map of Australia on front. 171 pages of text and drawings and photos. Author Major John Langdon-Davies. 3. Advance Training for the Home Guard. Author John Brophy. This book has a blue buckram cover. Printing is in black ink. It has 142 pages of text and drawings. 4. The essentials of training for the home guard, Weapons and minor Infantry tactics. Author Capt. A.S. Keighley ex AIF . 36 pages and drawings. 5. The Home Guard in the Field. Light blue cardboard cover. 52 pages of text and drawings.1. Marked on the top is “1/9” 2. First page has “3/3” written in pencil. 3. Front cover has a tattered label from “McGills Agency, Elizabeth St, Vic” 4. Marked on front in pencil “5/8” Also has a round sticky label from “Albury Book Bazaar” 5. Rubber stamp on front cover from McGills Agency.ww2, home guard, manuals

The Tawonga post office was officially opened on 4th October 1879. It had several locations (mostly near the centre of town) over the years and several operators including local families such as the Ryders, the Drummonds, the Coads, the Hollonds and more recently the Talbots and Ryders. The agency was run in conjunction with another business - currently with the Tawonga Store.An historical account of a small but important business run in a small rural town. The ledgers include local residents and their activities/occupations from 1930.A collection of stamps, weights, a money box, a hole puncher and records for/of customers of the Commonwealth Savings Bank including deposits, withdrawals and those for local societies.tawonga post office, kiewa valley, tawonga residents

Mr John Herron and his wife Isa Mary Herron purchased the house at 4 Vickery Street Bentleigh in 1950 from Miss M Marriott. He was a descendant of John James an early settler dairyman in Moorabbin Shire and Miss M Marriott was a descendant of the early settler market gardeners Marriott family. Mr Herron lived there until 1989 and the house was then demolished and turned into a carpark for the busy Shopping precinct of Centre Road, Bentleigh.The Marriott family were early settler market gardeners from 1878 in the area of Dendy’s 1841 Special Survey and John Herron was a descendant of Philip Jones , a chair-maker, who settled in the area of East Brighton, now Bentleigh, in 1852An original paper statement of receipt issued by William Meldrum for £100 deposit paid on March 28th 1950 by Mr John Herron for purchase of the house at 4 Vickery Street BentleighBENTLEIGH ESTATE AGENCY TAXATION & INSURANCE / WILLIAM MELDRUM / ESTABLISHED / 1908 Incorporating W.H.Wood & Co., Next Railway Station,/ SWORN VALUER and GOVERNMENT / APPROVED VALUER 367 a Centre Road / Bentleigh / Telephone XU 1404 / Fellow of the Real Estate and Stock Institute of Victoria / Associate of the Commonwealth Institute of Accountants/ Fellow of the Commonwealth Institute of Valuers Stamp in left bottom VICTORIA STAMP DUTY 3d with signature initials / Letter dated 28th day of March 1950 and signed SP W Meldrum / C Raveand pioneers, early settlers, brighton, moorabbin, bentleigh, market gardeners, dairyman, dairy farmer, jones james, jones mary ann, jones martha, jones elizabeth ann, dendy henry, dendys special survey 1841, elster creek, melbourne, jones ethel may, herron isa mary, herron john, tram conductor, marriott m, solicitors, valuers, taxation, meldrum w, real estate

At the time of the 1982-83 bushfire season FCV firefighters wore either navy blue issue overalls or their own clothing, generally a checked flannel shirt and jeans. Uncomfortable safety boots and hardhats were issued. The CFA had switched from white overalls to their distinctive yellow kit by 1983. In about 1980, in a far-sighted corporate move for the time, Alan Threader, who was the Chairman of the FCV, established a departmental safety committee, which he personally chaired. The Committee, among other things, wanted to upgrade fire safety clothing. Alan also initiated a radical colour idea after a work trip to the UK in about 1981 and brought home a small sample swatch. Alan believed that the now distinctive bright yellow-green was a good colour contrast to the Victorian bush which is a blue-green hue. Trevor Brown from Stores Branch scored the task to make the change and letters were sent to the UK seeking information about the pigment. The FCV worked with the Commonwealth Dyers Association and Cushen Clothing to replicate the shade on cotton drill, which presented darker when it was treated with the flame-retardant chemical, Proban. The first of the new Kermit Suits were rolled-out in late 1984, and the stylish colour was initially registered and patented to the Department. But it's also fair to say that the new gaudy shade of apparel wasn’t universally popular with staff. The lime green overalls were an Australian first, and forest agencies in other states followed a few years later. In the early 1990s, armed with a pair of dressmaker’s scissors, the baggy one-piece Kermit boilersuits were tailored by Peter Billing from Fire Protection Branch and Trevor Brown in conjunction with the family-owned business, Top Level Workwear, which saw numerous enhancements and prototypes. The two-piece Kermit suits were available in the late 1990s after many years of argy-bargy and complaints from field firefighters. Protective overalls Two types - early FCV (c 1983) and later CNR (1992) forests commission victoria (fcv), protective clothing, safety equipment

Melbourne Annual Stud Sheep Fair, 1948 Catalogue of Merino, Corriedale and Polwarth Rams and Ewes. Owned by donors uncle, J.P. Swanton, who ran a small merino stud called 'Spring Hills' at Koriella.agricultural shows merino sheep corriedale sheep polwarth sheep, dalgety and company limited goldsbrough, mort and company limited australian mercantile land and finance company ltd new zealand loan and mercantile agency co. ltd commonwealth wool and produce co. ltd, agricultural shows, merino sheep, corriedale sheep, polwarth sheep

Melbourne Annual Sheep Fair, 1949 Catalogue of Merino, Corriedale and Polwarth Rams. Owned by donors uncle, J.P. Swanton, who ran a small merino stud called 'Spring Hills' at Koriella.F0404agricultural shows merino sheep corriedale sheep polwarth sheep, dalgety and company limited goldsbrough, mort and company limited australian mercantile land and finance company ltd new zealand loan and mercantile agency co. ltd commonwealth wool and produce co. ltd, agricultural shows, merino sheep, corriedale sheep, polwarth sheep

Professor David Battersby, AM, PHD (Waikato), MHED (UNSW), Vice-Chancellor of University of Ballarat, now Federation University Australia, from July 2006 to 2016. Professor Battersby is a graduate with first class honours from the University of New South Wales and recipient of a Commonwealth Fellowship. He was awarded his PHD in the field of Sociology from the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Professor Battersby has been the recipient of numerous academic awards, including Commonwealth Relations Trust, and the Australian-Japan Foundation. He has been a Visiting Professor at universities in a number of countries and undertaken consultancies for UNESCO, OECD and a number of government agencies. Professor David Battersby was the Head of the Albury Wodonga Campus from 2000 to December 2003 and was also the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Charles Sturt University until 2006, when he took up his appointment at the University of Ballarat. Charles Sturt University has named its annual prize for leadership and good citizenship within the student body, in honour of Professor Battersby. For services to Tertiary Education as a Senior Academic and Administrator, Professor Battersby received the Order of Australia Medal in July 2015. Professor Battersby has served as a member of the Board of IDP Education Ltd, he recently stepped down as the Chair of Education Australia Limited. He is a Founding Chair of Regional Universities Network and Founding Chair of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka. (Education Australia Limited, http://www.educationaustralia.com/education_australia/board_of_directors/david-battersby.aspx). This item is part of the Federation University of Art Collection. The Art Collection features over 2000 works and was listed as a 'Ballarat Treasure' in 2007.Seated portrait of male dressed in blue / gold academic gown. It is Federation University Australia Vice-Chancellor David Battersby. Framers' stamp middle bottom back Marking reads: Conserve Framing Anna East Picture Framer 6 Darlot St Horsham 3400 Phone (03) 5382 5147 ABN 33 324 854 836portrait, vice chancellor, academic, seated, academic portrait, university of ballarat, federation university australia, david battersby, academic regalia

Mary Tolhurst M&DHS - March 29th Dunvegan Willows Park Melton 1992 Ladies Oral History Day Graham Minns President Ray Radford MC Sound recording transfer to CD 2011 by Tom Wood Edited typescript by Wendy Barrie 2013 I was born in Rockbank, and when I was five years old moved to Toolern Vale and started and finished school there. Toolern Vale only consisted of the Store, Post Office and shop, where you could buy your fodder, and pollard supplies, the Hall, the little Church and the bluestone School. The School changed shape three times from the 1800s[1869] til the time I went there. There was four generations of my family that went there and it was destroyed by fire in 1965. Marjorie nee Myers Butler. Yes, I remember along with it your lovely Ronisch piano. Mary, quite true! Marj what you say about the Ronisch piano. When I came the age to learn music my mum and dad couldn’t really afford it, but still what parents do for their children. They had Marj go along with them and pick this lovely Ronisch piano. It was known round the district. Everyone commented about the loss that lovely piano. After leaving school it was war time, 1939, then it was work, When I was 7 year old I was put out into the cow yard. In 1940 when the soldiers were going away our milk was confiscated it had to go to Bacchus Marsh. It used to go the Sunbury to be brine cooled and then go to Melbourne. Then they took it then to the Lifeguard Milk Factory at Bacchus Marsh. It had to go as condensed milk to the soldiers. This year is 50 years of the Land Army. I was an unofficial Land Army but they still kept check on me. I went onto married life and I followed the cows right through [howls of laughter] and we went on until the 1965 fire. That’s when we got out of the cows. Marjorie asks, was Granny Watts your grandmother or great grandmother? Mary: She was my great grandmother, the midwife of Melton. The 1965 fire started ¾ of a mile above our place, Frank Ryan’s sheds were burnt and his house was saved, then it wiped the School out, the Hall, the Church the Post Office and Store and little house that was Charlie Charlton’s in the early days. Mrs Wilson’s place was saved by the Fire Brigade by pulling boards off the side, and from there it went over the hill and it was stopped at the Rockbank Railway Station. If it had of got over the railway they said it would have gone into Werribee. A lot was burnt out in that strip. Mary nee Nixon Collins: 18 houses burnt that day. Audience question, did Melton get burnt that day? Ray: No. It came down through the Toolern Vale road and cut across about a mile and a half from the cross roads at Toolern Vale from north westerly to the south east and cut through over the Keilor road. Mary: It came in across the creek at Funstons in Toolern, then through Jim Minns. Dorothy was it your place then [nee Knox Beaty] to Ken Beatty’s and from there it went through to Doug McIntosh’s and to Cockbills and the wind changed and it came across to the railway line, and that is where they stopped it. [the cause of the fire was controversial, they had been burning off the night before and there was some talk of someone starting it. It was very hot and very strong wind, it was a terrible day] Ray: When the fire went through McIntosh’s they had a haystack on the north side of their house and the haystack got caught and the fire burnt a hole through the side of the house and the boys pyjamas on the bed. The house was saved. It came through like and express train roaring at you, I was at McIntosh’s when it went roaring past. You couldn’t see, dust and ash and tremendous heat. The fire started about 12 o’clock Jack [husband] said to me, fire, I said where, where? Just up the road, what have I got to do? and he went out and he had gone to the fire and left me. I tried to get the animals and I put out buckets of water, putting the buckets of water out saved my life. Chas Jones and another friend of his came in and they picked up the buckets of water, I thought I had better get out because the fire was on the haystack up the paddock and when I went to go out through the north side of the house and couldn’t get out, I’ll go through the front gate so I went around the other side of the house. I got caught there and Chassy Jones and his friend came round carrying the bucket of water and I panicked. He threw the bucket of water over me. Well that is what saved my life because I was damp, whenever we tried to leave the ball of fire came over me and over my shoulder and my hair was scorched. Chassy Jones lost his truck and Keith Watt his big truck because he had the water tank on it and they couldn’t get out of the yard. Granny Watt’s house, the first private hospital had condemned and Jack and I pulled it down and had it moved up to Toolern and had it in the yard a fortnight and it was all burnt and we didn’t get the shed we wanted. Every 13 years right up until Ash Wednesday fires, there has always been fire close at hand. The 1952 fire went down the back of the house, the 1965 fire took the house, and the house that I live in now, it is the third house that has been on that spot. When the Hunters owned it, Mrs Hunter was nearly burnt in her bed. They had a 13 roomed house. In 1924 the house burnt down, and there was another house was built there and that was the one that burnt down. Edna: So Mary built a brick veneer house. Marjorie: like the three little pigs [laughter] Collins - Mary M &DHS - March 29th 1992 Ladies oral history day at Dunvegan, Willows Park Melton. Graham Minns President Ray Radford MC Sound recording transferred to CD 2011 Edited typescript by Wendy Barrie 2013 Mary Collins nee Nixon born in Terang 1907 down in the Western District and we shifted to Melton when I was 5 and a half then I started school here in Melton, and spent all my school life at Melton State School, next to the Church of England, it’s called the Primary School now. I got my Qualifying and Merit Certificate then I left School because there wasn’t a High School. When I was 16 I got and job in the Melton Post Office and I worked there, I was the first girl in Melton to deliver the mail, and worked on the telephone and the Bank business. Mrs Ross and myself behind the counter, there were about 500 – 600 people in the Shire at that time and now when I go into the new Post Office there is 36,000 here there’s still 2 people behind the counter [laughter from the audience] and wait in a queue right out to the door. Times haven’t changed much have they! There was a manual telephone and you had to ring the handle, and there were eight subscribers when I went there and when I left there were 46 I had coaxed that number to join the telephone, even the police station didn’t have the phone on. The two Hotels and the two Chaff mills and Mr Ernie Barrie, Parkers the butcher, the Shire Office was No 8, and the Police house was next to the Courthouse on the corner. They were number 9. I can remember a lot of the numbers still. The Post Office was the Agency for the Commonwealth Bank [comment from audience member] I used to do the Bank business too, I left after four years there, mother wasn’t very well. The Inspector who used to come up to the Post Office asked me if I would take up casual Post Mistress and to go around the different districts but I refused and when Mrs Ross’s holidays were due I was the replacement. I wasn’t 21. I loved my work meeting everybody and most people had horse and jinkers and when the elderly would come in there would be Mr Tom Morrow, he only had one arm and Mrs Dunn came from Bulman’s road in their horse and jinker. They were elderly I would see them pull up out the front and quickly get their mail and run out to them because they didn’t have to get out of the jinker to tie up their horse. If someone had a baby in arms I would tear out and hold the baby while they got down. Mrs Ross was very very strict. I had to sweep the Post Office, she had a couple of mats and there would be a threepence or a sixpence under the mats show she knew whether I lifted the mat, I was whether I was honest or not. Graham: How much were your wages? I got 27/7 pence a week for a 52 hour week. I had to work every holiday except Good Friday and Christmas Day and even when it was Monday holiday I always had to go to work from 9am - !0 am, the Post Office was always open. In the winter I had to wait until twenty past six in case there were any telegrams to deliver. I delivered them on a push bike. One time Tom Barrie told me this years afterwards. I used to go home for lunch. We lived on the Keilor road and I used to ride my bike home. On the hot days the boys used to go and swim in the swimming pool down near a turn in the creek there was a hole where the boys would swim in the nude, they didn’t have any bathers and they didn’t have any watches in those days. Tom Barrie said they always used to watched for me as I was always about 3 minutes past 1, my lunch hour was from 1-2. One particular day they missed seeing me and swam on, and of course they were all late for school when they got back and were all kept in a night. I did get a fortnight holiday. I loved my work and I knew everyone in the district right from Toolern Vale to the Marsh and everybody at Melton South. Did you listen into conversations on the Switchboard? Oh no. [laughter] Melton did not have electricity then. I had to fill the lamps everyday with kerosene. The Staughton Memorial was outside the Post Office. It had four posts with the chain looped around it, and that’s where the people used to tie up their horses. Marjorie nee Myers Butler comments about sitting and swinging on the chains. Mr Fred Coburn lit the acetylene gas light in the Memorial. It was the only streetlight in Melton. There was no electricity until 1939. Ray Radford comments about another gas street light which was on the corner of Station road. [later] Mary passes around her school photos. Mary mentions the names of those who have passed away, Maisie McDonald, ,Marian Wraith, Hilda McCreey, and Valda McDonald. I have written the names on the back. Marjorie comments about Marie Jongebloed and Greta are the only two girls left out of big family of ten I think there were [hesitates] 4 or 5 girls and the rest were boys. Mary. Flora Woodley, Dorrie Flynn and Margaret McDonald are still alive. They are my age we were all born about 1907. Marjorie points out herself in a later photo [1921 and 1922 School ] Mary mentions the name Walsh and identyfies following names, the Parker boys, Ken Beaty, Malc and Linda Cameron, Maisie Mc Donald, Ted Radford, George Nixon, Norman Minns, he was later the Shire Secretary of Werribee. One of the Woodley girls. [Maisie Arthur] Marjorie: Rosie Shearwood, June Whiting Mary. Lily Mc Donald, she has passed away. Isabel Harrison nee Tinkler, she lives at Werribee, Doreen Rogers, Marjorie Walker, Jess McIntosh, Mary Gillespie. Mr Malone was the Junior teacher Mr Roe and Miss Cooke. Fred Myers, my sister [Elizabeth] and the year was 1921. Myers (Barrie) School Photo Collection. Many of the names were identified at the 1970 Centenary of Melton State School No. 430. Edna Barrie organised, compiled and typed the lists to accompany these photos for the year 1921. The 1922 photo shows the higher grades. Ladies Oral History Day event held by Melton and District Historical Society, article featured in the Telegraphlocal identities, local special interest groups

Electrical telegraphs were point to point text messaging systems primarily used from the 1840's until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and were sent by an operator or telegrapher using Morse code. Social telegrams were also encouraged and special pictorial forms and envelopes were designed such as the special purple form and envelope which was used when conveying condolence details during World War 2.(fn. Powerhouse https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/163103). There was a brief resurgence in telegraphy during World War I but the decline continued as the world entered the Great Depression years of the 1930s.  Although telegraph lines continued to play an important part in distributing news feeds from news agencies post World War 2, the rise of the internet in the 1990s and the widespread installation of the telephones in homes saw the need for telegrams to greatly decline. When the Commonwealth Post and Telegraph Act was passed in June 1902, and a national Postmaster General's Department (the PMG) was established the responsibility for the nation's mail and telephone services fell on Post Offices. The Bendigo Post Office, built in 1887 and situated on Pall Mall was the central distribution centre for receiving and delivering telegrams and continued to deliver communication and postal services until 1997. Now a Visitor Centre, dedicated volunteers at the Post Office continued to demonstrate and educate the public about telegraphic services and the development of this unique form of communication up until 2019 when Covid 19 disrupted every day life, coupled with the death Ted Rankins (the last Post Master and a long term telegraph volunteer at the Post Office). This satchel was used by Junior Postal Workers in Bendigo to carry telegrams which were delivered by bicycle in the early years and is part of the postal collection donated by the Rankins family in memory of Ted. Small, dark coloured rectangle, leather satchel with attached belt and ornate buckle. Satchel is made of four pieces of leather: two side pieces, one piece which is folded to create the front, bottom, back and flap and one piece for the central strap. The central strap has a single hole through which a metal toggle is inserted to secure the flap closed. Stitching is evident around the side seams, around the metal toggle and inside flap where strap is attached and has been reinforced. Satchel has four metal tabs to secure the top front to the top sides and an internal pocket on inside. The leather belt is attached to the back outside of the satchel with four metal press studs. The left side buckle also has reinforced stitching. Both sides of the buckle have decorative elements with the words Post Office / Communications/ Australia on the left side around outer circular edge. Underside of right side of buckle end has the words AROS pressed into it. Inside flap of satchel; Australia / Post / Telegram / Boys written in marker. Buckle; Post Office / Communications / Australia. Underside of right side of buckle end; AROS Internal; Gold address sticker with Ted Rankins contact details.ted rankins collection, bendigo post office, bendigo tourism, city of greater bendigo tourism, post office collection

Electrical telegraphs were point to point text messaging systems primarily used from the 1840's until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and were sent by an operator or telegrapher using Morse code. Social telegrams were also encouraged and special pictorial forms and envelopes were designed such as the special purple form and envelope which was used when conveying condolence details during World War 2.(fn. Powerhouse https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/163103). There was a brief resurgence in telegraphy during World War I but the decline continued as the world entered the Great Depression years of the 1930s.  Although telegraph lines continued to play an important part in distributing news feeds from news agencies post World War 2, the rise of the internet in the 1990s and the widespread installation of the telephones in homes saw the need for telegrams to greatly decline. When the Commonwealth Post and Telegraph Act was passed in June 1902, and a national Postmaster General's Department (the PMG) was established the responsibility for the nation's mail and telephone services fell on Post Offices. The Bendigo Post Office, built in 1887 and situated on Pall Mall was the central distribution centre for receiving and delivering telegrams and continued to deliver communication and postal services until 1997. Now a Visitor Centre, dedicated volunteers at the Post Office continued to demonstrate and educate the public about telegraphic services and the development of this unique form of communication up until 2019 when Covid 19 disrupted every day life, coupled with the death Ted Rankins (the last Post Master and a long term telegraph volunteer at the Post Office). This satchel was used by Junior Postal Workers in Bendigo to carry telegrams which were delivered by bicycle in the early years. Small, rectangle, leather satchel with attached shoulder strap and buckle. Satchel is made of five pieces of leather: two side pieces, one piece which is folded to create the front, bottom, back and flap and two small pieces to hold strap ring. The flap has a single hole through which a metal toggle is inserted to secure the flap closed. Satchel has four metal tabs to secure the top front to the top sides and an internal pocket on inside. The leather strap is attached to the top of the side seams of the satchel with circular metal rings and two metal press studs. Inside flap: Sticker with '540B'bendigo post office, bendigo tourism, city of greater bendigo tourism, making a nation exhibition, post office collection

Electrical telegraphs were point to point text messaging systems primarily used from the 1840's until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and were sent by an operator or telegrapher using Morse code. Social telegrams were also encouraged and special pictorial forms and envelopes were designed such as the special purple form and envelope which was used when conveying condolence details during World War 2.(fn. Powerhouse https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/163103). There was a brief resurgence in telegraphy during World War I but the decline continued as the world entered the Great Depression years of the 1930s.  Although telegraph lines continued to play an important part in distributing news feeds from news agencies post World War 2, the rise of the internet in the 1990s and the widespread installation of the telephones in homes saw the need for telegrams to greatly decline. When the Commonwealth Post and Telegraph Act was passed in June 1902, and a national Postmaster General's Department (the PMG) was established the responsibility for the nation's mail and telephone services fell on Post Offices. The Bendigo Post Office, built in 1887 and situated on Pall Mall was the central distribution centre for receiving and delivering telegrams and continued to deliver communication and postal services until 1997. Now a Visitor Centre, dedicated volunteers at the Post Office continued to demonstrate and educate the public about telegraphic services and the development of this unique form of communication up until 2019 when Covid 19 disrupted every day life, coupled with the death Ted Rankins (the last Post Master and a long term telegraph volunteer at the Post Office). This belt buckle was used on the leather satchels used by Junior Postal Workers in Bendigo to carry telegrams which were delivered by bicycle in the early years. The buckle is part of the postal collection donated by the Rankins family in memory of Ted Rankins.Circular belt buckle from telegram delivery satchel belt. Inner buckle depicts the Greek deity Hermes who personifies the transmission of information and was adopted as an allegorical representation of the function of postal services. Outer buckle; Post Office / Communications / Australia. Centre top outer buckle; emu, kangaroo and shield Inner buckle; Hermes (left facing)bendigo post office, bendigo tourism, city of greater bendigo tourism, post office collection, ted rankins collection

Electrical telegraphs were point to point text messaging systems primarily used from the 1840's until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and were sent by an operator or telegrapher using Morse code. Social telegrams were also encouraged and special pictorial forms and envelopes were designed such as the special purple form and envelope which was used when conveying condolence details during World War 2.(fn. Powerhouse https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/163103). There was a brief resurgence in telegraphy during World War I but the decline continued as the world entered the Great Depression years of the 1930s.  Although telegraph lines continued to play an important part in distributing news feeds from news agencies post World War 2, the rise of the internet in the 1990s and the widespread installation of the telephones in homes saw the need for telegrams to greatly decline. When the Commonwealth Post and Telegraph Act was passed in June 1902, and a national Postmaster General's Department (the PMG) was established the responsibility for the nation's mail and telephone services fell on Post Offices. The Bendigo Post Office, built in 1887 and situated on Pall Mall was the central distribution centre for receiving and delivering telegrams and continued to deliver communication and postal services until 1997. Now a Visitor Centre, dedicated volunteers at the Post Office continued to demonstrate and educate the public about telegraphic services and the development of this unique form of communication up until 2019 when Covid 19 disrupted every day life, coupled with the death Ted Rankins (the last Post Master and a long term telegraph volunteer at the Post Office). This book was issued to Junior Postal Workers in Bendigo to guide them in the delivery of telegrams and designed to fit into their delivery satchels and carried while on the job. In the early years telegrams were delivered by bicycle and this manual is part of the postal collection donated by the Rankins family in memory of Ted. Small, blue, vinyl covered manual. Contains thirty printed pages covering all aspects of how to correctly deliver telegrams. Topics include 'Loss of telegram', 'Undelivered Telegram', 'special Delivery' and 'Beware of Dogs'. Bound with two ring metal clip. Front cover; Australian Post Office / Telecommunications Division / Telegram / Delivery / Instructions / Headquarters / 1962 Various annotations and updates throughout. ted rankins collection, bendigo post office, bendigo tourism, city of greater bendigo tourism, post office collection