This is a booklet written by Jack Rooke about his life. Born in 1910 Jack Rooke faced early the challenges of living in the bush in the Camperdown and Panmure areas. He describes the difficulties of the small farmer and the tough living conditions. He also records the struggle to survive during the Depression years in the 1930s and his heartache after his farm was burnt out in the Ash Wednesday fires. Rooke’s story mirrors that of many settlers in the Western District in the early to mid 20th century and so he has produced an important social history in a simple but compelling manner. This booklet is of considerable importance as it gives the details of the life of one person facing the challenges of living in the bush in the district around Warrnambool in the 20th century. It is a simple but great social history that should be read by the younger generation today.This is a soft cover book of 40 pages. It has been self-published and home-produced with a buff-coloured cover and a plastic overlay. The cover has a black and white illustration. The pages contain some sketches and black and white photographs. early 20th century settlement in the warrnambool district, history of warrnambool, jack rooke, camperdown, panmure

.1 This is a hard cover book of 372 pages with a blue cover and silver printing on the spine. The dust cover has a white and blue background with a photograph of a 19th century policeman, six colour photographs and one black and white photograph. The printing on the dust cover is in white, blue and black. The book contains six chapters and many sketches, illustrations, photographs and graphs. .2 This is a 1986 newspaper cutting from the Warrnambool Standard featuring an article on the book, The People’s Force. A history of the Victorian Police Force up to the late 20th century.victorian police force, warrnambool

This is a can used for storing milk at a dairy farm for transport to the local butter, milk or cheese factory. It comes from a farm (number 16) in Dennington, a settlement and now a suburb west of Warrnambool. It may have been supplying milk to the Nestles factory at Dennington by a truck or taken to a Nestles depot nearby. The Nestles factory was established in Dennington in 1907 and closed in 2005. This can is an interesting memento of dairying practices in the early to mid 20th century.This is a metal can with a circular base tapering to an open top. It has two handles on the side and a circular lid with a handle. It has a stencil on the side. The entire can is rusted.Den 16milk can, dairying in warrnambool district, nestles factory dennington

This fire extinguisher was used for commercial purposes in the Nullawarre Post office. The item was made in England by the Pyrene Co Ltd (1914-1971), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of fire fighting equipment in the early to mid 20th century. The extinguisher had a pump action and probably contained carbon tetrachloride. Nullawarre is a small agricultural settlement 25 kilometres south east of Warrnambool. The Nullawarre area was settled in the late 1860s and 1870s and today has a store and Post Office and a school. Charles Williams was the Post Master at Nullawarre in the early to mid 20th century and also delivered the mail. His wife, Vida was the Post Mistress. This fire extinguisher is of interest firstly as an example of a common item used commercially in the past and secondly as an item that came from the Nullawarre Post Office, used in this commercial building in the early to mid 20th century. This is a metal fire extinguisher which has been painted but the paint is mostly worn away. It is cylindrical in shape with ridged areas at the base and top. It has a clip handle. The cylinder is empty.‘Pyrene’vintage fire extinguishers, nullawarre post office, warrnambool

This booklet aims to give a brief outline of Port Fairy’s history for the benefit of visitors. Port Fairy was an early sealing and whaling town with white settlement established by 1836. As the port and shipping declined so did the town until its reinvigoration in the mid 20th century as a tourist town and the home of the annual Port Fairy Folk FestivalThe book is of use as a quick reference to Port Fairy history.This is a booklet of 48 pages. It contains printed material, black and white photographs and a map. The front cover has a black and white image of the Port Fairy lighthouse. Front Cover: ‘Life Before Folkie, A Visitors’ History of Port Fairy, David R. Jones’port fairy, david r. jones