On the 29th of May 1954, a local Eltham carpenter by the name of John Swallow, committed a double murder at his home on New Street. This happened on the same day as the federal election of that year. John 48, his wife Mary 47, and stepdaughter Patricia 25, all went to the Eltham Courthouse on Main Road to cast their vote in the election that Saturday. After voting they returned home to their New Street house around midday. Patricia would later recall to ambulance officers, that she was feeling unwell, and so went to lay down when she heard an argument erupt over voting between her mother Mary and stepfather John. A concerned neighbour heard loud thudding noises and yelling coming from John and Mary’s house, he went to investigate. When he arrived at the house he was met by John at the front door. He would later describe John as “having a frantic look upon his face, and manic eyes”. John must have been a sight, bleeding and clutching a cut throat razor by his side. He then announced to the neighbour, “they voted commie!” before turning and going back inside. The distressed neighbour immediately raced home to call the Police. When the police arrived, they found Mary dead on the kitchen floor from catastrophic head injuries; her daughter, Patricia, clinging to life, slumped on her bed. Both women had been attacked by the same weapon, a large hammer, or sledge hammer as reported by the newspapers. John was also discovered in the house, bleeding from self-inflicted wounds from the razor, and had attempted to ingest caustic soda. Patricia was taken to St Vincent’s hospital, but died the following day, the 30th of May. John was also taken to St Vincent’s, where he remained under constant police guard for several months while he recovered from his injuries, at least the physical. He was eventually well enough to be taken to the City Watch House and then Pentridge Prison before his trial in October of the same year. When it came time for John to face the courts, the Judge called a mistrial, the Crown would not prosecute on the grounds of insanity. John was led away from the dock of The Magistrates Court and taken directly to Willsmere, the Kew Mental Asylum. On the 9th of August 1962, John Mervyn Swallow died of heart failure, he was 57. He had been a resident of Kew for four years. John’s body was returned to Eltham Cemetery and buried in the same grave as Mary. There is no mention of his name on the head stone. Patricia’s grave is next to Mary and John. A sad irony has an angel upon her grave, “its head missing”, possibly vandals or just an accident of time and events. What became of the home where all of this took place on New Street shall remain a mystery but within six months of this horrific event, the street had been re-named to Lavender Park Road after the original property near the end of the road, Lavender Park. In Memory Of Mary Josephine Swallow Died 29th May 1954 aged 47 Also Patricia Cathryn Hill Dearly beloved wife of Kel Called home 30th May 1954 Aged 25 yearsBorn Digitaleltham cemetery, gravestones, mary josephine swallow, patricia catherine hill, john swallow

Initially collated by Harry Gilham as part of a file on Eltham Cemeteryeltham cemetery, john swallow, kel hill, mary josephine swallow, patricia catherine hill

This photo has been in the Hegarty famly collection since the twenties. It shows a group of workers from the Cardbox Department of J Kitchen & Sons Pty Ltd, of Ingles Street, Port Melbourne. These workers made boxes for soap by hand, i.e. presentation boxes for Christmas gifts. There are three sets of sisters in this photo: Lily and Alma Eddy, who travelled from Coburg; Mabel and Florrie McPherson and Alice and Myrtle Mott, all of Cruikshank Street. Mrs Myrtle Mott Bennett of Box Hill, was able to identify Millie Robinson (front row, 2nd from left) of Graham Street, Alice Mott (back row, 3rd from left). She is 2nd from left in front row. After all these years, it was hard to remember who was who! Alice Mott started working at Kitchen's at 14 year old, and her younger sister Myrtle started there at 15 years, having worked for a year at Swallows. Myrtle was to spend 15 years there prior to her marriage in 1939, and received a gold watch for long service She feels that working at Kichens was a bit more prestigious than Swallows. John and Jim Bradley were the foremen and were real gentlemen!Copy of photo of twelve young workers from cardboard department of J Kitchen & Sons, Ingles Street. Also an attachment (.02) written by Barbara Gardiner which lists all the people in the photo.business and traders - soaps/candles, john bradley, jim bradley, j kitchen & sons pty ltd, myrtle bennett nee mott, alice mott, millie robinson, florrie mcpherson, mabel mcpherson, lily eddy, alma eddy, hegarty family

The Dusky Woodswallow is often found in flocks which can be located in two separate populations. The Eastern population if located in Atherton Tableland in Queensland south to Tasmania and west to Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. The other population is found in south-west Western Australia. They reside in open forests and woodlands. This species is surprisingly aggressive and may fight with other Woodswallows for territory and nest sights. They will even chase raptors away from their homes. This species flies in flocks of around 10 to 30 birds which cluster together. In terms of diet, these birds eat insects and nectar from flowers. This specimen is part of a collection of almost 200 animal specimens that were originally acquired as skins from various institutions across Australia, including the Australian Museum in Sydney and the National Museum of Victoria (known as Museums Victoria since 1983), as well as individuals such as amateur anthropologist Reynell Eveleigh Johns between 1860-1880. These skins were then mounted by members of the Burke Museum Committee and put-on display in the formal space of the Museum’s original exhibition hall where they continue to be on display. This display of taxidermy mounts initially served to instruct visitors to the Burke Museum of the natural world around them, today it serves as an insight into the collecting habits of the 19th century.This specimen is part of a significant and rare taxidermy mount collection in the Burke Museum. This collection is scientifically and culturally important for reminding us of how science continues to shape our understanding of the modern world. They demonstrate a capacity to hold evidence of how Australia’s fauna history existed in the past and are potentially important for future environmental research. This collection continues to be on display in the Museum and has become a key part to interpreting the collecting habits of the 19th century.The Dusky Woodswallow has largely deep brown colouring with some areas of grey on the head, neck and chest. There is a deeper brown colouring between the wings on the back of the specimen and the wings are black. This bird has a small curved bill which is grey and white. The legs are dark grey and the bird has long talons with an extra long toe in the centre. The eyes are made of brown glass with a back pupil. The bird is styalised standing on a wooden mount and has a paper identification tag attached to its right leg.[torn] / 9 /taxidermy mount, taxidermy, animalia, burke museum, beechworth, australian museum, skin, reynell eveleigh johns, bird, australian birds, swallow, woodswallow, dusky woodswallow

This photograph shows Orbost's first cricket team in the Lochiel paddock - C 1880's.Included are: Alec Cameron; Harry Richardson; Jo Swallow; Matt Lynch; Joe Roderick; ? Hatton; Alf Richardson; Janes Cameron; John Cameron;John FarquharSport is often regarded as an important part of life in rural Australia. Cricket is one of the most popular sports in Australia at international, domestic and local levels. It has been played in Australia for more than 200 years. This photograph is a pictorial record of an Orbost cricket team in the nineteenth century.A black / white photograph of a group of men standing in front of a cricket pitch. Two men are holding cricket bats and are wearing pads. One man is crouching.sport-cricket recreation-cricket

"In Safe hands: Presidents of the Port Melbourne Football Club", by Terry KEENAN. describes the 29 presidents of the Port Melbourne Football Clubcyril letts, richard taylor, william swallow, peter saultry, albert victor renowden, sport - australian rules football, thomas swallow, carl frederick julius seismann, john finlay malcolmson, frederick thomas derham, george sangster, arthur tate, arthur hester, franz opitz, george alexander rogers, james peter crichton, william harper, arthur hardingham, hugh stranaghan, henry lang, walter 'watty' power, thomas griffin, joseph earle, albert garbutt, henry perazzo, james mutch, norm goss snr, henry harrison, john bradley, port melbourne football club, pmfc, alexander arthur james

a. Book with a mottled blue-grey cover with brown leather spine and extends 5.5 cm to front and back. Corner edges also had the leather, two are missing and the other two are dilapidated. A red stuck on tape near the top of the spine had Ledger printed with some gold edging, most of which is worn off. Inside the front and back covers is a red, blue and white marble pattern. Front and back covers have been reinforced with white tape. 542 page Ledger Book for a general produce merchant. Probably Albert Bush. Alphabetical index at front. Entries in black ink on all pages and date from 1888 to 1920. Loose 4 page foolscap inside front cover listing Rolling Stock and Value. b. A pocket in the back of the book contains 6 pieces of paper relating to business and finance. Items include Discounts and Commission from 1888 to 1899, a note on insurance, a note dated June 2/90 headed Mr A Bush Sandhurst Dr to S A Bush & Co listing monthly amounts of money from Jan 1890 and 1889. Some amounts are with the name G P Reddie.Another one is a Building A/C dated 1889. Another is a balance sheet written on a page with another one written on the back and dated 1893. One written on paper headed Bush's Stores, Main Street, Bairnsdale and printed S.A.Bush & Co. It looks like a list of repayments listed in 8 bills. The other side of the page refers to Bill of Sales for Yeates & Baker and Bill of Sales held by the Bank of New South Wales. There is also a copy of two letters addressed to A Bush, one dated Oct 17.06 from H Hopkins referring to the late Mr Baker's property in Sale. The other is addressed to A Bush Esq and signed Harry Hopkins and also signed by Albert Bush and dated Nov 28 1906 in reference to the sale of a property.business, retail, bushs, bush collection - ledger book 1888 to 1920, abbott & co, allcock ?, australian producers & traders ltd, bush s a, bush albert, broome sp, brealey w h, blogg bros, b'daledistrict farmers co-op coy ltd, bush and hopkins, berry henry, brockhoff & co, bush mrs albert, colonial bank, corden i s & co, crosby h m, cannon j e, dudgeon and arnell, drevermann & coy, fry bros, felton grimwade & coy, fyansford maunfacturing coy, gearing jas, hawthorn rhodes & coy, henebery john, harper r & co, holford's contract, jack a & co, kellie wm, kitchen & co, kronheimer & co, miller d, lewis & whitty, levy bros and coy, melbourne chilled butter coy, mooney i, mitchell & coy, mann mrs, mceacharn & son, macrobertson, mckenzie i & co, parsons bros & coy ltd, peterson & coy, phoenix biscuit coy, reddie g p estate, ross bros, gippsland news, rosella preserving coy, rolfe and coy, robur tea coy, ross, ryan w, russo and santamria, sniders i ? b, swallow and ariell ltd, sutherland john, service & co jas, smallman mrs, thomas w c, sandhurst & n d trustees coy, voght george, victoria soap & candle coy, vogt k, vickers and gardner's contract, west z, west h m, water and kerang roller mill coy, yeates and watson, yeates and baker, yates and c ? arthur, yeates jas

The former Deep Rock Swimming Pool was about 500 yards [457 metres] above Dight’s Falls. It was there that the Deep Rock Swimming Club was established in 1906. This initial club was expanded in 1916 to incorporate a life-saving club. In 1918, John Wren, the president of the club offered the club £1000, and undertook to sponsor a patriotic carnival in March 1918, at which swimming champions would take part. The ‘pool’ was to achieve fame as the venue for a world record-breaking ‘swallow dive’ of 205 feet 9 inches [63 metres] by ‘Prince Wickyama’, [aka Alec Wickham], a Solomon Islander. The dive from a special platform on the west side of the Yarra was reputedly viewed by between 50,000-100,000 spectators, with funds going to the State War Council. The Herald, 25 March 1918, claimed that the wide area occupied by spectators made more precise estimates impossible. In the 1980s, the construction of the Eastern Freeway, and the consequent re-routing of the Yarra River led to the site of the Deep Rock Pool being obliterated. A small cairn and plaque on the Fairfield side of the river now marks its former site.Very rare early photograph off the Deep Rock swimming pool. The pool and its built structures are historically and socially important to the people of Collingwood, Fairfield and Kew. Small, faded, Gelatin Silver print positive photograph of the Deep Rock Swimming Pool situated on the Yarra at Collingwood and Fairfield. The famous diving tower is at the right of the photo. The built structures were constructed for the Deep Rock Swimming and Life Saving Club. People are sitting on the terraces above the river. "Bathing Club. Deep Rock on the Yarra. Studley Park Melbourne. Please credit E.J. Thomasson Collection"deep rock swimming pool, deep rock swimming club, deep rock lifesaving club, swimming -- river yarra, river yarra

In this scanned image, from the 1955 RVIB Annual Report, five blind saxophone players hold their instruments on a stage. L-R: Barry Palmer, Arthur Tyzack, Alan Campbell, Dick Sutcliffe (?), John Levercha. They won acclaim for their radio performances in 'Swallows Parade' and 'Floor Coverings Talent Hour,' and its recordings with the A.B.C., and performed in night clubs.B/W scan of saxophone quintetdick sutcliffe, barry palmer, arthur tyzack, alan campbell, john levercha