This printers block was made for the Warrnambool and District Historical Society and used to print letterheads, envelopes and cards. The impression on the block is of the sketch map drawn by Thomas Price of Port Fairy of the Warrnambool Harbour site when he wrote to Superintendent Charles LaTrobe in 1844 regarding the suitability of the site for a new town. The letter is regarded as an important impetus for La Trobe to consider establishing the town of Warrnambool and so the sketch was used by the Historical Society as its logo on letterheads etc for many years. It was also used as the heading for the Society newsletters from the late 1980s to late 2007.This block of the Thomas Price sketch was used by the Historical Society for many years for its printed material and the sketch was used as its logo for about 20 years so it is an important part of the Society’s history and the block is kept as a reminder of this.This is a printing block with an impression made of metal and attached to a wooden block. The wood is in layers of dark and light coloured wood and has a piece cut out at the top left hand corner. The impression is a representation of the sketch map of Warrnambool Harbour made by Thomas Price in 1844.Sketch map of Warrnambool Harbour 1844warrnambool & district historical society, thomas price sketch

The Kew Historical Society's map collection includes a substantial number of real estate subdivision plans, mainly of Kew but also of surrounding suburbs in Melbourne. Most of the subdivision plans date from the 1920s and 1930s when the districts old homes and local farmland were being split up to accommodate residential growth in the postwar period. These early plans were assembled by a local firm, Jas R Mather & McMillan, which had an office in Cotham Road. Many of the plans, and sometimes photos, were annotated by the agents.Subdivision plans are historically important documents used as evidence for the growth of suburbs in Australia. They frequently provide information about when the land was sold as well as evidence relating to surveyors and real estate and financial agents. The numerous subdivision plans in the Kew Historical Society's collection represent working documents, ranging from the initial sketches made in planning a subdivision to printed plans on which auctioneers or agents listed the prices for which individual lots were sold. In a number of cases, the reverse of a subdivision plan in the collection includes a photograph of a house that was also for sale by the agent. These photographs provide significant heritage information relating house design and decoration, fencing and household gardens.The photograph may also be aesthetically significant depending on the importance of the photographic atelier.Lithographed subdivision plan for an un-named estate with 28 allotments facing Lytton, Sackville and Thomas Streets in Kew. The land would have originally formed part of the Dumaresq Estate. subdivision plans - kew, lytton street, sackville street, thomas street - kew

Pru Sanderson, in her groundbreaking ‘City of Kew Urban Conservation Study : Volume 2 - Development History’ (1988), summarised the periods of urban development and subdivisions of land in Kew. The periods that she identified included 1845-1880, 1880-1893, 1893-1921, 1921-1933, 1933-1943, and Post-War Development. These periods were selected as they represented periods of rapid growth or decline in urban development. An obvious starting point for Sanderson’s groupings involved population growth and the associated economic cycles. These cycles also highlighted urban expansion onto land that was predominantly rural, although in other cases it represented the decline and breakup of large estates. A number of the plans in the Kew Historical Society’s collection can also be found in other collections, such as those of the State Library of Victoria and the Boroondara Library Service. A number are however unique to the collection.Subdivision plans are historically important documents used as evidence of the growth of suburbs in Australia. They frequently provide information about when the land was sold on which a built structure was subsequently constructed as well as evidence relating to surveyors and real estate and financial agents. The numerous subdivision plans in the Kew Historical Society's collection represent working documents, ranging from the initial sketches made in planning a subdivision to printed plans on which auctioneers or agents listed the prices for which individual lots were sold. In a number of cases, the reverse of a subdivision plan in the collection includes a photograph of a house that was also for sale by the agent. These photographs provide significant heritage information relating house design and decoration, fencing and household gardens.In advertising the twenty-two sites of the Grenville Estate in Cotham Road and Alfred Street, Kew, the auctioneers emphasised the proximity of the development to shops, schools, and churches. That mansions surrounded the Estate was publicised as an added attraction. The plan shows how at this stage A regrettable aspect of this plan is that it is pasted over, and obscures a real estate photograph by the Kew photographer Josiah Earl Barnes.subdivision plans - kew, grenville estate, glenferrie road, alfred street, thomas street, cotham road