Showing 468 items matching i. work
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Federation University Historical Collection
Photograph, Ballarat Teachers' College, 1953
... I. Work.... Front Row: N. McPherson, G. Lougheed, B. Tonks, I. Work, L. Hall.... Tonks I. Work L. Hall R. Mason E. Menadue E. Mercovich J ...The Ballarat Teachers' College is a predecessor institution of Federation University Australia. This photograph is reproduced in the 1953 edition of 'Extra Muros', the annual magazine of the Ballarat Teachers' College. Group of first year student of the Ballarat Teachers' College in the grounds of Dana Street Primary School, where their College was located. Back Row: D. Henderson, R. Veal, J. Brasier, D. Nunn, Ken Johnson, G. Osborne, P. Brumby, Graeme Anson, R. Williams, R. Romanes. M. Brennan, M. Jeffey, A. Brown. 2nd Row: John Dixon, K. Ryan, L. Coad, P. Callahan, John Gilbert, H. McLachlan, S. Morgan, J. Campbell, G. Keller, Ian Webster, R. Bryant, J. Hullick, K. Rogers, K. Greenway, B. Thomas. 3rd Row: J. Cameron, M. Simpson, M. McNeil, H. Cornish, C. Brown, A. Mead, Margaret Bywaters, D. Wallish, T. Everett, B. Wallace, A. Flavell, Gwen Brereton, M. Gebbie, V. Rodber, R. Dudley. 4th Row: M. Harvey, M. Beeson, Pat Wilkinson, M. Stevenson, L. Place, M. Barker, J. Bray, Gl. Evans, Gw Evans, D. Vary, Janifer Rogerson, P. Grubb, J. van Leeuwan, D. Bautovich. 5th Row: J. Filcock, J. Watts, B. Peterson, J. McArdle, Helen Sadler, J. Plush, Bette Harvey, R. Rule, E. Leach, D. Carroll, A. unn, B. Laurissen, V. James, J. Higgins. 6th Row: J. Turton, T. Nicoll, J. Wiltshire, A. Bolster, L. Howard, M. Corbett, M. Mill, M. McKay, I. Paul, J. Phelan, P. Ross, J. Piper, W. Jones. Front Row: N. McPherson, G. Lougheed, B. Tonks, I. Work, L. Hall, R. Mason, E. Menadue, E. Mercovich, J. McMillan, P. Fogarty. ballarat teachers' college, d. henderson, r. veal, j. brasier, d. nunn, k. johnston, g. osborne, p. brumby, g. anson, r. williams, m. jeffey, a. brown., k. ryan, l. coad, p. callahan, j. gilbert, h. mclachlan, s. morgan, j. campbell, g. keller, i. webster, r. bryant, j. hullick, k. rogers, k. greenway, b. thomas., m. simpson, m. mcneil, h. cornish, c. brown, a. mead, m. bywaters, d. wallish, t. everett, b. wallace, a. flavell, g. brereton, m. gebbie, v. rodber, r. dudley., m. beeson, p. wilkinson, m. stevenson, l. place, m. barker, j. bray, gl. evans, gw evans, d. vary, janifer rogerson, p. grubb, j. van leeuwan, d. bautovich., 5th row: j. filcock, j. watts, b. peterson, j. mcardle, h. sadler, j. plush, b. harey, r. rule, e. leach, d. carroll, a. unn, b. laurissen, v. james, j. higgins., t. nicoll, j. wiltshire, a. bolster, l. howard, m. corbett, m. mill, m. mckay, i. paul, j. phelan, p. ross, j. piper, w. jones., g. lougheed, b. tonks, i. work, l. hall, r. mason, e. menadue, e. mercovich, j. mcmillan, p. fogarty., r. romanes, m. brennan, j. dixon, j. cameron, m. harvey, j. turton, n. mcpherson, ken johnson, graeme anson, john gilbert, ian webster, margaret bywaters, gwen brereton, 4th row: m. harvey, pat wilkinson, helen sadler, bette harvey, a. nunn, john dixon -
Bendigo Military Museum
Photograph - PHOTOGRAPHS, BCOF, 1946 - 47
... is where I work"... is where I work" Items in the collection re Clarence Shearing ...Items in the collection re Clarence Shearing, refer Cat No 7089.16P for his service details.Photographs B & W some are copies. Two are of the 130th Australian General Hospital, BCOF HQ. One of a torpedoed ship. Aerial view of the Japanese Naval Academy. Four showing different views of the Naval Academy."A torpedoed Ship at Kojo Ferry Eta Jima" "An aerial view of the former Naval Academy - now HQ BCOF area - The building with the X is where I work"photographs, bcof, 130th, naval -
Kew Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Digital Photographs [Series], Robert Baker, Exhibition ~ Josiah Earl Barnes: The Embarkation Photographer, Kew Court House, 2015
... focusing on the World War I work of the Kew photographer, Josiah... on the World War I work of the Kew photographer, Josiah Earl Barnes ...From its beginnings in 1958, the Society has mounted exhibitions and/or displays, in early days in shop windows and in community spaces located in the Kew City Hall (later Kew Library), and since 2010 at the Kew Court House. Exhibitions typically coincided with the annual Kew Community Festival in March, but after 2013 evolved into three new exhibitions yearly at the Kew Court House. Smaller displays continue to be mounted in the Kew Library.Born digital series of photographs of an exhibition focusing on the World War I work of the Kew photographer, Josiah Earl Barnes, also known as 'the embarkation photographer'. All the images in the exhibition were lent by three of his descendants. The exhibition formed the Kew Historical Society's major contribution to the Gallipoli and Beyond Commemorations. photographers - kew (vic) - josiah earl barnes, j.e. barnes - the embarkation photographer, australian photography - world war 1 - 1914-1918, wwi -
Tatura Irrigation & Wartime Camps Museum
Toy Truck, Rev. Friedrich Schroettler
... to me, Don Kuhne, by my parents for Christmas about 1944. I am..., Don Kuhne, by my parents for Christmas about 1944. I am ...This fire truck was made by Rev. Friedrich Schoettler, a Missionary with Lutheran Mission at Ammele and Wanjma in New Guinea. He fled to Australia, from the Japanese, during WW2, being a German national. He was interned at Tatura, Victoria, where the internees made toys to sell for spending money. This truck was given to me, Don Kuhne, by my parents for Christmas about 1944. I am surprised that it lasted as long. My brothers used it. We towed it around the farm behind push bikes, etc. In the early 1960's I worked with Lutheran Mission New Guinea and had the pleasure of knowing Rev. Schoettler, helping with aerial food drops to his small mission station.Maroon truck, yellow radiator, black running boards and mudguards, green tray, 2 wind up handles with a pulley and cord which operates an extension ladder mounted on the tray of the truck. SA 3012 SA 3012 on back of truck.rev. friedrich schoettler, lutheran missions new guinea, don kuhne, camp 3 internees -
Port Melbourne Historical & Preservation Society
Photograph - Share and Care volunteer, Arthur Rowan, 1990s
... and Care. "By doing voluntary work, I help myself while I help..., Share and Care. "By doing voluntary work, I help myself while I ...From a series featuring local volunteers, displayed at a community centre function to honour them. Mounted black and white photo of Share and Care volunteer Arthur Rowan at the desk in his home workshop. Mounted on white cardboard. Caption on pink paper pasted on:'Arthur Rowan, Share and Care. "By doing voluntary work, I help myself while I help others. It keeps me going"''8' in green marker on back. In pencio: 'Pat G'societies clubs unions and other organisations, south port day links, share and care, arthur rowan, volunteers -
National Wool Museum
Quilt, Green Ladder
... Statement: 'My friend Vriginia named this quilt for me and I thought... of rising or climbing and I began this work woth a sense of freedom ...Winner of Expressions 2008: The Wool Quilt Prize Artist Statement: 'My friend Vriginia named this quilt for me and I thought "of course". A ladder is a means of rising or climbing and I began this work woth a sense of freedom. In this case freedom from entrapment of thought, feeling and creativity.'W7184 'Green Ladder' Catalogue for 'The New Quilt 2003: an exhibition of contemporary quilt textiles' Jo Steele's entry in 'The New Quilt 2003' catalogue Jo Steele's Curriculum Vitae Photocopy from Quilters Guild Magazine, 1998. Jo Steele's 'Eggshells & Iron Bars' Photocopy from catalogue '2002: One step further marvellous minatures', including Jo Steele's entry. Photocopy from '2007 Australian Cotton Fibre Expo'. Jo Steele entry 704. Includes first prize certificate for Section 7: Contemporary Quilting and Patchwork. Certificate awarded to Jo Steele for 'Chill Out!' 2004. Winner 'Fashion Extravaganza' Category. Photocopy from catalogue for 'Territory Craft 30th Alice Craft Acquisition'. Jo Steele entry 133. Photocopy from catalogue for 'The 29th Alice Craft Acquisition'. Jo Steele entries 143 and 144.Jo Steel 34 Neale Street Katoomba 2780 NSW 0413 074 604 'Green Ladder'quilting textile art, steele, ms jo, quilting, textile art -
Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages
CD-ROM, Robert Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria 1878, 20071878
... . I&II Historical work by the Secretary of the Board.... I&II Historical work by the Secretary of the Board ...CD version of The Aborigines of Victoria, Notes relating to the Habits of the Natives of other Parts of Australia and Tasmania compiled from various sources for The Government of Victoria. Vols. I&II Historical work by the Secretary of the Board for the Protection of the Aborigines. (c.1876) He describes his approach to his work, the collection of language information, culture and heritage, anatomical data, drawings of the traditional lifestyles and encounters with the people.CD-ROM -
4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse Regiment Unit History Room
Medal, Croix du Combattant
... The Poilus (French combat soldiers) of World War I worked... soldiers) of World War I worked toward recognition ...The Poilus (French combat soldiers) of World War I worked toward recognition by the government, of a special status to those who had participated in the bitter fighting of 1914-1918 (as opposed to those who served behind the lines). The law of 19 December 1926 created la carte du combatantt, or combatant card, for veterans of 1914-1918, as well as those veterans of 1870-1871 and colonial wars before the First World War. The decoration was created only three years later by the law of 28 June 1930. A decree of January 29, 1948 states that the provisions of the 1930 Act relating to the allocation of the combatant card and the Croix du combattant were applicable to participants of the 1939-1945 war. The law of 18 July 1952 extended the benefit of the award of the Croix du combattant for Indochina and Korea. The law of December 9, 1974 has extended the award of the Croix du combattant to operations in North Africa between 1 January 1952 and July 2, 1962. More recently, a decree of January 12, 1994 opened le carte du combattant holder (hence the Croix du combattant) to those who participated in the operations of Cambodia, Cameroon, Gulf, Lebanon, Madagascar, Suez, Somalia, Central African Republic, Chad, Yugoslavia, Zaire, and Iraq.A cross pattée with four arms in bronze, with a laurel wreath between the arms 36 mm across. engraved by de DOUMINC. On the obverse in the center, effigy of the Republic on a charge helmet Adrian laurel leaves surrounded by the legend REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE. On the reverse the inscription CROIX DU COMBATTANT framing a sword placed vertically with the bottom edge, up to the guard, the rays from up to 180 °. medal, croix du combattant -
Mt Dandenong & District Historical Society Inc.
Photograph, Gully "Hospice" Olinda, early 1900s
... at work. I think you were taken with the dog but your........... weather is just coming on now &it is very trying at work. I think ...Postcard photograph showing a tree fern gully. The title on the front is Gully "Hospice" Olinda. The Hospice was a guest house built in 1904 by Joseph Gutmann in the Main Street of Olinda. The Dorey Family ran The Hospice from 1908 - 1911. The Hospice burned down in 1924. The reverse of the postcard contains a small section of a letter that must be continued elsewhere. It is addressed to Miss Iris Dorey.Handwritten in black ink on reverse: Miss Iris Dorey "The Hospice" Olinda .....address as I wish to send him a photo of the group at the Gully. We had a lovely ride to the station on Monday. The hot weather is just coming on now &it is very trying at work. I think you were taken with the dog but your........the hospice, guest house, guesthouse, iris dorey, olinda, joseph gutmann, tree ferns, fern gully -
Federation University Art Collection
Photograph - Artwork - photographic print, 'Ripple' by Michael Shiell, 2001
... ripples struck me. I made the work by twisting and weaving... at 'Blue Waters' near Creswick. I remember that I went out hoping ...This work was undertaken in 2001 when the artist was undertaking an Honours year at the University of Ballarat Arts Academy (later Federation University). This item is a part of the Federation University School of Business Art Collection. The Federation University Art Collection features over 1000 works and was listed as a 'Ballarat Treasure' in 2007.Framed Digital Limited Edition Print by Michael Shiell. "The woven form was made at 'Blue Waters' near Creswick. I remember that I went out hoping to make something and I had a few mediocre starts but nothing really inspired was popping for me. Eventually I sat on the bank and started tossing little pebbles into the water. Finally the immediacy and ephemerality of the dissipating ripples struck me. I made the work by twisting and weaving the reeds which lined the banks of 'Blue Waters'. I then floated the rings together and managed to get a couple of quick photos before the work floated away and dissipated." (Michael Shiell)Edition: 1/10art, artwork, michael shiell, shiell, blue water, creswick, school of business collection, available, photography -
Halls Gap & Grampians Historical Society
Postcard - Sepia, C 1918
... . This is the back of the house where I go to work. they had 43 boarders last... where I go to work. they had 43 boarders last week. 3 pounds ...Bellfield' was a guest house during the period 1910-191924 Cabins provided additional accommodation for guests. One undated post card had the following words hand written on the reverse side: "Dear Florrie and William I expect you have worried not getting a line lately, it's such a job getting letters posted. This is the back of the house where I go to work. they had 43 boarders last week. 3 pounds each We had to work like niggers Im writing a letter to tell you all about it. With fond love Mary xxx"View of side of building with a number of cabins in foreground surrounded by a picket fence. The southern end of the Wonderland Range is in the background with sundial Peak being the predominant featureThe rose series P 1667 2 post cards and 1 photo of post card 1 original post card has message writtenaccommodation, guesthouses, bellfield -
Unions Ballarat
Better than Nostradamus, or, The secretive world takeover, Smith, Barry R, 1996
... teacher prior to my `preaching work'. I have continued to `teach... teacher prior to my `preaching work'. I have continued to `teach ...The text below is a quotation from "Barry Smith put under fire by Phillip Powell" an interview at the Christian Witness Ministries website http://www.christian-witness.org/archives/cetf2000/bsmith.html "Some people have suggested that I am referring to myself as being a `better prophet than Nostradamus' when in fact I am saying the Word of God alone is always accurate… "I personally do not see myself as an evangelist. Relatively few people turn to Christ as a result of my lectures. I was a school teacher prior to my `preaching work'. I have continued to `teach', but utilise the subject of `end times' — taken from the scriptures in relation to current affairs and events — as an effective tool in presenting the gospel." End time teachings.Paper; book. btlc, ballarat trades hall, ballarat trades and labour council, end time teachings, christ, christian, current affairs, end times, gospel -
Merri-bek City Council
Photograph, Peta Clancy, Undercurrent, 2018-19
... water. Clancy says of the exhibition and this work: ‘I explored... water. Clancy says of the exhibition and this work: ‘I explored ...Peta Clancy is a descendent of the Bangerang people from South-Eastern Australia. She explores hidden histories of colonisation in Australia. Through manipulating photographic prints, she reconstructs these hidden histories in a contemporary setting. In 2018, Clancy was awarded the inaugural Fostering Koorie Art and Culture grant from the Koorie Heritage Trust. The grant enabled her to collaborate with the Dja Dja Wurrung community to create a body of work investigating massacre sites on Dja Dja Wurrung country. The exhibition Undercurrent at the Koorie Heritage Trust focussed on a massacre site submerged under water. Clancy says of the exhibition and this work: ‘I explored this site as a metaphor for the hidden history of many massacres throughout Australia and the denial of this aspect of our history and the trauma these sites evoke’. -
Melbourne Legacy
Postcard - Document, postcard, 1983
... , generous, helpful and so elegant. Work I did with my French..., generous, helpful and so elegant. Work I did with my French ...A postcard to the Comradeship Committee when a Legatee was travelling in France. The postcard was addressed to the Legatee Chairman of the Comradeship Committee. Dated 3 Feb 1983. It is signed GRIFF, it says: The French experience I should have had years ago. I am in the DORDONGE after spending some days at LA ROCHELLE on the Atlantic coast. The provincial French are courteous, generous, helpful and so elegant. Work I did with my French mistress at the Wesley Church has paid great dividends although today may be tough. I give 40 children (aged 10-14) their first ever Scottish Country dance lesson. The goose hatched in March lives a normal farmyard life till October, then it is force fed for three weeks and then 'WHAM' and PATE. Next meeting at Norton - France! Best wishes to all - GRIFF.A record of a Legatee travelling and relating experiences back to his comrades in Melbourne.Colour postcard of a Frenchman.Printed "Le Gaveur D'oies." French postage stamps. Handwritten text in blue pen.comradeship, legatee -
Federation University Art Collection
Sculpture, Frances Deutsher, 'make COMPASSION the fashion' by Frances Deutsher, 2015
... 59 conflicts occurring globally. My work honours... witnessed slaughter on a scale I cannot imagine. The work asks ...Artist's Statement: The conflict of 1914 -1918 was dubbed ‘the war to end all wars’. In contradiction to the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 for ‘renunciation of war’, the twentieth century can be viewed as the bloodiest in history with no fewer than 59 conflicts occurring globally. My work honours the innocents, the children of war, who have experienced loss and grief in its extreme; who have witnessed slaughter on a scale I cannot imagine. The work asks that we, the privileged and scar free, embrace the imperative for Peace…putting our money where our mouth is…promoting COMPASSION as the fashion EVERY year. Please take a badge frances deutsher, lucato peace prize, sculpture, fashion -
Federation University Historical Collection
Book - Autographs, Alisan Lanigan, SCVB 30 Year Reunion Booklet and Signatures, 2006
... in any other place that I have worked, all of the staff... in any other place that I have worked, all of the staff ...The State College of Victoria Ballarat was formerly the Ballarat Teachers' College. In 1976 it moved from its Gillies Street location to the Mount Helen Campus, now a campus of Federation University Australia. Denise (Walshy) Walsh 1974-1976 Lecturer, Dept of Studies in Teaching, SCVB 1976-1979 Head, Educational Technology Unit I came to the College bringing the lessons I had learned in 20 years (1954-1974) of teaching secondary school students and their parents in the challenging environment of country schools and parishes. Initially part-time, I found the dedication and competence of the staff and their concern for the professional formation and general well-being of students and colleagues to be inspiring. Similar concern and active acceptance extended to me and I wondered – I think we all did – if these qualities were transferable to the ‘dreaded’ Mt Helen. Later, I was invited to upgrade my academic qualifications by applying for the gradually decreasing but still generous study leave that was available. It was granted and I was accepted into the Master’s Program in Educational Technology at Concordia University, Montreal. The staff who generously extended their loads to cover for my absence amazed me. Their support showed that, in truth, the spirit of Gillies Street had indeed ‘moved over.’ More than in any other place that I have worked, all of the staff – including teaching, research, support, service, outside staff, both central and faculty – worked as one by providing mutual service and care in the spirit of a great and long-standing educational institution. State Council of Victoria at Ballarat (SCVB) 30 Year Reunion Booklet and Signatures.scvb, state college victoria ballarat, ballarat teachers college, reunion, alison lanigan, ballarat teachers' college, denise walsh -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Functional object - Kerosene Searchlight, Circa 1935
... in 1915 during World War I, and started to work with paraffin... in 1915 during World War I, and started to work with paraffin ...The Tilley lamp derives from John Tilley’s invention of the hydro-pneumatic blowpipe in 1813 in England. W. H. Tilley were manufacturing pressure lamps at their works in Stoke Newington in 1818, and Shoreditch, in the 1830s. The company moved to Brent Street in Hendon in 1915 during World War I, and started to work with paraffin (kerosene) as a fuel for the lamps. During World War I Tilley lamps were used by the British armed forces, and became so popular that Tilley became used as a generic name for a kerosene lamp in many parts of the world, in much the same way as Hoover is used for vacuum cleaners. During the 1920s the company had diversified into domestic lamps, and had expanded rapidly after orders from railway companies. After World War II fears about the poisonous effect of paraffin fumes, and widely available electricity, reduced demand for domestic use. The company moved from Hendon to Ireland in the early 1960s, finally settling in Belfast. The company moved back to England in 2000.A significant item demonstrating the early use of kerosene under pressure as a lighting medium. These types of lamps were made by a company whose products became synonymous with oil lamps generally. Lamps that were used commercially, domestically and by the armed forces of many countries during the first and second world wars.Tilley Searchlight Projector, or search lamp, made in Hendon, England 1935. Metal kerosene pressure search lamp, glass front, fixed mirror at back, wooden carry handles. Mounted on fuel tank with pressure pump. Lamp has 8 airflow holes in the bottom and a covered outlet on the top. Glass is in 3 pieces, fitting together to make flat circle there is a maker’s plate on the pressure tank. “TILLEY / SEARCHLIGHT PROJECTOR / MADE AT / HENDON, ENGLAND”, “256” handwritten in red on one wooden handle, “9” or “6” hand painted in white on top on light flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, tilley kerosene pressure searchlight, lighting, john tilley, pressure lamps -
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Functional object - Tilley Heater, John Tilley, 1930s
... to Brent Street in Hendon in 1915 during World War I, and started... in 1915 during World War I, and started to work with paraffin ...The Tilley lamp & heaters derives from John Tilley’s invention of the hydro-pneumatic blowpipe in 1813 in England. W. H. Tilley were manufacturing pressure lamps at their works in Stoke Newington in 1818, and Shoreditch, in the 1830s. The company moved to Brent Street in Hendon in 1915 during World War I, and started to work with paraffin (kerosene) as a fuel for the lamps. During World War I Tilley lamps were used by the British armed forces, and became so popular that Tilley became used as a generic name for a kerosene lamp in many parts of the world, in much the same way as Hoover is used for vacuum cleaners. During the 1920s the company had diversified into domestic lamps, and had expanded rapidly after orders from railway companies. After World War II fears about the poisonous effect of paraffin fumes, and widely available electricity, reduced demand for domestic use. The company moved from Hendon to Ireland in the early 1960s, finally settling in Belfast. It moved back to England in 2000.Item is significant as it was an early form of portable heating used in a domestic situation or any small room that required to be heated. This item fell out of use when electricity and electric heater became more available and affordable. Tilley kerosene pressure heater with large reflector dish. Fuel tank painted cream and wooden handle.Tilleyflagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, kerosene heater, tilley lamps, john tilley, pressure heater, domestic use -
Melton City Libraries
Newspaper, Oral History Day, 1992
... and I worked there, I was the first girl in Melton to deliver... leaving school it was war time, 1939, then it was work, When I ...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 -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Newspaper clipping, Relive Show Girl glamour by Jen Kelly, Herald Sun, Friday, May 12, 2017, p20, 12 May 2017
... the competition, I wore a suit that I had for work which was brown wool... a suit that I had for work which was brown wool, with a coffee ...SHOW GIRL COMPETITION by Margaret Joy Harding (nee Joy Chapman.) In 1965 Eltham was more like a country town than the suburb it has become today. People knew each other, if not personally then certainly of the family name. The big event for the year was a Gymkhana or show at Lower Eltham Park. I can remember marching as a teenager from the town centre to the park in the marching girls with the decorated floats. In 1965, just on a whim on the day, I decided to enter the Miss Eltham Show Girl which was a part of the festivities at the park. I seem to remember that the show mainly consisted of horse events, cattle judging and dog show. As I had not given any serious thought to entering the competition, I wore a suit that I had for work which was brown wool, with a coffee coloured shirt under, black shoes, bag, and gloves but no hat. I duly paraded for the judges and much to my surprise I was announced the winner. I eventually went on to compete at the Miss Victoria Show Girl competition which was held at the Royal Melbourne Show. There I met many country girls who were representing their rural Victoria home. I made it into a final round of judging but I think justice prevailed when someone from a country background was crowned. It was fun to go into the show as I had not really been before and to see the displays of handcraft, cooking and wood chopping events was great as well as the judging of farm animals interesting.Digital file only - Newsclipping on loan for scanning by EDHSeltham lower park, joy chapman, lyons garage, margaret harding, miss eltham 1965, miss victoria show girl, show girl competition -
Melbourne Legacy
Letter, Aaron Beattie, 1928
... . Excerpts include the following information: "I would suggest.... Excerpts include the following information: "I would suggest ...Correspondence between Aaron Beattie Esq from Beattie Physical Culture College Melbourne and E. Hilmer Smith Esq about Girls’ Physical Culture Classes in July 1928. It was intended to aid the Sydney Legacy Club establish classes for girls. Excerpts include the following information: "I would suggest that you form a special C/tee to handle the Physical Culture work. . . . I would suggest that special care be taken to see that none but fully-qualified and trained teachers handle the children - this is all important. . . . We charge every child 5/- per year, payable quarterly. We have been most fortunate here with the girls section. An old friend of mine - Mrs Gillies - is our Hon. Directress. She was - until her marriage - in charge of all Physical Culture training in the State Schools of Victoria, and is a wonderful woman. She takes complete charge, appoints her own staff and so on. We pay some of her assistants from £2.2.0 to £5.5.0 per term of 12 weeks. The class was formed in May last year with 42 girls - we now have 121, and they have left the boys far behind. Enclosed you will find a copy of our measurement chart, which is an important part - every child should be recorded before starting, and again at the end of the year. I am also sending you a copy of our Demonstration Programme. This show was given after the girls had been going for 10 months, and it was a wonderful success - all these things help to bring success, and children seem to want these things to keep them going. . . . We spend about £600 per year on our Children's Work and nearly all of that goes to the Physical Culture side." The correspondence is a good snapshot of the undertaking of Melbourne Legacy running girls' club at that point in time and that Melbourne Legacy was trying to help Sydney Legacy establish a similar program. Legacy was only 5 years old at that time and already the importance of the physical culture classes for girls was underway.Set of three typed and dated handwritten letters on paper between Aaron Beattie Esq, and E Hilmer Smith Esq. 00126.1 on Legacy Club letterhead. 00126.4 on Commonwealth Bank notepaper.girls' club, junior legatee, girls' classes, aaron beattie -
Nillumbik Shire Council
Painting: Penelope AITKEN (b.1967 Melb. AUS), Penelope Aitken, Mapping Mass & Void 10, 2008
... and I often make work that investigates such arrangements... and I often make work that investigates such arrangements ...Penelope Aitken lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. She makes paintings and installations about relationships: between people, between things and between people and things. Recurring subjects include friendship, genealogy, romantic liaisons, and cross-cultural exchange as well as gardening, craft and landscape design. 'I am interested in the social, psychological and aesthetic motives behind organisation, belonging and displacement and I often make work that investigates such arrangements.' She has held regular solo exhibitions since 1995 and has been represented in group exhibitions since 1989. These have included shows in public and commercial galleries, artist run spaces, outdoor projects and festivals in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Bundaberg, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Tokyo and Famagusta, Northern Cyprus. Aitken has previously worked at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and at Asialink at the University of Melbourne. From 2006 - 2009 she was a board member of the Melbourne artist run gallery, West Space and she has also curated and coordinated numerous exhibitions and written and edited catalogues, articles and essays. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education (Visual Arts) both from The University of Melbourne and completed her Masters of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2004. In 1997 Aitken was selected to be a studio artist for two years at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne and in 2000 she undertook an Australia Council Studio at the Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan. More recently she spent two months in 2007 at the Laughing Waters Residency, Birrarung, in Eltham, Victoria. There she began her current interest in the rocks used in the landscape designs of Gordon Ford. Paintings of Ford's rocks made since 2007 as well as glacial erratics, meteors, and other natural and displaced rocks were exhibited in March 2011 at the Light Factory Gallery in Eltham in a show called My History of here, and Second Nature, one work from this exhibition, was awarded first prize at Eltham Masterworks 2011. Other work made about rocks in nature and culture include: the project, A dark archive, as well as in two installations: You seem so settled for one that doesn't belong held at West Space in 2009 and Gathering these things to remind me of home shown in 2010 at the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Queensland. In July and August 2007 Aitken undertook an arts recidency at Birrarung, a house and garden designed by Gordon Ford and managed as the Laughing Waters Artist in Residence Program by the Shire of Nillumbik Victoria. The rocks depicted in the painting 'Mapping Mass & Void 10' are all taken from the garden at Birrarung. Aitken has made reference to those rocks and the way in which Ford thought of the rocks as individuals that need to be handled and placed with consideration to show off their best aspects.oil and acrylic on linen ek prac 2015 -
Mission to Seafarers Victoria
Painting, Kimberley Dunstan, Port Phillip Bay Bicentennial Fleet Departure, 1988
... lapses) I have completed several hundred pieces of work including... an interest in my work - and I know pictures have gone to a happy home ...I was born in Guildford W.A. on 12 November 1940 and at an early age took an interest in painting. Over the years (between lapses) I have completed several hundred pieces of work including pencil and crayon sketches, lino cuts, oil colours - and water colours which have been my main focus. As painting has always been a hobby I’ve never bothered with selling my work through an art gallery - but have donated a good deal of work to fundraisers and charity auctions with some paintings attracting large prices, I’ve also sold quite a number (some years ago) via Joels Auctions before they went up-market, others have gone to friends and family. My pleasure has been in completing painting, I’ve never bothered about recovering costs (including framing) but happy when people take an interest in my work - and I know pictures have gone to a happy home – additional pleasure comes when people remind me they love the painting, sometimes I’ve forgotten what they have and other occasions have been able to see them in their homes and loved they way they have fitted-in. Regarding the little painting of the Bicentennial sailing ships – I did it as a quick sketch at the time (1988) when the ships departed Melbourne sailing down Port Phillip Bay - with the view to doing a larger painting which never eventuated and it has remained in my possession until recently when I decided to dispose of my remaining work/s as I have to move and ‘down-size’. As you will appreciate it is a very simple sketch but it captures a notable moment in time and would be very happy if the MTS could find a place for it in their collection. As it happens I spent 9 years in the Royal Australian Navy and feel a close connection to seafarers and would be honoured that you might wish to include the picture in your collection. Marine art, Maritime artKimberley Dunstan, Mission to Seafarers CollectionSmall rectangular oil painting (landscape format) depicting sailing shipsSigntaure of the artist bottom left corner: KHD At the back in black ink: 1988 / Kim Dunstan / Port Phillip Bay / Bicentennial Fleet Departure / From End Of Martin St Brightonbicentennial, 1988, fleet, kim dunstan, kimberley dunstan -
Federation University Historical Collection
Letter - Correspondence, Margaret Malone, Letter regarding gold assay from Mount Egerton Mine, 10/02/2014
... . to reach areas being worked. I have to be my own manager, she.... to reach areas being worked. I have to be my own manager, she ...Margaret Malone was associated with a kaolin mine at Mount Egerton. WOMAN WHO MANAGES A MINE Works With A Vision (By a Special Corespondent) BALLARAT, August 22.—Like a Heroine in a Bret Harte story of the Soaring: Forties Miss Margaret Malone, the only woman mine manager in Australia, has lived most of her life in an atmosphere where hope springs eternal in the gold-seeking breast. Forty years ago her father gave up farming to seek the elusive mineral near Ballarat. "One day my mother went for a walk along the Gordon-Egerton road and picked up a pebble with a few specks of gold in it," she told an interviewer yesterday, recounting the early history of the nine she now runs at Egerton. "Dad said, There must be more where that came from,' and hopefully sank a shaft. Our hopes were dashed, however, when he found only white clay. No one realised then the value of the disappointing looking white stuff which was all that Dad could find from every shaft he sank. At last be gave up the search, and the kaolin remained untouched." Later an Englishman from a pottery town in the old country urged Mr. Malone to try and sell his clay, and he sent some to the Bendigo potteries, but nothing came of it, and it was left to Miss Malone, after her father's death, to start on her unusual career by finding purchasers in Sydney and Melbourne for her clay, and herself working the mine. Strenuous Work "Mine managing is strenuous work in more ways than one," she admitted. "I have, to go down my mine daily, ad sometimes have to descend perpendicular ladders for about 150 ft. to reach areas being worked. I have to be my own manager, she explained, "because it is necessary to teach the men I employ the methods of grading clays." A New Cure She is convinced that a number of uses for kaolin, apart from pottery, soap and drugs, are yet to be discovered. "One of my employees has already found a new use for it," she said, "although scarcely one to be generally recommended, perhaps. By chewing a small piece of the clay he firmly believes that he "cured himself of heart burn." "All That Glistens" There is more in Miss Malone's mining than meets the eye, however. The actual working of the field and the substantial profit she makes on it do not fill her days. Always before her - dangles the compelling vision that caused her father, in his day, to give up farming to seek for gold. "All the time I am getting my clay dug," she confessed, "1 am watching for the colour of gold. One of these days I may strike it." WOMAN WHO MANAGES A MINE Works With A Vision (By a Special Corespondent) BALLARAT, August 22.—Like a Heroine in a Bret Harte story of the Soaring: Forties Miss Margaret Malone, the only woman mine manager in Australia, has lived most of her life in an atmosphere where hope springs eternal in the gold-seeking breast. Forty years ago her father gave up farming to seek the elusive mineral near Ballarat. "One day my mother went for a walk along the Gordon-Egerton road and picked up a pebble with a few specks of gold in it," she told an interviewer yesterday, recounting the early history of the nine she now runs at Egerton. "Dad said, There must be more where that came from,' and hopefully sank a shaft. Our hopes were dashed, however, when he found only white clay. No one realised then the value of the disappointing looking white stuff which was all that Dad could find from every shaft he sank. At last be gave up the search, and the kaolin remained untouched." Later an Englishman from a pottery town in the old country urged Mr. Malone to try and sell his clay, and he sent some to the Bendigo potteries, but nothing came of it, and it was left to Miss Malone, after her father's death, to start on her unusual career by finding purchasers in Sydney and Melbourne for her clay, and herself working the mine. Strenuous Work "Mine managing is strenuous work in more ways than one," she admitted. "I have, to go down my mine daily, ad sometimes have to descend perpendicular ladders for about 150 ft. to reach areas being worked. I have to be my own manager, she explained, "because it is necessary to teach the men I employ the methods of grading clays." A New Cure She is convinced that a number of uses for kaolin, apart from pottery, soap and drugs, are yet to be discovered. "One of my employees has already found a new use for it," she said, "although scarcely one to be generally recommended, perhaps. By chewing a small piece of the clay he firmly believes that he "cured himself of heart burn." "All That Glistens" There is more in Miss Malone's mining than meets the eye, however. The actual working of the field and the substantial profit she makes on it do not fill her days. Always before her - dangles the compelling vision that caused her father, in his day, to give up farming to seek for gold. "All the time I am getting my clay dug," she confessed, "1 am watching for the colour of gold. One of these days I may strike it." (WOMAN WHO MANAGES A MINE Works With A Vision (By a Special Corespondent) BALLARAT, August 22.—Like a Heroine in a Bret Harte story of the Soaring: Forties Miss Margaret Malone, the only woman mine manager in Australia, has lived most of her life in an atmosphere where hope springs eternal in the gold-seeking breast. Forty years ago her father gave up farming to seek the elusive mineral near Ballarat. "One day my mother went for a walk along the Gordon-Egerton road and picked up a pebble with a few specks of gold in it," she told an interviewer yesterday, recounting the early history of the nine she now runs at Egerton. "Dad said, There must be more where that came from,' and hopefully sank a shaft. Our hopes were dashed, however, when he found only white clay. No one realised then the value of the disappointing looking white stuff which was all that Dad could find from every shaft he sank. At last be gave up the search, and the kaolin remained untouched." Later an Englishman from a pottery town in the old country urged Mr. Malone to try and sell his clay, and he sent some to the Bendigo potteries, but nothing came of it, and it was left to Miss Malone, after her father's death, to start on her unusual career by finding purchasers in Sydney and Melbourne for her clay, and herself working the mine. Strenuous Work "Mine managing is strenuous work in more ways than one," she admitted. "I have, to go down my mine daily, ad sometimes have to descend perpendicular ladders for about 150 ft. to reach areas being worked. I have to be my own manager, she explained, "because it is necessary to teach the men I employ the methods of grading clays." A New Cure She is convinced that a number of uses for kaolin, apart from pottery, soap and drugs, are yet to be discovered. "One of my employees has already found a new use for it," she said, "although scarcely one to be generally recommended, perhaps. By chewing a small piece of the clay he firmly believes that he "cured himself of heart burn." "All That Glistens" There is more in Miss Malone's mining than meets the eye, however. The actual working of the field and the substantial profit she makes on it do not fill her days. Always before her - dangles the compelling vision that caused her father, in his day, to give up farming to seek for gold. "All the time I am getting my clay dug," she confessed, "1 am watching for the colour of gold. One of these days I may strike it." (Adelaide Observer, 31 August 1929.)Hand written letter from Margaret Malone of the Mount Egerton Mine.Mount Egerton Mine February 10/14 The Manager Mining Dept Dear Sir, Last Monday week, I left with Mr Martell, a parcel of stone to be treated, requesting that cost of treatment, be deducted from some and balance of gold be forwarded me to above address. I was informed, this would occupy about a day or so, but not having received any communication so far, I shall be glad to hear from you are same. Yours faithfully Margaret Malonemargaret malone, female mine manager, kaolin, mount egerton, women -
Melton City Libraries
Letter, Letters from Fred to Mattie, 1910-11, 1913-14, 1916, 1920
... only worked Monday. I have been idle ever since. We... put us back considerably as we only worked Monday. I have been ...Letters sent to Martha (Mattie) dated from 1907 to 1920. Each letter is an edited version of the original pertaining to aspects of Fred Myers life as a shearer. Cobran Stn via Deniliquin Thursday Sept 1st 1910 …I got a reply from Eynesbury and a favourable reply, it starts on the 13th Oct so I will have plenty of time to get there, in fact far to much as we will finish here in a month full time so that will leave a fortnight to spare. We got rain here at last and it has put us back considerably as we only worked Monday. I have been idle ever since. We will probably start again Saturday. The weather has taken up nice and fine again…. I hope it will keep up to the cut out now I have 800 sheep shorn up to date and am fifth among thirty men so I’m doing well I think. Did you get the pound I sent? I’m sending two more this time, which I drew on Saturday. I don’t like sending too much as there is a chance of it going astray. Postcard Cobran Sept 18 1910 Just a note to let you know I am all right. I was disappointed not getting a letter yesterday, Saturday…I won’t get it now till next Saturday. We have three weeks here yet. I am sending 2 and tell me if you got the other 1. Cobran Stn via Deniliquin NSW Sunday 21st August (1911) ..I’m having a good time here, a good cook and the best of everything, no fires to lights or kettles to boil just get up and wire in but plenty of hard work. The sheep here a pretty rough but much better than Wandook. I am well among them here we had a little rain on Friday but not enough to stop us so we have got one full week in and the weather is now lovely I have been basking in the sunshine all morning and feel strong and fit as a fiddle. They are all a grand lot of men here I only knew one out of the lot but now them all pretty well now. We have a bit of a concert here every night almost. There are a few good singers here and we also had a phonograph up from the station with all the latest records. We have has two dances amongst ourselves, very boisterous affairs indeed they do make the dust fly. I have not ventured to take part in them yet and don’ think I will either. I get enough dancing all day long and besides I have to furnish the music. You ought to see them going when I rattle up the concertina they do make the dust fly. Sample of letters written by Fred Myers to his wife Mattie Myerslocal identities -
Melton City Libraries
Photograph, Wendy Barrie, Unknown
... where I worked for the next three years. In January 1968 I... ceremony was held at Wilson Hall. I received my appointment to work ...Eldest daughter of Edna and Bon Barrie, born on 03 November 1943 in Melbourne, Victoria, Memoirs of Wendy Barrie, recalling the early formative years of life in Melton: In 1949 I started school at Melton State School no 430 and was driven the 2½ miles to there by my parents at first. Later we walked home in the afternoons or were picked up by car as we made our way home along the Western Highway. In 1956 I went to Bacchus Marsh High School. There were 4 students in grade 6 and 3 of us went to the High School. The students from Melton, Melton South and Toolern Vale State Schools went by bus to Bacchus Marsh High School as far a fifth form. My parents drove me to the pick up point and during the five years of travel to High School. The bus travelled via Toolern Vale and later went through Exford and through Parwan. On the return journey in the afternoon the bus went in the reverse direction. The bridge at Exford was an old narrow wooden one, and the students had to get off the bus and walk across, with the driver crossing in the empty bus for safety reasons. There was a travelling allowance paid to parents and it was estimated from the distance the crow flies, a straight line. We lived a Ferris Lane, just where the Harness Racing entrance is now situated about 2 ½ miles by road to school too close to qualify for the subsidy. While at State School Melton we would walk home in a group with the Nixon and Gillespie children, along the main road over the bridge near the Shire Offices and down a hill. I was being dinked on Joyce Gillespie’s bike while holding onto the seat, toppled off the bike striking my chin and teeth on the bitumen and cracking my jaw. I was about 9 years old and stayed a couple of days in the Quamby Hospital in Bacchus Marsh, it seemed like and eternity at the time and quite traumatic being separated from my family. I can remember contemplating how I could get out of the window and run away but realised it was too far to walk home. Often we would cut across the Common on our way home from school picking up stray golf balls and collecting them from the creek when it dried out. We were warned about not accepting lifts from strangers passing along the Melbourne/ Ballarat Road. The only danger we faced was being swooped by the magpies particularly on the open ground on the Common. We were also fairly cautious when the Gypsies camped on the Common in the area just about opposite the small reservoir. “Mum” grandma Myers loved to have us call in on our way home, and usually would cut a slice of Jongebloed’s bread and spread it with home made butter. Sometimes we waited there until we were collected by car, usually driven by our mother. Margaret Nixon and Joyce Gillespie were a few grades ahead of me and Barbara Nixon was born just two months earlier than me. Our mothers were great friends for over 6o years, born in the same month three years apart. They lived within a few days of the same age as each other at the time their deaths. Dad and George Nixon attended Melton school at the same time. Sarah nee Hornbuckle Nixon and my grandfather Frederick Myers Snr were at school together at the same in the 1880s. The Nixon family lived in Keilor Road just past the Toolern Creek near the turnoff. Tom and Ann Collins lived on the southern side of the Western highway and Keilor road intersection. Jim and Ruby Gillespie’s house was further long Keilor road on the right. They backed onto the Myers who lived on the north side of Western Highway east of Myers Gully (Ryans Creek). The Bridge over the Toolern Creek as very narrow and as truck traffic increased there were accidents. One truck took out the side railing and plunged upside down into the bank and into the shallow water. Another fatal accident happened between a car and a truck right in front of the Myers house. Grandfather Fred had been a bike rider all his life, as far as the Riverina in his younger years, wryly made the comment about the drivers the speeding along the Ballarat Road were setting out to kill themselves. The road was busy particularly after the Races at Ballarat when the crowds were hurrying home to Melbourne. Train travel had changed very little from the time my mothers generation to mine. The timetable meant the usual rush to Melton South by bike in her case and if she was running late the train pulled up on the crossing. I was driven to the Station from home past Keith and Mary Gillespie’s house near the Ferris Road rail crossing to Bridge road to Melton South for the 7.32 train. While attending Sunshine High School in 1961 I would meet up with three other students, two of whom I knew from Bacchus Marsh High School days. We usually got into the same compartment on the train, it was a typical country train with a corridor along the side and compartments with a door, roof racks and sometimes heated metal containers for the feet in the winter. Some of the trains came through from Horsham and Ballarat, and the Overland from Adelaide passed through in the evening, we could hear it in the distance from the Ferris Lane home. The carriages had 1st and economy class compartments showing photographs of county scenes and holiday destinations. The engine was the large A class diesel. They are still running to Bacchus Marsh 50 years later, due to the need for the greatly increased number of commuters travelling to work in the city. Sometimes the carriages were pull by a Steam engine, these were a problem in the summer time because the sparks caused fires along the train lines and then quickly spread into the dry grass, crops and stubble. The Motor Train left Spencer Street at 4.23 pm and was the best train for me to catch. Ferris Road was a designated stop and train pulled up on the road crossing. It had steps at the door and rungs to hold while alighting to the ground. The ballast along the tracks was rough and uneven and awkward to land on. The train was painted blue and yellow with the letters VR pained on the front. This saved may parents the afternoon trip to collect me from the Station. On the walk home on the gravel road I would pass Uncle Tom and Aunty May’s house before reaching home. Melva Gillespie was studying at Sunshine Technical School and we sometimes both got off the train at the same time. On other occasions the Motor Train was replaced with a diesel engine with carriages, it was also required to stop and the driver had to be notified in advance. This meant getting into the guards van a Rockbank. It was more difficult alighting from the carriage as the gap was greater and more precarious to swing out and land on the ground. A few times in my last year of study at Melbourne Teachers College in Grattan Street Carlton. I managed to catch the 2.30 pm train to Serviceton, it was express to Melton and was very quick trip. The last train, was the 5.25 pm diesel to Ballarat and I usually caught this train to Melton South Station. On one occasion after being held up on the tram in Bourke street I had to make a mad dash to the platform chasing the train as it was just moving off and yelling to the guard, fortunately I was noticed and the train ground to halt. I scrambled into the end door and took most of the journey home to recover. After the last year at High School I continued to travel on the train, 2 years to Prahran Technical School changing at North Melbourne. There were a lot school children travelling to private schools and some at the primary level and mainly from Bacchus Marsh. Rockbank children also travelled by train from the beginning of their high school years, quite a few went to Sunshine High School. During my third year of teacher training I travelled to Flinders Street to RMIT for ceramics classes and Grattan St Teachers College located in the grounds of Melbourne University. There were many teachers being trained at the Secondary Teachers College due to the baby bulge creating a great shortage of teachers. Sunshine High School was very well represented amongst the different courses in Primary, Secondary and Art and Crafts. I attended Melbourne University lectures, studying a Fine Art subject. Bernard Smith was the most notable of the lecturers. he replaced Professor Joseph Bourke who had taken leave for the years. In 1962 he published the art book “Australian Painting”. The secondary art and craft student teachers from the College were in the majority, taking this subject and were well regarded due to their practical art and craft methods and their teaching round experience. In December 1964 I graduated as a Trained Secondary Teacher – Art and Crafts. The graduating ceremony was held at Wilson Hall. I received my appointment to work at Maryborough High School. Uncle Max and Aunty Rosemary Myers arranged my accommodation. Uncle Max was a teacher at the Maryborough Technical School fat the time. The appointment was suddenly changed when just before the school year was about to start when I received notification that I was now required to move to Warracknabeal High School. I was subject to a bond for the three years of training and three years of teaching and was under an obligation to comply with the directive of the Education Department. My father stood as guarantor when I was accepted as student at the Melbourne Teachers’ College, thus enabling me to receive my teacher training, and a 5 pounds a week allowance for expenses. After teaching for two years at Warracknabeal High School I was fortunate enough the gain a transfer to Sunshine West High School, returning to live at home in Melton and travelling by car to work with a fellow colleague, Jock Smith who lived at Station road Melton. I completed bond obligation and resigned at the end of the year. The employment regulations at that time did not allow the option of leave of absence for, indefinite overseas travel. I returned to Australia in October 1969. Visiting Arthur Hart the Principal of Sunshine High School he arranged with the Education Department for my re-employment at Sunshine High School until the end of the year. In 1970 I was transferred, and returned to Sunshine West High School where I worked for the next three years. In January 1968 I sailed on the “Oriana” to South Hampton with two teaching friends from Warracknabeal High School on a travelling and working holiday. Doreen Kiely, a former Bacchus Marsh High student and fellow train traveller from Bacchus Marsh, was already working in London, had arranged our accommodation at the London Travellers Club Hotel, Braham Gardens, Earls Court SW5. We based our stay at this address in London and travelled around Scotland, Ireland and England. In the summer we took a four month trip around the Continent and the Mediterranean. I registered with The Royal Borough Of Kingston Upon Thames as a Supply teacher, and worked at Chessington School form autumn to spring the following year and living with Mrs Rose Gillies at Kinross Avenue, Worcester Park, Surrey. In the spring of 1969 visiting Norway, Sweden and Finland joining an organised camping group to the Artic Circle, entered Russia at Leningrad (St Petersburg) Moscow, Minsk, to Poland and Czechoslovakia. In August returning to Worcester Park for the flight to Montreal to stay with cousin Lynette and husband Jurgen. A side trip was taken to Toronto, Niagara Falls and New York. The flight home from Montreal to Melbourne took 52 hours. A ½ day break in Vancouver before boarding the Qantas boeing 707 via San Francisco, Honolulu, Fiji, Sydney to Melbourne. Around the world in 21 months. Photographs of Wendy local identities -
Ballarat and District Irish Association
Photograph - digital, Shane Dunne, St Patrick's, Elaine, 2013
... shall be their God.” In doing this work, I am pleased to learn....” In doing this work, I am pleased to learn that you have not only ...St Patrick's Catholic Church Elaine closed in 2013. Originally known as "Stony Rises" Elaine could once claim the largest Catholic church congregation in the Meredith parish, due to the extensive mining activity in the area. At the time the population of the district supported three hotels and 4 churches and the town was served by a water supply from a reservoir at Lal Lal. Elaine in common with other rural communities has lost many of the services that were once available, but it still retains a well maintained Catholic church and Public Hall as well as a Hotel, Post Office, General Store and Service Station. (http://www.parishofmeredith.org.au/elaine_h.html, accessed 04/03/2014) The St Patrick‘s Church at Elaine was opened on Sunday 28th, November, 1909 and a report appeared in the Advocate on December 4th, 1909. "On Sunday last the Very Rev.Dean Phelan, V.G., blessed a new church at Elaine, in the parish of Meredith. The church, which was built by a local firm, Messrs. Smith Bros, is a weather-board building on brick foundations, and gives a clear seating accommodation of 50 feet by 25 feet, independent of sanctuary, sacristy, and porch. After the ceremony, which commenced at 11 o‘clock, the pastor of the parish, Rev.M.Murphy, celebrated Mass, and the choir from St.Joseph‘s, Meredith, sang in a highly creditable manner portions of Weber‘s Mass, also a hymn to St.Patrick, under whose patronage the church is placed. The financial statement made by Fr.Murphy showed that the entire cost of the building, alter, seats, etc, was $1103.10; that $620 had been subscribed previous to the opening, and over $140 received on Sunday, including $20 from his Grace the Archbishop, and $10 each from the Dean and Fr.Murphy. After Communion the Very Rev.Dean Phelan preached on the necessity of a church as a dwelling place for God in His Eucharist Presence. Taking for his text, “Behold the tabernacle of God with men: He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people; and He Himself with them shall be their God.” In doing this work, I am pleased to learn that you have not only received material assistance from some who do not kneel at this altar, but that the authorities of the Presbyterian Church have given you their organ for the Mass today. This generous action deserves our special thanks and is in striking contrast with the anti-Catholic prejudice shown in other quarters. It reminds me of the action of Hiram, King of Tyre, when he heard that Solomon was about to build a house to the God of Israel. Not only did he offer cedar-trees from Libanus, but skilled men to carve the wood, and sent his trained sailors to assist in bringing from the mines of Ophir four hundred and twenty talents of gold for internal decoration. May that spirit of Christian charity ever dwell in your midst! (http://www.parishofmeredith.org.au/elaine_h.html, accessed 04/03/2014) The stained glass window of St Patrick was consecrated in 1928. According to The Geelong Advertiser on 25 July 1928: One of the largest congregations that has ever been in St.Patrick‘s Church attended on Sunday last, the occasion being the consecration of a memorial window to the memory of James Connell, who died in his 25th year in February last. Deceased was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. John Connell, respected residents of Elaine. He was loved and respected by all sections of the community, and was closely connected with all sporting bodies. Friends of the deceased and the family were present from Ararat, Stawell, Ballarat, Melbourne, Geelong and all the surrounding districts, also members of other denominations. A few noticed were Cr.C.C.Austin, Mr.H.Young, Mrs.A.Bowers, Mrs.Gray, Mr.and Mrs.R.Norgate and others. The stained window was made by Brookes Robinson in Melbourne, bearing the image of St.Patrick and the inscription thereon “To the undying memory of James Connell, who died 3.2.28 R.I.P.” The beautiful window was kindly placed in position by Mr.Bill Smith, Meredith. High Mass with full ceremonies was offered by Rev.Fr.F.Conlon,P.P., Meredith, with six alter attendants from St.Josephs School, Meredith. The Meredith choir, with Mrs.R.Grant organist, assisted by Miss K.Johnson (violin) rendered beautiful music, the principal parts of the singing being capably handled by Mrs.Thos Brady, Father Conlon took as his text, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, said the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow them.” With well chosen remarks Fr.Conlon touched feelingly on the many qualities of the late member. First as a good son; secondly as a good citizen and sportsman; thirdly as a good child of the church. The choir conducted an impressive ceremony with “Nearer my God to Thee.” (http://www.parishofmeredith.org.au/elaine_h.html, accessed 04/03/2014) Five colour photographs of St Patrick's Elaineelaine, st patrick, st patrick's elaine, . catholic, stained glass, james connell, james joseph connell -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph, Mary Owen, granddaughter of Walter Withers, unveiling the commemorative plaque on Walter Withers Rock at the corner of Bible and Arthur Streets, Eltham, 13 Oct 1990, 13/10/1990
... about him and his work than I do. Walter Withers died nearly... about him and his work than I do. Walter Withers died nearly ...[from EDHS Newsletter No. 75, November 1990:] WALTER WITHERS PLAQUE At long last we have unveiled our plaque in the Walter Withers Reserve. The function was attended by a number of members and friends of the Society and descendants of the Withers family. Following the unveiling, the group proceeded to the Eltham Shire Office for afternoon tea and a small exhibition of Withers' paintings arranged by Andrew Mackenzie. The unveiling was performed by Mary Owen, a grand-daughter of Walter Withers. Her speech provided an interesting personal perspective on Withers and is repeated in full here: I feel somewhat overwhelmed by the responsibility of paying tribute to the man you have all come to honour today. I have the feeling that most of you probably know more about him and his work than I do. Walter Withers died nearly seven years before I was born and so I never knew him. Sadly, although other members of his family inherited some of his talent, I was not among them and I know very little about art. This is doubly hard to bear because my husband had some ability to draw and my second daughter also has some talent in this direction. My children are all artistic - mostly in the field of music inherited partly from their father - a Welshman who sang like a Welshman - and partly from my grandmother, Fanny Withers who, I believe was no mean pianist. However all this talent gave me a miss and for many years I felt a complete ignoramus in the fields of the arts. It was not until I was nearly fifty years old that I walked into a gallery in Brisbane and, as I wandered around the room, suddenly one picture leapt at me and I knew instantly that it had been painted by my grandfather. I had never seen the picture before and it gave me quite a shock to find that I had recognized the style of painting. I realized then that I had absorbed more than I realized simply by living with pictures and with people who painted them and talked about their painting and the painting of others. When I was a child I sometimes spent school holidays with my Aunt Margery Withers and her husband, Richard McCann. Aunt Marge painted me several times but I'm afraid I was a restless subject and used to sit reading a book and look up grudgingly when she wanted to paint my eyes. During the September holidays my aunt and uncle were busy preparing paintings far the annual exhibition of the Melbourne Twenty Painters, to which they both belonged. I remember how important I used to feel when they took me along to the Athenaeum Gallery on the Friday night before the opening to help hang their pictures. There were many artists there but the two I remember are perhaps surprisingly both women: Miss Bale and Miss Tweddle. I remember how cold it used to be up in that gallery at night. They used to heat water on a gas ring to make tea and Aunt Marge used to bring sandwiches and fruit for our evening meal. Everyone seemed to be poor in those days and no-one dreamed of going out for a meal. It was a case of make-do - even to cutting down frames to fit pictures or cutting pictures to fit the frames. They had to use the same frames from year to year if the pictures didn't sell. The opening was an exciting event for me. I felt I was privileged to meet important people - people who knew a lot more than I - and Uncle Dick would get quite merry after a couple of the tiny sweet sherries which were always distributed. I realise now that quite a lot of "art talk" rubbed off on me during my visits to the Athenaeum and during my stays with my aunt and uncle. I suspect that much of our most useful learning comes this way and those of us who have had the privilege of associating with artists, writers, philosophers and other thinkers have a richness in our lives of which we may be unaware. Walter Withers was a prolific painter and, although he painted for love of it, I suspect that the need to provide for his family drove him, like Mozart, to greater efforts than he might otherwise have achieved. Reading old letters and articles about the Heidelberg artists, I have come to realize something of the constant strain placed on many of them - particularly Withers and McCubbin - by poverty and the need to make ends meet. Withers was ever conscious of the need to provide for his wife and his five children and there are touching letters to his wife, regretting that he was not able to earn more for them. In addition to his painting, he worked hard at teaching and illustrating and, as he grew older, the strain began to tell and his health deteriorated. He seems never to have had a very strong constitution and suffered from rheumatism, which must have made painting quite painful at times. His eldest daughter, Gladys, was eventually confined to a wheelchair with rheumatoid arthritis and I have a tendency to arthritis myself, so I am particularly aware of what this could have meant to him. Recently I found a short letter written by my mother to her mother, Fanny Withers on the anniversary of her father's birthday in 1919, in which she said: "Poor old Dad, I often think now what a lot he must have suffered. His life was too hard and too strenuous for him. He had too many chick-a-biddies, I think. He wasn't equal to so much town life and train journeys with so many delicacies as he had. Since I have been ill, I have realised what he must have felt like.” He certainly drove himself to produce. He travelled all over Victoria by train, buggy, bicycle and on foot and for a time he travelled from Eltham to Melbourne every day by train, although later he lived in Melbourne during the week and only returned to Eltham for the weekends. My mother died seven years after her father's death, when my twin sisters were 10 days old and I was 16 months. So I never knew my mother or my grandfather. But my two aunts, Gladys and Margery, sometimes took me to stay with Gan Withers at Southernwood in Bolton Street . No cars in those days and it seemed a very long hot and dusty walk from the Station. Three memories remain with me of Southernwood. One is the well at the back which I found quite terrifying; the second is Gan killing a snake - even more terrifying. She was a formidable woman, my grandmother and a great ally and support to her husband. I think she was the business end of the partnership. The third memory of Southernwood is my grandfather's studio – down what seemed like a toy staircase inside the room. This and the big walk-in fireplace stayed in my mind from the age of about six until I saw them again about forty years later when the house was being used as a Sunday School. I just wish that money could be found to purchase this old house for the City of Eltham so that a permanent museum could be established in memory of a man who did so much to put Eltham on the map of art history. Recently I have become interested in family history and spent some time in England, Ireland and Wales looking for traces of my ancestors. I realized then how important it is to have records of people who have contributed to our society. We forget so soon and it is amazing how often, within two generations, names, dates and many details are forgotten. We are fortunate that so many of Walter Withers' works have been bought by galleries and that people like Andrew Mackenzie have taken the trouble to search out people who knew him and to write about him and his work. And I am very grateful to the Historical Society of Eltham for recognizing the importance of having a permanent tribute in Eltham to the contribution made by Walter Withers, who loved Eltham so much and who has assured this lovely district a place in the annals of history. I am indebted to Kathleen Mangan; the daughter of another famous Australian painter , Fred McCubbin, - featured in The Age this morning (thanks again to Andrew Mackenzie) for the most apt tribute to Walter Withers. Kathleen is not well and she rang me a couple of days ago, regretting that she could not be present today “to pay tribute” as she said, “to Walter Withers for I always think Walter Withers is the spirit of Eltham.” Thank you, Kathleen. And now I have much pleasure in unveiling the plaque commissioned by the Eltham Historical Society from Bob McLellan of Charmac Industries to commemorate the life and work of Walter Withers, the spirit of Eltham. Mary Owen, 13 October 1990.Three colour photographswalter withers rock, walter withers reserve, mary owen -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph, Mary Owen, granddaughter of Walter Withers, unveiling the commemorative plaque on Walter Withers Rock at the corner of Bible and Arthur Streets, Eltham, 13 Oct 1990, 13/10/1990
... about him and his work than I do. Walter Withers died nearly... about him and his work than I do. Walter Withers died nearly ...[from EDHS Newsletter No. 75, November 1990:] WALTER WITHERS PLAQUE At long last we have unveiled our plaque in the Walter Withers Reserve. The function was attended by a number of members and friends of the Society and descendants of the Withers family. Following the unveiling, the group proceeded to the Eltham Shire Office for afternoon tea and a small exhibition of Withers' paintings arranged by Andrew Mackenzie. The unveiling was performed by Mary Owen, a grand-daughter of Walter Withers. Her speech provided an interesting personal perspective on Withers and is repeated in full here: I feel somewhat overwhelmed by the responsibility of paying tribute to the man you have all come to honour today. I have the feeling that most of you probably know more about him and his work than I do. Walter Withers died nearly seven years before I was born and so I never knew him. Sadly, although other members of his family inherited some of his talent, I was not among them and I know very little about art. This is doubly hard to bear because my husband had some ability to draw and my second daughter also has some talent in this direction. My children are all artistic - mostly in the field of music inherited partly from their father - a Welshman who sang like a Welshman - and partly from my grandmother, Fanny Withers who, I believe was no mean pianist. However all this talent gave me a miss and for many years I felt a complete ignoramus in the fields of the arts. It was not until I was nearly fifty years old that I walked into a gallery in Brisbane and, as I wandered around the room, suddenly one picture leapt at me and I knew instantly that it had been painted by my grandfather. I had never seen the picture before and it gave me quite a shock to find that I had recognized the style of painting. I realized then that I had absorbed more than I realized simply by living with pictures and with people who painted them and talked about their painting and the painting of others. When I was a child I sometimes spent school holidays with my Aunt Margery Withers and her husband, Richard McCann. Aunt Marge painted me several times but I'm afraid I was a restless subject and used to sit reading a book and look up grudgingly when she wanted to paint my eyes. During the September holidays my aunt and uncle were busy preparing paintings far the annual exhibition of the Melbourne Twenty Painters, to which they both belonged. I remember how important I used to feel when they took me along to the Athenaeum Gallery on the Friday night before the opening to help hang their pictures. There were many artists there but the two I remember are perhaps surprisingly both women: Miss Bale and Miss Tweddle. I remember how cold it used to be up in that gallery at night. They used to heat water on a gas ring to make tea and Aunt Marge used to bring sandwiches and fruit for our evening meal. Everyone seemed to be poor in those days and no-one dreamed of going out for a meal. It was a case of make-do - even to cutting down frames to fit pictures or cutting pictures to fit the frames. They had to use the same frames from year to year if the pictures didn't sell. The opening was an exciting event for me. I felt I was privileged to meet important people - people who knew a lot more than I - and Uncle Dick would get quite merry after a couple of the tiny sweet sherries which were always distributed. I realise now that quite a lot of "art talk" rubbed off on me during my visits to the Athenaeum and during my stays with my aunt and uncle. I suspect that much of our most useful learning comes this way and those of us who have had the privilege of associating with artists, writers, philosophers and other thinkers have a richness in our lives of which we may be unaware. Walter Withers was a prolific painter and, although he painted for love of it, I suspect that the need to provide for his family drove him, like Mozart, to greater efforts than he might otherwise have achieved. Reading old letters and articles about the Heidelberg artists, I have come to realize something of the constant strain placed on many of them - particularly Withers and McCubbin - by poverty and the need to make ends meet. Withers was ever conscious of the need to provide for his wife and his five children and there are touching letters to his wife, regretting that he was not able to earn more for them. In addition to his painting, he worked hard at teaching and illustrating and, as he grew older, the strain began to tell and his health deteriorated. He seems never to have had a very strong constitution and suffered from rheumatism, which must have made painting quite painful at times. His eldest daughter, Gladys, was eventually confined to a wheelchair with rheumatoid arthritis and I have a tendency to arthritis myself, so I am particularly aware of what this could have meant to him. Recently I found a short letter written by my mother to her mother, Fanny Withers on the anniversary of her father's birthday in 1919, in which she said: "Poor old Dad, I often think now what a lot he must have suffered. His life was too hard and too strenuous for him. He had too many chick-a-biddies, I think. He wasn't equal to so much town life and train journeys with so many delicacies as he had. Since I have been ill, I have realised what he must have felt like.” He certainly drove himself to produce. He travelled all over Victoria by train, buggy, bicycle and on foot and for a time he travelled from Eltham to Melbourne every day by train, although later he lived in Melbourne during the week and only returned to Eltham for the weekends. My mother died seven years after her father's death, when my twin sisters were 10 days old and I was 16 months. So I never knew my mother or my grandfather. But my two aunts, Gladys and Margery, sometimes took me to stay with Gan Withers at Southernwood in Bolton Street . No cars in those days and it seemed a very long hot and dusty walk from the Station. Three memories remain with me of Southernwood. One is the well at the back which I found quite terrifying; the second is Gan killing a snake - even more terrifying. She was a formidable woman, my grandmother and a great ally and support to her husband. I think she was the business end of the partnership. The third memory of Southernwood is my grandfather's studio – down what seemed like a toy staircase inside the room. This and the big walk-in fireplace stayed in my mind from the age of about six until I saw them again about forty years later when the house was being used as a Sunday School. I just wish that money could be found to purchase this old house for the City of Eltham so that a permanent museum could be established in memory of a man who did so much to put Eltham on the map of art history. Recently I have become interested in family history and spent some time in England, Ireland and Wales looking for traces of my ancestors. I realized then how important it is to have records of people who have contributed to our society. We forget so soon and it is amazing how often, within two generations, names, dates and many details are forgotten. We are fortunate that so many of Walter Withers' works have been bought by galleries and that people like Andrew Mackenzie have taken the trouble to search out people who knew him and to write about him and his work. And I am very grateful to the Historical Society of Eltham for recognizing the importance of having a permanent tribute in Eltham to the contribution made by Walter Withers, who loved Eltham so much and who has assured this lovely district a place in the annals of history. I am indebted to Kathleen Mangan; the daughter of another famous Australian painter , Fred McCubbin, - featured in The Age this morning (thanks again to Andrew Mackenzie) for the most apt tribute to Walter Withers. Kathleen is not well and she rang me a couple of days ago, regretting that she could not be present today “to pay tribute” as she said, “to Walter Withers for I always think Walter Withers is the spirit of Eltham.” Thank you, Kathleen. And now I have much pleasure in unveiling the plaque commissioned by the Eltham Historical Society from Bob McLellan of Charmac Industries to commemorate the life and work of Walter Withers, the spirit of Eltham. Mary Owen, 13 October 1990.Two colour photographswalter withers rock, walter withers reserve, mary owen -
Mission to Seafarers Victoria
Photograph - Reproduction, Jay Miller, 6 June 2019
... missionaries with a mcs i sago which might degrade and "work ail I evil... missionaries with a mcs i sago which might degrade and "work ail I evil ...This photograph was published in the Geelong Advertiser on Friday 23 November 1906, page 4 with this article: "Owing to the generosity of an anonymous donor, the Victorian Missions to Seamen has been supplied with a long felt want in the shape of a modern motor launch to facilitate and render more efficient the work among the vessels in the Yarra and Hobson's Bay. The order for the construction of the boat, was placed with Mr. Chas. Blunt, of the Eastern Beach, and complimentary references were made to her graceful line- as she rode in light .trim after the launching on Wednesday afternoon. She is 31ft. long. Oft. beam, and has a depth of 3ft. The frame is of jarrah and ben* blackwood. and inch kauri planking has been used in building Iter. A neat deck-house with Oft. headroom is situat ed-umidsliip*. and a short mast is pro vided to carry the well-known blue flag of the -.fission. The launch motors will develop a speed of between nine and ten miles an hour: The finishing touches have yet to be given her. and she will afterwards be row«l to have her engines fitted in. -The launch will he ready for service for the busy wheat season com mencing at- the end of the year. The launching ceremony took place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the builder's yards, in the .presence of njarge gather ing of spectators. The Archdeacon of Geelong. the Rev. O. P. C'ros-.ley. ecu ducted a short dedication service, and the other clergymen who took part in the service were the Primate of Aus tralia. the Right Rev. Dr. Sauiuarcz Smith: the Rev. A. Giirney Goldsmith, the Missions chaplain: and the Rev. H. Kelly. The Bishop of Newcastle, Dr. Stretch, and the chaplain of the New castle Mission, the Rev. AYnddy. and Canon Nash were also present. The Primpte. addressing the gar boring as "My good friends of Geelong." said be had never been in sight of the hay before. bill had'gladly accepted the in vitation to say a few words in connec tion with the dedication of tiro launch. He had always been interested in mis sions of all sorts, as they ali as Christian men and women 110 doubt- were, and lie was particularly interested in Missions to Seamen, because in the Society at' borne, with which this Society was con nected, he had a son-in-law who was mission chaplain in the Medway. He therefore know something about a launch for the purpose of a mission like this, and also knew 'something about missions to seamen. In Sydney for some time past it had been doing good work—work which he was sure they would all feel was of the widest possible value. This year he was at the annual meeting of the Missions to Seamen in London presided over by the Bishop o-f Stcphney. -He (the Primate) at that meeting remarked that the Mission in it, value was personal, local and Im perial. It was of personal value to thee who came under the ministra tions of the church, and in the social as pect : it was local because where the Mission existed the feelings of the lo cality were thrown out. in sympathy with j tlie -Mission, and the people themselves thus benefited. It was also a matter of Imperial interest because it- was really i a world-wide Mission, inasmuch as the | sailors as they" went from one part of the world to another were in themselves j missionaries either for evil or for good, i Thev might he missionaries with a mcs i sago which might degrade and "work ail I evil influence amongst, men, and with i conduct which might reflect a reproach !' upon Christian profession. On the other hand, they might be Chrisian men endeavoring more and more to show the .example of the Christian life in the J midst of very big difficulties and tempta tions. • -Ho came to show liis sympathy with tlio appropriately-named '"'Southern Cross," and from what lie had boon told he believed she was a good boat, a good gift, and launched for a good purpose. They should be thankful that it was a good boat and .thankful because it was a good gift by an anonymous donor, whom he congratulated on doing such a useful thing." The idea of the launch ing ceremony was to ask the blessing of God because ".Except the Lord hless'the house their labor is hut lost'that build it." The Archdeacon expressed thanks to the Primate for attending the cere mony, and regretted that the Arch bishop was unable to attend. They dc- | sired that the boat- should always be as sociated with the.Church Congress 1906. I The opening hymn was "For those in j peril on the sea," followed hv Psalm I 107, "'They'that, go down to the sea in 1 Ships." Tlio prayers included an ap peal foiUDirine blessing on .the launch, and for tho preservation of those who may travel in her. ' Xlio Benediction was pronounced by the Primate, and the christening cere mony performed by Hiss Connibere. From the bow there was suspended a bottle of pure water covered with red, white and blue streamers and roses. Dashing the bottle in,fragments against the launch's bow. Miss Connibere named her the "Southern Cross." Cheers were given for the launch/and as she travell ed down the slip further cheers were given. She carried the Mission flag at tho masthead, and between Union Jacks at tho bow and stern, a long string of flags fluttered gaily* in the breeze. The collection was in aid of the Mis sions to Seamen and the Geelong Sailors' Rest.Reproduction of a photograph from a newspaper.Fujifilm / Quality Dry Photo papersouthern cross, motor boat, mission to seamen, seamen's mission, charles blunt, blunt boatbuilders, geelong