Historical information

This school text book, written by Dr William Davis, was one of several used by the Giles children at Wangoom State School. This arithmetic book has the name, ‘Henrietta Giles’. The Giles family lived on the Allansford Road. Wangoom State School, No. 645, was opened in 1865 on the Warrnambool/Wangoom Road as a Common School and became Wangoom State School after 1872. It is now closed.

Significance

This book is of interest as an example of a 19th century arithmetic book (note that it has the caption, ‘for school and home use’). It is also of significance as a textbook used by the Giles family, early settlers in the Warrnambool area.

Physical description

This is a hard cover book of 114 pages. The cover is green-black with embossed lettering on the front cover (no longer fully decipherable). The pages are dog-eared and a couple of pages are splotched with ink. The cover is partly detached and very stained and the edges are torn away in some places. The inscriptions are handwritten in black ink and there is scribble on some pages. There is a blue stamp of the Warrnambool and District Historical Society on the first page.

Inscriptions & markings

‘Henrietta’
‘Henrietta R.V. Giles, Wangoom State School, No. 645’