Before plastic became commonplace in the 1950's dolls were typically made of this material which comprised a "combination" of sawdust and wood dust and glue which was then moulded in the required shape then painted and varnished. The head, arms and legs are made of this material. The body is stuffing covered in a cotton fabric.This doll has eyes that open and close and her teeth are visible and has a crying mechanism in the back. Her hair is possibly mohair and shoes are a synthetic material with metal buckles. The main enemy of composite material is water.It was a common practice for a girl to be given a doll and numerous outfits would be home made by mothers and grandmothers. This doll came to us with the name "Shirley" so possibly a Shirley Temple doll which were popular at the time.Dolls were a common child's toy and as such has strong social significance. This is a composition doll from the 1940's. It has composite arms and legs and face. Facial features are painted on and the teeth are moulded and white. Eyes are blue and open and close on moving the doll. The hair is light brown with curls and she wears pink Mary Jane style shoes. A crying mechanism is inserted in the body of the doll. The face has multiple crazed markings. composition doll, shirley doll, warrnambool, 1940's doll

This mechanism was used to weigh sugarbeet at the Maffra Sugarbeet Factory. This is a Full Capacity Steelyard Weighbridge. It is accompanied, on the wall, by a diagram of a Proportional Steelyard, with weights on the bar. This one weighs to 10,000 kg.A Boemer weighbridge mechanism. It has a series of cogs on the left with a handle that when turned lifts a large weight. Across the top is the weighing bar, with a moving weight. On the right side is a handle that when turned moves the weighing bar up or down. It has modern green paint on it.sugarbeet, instruments

The Lister Auto-Truck was a small monowheel tractor built for moving light loads around factories, railway yards and similar sites. They were built by R A Lister and Company of Dursley, Gloucestershire, well known for their range of small stationary engines The Auto-Truck was one of several monowheel tractors to appear in the 1920s and '30s, with the availability of small, reliable petrol engines, as developed for motorcycles and the stationary engines for which Lister were already known. These were tricycle vehicles, with the single leading wheel used for both drive and steering. Their simple construction carried most of the mechanism on this wheel as a single unit, the chassis with the trailing wheels being little more than a trailer for balance. Simplicity was a key feature. The engines were single-cylinder and air-cooled. Ignition was by magneto, rather than requiring a battery and electrical system. One of these designs was produced in the 1920s by George Grist of the Auto Mower Co., Norton St Philip, Somerset. The engine was a JAP 600 cc four-stroke air-cooled sidevalve, a typical small engine of the time. The Auto Mower Co. were Lister agents and when Lister heard of this 'Auto-Truck' they bought one for use in their own factory. It was used to carry heavy engine castings from the foundry to the machine shop. Lister customers saw them and there was such interest in wanting to buy them that Lister negotiated with Auto Mower to build them under licence. Although Lister were already well known for their small petrol stationary engines, these were heavy cast-iron engines with water hopper cooling and unsuitable for vehicle use. Lister remained with the JAP engine for the Auto-Truck. The Auto-Truck was designed for use in factories or other places with smooth surfaces of concrete or tarmac. This allowed the use of small solid-tyred wheels with only simple suspension, making the vehicle simple, cheap and lightweight. They had little ability on soft surfaces though and could even topple over if driven carelessly across slopes. Their design was a compromise between the top-heavy nature of the tall engine grouping above its wheel and a well thought-out chassis for stability. The bearing between them was a large diameter ring roller bearing, mounted at the lowest part of the chassis. This gave rigidity and stability, even after long wear. A ring of rolled channel girder was attached to the engine group and rollers on the chassis carried the load upon this. On early Auto-Trucks this bearing is set very low, in line with the chassis members, and is covered by thin steel plates. The front panel of the engine cover is distinctive with large ventilation holes and a Lister signature cut through it. Strangely this panel is made of thick cast iron, providing substantial weight high on the engine and only adding to its top heaviness. To improve visibility of moving vehicles in noisy factories, this panel was often painted white, the rest of the vehicle being Lister's usual brunswick green. The driver was seated on a Brooks bicycle saddle, which in recognition of the lack of vehicle suspension, was carried on the end of a cantilevered bar that acted as a leaf spring. A wide handlebar on the engine group was used for steering. A squeeze bar the width of this handlebar engaged the clutch. Controls included a hand throttle, a gear lever with two forward and one reverse gears, and a large handbrake lever. The engine unit rotated freely for a full 360° rotation. When used in reverse, the Auto-Truck could either be driven from the saddle, looking backwards over the driver's shoulder; or they could dismount, swivel the engine unit around and control it as a pedestrian-controlled truck from behind. Under the engine cover were two equal diameter tanks, a fuel tank for petrol and a shorter oil tank. Engine and chain-drive lubrication used a total-loss oil system, controlled by a small pump and needle valve. Info Ref: Lister Auto-Truck - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lister_Auto-TruckHistoric - Industrial monowheel tractor for moving light loads around factories, railway yards and similar sites.The Lister Auto-Truck - small monowheel tractor Made of steel with three wheels. Powered by a J.A.P single cylinder petrol motor which is Hand Cranked to start.Lister puffing billy, lister, lister auto truck, monowheel tractor

Coin collections have a long and varied history. Coins were often collected in churches in a box located near the entrance/exit, and later via a collection plate that was passed amongst the congregation Funds were used to repair the church or feed the poorest of the parish. The donation of coins is and was considered part of religious life and mentioned in Christian, Jewish and Islamic texts. With the need and expansion of charitable works occurring outside religious life, charity boxes began to spread into hospitals, orphanages and asylums. The need for non-fixed boxes grew with the rise in charities and their activities outside a fixed building. Collection boxes could be large (and therefore hard to move) or could be held by individuals acting as collection agents, working at a specific location, moving between dwellings or at events. In this example, the boxes were placed in a semi-permanent location, such as a shop counter or bar, for people to donate money. Periodically it would be emptied by a collector, who either unlocked the padlock that was usually attached or replaced it with a new box.2 wooden boxes with paper label, perspex or glass,metal hinges and locking mechanism.Blind Babies, Children & Adults Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind Phone 51 1381 All services provided by the RVIB are free - thanks to your helproyal victorian institute for the blind, fundraising

A 'Brunsviga' adding Machine used to educate people who were blind or vision impaired in arithmetic during in the early 1900s. The firm Grimme, Natalis & Co (GNC) was established in 1871 to build sewing machines and domestic appliances at Braunschweig (Brunswick) in Germany. In 1892 engineer Franz Trinks was instrumental in securing the manufacturing rights to the Odhner calculator patents. The first machines were built according to W.T. Odhner's 1890 design, and were distributed under the brand name "Brunsviga". Trinks continued to develop and refine the Brunsviga calculator over a period of almost 30 years. The brass rotor disks are 71mm in diameter, with the nine setting levers spaced on 9mm centres. The moving carriage has 10 places in the counter register and 18 in the accumulator, but the tens-carry mechanism only covers 10 of the 18 places. The carriage is positioned manually by releasing a latch and moving the assembly by hand to the required position. The registers are cleared by a full turn of the large wing nuts on either end. The mechanism is very basic, with no safety interlocks and no added features.Metal machine on wooden base.Brunsviga Patent Braunschweigoffice equipment and supplies, royal victorian institute for the blind

Coin collections have a long and varied history. Coins were often collected in churches in a box located near the entrance/exit, and later via a collection plate that was passed amongst the congregation Funds were used to repair the church or feed the poorest of the parish. The donation of coins is and was considered part of religious life and mentioned in Christian, Jewish and Islamic texts. With the need and expansion of charitable works occurring outside religious life, charity boxes began to spread into hospitals, orphanages and asylums. The need for non-fixed boxes grew with the rise in charities and their activities outside a fixed building. Collection boxes could be large (and therefore hard to move) or could be held by individuals acting as collection agents, working at a specific location, moving between dwellings or at events. In this example, the boxes were placed in a semi-permanent location, such as a shop counter or bar, for people to donate money. Periodically it would be emptied by a collector, who either unlocked the padlock that was usually attached or replaced it with a new box.2 wooden boxes with paper label, perspex or glass,metal hinges and locking mechanism.Blind Babies, Children & Adults Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind Phone 51 1381 All services provided by the RVIB are free - thanks to your helproyal victorian institute for the blind, fundraising

Used by Mr. Livermore, Snr, and his brothers to construct dams on their properties and for neighbours. It was filled by raising the wooden handle slightly so that the cutting edge bit into the earth. It was tipped by raising the handles higher so that the cutting edge bit in so deeply that the scoop was rotated and emptied.Horse drawn earth moving scoop used for construction of dams, irrigation channels, roads, etc on a farm, orchard, or roads, or where earth needs to be moved. Scoops had no tipping mechanism and needed considerable effort to empty them.rural industry, agriculture, transport, roads