Historical information

This jardinière is one of many 19th and early 20th-century items donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by the Giles Family. It would have been used to contain a potted plant or similar foliage to decorate a room.

Donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by Vera and Aurelin Giles, this item is associated with Warrnambool and the Giles Family history. Many items have been donated by the family and have come to be known as the “Giles Collection”.

Many items in the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage that were donated by Vera and Aurelin Giles mostly came from the home of Vera’s parents-in-law, Henry Giles and his wife Mary Jane (nee Freckleton), who married in 1880 and whose photos are on display in the parlour.

Henry was born at Tower Hill in 1858 and was a labourer on the construction of the Warrnambool Breakwater before leaving in 1895 for around seven years to build bridges in NSW.

Mary Jane was born in 1860 at Cooramook, and she attended Mailor’s Flat State School and where she eventually became a student teacher. After which she became a governess at “Injemiara”, where her grandfather, Francis Freckleton, had once owned land.
Henry and Mary’s family consisted of six; some of the children were born at Mailor’s Flat, and later, some children were born at Wangoom. They lived with their parents at Wangoom and Purnim west, and this is where Henry died in 1933 and Mary Jane died in 1940.

Significance

The Giles family collection has social significance at a local level, because it illustrates the level of material support the Warrnambool community gave to Flagstaff Hill when the Museum was established. It also represents typical furniture and household goods owned by settlers in the Warrnambool District in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Jardinière is a good example of late Victorian memorabilia that was to be found in many homes of the period.

Physical description

Plant container: brass and copper jardinière, with tooled and pressed ornamental rose design on a band of copper around the planter and braised seam joins. Three short lion paw feet support the base. Part of the Giles Collection. An inscription is on a sticker under the base.

Inscriptions & markings

Handwritten: "$85"