From around circa 1850 Braybrook was already well established and became a staging point for prospectors on their way to the diggings. Local government for this rural area to the west of Melbourne came when the BRAYBROOK ROAD DISTRICT was proclaimed on 28 May 1860. This authority was superseded on 23 January 1871 with the formation of the SHIRE OF BRAYBROOK. The Shire of Braybrook existed for about 80 years during which time it experienced significant industrial growth. The Shire of Braybrook ceased to exist in 1951 when the CITY OF SUNSHINE was formed.The Coat of Arms informs the observer that the Shire of Braybrook was initially a rural area with its images of a cow, sheep, and hay. The reference to industry however probably does not indicate adequately the large growth in industrial activity that occurred within the Shire. Circular board of Masonite painted by A. H. Walker which is a true depiction of the Coat of Arms for the Shire of Braybrook. It is mainly blue, yellow and red coloured with black writing, and has images of a cow, sheep, and hay, and also indicates a reference to industry.Shire of Braybrook Victoria / Dieu Et Mon Droit / By Industry / A. H. Walkercoat of arms, shire of braybrook, a. h. walker, plaque, sunshine

By around circa 1850 Braybrook was already well established, and during the gold rush period also became a staging point for prospectors on their way to the diggings. Local government for the area began on 28th May 1860 when the BRAYBROOK ROAD BOARD DISTRICT was proclaimed, however this authority was soon superseded on 23rd January 1871 when the SHIRE OF BRAYBROOK came into existence. The Shire of Braybrook continued as the local government authority for the district until the CITY OF SUNSHINE was proclaimed in 1951. This Honour Board was unveiled on Monday 18th March 1940 at 8:30 p.m., and was hung in the Council Chamber, at the Shire of Braybrook Hall, Sunshine.The Honour Board is a historical record of the people who served as heads of local government in the district from 1860 to 1950.Large brown stained wooden structure comprised of two board sections positioned side by side to make one display board. Contains in gold coloured lettering the names of people who served as CHAIRMEN of the BRAYBROOK ROAD DISTRICT and as PRESIDENTS of the SHIRE OF BRAYBROOK during the years 1860 to 1950.braybrook road district, shire of braybrook, chairmen, presidents, 28 may 1860, 23 january 1871, 1950, sunshine., braybrook road district, shire of braybrook, chairmen, presidents, 28 may 1860, 23 january 1871, 1950, sunshine.

Corporal Hugh Terence O'Reilly VX108560 was born in Temora, NSW on 25 September 1916. He later lived in Hampshire Road, Sunshine, Victoria, and enlisted at Sunshine with the Australian Army on 29 July 1942. He served in New Guinea, and at the time of discharge on 8 November 1945 was posted with the 22 Australian Infantry Battalion. Additional service number recorded is V37790. In civilian life Hugh Terence O'Reilly was employed in the manufacture of fibrous plaster boards.The significance is that the Shire of Braybrook, and perhaps other councils, recognised their citizens who served in the Australian Armed Forces during World War 2, by presenting them with Certificates in appreciation of their military service.Yellowish background. Grey scale diagrammatic image of warships, tank, and aeroplanes at the top. Vertical posts with swords and wreaths along the sides. At the bottom a diagrammatic image containing in colour the Union Jack and the Australian flag, the Shire of Braybrook Coat of Arms, the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces insignia, and a red coloured circular seal.Presented to Hugh T. O'Reilly. The President, Councillors and Ratepayers of the Shire of Braybrook desire you to accept this Certificate in appreciation of your services with the Australian Armed Forces, and extend to you the grateful thanks of this Municipality for your noble effort for King and Country. Given under the Seal of President, Councillors and Ratepayers of the Shire of Braybrook, this second day of August, 1946. J. R. Parsons - President, 'illegible' - Shire Secretary

This type of wrench or spanner was used as a service tool for H. V. McKay Pty. Ltd. manufactured agricultural machinery. This specific tool belonged to Albert (Bert) Montgomery of 11 Kamarooka St, Albion. Bert Montgomery was born in Sunshine and in 1910 was apprenticed as a carpenter with Sunshine Harvester Works, where he worked as a wood machinist. On 19 August 1914, while still an apprentice, he enlisted in the First AIF. He left McKay's and started business as a builder probably just prior to WW2. After the war he joined the Shire of Braybrook as Assistant Building Surveyor until he retired. In 1962 Bert and his friend Jack Causon (proprietor of an Anderson Road second hand store that previously was Les James grocery) were on a fishing trip to Lake Tooliorook (aka Ettrick) near Lismore, Victoria. Their boat capsized and both fishermen were drowned. Bert was a Past President of Sunshine RSL and at that time it was reported that his funeral was the largest that Sunshine had seen. The information about Bert Montgomery was supplied by a Committee member of the Sunshine & District Historical Society Inc. who spoke to Montgomery's daughter, who also donated the tool. This tool serves as a reminder of the large H. V. McKay agricultural manufacturing works that once existed in Sunshine. The tool is associated with the works, and the design is significant enough for images of the tool to be used in an artistic mural, which is painted on the Eastern Pillar of the new H. V. McKay Footbridge in Sunshine, Victoria 3020.Curved double ended rusty cast iron wrench with 4 open slots plus 2 closed slots'H V McKAY' on one side and 'D324' on the reverse sideh. v. mckay pty. ltd, d324, d324 wrench, d324 spanner, agricultural spanner, antique wrench, agricultural tool, albert montgomery, jack causon, lake tooliorook

Mr John Purchase came from Heidelberg, and was dairying on the east side of Melton, on the Footscray road, in the Braybrook Shire. His daughter married Mr Ralph Parkinson, J.P., Mr Purchase sold his farm to the late Sir William Clarke, and then went home to England with his wife; his son, John, stopped in Victoria.Copy of a William John Clarke's purchase of landlocal identities

"A perpetual spring in the adjacent creek provided a steady supply of fresh water to the site on which the homestead is built. Although we can not be certain of the identity of the builder, the first stage of ‘The Willows’ homestead appears to have been constructed in the mid 1850s. The house is situated on Crown Allotment No.1 (No Section), Parish of Kororoit, an allotment of 5 acres 3 roods 4 perches. Although it had surveyed the land, the Crown did not offer it for sale until 22nd November 1861, at which time it was purchased by Charles March Williams. (Although the property is directly opposite and immediately adjacent to the Township of Melton, and was sold as ‘Suburban Allotment 33’, it was situated within the Shire of Braybrook rather than the Shire of Melton until 1917.) Considerable improvements had taken place on the land prior to the Crown sale. When CM Williams purchased the allotment in November 1861 he paid £23.5.0 for the land itself, and valued the improvements at £400. Even allowing for some exaggeration by Williams, this is an extremely high valuation for improvements, and must have included a house. Some local research has claimed that in 1858 Williams had taken over the interest of a Mr Parkinson in the property, and that Parkinson built the house upon taking possession of the land c.1855. It was definitely built by 1861, when a map shows a square building on the site marked as ‘House’. The property is important in the district for its association with the establishment of the pound. The district pound had been established in 1854, when George Scarborough of Mount Cottrell (Mt Cottrell Road, south of Greigs Road) was appointed pound-keeper. Scarborough resigned in 1857. The pound was moved to Melton following agitation from local farmers and Charles March Williams appointed pound-keeper on 26th April 1858. Williams, the son of a doctor, had been born in London. Reminiscences of local residents of the time, as recorded in the Express newspaper, note Williams’ success in breeding horses on the property. Sales of up to 60 guineas were noted. Whether this was from Williams’s own stock or from unclaimed pound stock is not made clear. Williams appeared before a government inquiry in 1860 and advocated registration of all stock brands in the State. Williams died in 1862 leaving a widow, Catherine, and five living children aged 15 years to five months. At the time of his death Williams had entered negotiations with one Matthew Devenish and had a mortgage of £100 on allotments 1 and 2, Parish of Kororoit. Catherine Williams was appointed pound-keeper on 2 September 1863, with her eldest son Charles as her assistant. Her tenure was short for on 22nd March 1864 George Minns senior paid Matthew Devenish £135 for allotments 1 and 2 Parish of Kororoit (considerably less than Williams had claimed the property was worth in 1861) and on the same day paid William Tullidge £45 for the adjoining allotments 3 and 4. In April 1867, James Ebden Minns, the newly married son of George senior became the owner of The Willows property having entered into a mortgage arrangement with his father to the extent of £200. At the time George Minns was residing in Kaarimba having left Melton in 1867 for a short trip to England and upon his return having taken up a selection in the Kaarimba district with his son Frederick who had a hotel licence there. James paid out the mortgage on 2-1-1873. James Minns was appointed pound-keeper in 1872; in 1885 the pound was moved elsewhere and Minns purchased the old pound site and added it to his farm. The Willows residence underwent a major change about this time. A two room extension, similar in style but with a lower elevation was added to the original rear of the house with a chimney matching the distinctive originals. Window arrangements did not match the original but became a feature of the façade when the new addition became the front of the building. Six buttresses were attached to the east and west walls of the old building, two to the south wall and the whole rendered with mortar to give the appearance of dressed stonework around the windows. Galvanized iron was placed over the shingles and a verandah added on three sides. By 1876 The Willows was the homestead for a thriving mixed farm of 340 acres of which 156 was rented from a H. Ruck. In October of that year the Australasian travelling reporter visited and reported on the property. In common with the nearly every other property in the district the farm had ‘recently’ (generally within the last two years) abandoned cultivation of crops, and turned over completely to cattle pasture. Butter making was the principal occupation of the farm, which had about 50 head of cattle, a large proportion of which were milking cows. The reporter also noted that a ‘large number of pigs are kept upon this farm and are found to be very profitable stock’. Their manure was used in an orchard and garden in which ‘large quantities of lucerne and prairie grass are grown for the use of stock when ordinary feed is scarce’. Two bores attached to deep brick lined wells supplied water for the house in addition to the farm. A commodious timber barn and necessary sheds had also been constructed. Access to the property was improved following the construction of the bluestone ford across the creek c.1887, when the recreation ground came into use. Prior to this date it may have been that the crossing referred to as ‘Mr Minns bridge’ was used. This appears to have been a flimsy structure and has but two references in Council reports in the Melton Express in the 1880’s. It is believed that in the late 1890’s a timber building was added near the rear of the building to house a kitchen, ablutions and laundry rooms and rooms for seasonal workers. This was attached to the house by means of a trellised walkway using the original front entry to the house (long since the back door). A photograph of this building appears in a local history of Melton. This was demolished in recent decades during the period when the house was tenanted (after the Minns family had left). James Minns son, George, took over the property following his marriage to Alice Walsh in 1903. James and Caroline moved into a house on the former JH Games property at the eastern end of Henry Street. George held the position of Shire Secretary for Melton for 40 years. He was a most prominent member of the community being Secretary to, among others, the Melton Coursing Club, the Shooting Club and the Cemetery Trust. He also rode with the hunting parties who sported across the Plains and were entertained at Mount Kororoit. George and Alice had one son, Norman who followed his father into local government and became Secretary of the Shire of Werribee completing a record term in this position. George retired to Werribee in 1951, where he died in 1965. The National Trust records note that James Ebden Minns and his sons were ‘leading men of the district, Justices of the Peace, and Shire Councillors’. It claims that Sir Thomas Bent was a frequent visitor. The Willows passed into the hands of George’s grandson, Bruce Minns and the property was let for a number of years. In the 1960s it became vacant and was subject to vandalism. Major structural problems arose with the part demolition of the roof, the loss of windows and doors and holes dug into and under the floorboards. The outbuildings were particularly targeted. Following widespread public support, the Shire of Melton purchased the house, with 3.75 acres of land, in 1972. In 1975 the Shire of Melton and the Melton and District Historical Society were successful in nominating the building for National Trust classification, and then the Australian Heritage Commission’s Register of the National Estate. The AHC particularly noted its ‘townscape importance’. It was envisaged that the farmhouse would form ‘a picturesque centrepiece to Melton’s planned … historical park, along with Dunvegan bluestone cottage … and similar structures as they become available.’ In a time of great Melton’s ‘satellite city’ development the Council spelt out its broader vision in its submission to the AHC: ‘Melton is destined to become, by the end of the present century, a city of between 75,000 and 100,000 people. Significant relics of the past, such as ‘The Willows’, regrettably will be rare in that situation. It is essential that sufficient tangible links with Melton’s pioneering days remain to promote in the new community a sense of history and continuity’. Under the direction of ‘The Willows’ Restoration Committee and consultant architect John Hitch, all outbuildings, with the exception of the garage and toilet, were demolished and the dwelling house restored. Finances were provided by the Shire of Melton and the National Estate Grants Program, and considerable amount of voluntary labour was provided by the local community. The orchard was removed, and remaining wooden buildings were relocated to provide an open vista for visitors to the Park. The property was furnished with donations from district families keen to preserve this example of pioneer life in the area. The Willows became the headquarters of the Melton and District Historical Society". Invitation to the family reunion at the Willowslocal identities, pioneer families

O.F.M. was the ORDNANCE FACTORY MARIBYRNONG. Up to the end of June 1943 and at a time when the wages were about £5 ($10) to £6 ($12) per week Australia had spent £1,106,000,000 (£156 per head) on the war effort. A lot of the money was spent at home in making war necessities such as armaments, munitions, boots, clothing, and in providing special training. Significant increases in numbers occurred in the personnel employed in the fighting services, and also in the work force involved in the war effort. During the financial year 1942-1943 the war cost Australia £561,743,000 (over a billion dollars), while the Income Tax raised from individuals totalled only 16.5% of this amount. To finance the war the Australian government had previously borrowed money from the public, and from institutions such as the savings banks, friendly societies, and life assurance societies, by running three successfully subscribed Liberty Loans. The institutions had contributed considerably more money to these Liberty Loans than the public, however it can be argued that the public members of these institutions had also contributed some money indirectly. The 4th Liberty Loan which opened on 5 October 1943 and closed on 9 November 1943 was intended to raise £125,000,000, with the government aiming for 750,000 subscribers. Bonds costing £10 each could be bought on a time payment scheme. A total of £126,408,000 was raised at two different interest rates and maturity dates, however the number of subscribers had only reached 567,533. Some newspaper reports of the time indicate that the low number of subscribers was a partial failure of the loan, because spare money in the community could lead to inflation at a time when goods were in short supply. The government set target quotas on how much money should ideally be raised in a particular district, and how many subscribers should ideally take part. Often these quotas proved to be excessive. The Special Red Pennant Award as given to the No 1 FORGE O.F.M. was normally for achieving the highest per capita contribution within each particular group. What is unknown at this stage is what other entities were in the same group, or how large the group was. There were other variations of the awards such as those given to country districts, where a star was placed on the left hand corner of the pennant if the money quota was reached, while two or three stars indicated that the quota was doubled or tripled. A bar was also included on the pennant if the quota of subscribers was achieved, while two bars indicated double the quota of subscribers. The above information was sourced from Trove newspaper articles at: (1) http://nla.gov.au.nla.news-article70439716, (2) http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141292541, (3) http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11797265, (4) http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11788072, and from (5) http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1070158--1-.PDF (see page 580).This framed award has significance in that it serves as a historic reminder that the No 1 Forge O.F.M. and the Ordnance Factory Maribyrnong once existed within the Shire of Braybrook, and later the City of Sunshine, and that it was involved in the manufacture of ordnance for World War 2. It also serves as a historic reminder that it costs a huge amount of money for a country to be involved in a major war, and that a big contribution is required from the public to raise money and to produce goods for the war effort.Permanently sealed brown stained wood frame with a glass face. Enclosed behind the glossy glass is a triangular shaped pennant made of red felt material. The red colour appears to be somewhat faded. The inscriptions and markings on the pennant are in blue, gold, and white coloured inks.The AUSTRALIAN COAT OF ARMS diagram plus the following writing: SPECIAL AWARD / 4th LIBERTY LOAN / Oct.-Nov. 1943 / No 1 FORGE O.F.M.4th liberty loan, special award, ordnance factory maribyrnong, no 1 forge o.f.m., oct - nov 1943, red pennant