Museum records indicate that this image is believed to date from the 1990s. State Government elections were held in Victoria in 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2002. The township of Emerald sits in the Monbulk State Government electorate, which was held by Labor in 1988 and the Liberal Party in 1992, 1996 and 2002. It is probable that the man in the centre of the group pictured in the photograph is Steve McArthur, the successful Liberal Party candidate and Member of Parliament for the Monbulk electorate in the 1992, 1996 and 2002 elections. The photograph appears to depict an event at which Mr McArthur visited local businesses, in this case the Shell Service Station, to canvass for votes during his election campaign. There is still a Shell Service Station in Emerald, located at 336-338 Belgrave-Gembrook Road, though it is now part of the Coles Express network.This image is significant because it provides insights into the equipment available at and layout of service stations at the time the photograph was taken, which is speculated to be the late 1980s or early 1990s. The image also provides insights into State Government election campaign tactics as it appears to show a media photo opportunity supporting a local Liberal Party candidate.Black and white rectangular photograph printed on print media paper. The image shows three men standing in front of a petrol bowser at a Shell Service Station. Two of the men are shaking hands, all are looking at the camera. One of the men is wearing a ribbon indicating that he is a Liberal party candidate; he and one other man are holding papers on which the words 'Liberal Victoria' is visible. The third man is wearing a jumper with what appears to be an embroidered Shell logo and may be a staff member at the business.Obverse: Stradbroke Mild / D & Y KINDLING / KEROSENE / PUSH / Stradbroke Mild / D SUPER / 2 / RA SUPERSHELL / LIBERAL VICTORIA /local business, shell service station, transport, automotive services, elections, politicians, election campaigns, liberal party, steve mcarthur, monbulk electoral division, victorian state government

The township of Emerald was settled after gold was discovered in the area in 1858. Emerald's 'square mile' was established and roads between the township, other towns in the region and Melbourne were established (with alterations to the original layout in the intervening years). From these first years of the settlement roads and services to support the transport of goods (from businesses making and repairing carts and drays to mechanics' workshops to service cars and industrial vehicles) were integral to the economic survival and development of the township. Closely associated with the history of Emerald is the history of the Gembrook or Nobelius Nurseries, which transported trees and other plants to parks and private gardens in Melbourne, in other Australian locations and in many other countries. Impassable roads to transport goods in Winter, and the difficulty of transporting goods by bullock team or horse and cart over a route that at that time went via the railway station at Narre Warren led to Carl Axel Nobelius and other local business owners successfully lobbying the Victorian Government to build the narrow gauge railway to the Ferntree Gully line that is now operated as the tourist attraction 'Puffing Billy.' Puffing Billy was primarily a goods transport service, but did transport passengers in both directions of travel for both everyday needs and recreational purposes. The Puffing Billy service did not remove the need for local families and businesses to provide their own transport options, however, whenever they needed to move smaller loads or to access places not served by the railway lines or stations. In the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries transport options included carts of various sizes pulled by horses, oxen or bullocks. In the 1920s and 1930s cars (which had existed in Australia in early forms from approximately 1896) began to replace horses as the primary mode of transportation across Australia. By the end of the Second World War cars dominated transport options in rural areas as well as urban. Correspondingly, businesses to service vehicles shifted from focusing on repairs and maintenance of harnesses and cart structures to the repair and servicing of cars and other vehicles. Museum records indicate that the image was taken in the Shell Service Station in Emerald in approximately 1990. There is still a Shell Service Station in Emerald, located at 336-338 Belgrave-Gembrook Road, though it is now part of the Coles Express network.This image is significant because it provides insights into the development of automotive and engineering workshop businesses in the region, part of the progression from wheelwright and cartwright businesses in the days of oxen drays to businesses servicing cars and other vehicles. As part of this, it also provides insight into the equipment available at the time the photograph was taken, which is speculated to be the late 1980s or early 1990s. Identification of the two men pictured may also help ascertain the significance of the image.Black and white rectangular photograph printed on print media paper. The image depicts two men standing in front of a piece of mechanic's workshop equipment on which a Bridgestone tyre has been loaded. One of the men is wearing long-sleeved overalls, the other is wearing dark trousers and a polo-neck T-shirt. Museum records indicate the photograph may have been taken at the Shell Service Station.Obverse: BRIDGESTONE / SF-340 EAGER /emerald, victoria, australia, transport, automotive services, shell service station, cars, motor vehicles, puffing billy, businesses, local business

Colour photograph showing pile driver laying foundations for Bay Port flats and the new Post Office on the former Shell service station site, Bay Streetbuilt environment - commercial, built environment - domestic

The Mathews family have been in continuous ownership of 395 Howe Parade (was 8 Howe Parade until 1964 when addresses re-assigned), Port Melbourne from 1938 to the present (Sept 2019)Six folders of assorted documents relating to the life of Alan Mathews and his family. Employment documents. Folder 4 has Motor car purchases, Registration & Licences Receipt from Shell service station for service to Valiant $10.50transport - motor vehicles, alan mathews, commonwealth aircraft corporation, cac