Historical information

This book was one of several independent publications dealing with Australian and Pacific topics. The author, J. Alex. Allan, was a Councillor with the Historical Society of Victoria. The book is less important than the inscription on the first page which indicates that the book was a gift from the staff of Warrnambool High School to William L. Grauer, a teacher who was leaving the school in 1946. Mr Grauer, born in Warrnambool in 1915, became Supervisor of School Forestry in 1968 and served in in the Australian Army and Air Force in World War Two. The Grauers were a prominent early family in the Allansford area and descendants still live today in Allansford and Warrnambool. Warrnambool High School opened in 1907 as the Warrnambool Agricultural High School and merged with Warrnambool North Technical School in 1994 to become Warrnambool College.

Significance

This book is of interest as it was given as a farewell gift to a member of the Warrnambool High School staff in 1946 and contains the signatures of ten fellow teachers, including the Headmaster, Roy Andrews. The recipient of the book, William Grauer, was a member of a prominent family in the Allansford area.

Physical description

This is a hard- cover book (Social and Economic Sketch of Victorian History) of 172 pages. It has a plain dark red leather cover with a buff-coloured strip pasted on the spine. It is by J. Alex. Allan and was printed in 1945. There are 19 chapters and an Epilogue. There are several pages of black and white photographs.

Inscriptions & markings

Spine: ‘Cheshire, Men and Manners in Australia, Allan’
On frontispiece: ‘To W.L. Grauer, With best wishes from the Headmaster & Staff, 1946, Roy W. Andrews, Betty H.T. Ward, H.E.L.Jones, S.A.O’Keefe, W.B.Gow,.A.F. Coggins, Leo Ingwersen, Winifred B. Gray, Ida L. Henderson, Lilian M. Williamson’