The harsh summer temperatures and the isolated rural environment(of the 1890's) provided the inventor of the "Coolgardie safe" (Arthur Patrick McCormick) with an idea to cool perishable foods by using water soaked "hessian" cloth to provide the "coolant" for the evaporation process to cool the inside temperature of the "safe". Items such as meat,cream/milk/butter and cool "drinks" are a few perishables that need cool environments , especially in isolated "ice free" locations. Cities during this time period had large "ice works" which delivered block ice to all areas that required a form of refrigeration. These ice blocks where held in early refrigerators to keep perishables cool to cold. This "Coolardie" safe was the next best thing for isolated rural households and travellers/campers/stockmen to provide a cooler environment for foodstuff affected by heat. Ice filled "esky" coolers and ice boxes are a modern day off shoot to the original Coogardie safe however they still rely on ice or frozen coolant bricks for cooling.This "Coogardie" safe is very significant to the Kiewa Valley and the Bogong High Plains because it represents not only the initiative thinking of the early settlers and communities but also the "primitive" solution to an everyday (1800s to 1930s) problem (before gas and electric run refrigerators) of keeping "perishables" at a low temperature and thereby prolonging their "shelf" life. This was before electricity and gas was available to the inhabitants of the Kiewa Valley and Bogong High Plains. Another cooling method for food was to have "water tight" containers dipped into the very cold streams running from the "cooler" alpine mountains and the Bogong High Plains. This however could not be carried out in all situations eg. fast flowing currents and locations away from streams. This "Coolgardie safe" is made from a medium grade steel enclosure and its appearance is of a perforated box with a wire handle and one side (long side) being a hinged "door" with a clasp securing "lock". There are air holes grouped into a small "boxed" pattern. Each "box" is divided by a crossed pattern, dividing the "holed" sections(4) into a diamond configuration of 49 small holes each. There are four sides (long) which have the perforations except for the base which does not. The base has an indentation with a loose "catch" tray to catch water spills. When in use the "box" is covered with a water "soaked" cloth. The wet cloth is used as "coolant" ie. fibers in the cloth hold the water droplets seep out evaporating the area and thereby (in mass) cooling the air inside the container.domestic refrigeration cabinets, coolgardie "safe", insect and vermin proof food containers, electric and gas free cold storage containers

This particular small ice chest was once part of the domestic furniture of Dr W.R. Angus and his young family in 1927 when they lived in the Nhill and Ballarat districts. The family relocated to Warrnambool in 1939 and brought the ice chest with them. An ice chest, also called an icebox or refrigerator, was invented by Thomas Moore in 1802 and had become a common home appliance from the mid-1800s until around the 1930s, when electric refrigerators became affordable and safe. The non-mechanical ice chest allowed perishable food to be kept fresh for longer than the food-safe or ‘Coolgardie’ used in colonial days in Australia. It required the use of ice blocks, which were delivered to households by the ‘iceman' and his horse and cart. The ice man would use an ice pick to cut the blocks into the right size for the buyer’s ice chest. The ice came from an ‘ice house’, a factory where the ice was made. The ice chest required a block of ice to be placed into the insulated top section on top of the corrugated iron stand. The ice would cool the air and the cool air would flow downwards through the oval hole under the stand and into the refrigerator compartment below. The water from the melted ice would drain from the sloping floor of the top compartment and into the hooded pipe. The pipe went through the refrigerator and ended below its floor, where the drained water would be collected in the metal bowl placed there for that purpose. The lip on the bowl allowed it to be easily removed and emptied at regular intervals before it overflowed. W.R. Angus Collection- The W R Angus Collection spans from 1885 to the mid-1900s and includes historical medical and surgical equipment and instruments from the doctors Edward and Thomas Ryan of Nhill, Victoria. Dr Angus married Gladys in 1927 at Ballarat, the nearest big city to Nhill where he began as a Medical Assistant. He was also Acting House surgeon at the Nhill hospital where their two daughters were born. He and his family moved to Warrnambool in 1939, where Dr Angus operated his own medical practice. He later added the part-time Port Medical Officer responsibility and was the last person appointed to that position. Dr Angus and his wife were very involved in the local community, including the early planning stages of the new Flagstaff Hill, where they contributed to the layout of the gardens. Dr Angus passed away in March 1970.This ice chest is significant for representing a method of refrigeration and food preservation used in the 19th to mid-20th centuries when people were beginning to afford powered domestic refrigerators. After the second world war, most households replaced their food storage cupboards and ice chests with refrigerator appliances. The ice chest is also significant for its connection with the domestic furniture of Dr W.R. Angus and his family, and its inclusion in the W.R. Angus Collection.Ice chest; single front wooden cabinet with two doors and a flap, and three accessories. The top door is a lid with a metal handle at the front and two metal hinges along the back. The front door has two metal hinges on the right-hand side and has a metal lever catch. A hinged flap fits between the front legs at bottom of the ice chest and swings upwards. The front legs have wheels. The insulated top compartment has a metal lining and its floor slopes towards the centre of the back wall. In the floor are a formed oval air-flow hole and the open end of a pipe that has a hood partly covering it. The front compartment is an insulated metal-lined cupboard with a vertical pipe down the centre of the back wall and horizontal rails in the centre of each side wall. The accessories are a rectangular corrugated iron stand, a rectangular wire grid shelf and a round aluminium bowl with a lip and two sides pushed in. The ice chest was made circa 1927 and is part of the W.R. Angus Collection.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, maritime village, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, great ocean road, dr w r angus, dr roy angus, dr ryan, doctor angus, dr angus, ice chest, ice box, antique, food preservation, refrigeration, domestic equipment, kitchen appliance, refrigerator, non-electric refrigerator, non-mechanical refrigerator, w.r. angus collection