This container is a pre-Decimal, Imperial Standard Bushel, part of a three-piece set of Standard measures used in Victoria from around 1900 to 1940. The measures were made in Melbourne by J. McEwan & Co. These three measures were likely used by the local Melbourne authority that monitored weights and measures in the mid to late 19th century. . An Imperial Bushel was equal to 8 gallons, or 36.36872 litres . An Imperial Peck equals a quarter of a Bushel, or 9.09 litres Standards for weights and measures began in Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received primary sets of Imperial Standard Weights and Measures from Britain. These were tested against the then British Imperial Standards to measure length, weight and currency. Administrative bodies in the Colony of Australia could then compare their weights and measures against these British Primary Standards and adjust their Measures accordingly, to maintain the Standards. The Weights and Measures Act of 1862 was passed in Victoria, and local inspectors were established throughout the colony. By the 1870s, local councils and shires in Victoria held a set of Standards used to test scales, weights, and measures used by manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. Every ten years, the councils’ Standards needed to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. In the 19th Century, the Victorian Customs Department inspected and maintained the Standards. In 1901, the Customs Department was transferred to the Federal Government, but the Weights and Measures authority remained with the Victorian Government and relocated to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, the Standard weights and measures, and testing equipment, were installed in the room of a new building erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House. The room became known as the Whirling Room, due to its large whirling apparatus that tested air meters. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue maintaining the Standards. On February 14th, 1966, Australia began its conversion to metric measures and currency, and a new set of Standard Measures was introduced; the conversion took place in stages. The Weights and Measures Branch remained at the Observatory site until 1995. James McEwan & Co.: - The maker of this set of Standard Measures was James McEwan. His Melbourne business was established in 1852 and sold retail furniture and wholesale ironmongery. The firm’s warehouses were situated at the intersection of 81-83 Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets. Shortly afterwards, the firm partnered with William Kerr Thomson and Samuel Renwick. When McEwan died in 1868, his partners carried on and expanded the business under his name, J McEwan. The business was expanded to provide a retail shop, counting-house and private offices. Wholesale warehouses adjoined these premises at 4, 6 and 10 Little Collins Street, West. This company provided and sold a large and varied amount of imported goods into the colony; agricultural equipment, building materials, mining items, steam engines, tools of all types and marble fireplaces. The company grew to employ over 150 people in Melbourne and opened offices at 27 Lombard St, London, as well as in New Zealand and Fiji. It also serviced the Mauritius islands and the Pacific area with its steamship, the Suva, and a brig, the ShannonThe set of Imperial Standard Measures is an example of a bronze measure container made specifically for J. McEwan & Co. Today, it helps us to understand how imperial weights and measures were used, and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in the Australian colonies based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item retailed by J McEwan, and used by Victoria’s authorities legally responsible for ensuring that dry goods sold in Victoria by wholesalers and retailers are correct.Imperial Standard Measure: a container to measure the volume of a Busel. It is part of a set of three precision measures - a Peck, a Half Bushel and a Bushel – used by government authorities in Victoria. The cast brass cylinder has straight sides and a flat base, and two handles are attached near the base by two posts on each handle. The wall inside is straight, and outside has grooves and horizontal bands. Inscriptions are engraved on the outside. The Measures were made for the retailer, J. McEwan & Co., London and Melbourne.Engraved on side: "IMPERIAL STANDARD BUSHEL. / VICTORIA ./ J. MCEWAN & CO. LONDON AND MELBOURNE."flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, maritime museum, maritime village, great ocean road, shipwreck coast, weights and measurements, science, james mcewan & co., precision instrument, technology, melbourne observatory, british imperial standards, standard weights & measures, volume measure, dry measure, customs, commerce, victorian standard measure, pre-decimal measure, imperial standard, imperial bushel, peck measure, bronze container, brass container, cast container

This container is a pre-Decimal, Imperial Standard Peck, part of a three-piece set of Standard measures used in Victoria from around 1900 to 1940. The measures were made in Melbourne by J. McEwan & Co. These three measures were likely used by the local Melbourne authority that monitored weights and measures in the mid to late 19th century. . An Imperial Bushel was equal to 8 gallons, or 36.36872 litres . An Imperial Peck equals a quarter of a Bushel, or 9.09 litres Standards for weights and measures began in Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received primary sets of Imperial Standard Weights and Measures from Britain. These were tested against the then British Imperial Standards to measure length, weight and currency. Administrative bodies in the Colony of Australia could then compare their weights and measures against these British Primary Standards and adjust their Measures accordingly, to maintain the Standards. The Weights and Measures Act of 1862 was passed in Victoria, and local inspectors were established throughout the colony. By the 1870s, local councils and shires in Victoria held a set of Standards used to test scales, weights, and measures used by manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. Every ten years, the councils’ Standards needed to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. In the 19th Century, the Victorian Customs Department inspected and maintained the Standards. In 1901, the Customs Department was transferred to the Federal Government, but the Weights and Measures authority remained with the Victorian Government and relocated to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, the Standard weights and measures, and testing equipment, were installed in the room of a new building erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House. The room became known as the Whirling Room, due to its large whirling apparatus that tested air meters. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue maintaining the Standards. On February 14th, 1966, Australia began its conversion to metric measures and currency, and a new set of Standard Measures was introduced; the conversion took place in stages. The Weights and Measures Branch remained at the Observatory site until 1995. James McEwan & Co.: - The maker of this set of Standard Measures was James McEwan. His Melbourne business was established in 1852 and sold retail furniture and wholesale ironmongery. The firm’s warehouses were situated at the intersection of 81-83 Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets. Shortly afterwards, the firm partnered with William Kerr Thomson and Samuel Renwick. When McEwan died in 1868, his partners carried on and expanded the business under his name, J McEwan. The business was expanded to provide a retail shop, counting-house and private offices. Wholesale warehouses adjoined these premises at 4, 6 and 10 Little Collins Street, West. This company provided and sold a large and varied amount of imported goods into the colony; agricultural equipment, building materials, mining items, steam engines, tools of all types and marble fireplaces. The company grew to employ over 150 people in Melbourne and opened offices at 27 Lombard St, London, as well as in New Zealand and Fiji. It also serviced the Mauritius islands and the Pacific area with its steamship, the Suva, and a brig, the Shannon. The set of Imperial Standard Measures is an example of a bronze measure container made specifically for J. McEwan & Co. Today, it helps us to understand how imperial weights and measures were used, and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in the Australian colonies based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item retailed by J McEwan, and used by Victoria’s authorities legally responsible for ensuring that dry goods sold in Victoria by wholesalers and retailers are correct. Imperial Standard Measure: a container to measure the volume of a Peck. It is part of a set of three precision measures - a Peck, a Half Bushel and a Bushel – used by government authorities in Victoria. The cast brass cylinder has straight sides and a flat base, and two handles are attached near the base by two posts on each handle. The wall inside is straight, and outside has grooves and horizontal bands. Inscriptions are engraved on the outside. The Measures were made for the retailer, J. McEwan & Co., London and Melbourne. Engraved on side: "IMPERIAL STANDARD PECK. / VICTORIA."flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, maritime museum, maritime village, great ocean road, shipwreck coast, weights and measurements, science, james mcewan & co., precision instrument, technology, melbourne observatory, british imperial standards, standard weights & measures, volume measure, dry measure, customs, commerce, victorian standard measure, pre-decimal measure, imperial standard, imperial bushel, imperial half bushel, imperial peck, peck measure, bronze container, brass container, cast container

This container is a pre-Decimal, Imperial Standard Half Bushel, part of a three-piece set of Standard measures used in Victoria from around 1900 to 1940. The measures were made in Melbourne by J. McEwan & Co. These three measures were likely used by the local Melbourne authority that monitored weights and measures in the mid to late 19th century. . An Imperial Bushel was equal to 8 gallons, or 36.36872 litres . An Imperial Peck equals a quarter of a Bushel, or 9.09 litres Standards for weights and measures began in Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received primary sets of Imperial Standard Weights and Measures from Britain. These were tested against the then British Imperial Standards to measure length, weight and currency. Administrative bodies in the Colony of Australia could then compare their weights and measures against these British Primary Standards and adjust their Measures accordingly, to maintain the Standards. The Weights and Measures Act of 1862 was passed in Victoria, and local inspectors were established throughout the colony. By the 1870s, local councils and shires in Victoria held a set of Standards used to test scales, weights, and measures used by manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. Every ten years, the councils’ Standards needed to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. In the 19th Century, the Victorian Customs Department inspected and maintained the Standards. In 1901, the Customs Department was transferred to the Federal Government, but the Weights and Measures authority remained with the Victorian Government and relocated to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, the Standard weights and measures, and testing equipment, were installed in the room of a new building erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House. The room became known as the Whirling Room, due to its large whirling apparatus that tested air meters. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue maintaining the Standards. On February 14th, 1966, Australia began its conversion to metric measures and currency, and a new set of Standard Measures was introduced; the conversion took place in stages. The Weights and Measures Branch remained at the Observatory site until 1995. James McEwan & Co.: - The maker of this set of Standard Measures was James McEwan. His Melbourne business was established in 1852 and sold retail furniture and wholesale ironmongery. The firm’s warehouses were situated at the intersection of 81-83 Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets. Shortly afterwards, the firm partnered with William Kerr Thomson and Samuel Renwick. When McEwan died in 1868, his partners carried on and expanded the business under his name, J McEwan. The business was expanded to provide a retail shop, counting-house and private offices. Wholesale warehouses adjoined these premises at 4, 6 and 10 Little Collins Street, West. This company provided and sold a large and varied amount of imported goods into the colony; agricultural equipment, building materials, mining items, steam engines, tools of all types and marble fireplaces. The company grew to employ over 150 people in Melbourne and opened offices at 27 Lombard St, London, as well as in New Zealand and Fiji. It also serviced the Mauritius islands and the Pacific area with its steamship, the Suva, and a brig, the Shannon.The set of Imperial Standard Measures is an example of a bronze measure container made specifically for J. McEwan & Co. Today, it helps us to understand how imperial weights and measures were used, and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in the Australian colonies based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item retailed by J McEwan, and used by Victoria’s authorities legally responsible for ensuring that dry goods sold in Victoria by wholesalers and retailers are correct.Imperial Standard Measure: a container to measure the volume of a Half Bushel. It is part of a set of three precision measures - a Peck, a Half Bushel and a Bushel – used by government authorities in Victoria. The cast brass cylinder has straight sides and a flat base, and two handles are attached near the base by two posts on each handle. The wall inside is straight, and outside has grooves and horizontal bands. Inscriptions are engraved on the outside. The Measures were made for the retailer, J. McEwan & Co., London and Melbourne. Engraved test: "IMPERIAL STANDARD HALF BUSHEL. / VICTORIA / J. MCEWAN & O. LONDON AND MELBOURNE."flagstaff hill, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, maritime museum, maritime village, great ocean road, shipwreck coast, weights and measurements, science, james mcewan & co., precision instrument, technology, melbourne observatory, british imperial standards, standard weights & measures, volume measure, dry measure, customs, commerce, victorian standard measure, pre-decimal measure, imperial standard, imperial half bushel, bronze container, brass container, cast container

Thaddeus Fairbanks (1796 –1886) was an American inventor. of heating and cook stoves, cast iron ploughs, and other items. His greatest success was the invention and manufacture of the platform scale, which allowed the weighing of large objects accurately. Fairbanks was born in Brimfield, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1796, the son of Joseph Fairbanks (1763–1846) and Phebe (Paddock) Fairbanks (1760–1853). His uncle was Ephraim Paddock, the brother of Phebe Paddock. In 1815 he moved to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and set up a wheelwright's shop above his father's gristmill. In 1820 he married Lucy Peck Barker and In 1824 he built an iron foundry. his brother Erastus joined him to establish E. and T. Fairbanks, a partnership to manufacture heating stoves, cast iron ploughs a design for which he patented in 1826. In 1830 Fairbanks and Erastus became interested in the raising and processing of hemp. Fairbanks went on to patent a hemp and flax dressing machine and became the manager of the St. Johnsbury Hemp Company. He also built a set of scales that would measure large loads of hemp accurately, as there were no reliable scales at the time. Upon the success of building these scales, his brothers recommended that he make and sell these for general use.  Fairbanks' most famous invention then became the platform scale for weighing heavy objects. These are commonly known as the Fairbanks Scales, for which he patented his original design in 1830.  Before this time, accurate weighing of objects required hanging them from a balancing beam as a result, particularly heavy or ungainly objects could not be weighed accurately. A platform scale, if large enough, could weigh an entire wagon. By placing a full wagon on the scale, unloading it, and then placing it on the scale when empty, it became possible to easily and accurately calculate the weight and value of farm produce and other loads. In 1834 Fairbanks and his brother formed "E. and T. Fairbanks and Company" to manufacture and sell these platform scales. These scales were well known in the United States and around the world resulting in the company doubling in volume every three years from 1842 to 1857. There was a temporary slow down during the American Civil War, however, the business took off again after the war. Their partnership was incorporated in 1874 into a firm known as "Fairbanks Scale Company". These platform scales revolutionized weighing methods of large loads and have been in use ever since. Portable platform scales are found in almost every hardware store, physician's office, and manufacturing factory throughout the United States and the world. The first railway track platform scale patent was granted to Fairbanks on January 13, 1857, as Patent No. 16,381. In 1916 the company was purchased by ”Fairbanks, Morse and Company”. Ownership of the company has since changed several times, but Fairbanks Scales continue to be made in St. Johnsbury Vermont to this day. Fairbanks had received 43 patents in his lifetime with the last one at the age of 91. He died on April 12, 1886, and is buried at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. An early example of the first type of platform scale that revolutionised the weighing of goods throughout the world made in the USA around the turn of the 19th century. Commercially built platform scale on wheels. Cast iron base supports iron weighing platform with wooden floor. At back, square hollow wooden post supports a hooded rod which bears the weight of the platform and which hooks onto a brass balancing arm, marked in pounds up to 50. There is a cylindrical sliding weight and on the end a loop for a metal weight holder. The holder is designed for three circular pieces of metal with a slit to the centre. The weights used are 50, 100 and 200 lbs.Embossed to base Fairbanks Patent No 11 1/2, flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, platform scales

Thaddeus Fairbanks (1796 –1886) was an American inventor. of heating and cook stoves, cast iron ploughs, and other items. His greatest success was the invention and manufacture of the platform scale, which allowed the weighing of large objects accurately. Fairbanks was born in Brimfield, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1796, the son of Joseph Fairbanks (1763–1846) and Phebe (Paddock) Fairbanks (1760–1853). His uncle was Ephraim Paddock, the brother of Phebe Paddock. In 1815 he moved to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and set up a wheelwright's shop above his father's gristmill. In 1820 he married Lucy Peck Barker and In 1824 he built an iron foundry. his brother Erastus joined him to establish E. and T. Fairbanks, a partnership to manufacture heating stoves, cast iron ploughs a design for which he patented in 1826. In 1830 Fairbanks and Erastus became interested in the raising and processing of hemp. Fairbanks went on to patent a hemp and flax dressing machine and became the manager of the St. Johnsbury Hemp Company. He also built a set of scales that would measure large loads of hemp accurately, as there were no reliable scales at the time. Upon the success of building these scales, his brothers recommended that he make and sell these for general use.  Fairbanks' most famous invention then became the platform scale for weighing heavy objects. These are commonly known as the Fairbanks Scales, for which he patented his original design in 1830.  Before this time, accurate weighing of objects required hanging them from a balancing beam as a result, particularly heavy or ungainly objects could not be weighed accurately. A platform scale, if large enough, could weigh an entire wagon. By placing a full wagon on the scale, unloading it, and then placing it on the scale when empty, it became possible to easily and accurately calculate the weight and value of farm produce and other loads. In 1834 Fairbanks and his brother formed "E. and T. Fairbanks and Company" to manufacture and sell these platform scales. These scales were well known in the United States and around the world resulting in the company doubling in volume every three years from 1842 to 1857. There was a temporary slow down during the American Civil War, however, the business took off again after the war. Their partnership was incorporated in 1874 into a firm known as "Fairbanks Scale Company". These platform scales revolutionized weighing methods of large loads and have been in use ever since. Portable platform scales are found in almost every hardware store, physician's office, and manufacturing factory throughout the United States and the world. The first railway track platform scale patent was granted to Fairbanks on January 13, 1857, as Patent No. 16,381. In 1916 the company was purchased by ”Fairbanks, Morse and Company”. Ownership of the company has since changed several times, but Fairbanks Scales continue to be made in St. Johnsbury Vermont to this day. Fairbanks had received 43 patents in his lifetime with the last one at the age of 91. He died on April 12, 1886, and is buried at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. An early example circa 1900 of the first type of platform scales used in a grocery store. This design for accurately measuring goods that were sold over the counter revolutionised the weighing of goods throughout the world. Platform scale metal black with removable tray & pan. Has horizontal brass arm with a brass slide weight black removable weight hook and 2 x 2 lb. weights. Fairbanksflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village

The peck has been in use since the early 14th century when it was introduced as a measure for flour. The term referred to varying quantities until the modern units of measurement were defined in the 19th century. Cities in England used to have official standard weights and measures for that city or area. These containers were marked with the city's name and emblem, merchant’s weights and measures would then be checked against this to make sure they weren't trying to cheat their customers. The item in the collection is a standard measure approved by Bristol City and used by that City’s grocers to measure dry goods such as peas, beans, sugar, flour, meal etc., and its metal banding ensures that the measure cannot be reduced in size to cheat customers. Additional Information: The British Imperial System evolved from the thousands of Roman, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and customary local units employed in the middle Ages. Traditional names such as pound, foot, and gallon were widely used, but the values so designated varied with time, place, trade, product specifications, and dozens of other requirements. Early royal standards were established to enforce uniformity took the name Winchester, after the ancient tenth century capital of Britain. King Henry VII reaffirmed the customary Winchester standards for capacity and length and distributed royal standards throughout the realm. This process was repeated about a century later in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. In the 16th century, the rod (5.5 yards, or 16.5 feet) was defined (once again as a learning device and not as a standard) defined by the length of the left feet of 16 men lined up heel to toe as they emerged from the church. By the 17th century usage and legal statute had established the acre, rod, and furlong at their present values together with other historic units such as the peck. Establishment of the System: The Weights and Measures Act of 1824 and the Act of 1878 established the British Imperial System based on precise definitions of selected existing units. The 1824 act sanctioned a single imperial gallon to replace the wine, ale, and corn (wheat) gallons that were in general use. The new gallon was defined as equal in volume to 10 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water weighed at 62°F with the barometer at 30 inches, or 277.274 cubic inches (later corrected to 277.421 cubic inches). The two new basic standard units were the imperial standard yard and the troy pound, which was later restricted to weighing drugs, precious metals, and jewels. In 1963 an act of parliament abolished archaic measures as the rod and chaldron and a metric system was adopted. An early example of a dry measuring container giving a snapshot of how imperial weights and measures developed in England to evolve the British measurement system into the metric arrangement that most countries have adopted today including Australia. It has social significance as an item that was in everyday use by grocers and other merchants to measure dry goods in the late 18th to early 19th centuries and used specifically in the Bristol region of England as an officially recognised measurement.Wooden measurement container with iron banding and hand made rivets container is a Quarter Peck official measurement container. Inscriptions are impressed into the sides of the wooden body. The container has the official crown and emblem of the City of Bristol, indicating this item was the Bristol City standard quarter peck measurement.Impressed into the timber on the front, a crown emblem over "C B G / CITY OF BRISTOL / QUARTER", on one side "HALF" , another side "PECK". Handwritten in white chalk on the base is "1458"flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, weights and measures, quarter peck, measurement container, dry grocery measure, bristol city measurement standard, city of bristol, british weights and measures, 18th and 19th centure standard measures

Imperial standard volume measures were distributed by the Victorian Colonial Government to local governments (such as the Borough of Buninyong), who had responsibility for checking on correct weights and measures given by shopkeepers.These volume measures were used in Buninyong, for standardised measuring from as early as 1863 until at least 1915, evidenced by the certification stamps on the rear of the vessels (shown in individual child entries).Set of solid brass Imperial standard volume measures- bushel, half-bushel and peck (8, 4 & 2 Imp. gallons respectively). Each measure is fitted with brass handles, inscribed with measure details and stamped with periodic inspection marks."IMPERIAL STANDARD BUSHEL", "VICTORIA", "POTTER, POULTRY, LONDON" "IMPERIAL STANDARD HALF-BUSHEL", "VICTORIA", "POTTER, POULTRY, LONDON" "IMPERIAL STANDARD PECK", "VICTORIA", "POTTER, POULTRY, LONDON" Rear of vessels date stamped with inspection marks dating from 1863 to 1916volume measures, produce, weights and measures, buninyong, buninyong shire council