Divers Boot with leather upper, wooden inner sole and steel base sole.Metal rivets attach separate parts of upper boot. Metal toe cap and heel strap. Two leather straps around ankle with metal buckles attached.divers boot, hard hat diver

Divers Boot with metal toecap, thin metal strap around heel. Metal rivets attach separate leather parts of upper shoe. Leather Upper nailed to wooden innersole. 8 screws attach steel base sole to wooden innersole. Buckle missing from ankle fastening strap.divers boot, hard hat diver

Metal Wood and Leather divers boot.metal, wood, leather, metal rivets, metal screws

These marine diver's boots are made to weigh down the diver's feet to the bottom of the seabed, at the same time protecting his feet. The different pieces are joined with nuts, bots and washers. The boots are part of the protective clothing worn by marine divers to enable them to go to depths where others had not been. The Great Ocean Road along the southwest coast of Victoria is renown for its treacherous seas and tragic shipwrecks. Decades after the occurred divers began to explore the wreck sites and discovered hundreds of lost ships. The ships' skeletons and sprawled wreckage tell many stories of the type of ships used, the cargo and luggage carried onboard. They are valuable source of primary history. Many artefacts were recovered from local shipwrecks by the Flagstaff Hill divers and they have been preserved for historical records. Since that time many historic shipwrecks have become protected by Australian law. However, divers are able to still visit the sites.The boots are an example of diver's apparel in the 20th century and show the process of evolving protective and safety wear for underwater divers today.A pair of marine diver's boots. Boots are made of brass alloy and leather. The toes are metal and the metal soles are rippled. The sides have a short bar along the inner and outer sides of the foot, designed to fit a leather strap across the boot to hold it in place. A leather piece is attached to the back of each boot and extends around the ankle area to fasten with a buckle. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, maritime village, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, great ocean road, diver's boots, marine diving, underwater diving, deep sea diving, diving equipment, diving accessory, shipwreck exploring

No. 151-153 Nelson Place was designed by Michael Egan and constructed in 1860. The buildings are recorded in the Hobsons Bay Heritage Study Amended 2017 (Heritage Overlay No. HO219) and notes the following: Historically, they are among the oldest shops in Nelson Place and illustrate the early development of the street during the most prosperous period of the Port. They are also important for their associations with Thomas Mason. Thomas Mason, who owned these two shops, each of stone, brick and four rooms until c1880, was one of the most significant men in the early history of Williamstown. In 1858 he ran the two shops jointly with Benjamin Culley, a draper and clothier (Refer to 55 Cecil Street). Culley and Mason's partnership dissolved and after a brief period as the Ship Inn, in 1859, the two shops were now leased to various other businessmen, some of the longest standing being Matthew Suffren, a watchmaker; Edward Bailey, a chemist; a stationer, George Divers; Henry Douglas a plumber and Henry Linton, a boot maker (Refer to 22 James St, 46-48 and 50 Stevedore Street). In 1880 Mrs. Mason had assumed ownership which she retained until the shops were retaken by the executors of Sutton's estate (1890). Given the property's description in the period 1857-59 as a store of wood and stone and in 1860, as two shops of brick and stone, it is probable in that year that the whole premises was rebuilt. Thomas Mason, originally a Londoner, arrived in the colony in 1841. On 24 August 1844 he took charge of the signal station, and subsequently the light- house (then a lamp in a wooden tower), for a further five years. In `Port of Many Prows', Wilson Evans recounts a tale which indicates that Mason may not have been entirely conscientious in this role. After this he took up storekeeping and auctioneering but gave up the shopkeeping in 1858. He was a member of the first Williamstown Council and its chairman no less than four times (1856, 1860, 1862, 1864). He represented Williamstown in the Legislative Assembly in 1860-61 (6). Andrew Rider's photograph of Nelson Place, taken c1866 shows these shops as the most substantial in the block and adorned with a slender timber verandah. nelson place, 151-157 nelson place, thomas mason