This item came from the estate of Dorothy and Agnes Ardlie of Warrnambool. It is a type of autograph book where the signatures are used to form inkblots, thus creating patterns which in this case are called the ‘ghosts’ of those signing. The making and interpreting of ink blots became popular in the late 19th century and this autograph book created by Cecil Henland is a quirky example of this craze. The autograph book belonged to Agnes Ardlie and was apparently given to her on her 13th birthday (1928). Dorothy Ardlie (1910-1993) and Agnes Ardlie (1915-1993) were the daughters of Arthur and Ethel Ardlie of Warrnambool, the granddaughters of the prominent Warrnambool lawyer, William Ardlie and his wife Mary and the great granddaughters of John and Mary Ardlie, pioneer settlers in Warrnambool. This book is of great interest as a good example of an early 20th century style of autograph book using the signatures to form ink blots. It also has local provenance as the signatures/blots are mostly those of an Ardlie family and other early to mid 20th century Warrnambool personalities.This is a book of 50 pages. The cover is dark red with the inkblot or ‘ghost of a celebrated general’ in black and white in the middle of the front cover. This inkblot is reprinted on the second page. The front cover and spine have gold printing. The book originally had 48 blank pages with a fold down the middle and printed space at the top and bottom for a date and a name. This book has 19 blank pages and the others are filled with ink blots formed by writing a signature along the fold and then folding over the sheet without blotting to get patterns called in this book, ‘ghosts’. The book has a signature and an inscription handwritten in black ink, a page of instructions, and a poem called ‘Ghosts’. To Agnes with love from Mickie Sept 5th 1928 Agnes Marianne Ardlie ardlie family, history of warrnambool

A b/w photograph mounted on card of students of Sunbury State School No. 1002 taken in 1914. The group is taken in front of the shelter shed on Macedon Street site. (Names are on the photo and also on catalogue worksheet)Printed on front: Sunbury State School 1914 / "see on back"schools, sunbury state school, macedon street, sunbury, dempsey, bill, walls, stan, -, neville, trask, con, clayton, 'doctor', parke, cecil (saishle), griffins, maurice, ter hofstede, gerat, s, g., titford, willie, healey, perc, austin, johnnie, boardman, eric, wilson, don, smith, d. n., williams, will, baker, arthur, johnstone, bert, clarence, 'darkie', mclauchlin, bob, annie, jamieson, jessie, gilchrist, hazel, balfour, jean, rita, leggett, betty, curry, jim, hudson, ted, ray, flintoft, billie, syd, finn, jack, hilda, mavis, florence, gregor, lilian, dorothy, mclellan, alice, stagoll, millie, polly, leggo, margaret, bailey, lily, mcgregor, butcher, ruth, burke, connie, nellie, ella, alma, phillips, sadie, coggins, eileen, johnston, george, olive, gordon, effie, iris, vera, down, len, mickie, gilmour, wil, wykes, laurie, lacey, alan, huf, c. w. (mrs), shelter sheds, 1910s, george evans collection