There are many 19th century items of furniture, linen and crockery donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by Vera and Aurelin Giles. The items are associated with the Giles Family and are known as the “Giles Collection”. These items mostly came from the simple home of Vera’s parents-in-law, Henry Giles and his wife Mary Jane (nee Freckleton), whose photos are in the parlour. They married in 1880. Henry Giles was born at Tower Hill in 1858. He was a labourer on the construction of the Breakwater before leaving in 1895 to build bridges in N.S.W. for about seven years. Mary Jane was born in 1860 at Cooramook. She attended Mailor’s Flat State School where she was also a student teacher before, as family legend has it, she became a governess at “Injemiara” where her grandfather, Francis Freckleton, once owned land. Henry and Mary’s family of six, some of whom were born at Mailor’s Flat and later children at Wangoom, lived with their parents at Wangoom and Purnim west, where Henry died in 1933 and Mary Jane in 1940. The Giles family collection has social significance at a local level, because it illustrates the level of material support the Warrnambool community gave to Flagstaff Hill when the Museum was established.Wall decoration gilded gold ornate frame under glassPrinted proverb+ with Varied type face each line.warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, wall decoration, print of proverb, scripture decoration, giles collection, henry giles, tower hill, cooramook, warrnambool breakwater, mailor’s flat, wangoom, 19th century household goods

Awarded to Donald Neil Symons for excellence in Scripture during 1926 at Ballarat College. Neil was educated at Ballarat College (Dux 1933) and Ormond College, Melbourne University. He became a Clothing industry leader and was Fletcher Jones' distinguished successor as chief executive of the FJ organisation, and a prominent advocate for the Australian textile and clothing industries, decentralised industry and government support of employee share ownership schemes.Medium-sized, maroon, leather-bound book with gold-lettering and decoration on spine and gold school crest on front cover; bookplate inside front coverBookplate inside front cover: School crest / Ballarat College / Sixth-Lower Form / Dux Prize / Awarded to / D N Symons / A Richardson BA / December 1930 Principaldonald-neil-symons, dux, 1930s, fletcher jones

Large bible. Leather bound with brass clasps engraved with a decorative pattern. Gold decorations on front cover, on spine, and a gold decorative border on back cover with embossed pattern in centre. Cover bears words "THE HOLY SCRIPTURES WHICH-MAKE-WISE UNTO SALVATION", within a decorative pattern. Incised brass edges to front and back cover. Gold paint and hand-coloured decorative title page. (see Object File).bible, religion