Historical information

This letter book contains letters, sketch maps and plans and dates from 1923 to 1926. It came from the office of John William Crawley, Junior, an engineer, surveyor and architect in private practice in Warrnambool and also the engineer for the Shire of Warrnambool from 1895 to 1935. His father, brother and son were also engineers, working in that capacity or as the Shire Secretary for the Shire of Warrnambool, with the Crawley family recording a total of 132 years of service to the Shire. The Shire of Warrnambool existed from 1863 to 1994. This letter book was passed on to John Crawley’s son, Rolf, the engineer for the Shire of Warrnambool from 1935 to 1968. It then came into the possession of Michael Hand who took over the private surveying business of Rolf Crawley in Warrnambool. The Warrnambool and District Historical Society acquired the letter book, along with several other Crawley ledgers, from the estate of Michael Hand.

Significance

This letter book is of considerable significance as it contains letters, maps and plans drawn up by John William Crawley, an engineer and surveyor in private practice in Warrnambool and the engineer for the Shire of Warrnambool for 40 years. It will be useful for researchers.

Physical description

This is a brown hard cover letter book of 1010 pages, with brown binding on the corners of the cover and on the spine. The cover is cuffed and torn. There is gold lettering on the spine. The book contains handwritten letters, maps and plans and an alphabetical index at the front, The pages are water-stained. There is a mauve stamp on the first page.

Inscriptions & markings

‘Letter Book 1923 to 1926’
‘J. Wm. Crawley Shire Hall Warrnambool (Private)’
‘Rolf L. Crawley Civil Engineer, Drainage and Water Supply Engineer, Licensed Surveyor, Registered Architect, Warrnambool’